lead are mixed, together with phosphate of lime and fluoride of calcium, so that the percentage of the metal is variable. The compounds of lead met with at these mines are the sulphuret, sulphate, carbonate, phosphate, arseniate, molybdate, chromate, chromo-molybdate, arsenio-phosphate, and antimonial argentiferous. Besides all these, a single vein contained native silver, native copper, and native sulphur, three compounds of zinc, four of copper, four of iron, black oxide of manganese, sulphate of barytes, and quartz. The castern portion of the United States is supplied with lead almost exclusively from Spain and Great Britain, but the western states are furnished with this metal from mines in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri. The lead veins of the eastern and southern states are of little importance. In Maine the ores are found in Cobscook Bay, near Lubec and Eastport, in limestone rocks near dikes of trap. A mine was opened in 1832, and a drift was carried in about 155 feet at the base of a rocky cliff on the course of the vein; it was then abandoned, but operations have recently been recommenced. In New Hampshire argentiferous galena is found in numerous places, but always in too small quantity to pay the expenses of extraction. At Shelburne a large quartz vein was worked from 1846 to 1849, and three shafts were sunk, one of them 275 feet in depth. The ore was found in bunches and narrow streaks, but in small quantity. Some of it was smelted on the spot, and five tons were shipped to England, which sold for £16 per ton. The richest yielded 84 ounces of silver to the ton. Another vein of argentiferous galena has been partially explored at Eaton, and this is most likely of any to prove valuable. Massachusetts, also, contains a number of lead veins, none of which have proved profitable, though some of them have been worked to considerable extent. The most noted are those of Southampton and Easthampton. Operations were commenced at the former place in 1765 upon a great lode of quartz containing galena, blende, copper pyrites, and sulphate of barytes. It is in a coarse granitic rock near its contact with the red sandstone of the Connecticut valley. About the year 1810 an adit level was boldly laid out to be driven in from 1,100 to 1,200 feet, to intersect the vein at 140 feet below the surface. A single miner is said to have worked at it till his death, in 1828, when it had reached the length of 900 feet. At different times this adit has been pushed on, and when last abandoned, in 1854, it was supposed to be within a few feet of the vein. The rock was so excessively hard that the cost of driving the adit was about $25 per foot. Lead veins are found in Whately, Hatfield, and other towns in Hampshire county. In Connecticut, also, several veins have been worked to some extent. That at Middletown, referred to in the introductory remarks as one of the earliest opened mines in the United States, is the most noticeable. It is unknown when this mine was first worked. In 1852 operations were renewed upon it, and a shaft sunk 120 feet below the old workings. The vein is among strata of a silicious slate, in some places quite rich, but on the whole it has proved too poor to work. The ore contained silver to the value of from $25 to $75 to the ton of lead. Lead mines have been opened in New York, in Dutchess, Columbia, Washington, Rensselaer, Ulster, and St. Lawrence counties. In the first four of these the ore is found in veins near the junction of the metamorphic slates and limestones. The Ancram or Livingston mine, in Columbia county, has been worked at different times at considerable expense, but with no returns. A mine in Northeast, Dutchess county, was first opened by some German miners in 1740, and ore from it was exported. The Committee of Public Safety, during the revolutionary war, sought to obtain supplies of lead from it. The lead veins of this part of New York have attracted more interest, on account of their highly argentiferous character, than the quantity of ore they promise would justify; but it seems to be almost universally the case throughout the United States that the galena yielding much silver fails in quantity. The Ulster county mines are found on the west side of the Shawangunk mountain in the strata of hard grit rock which cover its western slope. At different places along this ridge veins have been found cutting across the strata in nearly vertical lines, and have produced some lead, zinc, and copper. The Montgomery mine, near Wurtsboro, in Sullivan county, was chiefly productive in zinc. Near Ellenville, Ulster county, several veins have been followed into the mountain, and one of these, which was worked in 1853, afforded for a short time considerable quantities of rich lead and copper ores. From the former there were smelted about 459,000 pounds of lead, and the sales of the latter In to 35° east, and dipping steeply south-east. In connec amounted to from 60 to 70 tons, of which 50 tons yielded 24.3 per cent. of copper. Where the vein was productive it contained the rich ores unmixed with stony gangues, and sometimes presenting a thickness of five feet of pure ore; where it became poor it closed in sometimes to a mere crack in the grit rock, and then the expense of extending the workings became very great from the extreme hardness of this rock. Open fissures were met with, one of which was more than 100 feet long and deep, and in places 12 feet or more wide. It was partially filled with tough yellow clay, through which were dispersed fragments of sandstone, magnificent bunches of quartz crystals, and lumps of lead and copper ores. The walls on the sides also presented a lining in places of the same ores. A drift was run into the base of the mountain about 200 feet, and a shaft was sunk at the foot of the slope about 100 feet. The expense of working in the hard rock proved to be too great for the amount of ore obtained, and the mine was abandoned in 1854, although its production, for the extent of ground opened, has been exceeded by but few other mines in the eastern states. The most promising veins in the state are those of St. Lawrence county in the vicinity of Rossie. They occur in gneiss rock, which they cut in nearly vertical lines. One of these was opened along the summit of Coal Hill, and was worked in 1837 and 1838 by Lead ores are found along the Blue Ridge, an open cut of 440 feet in length, to the in Virginia, and at one point, near the cendepth, in some places, of 180 feet. In 1839 tral portion of its range across the state, a the mine was abandoned, after the company mine has been worked for a number of years. had realized about $241,000 by the sale of They are also met with in several of the gold some 1,800 tons of lead they had extracted. mines, but not in workable quantities. In The galena was remarkably free from blende, south-west Virginia and east Tennessee the and from pyritous iron and copper, which ores are found in the silurian limestones, and (especially the first-named) are so often asso-a considerable number of mines have been ciated with the ore, rendering it difficult to worked to moderate extent in both states. smelt. Calcareous spar, often finely crystal- The most important one is the Wythe lead lized, formed the gangue of the vein. A mine, 16 miles from Wytheville, which was nearly transparent crystal, weighing 165 lbs., worked in 1754. It is in a steep hill on the is preserved in the cabinet of Yale College. border of New River, a fall upon which, near Other attempts have been made to work the the mine, affords power for raising the water mine; and the cause of its being allowed to required in dressing the ores, and also for lie idle appears to be the difficulty of nego-producing the blast for the furnace. Several tiating a mining right with the proprietors. shafts have been sunk, one of which extendIn Pennsylvania the most productive leading down to the adit-a depth of 225 feetmines are those of Montgomery and Chester counties, found in a small district of 5 or 6 miles in length by 2 or 3 in width, at the line of contact of the gneiss, and red shale and sandstone. About 12 parallel veins have been discovered, extending north 32° is used as a shot tower. The ores are galena, with more or less carbonates intermixed. The product for 1855 is stated to have been 500 tons of lead. The transportation of lead, in pigs, bars, and shot, from the southwest part of Virginia toward the east, by the Virginia and Tennessee railroad, for the years on the spot where now stands the city in named, has been as follows: 1859. Pig Lead .364,660 Total........ 774,809 168,405 234,087 52,230 120,142 104,623 869,057 320,258 1,182,245 In the other direction the transportation of the same articles was comparatively unimportant. South of Virginia the only lead mine of importance is the Washington mine, Davidson county, N. C. This was opened in 1836, in the silicious and talcose slates of the gold region, and was worked for the carbonate of lead, which was found in a dull, heavy ore of earthy appearance, with which were intermixed glassy crystals of the same mineral. Some galena and phosphate of lead were also met with. After a time native silver was detected, and the lead that had been obtained was found to be rich in silver. Till 1844 the mine continued to produce ores containing much silver, and afforded the first deposits of this metal in the mint from domestic mines. The character of the ores changed, however, below the depth of 125 feet, the silver almost disappearing. The actual product of the mine is not known. That of 1844 is said to have been $24,209 in value of silver, and $7,253 of gold, obtained from 160,000 lbs. of lead-an average of 240 oz. of auriferous silver to 2,000 lbs. of metal. In 1851 the production was 56,896 lbs. of lead and 7,942.16 oz. of auriferous silver-equal to 279 oz. to the ton of metal. Zinc blende and galena became at last the prevailing ores, the silver varying from 2.5 to 195 oz. to the ton; and the workings were extended upon two parallel veins which lay near each other in the slates. Iu 1852 mining operations were abandoned as unprofitable, but were soon after renewed, and are still continued. Iowa bearing his name, until his death in 1809. When the United States acquired possession of the country in 1807, the min854,695 eral lands were reserved from the sales, and 22,580 254,970 leases of mining rights were authorized. These were not, however, issued until 1822, and little mining was done before 1826. From that time the production of lead rapidly increased; and the government for a time received the regular rates for the leases. But after 1834 the miners and smelters refused to pay them any longer, on account of so many sales having been made and patents granted of mineral lands in Wisconsin. In 1839 the United States government authorized a geological survey of the lead region, in order to designate precisely the mineral tracts, and this was accomplished the same year by Dr. D. D. Owen, with the aid of 139 assistants. In 1844 it was decided to abandon the leasing system, and throw all the lands into the market. The lead region, according to the report of Dr. Owen, extends over about 62 townships in Wisconsin, 10 in the north-west corner of Illinois, and 8 in Iowa-a territory altogether of about 2,880 square miles. Its western limit is about 12 miles from the Mississippi river; to the north it extends nearly to Wisconsin river; south to Apple river, in Illinois; and east to the east branch of the Pekatonica. From east to west it is 87 miles across, and from north to south 54 miles. Much of the region is a rolling prairie, with a few isolated hills, called mounds, scattered upon its surface, the highest of them rising scarcely more than 200 feet above the general level. The prevailing limestone formations give fertility to the soil, and the country is well watered by numerous small streams, which flow in valleys excavated from 100 to 150 feet below the higher levels. The limestone, of gray and yellowish gray colors, lies in nearly horizontal strata, and the portion which contains the lead veins hardly exceeds 50 feet in thickness. Beneath it is a sandstone of the age of the Potsdam sandstone, and above it are strata of limestone recognized as belonging to the Trenton limestone, so that it proves to be a formation interposed between these, quite western in character, as it is not met with east of Wisconsin. The veins occupy straight vertical fissures, and several near together sometimes extend nearly a mile in an east and west direction. They never reach downward into the sandstone, The great lead mines of the United States are the upper mines, in a district near the Mississippi, in Iowa, the south-west part of Wisconsin, and the north-west part of Illinois; and the lower mines, in Missouri. The existence of lead ores in the upper district was made known by Le Sueur, who discovered them in his voyage up the Mississippi in 1700 and 1701. They attracted no further attention, however, till a French miner, Julien Dubuque, commenced to work them in 1788; and in this employment he continued, but are lost in the lower strata of the limestone, and where the upper strata of the formation appear, these cover over the veins, and are consequently known as the cap-rock. In the fissures or crevices the galena is found, sometimes in loose sheets and lumps embedded in clay and earthy oxide of iron, and sometimes attached to one or both walls. It is rarely so much as a foot thick. No other ores are found with it, except some zinc blende and calamine, and occasionally pyritous iron and copper. The lead contains but a trace of silver. The fissures, as they are followed beneath the surface, sometimes expand in width till they form what is called an "opening ;" and the hollow space may go on enlarging till it becomes a cave of several hundred feet in length and 30 or 40 in width. Their dimensions are, however, usually within 40 or 50 feet in length, 4 to 8 in width, and as many in height. The walls of the openings often afford a thick incrustation of galena, besides more or less loose mineral in the clay, among the fragments of rock, with all of which the caves are partially filled. Flat sheets of ore often extend from the vertical fissures between the horizontal limestone strata; these are more apt to contain blende, and pyrites, and calcareous spar than the ore of the vertical crevices. Besides these modes of occurrence, galena is found in loose lumps in the clayey loam of the prairies. This is called float mineral, and is regarded as an evidence of productive fissures in the vicinity. The smelters of this region form a distinct class from the miners, of whom the former buy the ores as these are raised, and convert them into metal in the little smelting establishments scattered through the country. The lead has been principally sent down the Mississippi river to Saint Louis and New Orleans; but a portion has always been consumed in the country, and some has been wagoned across to Milwaukee before the construction of railroads, which since 1853 have afforded increased facilities for distributing in different directions the product of the mines. The only records of the amount of lead obtained are those of the shipments down the river. The following table presents the number of pigs shipped from the earlier workings to 1857; the figures for 1841 to 1850, inclusive, being furnished to Dr. Owen's Report of 1852 by Mr. James Carter, of Galena. The pigs weigh about 70 lbs. each. SHIPMENTS OF LEAD FROM THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 1821 to 1823... 4,790 1824. 1825. 1827. 1829. Pigs. .191,750 1855... .430,365 1837. .219,360 1856.. .435,654 1838. .200,465 1857. .485,475 .357,785 1858... ..317,845 1859.. 452,814 1832. 1841. The galena occurs under a variety of singular forms in the crevices. It lines curious cavities which extend up in the cap-rock, terminating above in a point, and which are known as chimneys. Upon the roofs of the openings it is found in large bunches of cu- The lead region of Missouri was first bical crystals, and the same are obtained lying brought into public notice by the explorain the clays of the same openings. A flat tions of the French adventurer, Renault, sheet of the ore was worked in Iowa that who was sent out from Paris in 1720, with was more than 20 feet across and from 2 to a party of miners, to search for precious 3 feet thick, each side of which turned down metals in the territory of Louisiana, under in a vertical sheet, gradually diminishing in a patent granted by the French government thickness. It yielded 1,200,000 lbs. of rich galena, and more still remained behind in sight. The crevices near Dubuque are the most regular and productive of any in the district. One called the Langworthy, on a length of about three-fourths of a mile, has produced 10,000,000 lbs. of ore. On the main fissure there were usually three ranges of crevices one above another, widening out to 15 or 20 feet. to the famous company of John Law. Their investigations were carried on in the region lying near the Mississippi and south of the Missouri river; and here, though they failed to find the precious metals they were in search of, they discovered and opened many mines of lead ore. A large mining tract in the northern part of Madison county is still called by the name of their mineralogist, La Motte. Their opera tions, however, were altogether superficial, | them black jack, and the silicate of zinc. and the lead they obtained was wholly by Iron and copper pyrites are often seen, and the rude and wasteful process of smelting at Mine la Motte are found the black oxides the ores upon open log-heaps-a practice of cobalt and manganese associated with which even of late years is followed to some the carbonates of lead and copper. Nearly extent. Up to Renault's return to France, all the mining operations have been mere in 1742, little progress had been made in superficial excavations in the clay, which the development of this mining district. The were soon exhausted of the loose ore and next step was made by one Moses Austin, abandoned. But to this there are some reof Virginia, who obtained from the Spanish markable exceptions of deeper and more government a grant of land near Potosi, and permanent mines than are known in the commenced in 1798 regular mining opera- northern lead regions. Such are Valle's tions by sinking a shaft. He also started and Perry's mines, both situated on the a reverberatory furnace and built a shot same group of veins, which form a network tower. Schoolcraft states in his "View of of fissures and openings running in every the Lead Mines of Missouri," that there direction and spreading over an area of were in 1819 forty-five mines in operation, about 1,500 feet in length by 500 in giving employment to 1,100 persons. Mine breadth, the extension of which is from northá Burton and the Potosi diggings had pro- west to south-east. These mines have been duced from 1798 to 1816 an annual average steadily worked since 1824, and 22 shafts amount exceeding 500,000 pounds; and in have been sunk upon the fissures, six of 1811 the production of Mine Shibboleth which are over 110 feet deep, one is 170 was 3,125,000 pounds of lead from 5,000,- feet deep, and only two are less than 50 000 pounds of ore. At a later period, from feet. For the first 10 to 30 feet they pass 1834 to 1837, the several mines of the La through gravel and clay, below this through a Motte tract produced, it is estimated, 1,035,- silicious magnesian limestone of light color, 820 pounds of lead per annum. From 1840 and then enter a very close-grained variety to 1854 the total yield of all the mines is of the same, called by the miners the cast stated by Dr. Litton in the state geological steel rock. A succession of openings are report to amount to over 3,833,121 pounds encountered, which are distributed with annually. At the close of this period it had, considerable regularity upon three different however, greatly fallen off, there being at levels. Those of the middle series have that time scarcely 200 persons engaged in been the most productive. Sometimes mining, besides those employed at the three chimneys connect them with the caves of mines known as Perry's, Vallé's, and Skew- the tier above or below. The portion of ers'. The principal mines have been in these mines on the Vallé tract produced, Washington, St. Francis, and other neigh- according to the state report, from 1824 to boring counties. The ores are found in 1834 about 10,000,000 pounds of lead, and strata of magnesian limestone of an older in the succeeding 20 years about as much date than the galena limestone of Wiscon- more; and Perry's mine from 1839 to 1854 sin, and supposed to lie, with the sandstones has produced about 18,000,000 pounds. with which they alternate, on the same No accurate estimates have been pregeological horizon as the calciferous sand served of the total production of the Misrock, which is found in the eastern states souri mines. This has always fallen far overlying the Potsdam sandstone. Some short of the yield of the northern mines. of the mines are at the contact of the hori- From 1832 to 1843 it is reported as running zontal limestone with granite rocks, but the ores in this position are only in superficial deposits or in layers included in the limestone. In their general features the veins do not differ greatly from those of the northern mines. Some of them, however, contain a larger proportion of other ores besides galena, as well as a greater variety of them. Carbonate of lead, called by the Miners dry bone and white mineral, is more abundant, and also blende, called by from 2,500 to 3,700 tons per annum, while that of the northern mines in the same time was from 5,500 to 14,000 tons, and in 1845 it even exceeded 24,000 tons. In 1852 Mr. J. D. Whitney estimated that the production in Missouri had fallen to 1,500 tons, or less; and from that period it has probably not advanced. As this decrease in the supply has been going on while the price of lead has risen to nearly three times what it was in 1842, the cause is probably |