The ores of this lead region are, in general, remarkably pure,* and free from adhering gangue. In a few localities the sulphuret of lead is intermixed with black-jack, (sulphuret of zinc,) and occasionally with carbonate of zinc and oxide of iron.

The process for reducing the lead ore has of late been much improved. Instead of the old log and ash furnaces, (which consumed the best timber in lavish quantities,) cupola, blast, and reverbatory furnaces, have been introduced, which demand comparatively little fuel; an economy of vast importance in a country scantily timbered, devoid of coal, where wood is often sold at five dollars a cord.

No. II.

STATISTICS OF THE LEAD REGION.

In proportion as I proceeded with the geological survey of the Wiskonsin lead region, I became more and more strongly impressed with its great value and rich promise of commercial importance. This conviction urged me to the task of carefully collecting and collating such facts as might supply materials for a comparison between the geological character of this region, and that of the richest lead district in Europe-the Cross Fell country of the North of England. That comparison has been briefly made in a previous section of this report. So far as it goes, it is in a pecuniary and commercial view highly satisfactory; for the strong similarity between the two formations furnishes an encouraging item in an estimate of the value of the mineral tract now under examination.

But other and more direct proof of that value yet remains. The statistics of this American lead region, so lately settled; so imperfectly known even now; so inefficiently worked, for lack of force, even in those locations where a cursory survey had chanced upon rich lead veins: these statistics (uncertain though they be) of a country so new and rude, impel us to the conclusion that the Wiskonsin lead region may compare, if not in present productiveness, at least in future prospects, with any other in the known world.

* The analysis of two average specimens of galena resulted as follows:

Sulphur
Lead

The specific gravity of these ores is

1st spec.

16.00

84.00

100.00

7.52

2d spec.

14.63

85.37

100.00

7.71

In the reduction of sulphuret of lead, great care should be taken, while roasting, never to raise the heat so high as to melt the ore. If the ore be melted before all the sulphur is expelled, it is almost impossible ently to get rid of the sulphur. Free access of air should be allowed during the roasting process, so as to furnish oxygen for the conversion of the sulphur into sulphurous acid, the form under which it must be expelled from the lead. The melted lead, on the contrary, should not be unnecessarily exposed to currents of air, which, in a state of fusion, rapidly oxydizes this metal.

The analysis of the carbonate of lead gave:

The specific gravity of this ore is 6.04.

For a time, my opinion was very unsettled as to the actual amount of lead now annually produced in the district. The merchants of Galena, when the question was put to them, calculated the total in Wiskonsin and Illinois (where about nine-tenths of the lead is made) at from ten to twelve millions of pounds only. Mr. Legate, of Galena, formerly agent of the United States to collect the revenue from the lead-mines, thought that a full estimate. But I soon became convinced, even from a particular inquiry as to the amount actually produced at a very few furnaces, that this was far below the truth. I found, for instance, from actual returns, that the lead turned out from the furnaces at three diggings alone, (to wit, the Platteville, Snake, and Dubuque,) already exceeded ten millions of pounds. An estimate of the number of miners, collected from the best sources, multiplied by the probable amount of lead raised by each, also showed that the estimates made at Galena must fall very far short of the actual amount produced in this region.

Since my return, I have received several letters in reply to inquiries addressed to the most intelligent smelters throughout the district. These, and the personal inquiries I made in the course of the expedition, enable me to furnish, with considerable confidence, the following statement of the amount produced at thirty-four furnaces-not quite three fourths of the whole number which are at present at work in the district :

Statement exhibiting the amount of lead made at the smelting furnaces in Iowa and Wiskonsin Territories, and the northwestern portion of the State of Illinois, in the year 1839, as reported by the smelters themselves, together with a list of the diggings from which each furnace is supplied.

In addition to the above, I have ascertained that there are at least twelve other smelters, (probably more,) whose furnaces are either in full operation, or doing an occasional business, namely: Meeker, on Blue river; Bailly, and Dowling, at Mineral Point; Palmer & Co., at Platteville; Smith & Co., near White-oak Springs; Champion, at New diggings; Wann & Co., Patch diggings; Binsinger, at Hardscrabble diggings; and Webb & Co., Green, and Cheny, near Galena.

From these I have no authentic returns; though I have taken some pains, by letters and otherwise, to procure them.

Although many of them are doing a heavy business, yet they cannot, perhaps, safely be averaged as high as those from whom we have actual returns; namely, at 725,000 lbs. each. It might be safe, and is probably below the truth, to average them at half a million pounds each; making, for the twelve, six millions of pounds.

This added to the amount in the foregoing table, gives, as the total of the lead produced in the year 1839, from the lead-mines of Iowa, Wiskonsin, and Northern Illinois, upwards of thirty millions of pounds.

This result was unexpected by me, yet cannot, I think, be far from the

truth. The smelters, so far as I could judge, had no interest in deceiving me, and appeared frank and caudid in their statements.

:

Again the number of miners in the district is variously estimated at from two to four thousand; not employed, however, on the average, probably more than half their time. The medium between the two estimates (say three thousand) may be near the truth.

As to the average amount which each miner can raise per day, it is difficult to estimate it with accuracy.

One of the most experienced miners and smelters in the district writes to me: "Two men can raise something near five hundred pounds a day, from veins of average richness. Two men have raised as much as twenty thou sand pounds a day from the richest veins."

At McKnight's diggings, near Mineral Point, three men (miners from Cornwall, England) were seen by one of our party at work on a vein of three inches thick, in the solid rock. This did not seem to be considered much more than an average vein; and they were then raising, on the average, fifteen hundred pounds per day; that is, five hundred pounds each.

It would seem, then, to be a very low and safe estimate to calculate each miner's daily work, on the average, at one hundred and fifty pounds of ore. Now, supposing that of the three thousand miners estimated to be at work in the district, one third are engaged in "prospecting," and other unproductive preparations, and only two thousand actually employed in raising ore, and that these two thousand work but one hundred and fifty days in each year; we have the following result:

Each miner will raise, annually, twenty-two thousand five hundred pounds of ore.

The two thousand miners will raise, annually, forty-five million pounds of ore; and this, at seventy per cent., which is rather below than above the average yield of the galena of this district, will give thirty-one million and a half pounds of lead, as the annual produce of these mines.

If this should still seem an overestimate, I may add a few additional facts which came to my knowledge, regarding the yield of the Wiskonsin mines. Some of them are unparalleled in the history of mining.

From a spot of ground not more than fifty yards square, upwards of three millions of pounds of ore have been raised.f

A drift in Major Gray's diggings near Mineral Point, in a crevice twelve feet wide, was filled in with clay and ore. When I was there, nine cubic yards only of the contents of this crevice had been excavated; and out of that amount of excavated clay and ore, thirty-four thousand pounds of ore had been obtained.

At the new diggings near the source of the west branch of the Peccatonnica, two men can readily raise two thousand pounds of ore a day, and these diggings are not more than twelve feet deep.

It may be remarked, that raising ore means not only excavating it, but also elevating it to the surface of the earth.

+ Communicated by Mr. Drummond, of White oak Springs, one of the most experienced miners in the district; to whose kindness I am indebted for much valuable information.

The facility with which, in some locations, ore can be raised, is remarkable. Two boys, of twelve and fourteen years old, were seen by us, near Mineral Point, at work, with a tiny windlass and bucket. They had earned a hundred and fifty dollars in the last six months, though they complained of having had "no luck!" in striking a productive lode.

Were the difficulties and labor and expense of raising the ore as great here, as they now are in the mining countries of Europe, I doubt whether, in the entire district, a single mine would at present be found in successful operation.

At Hamilton's diggings, in township two, and range five east, of the fourth principal meridian, from two and a half to three million pounds of ore were raised from a four-acre lot, working to the water, which was to an average depth of twenty feet.

In township one, range one east, of the fourth principal meridian, five thou sand pounds of lead ore have been regularly raised per day by two men. On section seventeen of this township, ten thousand pounds have been raised by two men in a day. At Shaw & Gennett's diggings, on section twenty-eight of this township, fifteen thousand pounds have been raised by two men in a day. On the northeast quarter of section thirty-one of this township, two men raised sixteen thousand pounds in a day. On the northeast quarter of section twenty-one, and the southeast of section thirty-two, two men raised regularly three thousand pounds a day. On the southwest quarter of section thirty-two, a lode excavated horizontally from the face of a cliff to a distance of only one hundred and fifty yards, yielded a million pounds of ore, which was carried out in wheelbarrows. And on the northeast quarter of section twenty-eight, ten million pounds of ore were raised from a single lode, hardly extending across the quarter section.* These particulars were obtained on the spot, from the miners themselves, by one of my sub-agents.

In the above township there are seven furnaces at work. They probably average, in their turn-out, with the furnaces of which the produce has been given above. If so, this township alone produces annually more than five million pounds of lead.

An experienced smelter from an adjoining township writes to me, in re gard to the above township: "There are about one hundred and fifty miners generally at work on that township; but I suppose a thousand might find profitable employment."

In the Snake diggings, not extending over more than a township, the number of miners was reported to me at about four hundred. Their pro

duce is probably greater than that of the township just alluded to. Upon the whole, I cannot resist the conclusion that the foregoing estimate of the amount of lead now produced in this favored region is as likely to be below as above the truth.f

* Some of these rich lodes sell for very high prices. Thomas Harrison struck a valuable lode in the Dubuque district. After raising ore to the amount of ten thousand dollars, he then sold a tract of ten acres, comprising the lode, for sixteen thousand dollars, to Messrs. Jones & Kilburn. From this small lot, these gentlemen cleared thirty thousand dollars, over and above the sixteen thousand dollars of purchase-money.

+ Mr. Legate informed me that the produce of the Wiskonsin (then called Fever river) and Missouri mines, from the year 1823 to 1829, was as follows. As a Government duty was then levied on lead, this statement (based on the smelters' returns) cannot be imagined to exceed the truth: