“A smoking room is provided for the men, and the children have an alcove for their particular use, provided with low tables and suitable chairs. One end of the stack room is used for mineral exhibits, especially the minerals of the Black Hills region.
“The Kindergarten, opened in 1900, is also maintained by the generosity of the Hearst family.
“A small, but well kept park nearby provides a place for outdoor play during the summer months. The kindergarten has been an inestimable aid to the public school by giving the children of foreign birth a start in the English language and teaching them something of American ways and manners, thus relieving them of the handicap resulting from their foreign parentage. It has also proved a large factor in Americanizing the parents by both direct and indirect contact with the teachers.
“The Homestake company, supporting a liberal policy toward the schools, feels that it is fully repaid by the stabilizing influence on its working force, due to the fact that men with families are attracted to Lead on account of its educational advantages. Many of the young men who are now holding important positions in the shops, mills, assay and engineering departments are graduates of the Lead High School.
“The Homestake Recreation Building, built and equipped by the Homestake Mining Company at a cost of $250,000 was opened to the public in 1914. It is a three story brick and stone structure of the latest design and well lighted, heated, and ventilated. No expense is spared to make this the recreation place of the employes and their families, and all residents of Lead are given the same privileges as employes, so that it is a community house in the fullest sense. No membership fee is charged. Everybody is welcome and all are treated as special guests by the attendants. The only rules posted are those governing the length of time one set of players may use the various tables and games, and specifying the days when the men, women, and children may use the plunge. The average monthly attendance is about 25,000.
“On the first floor of the building is a large rest room furnished with easy chairs and lounges with tables for chess, cards, and other games, and directly in the rear of this room is the billiard room, with two regulation billiard and two pocket billiard tables. In alcoves of the rest room are three tables for children between the ages of six and sixteen. About 2,500 persons play on these tables during the month.