Chapter XXIV: Section V (1)

ANNUAL PRODUCT, AND NUMBER OF HANDS EMPLOYED.

On this head, it is very difficult to procure proper information. The desultory manner in which the mines have been wrought, and the imperfect method in which accounts have been kept, when kept at all, with other circumstances, which are in some measure incidental to the operations of mining in a new country, oppose so many obstacles in the way of obtaining the desired information, that I find it impossible to present a correct statement, from authentic sources, of the annual product of the mines for any series of years. When Louisiana was first occupied by the United States, Mine a Burton and Mine La Motte were the principal mines wrought; but the few Americans who had emigrated into the territory, under the Spanish government, were fully aware of the advantages to be derived from the smelting of lead, and, united to the emigrant population which shortly succeeded, made many new discoveries, and the business was prosecuted with increased vigor, and to a much greater extent. The interior parts of the country, and such as had before been deemed dangerous on account of the Indians, were now eagerly explored; and the fortunate discovery of several immense bodies of ore near the surface of the ground, whereby the discoverers enriched themselves by a few days' labor, had a tendency greatly to increase the fame of the mines, and the number of miners. But, as generally happens in new countries, among the number of emigrants were several desperate adventurers, and men of the most abandoned character. Hence, the mines soon became the scene of every disorder, depravity, and crime, and a common rendezvous for renegadoes of all parts. It is by such persons that many of the mines were discovered, and several of them wrought; and it is, therefore, no subject of surprise, that, on inquiry, no accounts of the quantity of lead made, and the number of hands employed, are to be found.

To secure the public interest, and remedy, in some degree, the irregularities practised at the mines, a law was passed in Congress, a few years after the cession of Louisiana, reserving all lead-mines, salt-springs, &c., which should be discovered on the public lands, subsequent to that period; and the Governor of the Territory was, at the same time, authorized to grant leases to discoverers for three years. The great defect of that law appears always to have been, that a specific agent was not at the same time authorized to be appointed for the general superintendence, inspection, and management of mines--an office which, from its nature, can never be properly incorporated with that of the territorial executive, and which, with every inclination, it is presumed his other avocations would prevent him from discharging either with usefulness to the public, or satisfaction to himself. But, whatever be the defect of the law, certainly the advantages which the government proposed to derive from it have not accrued. No revenue, it is understood, has yet been realized under it, and we are now as much at a loss how to arrive at a true statement of the mineral product of Missouri, as if the mines had never been a subject of governmental legislation.

When a discovery of lead has been made, the miners from the neighboring country have flocked to it, and commenced digging as usual, no one troubling himself about a lease; and thus the provisions of the act have been in a great measure disregarded. Men of respectability, and of sufficient capital to carry on mining in a systematic manner, have, it is believed, been frequently deterred from making applications for leases, from the short period for which only they can be granted. It would not warrant the expense of sinking shafts, erecting permanent furnaces, galleries, and other works necessary for prosecuting the business to advantage; for, no sooner would such works be erected, and the mines begin to be effectually wrought, than the expiration of the lease would throw them into the hands of some more successful applicant.

But, although we have no data to form an authenticated schedule of the annual product of the mines for any required number of years, there is something to be obtained by collecting and comparing facts, detached and scanty as they are. Something also is to be acquired by consulting the books which have been kept of late years in the warehouses on the Mississippi, where the lead is sent for exportation, and some information is also to be gleaned from various other sources. It is from information thus obtained that I proceed to an enumeration of the products of the different mines, and the number of persons to whom they furnish employment and support, satisfied, at the same time, that although the information may not be all that could be desired, yet it is all which, without the most extraordinary exertions, could be obtained.

The amount of crude ore delivered at the furnaces of Mine Shibboleth, during one of its most productive years (1811), was something rising of 5,000,000 of pounds. The ore of this mine is estimated to yield, in the large way, from 60 to 70 per cent., reckoned at 62-1/2, which is probably a fair average. The product of the mine in 1811 was 3,125,000 pounds. Shibboleth is, however, one of the richest mines in the Territory, and this is the product of one of those years in which it was most profitably worked. It was then a new discovery, vast bodies of ore were found near the surface, and the number of miners drawn together by the fame of its riches was uncommonly great. It has since declined, although the ore is still constantly found; and I am informed by Colonel Smith, the present proprietor, that the product this year (1819) will be about one million of pounds.

The number of persons employed in digging lead at Mine a Burton has been constantly lessening for the last four or five years; and this celebrated mine, which has been worked without interruption for more than forty years, and is stated to have yielded as high as three millions per annum, is manifestly in a state of decline. During the last summer (1818), the greater part of which I resided at that place, there were not more than thirty miners employed; and the total product of the different pits, shafts, and diggings, composing this mine, did not exceed half a million of pounds. Of this quantity, Messrs. Samuel Perry & Co. were the manufacturers of about 300,000 lbs. They contemplate realizing an increased quantity during the present year. John Rice Jones, Esq., is also engaged in penetrating the rock in search of ore, with the most flattering prospects, and is determined, as he informs me, to sink through the upper stratum of limestone, and ascertain the character of the succeeding formations. It is highly probable, reasoning from geognostic relations, that the lower formations will prove metalliferous, yielding both lead and copper; a discovery which would form a new era in the history of those mines. The present mode of promiscuous digging on the surface would then be abandoned, and people made to see and to realize the advantages of the only system of mining which can be permanently, uniformly, and successfully pursued, viz., by penetrating into the bowels of the earth.

Several other persons of intelligence and capital are also engaged in mining at this place, and it is probable that the total amount of lead manufactured at this mine during the year 1819 will fall little short of one million of pounds.

It is not to be inferred, however, that because the number of miners at Potosi has decreased, the mines are exhausted. On the contrary, there is reason to conclude, as already mentioned, that the principal bodies of ore have not yet been discovered, and that it is destined to become the seat of the most extensive and important mining operations. The ore heretofore raised at these mines has been chiefly found in the stratum of earth which forms the surface of that country, and is bottomed on the limestone. This stratum consists of a stiff red clay, passing in some places into marl, and in others partaking more of the silicious character forming a loam, and imbedding the ores of lead, accompanied by the various mineralogical species before mentioned. These minerals are often of a very attractive character for cabinets.

The depth of this soil is sometimes thirty feet; and in this the diggings have been chiefly done, requiring no other machinery than is used in well-digging; and the stratum of rock has generally put a stop to the progress of the miner, although veins of ore penetrating it have often invited him in the pursuit. But it requires different tools, machinery, and works, for mining in rock; the process is also more tedious and expensive, and is considered especially so by those who have been accustomed from their youth to find bodies of ore by a few days' digging in the earth, and who, if they should work a fortnight at one place, and not fall upon a bed of ore, would go away quite disheartened. The principal search has therefore been made in the sub-stratum of clay, where large bodies of ore are sometimes found by a day's, and sometimes by an hour's work. Hence, in the neighborhood of Potosi, the ground has been pretty well explored, and more search and labor is required to find it than in other and more distant places, where new mines continue annually to be discovered. But, with the exception of Austin's shaft, who sunk eighty feet, and the mines opened by Jones, the rock at this mine remains unpenetrated. Austin found large quantities of ore filling crevices in the rock, and the appearances were flattering when the last work was done. In sinking down, a change in the rock was experienced, passing from compact solid gray limestone, by several gradations, into a loose granulated limestone, very friable, and easily reduced to grains. This stone was in some instances completely disintegrated, forming a calcareous sand; and the most compact bodies of it, on a few weeks' exposure at the mouth of the shaft, fall into grains. These grains are, however, wholly calcareous, and readily soluble in nitric and muriatic acids. The portion which I submitted to experiment was taken up completely, nor was any sediment deposited by many months' standing. On going deeper, the rock again graduated into a compact limestone, very hard, and of a bluish-gray color, in which were frequently found small cavities studded over with minute pyramids of limpid quartz. These variations in the structure of the earth and rock in that place, are still observable by the stones, spars, and other minerals, lying around the mouths of the mines; and, upon the whole, the appearances are such as to justify a conclusion that the lower strata of rocks at Potosi, and the numerous mines in its vicinity, are of a highly metalliferous character, and such as to warrant the expenditures incident to a search.

From a statement lately drawn up, and certified by the proprietors of warehouses at Herculaneum, it appears that the total quantity of pig and bar lead, and shot, exported from that place, from January 1, 1817, to June 1, 1818, a period of eighteen months, was 3,194,249 pounds. Herculaneum may be considered the depot for the lead of Mine Shibboleth, Richwoods, Bellefontaine, a portion of the lead of Mine a Burton and Potosi, and a few other mines in that neighbourhood. Perhaps nearly or quite half of the whole quantity of lead yearly smelted at the Missouri mines, is shipped from this place. Here then is an average product of 2,395,667 pounds per annum, for the years 1817 and 1818, from those mines which send their lead to Herculaneum.

Assuming the ground that these mines produce only half of what is annually made at the whole number of mines, which I conclude may be a true estimate, we shall arrive at the conclusion, that the annual product of the Missouri mines for those years was four millions, seven hundred and ninety-one thousand, three hundred and thirty-four pounds. This, estimated at the present price of four cents per pound, gives us a sum of one hundred and ninety-one thousand, six hundred and fifty-three dollars. This is the produce of one year; and supposing the mines to have produced the same average quantity during every year since they have been in possession of the United States, we have a sum of three millions, sixty-six thousand, four hundred and forty-eight dollars; which is more than the original cost of Louisiana, as purchased from France during the administration of President Jefferson. Let those who have any doubts of the value of our mines, reflect upon this, and consider that it was the product of a year when the mines were in a manifest state of decline, and wrought wholly by individuals, with a foreign competition to oppose, and without the benefits resulting from a systematic organization of the mining interest.

Nearly all the lead smelted at the Missouri mines is transported in carts and wagons from the interior to St. Genevieve and Herculaneum. As it must necessarily be deposited for storage at those places, it was naturally expected that authentic accounts of the lead manufactured in the Territory for many years, might be obtained on application. But in this, I experienced some degree of disappointment. At St. Genevieve, although a warehouse has been kept at the landing for many years, the lead sent to town has not all been stored. From the earliest time, and before the establishment of a warehouse by Mr. Janies, the French inhabitants of St. Genevieve had all been more or less engaged in the storage, purchase, and traffic of lead. Every dwelling-house thus became a storehouse for lead, and, in these cases, no regular accounts were kept of the quantities received or delivered. The same practice has, in some measure, continued since, so that it is impossible to obtain, with any precision, the amount shipped from this place. At Herculaneum, a warehouse has been kept since the year 1816; and on application to Mr. Elias Bates, the proprietor, he was so obliging as to allow me permission to peruse his book of receipts, for the purpose of making extracts. The following details embrace the receipts of lead at that place for a period of two years and eleven months, ending May 18, 1819.

I. _A Series of Receipts, from June 16, 1816, to December 31 of the same year, being a period of six months and fourteen days._

Fol. 1. Aggregate of receipts 52,781 lbs.
2. 57,097
3. 55,039
4. 58,892
5. 50,639
6. 63,787
7. 55,663
8. 47,287
--------
Aggregate of separate individual acc'ts during same period. 322,134
--------
Total. 763,319

II. _A Series of Receipts from 31st Dec. 1816, to 31st Dec. 1817._

Fol. 1. Aggregate of receipts. 12,375 lbs.
2. 51,521
3. 49,023
4. 60,576
5. 54,242
6. 47,321
7. 60,956
8. 51,420
9. 43,774
10. 42,694
11. 47,958
12. 15,482
-------
537,343
Aggregate of separate individual acc'ts during same period. 501,903
---------
Total 1,039,246

III. _A Series of Receipts from 31st Dec. 1817, to 31st Dec. 1818._

Fol. 1. Aggregate of receipts 24,261 lbs.
2. 45,981
3. 31,041
4. 39,424
5. 34,711
6. 44,266
7. 31,315
8. 56,442
9. 33,932
--------
341,372
Aggregate of separate individual acc'ts during same period. 112,203
--------
Total 453,575

IV. _A Series of Receipts from 31st Dec. 1818, to 18th May 1819._

Fol. 1. Aggregate of receipts 14,764 lbs.
2. 44,323
3. 44,628
-------
103,715
Aggregate of separate individual acc'ts during same period. 26,211
-------
Total 129,926

RECAPITULATION.

1816 763,319 lbs.
1817 1,039,246
1818 453,575
1819 129,926
---------
Total 2,386,066

During eighteen months of the same period, from Dec. 31st, 1816, to June 1st, 1818, there was deposited with, and shipped by, sundry other persons in Herculaneum, as ascertained by Colonel S. Hammond and M. Austin, Esq., 517,495 pounds of lead, together with patent shot, manufactured by Elias Bates and Christian Wilt, to the amount of 668,350 pounds. For the remaining part of the estimated term, (two years and eleven months,) it is reasonable to presume that a like quantity of lead was exported through private channels at Herculaneum, and a like quantity of shot manufactured by Messrs. Bates and Wilt. This will make the quantity of pig and bar lead shipped by individuals, 1,034,990 pounds, and the quantity of patent shot manufactured, 1,356,700 pounds; which two sums, added to the receipts of Mr. Bates's warehouse, as detailed above, gives us an aggregate amount of 4,757,990 pounds, for the period of two years and eleven months. St. Genevieve, as has already been mentioned, is probably the storehouse for one-half of the mines, and may therefore be estimated to have received and exported the same quantity of pig and bar lead during the same period, making a total of 9,515,512 pounds, which gives an average product of more than three million of pounds of lead per annum.

It would be interesting to know in what proportion the different mines have contributed to this amount. The above details show us their collective importance; but we should then be enabled to estimate their individual and comparative value. With this view, I have compiled, from the best information, the following:

ESTIMATE.

Mines. Pounds of lead. No. of hands.

Mine a Burton 1,500,000 160
Mine Shibboleth 2,700,000 240
Mine La Motte 2,400,000 210
Richwoods 1,300,000 140

Bryan's Mines }
Dogget's Mines } 910,100 80

Perry's Diggings 600,000 60

Elliot's Mines }
Old Mines } 45,000 20
Bellefontaine }

Mine Astraddle }
Mine Liberty }
Renault's Mines } 450,000 40
Mine Silvers }
Miller's Mines }

Cannon's Diggings }
Becquet's Diggings } 75,000 30
Little Mines }

Rocky Diggings }
Citadel Diggings }
Lambert's Mine } 1,160,000 130
Austin's Mines }
Jones's Mines }

Gravelly Diggings }
Scott's Mine }
Mine a Martin } 50,000 20
Mine a Robino }
---------- ----
11,180,000 1,130

In this estimate are included all persons concerned in the operations of mining, and who draw their support from it; wood-cutters, teamsters, and blacksmiths, as well as those engaged in digging and smelting lead-ore, &c. The estimate is supposed to embrace a period of three years, ending 1st June, 1819, and making an average product of 3,726,666 lbs. per annum, which is so near the result arrived at in the preceding details, as to induce a conclusion that it is essentially correct, and that the mines of Missouri, taken collectively, yield this amount of pig-lead annually.

The United States acquired possession of the mines in the year 1803, fifteen years ago last December; and, assuming the fact that they have annually produced this quantity, there has been smelted, under the American government, fifty-five million pounds of lead.

On the view which has now been taken of the Missouri mines, it may be proper here to remark--

1. That the ores of these mines are of the richest and purest kind, and that they exist in such bodies as not only to supply all lead for domestic consumption, but also, if the purposes of trade require it, are capable of supplying large quantities for exportation.

2. That although at different periods the amount of lead manufactured has been considerable, yet this produce has been subject to perpetual variation, and, upon the whole, has fallen, in the aggregate, far short of the amount the mines are capable of producing. To make these mines produce the greatest possible quantity of lead of which they are capable, with the least possible expense, is a consideration of the first political consequence, to which end it is desirable that the reserved mines be disposed of, to individuals, or that the term for which leases are granted be extended from three to fifteen years, which will induce capitalists, who are now deterred by the illiberality of governmental terms, to embark in mining. That there be laid a governmental duty of two and a half cents per pound on all imported pig and bar lead, which will exclude foreign lead from our markets, and afford a desired relief to the domestic manufacturer. The present duty is one cent per pound. But this does not prevent a foreign competition; and the smelters call for, and appear to be entitled to, further protection.

3. That although the processes of mining now pursued are superior to what they were under the Spanish government, yet there is a very manifest want of skill, system, and economy, in the raising of ores, and the smelting of lead. The furnaces in use are liable to several objections. They are defective in the plan, they are constructed of improper materials, and the workmanship is of the rudest kind. Hence, not near the quantity of metallic lead is extracted from the ore which it is capable, without an increase of expense, of yielding. There is a great waste created by smelting ore in the common log furnace, in which a considerable part of the lead is volatilized, forming the sublimated matter which adheres in such bodies to the sides of the log furnaces, and is thrown by as useless. This can be prevented by an improvement in its construction. To pursue mining with profit, it is necessary to pursue it with economy; and true economy is, to build the best of furnaces, with the best of materials. At present the furnaces are constructed of common limestone, which soon burns into quicklime, and the work requires rebuilding from the foundation. Not only so, but the frequency with which they require to be renewed, begets a carelessness in those who build them, and the work is accordingly put up in the most ordinary and unworkmanlike manner. Instead of limestone, the furnaces ought to be constructed of good refractory sandstone, or apyrous clay, in the form of bricks, which will resist the action of heat for a great length of time. Both these substances are the production of that country, and specimens of them are now in my possession.

4. From the information afforded, it has been seen that the mines are situated in a country which affords a considerable proportion of the richest farming-lands, producing corn, rye, wheat, tobacco, hemp, flax, oats, &c., in the greatest abundance, and that no country is better adapted for raising cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep. The country is well watered, and with the purest of water; the climate is mild and pleasant, the air dry and serene, and the region is healthy in an unusual degree. Every facility is also afforded by its streams for erecting works for the manufacture of white and red lead, massicot, litharge, shot, sheet-lead, mineral yellow, and the other manufactures dependent upon lead. The country also abounds with various useful minerals besides lead, which are calculated to increase its wealth and importance. It is particularly abundant in iron, zinc, manganese, sulphur, salt, coal, chalk, and ochre.

5. That a systematic organization of the mining interest would have a tendency to promote the public welfare. To this end, there should be appointed an officer for the inspection and superintendence of mines. He should reside in the mine country, and report annually to the proper governmental department on the state of the mines, improvements, &c. His duty should consist in part of the following items, viz.:

_a._ To lease out public mines, and receive and account for rents.

_b._ To prevent the waste and destruction of wood on the public lands.

_c._ To see that no mines were wrought without authority.

_d._ To keep the government informed, periodically, of the quantity of lead made at the different mines, and of new discoveries of lead, or any other useful minerals; and,

_e._ To explore, practically, the mineralogy of the country, in order fully to develop its mineral character and importance. Connected with these duties, should be the collection of mineralogical specimens for a national cabinet of natural history at Washington.

The superintendent of mines should be a practical mineralogist, and such a salary attached to the office as to induce a man of respectable talents and scientific acquirements to accept the appointment. To allow the manufacturers of lead every advantage consistent with the public interest, the rent charged on mines should not exceed two and a half per cent. on the quantity manufactured, which is equivalent to the proposed governmental duty on imported lead, whereby the revenue would not only be kept up, but might be considerably enhanced. The foregoing details exhibit an annual produce of 3,726,666 pounds of lead, which, it is presumable, may be half the quantity the mines are capable of producing, with proper management. But, estimating the lead at four cents per pound, and taking that as the average quantity, the annual rents, at two and a half per cent., will create a revenue of thirty-two thousand four hundred and ninety dollars.

This subject is believed to be one that commends itself to the attention of the government, which has, from a policy early introduced, reserved the mineral lands on the public domain. No one can view it in the light of these facts, without perceiving the propriety and necessity of an efficient organization of this branch of the public interest.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] The following sketch of the life of Burton is given by Colonel Thomas H. Benton, of St. Louis, in the Enquirer of that city, October 16, 1818:--"He is a Frenchman, from the north of France. In the fore-part of the last century, he served in the Low Countries, under the orders of Marshal Saxe. He was at Fontenoy when the Duke of Cumberland was beat there by that Marshal. He was at the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, and assisted in the assault of that place when it was assailed by a division of Marshal Saxe's army, under the command of Count Lowendahl. He has also seen service upon this continent. He was at the building of fort Chartres, on the American bottom; afterwards went to fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh), and was present at Braddock's defeat. From the life of a soldier, Burton passed to that of a hunter; and in this character, about half a century ago, while pursuing a bear to the west of the Mississippi, he discovered the rich lead-mines which have borne his name ever since. His present age cannot be ascertained. He was certainly an _old soldier_ at fort Chartres, when some of the people of the present day were little children at that place. The most moderate computation will make him a hundred and six. He now lives in the family of Mr. Micheaux, at the little rock ferry, three miles above St. Genevieve, and walks to that village almost every Sunday to attend mass. He is what we call a square-built man, of five feet eight inches high, full chest and forehead; his sense of seeing and hearing somewhat impaired, but free from disease, and apparently able to hold out against time for many years to come."

[13] The following is a list of the principal mines worked under the Spanish government, with their situation:

Mine La Motte Head of St. Francis river.
Mine a Joe On Flat river.
Mine a Burton On a branch of Mineral Fork.
Old Mines On a branch of Mineral Fork.
Renault's Mines On Mineral Fork, or Fourche Arno.

[14] A law erecting the Territory of Arkansas from the southern part of Missouri, has since passed; but its northern boundary is extended so as to include all White river above the latitude of 36 deg. 30'.

[15] The following are the principal historical epochs of Louisiana, chronologically arranged:

A. D.
Discovered by Ferdinand de Soto, and named Florida 1539
Visited by the French from Canada 1674
Settlement made by La Salle 1683
A settlement made at Beloxi 1699
Granted to Crozat by Louis XIV., 14th September 1712
New Orleans founded by the French 1717
Retroceded to the crown by Crozat 1717
Granted to the Company of the West 1717
Retroceded by the Company of the Wes 1731
Ceded by France to Spain 1762
First occupied by the Spanish 1769
Ceded to the United States 1803
Taken possession of by the United States, 20th December 1803
Louisiana became a State, August 1812
Missouri Territory erected, 4th June 1812

[16] On this passage, Mr. Silliman remarks, "that sulphur is not poisonous to men or animals.... The _carbonate_ of barytes is eminently poisonous; but we have never heard that the sulphate is so. May not the licking around the furnaces expose the cattle to receive lead, in some of its forms, minutely divided? or, if it be not active in the metallic state, both the oxide and the carbonate, which must of course exist around the furnaces, would be highly active and poisonous. Is it not possible, also, that some of the natural waters of the country may, in consequence of saline or acid impregnations, dissolve some of the lead, and thus obtain saturnine qualities? We must allow, however, that we are not acquainted with the existence of any natural water thus impregnated."--JOUR. SCI., Vol. III.

[17] I was mistaken in supposing this the only locality of the fluate of lime in the United States. It has also been found "in Virginia, near Woodstock or Miller's town, Shenandoah county, in small loose masses, in the fissures of a limestone containing shells. (Barton.)--In Maryland, on the west side of the Blue Ridge, with sulphate of barytes. (Hayden.)--In New Jersey, near Franklin Furnace, in Sussex county, disseminated in lamellar carbonate of lime, and accompanied with mica and carburet of iron; also near Hamburg, in the same county, on the turnpike to Pompton, in a vein of quartz and feldspar. (Bruce.)--In New York, near Saratoga Springs, in limestone; it is nearly colorless, and penetrated by pyrites.--In Vermont, at Thetford.--In Connecticut, at Middletown, in a vein, and is accompanied by sulphurets of lead, zinc, and iron. (Bruce.)--In Massachusetts, at the lead-mine in Southampton, where it is imbedded in sulphate of barytes, or granite; its colors are green, purple, &c.--In New Hampshire, at Rosebrook's Gap, in the White Mountains, in small detached pieces. (Gibbs.)"--CLEVELAND'S MINERALOGY.

MINERALOGY.

A CATALOGUE OF THE MINERALS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.

In the arrangement of this catalogue, the order introduced in Professor Cleveland's mineralogical tables, has been chiefly observed. It is the commencement of an investigation into the physical history, character, and mineral resources of the West, which it will become the duty of future observers to continue and perfect. The field is an extensive one, and invites attention. The order and beauty that are observed in this branch of natural history, afford as striking proofs as any of the other departments of it, of that design which, in so remarkable a manner, pervades the organization of the various classes of bodies, animate and inanimate, on the surface of the globe. So far as respects mineralogy, its species and varieties have not all been seen, in crystallized forms, agreeably to our imperfect state of microscopical knowledge; but as far as the species have been brought within observation, in the classes of crystals and crystallized ores, they rival, in their colors and exact geometrical forms, other systems of bodies.

In revising the list, those specimens are dropped, respecting which further reflection or examination has shown, either that the early descriptions were imperfect, or that the quantity of the mineral was deficient.

I. ALKALINE AND EARTHY SALTS.

1. Nitrate of potash. Nitre.
2. Muriate of soda. Salt.
3. Sulphate of barytes. Heavy spar.
4. Carbonate of lime. Calc. spar.
_a._ Rhombic crystals.
_b._ Concrete forms.
5. Fluate of lime. Fluor spar.
6. Sulphate of lime. Gypsum.
7. Sulphate of magnesia. Magnesia.
8. Sulphate of alumine and potash. Alum.

II. EARTHY COMPOUNDS AND STONES.

9. Quartz.
_a._ Hexagonal crystals.
_b._ Radiated.
_c._ Chalcedony.
_d._ Agatized wood.
_e._ Agate.
_f._ Jasper.
_g._ Hornstone.
_h._ Red ferruginous quartz.
_i._ Tabular quartz.
_j._ Granular quartz.
_k._ Hoary quartz.
_l._ Carnelian.
_m._ Buhrstone.
_n._ Opalized wood.
10. Pumice.
11. Mica.
12. Feldspar.
13. Hornblende.
14. Greenstone porphyry.
15. Clay.
_a._ Native alumine.
_b._ Indurated clay.
_c._ Reddle.
16. Basanite.
17. Indian pipestone.
Opwagonite.
18. Schoerl.
19. Novaculite.

III. COMBUSTIBLES.

20. Sulphur.
_a._ Crystallized.
_b._ Concrete.
21. Graphite.
22. Coal.
_a._ Slaty-bituminous.
_b._ Wood-coal.
Bituminous shale.

IV. METALS.

23. Native copper.
24. Iron.
25. Sulphuret of iron.
26. Iron glance.
27. Micaceous oxide of iron.
28. Brown oxide of iron.
29. Ironstone.
30. Argillaceous oxide of iron.
31. Ochrey oxide of iron.
32. Sulphuret of lead.
_a._ Common galena.
_b._ Specular.
_c._ Granular.
_d._ Cobaltic.
33. Carbonate of lead.
34. Earthy oxide of lead.
35. Sulphuret of zinc.
36. Sulphuret of manganese.

FIRST CLASS.

1. NITRE--SALTPETRE. This salt, in its efflorescent state, exists extensively in the limestone caves of Missouri and Arkansas. It also impregnates the masses of earth found in these recesses. This earth is lixiviated with wood-ashes, which allows the nitre to take a crystalline form. I visited a large cavern, about eighty miles south-west of Potosi, where this salt was manufactured, and observed its efflorescences in other caves in the Ozark range.

2. MURIATE OF SODA. About one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of common salt are annually made from the United States' saline on Salt river, in Illinois. It appears, from the remains of antique broken vessels found in that locality, to have been manufactured there by the ancient inhabitants. There is a saline, which has been profitably worked, on Saline creek, in St. Genevieve county. Two salt springs are worked, in a small way, in Jefferson county, Mo. The springs in Arkansas are reported to be extensive, and rumors of rock-salt on its plains have been rife, since the purchase of Louisiana. The hunters whom I met in the Ozark range, invariably affirmed its existence, in crystalline solid masses, in that quarter; from which also, it is to be recollected, De Soto's scouts brought it, in 1542.

3. SULPHATE OF BARYTES--HEAVY SPAR. This mineral is found, in considerable quantities, at the principal lead-mines of Missouri, west of the Mississippi. It presents its usual characters--it is heavy, white, shining, opaque, and easily fractured. It is sometimes found crested, columnar, prismatic, or in tabular crystallizations. Its surface is frequently covered by a yellowish, ochrey earth, or ferruginous oxide. It sometimes exists as the matrix of the sulphuret of lead--more frequently, as one of its accompanying minerals.

4. CARBONATE OF LIME.

a. _Calc. Spar._ This form of the carbonate of lime is common in the lead-mine regions of Missouri. At Hazel run, it constitutes, to some extent, the gangue of the lead-ores. It is generally imbedded in lumps in the red clay mineral soil. These lumps are round, externally; but, on being broken, reveal a rhomboidal structure, and are beautifully transparent.

b. _Stalactites._ This form of the carbonate of lime is found in a cave on the head-waters of Currents river, in Missouri. The stalactites are found in concretions resembling icicles hanging from the roof, or in columns reaching to the floor. The specimens are translucent. Stalactites are also found in a very large cave (Winoca) on Findley's fork, one of the tributaries of White river, Arkansas. They form two large vases in this cave, which are filled with the most crystalline water.

c. _Stalagmite_ (Calcareous Alabaster). The cave which has just been mentioned on Findley's fork, affords this mineral in small, solid globules, which strew the floor of the cave.

5. FLUOR SPAR. The elevated lands on the west banks of the Ohio, near the picturesque shores of Cave-in-Rock, in Illinois, disclose this mineral. It exhibits its well-known character. It is generally of a purple, or amethystine hue, and crystallized, as its primary form, in cubes. Externally, these crystals are dull. Its association here is with the ores of lead, which have been extensively searched for in former times. It is plentifully found, sometimes in large crystals, which have an external appearance as if they had been subjected to the influence of turbid water. It has been thus far, chiefly, explored in the diluvial stratum.

6. GYPSUM. Foliated masses of this mineral occur in the river cliffs in St. Clair county, Illinois. It is found in large quantities near the salines in Upper Arkansas. Dr. Sibley, speaking of the formation in that vicinity, says: "It is a tract of about seventy-five miles square, in which nature has arranged a variety of the most strange and whimsical vagaries. It is an assemblage of beautiful meadows, verdant ridges, and rude misshapen piles of red clay, thrown together in the utmost apparent confusion, yet affording the most pleasing harmonies, and presenting in every direction an endless variety of curious and interesting objects. After winding along for a few miles on the high ridges, you suddenly descend an almost perpendicular declivity of rocks and clay, into a series of level and fertile meadows, watered by some beautiful rivulets, and adorned here and there with shrubby cotton trees, elms, and cedars. These meadows are divided by chains formed of red clay, and huge masses of gypsum, with here and there a pyramid of gravel. One might imagine himself surrounded by the ruins of some ancient city, and that the plain had sunk by some convulsion of nature more than one hundred feet below its former level; for some of the huge columns of red clay rise to the height of two hundred feet perpendicular, capped with rocks of gypsum, which the hand of time is ever crumbling off, and strewing in beautiful transparent flakes, along the declivities of the hill, glittering like so many mirrors in the sun."

7. SULPHATE OF MAGNESIA. A large and curious cavern has been discovered in the calcareous rocks at Corydon, near the seat of government of Indiana, which is found to yield very beautiful white crystals of this mineral. To what extent these appearances exist, is unknown; but the cavern invites exploration.

8. ALUM. Efflorescences of the sulphate of alumina exist in a calcareous cavern in the elevated ranges of Bellevieu, in the county of Washington, Mo. No practical use is made of it.

9. QUARTZ. This important family of mineral bodies exists, in many of its forms, on the west banks of the Mississippi. They will be noticed under their appropriate names.

a. _Granular Quartz._ There is a very large body of this mineral about eight miles west of St. Genevieve, near the Potosi road. It is known as the site of a remarkable cave. The sides, roof, and floor of the cave, consist of the most pure and white granular quartz. It is quite friable between the fingers, and falls into a singularly transparent and beautiful sand. Each of these grains, when examined by the microscope, is found to be a transparent molecule of pure quartz. It possesses no definable tint of color, is not acted upon by either nitric or muriatic acids, and appears to be an aggregation of minute crystals of quartz. It occurs in several caves near the road, whose sides are entirely composed of it; and its snowy hue, and granular structure, give it the appearance of refined sugar. It appears to me to be composed of silex nearly or quite pure, and possesses, as I find on treatment with potash, the property of easy fusibility. Could the necessary alkali and apyrous clays be conveniently had at this spot, I cannot conceive a more advantageous place for a manufactory of crystal glass.

b. _Radiated Quartz._ This mineral is found in great abundance at the Missouri lead-mines, where it bears the striking name of mineral blossom, or blossom of lead--an opinion being entertained that it indicates the presence or contiguity of lead-ore. Examined with care, it is found to consist of small crystals of quartz, disposed in radii, which resemble the petals of a flower. These crystals are superimposed on a basis consisting of thin lines, or tabular layers, of agate. It is found either strewn on the surface of the soil, imbedded in it, or existing in cavities in the limestone rock.

c. _Chalcedony._ This species is brought down the Mississippi or Missouri, and deposited in small fragments along the Missouri shore. It also constitutes the principal layers in the thin tabular, or mamillary masses, which constitute the basis of the radiated quartz. Most commonly, it is bluish-white, or milk-white.

d. _Agatized Wood._ Fragments of this mineral are brought down the Missouri, and deposited, in occasional pieces, along the banks of the Mississippi.

e. _Hornstone--Chert._ This substance appears to have been imbedded extensively in the calcareous strata of the Mississippi valley; for it is scattered, as an ingredient, in its diluvions. Frequently it is in chips, or fragments, all of which indicate a smooth conchoidal fracture. Sometimes it consists of parts of nodules. Sometimes it is still solidly imbedded in the rock, or consolidated strata, as on the coast below Cape Girardeau, Mo. Indeed, so far as observation goes, it characterizes all the district of country between the western banks of the Mississippi river, and the great prairies and sand deserts at the foot of the Rocky mountains. Its color is generally brown, with different shades of yellow, black, blue, or red. It appears nearly allied to flint, into which it is sometimes seen passing. It runs also into varieties of jasper, chalcedony, and common quartz; and the different gradations from well-characterized hornstone, until its distinctive characters are lost in other sub-species of quartz, may be distinctly marked. The barbs for Indian arrows, frequently found in this region, appear to have been chiefly made of hornstone.

f. _Jasper._ This mineral also appears to have been imbedded in the silico-calcareous rocks of the western valley; and it is found, in the fragmentary form, on the banks of the Mississippi, and also on its plains below the Rocky mountains. The fine yellow egg-shaped pebbles of White river, are common jasper. Several specimens, picked up in a desultory journey, possess striking beauty. The first is a uniform bottle-green, very hard, and susceptible of a high polish. The second is the fragment of a nodular mass, consisting of alternate concentric stripes of green, brown, and yellow; the colors passing by imperceptible shades into each other. A specimen found in Potosi consists of alternate stripes of rose and flesh red.

g. _Agate._ This mineral is picked up, in a fragmentary form, along the banks of the Mississippi. Its original repository appears to have been the volcanic and amygdaloidal rocks about its sources, which have been extensively broken down by geological mutations, during ante-historical periods. The fragments are often beautifully transparent, sometimes zoned or striped. Sometimes they are arranged in angles, presenting the fortification-agate. The colors are various shades of white and red, the latter being layers of carnelian. All the pieces found in this dispersed state are harder than the imbedded species, and are with difficulty cut by the lapidary.

h. _Opal._ A single specimen of this mineral, from the right banks of the Ohio, near Cave-in-Rock, Illinois, is of a delicate bluish-white, and opalesces on being held to the light. It is not acted on by acids. This locality is remarkable as yielding galena, heavy spar, blende, calcareous spar, fluor spar, pyrites, coal, and salt. It belongs to the great secondary limestone formation of the Ohio valley. It is cavernous, and yields some fossil impressions.

i. _Red Ferruginous Quartz._ This occurs as one of the imbedded materials of the diluvion of the Mississippi valley.

k. _Rock Crystal._ Very perfect and beautiful crystals of this mineral are procured near the Hot Springs of Arkansas. They consist, generally, of six-sided prisms, terminated by six-sided pyramids. Some of these are so perfectly limpid, that writing can be read, without the slightest obscurity, through the parallel faces of the crystals.

l. _Pseudomorphous Chalcedony._ Lake Pepin, Upper Mississippi. This appears to have been formed by deposition on cubical crystals, which have disappeared.

m. _Tabular Quartz._ West bank of the Mississippi, Missouri. Of a white color, semi-transparent. The plates are single, and the lines perfectly parallel.

n. _Hoary Quartz._ West banks of the Mississippi, Mo. The character of hoariness appears to be imparted by very minute crystals, or concretions of quartz, on the surface of radiated quartz.

o. _Common Quartz._ This mineral is found in veins of from one to eight or ten feet wide, in the argillaceous rock formation in the vicinity of the Hot Springs of Washita. It is also seen, in very large detached masses, on the south bank of White river. The character of these rocks will not be recognized on a superficial view; for they have a gray, time-worn appearance, and are so much covered by moss, that it was not until I had broken off a fragment with a hammer, that I discovered them to be white quartz. Pebbles of quartz, either white or variously colored by iron, are common on the shores of White river, and, joined to the purity and transparency of the waters, add greatly to the pleasure of a voyage on that beautiful stream.

p. _Buhrstone._ Raccoon creek, Indiana. This bed is noted throughout the western country, and affords a profitable branch of manufacture. It covers an area of from ten to fifteen acres square. Its texture is vesicular, yet it is sufficiently compact to admit of being quarried with advantage, and the stones are applied to the purposes of milling with the best success.

q. _Sedimentary Quartz--Schoolcraftite._ This mineral occurs three miles from the Hot Springs of Washita. It is of a grayish-white color, partaking a little of green, yellow, or red; translucent in an uncommon degree, with an uneven and moderately glimmering fracture, and susceptible of being scratched with a knife. Oil stones for the purpose of honing knives, razors, or tools, are occasionally procured from this place, and considerable quantities have been lately taken to New Orleans. It gives a fine edge, and is considered equal to the Turkish oil-stone. It appears to me, from external character and preliminary tests, to consist almost entirely of silex, with a little oxide of iron. Its compactness, superior softness, specific gravity, and coloring matter, distinguish it from silicious sinter. It has been improperly termed, heretofore, "novaculite." It contains no alumine. It sometimes reveals partial conditions, or spots, of a degree of hardness nearly equal to common quartz.

r. _Carnelian._ Banks of the Mississippi, above the junction of the Ohio. Traces of this mineral begin to be found, as soon as the heavy alluvial lands are passed. It is among the finest detritus of the minerals of the quartz family, brought down from upper plains. The fragments, in these lower positions, are small, transparent, and hard, colored red or yellowish.

s. _Basanite--Touchstone._ This mineral is found in the Mississippi detritus; but no fixed locality has been ascertained.

10. PUMICE. The light, vesicular substance, found floating down the Missouri and Mississippi, is not, properly speaking, a true pumice, capable of the applications of that article in the arts; but it cannot be classified with any other species. It is more properly a pseudo-pumice, arising from partial volcanic action on the formations of some of the tributaries of the Missouri, which originate in the Rocky mountains. It is brought down by the June flood, sometimes in large masses, which, as the waters abate, are left on the islands or shores. It is incompletely vitrified, consisting of spongy globules. The masses are irregularly colored, agreeably to the vitrified materials, red, black or brown. Its tenacity is very great.

30. MICA. In the granitical, or primitive district, at the sources of the St. Francis. The great body of these rocks is a sienite, or sienitic granite, or greenstone. Like the northern granitical tracts, the mica is generally replaced by hornblende. The folia, usually, are small.

31. FELDSPAR. With the preceding. The great bulk of these granitical formations consists of red feldspar. Where the greenstone becomes porphyritic, the feldspar is a light green.

32. HORNBLENDE. With the preceding. This mineral assumes its crystalline form, in large areas of the sienite rock. With the two preceding minerals, mica and feldspar, and common quartz, it constitutes the mountain peaks of that remarkable district. It is the only locality, except the Washita hills, where these formations rise to an elevation above the great metalliferous sandstone, and carbonaceous deposits of the central area of the Mississippi valley, south of the Sauk rapids, above St. Anthony's falls, and the head-waters of the St. Peter's, or Minnesota river. The latter constitute the northern limits of the great horizontal, sedimentary, semi-crystallized rocks west of the Alleghanies.

33. GREENSTONE PORPHYRY. With the preceding.

34. PUDDINGSTONE. In the tongue of land formed by the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, directly beneath the alluvial lands at the old site of fort Massac, and at the village called "America." Also, in large, broken blocks, along the west shores of the Mississippi, near the "chalk banks," so called, in Cape Girardeau county, and at Cape Garlic, on the west banks of the Mississippi.

33. NATIVE ALUMINE--WHITE, FRIABLE, PURE CLAY. At the head of Tiawapeta bottom, Little Chain of Rocks, west banks of the Mississippi, Cape Girardeau county, Missouri. This remarkable body of white earth is locally denominated chalk, and was thus called in the first edition of this catalogue. It is employed as a substitute for chalk, but is found to contain no carbonic acid, and is destitute of a particle of calcia. It appears, from Mr. Jessup,[18] to be nearly pure alumine. The traveller, on ascending the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio, passes through a country of alluvial formation, a distance of thirty-five miles. Here the first high land presents itself on the west bank of the river, in a moderately elevated ridge, running from south-east to north-west, and terminating abruptly in the bank of the river, which here runs nearly at right angles with the ridge, and has been worn away by the action of the water. This ridge consists of secondary limestone, overlying a coarse reddish sandstone, which, at the lowest stage of the water in summer, is seen in huge misshapen fragments, at the immediate edge of the water, and at intervals nearly half way across the river, as well as on the Illinois shore. The mineral occurs in mass, abundantly. It is nearly dry, of a perfectly white color, and chalky friability. It embraces masses of hornstone, resembling flint. It also occurs at a higher point on the same shore, two miles below the Grand Tower.

34. PLASTIC WHITE CLAY. Gray's mine, Jefferson county, Mo.

35. OPWAGUNITE[19]--GEOGNOSTIC RED CLAY. Prairie des Couteau, between the sources of the St. Peter's river and the Missouri. It exists in lamellar masses, beneath secondary masses. It is of a dull red color, is soft, compact, easily cut, and is a material much employed and valued by the Indians for carving pipes, and sometimes neck ornaments. Occasionally it has brighter spots of pale red. It is also found on the Red Cedar, or Folle Avoine branch of Chippewa river, Wisconsin, of a darker color, approaching to that of chocolate. It is polished by the Indians with rushes.

III. COMBUSTIBLES.

36. SULPHUR. In flocculent white deposits, in a spring, Jefferson county, Missouri.

37. MINERAL COAL. Bituminous, slaty coal, constitutes a very large geological basin in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, where it appears to have resulted from the burial of ancient forests. At Pittsburgh, I found it composing thick strata in elevated grounds, on the south banks of the Monongahela river. In an excursion up that stream, it characterizes its banks at intervals for forty miles. It inflames easily, burns with a pitchy smoke and bituminous smell, and throws out a great heat. It occurs in veins in limestone, along with argillaceous slate, indurated clay, red sandstone, and bituminous shale, which are arranged in alternate strata, one above the other, preserving an exact parallelism with the waters of the Alleghany, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers. The coal always constitutes a vein between the shale and clay which are found immediately above and below it. The clay appears to have originated from the decomposition of shale; for it may be observed in all stages of the decomposition, from a well-characterized argillaceous slate, to plastic clay.

The veins of coal are from a foot to nine feet in thickness, and the strata of coal, shale, limestone, &c., are repeated; so that the sides of the hills which afford coal, exhibit several strata, with the rock intervening, one above another. The greatest distance, in a perpendicular direction, from one stratum to another, is perhaps one hundred feet; and such is the regularity of the coal formation in this region, that the description of one pit, or bed, will apply almost equally to any other within a circuit of two hundred miles, every section of which is characterized by coal. Sometimes pyrites of a tin-white color are found mixed among the coal. In Missouri, it occurs at Florrisant.

38. GRAPHITE--PLUMBAGO. Twelve miles south of Potosi, Washington county, Mo., in a large body.

39. SULPHURET OF LEAD.