<P> The partners sold shares in the Homestake Mining Company, and listed it on the New York Stock Exchange in 1879 . The Homestake would become one of the longest - listed stocks in the history of the NYSE (Con Edison's original name was New York Gas Light and was listed in 1824). </P> <P> Hearst consolidated and enlarged the Homestake property by fair and foul means . He bought out some adjacent claims, and secured others in the courts . A Hearst employee killed a man who refused to sell his claim, but was acquitted in court after all the witnesses disappeared . Hearst purchased newspapers in Deadwood to influence public opinion, and an opposing newspaper editor was beaten up on a Deadwood street . Hearst himself realized that he might be on the receiving end of violence, and wrote a letter to his partners asking them to provide for his family should he be murdered . In the end, however, Hearst was the one who walked out alive, and very rich . </P> <P> By the time Hearst left the Black Hills in March 1879, he had added the claims of Giant, Golden Star, Netty, May Booth, Golden Star No. 2, Crown Point, Sunrise, and General Ellison to the original two claims of the Manuel Brothers, Golden Terra and Old Abe, totaling 30 acres (12 ha). The ten - stamp mill had become 200, and 500 employees worked in the mine, mills, offices and shops . He owned the Boulder Ditch and water rights to Whitewood Creek, monopolizing the region . His railroad, Black Hills & Fort Pierre Railroad, gave him access to eastern Dakota territory . By 1900, the Homestake owned 300 claims, on 2,000 acres (810 ha), and was worked by more than 2000 employees . </P> <P> In 1901, the mine started using compressed air locomotives, replacing the mules and horses by the 1920s . Charles Washington Merrill introduced cyanidization to augment mercury - amalgamation for gold recovery . "Cyanide Charlie" finally achieved 94 per cent recovery . The gold was shipped to the Denver Mint . </P>

How deep is the mine in lead sd