Benjamin M. Mitchell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1406-1407 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	BENJAMIN M. MITCHELL, an enterprising and prosperous pioneer of 
the Black Hills and other portions of the northwest, is a native of 
Portsmouth, Ohio, born on March 19, 1843, and is the son of Walter and 
Matilda (Masters) Mitchell, natives of Maryland. Benjamin's paternal 
grandfather came to America in company with the great-grandfather of 
Gen. Robert E. Lee, Mr. Lee securing land in Virginia and Mr. Mitchell 
in Maryland. The father of Benjamin was a farmer and moved to Kentucky 
and later to Ohio in the early days, and in the latter state he was 
occupied in farming until his death. The son grew to the age of twenty 
and was educated in his native state. In February, 1863, he enlisted in 
defense of the Union in the Twelfth Missouri Cavalry, in which he served 
to the end of the Civil war, being most of the time in the Army of the 
Mississippi. He was mustered out of the service at Fort Leavenworth on 
March 9, 1866, and after a short visit to his Ohio home, settled in Linn 
county, Missouri, where he remained busily engaged in farming until 
1874. He then went to Denver, Colorado, and after passing two years 
there, came to the Black Hills in the spring of 1876, arriving at 
Deadwood on May 9th, having prospected all the way up from Custer. He 
continued his activity in this line on his own account in and around 
Deadwood until the .spring of 1880, when he moved to what is now 
Keystone. That year he and others located the "Bullion" claims, which 
promise to be the best paying property in the Hills, and also the 
"Columbia," which is full of promise. Mr. Mitchell has put in twenty-
three years prospecting and mining in this section of the country and is 
one of its oldest settlers. He is known and esteemed throughout the 
whole mining country of the northwest, is an active Republican in 
politics, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a highly 
estimable and universally admired citizen.