J? O H T 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES W. TAYLOR, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING- OFFICE 
 1868. 
 
LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 
 
 TRANSMITTING 
 
 Report on the mineral resources of the United States east of the Rocky mountains. 
 
 MAY 2, 18G8. Referred to the Committee on Mines and Mining, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 
 
 Washington, May 2, 1868. 
 
 SIR : I transmit herewith to the House of Representatives the report of James 
 W. Taylor on the mineral resources of the States and Territories east of the 
 Kocky mountains. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 HUGH McCULLOCH, 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX, 
 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 
REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES W. TAYLOR, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES EAST OF THE 
 
 ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 WASHINGTON, May 2, 1868. 
 
 SIR: In pursuance of your instructions of September 12 7 1866, I had the 
 honor on the 13th of February, 1867, to present for your consideration a pre- 
 liminary report, embracing a general view of the gold and silver districts of New 
 Mexico, Colorado, Montana, JJakota, and Minnesota, with some notice of the gold 
 regions of the southern Atlantic states, Canada and Nova Scotia. The present 
 report will include a further inquiry into the mineral resources of those districts, 
 with special reference to their situation and prospects at the expiration of the 
 year 1867; and I propose as a not inappropriate sequel to devote a considerable 
 portion of this communication (1) to a general review of the production of gold 
 and silver in other quarters of the world, with the purpose of indicating rela- 
 tively the commercial and social importance of the treasure product of the United 
 States, and (2) to a summary of the domestic commerce from the Mississippi 
 river westward to the interior or mining districts of the United States, having 
 reference prominently to railway communications with the Rocky mountains and 
 the Pacific coast. 
 
 THE GREAT PLAINS. 
 
 Between the agricultural districts of Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian terri- 
 tory, and Texas, which extend westwardly to the 98th meridian of longitude, 
 and the eastern Piedmont of the Rocky mountains, and in Colorado are 
 bounded eastwardly by longitude 104, the cretaceous formation, once desig- 
 nated as the u American desert," is now well understood to be adequate for 
 the sustenance of cattle, and if subterranean sources of water supply were avail- 
 able for the purpose of irrigation, might become an agricultural region. At 
 present this wide interval between the margin of the Missouri river, where the 
 moist winds from the Gulf of Mexico afford a sufficient fall of summer rain 
 for the growth and maturity of crops, and the Colorado Piedmont, with its limited 
 capacity for irrigation from mountain streams and surfaces, is recognized as a 
 grazing district, bearing the nutritious buffalo grass, and reasonably traversed 
 by streams conditions only favorable to pastoral occupation and a sparse popu- 
 lation. If, however, the experiment of artesian wells should be vigorously 
 prosecuted, and prove successful, the occupation of the plains might be greatly 
 diversified. The government in 1858 despatched a party under the direc- 
 tion of Captain John Pope to the Llano Estacado of western Texas, an extension 
 of the cretaceous formation of eastern Colorado, for the purpose of sinking an 
 artesian well 5 but although a depth of 1,050 feet was attained, and powerful 
 streams flowed into the well at different levels, the water did not rise to die sur- 
 face, and the work was abandoned. It was by no means a failure ; the discovery 
 
4 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 of subterranean streams or fountains accessible; from the surface, being very sug- 
 gestive of the possibilities of future water supply.* 
 
 1STSW MEXICO. 
 
 During 1867 the public attention was occupied by very favorable reports of 
 the mineral resources of New Mexico. The Kansas division of the Union Pacific 
 railroad, while not relinquishing the policy of a direct western communication 
 with Denver and Great Salt Lake City, determined to place a party in the field 
 to explore a southwestern line from the junction of longitude 102 with latitude 
 39 to a crossing of the Eio Grande at Albuquerque, latitude 35, longitude 
 106J, and thence westwardly through New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Cali- 
 fornia, on or near the 35th parallel. 
 
 The results of this exploration fully confirming the observations of Lieutenant 
 Whipple in 1853-'54, have established that gold, silver, and copper mines are 
 as numerous and valuable as in Colorado; and also that beds of lignite -coal 
 occur around the western end of Raton mountain, and the neighboring foot-hills 
 of the Rocky mountains, while a formation of early cretaceous coal has been 
 discovered in the valley of the Eio Grande. The first coal basin consists of an 
 immense thickness of coarse sandstones, first manifesting themselves in some of 
 the ravines of the Raton, a"bout 20 miles east of Raton Pass, but soon becoming 
 visible on the flanks of the mountain, continuing through the pass, and to an 
 unknown distance west of it. This formation lies nearly horizontally against 
 the base of the Raton and Rocky mountains, extending the latter from the 
 Arkansas river at Canon City to the valley of the Little Cimarron on the south. 
 In the Raton Pass the coal beds, which are quite thin in the Manco del Barro 
 Pass, begin to assume importance. About six miles from Trinidad, a locality 
 exhibits a- total thickness of about five feet of good coal, separated into four 
 beds, placed near together. Near the top of the pass are also beds of the same 
 thickness, but at the southern exit of the pass, in canons connected with upper 
 waters of the Canadian, there called Red river, these beds occur in still greater 
 magnitude, being eight feet thick. All these are, however, of trifling nature 
 compared with the great beds found ki the canons of the Vermejo valley, which 
 show in one locality 10 feet of coal in two beds, separated by 10 inches of slate. 
 The same strata were found on the other side of the canon, one-half mile distant, 
 and in other canons several miles westward. Further south other thinner beds 
 were seen near Vermejo of the thickness of three and four feet of good coal. 
 Beyond the Pernejo the high table lands containing the coal beds disappear 
 entirely, and the only sedimentary rock in view is the early cretaceous ' sand- 
 stone, capped in places with middle cretaceous limestone. As the high table 
 land of tertiary sandstone extends north of the Raton, it is probable that similar 
 beds exist in that direction. Coal has also been discovered on the Rio Grande 
 in various places above Piedras Ncgras, as well as below in the vicinity of 
 Laredo, Gurrero, and Roma.t 
 
 The discoveries of gold-bearing quartz, first limited to the Gregory district, 
 in Colorado, extending about 30 miles along the base of the Snowy range, from 
 Gold Hill to Empire City, now reach the southern limit of Colorado, and thence 
 along the Sierra Madre, following the general course of the valley of the Rio 
 
 *In 1867, at Chicago an artesian well, at the depth of 1,190 feet, struck a subterranean 
 stream, eight feet in depth, and flowing with a strong current, from which 600,000 gallons 
 daily are delivered at the surface, and 450,000 gallons daily at an elevation of 45 feet. Pre- 
 viously a vein of water had been reached at a depth of 90 feet, which yielded 15 barrels an 
 hour. (See Appendix No. ] for a narrative by Professor D. D. Owen of other experiments 
 within the United States and elsewhere. ) 
 
 t The value of coal in the reduction of ores, as well as for uses of fuel, justifies all possible 
 details of the recent discoveries in the Rocky mountains. The foregoing report is by Dr. J. 
 L. Le Conte, who accompanied General W. W. Wright, chief engineer of Union Pacific 
 railway, eastern division, upon the expedition already mentioned. 
 
t 
 
 EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 5 
 
 Grande through the whole extent of New Mexico and into the adjacent State 
 of Chihuahua. Successful placer mining by the Mexican residents of this val- 
 ley has often been reported in the mountain gulches near Santa Fe, south to a 
 distance of about 100 miles, or as far as Gran Quivira, and north for about 120 
 miles to the river Sangre de Cristo. This stream is just within the territory of 
 Colorado, but 20 miles south of the boundary line is the locality of the Moreno 
 mines, which attracted much attention during 1867. They are situated near 
 but west of the Eaton mountains, about 30 miles north of Taos, Moro county, 
 New Mexico. Four pounds of the ore from a well-defined quartz vein recently 
 opened are said to have yielded 78 cents of gold, or at the rate of $390 to the 
 ton. An important circumstance is added, that the quartz contains only free 
 gold, without sulphurets. In a specimen taken from the vicinity of the surface 
 and forwarded to Colorado, thread gold could be traced through the mass of 
 quartz. The opportunities for gulch mining have already attracted a considera- 
 ble American population. The Placer mountain, about 30 miles from Santa 
 Fe, within the past year has been worked under an efficient organization and 
 with satisfactory results. The average yield of the auriferous rock is $30 to the 
 ton. The veins are numerous, well defined, and accessible within a district of 
 10 miles square. Another locality of much interest is Pinos Altos, under lati- 
 tude 33, longitude 108. The enterprise of working these mines seems to be 
 under efficient direction. Upon one of the lodes a tunnel has already been 
 drifted 713 feet, and when completed to the distance of 1,600 feet, will have 
 passed from the Atlantic to the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Madre. Midway 
 it passes under the crest of the mountain, from which a shaft of 121 feet con- 
 nects the summit with the tunnel. The ore contains gold, silver, and a small 
 proportion of copper. The village of Pinos Altos is at an elevation of 5,000 
 feet above the sea. The vicinity presents unusual advantages of waod, water, 
 and surface for mining operations, and, with the fullest allowance for exaggera- 
 tion as to the number and richness of the lodes, there seems but little doubt 
 that, with the pacification of the Indian tribes and further facilities of transpor- 
 tation, it will become an important mining centre. 
 
 The foregoing seem to be the most prominent gold-bearing districts of New 
 Mexico j but some 20 localities are mentioned by mining journals, among which 
 are quartz veins at San Jose, in the Sierra Madre, intersecting each other in all 
 directions for a mile in width and three miles in length j a similar formation near 
 Fort Davis, Texas, and extensive placer mines on the San Francisco and Mim- 
 bres rivers. 
 
 Silver, however, with its many combinations, is the most abundant mineral of 
 the Territory. The prominently argentiferous districts are the Placer mountains, 
 near Santa Fe; the Organ mountains, near the Mesilla valley; and the Sierra 
 Madre, at Pinos Altos. The first and last of these localities are, as we have 
 seen, gold-producing also. In the Organ mountains over 50 silver mines have 
 been discovered, the ore being generally argentiferous galena. The district 
 near Mesilla valley, in the Organ mountains, has a mean altitude of 4,400 feet, 
 and is intersected with ravines, affording favorable opportunities for horizontal 
 drifts in opening the veins. The country bordering on the north portion of 
 Chihuahua is a rich silver district. Immediately adjoining the Mexican bound- 
 ary are the mines of Corralitos, the most successful silver mines in the State of 
 Chihuahua, having been mined for 40 years in a region most exposed to Indian 
 hostility. Near the old town of El Paso tradition places the locality ofone of 
 the richest silver mines known to the Spaniards, but its site was lost during the 
 Indian insurrection of 1680. 
 
 Dr. 'A.' Wizlizenns, who accompanied a military expedition in 1847 as surgeon 
 and naturalist, mentions that during the Spanish occupation several rich silver 
 mines were worked at Avo, at Cerillos, and in the Nambe mountains, but none 
 at present. Copper is found in abundance throughout the country, but prinei- 
 
6 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 pally at Los Tijeras, Jemas, Abiqnin, Gnadelupita de Mora, Iron is equally 
 abundant. Gypsum, both common and selenite, is found in large quantities, 
 extensive layers of it existing in the mountains near Algodones, on the Rio 
 Grande, and in the neighborhood of the celebrated Salinas. It is used as com- 
 mon lime, and the crystalline or selenite is a substitute for window glass. About 
 100 miles southeast o'f Santa Fe, on the high table land between the Rio Grande 
 and Pecos, are some extensive salt lakes or salinas, from which the inhabitants 
 of New Mexico are supplied. 
 
 The leading copper mines of New Mexico may be thus enumerated and 
 described: 1. Hanover, discovered in 1860; situated on the headwaters of the 
 Mimbres river, about six miles east of Fort, Bayard; ore a virgin copper, found 
 in extensive pockets in the bed rock, varying in quantities from 100 to 300 
 pounds, and combined with sufficient gold to defray the expenses of working. 
 2. Santa Rita, in the same vicinity, worked by the Spaniards nearly a century 
 and a half ago ore a rich oxide, and found in veins of varying thickness, the 
 lower being virgin copper, which can be drawn under the hammer as it comes 
 from the mine ; supposed to be an extension of the Hanover. 3. Pinos Altos, 
 associated with the extensive gold and silver formation previously mentioned ; a 
 very extensive copper deposit, and favorably situated in respect to wood and 
 water. 4. Arroyo Honda, situated north of Taos and close to the Colorado 
 line, from which specimens of copper have been exhibited at the United States 
 mint and pronounced equal to the amygdaloid of Lake Superior. 5. Nacie- 
 mento, situated about 40 miles south-southwest from Santa Fe, in the Los Valles 
 mountains, in the same range as the Placer mountain ; vein from 30 to 40 feet 
 wide, and occasionally intersected by deposits of white sandstone ; assay of ore, 
 copper, 71; silver, 4; iron, 12; unexamined scoria, 13. 6. Ocatc, near Santa 
 F6 } vein 12 to 20 feet wide and assays 64 per cent, of pure copper. 7. Tijera, 
 situated in the Tijera canon, near the line of the 35th parallel ; surface ore 
 alloyed with silver, but in descending the copper combines with gold. 8. New 
 Mexico, a formation of the Placer mountain, very extensive, and under the same 
 administration as the gold mines of that locality. For many years much of the 
 copper ore of New Mexico has been transported to Indianola, Texas, a distance 
 of 1,000 miles, and the amount of the gold associated with the copper lias always 
 been sufficient to defray the expenses of transportation.* 
 
 COLORADO. 
 
 This interesting Temtory has been fortunate during the ,y ear just closed in 
 the publication of an attractive picture of its mountain scenery, by Bayard 
 Taylor ; an exhaustive work upon its " mining organizations and prospects," 
 by O. J. Hollister j and a careful collation of its mineral and other products at 
 the Paris Exposition, under the direction of Commissioner J. P. Whitney. 
 Very free reference will be made to these authentic sources of information. 
 
 The agricultural section of Colorado, called by its people the valley, extends 
 eastward from. the base of the Rocky mountains, with an area of 30,000,000 
 acres, of which one-sixth is susceptible of irrigation, and is therefore arable. 
 The next division is the Foot-hills with its subdivision, the great mineral belt. 
 Then follows the Snowy range, or the range with its system of parks the 
 crest or sierra of the mountain mass while " over the range" includes all west 
 of the continental divide. The entire area is 103,475 square miles, or 
 67,723,520 acres. 
 
 Until recently the gold formation of the Foot-hills was the first object of 
 interest to mineralogists after leaving the plains ; but, with the extension of the 
 Union' Pacific railway, the probability of an adequate coal formation fully 
 divides attention. With the exploration of the valleys which debouch from the 
 
 * Letter to Philadelphia Press from member of Pacific Railway exploration in 1867. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 7 
 
 first elevations of the Rocky mountains a lignite lias been discovered upon the 
 Yellowstone of Montana, the Platte of Colorado, and the Kio Grande of New 
 Mexico, while within the parks at a greater elevation deposits are found similar 
 to the Albertine coal of New Brunswick upon the Atlantic coast. It is not 
 unlikely that the bituminous beds of Iowa and Missouri, disappearing under the 
 cretaceous masses of the plains, may reappear with the upheaval of the moun- 
 tains in a condition highly metamorphosed, if not in the form of anthracite. 
 The veins of lignite first mentioned have a general direction north and south 
 along the base of the mountains, and are accessible where the mountain streams 
 traverse the Foot-hills. 
 
 The most prominent discovery of coal in Colorado is on South Boulder creek, 
 about two miles from the base of the mountains, 15 miles from Denver, and 15 
 miles from Golden City, the latter being the centre of the gold mining district. 
 In regard to the character and quality of this deposit Dr. J. V. Hay den, United 
 States geologist, reports that there are at least 10 beds from 5 to 13 feet in 
 thickness, belonging to the tertiary period and of the lignite variety. It is non- 
 bituminous and holds a position between dry wood and the anthracites of Penn- 
 sylvania; bums with a bright red flame, giving abundant heat and very little 
 ash 2 per cent, of ash and 58 of carbon. Associated with these coal beds 
 are veins of iron ore of the red or brown hematite. The value of coal and 
 iron deposits, with reference to the construction and use of machinery for reduc- 
 ing' and smelting ores, is quite apparent. * 
 
 The localities in which gold is most plentifully found are in the counties of 
 Boulder, Gilpin, Clear Creek, Jefferson, and the extreme southeastern part of 
 Summit. Although it is evident that many other, sections contain gold-bearing 
 veins no great amount of attention has been bestowed upon them, and the prin- 
 cipal amount of mining has been done in the counties of Gilpin and Clear 
 Creek. The gold veins proper, found wholly in granite formation, vary in 
 width from a scarcely perceptible streak to 40 and even 50 feet, but seldom 
 averaging over four or five feet. When discovered from the surface the vein is 
 indicated by a light porous quartz, discolored by the oxidation of base metals, 
 in which small particles of gold are disseminated sometimes in the form of small 
 scales, fine dust, or stringy pieces, but seldom in masses of any size. The value 
 of veins is usually determined by the miners by crushing to a fine powder in a 
 hand mortar a few pieces of surface ore, the powder being carefully washed with 
 water in a hand pan. This consists in giving the pan a peculiar motion which 
 settles the gold at the bottom, the fine particles of earth and quartz being care- 
 fully floated off. It is seldom that surface ore is found so poor as not to exhibit 
 from a few pieces so treated, a streak of fine gold dust at the bottom of the 
 pan. From some veins pieces can be readily found, by a little search, showing 
 specks of gold up to the size of pin heads. Sometimes streaks of white and 
 yellow earths are found in surface ores, which yield from $5 to $60 to the pan- 
 ful of 12 or 15 pounds. When such streaks are found large amounts are often 
 obtained from them. The surface ore, generally quite soft and porous at the 
 top, gradually grows harder and more compact as it recedes from the oxidizing 
 effects of the atmosphere, and is finally lost in the glittering sulplmrets of iron 
 and copper which takes its place, being equally rich in gold, and oftentimes a 
 vast deal richer, having in addition a large percentage of silver, and often- 
 times an amount of copper equivalent to 25 per cent, of bulk. The surface ore, 
 when found in veins of ordinary width and richness, is stripped from the veins 
 until the sulplmrets are met with, and is submitted to the ordinary process of 
 amalgamation on large copper plates coated with quicksilver, or in large iron or 
 wooden pans, the ore being scoured by revolving spars of iron or masses of stone. 
 
 * SSee appendix No. 2 for aii abstract of Professor Hayden's observations on "The Lig- 
 nites of tho West," originally published in Silliman's Journal of March, 
 
8 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 In this manner surface ores are made to pay good profits, and in some instances 
 very large amounts. 
 
 The tracts containing gold veins, designated as belts, seem to have a uniform 
 course northeast by southwest, cropping out in some localities, and then disap- 
 pearing from the surface to be found beyond in their continuation. In places, 
 by some natural convulsions of nature at an early period, they are broken and 
 distorted from the regularity which marks them elsewhere, and for acres in 
 extent the surface of the earth is discolored by the peculiar blossom which indi- 
 cates the presence of sulphurets below. Such tracts, when water can be brought 
 to them, are sluiced to great profit. 
 
 A peculiarity of the Colorado gold veins is that they arc invariably found 
 richer the deeper they are sunk upon. This rule seenis to be without exception, 
 and in no instance is a vein lost except by a break-off in the adjoining forma- 
 tion. Gold is not found to any great extent in a free state after leaving the sur- 
 face ores. The great percentage of the precious metal is found intimately asso- 
 ciated with the sulphurets of iron, copper, silver, lead, antimony, and arsenic. 
 Iron predominates over the other metals, often comprising from 30 to 40 per 
 cent, of the crevice matter. Copper is almost invariably represented, and few 
 veins show less than from three to five per cent, of this metal, and many exhibit 
 from 15 to 20 per cent. This metal increases almost invariably as the veins are 
 sunk upon, showing a tendency to assume the .form of sulphate as it descends. 
 In the copper, particularly the sulphate, is found the greatest percentage of gold, 
 often giving an assay exceeding $2,000 to the ton of 2,000 pounds. Miles of 
 shafts have been sunk and tunnels run in Colorado, but no single shaft or tun- 
 nel has yet attained any great depth. 
 
 Shafts have been sunk upon the Gold Dirt, Bobtail, and Gregory lodes, to a 
 depth of between 300 to 400 feet, in every instance exhibiting ore oi' surpassing 
 richness. The great majority of shafts, however, from want of means and from 
 ignorance of the true method of treating the ores found, have not been sunk 
 more than sufficiently deep to demonstrate the value of the lodes they are upon. 
 
 The gold-mining regions are easily reached from the plains below, and are 
 connected by good roads. Streams, having sufficient water and fall to furnish 
 unlimited power for mining purposes, are plentiful. The valleys and agricul- 
 tural lands, though being less sheltered and productive than those upon the 
 western side of the range or the plains, below, are sufficiently fertile to furnish 
 more than a much larger population can consume. Timber, also, is plentiful, 
 and the climate, though uncertain in its temperature during the summer, is not 
 attended in winter with that severity which is peculiar to the Atlantic sea-coast 
 towns of the same latitude. 
 
 Within the last year a considerable quantity of ore, taken from several mines, 
 was freighted across the plains to the river, and forwarded to Swansea, in Wales, 
 that it might be experimented upon by the skilled experience employed there. 
 No difficulty was found in working the ore in Swansea, which gave yields of 
 between $200 and $300 to the ton, the same ore not yielding over $10 or $15 
 to the ton by the stamp-and-pan mills in Colorado, yet paying a profit from that 
 amount. , 
 
 No accurate estimates can be made of the amount of gold obtained from Col- 
 orado, particularly during the earlier days, owing to the irregular methods of 
 remitting in vogue ; but probably not less than $30,000,000 have been obtained 
 within the limits of the Territory from 1859 up to the present time not a large 
 amount when compared with the yield from other more advanced mining regions 
 during the same time, but a large sum considering the small number of people 
 engaged in obtaining it, their isolation from settled regions, their Indian difficul- 
 ties, and the destructive influences of the civil war raging at the same time in 
 the United States. 
 
 Silver is found in all the gold mining districts of Colorado, associated with 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 9 
 
 the ores containing gold, in tlie galena particularly, whicli is found at times in 
 considerable quantity. It is always present, but not sufficiently plentiful to be 
 a feature of value in the gold mines j yet large masses have lately been obtained 
 by the smelting process from ores considered strictly gold-bearing, and it is quite 
 evident that in future, with the advantages of improved processes, this metal 
 will be freely obtained. But not until within the last two years was it generally 
 known in Colorado that immense belts of silver veins, separate from the gold, 
 existed upon the western declivities of the Rocky Mountain range, corresponding 
 in their direction and general features with those of gold upon the eastern side. 
 The prevailing great richness in silver in the ores of Griffith and Argentine dis- 
 tricts, in Clear Creek county, upon the head waters of South Clear creek, some 
 13 miles distant from the towns of Central and Black Hawk, and correspond- 
 ingly near to the snowy peaks of the range, first attracted particular attention 
 to the element of silver. In these districts silver ores of great richness have 
 been discovered, masses being exhibited at the Paris Exposrtion from the Baker 
 lode, of Argentine district, and of the Elijah Hise and Endigo lodes, of Griffith 
 district, which assay respectively, in silver alone, $532 12, $1,656 20, and 
 $1,804 83 to the ton of 2,000 pounds of ore. These veins were followed to an 
 altitude previously unknown in mining experience in Colorado. Enterprising 
 men were soon engaged in prospecting the regions corresponding upon the other 
 side of the range, whicli resulted in the discovery of immense deposits of rich 
 argentiferous galena. The black sulphurets of silver, antimonial silver ores, 
 rich chlorides, ruby silver ore, and pieces of native silver were found, and a new 
 region, the extent of which has not yet been determined, was thrown open to 
 the attention of those who might have the curiosity to examine it. 
 
 Much excitement was occasioned in Colorado by this discovery, and a large 
 number of prospectors were soon engaged there, making discoveries and pre- 
 emptions under the liberal laws of the Territory, whicli gave undisputed pos- 
 session to discoverers who should have their claims recorded in the county office, 
 after making the developments and improvements required by law. 
 
 That portion of the silver region first opened is situated in Summit county, 
 upon the head waters of the Snake and Swan rivers, whicli flow into the Blue 
 river, a tributary of the Rio Colorado, which flows into the Gulf of California. 
 An examination of the region a few miles southwest, in the neighborhood of 
 Ten Mile creek, another tributary of the Blue, led to the discovery of still more 
 wonderful exhibits of mineral wealth than were found in the Snake river region. 
 Veins of great width and prominence were found, which, in some instances, 
 could be distinguished by their discolored surface ores, when miles distant, 
 seaming the mountain sides like gigantic roads, measuring from 20 to 50 feet in 
 width. In this region the result of violent volcanic action is evident by the 
 great height of many peaks, their abrupt and broken sides, and by the immense 
 masses of lava and scoria whicli abound. Not far distant are hot saline and 
 sulphur springs, as well as deposits of dry salt. 
 
 Fletcher mountain, in Ten-mile district, where the richest mines yet discovered 
 are found, may be designated, if the application be a proper one, the predom- 
 inant peak or watershed of the continent. From each side of this mountain 
 rise streams, (Gilpin and Clinton,) which, flowing into Ten Mile creek, empty 
 into the Grand, and then into the Rio Colorado in fact, being the head waters 
 and origin of that great stream which, originating at an altitude of over two 
 miles above tide-water, in a region teeming with mineral wealth, seeks the shores 
 of the Pacific through a region which is one vast field of metallic treasure, but 
 which lies deserted, neglected, and comparatively unknown. Upon the western, 
 near the base, are numerous rivulets, emptying into the Blue, another tributary 
 of the Rio Colorado. Southward from Fletcher mountain a lew miles, so near 
 Ten Mile creek that the waters almost mingle, rises the Arkansas river, Sowing 
 into the Mississippi. To the south, not many miles further, rise the head waters 
 
10 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 of the Rio Grande del Norte, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. At the south- 
 eastern base of Fletcher mountain rises the South Platte river, which, striking 
 north, circles over the great plains, irrigating the soil in its passage, and supply- 
 ing water to tens of thousands who yearly make their migrations to the promising 
 lands of the far west. 
 
 During the short time which has elapsed since the discovery of the silver 
 mining regions good roads have been made, connecting them with the more 
 settled sections of the Territory, from Snake river mines to Denver, by way of 
 Breckinridge, the county-seat of Summit county, and from Ten "Mile district to 
 Denver, by way of the Arkansas river and the South Park. In both sections 
 a large number of shafts have been sunk upon the principal rivers to a depth 
 of from 20 to 60 feet, some of which have exhibited an abundance of rich ore. 
 In Ten Mile district miners were engaged during the past winter in the employ 
 of eastern capitalists, who subscribed a large sum for the purpose in driving a 
 tunnel from the base of Fletcher mountain to its centre, for the purpose of ascer- 
 taining, from ore taken at a great depth, the true value of veins which presented 
 such indications of wealth upon the surface. This tunnel, commencing at a 
 height of about 60 feet above the water-line of the district, had been driven 
 through the solid rock (of which the mountains, beneath a thin coating of earth, 
 are almost entirely composed) to a depth of about 300 feet, and will be steadily 
 prosecuted until it reaches, at a depth of from 600 to 800 feet, a large vein 
 known as the Campton, which exhibits upon the surface, for over a mile in 
 length, a crevice, which has a uniform width of 10 feet, and which has given 
 from shafts sunk upon it some of the richest ore obtained in the district. 
 
 From the silver mines of Summit county 76 assays were made during the 
 past year by Albert Reichenecker, a graduate of the'Polytechnic School of the 
 kingdom of Wurtemburg, and who served the state government of that king- 
 dom nine years as chemist and engineer of mines, who obtained an average 
 assay of $121 64 to the ton of 2,000 pounds; and deposes that said ores taken 
 for assay were only a fair average of the ore from the mines from which they 
 were respectively taken, and that they came from a depth not exceeding 20 feet, 
 and in most cases from within five feet of the surface. 
 
 From 30 assays, made by Fred. Eckfeldt, melter and refiner at the United 
 States branch mint at Denver, an average assay was obtained of $130 28 to 
 the ton of 2,000 pounds ; Eckfeldt deposing that the ores so assayed were but 
 a fair average of the mines from which ^they were taken. 
 
 The silver mining regions abound in* many streams, which have their sources 
 in the immense masses of snow found always upon the high mountain peaks 
 These streams, being fed by thousands of small rivulets and springs, gain in a 
 short distance immense force and volume, giving unfailing freshness to the rich 
 grasses, flowers, wild fruits, and lofty trees found in the valleys they traverse. 
 
 At a height of 12,000 feet, in these regions, timber disappears, though rich 
 pasturage and flowers are found growing close to the banks of snow. Straw- 
 berries are often found growing in great abundance far above the timber line, 
 as well as raspberries. The timber above an altitude of 8,000 or 9,000 feet is 
 principally fir and spruce, which is quite abundant, and grows to a great size. 
 The native grass is of an extremely nutritious quality, and for hay cannot be 
 excelled. It grows high and vigorously, and in the valleys and parks can bt 
 cut in great quantities. Trout are found in the streams at a height of nearly 
 12,000 feet, and a variety of wild game is abundant. The climate is less severe 
 in the silver regions than at the same altitudes upon the eastern side of the 
 range, owing to the high mountains which intervene, and which form barriers 
 against the sweeping winds of the plains. Settlements are rapidly being made 
 in those sections, and soon they will resound with the busy labor of thousands' 
 who will be required to develop the wonderfully rich and accessible treasures of 
 which now the existence is comparatively unknown. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 11 
 
 Lead, in the form of galena, exhibits itself in many of the gold mines, but 
 diminishes in quantity as the shafts sink. It is more plentifully found in Ten- 
 mile district, Summit county, than in any other section yet known. In that dis- 
 trict it is in some instances found projecting in large masses above the surface of 
 the earth upon the line of vein, and can be detached in a partially oxidized con- 
 dition in pieces weighing from 500 to 1,000 pounds. Upon Fletcher mountain 
 thousands of tons could be easily gleaned from the surface, and but a short dis- 
 tance below the surface are large beds, the extent of which have not yet been 
 determined. This galena is never found free from silver, yielding from 10 to 
 500 ounces to the ton of metal. 
 
 From some pieces of galena, fair average ors from a number of veins in Ten- 
 mile district, the following assays for silver were obtained by Professor A. A. 
 Hayes, State assayer of Massachusetts : 
 
 Oz. Diets. Grs. 
 
 Pyramid vein per ton 2,000 pounds.. 81 13 8 
 
 Merrimac vein do 68 12 
 
 Polygoiivein do 266 8 
 
 Hard Cash vein do 108 2 12 
 
 Blackstone vein do -.. 85 18 6 
 
 Young vein do 65 6 16 
 
 Finsleyvein do 178 17 
 
 Siberianvein do 106 20 
 
 Augustine vein do 221 3 12 
 
 giving an average exceeding 130 ounces to the ton. 
 
 This metal, like copper, has not been mined for, excepting for the purpose of 
 obtaining it to flux other metals with by the new smelting process. 
 
 Deposits of dry salt are found in some parts of the Territory, and salt springs 
 are quite plentiful in the parks. The salt found in a dry state is comparatively 
 pure, and the saline springs contain fully one-half pound of salt to the gallon 
 of water. Some of the springs are very large. In the South Park extensive 
 works are erected and in operation for boiling and evaporating the brine. The 
 spring from which the works are supplied is some 1,000 feet long by 150 feet 
 wide, from the bottom of which the water boils up vigorously. 
 
 The following are altitudes above the sea of some towns and passes in Colo- 
 rado : 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Denver City 5,317 
 
 Golden City 5,882 
 
 Central City 8,300 
 
 Idaho 7,800 
 
 Georgetown 8, 452 
 
 Empire City 8,871 
 
 Pass over the range via Cheyenne 7,500 
 
 Pass over the range via Berthond 10,914 
 
 Pass over the range via South Park 11,000 
 
 Pa*s over the range via Boulder 11,700 
 
 Pass over the range via Jones 12, 200 
 
 Pass over the range via Argentine 13,000 
 
 North, South, Middle, and San Luis Parks, from 6, 000 to 9, 000 
 
 Main belts of gold mines, from 7, 000 to 9, 000 
 
 Main belts of silver mines, from 8, 000 to 11, 000 
 
 About one-half of the Territory is covered with timber, the growth in some 
 sections being small and scattering, composed of the pinon, or nut-bearing pine, 
 and scrubby cedar. These are confined to the lower foot-hills of the mountains. 
 Higher up are found cedar, spruce, fir, and pine, which grow to an enormous 
 size. Hemlock, aspen, and oak are also found. Plum and cherry trees are met 
 with growing wild, and the apple and pear are being cultivated with success. 
 Wild grapes, strawberries, raspberries, and currants are abundant, and heavy 
 growths of wild clover, wild rye, and wild barley cover many of the valleys. 
 
 The records of the United States Land Office exhibit sales of 210,000 acres 
 
12 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 of fanning land in the Territory, with 190,000 acres claimed but not paid for, 
 making 400,000 acres under improvement. Of this number '100,000 acres are 
 well cultivated. Wheat, barley, and oats yield from 30 to 70 bushels to the 
 acre, and all varieties of vegetables are successfully raised. In 1865, for a 
 number of months corn and oats sold readily at prices ranging from 15 to 25 
 cents per pound. In the summer of 1866 grains sold in Colorado at prices less 
 than those ruling in Chicago, Illinois, the largest grain mart in the world. Eight 
 or ten flour mills are now in operation, which are making more flour than the people 
 of the Territory can consume. 
 
 Enough has been done in Colorado to satisfy any one of the true value of the 
 countless and inexhaustible veins which so closely pack and seam her mountain 
 sides, and the improvements which have been made- there in so short a time must 
 appear astonishing to any one who will examine them. But the great difliculties 
 which have been encountered must be taken into consideration by those who 
 review her mining processes ; the interruptions of the war and Indian difficulties ; 
 the long distance and high rates of freight from the Missouri river, and the delay 
 occasioned in getting the machinery ordered, which, being of novel construction, 
 had to be manufactured expressly for the purpose. But these difliculties are 
 happily now overcome by the cessation of war, by the building of railroads, and 
 by the manufacturing establishments in the Territory, so that we may reasonably 
 expect in the succeeding few years to see a more rapid and successful advance. 
 
 WYOMING, OR LiyCOLX. 
 
 On the organization of Montana Territory, and the limitation of Idaho to dis- 
 tricts west of the Rocky mountains, a region remained south of Montana which, 
 for want of settlements or any form of public organization, was annexed to Dakota. 
 It will probably be constituted a Territory at the current session of Congress, as 
 important discoveries of gold mines have lately occurred in the valley of the 
 Sweet water and on the sources of the Wind river. The Cereso lode, near the 
 South Pass, is the most prominent locality, and was the first scene of discovery. 
 As much as $130 per day is claimed as the reward of one man's labor with a 
 hand mortar. Some 150 lodes have been located, all within a circle of 6 by 15 
 miles, while the great mineral belt in which the mines are found extends from 
 Fremont's Peak south to the junction of Grand and Green rivers. There seems 
 to be little doubt that the foot-hills of the Wind River mountains are equally 
 auriferous. 
 
 The Sweetwater mines are situated northeast of the old emigrant road which 
 leads through South Pass and by the Pacific Springs, and are on the eastern 
 slope of the Rocky mountains j and thus far only one ledge has been observed 
 to cross the divide to the western slope of the mountains. The line of the Pacific 
 road is 25 miles south of the mines the telegraph within nine miles. A popu- 
 lation of 600 passed the winter of 1S67-'6S in this district j a newspaper, the 
 Sweetwater Miner, has commenced its issues, and the federal government will 
 probably be represented by territorial officers at an early day. 
 
 MONTANA. 
 
 So much interest is expressed in the mining development of this new Territory 
 that I have sought and obtained the valuable assistance of W. S. Keyes, mining 
 engineer, a resident of Montana, to present with some detail the narratives of 
 mining discovery and enterprise upon the sources of the Missouri. His commu- 
 nication is embraced in the appendix to this report. 
 
 In estimating the annual product of the precious metals from Montana, I 
 adopted a rate, which did not seem entirely arbitrary, of doubling the mint deposits 
 for the year ending June 30, 1866. These were $5,505,687 30, and on this basis 
 the production of that year was assumed to be about $12,000,000. I am still 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 13 
 
 of the opinion that this method of estimate is fair, and reasonably accurate in 
 respect to gold, while, as to silver, so little is ever demanded for coinage that a 
 much greater proportion passes into consumption from private assay. The deposits 
 of gold from Montana at the mint, in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver, 
 and the assay office in New York, for the year ending June 30, 1867, amounted 
 to $6,595.419 15. This amount doubled would be $13,190,838 30, or with an 
 addition of the probable quantity of silver, it may be stated at $13,550,000. 
 
 Professor Keyes accepts a calculation, by N. P. Langford, esq., collector of 
 internal revenue, based on population in 1867, which is reported at 24,000. 
 Assuming an average population of 22,500 since 1864, and that the average cost 
 of living* is $750 per annum, these gentlemen infer that the population must have 
 received from the mines the annual^iggregate of $ 16,875,000. In tke English 
 mining colonies careful statements of the number engaged in gold mining are 
 preserved ; but the record in Australia, for 1867, only returns <SO, or $400, per 
 miner. There is probaply no industry in the world so precarious, and in which 
 there is so much time passed without productive results. Apply the Australian 
 ratio, to the entire average population of Montana, as above stated, and we have 
 $9,000,000 per annum since 1864 a statement which is only $3,000,000 in excess 
 of the estimate in my last report. The foregoing statement of $13,250,000, 
 founded on the mint deposits of 1867, is more favorable to Montana than the 
 estimate of Messrs. Langford and Keyes. 
 
 The area of the Territory is reported as 146,689 T 3 o\ square miles, equal to 
 93,881,184 acres nearly the same as California, three times the area of New 
 York, two and a half that of New England ; and yet no greater proportion is 
 claimed by local authorities as susceptible of cultivation than 1 acre in 30, or a 
 total of 3,346,400 acres. Of course, afar greater surface will afford sustenance 
 to domestic animals. The limit to agriculture, as in Colorado and New Mexico, 
 is the possibility of irrigation. 
 
 Referring to fke enclosed communication for further details, it is not deemed 
 inappropriate to trace beyond the international frontier those physical features 
 which hav<* characterized the cordillera of the Sierra Madre from the 29th to the 
 49th parallel. These are attractively described by Father De Smet, the well 
 known missionary, who, in 1845, crossed the mountains from the sources of the 
 Columbia to the Bow river, or South fork of the Saskatchawan. Thence he continued 
 northward, noticing coal on the Red Deer, a branch of the Bow river. Descend- 
 ing the valley of the Red Deer, he at length emerged upon what he described 
 as " the vast plain, the ocean of prairies." He followed the general direction of 
 the mountain chain to Edmonton House, in latitude 54, whence he wrote in the 
 following terms : 
 
 The entire region in the vicinity of tlie eastern chain of the Rocky mountains, serving as 
 their base for 30 or 60 miles, is extremely fertile, abounding in forests, plains, prairies, lakes, 
 streams, and mineral springs. The rivers and streams are innumerable, and on every side 
 offer situations favorable for the construction of mills. The northern and southern branches 
 of the Saskatchawan \vater the district I have traversed for a distance of about 300 miles. 
 Forests of pines, cypress, thorn, poplar, and aspen trees, as well as others of different kinds, 
 occupy a large portion of it, covering the declivities of the mountains and banks of the rivers. 
 These originally take their rise in the highest chains, whence they issue in every direction 
 like so many veins. The beds and sides of these rivers are pebbly, and their course rapid, 
 but as they recede from the mountains they widen, and their currents lose something of 
 their impetuosity. Their waters are usually" very clear. The country would be capable of 
 supporting H, large population, and the soil is favorable for the production of wheat, barley, 
 potatoes, and beans, which grow here as well as in the more southern countries. 
 
 As early as 1862, some American explorers washed from the bed of the north 
 Saskatchawan river, at a distance of 200 miles from its extreme sources in the 
 Rocky mountains, minute particles of gold, but with no return exceeding one 
 cent to the pan, or $5 per day. In subsequent years the emigrants from Selkirk 
 settlements, and a few American adventurers, obtained more satisfactory results, 
 there being frequent instances of $10 as a daily average from bars or gulches 
 
14 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 nearer the mountains. As the Montana explorations have advanced towards 
 the international frontier, each encampment proving more productive than its 
 predecessors, the opinion has prevailed that the sources of the Saskatchewan 
 would develop rich deposits of gold and silver, especially near the great centre 
 of physical disturbance, where 'Mount Hooker reaches an elevation of 16,000 
 feet, and Mount Brown 15,700 feet above the sea, and from which the waters of the 
 Saskatchawan, Peace, Frazer, and Columbia rivers diverge to three oceans. So 
 prevalent is this belief in Montana that a sudden migration of thousands may at 
 any moment be anticipated. American prospectors at the Kootanie mines have 
 already passed the mountains on or beyond the boundary of 49, and found rich 
 washings, returning even $60 dafly to the hand on the sources of the south 
 Saskatchawan. 
 
 The limit of successful agriculture in the northern temperate zone should be 
 earned considerably beyond the Saskatchawan valley, especially near the Rocky 
 mountains. Sir Roderick Murchison, in an address before the London Geograph- 
 ical Society, represents this chain of mountains to be greatly depressed in high 
 northern latitudes, and indeed several of the tributaries of the Mackenzie have 
 their sources on the Pacific slope, and wind through the mountains before falling 
 into the great Arctic river. The mountain valleys of the Peace and Liard 
 rivers, latitude 56 to 60, are thus influenced by the Pacific winds, and wheat 
 and other cereals are successfully cultivated. Sir Alexander Mackenzie describes, 
 under date of May 10, the exuberant verdure of the mountain valleys trees 
 about to blossom, and buffalo attended by their young. During an inquiry in 
 1858 by the English House of Commons *into the situation of the territory of 
 the Hudson's Bay Company, similar statements w r ere elicited. Dr. Richard King, 
 who accompanied an expedition in search of Sir John Ross, as "surgeon and 
 naturalist," was asked what portion of the country visited by him was valuable 
 for the purpose of settlement. In reply he described " as a very fertile valley a 
 square piece of country," bounded on the south by Cumberland House, and by 
 the Athabasca lake on the north. His own words are as follows : 
 
 ,The sources of the Athabasca and the sources of the Saskatchawan include an enormous 
 area of country. It is, in fact, a vast piece of land surrounded by water. When I heard 
 Dr. Livingston's description of that country, which he found in the interior of Africa, within 
 the equator, it appeared to me to be precisely the kind of country which I am now describing. 
 It is a rich soil, interspersed with well-wooded country, there being growth of every kind, 
 and the whole vegetable kingdom alive. 
 
 When asked concerning mineral productions his reply was : 
 
 I do not know of any other mineral except limestone ; limestone is apparent in all direc- 
 tions. * * * The birch, the beech, and the maple are in abundance, and there is every 
 sort of fruit. 
 
 When questioned further, as to the growth of trees, Dr. King replied by a 
 comparison " with the magnificent trees around Kensington Park in London." 
 He described a farm near Cumberland House, under very successful cultivation 
 luxuriant wheat, potatoes, barley, pigs, cows, and horses. 
 
 Beyond the Athabasca district above described, the valley of the Mackenzie, 
 parallel and adjacent to the northwestern trend of the Rocky mountains, is too 
 Arctic in position and climate for successful agriculture, but will always possess 
 interest to the geologist and mineralogist. Its course has been frequently followed 
 by scientific observers, either employed by the Hudson's Bay Company, or com- 
 missioned by the English government for exploration of the Arctic coast. These 
 observations are of interest, from their analogies to the formations previously 
 noticed within the Territories of Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico, and 
 because the extreme northern districts are only separated by a mountain chain 
 from the comparatively unknown Territory of Alaska. The Saskatchawan 
 basin is mostly silurian, but towards its western and northern borders coal 
 measures are developed, which extend continuously to the Arctic ocean along 
 
EAST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. If) 
 
 the western bank of the Mackenzie. The preponderance of testimony is that 
 the coal is lignite. Of this Mackenzie district, Sir John Richardson thus spoke 
 in a communication published in the journal of the Geographical Socictv for 
 1845: 
 
 It is rich in minerals ; inexhaustible coal-fields skirt; the Rocky mountains through 12 of 
 latitude ; beds of coal crop out of the surface on various parts of the Arctic coast ; veins of 
 lead ore traverse the rocks of Coronation Gulf, and the Mackenzie river flows through a 
 well-wooded tract, skirted by metalliferous ranges of mountains, and offers no obstruction to 
 steam navigation for upwards of 1,200 miles. 
 
 DAKOTA. 
 
 Keturning to the territory of the United States, the Black Hills on the western 
 border of Dakota, between 44 and 45 latitude, and 103 and 105 longitude, 
 will next receive notice. They are closely related to the Missouri and Yellow- 
 stone mines of Montana, and have been ascertained by the explorations of Lieu- 
 tenant G. K. Warren in 1847, and of Captain W. F. Eeynolds in 1859 and 1860, 
 under direction of the United States topographical office, to be rich in gold and 
 silver, as well as coal, iron, copper, and pine forests. 
 
 The area occupied by the Black Jlills, as delineated on a map which accom- 
 panies Lieutenant Warren's report, is 6,000 square miles, or about the surface of 
 Connecticut. Their bases are elevated from 2,500 to 3,500 feet, and the highest 
 peaks are about 6,700 feet above the ocean level. The whole geological range 
 of rocks, from the granite and metamorphosed azoic to the cretaceous formations 
 of the surrounding plains, are developed by the upheaval of the mountain mass. 
 Thus, at the junction of silurian rocks, gold becomes accessible, while the car- 
 boniferous strata bring coal measures within reach. 
 
 With the pacification of the Sioux Indians and the establishment of emigrant 
 roads this district of Dakota w r ould doubtless be the scene of great mining excite- 
 ment, as the gold field of the Black Hills is accessible at a distance of 120 miles 
 from the Missouri river. 
 
 MINNESOTA. 
 
 In 1865 attention was directed to discoveries of gold and silver northwest of 
 Lake Superior, in the State of Minnesota. Lake Vermillion, an expansion of a 
 stream of that name, is the centre of the district in question. The outline of 
 this lake is very irregular. With a diameter of 30 miles, its surface is so studded 
 with islands, its shores so broken with bays and headlands, that the entire coast 
 line cannot be less than 200 miles in extent. In 1848 Dr. I. G. Norwood, of 
 Owen's geological survey, passed from the mouth of the St. Louis river, at the 
 western extremity of Lake Superior, to the sources of the Vermillion river, and, 
 descending through the lake to the Eainy river, furnished a sketch of its natural 
 features and mineral exposures. His statements are repeated so far as they 
 record the usual indications of a gold formation. 
 
 Before entering Vermillion lake from the south, Dr. Norwood mentions a per- 
 pendicular fall of eight feet over "silicious slate, hard and gray, with minute 
 grains of iron pyrites sparsely disseminated through it." This rock bears east 
 and west, with thin seams of quartz between the laminae, running in the line of 
 bearing. There are also irregular patches of quartz, from 8 to 10 feet long and 
 from 6 to 12 inches wide, which cross the strike at right angles. The river is 
 broken by falls three-quarters of a mile above, or "south of, Lake Vermillion. 
 
 The islands in the lake indicate very distinctly volcanic action, one of them 
 being an extinct crater. The prevalent rocks are talcose slate, which Dr. Nor- 
 wood describes as " eminently magnesian, thinly laminated, and traversed by 
 numerous veins of quartz from an inch to five feet wide, some of which contain 
 beautiful crystals of iron pyrites." He adds that, "from some indications noticed, 
 other more valuable minerals will probably be found associated with it." A 
 
16 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 Bpecimen obtained about midway of the lake is catalogued as " quartz of reddish 
 brown color ; crystalline, with yellow iron pyrites, crystallized as well as foliated 
 disseminated through it." 
 
 These quartz veins were ascertained in 1865-'66 to be auriferous. A specimen 
 weighing three pounds, containing copper pyrites, was forwarded by the governor 
 of Minnesota to the mint in Philadelphia, and, upon assay, was found to contain 
 $23 03 of gold and $4 42 of silver per ton of 2,000 pounds. The State geolo- 
 gist, Mr. H. H. Eames, reported an abundant supply of quartz equal in richness. 
 Other assays in New York in one instance by officers of the United States assay 
 office exhibited results from $10 to $35 per ton. Professor J. V. Z. Blancy, 
 of Chicago, described a vein 10 feet in width, at the foot of a shaft of 50 feet, 
 which was " indubitably gold-bearing," and added that " specimens taken from 
 its central portion, as proven by assay, would be sufficient in California, Colorado, 
 and other successful mining regions," to warrant further exploration." Washings 
 of the drift near the veins opened have produced gold, but in limited quantities. 
 
 Difficulties of transportation, concurring with the general depression of mining 
 interests in the basin of Lake Superior, have postponed the consummation of 
 several enterprises for working the Vermillion mines $ but a ton of quartz recently 
 reduced at St. Paul is said to have yielded eight pounds of bullion, valued between 
 $400 and $500. The question of their general productiveness remains to be 
 determined. 
 
 CANADIAN MESSES. 
 
 When, in 1862, gold was discovered upon the sources of the Saskatchawan, 
 a newspaper at Selkirk settlement, the Norwester, published statements of the 
 existence of gold between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg. Since the Ver- 
 million discovery rumors of its extension into British America are prevalent, and 
 suggest a probability that the mountain chain known to geographers as the 
 Laurentian, which separates the waters of the St. Lawrence and its lakes from 
 the tributaries of Hudson bay, may reveal to future explorers extensive deposits 
 of gold and silver. The basin of the St. Lawrence, including the sandstones of 
 Lake Superior, is a lower silurian formation ; that of Hudson bay, granitic or 
 primary, with many evidences in Minnesota and along the Canadian shore of 
 Lake Superior of eruptive or igneous agencies. 
 
 Sir Roderick Murchison has frequently advanced the opinion that the pro- 
 ductive gold districts of the world occur where the silurian, and perhaps the 
 lower strata of Devonian, rocks are in contact with, or have been penetrated by, 
 greenstones, porphyries, serpentine, granitic, and other rocks of the primary forma- 
 tion. Gold, especially when traced to its original matrix, is found to occur chiefly 
 in veins or lodes of quartz rising from beneath and cutting through the secondary 
 strata or beds of which the surface 'was previously composed. These conditions 
 are observed in the Vermillion district, and Professor Owen, as early as 1850, 
 traced in this locality of Minnesota, and northeastwardly along the north shore 
 of Lake Superior, in Canada, what he denominated a "great plutonic chain," 
 and the " main axis of dislocation," from which silurian sandstones extend south- 
 wardly through Wisconsin and Minnesota, while on the north the streams which 
 are turned towards Hudson bay traverse a region exclusively granitic or pri- 
 mary. If in Minnesota an auriferous belt has marked this line of junction, we 
 may with reason anticipate its extension eastwardly into Canada and northwest- 
 wardly towards Lake Winnipeg. Indeed, as English explorers trace this con 
 tact of primary and silurian formations along the basins of Lakes Slave and 
 Athabasca and the channel of the Mackenzie to the Arctic ocean, it becomes an 
 interesting problem for future solution whether the auriferous deposits of British 
 Columbia and Saskatchawan may not be extended, with various degrees of pro- 
 ductiveness, along the crest which separates the waters of the Gulfs of Mexico 
 and St. Lawrence from those of the Arctic ocean and Hudson bay, quite as the 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 17 
 
 discoveries of this century now follow the Ural mines eastward, through Siberia ? 
 to the Pacific. 
 
 The intrusion of granitic rocks is not confined in Minnesota to the northeastern 
 angle of the State. It has been traced southwestwardly, near Sank rapids, upon 
 the Upper Minnesota, and even to the northwestern boundary of Iowa, in a 
 wedge-like shape, although covered in most places by the mass of drift which 
 constitutes so large a portion of the surface of Minnesota. A similar granitic 
 cape, with its associated minerals, may be the explanation of the alleged gold 
 deposits in the township of Madoc, near Kingston, in Canada West. 
 
 In 1867 occurred an important discovery of native silver near Fort William, 
 on Thunder bay of Lake Superior, almost at the western limit of Canada. 
 Miners from Ontonagon have visited the locality and returned with specimens of 
 native silver, lead, copper ore, and mundic. The native silver is principally 
 disseminated in the vein matrix, much like stamp copper, and its weight runs 
 from 1 to 10 per cent, of the rock. The lead is also highly charged with silver 
 ore. Although many claims have been secured, yet only two shafts have been 
 sunk. From these, which have reached a depth of 30 to 40 feet, a considerable 
 amount of ore has been taken, consisting of native silver, black sulphuret of silver, 
 argentiferous galena, and leaf silver through the spar. These shafts are upon 
 one lode, which is fully 20 feet in width, having an east and west bearing, with 
 dip to the north. The sheet of mineral and metal is about four inches in thick- 
 ness, interspersed through the spar and quartz and mingled with hornblende. 
 The yield of the working ores, from practical assay, is stated to be at the rate 
 of $700 per ton. If the current information in regard to these silver mines at 
 Fort William 'is confirmed, they will soon be the centre of great mining excite- 
 ment. 
 
 A discovery of gold on the north shore of Lake Superior, in the region of Black 
 bay, between Thunder bay and the river Neepigon, is communicated by Pro- 
 fessor E. J. Chapman to the Toronto Globe. He represents that repeated assays 
 have yielded amounts of gold varying per ton from 15 to 19 penny weights, the 
 mean being 17 pennyweights 12 grains, with about two ounces of silver results 
 obtained from surface specimens only, and showing a value of nearly $21 per 
 ton. irrespective of considerable amounts of copper and lead. The enclosing 
 rock is described as silurian. 
 
 The discoveries in the Macloc district, near Belleville, in Canada West, or 
 Ontario, have been extended, geographically, during the past year, and reduction 
 works by several responsible companies are nearly completed. Much mystery 
 attends the degree of success by the different claims now in course of develop- 
 ment, but there is good reason to believe that next summer's operations will vindi- 
 cate the wisdom of the very considerable investments which have been made. 
 
 The latest and most reliable statement in regard to the Madoc mines is pre- 
 sented by the gold inspector of the Quinte mining district, for the month of Jan- 
 uary, 1868, from which it appears that the reduction of ores by working pro- 
 cess from 45 district localities, 19 yielded gold in paying quantities, 14 in smaller 
 quantities, and 12 showed blank. The highest returns were $40 and $62 per 
 ton. Of the mines from which samples have hitherto been sent to the two 
 reducing establishments, now in operation, 42 per cent, will pay to work from the 
 first, 34 per cent, are worthy of further trial, and only 26 per cent, show no 
 appreciable result. The greatest depth of excavation yet reached is 70 feet. 
 
 The auriferous alluvians of Lower Canada cover an extended region estimated 
 by the geological commission to embrace 10,000 square miles. The gravels, 
 through which the gold is very irregularly distributed, are generally covered by 
 a layer of vegetable earth and often by a bed of clay. They repose in part 
 upon metamorphic lower silurian rocks consisting of schists, generally talcose, 
 micaceous or chloritic, associated with diorites and serpentines. But to the 
 southward these lower silurian strata are tmconformably overlaid by others of 
 2 T 
 
18 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 upper silurian age, which are also covered by gold-bearing alluvians. These 
 upper rocks consist of argillaceous schists, with sandstones and limestones all 
 more or less altered. The rocks of these two formations, but especially of the 
 upper silurian, are traversed by numerous veins of quartz running in the direction 
 of the stratification, or between northeast and east. Mr. A. Michel, from whom 
 these particulars are obtained, compares these Canadian deposits with the aurif- 
 erous sands of the Ural or Altai mountains, in Siberia, which are rarely found 
 reposing on granitic or syenitic rocks, but almost always on schistose rocks in 
 the vicinity of diorites and serpentines, which has led the Russian mining 
 engineers to consider the gold as having " its principal source in the ferruginous 
 quartz of the metamorphic schists, and in the vicinity of the serpentines and 
 diorites." 
 
 These mines are called Chaudiere, as upon that tributary of the St. Lawrence 
 and its branches, in the Seignory of Vaudreuil, the principal placers have been 
 discovered, and there, also, the only quartz lodes have been successfully worked. 
 Alluvial raining is no longer prosecuted, although favorable reports have been 
 circulated since 1851, and Mr. T. Sterry Hunt, of the Canadian geological 
 survey, claims that the river banks would richly repay the use of "hydraulic 
 methods. Assuming that the cost in Canada of washing gravel by this method 
 would be one-fourth as much as in California, or five cents the cubic yard, he 
 adds that the auriferous alluvian over an acre at the forks of the Du Loup and 
 Chaudiere yielded, during the workings in 1851-'52, at the rate of one and 
 thirty-eight hundredths grain of gold to the cubic foot, which is equal to 37 
 grains to the cubic yard. At the ordinary fineness of the alluvial gold of the 
 Chaudiere region, the value of this would be $1 33 as the yield of a cubic yard 
 of gravel. The alluvial gold of this district is not confined to the gravel of 
 river channels, nor to alluvial flats, but is found in gravels high above the river 
 beds, to which the l^draulic method might be applied with advantage even 
 though the proportion of gold was much less than near the Du Loup. 
 
 Prof. Hunt gives the results of 31 assays of gold-bearing rock, from 12 different 
 localities. Of these assays 18 gave no trace of gold, while the remaining 13 
 gave the following returns : 1. Of five assays four gave an average of only 
 6 dwts., 13 grains of gold = $6 76, while the fifth, in which a large scale of 
 gold was seen in sifting and w r as added to the assay, yielded at the rate of 4 
 ounces, 18 dwts., = $101 29 j the average of the five assays being $25 6G per 
 ton. 2. From another locality in the Seignory of Vandreuil, four assays gave 
 a mean of 4 dwts., 21 grains, = $5 03 ; and that of two others, in which a scale 
 of gold was seen and ground up with the powder, gave 3 ounces, 2 dwts., = 
 $64 07, the average of the six assays being $24 71 to the ton. 3. Two Vaudreuil 
 assays gave a mean of 14 dwts., 16 grains, = $15 15. 4. Two assays from 
 another district, Liniere, gave a mean of 6 dwts., 13 grains, = $6 76 to the ton. 
 
 This record does not place the success of quartz mining beyond all contingency ; 
 but a well organized company is now engaged in experiments which will deter- 
 mine the question during 1868. 
 
 XOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 There is no district on this continent, not excepting the Grass Valley mines 
 of California, where the reduction of auriferous quartz has been more successful 
 than in Nova Scotia. Two important elements concur in this result the cheap- 
 ness of commodities under light taxation, and the great facilities of access from 
 the sea, and by good roads. 
 
 Hon. P. S. Hamilton, commissioner of mines at Halifax, has favored me with 
 an elaborate communication upon the gold mines of Nova Scotia, including some 
 notice of the coal measures, which is given in the appendix. The production of 
 gold during 1867 amounted to $517,140. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. ' 1 
 
 THE ALLEGHANY GOLD FIELDS. 
 
 The Appalachian chain takes its origin in Canada, southeast of the St. Law- 
 rence, and forms a broad belt of mountain ridges extending in a southwesterly direc- 
 tion to Alabama. The entire length of the chain is about 1,300 miles ; its breadth 
 is variable/ gradually expanding towards its centre, and contracting at each 
 extremity. The most striking feature of this mountain system is the fact that 
 it is made up of a series of parallel ridges, very numerous, especially in Penn- 
 sylvania and Virginia, no one of which can be considered as being the main or 
 central chain to which the others are subordinate, but the whole forming a system 
 of flexures which gradually open out from the southeast to the northwest, as has 
 been made evident from the results of the geological surveys of Pennsylvania 
 and Virginia, under the direction of Professors H. 1). and "W. 13. Rodgers. Along 
 the southeastern edge of this great Appalachian system is a relatively narrow, 
 undulating range, known under different names in the different States. In Ver- 
 mont it is called the Green mountains ; in New York, the Highlands; in Penn- 
 sylvania, the South mountains; in Virginia, the Blue Ridge; in North Carolina, 
 the Smoky mountains. The rocks of this belt, which has a width of 10 or 15 
 miles, are of the lower palseozoic age, but highly metamorphosed, and, for the 
 most part, having their organic remains entirely obliterated. Still further to 
 the southeast lies the great auriferous belt, nearly parallel with the Blue Ridge, 
 and not easily separated from it in geological age, either lithologically or by 
 palseontological characters. The central axis of this belt has a direction in 
 Virginia of about north 32 east ; towards the north it assumes a more nearly 
 north and south direction, and to the south it approaches an east and west line. 
 Its width, where most developed, does not exceed 70 miles. This is about its 
 extent on the borders of North and South Carolina. In Virginia it does not 
 exceed 15 miles. Starting from Georgia and proceeding northward, we find 
 it developed in the following counties : In Georgia, in Carroll, Cobb, Cherokee, 
 Lumpkin, and Habersham counties; in South Carolina, through the whole 
 northwestern corner of the State, especially in the following districts : Abbeville, 
 Pickens, Spartanburg, Union y York, Lancaster ; in North Carolina, in Mecklen- 
 burg, Rutherford, Cabarrus, Rowan, Davidson, Guilford, and Rockingham; 
 thence through Virginia, in Pitts3 T lvania, Campbell, Buckingham, Fluvanna, 
 Louisa, Spottsylvania, Orange, Culpeper, Fauquier; in Maryland, Montgomery 
 county. Beyond Maryland, to the north, the indications become fainter, and 
 consist only in a few scattered lumps or fine scales occasionally picked up, until 
 we reach Canada, where there is a considerable extent proved to be auriferous. 
 
 Throughout this whole extent the auriferous belt presents rocks of nearly the 
 same character ; they are slates of every variety intermixed with bands of a 
 granite and syenitic character. The predominating kind of slate is talcose, 
 passing into chloritic and argillaceous. The prevailing dip is to the eas.t at a 
 very high angle. In Virginia they stand nearly vertical.* 
 
 Since the California discovery of 1848 little attention has been given to allu- 
 vial mining in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, and until recently capital- 
 ists have acquiesced in the opinion so confidently expressed by Sir Roderick 
 Murchison, in " Siluria" and other publications, that, notwithstanding numerous 
 filaments and traces of gold near their surface, the Alleghany vein-stones held 
 no body of ore downwards which would warrant deep quartz mining. At pres- 
 ent, with 20 years' experience in gold mining ; with the testimony of miners in 
 Colorado, that a lode apparently closed by cap-rock can be recovered with 
 increased richness at a lower depth ; with other analogies, however imperfect, 
 from the successful treatment of pyritous ores in Nova Scotia ; and with the 
 earnest application of inventive minds to new and improved processes of desul- 
 
 phurization, it is evident that the working of the southern mines will be resumed, 
 
 - . , - ~ ~ . -- i 
 
 * Whitney's Metallic Wealth of the United States. 
 
20 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 perhaps with the encouragement of a scientific survey under the auspices of the 
 general government. 
 
 The deposits of gold at the United States mint and its branches between 
 1S04 and 1836, from the States traversed by the Appalachian gold-field, are 
 reported as follows : 
 
 Virginia $1,570,182 82 
 
 North Carolina 9,278,627 G7 
 
 South Carolina 1 , 353, 6G3 93 
 
 Georgia 6,971,681 50 
 
 Alabama ~ . . 201 , 734 83 
 
 19, 375, 890 80 
 
 If we admit that an equal quantity passed into manufactures or foreign com- 
 merce without deposit for coinage, the aggregate production would be about 
 $40,000,000, of which fully three-fourths, or $30.000,000, was mined between 
 1828 and 1848. 
 
 It might be expected that during the year ending June 30, 1867, the produc- 
 tions of the southern mines would reach results as considerable as at any former 
 period. The United States mint and branches report the deposits of that fiscal 
 year from the Alleghany States as follows : 
 
 Alabama 437 30 
 
 Georgia 23,758 20 
 
 South Carolina 1,200 54 
 
 North Carolina . 66,305 62 
 
 Virginia 10,205 90 
 
 ;OG,9G7 56 
 
 It was my purpose to give in detail the organizations for gold mining in the 
 south Atlantic States, with practical results, but so far the attention of parties 
 interested has been so exclusively occupied in acquiring titles "and preparing for 
 actual operations, that it seems inexpedient at this time to attempt such a detailed 
 statement. Referring, therefore, to my preliminary report for a, review of the 
 geological and mineralogical features of the region in question, I repeat the fol- 
 lowing general observations : 
 
 1. There is yet much room for the vigorous and intelligent prosecution of 
 alluvial mining ; especially in Georgia, where the country is abrupt and nature 
 has subjected the auriferous rocks to much dislocation, and atmospheric exposure, 
 not only the beds of the rivers, but the adjacent detritus of their vjdleys, will 
 unquestionably give large returns to the new and powerful methods for washing 
 ponderous masses of earth. It is understood that companies are now organized 
 who propose to introduce these hydraulic appliances upon the Chestatee and 
 other tributaries of the Chattahoochee river. 
 
 2. There is abundant evidence, also, that the upper portions of auriferous 
 lodes have been >n a remarkable degree desulphurized, and may be worked to a 
 considerable depth with great advantage before the intrusion of what is called 
 " cap " in Colorado, or before the main body of the vein becomes obstinately 
 pyritiferous. Surface quartz mining, if the phrase is admissible, will warrant 
 considerable investments whatever subsequent experience shall demonstrate in 
 regard to the refractory sulphurets. It may be admitted that hitherto a quart? 
 so modified in chemical constitution as to be honey-combed, having become cel- 
 lular and brittle from tho decomposition of pyrites, with the gold set free from 
 its matrix, is the only material which it is profitable to reduce. But the testi- 
 mony is ample that immense quantities of ore in this favorable situation are 
 accessible in the Allegheny gold district. 
 
 3. There are no grounds for the opinion that the auriferous lodes, strongly 
 marked as they are by native sulphurets, will not prove true fissure veins, 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 21 
 
 improving in quantity and quality with their depth. Professor Frederick Over- 
 man, in a work entitled " Practical Mineralogy, 7 ' published in 1851, claims that the 
 pyritous veins of Virginia and other south Atlantic States will be more sure and 
 lasting than the gold-bearing localities of California. If the lower beds of 
 Colorado mines can be raised and reduced with profit, deep sinking will be 
 equally successful in the Carolinas. 
 
 METALLURGICAL TPwEATMEXT. 
 
 The process of amalgamation still generally prevails in the mining districts 
 enumerated. It consists in reducing auriferous rock to a fine powder by means 
 of stamps, arrastras, Chilian mills, or other mechanical contrivance, and subject- 
 ing it to a continuous agitation with mercury, with water enough to give a pasty 
 consistency to the mass, the object being to expose as fully as possible the fine 
 particles of gold and silver to the attractive power of the mercury, with which 
 they form an amalgam easily separable by subsidence in the lighter pulp of 
 earthy matter of which the ore consists. The amalgam thus obtained on being 
 subjected to moderate heat in an iron retort gives up its mercury, which passes 
 over in vapor and is condensed again in another vessel, the metal being left in 
 the retort. 
 
 In the case of pyritic ores, however, it is found that the process of amalga- 
 mation is seriously retarded by the impurities with which the gold and silver are 
 associated. Probably the ores of Colorado do not yield by simple amalgama- 
 tion an average of 20 per cent, of their assay value. A previous process of 
 desulphurization is therefore indispensable, and how best to accomplish this is 
 the problem which has occupied the attention of metallurgists for many years. 
 Many methods have been advised, the majority of which being merely empir- 
 ical have had but an ephemeral reputation. 
 
 The opinion is widely prevalent that smelting the attack of gold or silver 
 bearing ores by fire will be the final and indispensable expedient for separat- 
 ing the precious metals from its matrix. If smelting works on a large scale 
 could be established in all the mining Territories, there would doubtless ensue a 
 subdivision of labor in the business of mining gold and silver, as is now the 
 case in iron mining. The miner would limit his efforts to raising ore from the 
 mine, and the smelting furnace would afford a market where the ore might com- 
 mand its price, which would be better for all parties than the method hitherto 
 pursued, of raising and reducing ores under one administration. 
 
 But at present there are two great obstacles to such a development of mining 
 in the Rocky mountain districts, and perhaps elsewhere : excessive prices of 
 machinery, chemicals, and utensils, resulting in a great degree from the high 
 rates of taxation, external and internal j and the cost of transportation west of 
 the Missouri river. The former is of universal application j the latter has spe- 
 cial reference to the interior districts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana, 
 as well as other western Territories. Except for these causes of obstruction the 
 gold and silver product of the United States could be readily doubled. They 
 will be considered with some fulness of illustration. 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 It will be instructive in this connection to compare tho taxation of Victoria, 
 the leading province of Australia, and the United States, premising that 10 per 
 cent, in addition should be added to the Victoria rates, to express the difference 
 of freights, interest, and insurance, over the shorter communication between 
 Europe and the United States. Tables have been compiled from the American 
 tariff of 1867, and the latest revision of the Victoria tariff, and are presented in 
 the appendix No. V. The tariff of Victoria has been recently advanced beyond 
 the average of the other Australian colonies. 
 
22 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 The taxation of Nova Scotia has not hitherto exceeded an average on the 
 dutiable list of 10 per cent., although, as an incident of confederation with 
 Canada, it has been recently raised to 20 per centum. 
 
 \ Far the largest portion of the importations in Victoria are charged with a 
 duty of five per centum, while the average duties on the whole bulk of imports, 
 under the tariff of the United States, has been computed by the special commis- 
 sioner of revenue at 42.71 per cent. 
 
 In all the gold districts of the world, the opportunities of placer mining induce 
 a high price of labor; and hence the great necessity that government shall 
 impose the lowest rates of taxation consistent with, its necessities upon machinery 
 and other materials or utensils, wliich experience has proved indispensable to the 
 exploration of mines. At present the burden inseparable from an ill-adjusted 
 revenue system is a grave obstacle to the increase of our supply of the precious 
 metals. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 A ton of ore in California producing $10 is remunerative of capital and labor 
 employed; and in Canada, Nova Scotia, and the southern States it is profitable 
 to reduce auriferous or argentiferous rock w r here the average yield is $8 per ton. 
 Yet, in the mining Territories of the Rocky mountains, on account mainly of the 
 cost of transportation, a lode must yield $25 average per ton to warrant its occu- 
 pation and improvement. 
 
 Some statements from the official records of the quartermasters' bureau of the 
 War Department will illustrate the oppressive freights now imposed on the peo- 
 ple of the remote interior by the necessity of wagon transportation. In 1865 
 the cost of transportation of a pound of corn, hay, clothing, subsistence, lumber, 
 or any other necessary, from Fort Leavenworth to 
 
 Cents. 
 
 - Fort Riley was 2.46 
 
 Fort Union, the depot for New Mexico 14. 35 
 
 Santa F6, NCAV Mexico 16.85 
 
 Fort Kearney 6.44 
 
 Fort Laramie 14.10 
 
 Denver City, Colorado 15. 43 
 
 Salt Lake City, Utah 27.84 
 
 The cost of a bushel of corn purchased at Fort Leavenworth and delivered 
 at each of these points was as follows : 
 
 Fort Riley $279 
 
 Fort Union 9 44 
 
 Santa Fe 10 84 
 
 FortKearney 5 03 
 
 Fort Laramie 9 26 
 
 DdnverCity 10 05 
 
 Great Salt Lake City 17 00 
 
 To the last point none was sent. 
 
 During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1863, the Quartermaster General 
 estimated the cost of transportation of military stores westward across the plains 
 as follows : 
 
 1. Northern ami -western route : 
 
 To Utah and posts oil that route 8 J , 5'J4, 1 1'J 00 
 
 2. South-western route : 
 
 To Fort Union, New Mexieo, and posts on that route $1,301,400 
 
 To posts in the interior of Xew Mexico 138, 178 
 
 1,431), 578 00 
 
 Cost of the transportation of jn-aiii on above routes, where the grain -\vas delivered by con- 
 tractors, and the transportation entered into the price paid the same veai : 
 
 1. Utah route .. $2, r.'JG,7-J7 <W 
 
 2. Xe\v Mexico route 697,101 GU 
 
 3, .'3, &*J 37 
 
 Cost; of transportation of military stores across the plains same year by government trains : 
 
 1. Utah route $34, (i()() 
 
 M. XCAV Mexico route , 1 W>, 730 
 
 201, 330 00 
 
 Total by contract and government trains *>, 388, 856 37 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 23 
 
 Under date of April 18, 1866, General M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster General, 
 furnished the following unofficial statement : 
 
 The distances to the northwest are great ; the interior and local transportation as costly. 
 The use of the Missouri river, however, will enable the government to place a large part of 
 its supplies upon the upper waters of that river, by taking advantage of the summer rise, 
 and* thus the extent of land transportation will be reduced; but, until the Missouri valley 
 itself is settled, the navigation will continue to be slow and perilous. Steamers are now 
 obliged^to stop from day to day to cut green cottonwood or drift-wood upon the banks, and 
 a trip to the upper Missouri is a season's work. Many boats are wrecked ; some are caught 
 by the falling waters and compelled to winter on the upper river. Insurance to Fort Benton, 
 the head of navigation, costs 20 per cent. ; and the government has this year been obliged 
 to engage freight from St. Louis to- Forts Berthold and Union, old trading posts now about 
 to be occupied by troops as military posts, at $5 per 100 pounds, or $100 per ton. Fort 
 Union is, in a direct line, 380 miles below Fort Benton ; by the river the distance is probably 
 one-half greater. From Fort Union the supply of the troops and posts throughout Montana 
 and the districts supplied from the east will be by wagon trains. On the well-travelled and 
 well-guarded routes of the central and southwestern overland trails the cost of this transport- 
 ation by contract last year averaged 45 cents per ton per mile. The contracts for the present 
 year are at much lower rates, but in the remote districts of the northwest such favorable 
 rates cannot be expected as yet. The distance from St. Louis to Fort Benton by river is 
 estimated at 3,450 miles by river men. The cost of transportation of freight to that point is 
 $350 to $400 per ton. From St. Louis to Helena, a town of 4,00.0 inhabitants, which has 
 sprung into being in Montana within the past year, the estimated cost of transportation of 
 freight by the river and wngon trail is $500 to $600 per ton. 
 
 Within the last two years the construction of the Union Pacific railroad has 
 contributed to the reduction of the aggregates- paid for freight, although the 
 wagon rates are not materially diminished. In 1866 the rates from the Missouri 
 river to northern Colorado, Nebraska, Dakota, Idaho, and Utah were $1 45 ; to 
 southern Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico, $1 38, with an addition from Fort 
 Union, in New Mexico, to posts in that Territory, in Arizona, and western Texas, 
 of $1 79 per 100 pounds per 100 miles. The total number of pounds trans- 
 ported was 81,489,321, or 40,774.10 tons, at a cost of $3,314,495. 
 
 A prominent citizen of Montana authorizes the following statements of the 
 amount paid annually by the government of the United States and by the people 
 of Montana for transportation. During 1867 there were 40 arrivals of steamers 
 by the Missouri river, averaging 150 tons of freight, an aggregate of 6 7 000 tons. 
 An equal quantity was delivered by wagons from the west a'nd south. He esti- 
 mates that the average charges for freight and insurance were 25 cents per 
 pound, which, on 12,000 tons, would be not less than $6,000,000. If the pop- 
 ulation of Montana is 30,000, this would be $200 per capita ; if the population 
 is 60,000, as sometimes claimed, $100 per capita. A merchant is deprived for 
 seven months of the year of the use of his capital a very considerable loss of 
 interest. In addition, the unavoidable expenses of travel, incident to the busi- 
 ness of the country, is an immense tax. A trip to the eastern cities, or to the 
 Pacific coast, requires a direct expenditure of $1,000. It is estimated that 20 
 such journeys weekly are already incident to the intercourse of the people with 
 the business centres of the country ; and if so, another million must be added to 
 the account of transportation expenses. The wonder is, notwithstanding the 
 richness and productiveness of the Montana mines, that such a burden can be 
 borne, while the effect upon prices can be readily conceived. 
 
 This statement of the amounts paid for transportation in Montana will not 
 seem improbable when it is remembered that $13,000,000 in gold was paid in 
 1863 for transportation eastward from San Francisco to the State of Nevada and 
 Territories east of the Sierra Nevada. 
 
 The progress of population under these oppressive conditions in the mining 
 States and Territories of the west, gives an assurance that the construction of 
 an adequate railway system from the Mississippi river to the Pacific coast would 
 be attended with such an extension of settlements as would justify the immediate 
 reduction of rates of transportation to one-third of those now prevailing. A 
 
24 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 large saving to the goverment upon its unavoidable movement of men and sup- 
 plies would also follow. 
 
 When in 1853 the initiative of Pacific railroad exploration was presented to 
 the United States Senate, resulting in a congressional appropriation of $150,000 
 for the purpose, attention was directed to three routes the northern, the central, 
 and the southern. Legislation has followed in "behalf of one, the central, not* so 
 much from any demonstration of greater feasibility, but because the mineral dis- 
 coveries of the interior, followed by population, suggested the selection. The 
 same causes are now active on the two other routes. Discoveries, not only of 
 gold and silver, but of coal, iron, lead, and salt, diversify the map of the Rocky 
 Mountain region everywhere within our boundaries; and an emigration from the 
 Pacific coast meets the Atlantic column even upon the great plains, which are 
 drained by the Missouri, the Platte, and the Rio Grande. 
 
 The necessity of more than one route between the Mississippi States and the 
 Pacific coast will appear from an enumeration of the railroad lines which are 
 indispensable to the commerce between the Atlantic and interior States. These 
 are seven well-defined thoroughfares : 1. From Portland, by the Grand Trunk 
 to Detroit, and thence with a traverse of the State and lake of Michigan to 
 Milwaukee and La Crosse. 2. By the New York Central, the Great Western, 
 of Canada, and the Chicago and Northwestern railroad, to Prairie du Chien. 
 3. By the New York and Erie, the lines of Ohio and Indiana south of the great 
 lakes, and the Illinois Central, to Galena. 4. The Pennsylvania Central and 
 its western connections to Rock Island. 5. The Baltimore raid Ohio, by way 
 of Cincinnati to St. Louis. 6. From Richmond, through the Cumberland val- 
 ley to Memphis. 7. From Charleston and Savannah, traversing the States of 
 Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, to Vicksburg and New Orleans. All these 
 highways are thronged and prosperous, and, with the wonderful impulse to colo- 
 nization and commerce induced by mining investments, the period seems to have 
 arrived when a wise statesmanship is fully justified in proposing a westward 
 extension of continental communications upon the following lines : 
 
 First. Through the southern tier of States, on or near the parallel of 35, 
 which is central to' the region of cotton, the sugar cane, and the vine, and which 
 will be supported by the populations of Louisiana, Arkansas, Neosho, (or the 
 territory occupied by the Cheroke6 and Choctaw Indians,) Texas, New Mexico, 
 Arizona, Sonora, and southern California. This may be called the gulf route 
 from its relations to the gulfs of Mexico and California. 
 
 Second. The central, which is now in course of construction on the average 
 latitude of 40, with its present prestige and aid from the federal government j 
 the speedy construction of this road may be anticipated in 1870. If in opera- 
 tion at the present moment the road would be financially successful. All the 
 resources of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and, in a great degree, 
 of Missouri and California, are pledged to such a result. 
 
 Third. The lake route, hitherto designated in congressional debates as the 
 northern Pacific route, connecting the western coast of the great lakes and the 
 navigable channel of the Columbia river by the most direct and feasible com- 
 munication with which the Territories and future States of Dakota, Montana, 
 Idaho, and Washington, as well as the States of Minnesota and Oregon, are 
 identified. 
 
 A few illustrations will be given of the possibilities of State aid in behalf of 
 such improvements without involving permanent financial burdens. 
 
 When, 10 years ago, India was exhausted, by a mutiny of the native popu- 
 lation, and its suppression after a desperate struggle, a railway system, pene- 
 trating the whole of the peninsula of Hindostan, was deemed essential to its 
 military occupation, and the government of India offered a guarantee of five 
 per cent, on the stock required to construct and equip not less than 5,000 miles 
 of railroad. The total amount of capital raised under this guarantee to April 1, 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 25 
 
 1867, was d67, 254,802 ; but of this amount the government liability has 
 already ceased upon <42,5S4,649, the roads constructed with that sum not only 
 paying dividends of five per cent, to the stockholders, but a surplus for reim- 
 bursement of previous advances by government. Four thousand miles of rail- 
 road have thus been assured to India, and so wisely are the securities adjusted 
 that this immense boon to the people will not be attended by permanent burdens 
 to the finances of the province. With the aid of these communications India 
 hopes to rival the United States in the production of cotton. 
 
 The province of Victoria, in Australia, has incurred a debt of ^10,000,000 
 in the construction of railways, from which the total gross revenues in the year 
 1865 amounted to c717,162, almost sufficient, after the deduction of current 
 expenses, to discharge an interest of six per centum on their cost of construc- 
 tion. The reduction of the rates of transportation from Melbourne to 'the gold 
 districts of Ballarat and Bendigo, is far greater than we have ventured to antici- 
 pate from the construction of railroads through the western Territories of the 
 United States. 
 
 In Belgium the state is a, great railway proprietor, and the state railway is 
 the largest source of national revenue. It was the first work of the kind 
 ever undertaken by a government, or on so grand a scale -by any proprietary. 
 The act by which it was decreed passed in 1834, and in 1835 the line was open 
 from Brussels to Marines. In 1844 the entire length 560 kilometres was 
 completed. It produced to the State a gross revenue in 1863 of 31,750,000 
 francs, or dl,270,000, and a net revenue of 16,000,000 francs, or 66640,000. 
 Other lines have been leased by the state, and there are altogether open 1,906 
 kilometres, equal to 1,191 English miles; of which 748 kilometres, or 467 
 English miles, are in the hands of the state, and the residue worked by com- 
 panies. It is calculated that in the year 1884 the net revenue will amount to 
 24,000,000 francs, or d960,000, per annum, or enough to pay the then reduced 
 (through the sinking fund) interest of the national debt. As each conceded 
 railway lapses gratuitously to the state in 90 years from the period of its con- 
 struction, the entire system will, by the efilux of time, become national property. 
 
 The growth of the railway system of France dates from the year 1840, pre- 
 vious to which there were but few lines in France. For a time the idea was 
 entertained of making all the railways which were to be built state property, 
 but in the end it was determined and settled by the law of June 11, 1842 mod- 
 ified in 1858, 1859, and 1863 that the work should be left to private compa- 
 nies, superintended, however, and, if necessary, assisted in their operations by 
 the State. The French railways at present are almost entirely (the exception 
 being to the amount of less than 200 miles) in the hands of six great companies. 
 The length of lines held by each of these companies on January 1, 1867, was 
 as follows : Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean, l,994f miles ; Eastern of France, 
 1,559| miles; Orleans, l,829f miles; Western of France, l,05l miles; North- 
 ern of France, 728J miles, and Southern of France, 827^- miles. The six sys- 
 tems combined had thus, in 1867, an aggregate of 7,989f miles in operation. 
 The conventions agreed on between the government and the railway companies 
 in the years 1858, 1859, and 1863 were carried into effect on January 1, 1865. 
 By these conventions the government guarantees 4 per cent, interest and 65c. 
 for a sinking fund ; altogether, 4f. 65c. per cent, on the capital expended in the 
 construction of a certain number of lines classed under the collective title of new 
 work, (nouveau reseau.) The sum to be expended by the six great companies 
 was estimated at 7,100,000,000 francs, and the works executed and grants made 
 by the government at 1,640,000,000 francs, being in round numbers about nine 
 milliards of francs, of which there remain only about 2,500,000,000 francs to be 
 expended. It is expected that in the course of about half a century the com- 
 panies will be able to divide their surplus receipts with the government, while 
 at the expiration of the 99 years 7 leases granted to the railway companies the 
 
26 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES t 
 
 railways will become the property of the State, which will gratuitously receive 
 the total amount of the receipts, which, if estimated at only from 350,000,000 
 to 400,000,000 francs, will pav the full amount of the interest on the national 
 debt. 
 
 Of the Prussian railways six lines (the most important that from Frankfort- 
 on-the-Odor to Konigsburg and the Russian frontier, 101 German miles long) 
 are State property ; seven others are under government rmtrol, having been 
 partly constructed by State loans or subventions 5 and. the rest (about two-thirds 
 of the w r hole) in the hands of private companies. The State railways form an 
 important source of public revenue. In the financial estimates for the year 1865 
 the general receipts of the state railways were stated at 14,197,000 thalers, and 
 the expenditure at 7,386,300 thalers, showing a surplus of 6,360,700 thalers, of 
 which latter the sum of 467,700 thalers was derived from the Lower Silesian 
 railway, 4,000 thalers from the Berlin junction, 566,600 thalers from the East- 
 ern, 294,500 thalers from the Westphalian, and 256,700 thalers from the Saar- 
 bruck. From the above surplus of 6,360,700 thalers the sum of 4,889,257 
 thalers was deducted to pay off loans and debts contracted for railway purposes, 
 leaving a net balance of 1,471,443 thalers towards defraying the general expenses 
 of the State. 
 
 The total length of railways in the former kingdom of Hanover amounted to 
 550 English miles in 1863. The gross receipts of the same in the year ending 
 July 1, 1863, was c838,085, and the net revenue .419,754. The whole of 
 these lines are State property. 
 
 The public debt of Wurtemburg has more than doubled within the last 20 
 years, owing to the establishment of the railway lines of the kingdom, the whole 
 of which, without exception, are State property. According to an official return 
 published June 30, 1860, there had been expended at that period, both for rail- 
 ways and steamers, a sum of 42,824,956 florins, or c3,56S,746. As the capital 
 was borrowed at from 3j to 4J per cent., and the net incomes of the railways, 
 all expenses deducted, and making allowance for wear and tear, amounted to 
 between six and seven per cent., the investment so made contributed consider- 
 ably towards- lightening the burdens of the tax-payers. The length of the lines 
 given to the traffic amounted on October 15, 1861, to 266 English miles 5 but 
 this did not complete the whole network of railways which is expected to be 
 finished by the end of 1867. 
 
 All the railways of Baden are property of the State, giving a dividend on the 
 capital expended of above six per cent. The accounts of the income and expen- 
 diture of the State railways, as well as the post office and steam navigation on 
 the Lake of Constance, are not entered in the general budget, but form a spe- 
 cial fund. 
 
 Further illustrations of the railroad policy of Spain, Austria, and Russia 
 might be adduced, showing the advantages of a comprehensive and well-guarded 
 system, by which the credit of the state is in the first instance made available 
 for the exigencies of construction, and, with the great resulting benefits to the 
 people, soon becomes capitalized to the relief of the public treasury. There is 
 ho finer opportunity for an enlightened statesmanship than to utilize these Euro- 
 pean precedents in the interest of a national system of railways west of the Mis- 
 souri river, but the province of this report will hardly admit of more than a 
 bare suggestion, waiving advocacy or details.* 
 
 TREASURE PRODUCT OF THE WORLD. 
 
 The year 1848, or the epoch of the gold discovery in California, may be 
 selected for a general statement of the amount of precious metals available for 
 
 * The statistics of European railways are compiled from a London publication, "The 
 Statesman's Year Book for 18Cd," by Frederick Martin. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 27 
 
 the uses of currency and the arts. M. Chevalier estimates the' amount as 
 $8,500,000,000, of which one-third was gold. An eminent English authority, 
 Mr. M. W. Newmarch, states the probable quantity held in Europe and Amer- 
 ica at that date to be $6,800,000,000, with a similar proportion of silver to gold. 
 The difference between these estimates, or $1,700,000,000, may be accepted as 
 a moderate statement of the quantities of gold and silver in those countries of 
 Asia and elsewhere which have not been closely related to European and Amer- 
 ican commerce. 
 
 Since 1848 the average production of the world has amounted to $200,000,000, 
 but the proportions of gold and silver have been reversed j fully two-thirds of 
 the aggregate being gold. The treasure product of 1867 is slightly increased 
 above this average, and may be briefly stated as follows : 
 
 GoM. Silver. Total. 
 
 United States $60,000,000 $15,000,000 $75,000,000 
 
 Mexico and South America 5, 000, 000 35, 000, 000 40, 000, 000 
 
 Australia 60,000,000 1,000,000 61,000,000 
 
 British America ,. 5,000,000 500,000 5,500,000 
 
 Russia 15,000,000 1,500,000 16,500,000 
 
 Elsewhere 25,000,000 2,000,000 27,000,000 
 
 Total 170,000,000 55,000,000 225,000,000 
 
 A brief analysis of the reasons for this estimate will be given. 
 
 The commissioner upon the mineral statistics of the Pacific slope has pre- 
 sented, in his general communication to the department, sufficient details -of the 
 treasure product of the United States, and the causes of its decline in compar- 
 ison with former years. 
 
 In regard to Mexico and South America, Humboldt estimated the annual pro- 
 duce of the mines of Spanish America at the beginning of the present century 
 to be $43,500,000. This amount was increased from 1800 to 1809, fully reach- 
 ing $50,000,000 per annum, but in the last-mentioned year the contest began 
 which terminated in the dissolution of the connection between Spain and her 
 American colonies. The convulsions and insecurity arising out of this struggle, 
 the proscription of the old Spanish families to whom the mines principally 
 belonged, who repaired with the wrecks of their fortunes, some to Cuba, some 
 to Spain, and some to Bordeaux and the south of France, caused the abandon- 
 ment of several of the mines and an extraordinary falling off in the amount of 
 their produce. There are no means of estimating the precise extent of this 
 decline, but, according to Jacob, who collected and compared the existing infor- 
 mation on the subject, the total average produce of the American mines, inclu- 
 sive of Brazil, during the 20 years ending with 1829 may be estimated at 
 $20,000,000 a year, being less than half their produce at the beginning of the 
 century. 
 
 The discovery of new mines, and the greater cheapness and more abundant 
 supplies of quicksilver obtained from California, have conspired, with other 
 causes, to increase the produce of the South American mines, until, in 1867, 
 they have nearly reached the productiveness of 1800 j and the above estimate 
 of their produce may bo distributed as follows : 
 
 Mexico $23, 000, 000 
 
 Peru 6,000,000 
 
 Bolivia 2,000,000 
 
 Chili 5,000,000 
 
 Other parts 4,000,000 
 
 40, 000, 000 
 
 The latest and most satisfactory authority upon the production of Australia 
 consists of a memorial from representatives of the different colonies to the home 
 
28 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 government upon postal communications between Australia and the mother 
 country, dated April 1, 1867, in which occurs a table of exports of the associ- 
 ated colonies during 1865, giving the item of gold as follows : 
 
 Victoria 6, 190, 317 
 
 New South Wales 2, G47, 688 
 
 New Zealand * 2,226,474 
 
 Queensland 101,3f>2 
 
 Total J 1,165, 811 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that the single colony of Victoria produced, in 1852, 
 a gross amount of <1 4,866,799, far exceeding the entire aggregate from all the 
 Australian colonies at this time. New South Wales, in 1852, produced 
 c3,000,000 also in excess of the present productions of that colony. Xew 
 Zealand has recently gone far to supply the deficiencies, and other gold fields 
 arc in course of discover}-, and hence the foregoing aggregate of $61,000,000, 
 adding to the exports of the different colonies about 36,000,000, may bo 
 accepted as a probable statement of the Australian treasure product. 
 
 The annual production of Russia was stated, in 1858, by J. R. McCulloch, 
 in a treatise upon the precious metals, to be 87,500,000 francs, or ^3,500,000, 
 slightly exceeding the foregoing estimate. Late discoveries of placer mines 
 upon the Amoor, in eastern Siberia, will probably lead, during 1868, to large 
 additions to the annual average hitherto prevailing. 
 
 Mr. . McCulloch estimated the total supply of gold and silver in 135S as 
 follows : 
 
 America, excluding- California .' -. . $45.000,000 
 
 Asiatic Russia 17,500,000 
 
 Europe - 7,750,000 
 
 California ~ 70,000,000 
 
 Australia 55,000,000 
 
 195,250,000 
 
 If to this amount we add $25,000,000, representing the production of Japan, 
 China, India, Polynesia, and Africa, the total amount will be 8220,250,000. 
 
 Great uncertainty attends the question of the probable production of the pre- 
 cious metals in the countries last named, described by M. Chevalier as "coun- 
 tries imperfectly accessible to the commerce of the world." The French econo- 
 mist does not materially differ from the estimates of McCulloch in regard to 
 America, Europe, and Australia, rinding a total value of 8202,000,000 for the 
 year 1865; but his estimate of the oriental product far exceeds any English or 
 American opinion upon that subject. For instance, ho presents the following- 
 table: 
 
 Africa $7,000,000 
 
 India 5,500,000 
 
 Polynesia 17,000,000 
 
 China 31,000,OQO 
 
 Japan 15,000,000 
 
 Total 75,500,000 
 
 M. Chevalier thus obtains the annexed aggregate for the entire product of 
 the globe after 1848 and before 1865 : 
 
 European and American 202, 000, 000 
 
 Asiatic and African 75,500,000 
 
 Total.. . 277,500,000 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 29 
 
 He supplements this statement by the total quantity wliicli from 1848 to 1864, 
 or during 17 years, was placed at the disposition of the world : 
 
 Silver $1, 100, 000, 000 
 
 Gold 3, 000, 000, 000 
 
 Total 4,100,000,000 
 
 Except for the high estimate of Asiatic production there will be no material 
 dissent from the foregoing conclusions of M. Chevalier. All modern experience 
 indicates that the era of placer mining is soon terminated and must have long 
 since passed away in Asiatic countries. There is little evidence of elaborate 
 methods either of alluvial or mechanical mining, and the sum of $25,000,000 
 per annum is therefore submitted instead of $75,000,000 as the production of 
 gold and silver beyond the great mining centres. 
 
 If we grant the accuracy of M. Chevalier's estimate of the total amount of 
 gold and silver in 1848, and assume that the sum of $250,000,000 per annum 
 will be the average annual production from 1848 to 1880, it will then require 
 the period between those dates, or 30 years, to duplicate the world's supply of 
 precious metals. 
 
 The activities of commerce and the developments of human industry, accel- 
 erated beyond all former precedent by the .progress of the arts, will probably 
 prove sufficient for the absorption of this vast quantity of the precious metals 
 without convulsion of prices or values. The cotton trade with India transferred 
 within seven years $500,000,000 almost entirely in silver. The extension of 
 railways and the construction of works of irrigation in India have absorbed 
 another $500,000,000 of English capital, and there are evidences that the accu- 
 mulations of European and American wealth are henceforth to be diffused under 
 ample international guarantees over all the continents. If so, there w r ill be 
 ample room and demand for any apparent excess of the precious metals. 
 Europe and America w 7 ill substitute gold for silver as money, while Asia will 
 probably continue to absorb silver for many years to come, before the ratio of 
 currency to population now existing in Europe shall extend over the eastern 
 world. 
 
 A brief statement will illustrate the extent of the oriental demand for the 
 precious metals, which, now mostly confined to silver, will hereafter, or as soon 
 as the world shall desire it, extend to gold. India, in 1857, had a circulating 
 medium of $400,000,000 for the use of a population of 180,000,000, or $2.22 
 per capita. France has a population of 38,000,000, with a money supply of 
 $910,000,000, or $24 per capita. Suppose China, Japan, and the other indus- 
 trious populations of Asia to be in the situation of India, and that the current 
 of bullion since 1853 has supplied the Asiatics with $3 per capita, there yet 
 remains a difference of $21 per capita before the monetary level of France is 
 attained, demanding a further supply of $21 per capita ever a population of 
 600,000,000, or not less than $12,600,000,000. 
 
 The railway system will soon connect Europe and Asia, and constitutes a 
 most important agency for the transfer of capital and distribution of money 
 among the populations of the eastern continent. Since the suppression of the 
 Indian mutiny an English writer estimates that more than <100,000,000 sterling 
 have been added to the currency and reproductive capacity of India, mostly 
 from England, in the construction of railroads and canals. There were 3,186 
 miles of railway in operation in 1865, having cost $86,000 per mile, and having 
 been constructed with the aid of a guarantee of five per cent, to stockholders 
 by the province of India. The system for which the government indorsement 
 is already given will be 4,917 miles of railway, at an estimated cost or 
 c77,500,000. These roads will relieve the government of liability when their 
 earnings reach d25 per mile per week, a point which the leading lines have 
 
30 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 nearly reached, and which all are destined to attain. Such is the success of 
 Indian railways that their connection with Europe by the valley of the Euphrates, 
 and their extension into China, will probably be accomplished within the next 
 10 years. By that time Russia will have undertaken a railway from Moscow 
 to Pekin through southern Siberia a great trunk line that would soon justify a 
 series of southern lines penetrating central Asia over those leading caravan 
 routes which have been the avenues of Asiatic commerce for centuries. 
 
 If an investment of $430,000,000 in 5,000 miles of railway is financially sue 
 oessful in Hindostan at this time, it may be anticipated that a population of 
 180,000,000 will warrant the enlargement of the system within the present 
 century fully four-fold, which would be only a fifth of similar communications 
 required and supported by an European or American community. Suppose such 
 a ratio of railway construction extended over China, central and western Asia, 
 and Siberia, it would be only one mile for every 9,000 people, while in the 
 United States there are 36,000 miles for 36,000,000 people, or a mile to every 
 thousand; and yet the Asiatic ratio, moderate as it is, presents the startling 
 result of 66,000 miles of railroad constructed by the expenditure of $5,676,000,000. 
 Such a disbursement of European accumulations in Asia would go far to diffuse 
 not only the blessings of civilization, but any excess of production from the gold 
 and silver mines of the world. 
 
 In Australia a railway has been constructed from Melbourne to the Ballarat 
 gold fields, 380 miles, at a cost of $175.000 per mile, which pays a net profit 
 nearly equal to the interest on the immense investment. It is difficult to estimate 
 the amounts destined to be absorbed for railways in all the continents, under 
 the direction of the great powers of the world projected, constructed, and admin- 
 istered by the wealth and intelligence of America, Russia, England, Germany 
 and France. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIOXS. 
 
 It is deemed expedient to reserve for a subsequent report the detailed state- 
 ments of mining enterprises east of the Rocky mountains. Many of the organi- 
 zations for quartz mining in Colorado and Montana yet await the results of 
 scientific investigations into the best methods of reducing the ores of gold and 
 silver; while in the Alleghany district other causes have intervened to postpone 
 a large number of mining operations. The summer of 1868 will doubtless supply 
 the materials of a full and comprehensive report upon tin's topic. 
 
 The act of July 26, 1866, extending facilities for acquiring titles to mineral 
 lands, marks a most important epoch in the progress of mining enterprise upon 
 this continent. Secretary McCulloch, in his report of 1865, suggested that the 
 principle of pre-emption, so long applied to the sale of agricultural lands in the 
 west, should be extended in favor of the holders of claims to gold and silver 
 mines on the public domain. A bill to this effect w^as furnished to Senator 
 Sherman, wliich, after much discussion, was matured into the act of July 26, 
 1866. Under the careful instructions of the Commissioner of the General Land 
 Office, this legislation has been received with great favor on the Pacific slope. 
 By its provisions freedom of exploration, free occupation of government lands 
 for placer mining, a right to pre-empt quartz lodes previously held and improved 
 according to local customs or codes of mining, the right of way for aqueducts or 
 canals, not less essential to agriculture than to mining, and the extension of the 
 homestead and other beneficent provisions of the public land system in favor of 
 settlers upon agricultural lands in mineral districts, have been established as 
 most important elements for the attraction of population and the encouragement 
 of mining enterprises. The Commissioner of the Land Office has carefully 
 analyzed this enactment, and greatly facilitated its execution by a circular 
 recently issued. The spirit of the legislation under consideration is in the interest 
 of actual settlement and occupation, and adyerse to absentee ownership for merely 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 31 
 
 speculative purposes of mining properties. It will probably be necessary to 
 supplement the act in question by some general revision of the local mining 
 customs, which, although generally founded on the Spanish code so long in use 
 in Mexico, are often incongruous and obscure. 
 
 The most practicable, and economical methods of desulphurizing the refractory 
 ores which characterize the Atlantic mines having been made by the Secretary 
 a special subject of inquiry, no effort will be made on the present occasion to 
 anticipate its progress and conclusions. 
 
 I beg leave to renew a former suggestion, hat the metalliferous localities of 
 the Alleghanies south of the Potomac river shall be carefully explored under 
 national auspices. 
 
 JAMES W. TAYLOR. 
 
 Hon. HUGH McCuLLocn, 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury 
 
32 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 ARTESIAN WELLS 
 
 [Extract from a geological rccoiinoissonce of Arkansas, by David Dale Chvcn, iu 1859'-'60.j 
 
 It may be useful and interesting in tbis place to say a few words in regard to a few indi- 
 -idual artesian wells of particular interest, either on account of their great depth, their large 
 diameter, or the great volume of water which they afford. 
 
 One of the most interesting artesian wells bored in the valley of the Ohio is that sunk by 
 Messrs. C. J. and A. B. Dupont, in the city of Louisville, This well is three inches in the 
 bore, and 2,086 feet deep. The water flows from this well at the rate of 330,000 gallons in 24 
 hours, or 264 gallons per minute, with a mechanical force equal to a 10-horse power steam 
 engine. The water rises by its own pressure, when confined in tubes, 170 feet above the 
 surface. When the whole force of the water is allowed to expend itself on the central jet, if. 
 is projected ]00 feet, settling down to a steady flow of a stream 60 feet high at the above ratr : 
 of 330,000 gallons in the 24 hours. The water is perfectly clear of a temperature of 76^ c 
 Fahrenheit, the year round. It is highly charged with mineral properties, being a strong 
 saline, sulphuretted water, similar in its composition and medical properties to the celebrated 
 Kissinger waters of Bavaria, and the Blue Licks of Kentucky. This well was commenced 
 in April, 1857, and completed in 16 months. 
 
 The well bored by Mr. William H. Belcher, of St. Louis, was commenced in 1849, and in 
 1853 was 1,590 feet deep, at which depth a copious stream of "sulphur water issues," which 
 is said to be similar in its properties to the Blue Lick water of Kentucky. 
 
 This well was commenced as a cistern, at the surface of the ground, "14 feet diameter ; at 
 30 feet deep, 6 feet diameter; thence it diminishes to 16 inches diameter, at 78 feet deep. 
 The bore is then 9 inches, and this diameter is continued to 457 feet ; thence to the depth of 
 1,509 feet it is 3 inches. 
 
 At 550 feet, at the top of a limestone, the water became salty; 200 feet below this, in a 
 layer of shale, the water contained l| per cent, of salt. At 965 feet, below a bed of bitumin- 
 ous marl, the water contained 2 per cent, of salt. The hardest rock was a bed of chert, at a 
 depth of 1,179 feet, and 62 feet thick. In this rock the water contained 3 per cent, of salt. 
 
 This well was commenced in the spring of 1849, and reached its depth of 2,199 feet on the 
 12th of March, 1854. During these five years the work was at times intermitted for months, 
 so that the time actually employed was only 33 months, and cost about $10,000. There is a 
 constant flow of water from this well of 75 gallons per minute. 
 
 Three artesian wells have been bored at Columbus, Ohio. The first was carried 1 10 feet ; 
 but not reaching the rock, was abandoned, the quicksand coming in in such quantities that 
 they could not exclude it by tubing. 
 
 The second well was tubed down 54 feet, with cast-Iron piping, six inches interior diameter. 
 The boring was then continued to the rock, 122 feet. Wrought-iron pipes of smaller size 
 were forced down, but broke at the second joint from the lower end. The pipe was with- 
 drawn, and a pump let down, when the well was found to be cleared of obstructions to the 
 rock. The reamer was then sent down, and went freely till at the depth of 100 feet it began 
 to rub. The pump was then sent down ; the well had become filled with sand and gravel 66 
 feet, and after prolonged labor, it was ascertained that the sand ran into the well as fast as it 
 could be taken out. Various contrivances were resorted to to stop this obstruction, but 
 without effect; so that, on the 4th of November, 1857, this boring was also abandoned. A 
 contract was now made on the 4th of November with Mr. Fleming Spangler to bore a new 
 well, with the understanding that he was to tube it into the rock within 18 or 20 days,, or 
 receive no pay. 
 
 The new well was commenced by sinking a pit, and cribbing it down with circular crib- 
 bing, which, on the 16th day of November, reached the depth of 29 feet. After considerable 
 labor, by alternate boring and tubing, Mr. Spangler finally succeeded on the 31st of January, 
 1858, in penetrating the limestone rock 248 feet, at a depth of 371 feet from the surface. He 
 then contracted to bore to the depth of 1,000 feet from the surface for $1 50 per foot, having 
 thus far averaged about five to six feet in the rock-borings per day. 
 
 A vein of sulphur water was struck at 180 feet on the 22d of December, 1857. The borings 
 were continued, with occasional cessation of labor, up to the llth of December, having thea 
 reached a depth of 1,858 feet, -without, however, up to that date having reached any consid- 
 erable body of artesian water, and it is probable from the details of the borings that they 
 will have to go from 300 to 500 feet more through blue limestones, marly shales, and Ken- 
 tucky river marble-rock, before reaching the porous sandstones, in which there is the best 
 chance of obtaining a body of water. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.' 33 
 
 In the valley of the Ohio, the two great reservoirs of artesian water are the two great 
 porous sandstones, alternating with and resting on the shales, which form the impervious 
 layers that hold up the water. One of these great sandstone series constitutes the mill-sione 
 grit at the base of the coal measures ; the other, the lowest fossiliferous sandstones and cal- 
 ciferous sand-rock, subordinate to the blue limestone and Kentucky river marble-rock of the 
 west. 
 
 The water obtained in the first of these reservoirs is almost invariably a strong brine ; in 
 the latter, so far as experience goes it is a mineral water, strongly charged with a variety of 
 saline substances, and impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas ; hence, though the two 
 first artesian borings, cited above, were eminently successful, as far as obtaining a large 
 body of mineral water was concerned, yet they may be considered entire failures, as far as 
 obtaining a body of pure water fit for manufacturing purposes, or domestic use. 
 
 Both these water horizons exist in Arkansas ; in fact, the millstone grit, as already stated, 
 has a most extraordinary development in that State, and many localities have been, and will 
 hereafter be recorded, where profitable brines might be obtained in this geological formation, 
 by a judicious selection of locality, and well conducted, systematic borings. 
 
 There are also other water horizons in the southern counties of Arkansas, which can be 
 reached by borings through the tertiary and cretaceous formations ; but, so far as experience 
 goes, artesian waters obtained therefrom will be more or less charged with mineral matter. 
 
 As AVC have some of the records of an artesian well sunk through equivalent formations at 
 Charleston, South Carolina, it may be well in this place to give a few of the statistics of this 
 boring. 
 
 Few wells have presented as many difficuties, or called for greater skill and perseverance 
 in the engineer. The surface soil is loose sand for 20 feet, die lower half of which is satu- 
 rated with water ; next a stiff, compact clay, about 40 feet thick, also water-bearing. At 60 
 feet, firm marl commences, alternating with some rock more or less indurated, in all 150 feet 
 thick. Below this occur the cretaceous strata, differing but little lithologically from the 
 layers of the tertiary formation above ; both formations being alternations of firm marl, 
 sandstone, and loose sands, alternating with layers of hard limestone, seldom containing less 
 than 20 per cent, of carbonate of lime. Fifty-four rocks, varying from 2 to 10 feet each, and 
 measuring in the aggregate 250 feet, were penetrated by the boring. Cast-iron tubes, six 
 feet interior diameter, were sunk 80 feet to exclude superficial sands : but these gradually 
 worked their way down, and continued to flow under the bottom of the tube. Finally, how- 
 ever, the solid rock Was reached at 230 feet. But even here the difficulties did not end ; 
 for, under each solid rock, quick or loose sand generally occurred, and flowed into the well, 
 so as often to fill it up, and sometimes almost instantly, 60 to 100 feet. Large chambers 
 were thus formed under many of the rock strata. Sometimes, in the morning, the well would 
 be found filled 50 to 100 feet, and even 140 feet, with sand. At 700 feet, so much sand con- 
 tinued to flow in as to render it impossible to proceed, and there was no resource but to tube 
 down into it and through it, and to do this the well had to be reamed out to a larger size, thus 
 taxing the ingenuity of the engineer severely to overcome all the various obstacles to success. 
 At 1,020 feet the sands agaiu came in, so as frequently to fill up the well 100 feet; but the 
 difficulty was finally overcome by retubing with larger wrought-iron tubes, which were sunk 
 to 1,102 feet, and the boring continued 43 feet lower, or 1,145 feet. The temperature at 900 
 feet was 82-J Fahrenheit. 
 
 Subsequent to this date, the Charleston well was sunk to the depth of 1,250 feet, and 
 yields 30,000 gallons of water in 21 hours, which rises 10 feet above the surface. Another 
 has now been commenced at the same place, 12 inches in diameter, and has already reached 
 the depth of l.OOOjfeet. 
 
 On the 22d of April, 1857, an artesian well was commenced at Lafayette, Indiana, and, 
 after sinking to the depth of 216 feet, a vein of water finally overflowed the well on the 18th 
 of February, 1858. The boring was then continued to the depth of 230 feet. Great delay 
 and an unnecessary cost of $1,000 were incurred, in consequence of one of the cast-iron pipes 
 breaking in being forced into its place. This well delivered on the 3d of September one wine 
 gallon of mineral water in 15. 8 seconds, which is equal to a discharge of 1,468 gallons in 24 
 hours, sufficient, if the surplus water be properly saved, for all the purposes of a first-class 
 watering place. This mineral water contains, according to Dr. C. M. Wetherill, 400 grains 
 of solid matter to the gallon. For an analysis of this water, I refer the reader to the report 
 on this well, made by C. M. Wetherill, Ph. D., M. D. 
 
 The well from which, the name Artesian was originally derived was bored more than a cen- 
 tury ago at Aire, in Artois, in France, and has flowed steadily ever since. The water rises 
 11 feet above the ground, and supplies nearly 250 gallons per minute. 
 
 The Crenelle well, at Paris, was commenced in 1834 and completed in 1841, at which timfe 
 the rod suddenly descended several feet, and shortly after the water rose to the surface in vast 
 quantities. For the first 50 feet the boring was 12 inches in diameter, which was reduced to 
 nine inches, and then carried to a depth of 1,100 feet ; a further reduction was made to seven 
 and a half inches, until the depth of 1,300 feet was reached ; and a final diminution to six 
 inches, till the termination of the well at 1,806 feet. From the completion of the well to the 
 present time there has been a steady flow of over 500,000 gallons in 24 hours, of a tempera- 
 ture of 81 Fahrenheit. 
 
 3 T 
 
34 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 The Kissinger well in Bavaria is 1,878 feet; the last 138 feet the boring- passes through 
 rock salt. From this well 100 cubic feet of water gushes forth every minute. The water 
 contains 3| per cent, of salt. 
 
 The artesian well at the Bois de Boulogne is over 39 inches in diameter. This well was 
 bored by a peculiar drill, weighing about 3,500 pounds, managed by a grapple, which opens 
 as it descends, and then closes, when it is raised by means of a parallelogram connected at 
 the angles with two cords reaching up to the top of the well, where thoy may be managed 
 with the hand, or by means of machinery. The drill below is constructed with seven teeth 
 of cast steel, fitted to drive into the bed of rock, or abrade it. The drill has a shank by 
 which it may be seized and lifted. The whole is worked by a 24 to 30 horse-power engine. 
 The grapple closes at the bottom, seizing the handle of the drill, then rises with the drill 
 several feet, opens, and lets the drill fall. Thus the drill rises and falls 20 or 30 times a 
 minute. After working 12 hours, the rods are taken out, the sand pump let down, and the 
 sand and mud withdrawn, and the rods, grapple, and drill again let down and set to work. 
 To work this apparatus requires only six men, and the cost of working is about $3 per foot. 
 
 In 1857, this well had reached a depth of 1,427 feet, and they hoped in October to reach 
 the main source of water below the chalk. 
 
 In the month of May, 1 858, the French engineer, M. Jus, commenced boring an artesian well 
 in the Sahara desert, Africa, in the province of Constantine ; and on the 19th of June a jet of 
 water of about 1,000 gallons per minute flowed from the bowels of the earth, at a tempera- 
 ture of 61. 24 Fahrenheit. The joy of the inhabitants was unbounded when they witnessed 
 this extraordinary spectacle, and caused them to regard a people who could bring about such 
 a marvel as to cause water to gush forth from the arid desert as truly beings of a superior race. 
 
 Subsequently four other wells were bored in the desert: one at Temakin, yielding eight 
 gallons per minute; one in the oasis of Tamelhat, which gave 120 litres of water per minute; 
 one in the oasis of Sidi Nached, yielding 4,300 litres of water from the depth of 54 metres, 
 the oasis having been completely ruined by drought; one also in Oum Thiur, which yields 
 108 litres of water per minute ; and a sixth well has been sunk at Shegga. 
 
 A remarkable artesian well was bored at Bourne, in England. The borings passed through 
 two strata of limestone, with other intervening strata, to the depth of only 92 feet. The bore 
 is only four inches, and this supplies the town through mains and smaller pipes and plugs 
 for fires, the pressure being sufficient to throw water over the buildings. It delivers 557,000 
 gallons per day. It rises at the town hall 39 feet 9 inches. 
 
 These are a few of the statistics of some of the most interesting artesian wells both in this 
 country and in Europe ; they give some details of the cost, mode of boring, and difficulties 
 to be encountered, that will be interesting and useful to the readers of this report. 
 
 The conditions necessary to the successful boring of an artesian well are : 
 
 First. A fountain head more elevated than the locality where the boring is to be undertaken. 
 
 Second. A gentle inclination or moderate dip from the fountain head towards the locality 
 of the well. 
 
 Third. Alternations of porous and impervious strata, beneath the drainage of the country. 
 
 The fountain head need not be in the immediate vicinity ; on the contrary, it is often far 
 distant 40 to 100 miles or more. If it forms the elevated rirn of a large basin, from which 
 the strata dip in all directions towards its centre, it. is all the more favorable for artesian 
 borings within that basin. If the geological formations form a synclinal fold or trough, the 
 fountain head being on the anticlinals of the ridges more or less parallel, this is also a favora- 
 ble position for artesian borings. 
 
 The flow of water from the fountain head, held up by the impervious strata beneath, and 
 permeating the porous superincumbent layers, may be arrested, however, even without such 
 a structure of th,e country, by being dammed up by local barriers, which may either be imper- 
 vious fissures, cutting the strata more or less at right angles, or extensive faults filled up with 
 clay, which is a very common occurrence. 
 
 A steep or high angle of inclination of dip is always an unfavorable structure of country, 
 because in such situations the water flows away beyond the reach of artesian borings, which 
 must necessarily cut the strata at such an acute angle as to pass through only a few layers 
 of rock. Without a knowledge of the internal structure of the geological formations which 
 lie deep-seated, very little clue can be obtained to the selection of a favorable locality by a 
 simple inspection of the physical condition of the surface of the country. For instance, a 
 perfectly level plain, with no hills in sight, may be more favorable for artesian wells than an 
 undulating country, simply from the fact of its having a higher fountain head. 
 
 The third condition mentioned above, namely, alternation of porous and impervious strata, 
 is almost -every where to be met with. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 35 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 LIGNITES OF THE WEST. 
 
 [Abstract from report of F. V. Hoyden, United States geologist for Nebraska, to Commissioner of General 
 Land Office, from Silliman's Journal of March, 1868.] 
 
 The construction of the Pacific railroads across the continent is bringing about the dawn 
 "of a new era in the progress of the west. Already has the Union Pacific railroad, from 
 Omaha, struck the first range of the Rocky mountains, more than 525 miles west of the Mis- 
 souri river. The earth is now called upon more earnestly than ever before to yield up her 
 treasures of gold, silver, copper, iron, and mineral fuel, and the existence of the last two 
 minerals in the west, in workable quantities, is one of the most important practical ques- 
 tions of the day. It is my purpose in this article merely to state briefly some observations 
 made last autumn in regard to the lignite deposits of Colorado and Dakota Territories. The 
 details will be given more fully in the final report of the geological survey of Nebraska, now 
 in progress of preparation. 
 
 The discovery that large deposits of "stone coal," as it is often called by travellers, existed 
 in various portions of the west is by no means a new one at the present time. The lignite 
 beds of the upper Missouri were noticed by Lewis and Clark, 1803 and 1804, those of 
 Laramie plains by Fremont, 1842, and those of the Raton mountain region by General 
 Emory as far back as 1848. But the intense interest with which they are regarded now, as 
 a source of fuel to the vast stretch of fertile but almost treeless plains, has been created anew 
 by the advancing westward wave brought about by the construction of those great national 
 highways. The fact, also, that the coal deposits of Iowa and Missouri are restricted in area, 
 and the coal limited in quantity, and in most cases inferior in quality, and that west of 
 these States it may be said that there is no true coal at all, renders any source of fuel in 
 the far west a matter of the greatest importance. In the valley of the Missouri river and the 
 Ye}lowstone there are numerous beds of tertiary lignite, varying from a few inches to seven 
 feet in thickness. These formations have been described many times, and until the Northern 
 Pacific railroad is carried through that region they w/U remain of little practical importance. 
 But the Union Pacific railroad is now in progress of construction through the lignite deposits 
 of the Laramie plains, and the Union Pacific railway, eastern division, and the branch from 
 Denver to Cheyenne City, will pass through those of Colorado, so that if the lignite beds 
 and iron mines of this region are of such a character as to be of economical use, the time for 
 their demand has already come. 
 
 My examination of the geology of the State of Nebraska, during the past season, failed to 
 develop any workable beds of coal within the limits of that State. My attention was then 
 directed to the great lignite deposits of the Laramie plains. 1 found the lignite of excellent 
 quality in beds from 5 to 11 feet thick, and I estimated the area occupied by this basin at 
 5,000 square miles. Its most eastern limit is about 10 miles east of Rock creek, a branch of 
 the Medicine Bow river. Outcroppings have been seen all along Rock creek, Medicine Bow, 
 on Rattlesnake Hills, on the North Platte, Muddy creek, all along Bitter creek, Ham's Fork, 
 Echo Canon, and all along Weber river, nearly to Great Salt lake, showing that one con- 
 nected series of deposits covers this whole area. The lignite taken from the beds on Rock 
 creek is from the outcroppings, yet it burns with a bright red flame, giving out a good degree 
 of heat, leaving scarcely any ash, and is quite as desirable fuel for domestic purposes as any 
 wood. It is non-bituminous, exhibits just a trace of sulphure.t of iron, which, decomposing, 
 gives a rusty reddish appearance to the outcrops, and there are seams of jet, 1 to 12 
 inches in thickness, which looks much like canncl coal, and is thus termed by the miners. 
 The Union Pacific railroad will pass directly through these great coal fields, and as most of 
 the freight will go westward for many years, the cars on their return can be loaded with this 
 lignite, thus to be distributed through Nebraska at a cost much less than that of wood at the 
 present time. There are also indications of an abundance of iron ore in the vicinity of these 
 deposits, and the Union Pacific Railroad Company contemplate establishing rolling mills in 
 the Laramie plains at no distant period. 
 
 The next point visited was South Boulder creek, the Marshall mines, which are probably 
 the most valuable in the west. I made a pretty careful examination of these mines, as they 
 have been wrought for four or five years. An average of 50 tons is taken from this place 
 daily and sold at Denver, at prices varying from $12 to $15 pqr ton. The beds are at the foot 
 of the mountains, and dip to such an extent as to expose the whole series, 11 in number, 
 varying from 5 to 13 feet in thickness, so that we have from 30 to 50 feet at least of solid 
 lignite. This is the most favorable locality for studying the strata enclosing the lignite that 
 I have ever met with in the west, and this is due to several causes, the principal of which is 
 their proximity to the base of the mountains, by which they are elevated at a moderate angle. 
 The following somewhat remarkable section is approximately correct, at least : 
 
36 
 
 EESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 45. Sandstone, gray and rather coarse grained. 
 
 44. Drab clay. 
 
 43. Lignite. 
 
 42. Drab clay. 
 
 41. Lignite. 
 
 40. Drab clay. 
 
 39. Sandstone. 
 
 38. Drab clay. 
 
 37. Lignite. 
 
 36. Drab clay. 
 
 35. Sandstone. 
 
 34. Drab clay, 10 to 12 feet. 
 
 33. Sandstone. 
 
 32. Drab clay. 
 
 31. Lignite. " 
 
 30. Drab clay. 
 
 29. Sandstone. 
 
 28. Drab clay passing up into sand three feet. 
 
 27. Lignite, 5 feet. 
 
 26. Drab clay, 5 feet. 
 
 25. Sandstone, 14 feet. 
 
 24. Drab clay, 3 feet. 
 
 23. Lignite, 7^ feet, 
 
 22. Drab clay, 5 feet. 
 21. Sandstone, 20 feet 
 20. Drab clay, 3 feet. 
 19. Lignite, 7 feet. 
 18. Drab clay, 3 feet. 
 17. Sandstone, 40 feet 
 16. Drab clay, 3 feet. 
 15. Lignite, 5 feet. 
 14. Drab clay. 
 13. Sandstone. 
 12. Drab clay. 
 11. Lignite. 
 10. Drab clay. 
 
 9. Sandstone. 
 
 8. Drab clay. 
 
 7. Lignite, 5 feet. 
 
 6. Drab clay. 
 
 5. Gray and yellowish gray sandstone. 
 
 4. Drab chiy, 3 feet. 
 
 3. Lignite, 11 to 13 feet. 
 
 2. Drab clay, 4 feet. 
 
 1. Fine yellowish grit indurated cretaceous 
 beds, 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. 
 
 The thickness of the beds ts given when it could be obtained with any degree of accuracy. 
 It is barely possible that beds 6 to 13 feet inclusive have been broken down from the sum- 
 mit of the upheaval just beyond and thus displaced. The inclination of the strata from 1 to 
 16 inclusive is 8 east, and the cleavage of the beds of lignite is vertical and exactly parallel 
 with the dip. From 13 to 29, inclination is 40, and the remainder 35. Lignite beds 33 
 and 42 have not yet been tested, and very little is known of them. They have been exposed 
 in the search for iron ore. The summit of the hills above all these beds in the section is 
 covered with a large thickness of superficial drift material, which undoubtedly conceals 
 many other beds which properly belong to the section. Mines have been opened on Coal 
 creek, three miles south of Marshall's mines, but they have been abandoned for the present. 
 Another has been opened about 20 miles south of Cheyenne City, on Pole creek. The drift 
 began with an outcropping of about four feet eight inches in thickness, inclination 12 east. 
 The lignite grows better in quality .as it is wrought further into the earth, and the bed, by 
 following the dip 200 feet, is found to be five feet four inches thick, and the lignite is sold 
 readily at Cheyenne City for $25 per ton. The beds are so concealed by a superiicial drift 
 deposit that it is difficult to obtain a clearly connected section of the rocks. A section across 
 the inclined edges of the beds eastward from the mountains is as follows: 
 
 7. Drab clay passing up into areno-calcareous grit composed of an aggregation of oyster 
 
 shells, ostreasitbtrigonalis. 
 
 6. Lignite, 5 to 6 feet. 
 
 5. Drab clay, 4 to 6 feet. 
 
 4. Reddish rusty sandstone in thin lamiuse, 20 feet. 
 
 3. Drab arenaceous clay, indurated. 
 
 2. Massive sandstone, 50 feet. 
 
 1. No. 5 cretaceous, apparently passing up into a yellowish sandstone. 
 
 The summit of the hills near this bed of lignite is covered with loose oyster shells, and 
 there must have, been a thickness of four feet or more almost entirely composed of them. 
 The species seems to be identical with the one found in a similar geological position in the 
 lower lignite beds of the upper Missouri, near Fort Clark, and at the mouth of the Judith 
 river, and doubtless was an inhabitant of the brackish waters which must have existed about 
 the dawn of the tertiary period in the west. No other shells were found in connection with 
 these in Colorado, but on the upper Missouri well-known fresh-water types exist in close 
 proximity, showing that if it proves anything it rather affirms the eocene age of these lower 
 lignite beds. These lignite beds are exposed in many localities all along the eastern base of 
 the mountains, and from the best information I can secure I have estimated the area occu- 
 pied by them north of the Arkansas river at 5,000 square miles. According to the explora- 
 tions of Dr. John L. Le Conte during the past season, which are of great interest, these 
 same lignite formations extend far southward into New Mexico, on both sides of the Rocky 
 mountains. Specimens of lignite brought from the Raton mountains by Dr. Le Conte resem- 
 ble very closely in appearance and color the anthracites of Pennsylvania. It is probable 
 that no tnie coal will ever be found west of longitude 96, and it becomes, therefore, a most 
 important question to ascertain the real value of these vast deposits of lignite for fuel and 
 other economical purposes. Can these lignites be employed for generating steam and smelt- 
 ing ores ? In regard to the lignites in the Laramie plains I have as yet seen no analysis, 
 but specimens are now in the hands of Dr. Torrey, of New York, for that purpose. Sped- 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 37 
 
 mens from Marshall's mine on South Boulder creek were submitted to Dr. Torrey by the Union 
 Pacific Railroad Company for examination, with the following result : 
 
 Water in a state of combination, or its elements 12.00 
 
 Volatile matter expelled at a red heat, forming inflammable gases and vapors 26. 00 
 
 Fixed carbon 59.20 
 
 Ash of a reddish color, sometimes gray 2. 80 
 
 100. 00' 
 
 A specimen from Coal creek, three miles south, yielded similar results : 
 
 Water in a state of combination, or probably its elements, as in dry wood 20. 00' 
 
 Volatile matter expelled at a red heat, in the form of inflammable gases and vapors 19. 30 
 
 Fixed carbon 58. 70 
 
 Ash, consisting chiefly of oxydof iron, alumina, and a little silica 2.00 
 
 100. 00 
 
 The percentage of carbon is shown to be in one case 59. 20, and in the other 58. 70, which 
 shows at a glance the superiority of the western lignites over those found in any other por- 
 tion of the world. Anthracite is regarded as so much superior a fuel on account of the large 
 per cent, of carbon, and also the small amount of hydrogen and oxygen. The bituminous 
 coals contain a large percentage of hydrogen and oxygen, but not enough water and ash to 
 prevent them from being made useful, but the calorific power of lignite is very much dimin- 
 ished by the quantity of water contained in it, from the fact that so valuable a portion of the 
 fuel must be used in .converting that water into steam. 
 
 The day of my visit to the Marshall coal mines, on South Boulder creek, 73 tons of lig- 
 nite were taken out and sold at the rate of $4 a ton at the mine, and from $12 to $16 at Den- 
 ver. This lignite is somewhat brittle, but has nearly the hardness of ordinary anthracite, 
 which it very much resembles at a distance. 
 
 Jn gome portions there is a considerable quantity of amber. I spent two evenings at Mr. 
 Marshall's house burning this fuel in a furnace, and it seemed to me that it would prove to 
 be superior to ordinary western bituminous coals and rank next to anthracite for domestic 
 purposes. Being non-bituminous, it will require a draught to burn well. It is as neat as anthra- 
 cite, leaving no stain on the fingers. It produces no offensive gas or odor, and is thus supe- 
 rior in a sanitary point of view, and when brought into general use it will be a great favorite 
 for culinary purposes. It contains no destructive elements, leaves very little ash, no clink- 
 ers, and produces no more erosive effects on stoves, grates, or steam boilers than dry wood. 
 If exposed in the open air it is apt to crumble, but if protected it receives no special injury. 
 Dr. Torrey thinks there is no reason why it should not be eminently useful for generating 
 steam and for smelting ores. 
 
 Throughout the intercalated beds of clay at Boulder creek and vicinity are found masses 
 of a kind of concretionary iron ore, varying in size from one ounce to several tons in weight. 
 This iron ore is probably a limonite, commonly known under the name of brown hematite or 
 brown iron ore. It may perhaps be found in the state of carbonate of iron when sought 
 for beyond the reach of the atmosphere. These nodules or concretionary masses, when 
 broken, show regular concentric rings, varying in color from yellow to brown, looking some- 
 times like rusty yellow agates. It is said to yield 70 per cent, of metallic iron. The first 
 smelting furnace ever created in Colorado was established here by Mr. Marshall, and he 
 informed me that for the production of one ton of pig iron tnree tons of the ore, 200 pounds 
 of limestone, and 130 to 150 bushels of charcoal are required. Over 500 tons of this ore 
 have been taken from this locality, and the area over which it seems to abound cannot be 
 less than 50 square miles. Indications of large deposits of iron ore have been found in 
 many other localities along the line of the Pacific railroads, and if the mineral fuel which is 
 found here in such great abundance can be made useful for smelting purposes, these lignites 
 and iron ore beds will exert the same kind of influence over the progress of the great west 
 that Pennsylvania exerts over all the contiguous States. When we reflect that we have from 
 10,000 to 20,000 square miles of mineral fuel in the centre of a region where for a radius of 
 600 to 1,000 miles in every direction there is little or no fuel either on or beneath the surface, 
 the future value of these deposits cannot be overestimated. 
 
 The geological age of these western lignite deposits is undoubtedly tertiary. Those on 
 the upper Missoiiri have been shown to be of that age, both from vegetable and animal 
 remains, and in the Laramie plains I collected two species of plants, a popultts and a plan- 
 tanus, specifically identical with those found on the upper Missouri. The simple fact that 
 cretaceous formations Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are well shown all along the foot of the moun- 
 tains, and that No. 5 presents its usual lithological character, with its peculiar fossils, within 
 15 miles of Marshall's mines ; also that at the mine 2, 3, and 4 are seen inclining at nearly 
 the same angle and holding a lower position than the lignite beds, is sufficieiit evidence that 
 the strata enclosing the lignite beds are newer than cretaceous. A few obscure dicotyledo- 
 nous leaves were fouud, which belong rather to tertiary forms than cretaceous. 
 
 The connection of the lignite deposits on the upper Missouri has been traced uninterrupt- 
 edly to the North Platte, about 80 miles above Fort Laramie. They then pass beneath the 
 White river tertiary beds, but reappear again about 20 miles south of Pole creek, and con- 
 
38 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 tinue far southward into New Mexico. Near Red Buttes, on the North Platte, it seems also 
 probable that the same basin continues northward along the slope of the Rocky mountains, 
 nearly or quite to the Arctic sea. Whether or not there are aay indications of this formation 
 over the eastern range into the British possessions I have no means of ascertaining, but the 
 Wind River chain, which forms the m?.in divide of the Rocky Mountain range, exhibits a 
 great thickness of the lignite tertiary beds on both eastern and western slopes, showing con- 
 clusively by the fracture and inclination of the strata that prior to the elevation of this range 
 they extended uninterruptedly in a horizontal position across the area now occupied by the 
 W T ind River chain. Passing the first range of mountains in the Laramie plains we find that 
 the Big Laramie river cuts through cretaceous beds Nos. 2 and 3 ; continuing our course 
 westward to Little Laramie, a branch of the Big Laramie, and No. 3 becomes 50 to 150 feet 
 in thickness, filled with fossils, Ostrea congtsta, and a species of Inoceramus. At Rock creek, 
 about 40 miles west of Big Laramie river, the lignite beds overlap the cretaceous, but in 
 such a way as to show that the more inclined portions have been swept away by erosion, and 
 that the red beds and carboniferous limestones once existed without break and in a horizon- 
 tal position across the Laramie range prior to its elevation. 
 
 I cannot discuss this matter in detail in this article, but the evidence is clear to me now 
 that all the lignite tertiary beds of the west are but fragments of one great basin, interrupted 
 here and there by the upheaval of mountain chains or concealed by the deposition of newer 
 formations. All the evidence that I can secure seems to indicate that there are no valuable 
 beds of lignite west of the Mississippi in formations older than the tertiary. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE TERRITORY OF MONTANA. 
 
 [By W. S. Keyes, M. E.] 
 
 The Territory of Montana is, saving the recently acquired Alaska, the newest and most 
 remote of the subdivisions of the domain of the United States. Its form is very nearly 
 exactly a right-angled parallelogram, the irregularity of the figure occurring on the south- 
 western border, where the territorial limits are coincident with the main chain of the Coeur 
 d'Alene and Bitter Root mountains. Its northern boundary is latitude 49, being the 
 dividing line between the British and American possessions. Its longitudinal extension, with 
 Dakota on the east and Idaho on the west, embraces 12 degrees, viz: from 27 to 39 west 
 of the meridian of Washington, while its southern boundary is marked, excepting a small 
 portion on the extreme southwest, by the 45th parallel of north latitude. 
 
 HISTORICAL. Our first authentic description of that portion of the continent, of which 
 Montana now forms a part, is due to the labors of Captains Lewis and Clarke, two officers 
 of the regular United States army. They were despatched, at the beginning of the present 
 century, under the auspices of the general government, to explore the far northwest, which 
 was then, and has remained until quite recently, almost a terra incognita. With infinite 
 patience they surmounted all the natural obstacles in their pathway ; climbed the snowy 
 ranges ; sought out the passes" in the mountains ; descended in canoes all the principal 
 streams, and pursued to their sources by far the greater number of their tributaries; passed 
 some years among the Indians ; gave names to all the rivers, by far the larger proportion 
 of which are still retained ; described the fauna and flora in a word, all the animal and 
 vegetable life, so exhaustively that their descriptions, perfectly accurate more than 60 years 
 ago, are in every essential particular as truthful to-day. 
 
 Again, we have the results of the labors of Captain Bonneville, who explored these regions 
 some 30 years subsequently to Lewis and Clarke. The graphic pen of the late Washington 
 Irving compiled from these observations a most admirable and interesting volume. 
 
 More recently we have the report of Governor Isaac I. Stevens, who, in the years 1853, 
 1854, and 1855, made a careful survey of the passes of the Rocky mountains, with a view 
 to determine the practicability of a northern route for a railroad to the Pacific. Lieutenant 
 Mullan, one of the members of the party, established a wagon route from Fort Benton, on 
 the Missouri river, to Walla- Walla, on the Columbia river, in Washington Territory. The 
 distance between these points does not exceed 650 miles, and with this, comparatively 
 speaking, trifling land portage we unite by navigable streams the waters of the Pacific ocean 
 and those of the Gulf oi Mexico. 
 
 Up to May 26, 1864, on which date the organic act creating the Territory was approved by 
 Congress, Montana was embraced within the jurisdiction of Idaho, whose laws still remained 
 in force until the assembling of the first territorial legislature at Bannock, December 12, of 
 the same year. During the interregnum no advantage was taken or sought to be taken of 
 the technical irregularity of administering in Montana the laws of Idaho a fact which bears 
 eloquent testimony to the integrity and high character of the first settlers. Subsequently, 
 when, the fame of its rich placers had been noised abroad, the Territory became flooded with 
 
EAST OP THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 39 
 
 an immigration of ruffians, notorious desperadoes, and cutthroats, the refuse of the Pacific 
 States and Territories. Encouraged by impunity, their leaders sought and obtained such 
 positions in the lower executive ranks of the government that justice against any member .or 
 members of the band having its ramifications throughout the entire mining regions was 
 practically impossible. The people enduring ' ' until longer endurance ceased to be a virtue," 
 were impelled to the formation of a "vigilance committee." 
 
 This organization, which still exists, finally triumphed over the lawless desperadoes who 
 infested the country ; hung some and banished others, until life and property in Montana 
 were as safe if not safer than in the more settled portions of the United States. The civil 
 law and its expositors are now able, unaided, to fulfil to the utmost the behests of justice 
 and to stifle at once, if not entirely prevent, any recurrence of such outrages as led to the 
 formation of a committee of vigilance. 
 
 word 
 
 l$ct, viz: ' l Toi-abe shock-up, 
 
 broken character of its surface. 
 
 AI:I;A. According to J. L. Corbett, chief engineer, the area of the Territory is 146,689.35 
 square miles, equal to 93,881,184 acres. Compared with the older and settled portions of the 
 United States, Montana is nearly as large as the State of California, somewhat more than 
 half the size of Texas, nearly three times that of New York, two and one-half times that of 
 the six New England States combined, four times that of Kentucky, and 110 times that of 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 The proportion susceptible of cultivation in the several counties is, according to the same 
 authority, as follows : 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Meadow. 
 
 Arable. 
 
 Terrace land. 
 
 Gallatin 
 
 32 000 
 
 195 040 
 
 64 000 
 
 
 21 000 
 
 39 000 
 
 44 000 
 
 Deer Lodge. 
 
 23 000 
 
 91 200 
 
 28 000 
 
 
 52, 000 
 
 114,000 
 
 35, 000 
 
 Big Horn 
 
 96 800 
 
 1 592 250 
 
 152 800 
 
 
 18 500 
 
 34 500 
 
 38 OCO 
 
 Jefferson 
 
 3l'200 
 
 45 400 
 
 
 
 25 SCO 
 
 36 000 
 
 
 Chouteau. ......... .. ... 
 
 78 000 
 
 372 400 
 
 85 000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 377,800 
 
 2, 521, 800 
 
 446, 800 
 
 Being a grand total of 3,346,400 acres, which gives a proportion of little more than 1 in 30. 
 In the absence of the official returns of the surveyor general, these figures must be taken 
 only as reasonable approximations. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF GOLD. None of the earlier exploring parties seem to have observed or 
 even predicted the probability of finding the precious metals in any of the far northwestern 
 Territories. Professor Dana, it is true, mentions in 1842 the occurrence of certain gold- 
 bearing talcose and micaceous shists on the Umpqua river, in southern Oregon, and like- 
 wise stated that similar rocks had been found on the banks of the Sacramento river, in Cali- 
 fornia. Saving the Indians, the inhabitants of these regions consisted of a few trappers and 
 a small number of Catholic missionaries. The latter, from their intelligence and cultivation, 
 were the only persons likely to have noticed the geological significance of the rocks, drift, 
 and alluvium ; but even had they been well aware of the existence of gold and silver and 
 this, on the authority of Father De Smet, was indeed the case it is highly improbable that 
 they would have laid much stress on the advantages to accrue from their development. 
 
 These self-denying pioneers of civilization have ever shown themselves to be the only body 
 of men who, within the domain of the United States, have been able to tame the savages 
 and introduce among them the arts of peace. Strictly upright in their commerce with the 
 aborigines, they have succeeded in obtaining their confidence, and while the houses of the 
 settlers are set in flames, and themselves and their families fall a prey to the tomahawk, these 
 missionary establishments always remain intact. 
 
 To Mr. Grauville Stuart, an old resident and careful observer, we are indebted for the fol- 
 lowing facts in regard to the early history of gold-seeking in what now constitutes Montana: 
 
 It seems that one Francois Finlay,.cominonly known as " Benctsee," a half-breed, from the Hed River of 
 the North, in British territory, hail for some time worked in the placers of California. Becoming dissatis- 
 fied with that country, he found his way back again to the vicinity of his former home. He arrived in Mon- 
 tana, and was the first person to discover on Gold cjeek a few particles of fine float gold. This creek is 
 situated in Deer Lodge county, on the wes-tern slope of the Kocky mountains, and is one of the minor trib- 
 utaries of the Hell Gate river, whose waters flow ultimately into the Pacific ocean. Probably from a lack 
 of provisions he did little more than superficially prospect the locality. He performed, however, enough 
 work to entitle him to the honor of discovery. 
 
 Subsequently, in May. 1858, James and Granvule Stuart, Thomas Adams, and Hecse Anderson prospected 
 on Gold creek, finding as high as ten cents to the pan, equalling about one-half cent to the pound of earth. 
 This party, few in numbers and continually annoyed by the Blackfeet Indians, who persistently stole their 
 
40 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 horses, and being, moreover, misapplied with the necessary tools and provisions, likewise abandoned, for 
 the moment, any further search. 
 
 Two years later, namely, during the summer of I860, one Henrv Thomas, called "Gold Tom." or "Tom 
 Gold Digger," set up on Gold creek three small sluice-boxes which he had himself roughly hewed out of 
 green timber. With these rude implements he succeeded, unaided and alone, in collecting from $1 50 to 
 $2 per day. His was the first actual mining in that part of Washington Territory now Montana. Becom- 
 ing dissatisfied with the reward of Ms labors, he kept industriously prospecting all over the Territory, and, 
 strangely enough, his favorite camping ground was near the location of the present city of Helena, in' whose 
 immediate vicinity were found, subsequently, some of the richest placer deposits ever worked. 
 
 It remained, however, for others than "Gold Tom" to unearth the precious dust whose resting place had 
 been so often pressed by his footstep. Stuart and his party had removed to the vicinity of Fort Bridger. on 
 the emigrant road, where they lived as traders, until, in 18'f>0, they concluded to return and thoroughly inves- 
 tigate the affluents to the valley of the Deer Lodge. They prospected during 1861, and found Several 
 favorable localities. It was not, ho\vcver, until 18<>2, and after they had received from Walla- Walla, 4-J.~> 
 miles distant, both tools and lumber, that the first string of ten real sluices was set up and worked. In the 
 mean time they had communicated the news of their discovery to a relative at Pike's Peak, as Colorado \vns 
 then called. Hence resulted a considerable exodus of miners, who began to arrive in Deer Lodge about June 
 20, 1862. The new comers discovered the placers at Pike's Peak gulch. Pioneer gulch, fcc. From this time 
 forward the immigration of gold seekers rapidlv increased in volume. Many, becoming bewildered among the 
 pathless hills while searching for the Deer Loilge, discovered other and valuable placers. At present there 
 remains scarcely a mountain gorge or sequestered ravine but hag been prospected more or less thoroughly 
 from mouth to source. 
 
 For several months anterior to the segregation of the Territory from Idaho the people gov- 
 erned themselves. Far away from any settled habitations, a little handful of hardy mining 
 adventurers, they still found time, amid the excitements of gold-mining, to take such steps 
 as have finally secured the fullest liberty combined with an entire subservience to law. They 
 discovered the placers at Bannock, began the development of Alder gulch, and laid the 
 foundation of Virginia City, now the capital of Montana, months before the arrival of any 
 territorial officials. 
 
 POPULATION. The present population of the Territory may be estimated to be about 24,000 
 souls. This total has been arrived at from the reports of the different assistant assessors of 
 internal revenue, who have received instructions to make an informal approximate census. 
 Mr. N. P. Langford, the efficient United States collector and one of the pioneers of Montana, 
 is of the opinion that the number of inhabitants has remained very nearly constant from the 
 fall of 1864 up to and includiug the present year, and has probably, during that interval, 
 never fallen below 21,000. 
 
 We may, by s'ill another method, obtain a reasonable approximation, corroborative of the 
 foregoing, viz., by an examination of the vote cast in September of the present year. Local 
 causes combined with political excitement, caused the casting of an unexpectedly large and 
 probably full vote. The eight counties into which the Territory was. originally divided, not 
 including Big Horn, polled a total ef very nearly 12,000 votes. lu this number are included 
 the votes of the soldiers performing volunteer service against the Indians, all the colored 
 votes, and also those which were rejected from the count by reason of informality. Hence, 
 multiplying the full vote by two, we have a total population of 24,000, corresponding with 
 that reported by the assistant assessors. In support of this multiple, which may by some be 
 deemed unreasonably small, it may be alleged that the Territory is barely four years old, that 
 the first settlers were of that migratory class who have neither home nor family, and that 
 women and children are but just beginning to form an appreciable percentage of the popu- 
 lation. On the approach of winter, many whose summer exertions have returned a profit, 
 and who, likewise, are unwilling to endure the comparative stagnation of the cold season, 
 emigrate either to the east or west. Returning spring, however, brings back as many if not 
 more than departed, eager to begin or to renew the toilsome yet fascinating pursuit of the 
 gold hunter. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. The most prominent feature of the physical geography of the 
 Territory, particularly in the western or ore-bearing regions, is the gentleness of the acclivi- 
 ties and the absence of sharply projecting volcanic peaks. To the traveller passing over the 
 summit of the Rocky mountains, on the road hither from Utah, this fact is vividly impressed 
 upon his attention, as forming a most striking contrast to the enormous outflow of basaltic 
 lava extending from Port Neuf canon, in Idaho, more than 200 miles, quite to the crests of 
 the main chain. We observe, also, even on the highest of the hills, great strata of washed 
 and rounded boulders, loosely bound together by a granitic detritus. We find, further, quite 
 high up on the mountains, lakes of greater or less extent, whose formation was evidently 
 owing to the blocking up of some primeval gorge by means of glacier-borne boulders. 
 Indeed, in one of the valleys tributary to the Deer Lodge the former location of such a lake 
 is plainly visible. Here, for centuries perhaps, the pent-up waters, swollen by the annual 
 melting of the winter's snows, had, year by year, further insinuated themselves into the 
 opposing dike, until, with a mightier effort, they swept downwards to the plain, and piled 
 up in long ridges the rocks and earthy matters in their pathway. 
 
 As might be anticipated, these hyperborean regions were once the scene of long-continued 
 and wide-spread glacial action, the evidences of which are perfectly palpable. A locality 
 of particular interest in this regard is the canon of Rattlesnake creek, which takes its rise 
 in the Bald mountain, northwest of the town of Argenta, in Beaver Head county. Here 
 there are exposed upon the surface great slabs of quartzite, polished to the smoothness of 
 glass, with fine parallel striations marking the course of the glaciers. At a point about half 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 4l 
 
 a mile below the town a large mass of this rock appears, which is remarkable for its brilliant, 
 deep mahogany color and perfect polish. 
 
 The lower ranges and foot-hills of the Rocky mountains are made up almost entirely of 
 rounded, rolling hills, having a substratum of drift and covered with a rich alluvium. They 
 afford conclusive evidence of the vast and continuous wearing effect, not only of the prim- 
 eval glaciers, but also of the melting snows and rains which for centuries on centuries have 
 swept downwards from the main range. 
 
 Some very fine examples of morains are to be seen in the vicinity of Diamond City, on the 
 eastern side of the Missouri. Great boulders of granite, worn and rounded by the attrition 
 of the ice field, are piled up at a considerable distance from their original resting place* 
 
 Another phenomenon referable to masses of ice is to be observed in most of the larger 
 rivers : the shallower streams, during the intense cold of the winter, become frozen to the 
 very bottom, and envelope in a coating of ice many small and occasionally very large frag- 
 ments of rock ; the great increments, caused by the melting of the snows on the mountains, 
 carry down numerous blocks of ice and the adhering stones. These latter are ultimately 
 deposited in the river's bed, forming rapids, shoals, &c., or adding to those already formed, 
 and still further complicating a navigation sufficiently difficult from shiftings of the line of 
 the channel and from snags and sawyers. 
 
 The low lands furnish admirable sites for farming purposes, while the high plateaus are 
 covered with a luxuriant growth of grasses, affording an almost limitless expanse of pas- 
 turage. Until within a very recent period, and before the hand of civilization had begun to 
 seize the country for its own, vast herds of elk and buffalo found a lavish sustenance on the 
 countless hills and valleys, untrod by other than Indians and a few of the hardy race of 
 trappers. 
 
 For the purpose of description it is preferable to treat separately of the eastern and western 
 portions of the Territory. The former, bordering on Dacota, is drained by the Missouri and 
 Yellowstone rivers and their numerous tributaries, and is, excepting the bottom lands 
 through which the streams flow, comparatively unknown. From such information, however, 
 as is available, we arc justified in adopting the conclusion that it is composed of rolling terrace 
 and elevated table lands. The west, on the contrary, is mountainous. 
 
 The hill country, made up of the primitive and secondary rocks, is the habitus of the ore- 
 bearing veins; whereas the low lands, comprising, geologically speaking, more recent sedi- 
 mentary and drift formations, are prolific of useful rather than precious minerals. Below 
 Fort Benton, the head of navigation, on the Missouri river, and likewise on the Yellow- 
 stone, after it leaves the mountains we find these water deposits, consisting of clays and 
 sandstones, after towering far above the river banks. 
 
 Both valley systems and their subsidiary gorges are due to the eroding action of the streams 
 draining through countless ages from off the eastern flanks of the Rocky mountains. In the 
 eddies and lake-like depressions of these vast sedimentary plains the primeval forests, washed 
 from their mountain fastnesses, have piled trunk on trunk to the formation of very extensive 
 coal beds, again to be covered up by subsequent deposits of clays and sandstones. In many 
 places along the river banks of both these streams great beds of coal and layers of sand 
 stone, in color a dirty gray or yellow, are now plainly visible, still occupying the same hori 
 zontal positions in which they were originally deposited. 
 
 The mountains of the Territory are, as before stated, predominant in the west. They 
 comprise the Rocky mountain chain and its subordinate ranges, the Coeur d'Alene and 
 Bitter Root menntains, &c., &c., forming a portion of the backbone of the continent, and 
 covering a tract of country from 300 to 400 miles wide. Within these limits are many spurs 
 surpassing in altitude the peaks of the main range. They give rise to numberless valleys, 
 generally connected together by low passes. Below Fort Benton, and in the upper central 
 portion of the Territory, between the Missouri and Milk rivers, we find two considerable 
 upheavals, viz : the Bear's Paw, running nearly north and south, and the Little Rocky 
 mountains, having an east and west trend. Again, nearly in the geographical centre, we 
 find the Belt and Judith mountains, and in the south centre the Big Horn mountains, which 
 pass out of the Territory southwardly into Dakota. 
 
 Montana is a country pre-eminently well watered. It embraces within its confines for a 
 distance of 300 miles the entire eastern and part of the western water-shed of the Rocky 
 mountains. Draining the former, we have the great rivers Missouri and Yellowstone. 
 Tributary to and forming: the first named, we find the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin, 
 whose waters, drawn from the far western snowy peaks, unite almost simultaneously in the 
 neighborhood of Gallatin City. Thence flowing unitedly in a northeast course they debouch 
 into the foot-hills through a precipitous gorge, denominated by Lewis and Clarke " the gate 
 of the mountains." Below Fort Benton the Marias, Judith, Muscleshell, and Milk rivers, 
 draining the northern and central regions, unite with the Missouri. The Yellowstone, which 
 with its affluents, Clark's Fork, Pryor's Fork, Big Horn, Tongue, and Powder rivers, drains 
 the southern and southeastern portions, flows east and northeast, until, near the territorial 
 limits, in the vicinity of Fort Union, it unites to swell the volume of waters borne by the 
 Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 West of the main ridge the Hell Gate, Missoula, and Big Blackfoot rivers, flowing nearly 
 north-northwest, unite to form the Bitter Root, which, joining with the Flat Head further 
 
42 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 north, forms the Lewis Fork of the Columbia river, whose waters find their way to the Pacific 
 ocean. 
 
 There is but one considerable body of fresh water within the territorial limits, viz : the 
 Flat Head lake, situated in the northwestern corner, on the western slope of the mountains, 
 and forming the chief source of the Flat Head river above mentioned. Lying like great 
 troughs between the moutain ridges, and drained by the principal rivers and their countless 
 minor tributaries, we find five grand basins, and numberless subsidiary valleys ; four to the 
 east, and one west of the Rocky mountains. 
 
 The query may seem pertinent as to the motive for including in Montana rather than in 
 Idaho the strip of territory west of the main chain. In answer it may be stated that the 
 passes from east to west over or through the main ridge are more numerous, and in general 
 lower and less liable to be blocked up by snow than those of the Bitter Root and Coeur d' Alene 
 ranges. Hence for all practical purposes this magnificent valley system belongs to Montana 
 on the east. 
 
 This western basin, with a general course of north 40 west, conformably to the trend of 
 the main range, is made up of eight well-defined valleys. These are separated from one 
 another by projecting spurs, over whose foot-hills there is an easy communication at till 
 seasons of the year. Through each and all of them there flow streams prolific of trout. Near 
 the sources of these brooks and rivers, and in general over the entire western slope, we find a 
 luxuriant growth of pine, fir, spruce, and cedar, affording a marked contrast to the compara- 
 tively sparcely timbered east. 
 
 The theory which seems most plausible to account for this difference, which is palpable 
 to the most unobservant when passing over the summit towards the west is, that the winds 
 from the far southwest, warmed by a more genial sun, and absorbing the moisture evaporated 
 over the immense expanse of the Pacific ocean, pour down, to nourish the trees and grasses, 
 copious showers of rain, which are set free by a contact, with the colder strata about the 
 summits of the mountains. The same winds depositing there the greater proportion of their 
 moisture in the form of snow, have naturally a smaller amount of rain for the foot-hills and 
 plains of the easiern slopes. The melting, however, of the heavy snow-fall carries down a 
 rich granitic detritus, and supplies an enormous yet varying increment to the numerous 
 tributaries to the Missouri. 
 
 Eastward of the main ridge, and stretching along the northern confines through 10, quite 
 to the territorial limits, and unbroken by any considerable superficial inequalities, except 
 the Bear's Paw and Little Rocky mountains, we find the long valley drained by the Marias 
 and Milk rivers. The upper edge of this basin is embraced within the British possessions. 
 The major portion consists of high plateaus, rolling prairie and barren clay table lands, 
 denominated by the trappers and French "voyageurs" "Les Manvaises Torres," or Bad 
 Lands. These formations, barren and desolate, consist of terrace piled on terrace, marking 
 the limits of the great sedimentary waves which have poured downwards from the mountains. 
 Where such occur we find little or no timber, excepting along the river bottoms, which are 
 scantily supplied with a meagre growth of cottonwood trees. The rivers have worn their 
 pathway through these deposits, and the traveller first becomes aware of their existence when, 
 standing upon the edge of some precipitous chasm, he observes the running waters hundreds 
 of feet below him. Only along tne immediate foot-hills are to be found sufficient timber and 
 alluvium to invite settlement and cultivation. 
 
 Nearly in the centre of the Territory, and almost encircled by the Bear's Paw and Little 
 Rocky mountains on the north and the Belt and Judith mountains on the south, we find a 
 considerable basin drained by the Missouri and its tributaries, the Arrow, Judith, and Muscle- 
 shell rivers, all of which flow from south to north. A large proportion of this region may 
 properly be embraced in the designation "bad lands." They find their most prominent 
 exemplification from the mouth of the Judith river nearly as far as Fort Benton. Interspersed 
 among these barren clay terraces we find most curious sandstone formations eroded, by the 
 action of the elements, into strange and fantastic resemblances to time-worn battlements and 
 hoary ruins. This basin is fairly watered, and although it contains a large proportion of 
 worthless land, is not so uniformly uninviting as the preceding section. 
 
 To the east and southeast, and forming very nearly one-fourth of the Territory, we have 
 the very extensive Big Horn valley, drained by the Yellowstone and its numerous tributaries. 
 Less is positively known of this region than of any other portion of Montana. Hunters and 
 trappers report the existence of wonderful falls and rapids on the upper portions of the main 
 stream, and beautiful lakes near its source. We have, further, the descriptions of Lewis and 
 Clark, who for 15 days, some GO years ago, floated down its current, and also of a few ven- 
 turesome voyagers of more recent periods. None, however, treat specially of other than the 
 terrain bordering the river. The prevailing formation is evidently sedimentary drift, through 
 which the rivers have cut their pathway. It is a country as yet sacred to the buffalo, and is 
 pre-eminently difficult to explore owing to the determined hostility of the savages. 
 
 There is remaining the fan-like valley system above the " Gate of the Mountains," drained 
 by the Upper Missouri and its three forks, the Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison. This region, 
 comprising a section of country less than 150 miles square, in area about twice the size of 
 the State of Maryland, is emphatically Montana. Quite in the heart of the mountains, well 
 watered and interspersed with fertile valleys and rolling grass-covered hills, it contains the 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 43 
 
 chief centres of population, the most prolific placers, and a wide expanse of as yet but par- 
 tially developed quartz leads. Here we find the streams draining to the east and northeast 
 from off the eastern water-shed of the Rocky mountains. The bottom lands produce abun- 
 dantly the hardier cereals and vegetables, while the hills furnish a limitless pasturage. On 
 the mountains and high lands, where the vein mines are to be sought, the winters are long 
 and of great seventy. In many of the valleys, on the contrary, the snow falls so seldom 
 and to such an insignificant depth that horses and cattle are able to subsist during the cold 
 season without shelter and without care. The climate is particularly healthful, and the rare 
 pure air of these elevated regions the lowest being some thousands of feet above the sea 
 level conduces to both bodily and mental vigor. 
 
 GEOLOGY. It is impossible at present to more than generally outline the main geological 
 features of Montana. The want of a thorough scientific investigation of its mineral resources 
 is just beginning to be felt, and as a knowledge of mines and mining becomes wider spread 
 among the community, there will be a more persistent call for such surveys, and a better 
 appreciation of the significance of the primary and secondary rocks as distinguished from 
 drift and sedimentary deposits. 
 
 As already intimated, the formations of the Territory are marked by distinctive features in 
 the east and west. We may dismiss a consideration of the former as connected with useful 
 deposits other than carboniferous. The bad lands of these districts are prolific of fossils, 
 petrifactions, &c., and afford an exhaustless and, as yet, unworked field of investigation for 
 pure science. Drift and alluvium, spread over a wide expanse of low, rolling hills, terraces, 
 and prairie, unbroken by other than occasional outcrops of sandstone, make up th6 majority 
 of the east. The west, on the contrary, prolific of veins and placers, consists in the main of 
 granite. The waters and glaciers have, likewise, given rise to very extensive gravel deposits 
 merging into conglomerates of greater or less compactness. In the superficial inequalities 
 of the mountains we find clay schists evidently of comparatively recent formation. Gneiss, 
 micashist, quartzite, pitchstoue, and graywacke, likewise occur as subordinate local peculiari- 
 ties. Talcose and reddish silicious slates, slightly charged with copper, and syenitic granite 
 bearing gold are to be found in the mining regions. But most prominently as an ore-bearer, 
 being, with granite, almost universal, we find large masses of blue, yellow, and occasionally 
 whitish metamorphic limestone of a distinctly chrystalline structure and highly magnesian. 
 This rock occurs apparently as an intercalation between dikes of quartzite and the grand 
 granitic substratum of the country. It forms a species of mineral belt, disconnected, how- 
 ever, and generally in each district of limited extent. 
 
 Montana is rich in fossils, and hence the geologic age of the various formations admit of 
 a reasonably easy determination. Aside from the above-mentioned prolific bad lands, there 
 occurs near the summit of the range back of Virginia City a very heavy deposit of fossil 
 shells. Individual specimens from this source are to be. met with both on the surface and in 
 the placer washings lower down the mountain, at that point where Alder gulch begins. 
 Professor Swallow, State geologist of Missouri and Kansas, discovered a locality of fossils 
 in the vicinity of the copper mines at the head of the Muscleshell river, which is so denomi- 
 nated from the great abundance of fresh water muscle shells found on its banks. I myself 
 collected quite a number of fossils from the clay schists of Birch and Grasshopper creeks, in 
 Beaver Head county, which, through the kindness of Dr. Blatchley, have been handed for 
 determination to Professor Whitney, State geologist of California. The finest specimen was 
 presented to me by a Mr. Taylor, residing near Bannock. It consisted of the lower jaw, 
 incisors, and molars of some medium-sized graminivorous animal, and was in a particularly 
 fine state of preservation. The fossil bore some resemblance to the teeth of a mountain 
 sheep, an animal which, through uninterrupted pursuit, is fast becoming extinct. The fossils 
 from Birch creek consisted entirely of the remains of shell fish. There was reported, in 1865, 
 the discovery of the head bones and the skeleton of a buffalo, almost entire. They were 
 found in Grizzly gulch, near Helena, lying immediately upon the bed rock, and covered up 
 to a depth of 40 to 45 feet with wash gravel and alluvium. In the same year also there was 
 discovered, on Meagher bar, opposite the town of Nevada, in Alder gulch, the lower jaw- 
 bone of a member of the human family, measuring five inches from point to point of the 
 condyles. An inferior maxillary of these dimensions would indicate some giant individual 
 of an extinct species from 10J- to 12 feet in height. At the same time and place there was 
 found an enormous fossil tooth, six inches long, four inches wide, and between eight and nine 
 inches from the crown through to the lower portions of the root. Mr. T. H. Kleinschmidt, of 
 Helena, has in his possession two enormous fossil teeth, exhumed, some two years since, 
 from the wash gravel of Grizzly gulch. 
 
 The discovery of these fossils in the gold-bearing drift of Montana adds another link to 
 the chain of evidence confirmatory of the truth of the statements of Professor Whitney, 
 State geologist of California, as to the age of the placers. They show conclusively that 
 their formation here in Montana was either coincident with, or but little subsequent to, the 
 advent of the mammalia, and that some of them may have been deposited even as late as the 
 age of man. These exuviae of extinct species of animals are preserved with the greatest diffi- 
 culty, not only on account of their facility of crumbling on exposure to the air, but also from 
 the apathy of the finders, who -regard them curiously for the moment and then cast them 
 aside into the neglected corners of their cabins. 
 
44 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 MINING REGIONS. Under this designation we embrace all placer deposits, both the super- 
 ficial detrital formations and the deep-lying conglomerate-like cement diggings, as well as 
 the infiltrated system of quartz veins. In general terms, we may designate both slopes of 
 the Rocky mountains as pertaining to the mining regions. 
 
 The crests of the main chain, from the point of entering the Territory until reaching 
 Mullan's Pass, in about latitude 4b'^ and longitude 35 west of Washington, maintain a 
 course very nearly north 40 west. From this locality they make a sharp turn to the south- 
 west, and run on thus until they pass into Idaho. Within this limit the ridge is cut through 
 in but one place by the far western affluents of the Big Hole branch of the Jefferson river. 
 
 We find on the eastern slope two belts of ore-bearing country resembling an inverted V, 
 the apex of which is towards the north. The left hand belt starts from Horse prairie below 
 Bannock City, in the southwest ; thence passes through Blue Wing, Argenta, and an east- 
 ern system parallel to the Silver Bow and Butte City districts on the west, and continues 
 onward through Beavertown, Jefferson City, Helena, and Silver City, northwards. The 
 second belt commences high up in the mountains south of Virginia City; passes thence 
 northerly through Ramshorn, Brandon, &c., then disappears or gives but faint traces of its 
 presence in the alluvial valley through which passes the river Jefferson, and shows itself 
 again near Beavertown, from whence the two eastern belts pass northwardly as one. 
 
 West of the crests of the main range we find not only less developed but also less con- 
 tinuous zones of impregnation. That the points of enrichment appear to be more isolated is 
 owing, doubtless, to a less thorough prospecting. Further south, and drained by the west- 
 ernmost affluent of the Big Hole emptying its waters, it is true, to the east, but from its 
 position preferably credited to the west we find the rich but shallow diggings centring 
 about French gulch, a locality long since worked over and abandoned. 
 
 Advancing northwardly we have a mineral belt just west of the crests of the main chain, 
 at the head of the Blackfoot river, running nearly northwest and southeast, conformably to 
 the trend of the mountains and corresponding to a western prolongation of the mineral belt 
 of Silver Bow and Butte City. 
 
 We find still another belt southward of, and having a marked parallelism with, the general 
 course of the Hell Gate river, bearing about west-northwest and east-southeast. This belt 
 embraces Gold creek, the point where gold was first discovered, and likewise its continua- 
 tion on the head-waters of Flint creek/ where, lately, there was reported the discovery of 
 valuable gold-bearing quartz lodes. Hence, pursuing the same direction, we still find 
 evidences of gold deposits on most of the affluents emptying into the Hell Gate further 
 west. 
 
 The most recent attraction for the migratory, restless race of miners, is a point on the 
 western .slope of the mountains far towards the northwest, and only a few miles distant from 
 the line of the British possessions. The particular locality is said to be between the Jocko 
 mission and Thompson's river, where there are believed to be both rich and extensive depos- 
 its forming those species of placer mines known as gulch and bar diggings. Many people 
 have flocked thither, both from Montana and from the neighboring Territories. So great, 
 indeed, has been the exodus from certain localities that many mining camps are entirely 
 deserted. Whether the reported richness will be borne out by a closer examination remains 
 to be proven. Such migrations are of too common occurrence in the history of placer min- 
 ing to merit more than passing mention, except for the purpose of exemplifying a peculiar 
 phase of life in the mountains. Washings yielding fair average returns are abandoned on 
 the instant so soon as the whispered rumor spreads abroad that fabulous richness lies hidden 
 on the bed rock of some far-off ravine. The tireless prospector dares wind and snow in the 
 depth of winter to hunt up new placers, and seems to prefer such as are most inaccessible 
 and most dangerous to explore on account of hostile Indians. On the approach of winter 
 these " stampedes," as they are called, occur most frequently. The summer has yielded its 
 harvests, favorable to some, but unfavorable to many, and winter begins to lock up for a six 
 months' rest the watercourses which are indispensable to placer mining. Hence, the prospector, 
 unable longer to continue his washings, starts forth to renew the chase of fortune, laden 
 only with pick, pan, and shovel, and an amount of provisions measured by the length of his 
 purse or the soundness of his credit. Sometimes in company, but more frequently solitary 
 and alone, they carefully investigate such ravines, gulleys, &c., as experience or fancy may 
 dictate. Buoyed up by the hope of ultimately "striking it rich," they endure every spe- 
 cies of hardship and privation and not unfrequently are frozen to death. Amputations of 
 frost-bitten hands and feet are of quite common occurrence. 
 
 This nomadic instinct, combined with practiced observation, alacrity in every emergency, 
 and self-reliant bravery, has moulded a race of hardy pioneers, fit instruments to subdue the 
 wilderness and the mountain-fastnesses. To such men are due the discovery of new mining 
 regions in localities where no inducement other than the yellow dust will draw the white 
 man. They pave the way for oncoming civilization, and leave to others the fairest fruits of 
 their toils and privations. As soon as their old camping grounds become comparatively set- 
 tled and self-sustaining, these children of the frontier seek other ranges and wilder solitudes. 
 Every fall and winter are marked by countless minor excitements and one or more gigantic 
 stampedes, depopulating entire districts. 
 
 Up to the summer and fall of 1865 these migratory movements were iu the main confined 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 45 
 
 to a comparatively circumscribed area, comprising what now constitutes the settled portion 
 of the Territory, 
 
 The superficial placers having- at this time begun to show symptoms of exhaustion, natu- 
 rally gave rise to investigations of more distant localities. In January, 1866, a rush took 
 place to the mouth of Sun river towards a point some 60 miles from Fort Benton. As a 
 result no diggings of any value were discovered and a large number of the deluded enthusi- 
 asts were frozen to death. In July, of the same year, the placers of Little Blackfoot, 
 Nevada gulch, and the Hell Gate country, all on the western slopes, attracted considerable 
 attention, and remain until the present time a region of undiminished interest. In the fol- 
 lowing month of August there sprang up an intense excitement caused by the report of fab- 
 ulously rich placers in the neighborhood of Fort Lemhi, in the Salmon river country of 
 Idaho. In the same month a large number made their way to the Wind River mountains of 
 Dakota, west and southwest of the extreme southern sources of the Yellowstone. Neither of 
 these excitements appears to have justified expectation. That to Salmon river continued 
 through the winters of 186b'-'67. Thousands were drawn thither, and others kept pouring 
 in until the disappearance of the snow late in the spring so far exposed the ground as 
 emphatically to disprove the illusion. Men remained for many months exposed to the cruel- 
 ties of a very severe winter, built up a large town, held unprospected claims at enormous 
 figures, and at length abandoned the country in disgust, condemning as fiercely as they had 
 previously unreasonably lauded it. In October also of 1866, a stampede of some magni- 
 tude was directed to the Saskatchawan country, 650 miles north of Helena and in the British 
 possessions. No diggings of importance rewarded the prospectors. 
 
 No permanent prosperity and no fixed centres of population are possible until such time as 
 the superficial placers have ceased to yield a prolific booty of easy extraction. _ The long 
 rows of deserted habitations, once teeming with the busy life of a flourishing mining town, 
 bear melancholy testimony to the inefficiency of the placers alone to lay the foundations of 
 permanent towns and cities. The real prosperity of a mining country may be dated from 
 the time when the majority of the gulches, bars, &c., are worked out, since, at such time, 
 the people are compelled to turn their attention to the quartz veins, which alone promise per- 
 manency and a lasting source of revenue to well-directed enterprise. That many adventures 
 terminate unfortunately ; that vast sums are wasted through folly and ignorance, so culpa- 
 ble as almost to deserve to be branded as criminal, is not to be wondered at. The art of 
 mining and the fundamental principles of metallurgy, as applied to the North American 
 mineral regions, are of too recent formation to be, even in their general outlines, at all widely 
 spread amongst the people. Hence, dazzled by a pursuit having as its immediate object the 
 representatives of value in all civilized nations, viz., gold and silver, the majority of men 
 lose sight of those primal economical considerations which no individual of practical busi- 
 ness sense ever neglects or overlooks. They begin, not by counting the cost, but by rearing 
 brilliant imaginary superstructures on a very meagre substratum of fact, and hence the mag- 
 nificent proportions of the imposing edifice are in constant jeopardy from the faintest breath- 
 ings of hard facts and common-sense reality. 
 
 Such opinions, the result of ignorance and malappreciation, must still continue until those 
 men whose lives are devoted solely to the acquirement of a practical acquaintance with min- 
 ing affairs shall have impressed upon the great body of the community the fundamental 
 maxims necessary to successful mining. These may be summed up briefly as follows: 
 First, a reasonably large estimate of cost ; and, secondly, a just estimate of the average 
 working yield by such process, either amalgamation or smelting, as may be determined upon 
 by a reliable and competent authority. Undue haste in erecting mills and machinery before 
 a suificient degree of development is apparent, has been, more than any other cause, the 
 fruitful source of failure and disappointment. Companies organized with an insufficient 
 working capital, and blunderingly conducted, find their resources failing them precisely at 
 the moment when most needed, and many mining adventures thus prove failures even when 
 the mine itself is of real value. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF THE VARIOUS METALS AND MINERALS. There seems to be no marked 
 segregation from one another of the gold, silver, copper, or coal bearing localities, other than 
 that the last mentioned is found mainly in the sedimentary formations of the east. Indeed, 
 the phenomenon of double veins, so called, namely, those having pure smelting ores, as 
 galenas, oxides and carbonates of lead on the one wall, and amalgamable noble silver min- 
 efals, as silver glance, stephanite, dark and light ruby silver, &c , &c., on the other, are of 
 not uncommon occurrence. Gold is found over a wide extent of country, the main develop- 
 ment of which, up to the present time, has been expended on placer deposits. Vein mining 
 both for gold and silver is just beginning to come prominently into notice. Gold quartz of 
 greater or less promise has been found in the immediate vicinity of all the localities once 
 celebrated for their placers, viz : near Bannock, Virginia City, Helena City, Highland, &c., 
 &c. Silver ores suitable for smelting are found in the Blue Wing and Argenta districts in 
 the southwest, also in the vicinity of Jefferson City, in several of the districts near Helena, 
 and in some of the mines of Flint creek and Mill creek. Silver ores suitable for amalgama- 
 tion are found in Brown's gulch, in the neighborhood of Virginia City, and across the range 
 in Deer Lodge county, on one of the branches of Flint creek, at Philiipsburg, &c., &c. 
 
 Copper ores, ot such as carry a predominating percentage of this metal, are found among 
 
46 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 the eastern foot-hills, near the sources of the Muscleshell river, also in the valley of the Prickly 
 Pear, and west of the range near Butte City. Traces of this metal are found in nearly all 
 the mining districts, and a most curious formation of a true copper placer is observable near 
 Beavertown, a short distance south of Jefferson City. The particles of pure copper, pointed, 
 yet apparently uncrystallized, seem, in this instance, to be held together by a species of 
 quartzy detritus. 
 
 We find, also, clays and sandstones superimposed and underlying the coal beds in those 
 places where the local peculiarities of the surface have proved favorable to sedimentary and 
 ddft formations that is, mainly, 'as before stated, in the east, but likewise among the foot- 
 hills and, in one or two well-known instances, quite high up on the mountains of the west. 
 
 CENTRES OF POPULATION. The chief centres of population in the Territory are three, 
 viz : Bannock, Virginia and Helena cities. The motive of their foundation was the extent 
 and profitableness of the placer deposits in their immediate vicinity. And since the limit of 
 productiveness of the superficial placers may be determined to a degree of reasonable exact- 
 ness, it is necessary to establish a claim to other local resources in order to maintain in the 
 future the relative pre-eminence of the past. 
 
 First in the order of settlement we find Bannock City, formerly called East Bannock, in 
 contradistinction to another town of the same name lying to the southwest, and then like- 
 wise in the Territory of Idaho. The diggings were discovered in the summer of 1862 by one 
 John White, from Colorado. The town is situated in a narrow gorge in the midst of a series 
 of rolling hills. Through it there flows a considerable stream of water, called Willard's or 
 Grasshopper creek, which is a tributary to one of the three chief affluents of the Jefferson 
 river. Considerable mining was done the year of discovery. The majority of the claims 
 paid well and uniformily without any surprisingly rich yields. The gold produced was of 
 a very high rate of fineness, coining $ 19 50 per ounce. One particularly clean and choice 
 lot, of upwards of $20,000, taken from a single claim, coined the very unusual sum of a few 
 cents over $20 per ounce; that is very nearly as much as pure gold, which is valued at 
 $20 67 per ounce. The placer deposits are still an object of pursuit, although the main 
 reliance in the future must be the vein mines opposite to and below the town. The rocks of 
 the vicinity are granite and metamorphic limestone, carrying the ore-bearing quartz lodes. 
 We find some quartzite, and above the town clays and sandstones, with a considerable 
 deposit of alluvium along the immediate borders of the creek. 
 
 The first territorial legislature assembled here, and among its other enactments promul- 
 gated a series of laws determining the method of location, record, tenure, &c., of lode claims. 
 These laws, although in the main modelled after the miner's customs of Idaho, which were 
 in force up to and for some months subsequent to the date of segregation therefrom of Montana, 
 were, nevertheless, altered in several minor and one or more fundamental points. The Idaho 
 legislature did not attempt by statutory enactment to define the rights, privileges and penalties 
 of the miners, but, according to the civil practice act, permitted to be brought in evidence 
 " proof of the customs, usages or regulations established and in force in the mining districts, 
 embracing such claims and such customs, usages or regulations, when not in conflict with 
 the laws of the Territory, shall govern the decision of the action." (Civil Practice Act, 
 sec. 576.) As showing the animus of the framers, and the opinions in vogue in Montana 
 at this period, it may not be inadmissible to insert these laws here. 
 
 We may premise by stating that these mid -continental Territories are stamped with the 
 impress of Colorado. From geographical contiguity, and the fact that the bulk of the early 
 immigration found its way hither from the east, it is only to be expected that the mining 
 legislation should show unmistakable evidences of its origin, and hence be clearly distin- 
 guishable from that of the west. A comparison of the two systems, in many respects funda- 
 mentally at variance, will be touched upon hereafter. 
 
 AN ACT relating to the discovery of gold and silver quartz lends, lodes, or ledges, and of the manner of 
 their location. (Approved December 26, 1WJ4.) 
 
 lie it enacted by the legislative assembly of the Territory of Montana, That any person who may hereafter 
 discover any quartz lead, lode, or ledge, shall be entitled to one claim thereon *by right of discovery, and 
 one claim each by pre-emption. 
 
 SC. 2. That in order to entitle any person or persons to record in the county recorder's office of the 
 proper county, any lead, lode, or ledge, either of gold or silver, or claim thereon, there shall first be discov- 
 ered on said lead, lode, or ledge a vein or crevice of quartz or ore, with at least one well-defined wall. 
 
 SEC. 3. Claims on any lead, lode, or ledge, either of gold or silver, hereafter discovered, shall consist of 
 not more than 200 feet along' the lead, lode, or ledge, together with all dips, spurs, and angles emanating or 
 diverging from said lead, lode, or ledge, as also 50 feet on each side of said lead, lode, or ledge, for working 
 purposes: Provided, That when two or more leads, lodes, or ledges shall be discovered within 1(X) feet of 
 each other, either running parallel or crossing each other, the ground between such leads, lodes, or ledges 
 shall belong equally to the claimants of said leads, lodes, or ledge*, without regard to priority of discovery 
 or pre-emption. 
 
 SEC. 4. When any leads, lodes, or ledges shall cross each other, the quart;;, ore, or mineral in the crevico 
 or vein at the place of crossing shall belong to and be the property of the claimants upon the lead, lode, or 
 ledge first discovered. 
 
 SEC. 5. That before any record shall be made, under the provisions of this a^t, there shall be placed at 
 each extremity of the discovered claim a good and substantial stake, not loss than five inches in diameter, 
 said stake to be firmly planted or sunken in the ground, extending two feet above the ground ; that upon 
 each stake there shall be placed, in legible characters, the name of the lead, lode, or ledge, and that of the 
 discoverer or discoverers, the date of discovery, and the name of each pre-emptor or claimant, and tli 
 direction or bearing, -as near as may be, of his or her claim ; said stake and the inscription thereon to 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 47 
 
 be replaced at least once in twelve months by the claimants on said leads, lodes, or ledges, if torn dovni or 
 otherwise destroyed. * 
 
 SEC. 6. Notice of the discovery or pre-emption upon any lead, lode, or ledge shall be filed for record in the 
 county recorder's office, of the county in which the same may be situated, within fifteen days of the date of 
 the discovery or pre-emption ; and there shall at the same time be an oath taken before the recorder that the 
 claimant or claimants are each and all of them bona fide residents of the Territory of Montana ; and there 
 shall be deposited in the recorder's oifice, either by the discoverer or some pre-emptor, a specimen of the 
 quartz, ore, or mineral extracted or taken from said lead, lode, or ledge, which said specimen shall be prop- 
 erly labelled by the recorder and preserved in his office. 
 
 SEC. 7. That any person or persons who shall take up or destroy, or cause the same to be done, any of the 
 said stakes, or who shall in anywise purposely deface or obliterate any part or portion of the writing or 
 inscription placed thereon, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before 
 any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment in 
 the couuty jail not more than 90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 
 
 SEC. 8. "That the amount of ground which may be taken up upon any lead, lode, or ledge, in addition to 
 the discovery claim, shall be limited to 1,000 feet along said lead, lode, or ledge in each direction from the 
 discovery claim thereon. 
 
 SEC. 9. All lead, lode, or ledge claims, taken up and recorded in pursuance with the provisions of this act, 
 shall entitle the person recording to hold the same to the use of himself, his heirs and assigns ; and con- 
 veyances of quartz claims shall hereafter require the same formalities and shall be subject to the same rules 
 of construction as the transfer and com r eyanco of real estate. 
 
 SEC. 10. That if at any time previous to the passage of this act, claims have been taken up and recorded 
 in the recorder's office of the proper county, upon any actual or proper lead, lode, or ledge of quartz, ore. or 
 mineral, the owners or proper claimants of said respective claim shall hold the same to the use of them- 
 selves, their heirs and assigns. 
 
 SEC. 11. That the act relating to the discovery of gold and silver quartz lodes and the manner of their 
 location, passed by the Idaho legislature and approved February 4, 1864, and all other acts, or parts of acts, 
 inconsistent Avith'this act, be, and the same are hereby, repealed. 
 
 SEC. 12. This act shall take effect from and after this date. 
 
 Again, by aii act approved January 17, 1865, it was enacted that quartz mining claims 
 and water rights " shall become part and parcel of the county records, and shall be evidence 
 in any court or courts of competent jurisdiction ;" thus placing the titles to quartz claims on 
 the same footing and making their transfer subject to the same formalities as those to real 
 property. 
 
 The next great discovery, viz., that of Alder creek, in the present county of Madison, 
 was the motive to the foundation of Virginia City, and the minor towns of Summit, High- 
 land, Nevada, Central, and Junction. This gulch was the richest and longest ever worked 
 in Montana, and probably in the world, being nearly 20 miles in length, and uniformly pro- 
 ductive throughout by far the greater portion. The creek flowing through it received its 
 name from the thick growth of alders once lining its banks, of which at present no twig nor 
 root remains. It takes its rise among the snows of the bald mountain south of the mining 
 hamlet called Summit City, and discharges its waters into the Passamari, or Stinking Water 
 river, one of the tributaries to the Jefferson. 
 
 The history of the discovery of the gulch was substantially as follows : In the spring of 
 1863 there started out from Bannock, on n prospecting tour northwards, a party composed 
 of the following individuals : Wm. Fairweather, Thos. Cover, B. Hughes, H. Edgar, L. Sim- 
 onds, G. On , Wm. Sweeney, and H. Rodgers. Having journeyed as far us the Deer Lodge 
 valley they concluded to alter their course, and, leaving Orr behind, they made their way to 
 the Yellowstone country. Here they fell into the hands of a large party of Crow Indians, 
 who relieved them of nearly all their provisions, and at the same time exchanged horses 
 with them. During the night all except Simonds managed to make good their escape ; they 
 travelled as rapidly as possible, without halting to prospect, and, worn out with fatigue, 
 camped on the east side of the stream since known as Alder creek. 
 
 Wrn. Fairweather crossed over the stream, and on examining the locality observed a point 
 where the bed rock lay exposed above the surface. He returned to the camping ground, 
 and in the company of Edgar went to prospect the bar. The first panful of earth yielded 
 $1 75, and after superficially testing other points, in all of which they obtained encouraging 
 prospects, four of the party proceeded formally to stake their claims. Fairweather, Edgar, 
 Cover, and Hughes marked out four claims on what was afterwards known as the Fair- 
 weather bar. They likewise secured for themselves four claims on Cover's bar. Rodgers 
 and Sweeney staked off two claims, one on each bar named after themselves, and one on the 
 Cover bar. Being without provisions the party hurried back to Bannock City, from whence 
 returning in company of their friends, the gulch was staked off on the 6th and 7th of June, 
 1863. 
 
 Within the space of less than two years Alder gulch contained five thriving towns besides 
 Virginia, an incorporated city containing nearly J0,000 inhabitants. 
 
 This Virginia City, Montana, must not be confounded with Virginia City, Nevada, distant 
 some 800 miles on an air line to the southwest. 
 
 At the head of the gulch, far back upon the mountains and nine miles south of the city, 
 the gold found in the washings was coarse, and many nuggets were picked up varying in 
 value from $200 to $800. A short distance below the town of Summit the gold appeared in 
 the form of flat rounded plates, known as scale gold, and the further one removed down 
 stream the finer did the dust appear, until it consisted almost entirely of the finest particles, 
 known as flour gold. During 1863, the year of discovery, but few of the richest claims 
 were opened and explored. This was owing to the fact that the pay stratum lay deep, and 
 hence arose the necessity for unity of action on the part of the owners of contiguous claims 
 
48 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 in order to carry out a systematic plan of bed-rock drainage. The following year, however, 
 saw the full development of this most remarkable gulch. 
 
 No better exemplification of the spirit of the miners and their peculiar customs can be 
 offered than a study of the district rules and regulations for the government of placer claims. 
 As proving a good example of their kind, and containing a reasonably clear and concise 
 statement of the wishes and rights of the miners as expressed by themselves, we have the 
 following regulations of Alder gulch. These laws were drafted by a select committee chosen 
 at a meeting of the miners en masse; the motive to which is contained in the following pre- 
 amble : 
 
 Whereas the laws now in force in Fainventher district, Madison county, Montana Territory, have proved 
 insufficient to protect the rights of the minors of said district ; 
 
 And whereas the rights and interests of the miners of the district are of such a nature as not to admit of 
 a resort to the tedions remedy of the ordinary process of law for every violation of those rights : 
 
 Now, therefore, we, the miners of said district, in public meeting assembled, in pursuance of legal notice, 
 for the purpose of defending our rights and duties, and the protection of onr several interests, do hereby 
 resolve and declare that the rules and provisions following shall be the law of Fail-weather district from the 
 date of enactment, viz : September 1 6, 18(i4. 
 
 ARTICLE A. 
 
 SECTION 1. Hereafter the officers of the district shall consist of a president and secretary, who shall hold 
 their offices for the term of six months, and until their successors are duly elected and enter upon the dis- 
 charge of the duties of their office. 
 
 SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the president to call a meeting of the miners of the district at any time on 
 the written application of five claimholders of the district, of which he shall give three days' notice previous 
 to the day of meeting, by three written or printed advertisements put at three of the most public places iu 
 the district, and he shall preside at each meeting. 
 
 SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the secretary to attend all meetings called by the president, and keep a true 
 record of the proceedings thereof, and file the same with the county recorder ; and he shall preside at all 
 meetings When the president is absent. 
 
 SEC. 4. After suit commenced in any case wherein the title to a claim is called in question, neither party 
 shall be held liable to represent said claim during the pendency of litigation, but the same shall be deemed 
 to be represented in favor of the real owner by operation of law. 
 
 SEC. 5. Every person shall be entitled to hold, by pre-emption, one creek, bar, or hill claim, and as many 
 of either kind by purchase as he shall represent, according to the laws of the district. 
 
 SEC. 6. Any co-partnership or company of persons shall be entitled to hold the same number of claims by 
 pre-emption and purchase as the number of persons comprising such co-partnership or company would bo 
 utitled to hold in their individual capacity. 
 
 SEC. 7. The lessee of a claim (if he shall have agreed to completely work out the same, and his loaso bo 
 
 entitled to hold in their individual capacity. 
 
 3. 7. The lessee of a claim (if he shall have agreed to completely 
 recorded) shall be entitled to hold one claim by pre-emption, and his work done on the leased claim repre- 
 
 empted by him. 
 
 SEC. 8. No person who, having pre-empted a claim by recording thereon, lias forfeited the same, or who 
 has failed to receive a good title thereto, or who shall in good faith sell and convey the same, shall be thereby 
 debarred from holding another claim by pre-emption. 
 
 SEC. 9. Every claim shall be considered as pre-empted upon which the pre-emptor or purchaser shall, by 
 himself, his agent, or hired hands, perform three full days Work in each week, and sucli representative of 
 each and every claim that such pre-emptor or purchaser holds in the district, provided that each and all of 
 said claims have been duly recorded ; and if any person shall represent a claim by working thereon without 
 having his bill of sale or other conveyance thereof duly recorded, then and in that case he shall not be 
 entitled to hold any other claim in the district, either by pre-emption or purchase, but shall be confined and 
 limited to the claim upon which he has so worked until it is recorded. 
 
 SEC. 10. Co-partners in any company or companies, working one claim in the district, shall be considered 
 as representing thereby all the claims held by them in the district. 
 
 SEC. 11. Any claim to which a drain ditch is commenced or beginning, if the holder of the same shall 
 compose one of the ditch company, or shall put and continue hands at work in the same, shall be considered 
 as duly represented until the drain ditch is completed to such claim. 
 
 SEC* 12. The absence of any person from the district shall not impair or invalidate his rights therein, pro- 
 vided bis interests are represented by his partners or agents, or men in his employ. 
 
 SEC. 13. The rights of a sick member shall be respected during his illness, and the certificate of a physi- 
 cian shall be sufficient evidence of such illness. 
 
 SEC. 14. Any miner who shall have expended $600 on his claim, or who, for want of money for opening 
 the same, is unable to represent according to law, shall have the privilege of working on any other claim in 
 the district in order to raise money to enable him fully to open his own claim, provided' ho shall put up 
 notices on his own claim, stating where he is at work, and his rights shall be respected during the time lie 
 is so at work for others. 
 
 SEC. 15. It shall and may be lawful for any person or company to dig a drain ditch through the claim or 
 claims of any person or company, for the purpose of drainage ; and any person or company making such 
 ditch shall have a lieu upon any and all such claims thoroughly drained thereby for a just and equal propor- 
 tion of the cost thereof. But no lien shall be enforced until the holder of the claim affected thereby shall 
 avail himself of the benefit of the ditch. 
 
 SEC. 16. The water iu any creek or gulch shall belong exclusively 
 SEC. 17. Each gulch claim shall be entitled to one sluice-head of 
 
 water of not less than twenty iivc 
 
 be measured subject to a pressure of six inches, and such additional quantity as may be necessary fo 
 purposes, if such additional quantity be not used to the injury of the rights of others. 
 
 SEC. 18. The interest of the holder or holders of any creek or gulch claim is hereby declared to be a chattel 
 interest, consisting of the right to the possession of the land and the water thereupon inseparable and indi- 
 visible, except by the consent of the party or parties iu interest, made in due form of law, and then only to 
 such an extent as shall not impair or infringe the rights of othors. 
 
 SEC. 19. No person or persons in company shall have the right, by pre-emption or otherwise, to claim and 
 hold an exclusive right or privilege in or to any portion of the water in any crook or gulch in the district, 
 except as herein provided; and any ditch, pipe, channel, Hume, or other means of conveyance heretofore 
 made, or which may hereafter be made, by which the water in any creek or gulch in the district shall be 
 directed from its original channel and earned beyond any creek or ir'nlcli dsiim, without leaving in the creek 
 or gulch the quantity of water belonging to each claim, is hereby declared to bo, a public nuisance, and may 
 be abated immediately, in such way and manner as shall be in accordance with the laws of this Territory 
 and the common law of the land. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 49 
 
 SEC. 20. All dams, flumes, embankments, or other obstructions, which shall cause tailings to accumulate, 
 or a division of the water, to the damage of the miners above or below the sarao, shall be deemed public 
 nuisances, antl may be abated in the manner hereinbefore provided for other cases ; and all persons injured 
 thereby shall be entitled to recover damages of the person or persons who have created, or may create, 
 authorize, or permit, upon his or their claims, all or any of said nuisances. 
 
 SEC. 21. No miner shall so ran his tailings, or shovel or pile up the same, as to damage any claim, either 
 above or below him. 
 
 SEC. 22. Any miner of a creek or gulch claim who shall suffer injury by the escape of water from any side, 
 ditch, shall be entitled to recover damages therefor by the ordinary process of law. 
 
 SEC. 23. It shall not be lawful for any person to place or run tailings into a side ditch made for the protec- 
 tion of a pit or drain ditch. 
 
 SEC. 24. Every claim not duly represented, according to the laws of the district, until the day upon which 
 the claims in this district may at any time hereafter be"" laid by, shall be forfeited ; and it shall be lawful for 
 another person to record and pre-empt such forfeited claim at'auv time after the day on which the claims in 
 the district shall be laid by, and before the first day of May nest following. 
 
 SEC. 25. Hereafter all claims shall be deemed to be laid by during the interval between the last day of 
 October and the first day of May of each year. 
 
 SEC. 26. All rules, laws, and regulations heretofore in this district, not conflicting with the laws, rules, 
 and regulations herein enacted, are hereby continued in force ; and all laws, rules, and regulations heretofore 
 in force, conflicting in the least, in whole or in part, with any of the laws, rules, and regulations herein 
 adopted, or any portion thereof, are hereby repealed. 
 
 SEC. 27. These laws shall take effect and be in force from and after this IGth day of September, A. D. 18G4. 
 
 AUTICLE B. 
 
 SECTION 1. Ear mining claims shall consist of 100 feet up and down the gulch or creek, and running back 
 the width of the bar. 
 
 SEC. 2. Creek claims shall be 100 feet in length, and including the bar or creek bottom and head of the 
 stream. 
 
 SEC. 3. All discovery claims shall be safely held, whether worked or not. 
 
 SEC. 4. The centre of the creek shall be the line. 
 
 Northwardly from Virginia City wo find Bivin's gulch, which drains from east t<5> west 
 into the Passamari, a tributary to the Jefferson river.. The gulch is about nine miles long-, 
 and paid well throughout nearly its entire length. A ditch was brought in from Rain's Horn 
 creek, with a sufficient fall for the introduction of bed-rock flumes. Still further north, flow- 
 ing ia a like direction from the same range, we find Mill, Wisconsin, and Indian creeks, and 
 the above-mentioned Ram's Horn creek, none of which appear to have been remarkable for 
 placer deposits of any magnitude. 
 
 The discovery next in importance, subsequent to that of Alder gulch, was Last Chance 
 gulch, near the site of the present city of Helena. This gulch was discovered in the summer 
 of 1804, and the first claims were staked by a company of some 20 or 25 persons. This 
 party, after locating claims for themselves near the point of discovery, moved further down 
 the ravine, forming a new district, and there, likewise, staked off for themselves an equal 
 number of pre-emptions. Subsequently a party of immigrants from Minnesota, arriving too 
 late to proceed to Alder gulch, began prospecting in the adjacent tributary gulches, and dis- 
 covered the diggings of Grizzly and Oro Fino. It was not, however, until the February of 
 the following year that the truth in regard, to its great richness became generally known. 
 Those who had already pre-empted claims and had worked on them during the latter part of 
 the" summer satisfied prying interrogatories by replying, in the language of the miners, thtit 
 "they were making grub," or, in other words, gaining nothing beyond a bare support. 
 
 The city of Helena lies on both sides of Last Chance gulch, and just above its point of 
 junction with the valley of the Prickly Pear, an affluent to the Missouri, and on^the low 
 ridge separating Last Chance from 'Dry gulch, running parallel thereto. Oro Fino and 
 Grizzly are tributary to the former, and Bowery and Tucker to the latter. In the distance 
 north are to be seen the jagged peaks of the Bear's Teeth mountains. The hills of the imme- 
 diate vicinity, however, present a series of gentle acclivities, with a considerable covering 
 of wash. 
 
 We find near the town a very curious intermingling of limestone, sandstone, and quartzite, 
 and on the hills back of the town a heavy body of granite, from whose quartz veins the 
 valleys and adjacent gulches were, beyond a doubt, filled with their auriferous detritus. 
 Helena forms the actual centre of a very extensive network of placer deposits, embracing 
 upwards of 40 miles of greater or less richness. 
 
 The bulk of the auriferous treasure is now exhausted. Desultory mining is, it is true, still 
 prosecuted in several of the neighboring ravines, as Last Chance, Nelson, &c. The first 
 rude washings always leave behind them a greater or less percentage of gold, dependent 
 upon the skill of the workers and upon the form of the dust, whether coarse or fine, the 
 former being saved with the greater ease. The placers, once worked over, are said to be 
 exhausted ; that is, will no longer yield a profit except with cheaper labor or a more thorough 
 and systematic method of mining. The diggings now fall into the hands of the Chinese, 
 who patiently glean the fields abandoned by the whites; or, where -the ground is favorable, 
 it is bought up by capitalists for the purpose of a reworking by what is known as bed-rock 
 flumes. The treasure overlooked in the first rude washings of Alder gulch and the famous 
 Last Chance, &c., of Helena, yet await a reworking on this plan. That such has not already 
 been done is with difficult}' explainable, especially in regard to the last mentioned gulch, 
 where 27 miles of main ditches, carrying 4,000 inches of water, miners' measurement, may 
 be readily diverted to that end. Undertakings of this character in California and elsewhere 
 often yield as much if not more than that obtained from the first washings. 
 
 4 T 
 
50 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 It would be impossible to enumerate kere all or even a large proportion of the gulches east 
 of the mountains within 25 miles of the city of Helena. Portions of the same placer system, 
 extend across the Ttfissouri river to the northeast, and others again bear away to the north as 
 far as Silver City. All have been productive in a greater or less degree. Near their sources, 
 as is usual, were found large masses of gold, called nuggets, and a diminishing size of grain 
 the further we remove down stream.. 
 
 The ravines in the immediate vicinity of the town were but poorly supplied with water, 
 a want which has long since been removed by an elaborate system of flumes and ditches. 
 
 A few of the more prominent gulches may be enumerated and described, as follows: 
 
 Last Chance, the first discovered, is seven to eight miles hmg. In May of 1865 a drain 
 ditch was run underneath the town to drain the bed rock of this gulch, to the more conven- 
 ient extraction of the pay stratum, v?hieh averaged some 4 feet in depth by 18 feet in width. 
 
 Grizzly was remarkable in having two pay strata, the one above the other, thus proving 
 that the sources of gold supply were tapped at two different periods, and were separated from 
 one another by a deposit of non-auriferous wash. 
 
 Nelson, first prospected December 25, 18: : >4, and hence called Christmas gulch, is distant 
 from Helena eight miles, and had a narrow pay streak of remarkably high-grade gold. The 
 auriferous dirt was found at a depth of 35 to 40 feet, after passing through a barren wash 
 gravel. The bed rock consisted of a whitish decomposed sandstone, having upon it no large 
 amount of water. The gulch is some six miles long, and heads' near the same summit from 
 whence issues Grizzly, and runs at right angles to the last named. Nelson gulch produced 
 in 1865 a large and curiously shaped nugget, resembling an oyster shell, and in value $'2,075. 
 
 Dry gulch, so called from the absence therein of a running stream, produced earth suffi- 
 ciently rich to pay for hauling to water, a distance of one-half to one and one-half miles. 
 
 To the east, and between Helena and Montana cities, are two dry gulches, each about 
 nine miles long, running very nearly parallel and heading in the same summit. 
 
 Across the Missouri river, some 20 miles southeast of Caiioii Ferry, we find Diamond City 
 and the famous Confederate gulch. From one of the bars of this ravine a small party of 
 five or six men are said to have taken out in the summer of 1864 about 1,400 pounds of 
 gold dust, in value nearly $300,000 coin. Confederate is situated nearly 35 miles cast of 
 Helena, and in that part of Gallatin county named in honor of the late General Meagher. 
 It takes its rise in the Belt range of mountains, and pursues a southwest course for 15 miles. 
 Diamond City, the nucleus of a very extensive series of hydraulic workings, is on Confed- 
 erate gulch, six miles from its source. The bed rock consists of slate. 
 
 As tributary gulches, we find Cement, Montana, Greenhorn, Boulder, Baker, &c. Imme- 
 diately above the town are the great bars called Montana and Last Chance. Four miles 
 north of Confederate, and running parallel, we have White's gulch, and passing over the 
 summit we arrive at Ihomas's gulch. 
 
 Dismissing with this cursory description the placers to the east, we may briefly touch upon 
 those west of the main range. The latter, amid the general impoverishment of tue washings, 
 have, during the past season, attracted more attention than any others. Prominent among 
 ttrese are the gulches in the vicinity of Blackfbot City, which is situated in Deer Lodge 
 county, amd distant from Helena 25 miles by the trail. Opposite to Helena, being on the 
 other side of the range, and draining from-off the western slopes towards the west and south- 
 west, we find tke Little Blackfoot, Cottonwood, and Silver Bow creeks, which form the 
 easternmost affluents to the Hell Gate river. These streams, with their minor tributaries, 
 give rise to numerous gulches, of which the more important may be enumerated and described 
 as follows : Tiger gulch, the first struck in the vicinity, was discovered by Colonel Pember- 
 ton, Hugh Bealton, and party, late in the winter of 1864. Ophir, discovered in the spring 
 following, lies to the north of and is tributary to the Little Blackfoot. We have, further, 
 McClellan, near Blackfoot City ; Washington, west of and some 12 miles distant from Ophir; 
 Jefferson, parallel to and two miles distant from Washington ; Madison, two and a half miles 
 northwest of Jefferson ; and Carpenter's bar, some two miles east of Blackfoot City, forming 
 a portion of a long rolling prairie. Northwardly from the last-named gulch is found a series 
 of veins bearing away towards Snow Shoe, Dead wood, and Uncle Ben's gulches, which 
 head near the crests of the main range. On the very highest point of this vicinity there, 
 were found dry diggings sufficiently remunerative to warrant hauling the auriferous earth a 
 long distance to water, down the mountain. Here a nugget was found in value somewhat 
 over $:5,000 in coin. The formation of this district consists, in the main, of granite, with 
 occasional stretches of clay slate near the base of the mountains, and occasionally a species 
 of indurated talcose slate. 
 
 There further appears quite an extensive body of placers on the south side of the Hell Gate 
 river, and in the mountains enclosing the valley of the Deer Lodge. . Of these, we may 
 enumerate Elk creek, some 14 miles long, with u pay stratum of about four feet ; Bear gulch, 
 seven to eight miles long, with a bed rock covered up to a depth of 40 feet; also Dave's, 
 Deep, Rock, Douglas, &c. 
 
 The placers of Silver Bow and Butte City, seven miles above, are situated, likewise, on 
 the western slope of the southeastern extremity of the Deer Lodge valley and about DO miles 
 distant from Virginia City. The Silver Bow diggings were discovered in July, ]8<i4, by a 
 prospector named barber. For six months subsequent thereto they attracted but little atteu- 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 51 
 
 tion. The success of the Pennsylvania company, however, again brought them into notice 
 so favorably that, as a result, claims were taken, up and recorded a disjatace of 25 miles. 
 The creek, especially in the lower portions, has the very insignificant fall of little more than 
 four inches to the 100 feet, whereby the drainage is rendered difficult and a dump for the tail- 
 ings almost unattainable. The gold dust from this locality has the unenviable notoriety of 
 being of a lower grade of fineness than that from any other gulch in the Territory, coining 
 from $12 to $14 per ounce, while the average of the other gulches runs from $16 50 up to 
 $20 40 per ounce. The latter yield is producible only from choice and clean dust from high 
 lands. This gulch and Silver Bow head in the same summit, and very nearly opposite to 
 one another, the former being on the eastern and the latter on the western slope, and, curiously 
 enough, the one produces the richest and the other the poorest gulch gold of Montana. 
 
 A few miles west of Silver Bow we find German gulch, tributary to Deer Lodge ; it is 
 some 15 miles long, and was discovered in 1864 by a party of Germans, who are believed 
 to have been more than ordinarily successful. f 
 
 The placer deposits of Montana have been worked with the same contrivances for saving 
 gold as were used in California : the primitive rocker and the long-torn have given place to 
 the improved strings of sluice boxes, and, where the ground permitted a sufficiency of fall, 
 bed-rock flumes and hydraulics have lent their assistance to facilitate the extraction of the 
 gold.^ Where the bed rock lay deep, and where the pay stratum was covered up to a consid- 
 erable depth, the auriferous gravel was obtained by sinking shafts, drifting out and raising 
 it to the surface by bucket and windlass. 
 
 In a country so widely covered with drift, many very rich deposits have, beyond question, 
 been overlooked, owing to the great body of barren matter overlying them. This supposi- 
 tion is rendered the more probable when we reflect upon the small number of deep placers 
 or cement diggings yet brought to light. 
 
 Assuming as true the usually accepted theory of the formation of placer deposits, viz.. tho 
 disintegration of some pre-existing series of quartz veins, either by flowing waters or by 
 the beating against them of the waves of some inland sea, and we canngt fail to accept the 
 belief that placers richer and more extensive than any heretofore discovered yet await, under 
 great hills of gravel, some fortunate prospector. 
 
 GOLD PRODUCT OF MONTANA. We must premise any estimates by the statement of the 
 peculiar difficulties of arriving at any conclusion susceptible of a demonstration. In the 
 first place local interests and territorial pride combine with a mistaken estimate of the value 
 of placer deposits to enlarge the returns of bullion. The surface washings ought not to be 
 regarded other than in the light of an advertisement for a district ; ephemeral producers 
 of wealth, they leave nothing behind them but desolation, and unless supplemented by other 
 sources of revenue, give rise to a fictitious prosperity, to be followed by a period of depres- 
 sion and stagnation. The hiatus between profitable placers and remunerative quartz mines 
 is now apparent here in Montana. Some little time is requisite to educate the community, 
 by hard experience, to a realization of the radical difference between surface washings and 
 deep vein mining. The placers yield up their treasures with a comparatively trifling outlay 
 of time and capital. The quartz veins, on the contrary, forming the basis for permanent 
 undertakings and returns of profits through a long- series of years, cannot be made immedi- 
 ately productive, except through fortuitous concurrence of favorable circumstances. Patience, 
 foresight, and the exercise of a true economy, seldom fail to prevent great losses, and in most 
 cases return an enormous profit. 
 
 The proportion of bullion produced by the vein mines has not, as yet, amounted to any 
 considerable percentage of the gross yield, and hence does not call for a separate estimate. 
 The year 1868, however, will doubtless demand from this source a more detailed consideration. 
 
 Another difficulty in the way of a precise statement of gold product is due to the fact that 
 large quantities of dust can be, and doub-tless have been removed northwardly into the 
 British possessions of which no record is possible. Again, the distance of land transportation 
 to Fort Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri, is so trifling that merchants and 
 miners act as their own transportation agents, and hence the precise amount carried away by 
 them can never be ascertained. Montana's bullion account, at least until 1865, was largely 
 credited to Washington, Idaho, or Colorado, and hence the tables as reported by the United 
 States mints do not represent her true yield. 
 
 I am indebted to the United States revenue collector for the following figures, which form, 
 in my judgment, a more reliable series of estimate for Montana than have ever been given 
 to the public. 
 
 The product of 1862 may be set down at $300,000, and was due almost solely to the placers 
 at Bannock. The great body of the miners were then very poor ; no considerable stocks of 
 goods were at hand to tempt purchasers, so that but a small proportion of the yield came into 
 the possession of traders, whose shipments could be determined to a degree of reasonable 
 exactness. In the absence of banks or any* safe place of deposit the miners were accustomed 
 to "cac/te" their earnings, and to await a favorable opportunity for exporting the gold from 
 the ccuntiy. 
 
 The product of the following year was largely increased by the discovery and partial 
 opening of the mines of Alder gulch, and may safely be estimated to have reached a total of 
 16,000,000. 
 
52 RESOURCES OF STAGES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 In 1864, Alder gulch was folly developed, and with Bannock and the other districts % of tke 
 Territory, the amount produced reached some $16,000,000. 
 
 The year 1865 was the gala year of Montana, the rich network of gulches centring about 
 Helena, the famous Confederate gulch across the Missouri, and the diggings near Black- 
 foot combined to swell the product to at least $18,000,000. 
 
 In the year 1866 the placers began so show symptoms of exhaustion ; more extended 
 workings were necessary. Great flumes and ditches were built, and hydraulics were under- 
 taken to wash localities unworkable without the aid of capital, and by nature uusupplied 
 with water. As a result we may estimate for that year a production of about $17,500,000. 
 
 The amount yielded by the present season, 1867, now nearly closed, has been very mate- 
 rially less than that of the past year, and a liberal estimate would not set the figure higher 
 than $12,000,000. Tabulating the above figures, we have the following : 
 
 Gold product of Montana. 
 
 In 1862 a yield of $600,000 
 
 Inl863 a yield of 8,000,000 
 
 Inl86i a yield of 16,000,000 
 
 In 1865 a yield of 18,000,000 
 
 In 1866 a yield >f 17,500,000 
 
 In 1867 a yield of - 12,000,000 
 
 Total for six years w - 72,100,000 
 
 As corroborative of the reasonableness of the above estimates, we may present the follow- 
 ing conclusions derived from a multiplication of the total average population by the average 
 cost of living. 
 
 As already stated, the population of the Territory during the three years 1864, 1865, and 
 1866 remained very nearly uniform, numbering from 21.000 to 24,000 souls. It* now we 
 -place the average at 22 r 500, and assume that the great mass of the community were at the 
 close of this period no better off pecuniarily than before ; that is, that the placers have fur- 
 nished a bare subsistence for the people and no more, and further, rating the average cost of 
 living as low as $750 per annun for each individual, we have a total of $16,875,000 average 
 amount of product of the placers for three years. Comparing this result with the average 
 of the estimates of Mr. Langford and \ve find between them a remarkable coincidence and 
 striking corroboration. 
 
 LoDfc MINING. In treating of the distribution of the various metals and minerals refer- 
 ence was incidentally mado to the districts containing quartz lodes. These have been 
 found almost universally at the heads of the gulches or within a short distance of all locali- 
 ties heretofore noted as prolific centres of placer deposits. In addition, we have a number of 
 districts unconnected with the gulch mines and productive of smelting or amalgamating ores, 
 some of which are amongst those of greatest promise ia the Territory. 
 
 It is as yet premature to speak of any extraordinary developments. This is owing to 
 two causes, first, the youth of the Territory, and secondly, the peculiarity of the local laws. 
 In this connection we may compare the laws and customs of the mid-continental territories 
 with those of the Pacific coast. The latter are imbued with the spirit of the Mexican " Or- 
 denanza de Mineria," in many respects the most perfect mining code ever invented, while 
 the former are almost entirely a home production and are founded upon a totally different 
 conception of mines and mining. The animus of the one implies that all miners arc- a priori 
 valueless until the contrary be proven ; that of the other presupposes precisely the rever.su. 
 The one encourages reasonably largo holdings so that the ore zone on the vein diminishing 
 or dissappeariug at one point may be sought for at another withotit incurring anew the out- 
 lay for shaft, hoisting works, pumps, &c., in a word, the expense of the complete parapher- 
 nalia of a working shaft; the other, with very small holdings aud aggregated ownerships, 
 complicates unnecessarily and unreasonably the risks attending most mining adventures. 
 
 The law of January 17, 1865, placing mining claims on the same footing as real estate, 
 has resulted disadvantageously to the community, and has conferred upon the individual no 
 other gain than the doubtful satisfaction of a clear title to what may or may not prove of 
 value. No system of mining regulation can be beneficial which encourages the holding of 
 quartz veins without even the pretence of developing them. Small holdings are comuiend- 
 abl* in the youth of the interest provided they are worked; otherwise they are a positive 
 injury, and a drag on tke wheels of development. 
 
 On the other hand, no legislation can meet with popular approval, nor indeed merits an 
 instant's consideration, which does not include some plan for recognizing the services of the 
 prospector. Generally poor, they incur every risk and privation to discover the location 
 of the ore-bearing veins. Such men deserve at the hands of a just and parental government 
 a treatment commensurate with their services. The rewards of mining adventures are not 
 so numerous nor so equally distributed as to justify any legislation tending tp, cripple the 
 miner or to diminish prospecting. 
 
 Too little legislation i.s fur preferable to too much, and until the present congressional law 
 
EAST OF. THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 53 
 
 be tried by the touchstone of practical experience, any further emendations or additions 
 thereto are premature and pernicious. The leverage possessed by capital will, of itself, exert 
 a sufficient power against the prospector, without the, additional impetus of hostile legisla- 
 tion. The happy mean is to be sought, which, \vhile it furthers prospecting and encourages 
 development, does not bear too harshly upon the miner, and while it recognizes the merits 
 of the bona fide claim-holder, does not screen the mere speculator. 
 
 It may be objected that many companies formed at a distance from Montana are possessed 
 of many thousands of feet of quartz claims ; this may readily be admitted, and still they 
 bear the seeds of their own ruin, for the simple reason that they hold too many feet, too 
 w'dety separated to be able properly to open any pertion of them; and moreover should the 
 company's enterprise disclose a valuable body of ore, they find themselves in possession of a 
 contiguous stretch of vein too small to more than meet the outlays, when a larger ownership 
 would have insured a brilliant profit. They find it further to be impossible to purchase the 
 adjoining claims, whose value alone is due to their own labors. 
 
 These considerations will serve to account for the comparatively trifling development of 
 the quartz interests of the Territory. Unlike the placers, winter offers not the least obstacle 
 to a profitable exploration of the vein mines ; the severity of the season rendering work in, 
 the open air difficult, if not impossible, redounds only to the interest of the quartz claims. 
 Labor having no other field of employment is then abundant and cheap, and while the sur- 
 face is wrapped in a mantle of snow and ice, the miner, under ground and unexposed to the 
 elements, pursues his labors in an equitable and agreeable temperature. 
 
 Many of the best Mines of the world are in countries visited with winters of far greater 
 severity than those of Montana. The explorations are never retarded from this cause, and 
 except as a source of physical inconvenience the severity of the weather is a matter of very 
 trifling moment. 
 
 As the fairest exponents of the mining interests of Montana, we may select the following 
 examples. Amongst the furthest developed and longest worked gold leads, we may instance 
 the Oro Cache, near Virginia City, and the Owyhee or Whitlatch Uwion, near Helena 
 City. As an example of the results of smelting, we have the case of the furnaces at Argenta, 
 near Bannock ; and lastly the veins west of the range in Flint creek and vicinity, which 
 have recently been a point of considerable attraction from the promise of an abundance of 
 silver ores suitable for amalgamation. 
 
 It will be impossible particularly to describe all or even any considerable proportion of 
 the prospectively valuable vein mines of the Territory, whose future developments may 
 change their present relative pre-eminence. In lieu thereof, I have selected such mines, 
 works, &c., as, in my judgment, best exemplify the present status of the permanent mining 
 interests of the Territory. ^ 
 
 The Oro Cache lead is situated in the Summit district of Alder gulch, south of Virginia 
 City. It was discovered as early as 1864, and work was began thereon December 1 of the 
 same year. The vein near the surface had a width of two feet, which gradually increased 
 as the shaft was extended downwards. The average width is about HO inches. 
 
 The surface ores, consisting of decomposed quartz, yielded from 75 to $100 currency per 
 ton, while the average working- yield of the clean ore has been up to the present time about 
 $50 currency per ton. 
 
 A shaft 120 feet in depth has been sunk by the Montana Gold and Silver Mining Company 
 on the second claim, of 200 feet, southwest of the point of discovery, and ore lias been extracted 
 yielding $50 currency per ton. The same company amalgamate the ores iu pans 4 feet 10 
 inches in diameter, in which revolve two wheels, weighing two tons each. This method is 
 said to be very effective in the reduction of the gold-bearing sulphurets. In the same district 
 we find quite a number of promising qiiartz lodes, and four mil] in or near Summit City. 
 
 The Whitlatch ynion, sometimes called Owyhee lead, is situated south of Helena City, 
 and on the divide between Oro Fino and Grizzly gulches. The lead was discovered during 
 the winter of 1864, and wcwk was begun in the succeeding spring. As this lode, up 
 to the present time, has yielded a greater amount of bullion than any other in tile Territory, 
 it cannot be considered invidious to bestow upon it more than passing mention and descrip- 
 tion. This vein has given employment to two proprietary and two custom mills. Near the 
 developed portion of the lead there has sprung up a flourishing mining town, known as 
 Unionville or Kbsevelt, the former appellation meeting with the more general acceptance. 
 The country rock is granite, the micaceous component of which appears in the form of black 
 scales. Near the surface the vein was broken in many places, running flat, and very irregu- 
 larly. At the lowest points reached by the National Mining- and Exploring Company of New 
 York and the Whitlatch Union Mining Company of Helena, the vein, carrying a secies of 
 quartz differing somewhat from that near the surface, seems to have taken its true dip and 
 direction. The width of the vein is variable from 20 inches to 5 or 6 feet, and at times 
 widening out much further. The yield of the properly-cleaned rock averages between $50 
 and $60 per ton. The mean yield of the entire vein mass, has, however, run as high as $25 
 to $30 per ton. 
 
 The custom mills have taken the ore from the dump, and have crushed and amalgamated 
 the same, according to the contracts, either for one-half the gross product in one mill or for 
 $11 per ton in another. Captain W. W. De Lacy, who has made the survey of the lead, in 
 
54 RESOURCES OF STATES AND, TERRITORIES 
 
 accordance with the provisions of the congressional mining law, gives the direction of the 
 vein south 84 24' east. Adjoining one another on the lead are tour different ownerships, 
 viz: the Whitlatch Union Mining Company, the I. X. L. Mining Company, the National 
 Mining and Exploring Company, and the Philadelphia Enterprise Company; of which the 
 first is the only company possessing a Contiguous holding of 500 feet. 
 
 ARGENTA SMELTING WORKS. These works were constructed by theSt Louis and Mon- 
 tana Mining Company, under the direction and personal supervision of Aug. Steitz, mining 
 engineer, who unfortunately fell seriously ill very soon after their completion. They con- 
 sist of one German double-cupola furnace, which is used for smelting the ore with appro- 
 priate fluxes, after it has been subjected to a calcination as thorough as possible in heaps or 
 open hearths ; also a large German cupelling furnace, capable of holding at once a charge 
 of five tons of rich lead, and so constructed as to admit of after charges to the total amount 
 of 10 or more tons.. The weight of the charge must be regulated according to the percentage 
 of silver contained in the lead. Two fans, cased in wooden housings, and driven by a small 
 steam engine, furnish a supply of air for the blast of the cupola and cupellatiou hearth. 
 Each of these fans is about four feet in diameter ; either of which, alone, is amply sufficient, 
 but two have been constructed, to guard against the accidental breaking of the one or the 
 other. The capacity of the furnace is, according to the ore, from two to five tons per day of 
 24 hours. The ores smelted, chiefly from the Legal-Tender lode, consist of carbonates and 
 oxides of lead, and sulphurets of lead, or galenas. 
 
 The rich lead is tapped into an exterior basin as often as a sufficient quantity has been 
 reduced from the ore to fill the furnace to the level of the forehearth, nd has contained from 
 $200 to $750 per ton the last amount having been produced from a few tons of choice ore 
 smelted under my direction in June last. 
 
 Besides the Argenta furnaces, we have near Bannock a lead furnace and cupellation hearth, 
 recently constructed, for reducing the ores from the Huron district ; also, a second small fur- 
 nace on the road between Argenta and Bannock. Further, there has been in operation, near 
 Butte City, Deer Lodge county, a small furnace to test the copper-bearing ores of tbat vicin- 
 ity. There is now building^ and will shortly be in operation, an American hearth to smelt 
 the ores of the Gregory lode, situated near Jefferson City, in the county of Edgerton. And 
 lastly, the quar-tz mines of Flint Creek district. These leads are situated in Deer Lodge 
 county, west of the main range, on an arm of Flint creek, 25 miles from its point of junc- 
 tion with the Hell Gate river. 
 
 In the vicinity of the mines there has sprung up quite an extensive town, called Phillips- 
 burg. The district was discovered in December, 1864, by a prospector named Horton, while 
 on a hunting excursion. Locations were made by him in the following May, and the dis- 
 trict has received the name of the discoverer. Little was done until the piesent year, when 
 a St. Louis company began ?he erection of a mill, with the appliances for amalgamating sil- 
 ver ores, ordered specially from California The locality, thus called prominently into notice, 
 has been covered with a perfect forest of stakes, and every projecting rock has been located 
 and recorded as a quartz lead. No bullion has been as yet produced other than a few small 
 ingots of silver, the yield of an arrastra. The ores are generally of such a character as per- 
 mit of reduction by amalgamation. Several of the principal lodes will, it is believed, return 
 very large amounts of silver bullion. 
 
 COPPER. Beside the small amount of copper regulus arid black copper yielded by the 
 experimental smejting furnace near Butte City, a considerable shipment of copper ores has 
 been made from the mines at the head of the Musclesliell river. These properties, owned by 
 capitalists of St. Louis, carry carbonates, oxides and silicates of copper, that is, the accus- 
 tomed surface ores, while at greater depths will be found the usual yellow sulphurets. In 
 this connection it may be permissible to state that a postal route has been established from 
 Helena to St. Paul, Minnesota, along the Muscleshell river and past the,se mines. Efforts 
 are now making to divert the carriage of freight from Fort Benton to a point at the mouth 
 of this river. Steamers can reach the latter point so long as the river is not impeded by ice, 
 while the former is accessible only during the time of the continuance of the increment from 
 the melting snows. It is claimed that, though GO miles longer, the route is better, and it 
 certainly cuts off some 400 miles of the worst portion of the river navigation, and that, too, 
 through a region almost totally. destitute of timber. 
 
 Should these mines prove of value, this route would offer for the copper ores a cheap and 
 expeditious means of transport to a market. 
 
 COAL. Montana, contains within her limits a large extent of valuable coal deposits. This 
 "portable climate of civilization "is of the bituminous variety, and is referable to the creta- 
 ceous or tertiary age. This fact serves to corroborate the truth of the enunciation of Professor 
 Whitney, of California, that the widest deposition of carbonaceous matters took place sub- 
 sequently to the period heretofore denominated by geologists the coal period par excellence. 
 The statements of Dr. Newberry in regard to the coal fields of China; the age of the beds 
 in California and Nevada; the discoveries of Aug. Remond in Chili during the past year, 
 and the localities examined by this gentleman and myself in the State of Sonora, Mex 
 ico, in the summer of 1804, all tend, in like manner, to a complete confirmation of that 
 theory. 
 Of the many localities where traces of coal fire to be found, and where beyond a doubt 
 
EAST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 55 
 
 profitable beds may be met with, but one has been worked to any considerable extent, viz: 
 on the Missouri river, some 110 miles below Fort Benton. 
 
 During the past winter several miners undertook to explore the coal seams with a view 
 of supplying 1 the steamers navigating the river. Having been tried under the boilers of 
 several vessels it was reported to have been efficacious in some instances and worthless in 
 others. The unfavorable opinion was perhaps owing to an imperfect separation of the shale 
 from the coal, or because of the nonadaptation of the grate bars to the new fuel. Precisely 
 similar results followed the preliminary trials of the coals from the Mount Diablo mines of 
 the State of California. A larger experience has, however, approved their usefulness, until 
 at present they form the sole fuel of hundreds of stationary engines, and are likewise used 
 beneath the boilers of all the steamers plying upon the inland waters of the State. An exca- 
 vation of some extent has likewise been made on a coal seam situated on Grasshopper creek, 
 near Bannock. 
 
 COSTS OF MINING, MILLING, AND SMELTING. It is impossible, from any considerable 
 number of actual returns, to give the exact average of the costs of raising and reducing the 
 ores of the Territory. A very general apathy in regard to the importance of publishing these 
 data seems to possess the directors and managers of the mining properties of Montana, and 
 but few responses have been received in answer to my printed circular soliciting these par- 
 ticulars in detail. Hence I shall be obliged to make estimates founded upon my own observa- 
 tions and the limited-number of returns in my possession. 
 
 The prices of labor in Montana range from $5 to $10 currency per day. Wood costs, 
 according to circumstances, from $3 to $10 currency pe'r cord delivered, and generally $2 50 
 currency per cord cut and piled at the place of felling. Charcoal ranges from 33 cents cur- 
 rency to 40 <?ents in gold per bushel. 
 
 The lowest cost of raising the ore which has come under my observation must be credited 
 to the Philadelphia Enterprise Company, working upon a portion of the Whitlatch Union 
 lead, near Helena. The entire outlay debited to the raising of 1,300 tons was $3 36 cur- 
 rency per ton. I take these figures from the accounts of the superintendent, kindly sub- 
 mitted to my inspection. Again, we have the estimate of the agent of the Montana Gold 
 and Silver Mining Company of Pennsylvania with regard to mining and delivering the ore 
 from the U. S. Grant, a wide lode in Summit district, near Virginia City. By means of the 
 tunnel, no\v nearly completed, the ore, should the promises of the surface be realized at that 
 depth, may be mined and delivered at $4 currency per ton. In this connection it may be 
 stated that all veins so situated as to be able to be worked by tunnel and tramway, can fur- 
 nish ore at a very much smaller cost than such as require the use of shafts and hoisting 
 apparatus. The necessity for pumping large amounts of water a very material item of 
 expense in deep mines need not yet be taken into consideration regarding the mines of Mon- 
 tana. A reasonably wide vein under ordinary circumstances ought to be mined and laid 
 upon the surface at a cost of from $5 to $8 per ton. 
 
 M[I.LING. The Turnley and Hendrie mills, south of Helena, have crushed large amounts 
 of gold quartz from the Whitlatch Union and Park lodes at from $11 to 12 per ton. 
 
 It is but reasonable to suppose that the custom mills have been able, at these figures, to 
 return a profit ; hence, under ordinarily favoring circumstances and judicious management, 
 $15 per ton will cover all expense and yield a considerable profit; while a working yield of 
 $.20 to $25 in free gold will return cent per cent, on the requisite outlays. 
 
 SMELTING. We have but one example of this method of reduction on. a large scale, via : 
 the works of the St. Louis Company, at Argenta, Beaverhead county. It would be doing 
 injustice to what may yet prove an important interest to assert that argentiferous galenas 
 cannot be profitably reduced in Montana. It is but proper to enumerate the difficulties in 
 the way of inaugurating new methods in a new country. Skilled smelters are almost if pot 
 quite unattainable ; and such as offer themselves demand and receive very high rates of com- 
 pensation. Charcoal is expensive, and it has not yet been proven whether the coals of the 
 country are suitable for smelting purposes or not; and if so, whether they are to be found 
 sufficiently near to the districts producing galenas and copper ores, which can only be 
 reduced by smelting. Thus much, however, is certain the amalgamation is more expedi- 
 tious and far cheaper ; the. one performs most of the Mabor by machinery, that is, is tho- 
 roughly in consonance with the spirit and genius of the people ; the other necessitates repeated 
 handlings and much manual labor, and hence its greater expensiveness. As the country 
 becomes better settled, with lower rates of wages and diminished cost of food and materials, 
 smelting may possibly compete with the amalgamation. While fully acknowledging the 
 statements of its advocates in claiming a more thorough extraction of the precious metals, 
 candor compels an assent to its greater costliness. Ores containing less than $100 per ton 
 cannot, in my judgment, be at present smelted with a profit. With water power to drive 
 the mechanism for furnishing a blast be it bellows, fans, or cylinders and with a suffi- 
 ciency of suitable ores and abundant timber near to the works, smelting may be done at the 
 present time at a cost of $60 to $80 per ton. 
 
 OTHER RESOURCES. The future prosperity of Montana is by no means dependent upon 
 the precious metals alone. She has other and prolific sources of wealth, among which we 
 may mention the following, now awaiting exploration and development : 
 
 Large masses of fire clay occur in the coal measures, which cannot fail to be of permanent 
 
56 .RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 usefulness should smelting ores be found in sufficient abundance. Iron ores and plumbago 
 are known to exist. 
 
 Moss agates are found in several localities, some of which show most curious and beauti- 
 ful markings. Very fine specimens of the common garnet' occur in a vein-like dike near 
 Summit City, near Virginia. True sapphires and one or two diamonds are said o have been 
 found on El Dorado bar, near the Missouri river. 
 
 Argilaceous sandstones and marbles fit for building purposes arc of quite common occur- 
 rence. Near the mouth of the Beaver Head canon is already established a manufactory of 
 grindstones. 
 
 CONCLUSION. Such, briefly sketched, is the present status of the mineral industries of 
 the Territory of Montana. The developments already made are, considering the youth of 
 the interest, most satisfactory, and as furnishing an earnest for the future cannot but prove 
 encouraging to every promoter of legitimate enterprise. 
 
 A better appreciation of the rewards and risks of mining undertakings cannot fail to 
 advance the well-being of the industry, at the same time that it militates against purely 
 speculative adventures. 
 
 That the profits to be derived from mines, selected with judgmetit and under an honorable 
 ad experienced superintendence, are not to be considered in the light of vague possibilities, 
 which can neither be estimated nor foreseen, let us compare the returns derived from rail- 
 ways, canals, water-works, gas, dock and laud companies, with those derived from mines 
 all held in the city of London.* It was found that the yield from the former species of 
 investments equalled 3-| per cent, on the average selling price, while that from the latter, 
 based upon the 350 mines in the mining share list, including lead, copper, and tin, made an 
 annual dividend of 13.^ per cent. If, now, the mininp adventures of English capitalists are, 
 on the average, more than 'three times as productive as any of the aforementioned invest- 
 ments, Avhile those in the hands of American owners have, though far richer, so often failed 
 to cover even the ordinary running expenses if this be the case, it behooves one to investi- 
 gate the causes of and to seek the remedy for so marked a difference. 
 
 The chief source of this most deplorable result lies in the supposed necessity of mystery 
 in regard to costs, yields, &c. Until mine and mill owners can be made to understand the 
 usefulness to themselves of comparative data as well as the benefit to the interest at large, it 
 will.be hopeless to expect that the great body of the community will be able to discriminate 
 between reasonable and unreasonable undertakings. All persons engaged in mining, as a 
 legitimate pursuit, should contribute to dispel this ignorance, for the reason that every dollar 
 lavished on mere speculation is not only so much withdrawn from actual production, but also 
 reacts unfavorably on further investments. 
 
 Montana has, up to the present time, been comparatively free from purely speculative 
 schemes. 
 
 The main obstacle in the way of the success of those mines which are held by non-resi- 
 dent owners has been, as already stated, the diffusion of their energies over too wide a field 
 and'the injudicious selection of small segregated hoFdings. 
 
 These errors of the past may be easily avoided in the future, and companies using proper 
 precautions in selecting and due diligence in opening their mines before purchasing or erect- 
 ing machinery of any kind, can hardly fail to meet with most remunerative returns. 
 
 Montana need not blush to compare her treasures of the precious and tiseful minerals with 
 those of any other section. She has within her limits as great a variety of metalliferous veins 
 as any single State or Territory. Veins bearing free gold and amalgable silver ores are those 
 immediately available, while argentiferous galenas, copper ores, and coals will, at some future 
 day, afford an exhaustless field for permanent and profitable investment, particularly when 
 the Northern Pacific railroad shall have facilitated communication and diminished the out- 
 lays for freight 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 GOLD AND COAL MINES OF NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, January 1, l-(h\ 
 
 SIR : I beg leave to offer the following statements and observations relative to the mines 
 and mineral resources of Nova Scotia, in the hope that they may be considered worth being 
 embodied in the report which., I have understood, you are preparing upon the mineral 
 resources of the United States and British provinces east of the Rocky mountains. 
 
 Mines are officially classified in Nova Scotia as "goldmines" and "mines other than 
 gold." I shall observe the same classification in treating of them and the minerals which 
 they develop. In the course of the following remarks I trust that, to relieve myself from 
 again going over ground which I have previously trodden some of it several times I 
 
 London Mining Journal, August 11, 16CG. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 57 
 
 be pardoned for occasionally making extracts from farmer papers of mine upon the same 
 subject, and from official reports prepared by me, during the past four years, as gold com- 
 missioner and chief commissioner of mines. First, then, as to gold mines. 
 
 Gold-bearing, geological formations, form a large portion of the surface of Nova Scotia. 
 To indicate their character and extent I will make an extract, brief, indeed, but sufficient, I 
 trust, for our present purpose,, from a paper prepared and read by me before the "Nova Sco- 
 tia Institute of National Science,'' on the 6th of February, 1886 : 
 
 The outlines of the well-marked geological district which comprises the gold fields of Nova Scotia, are 
 already pretty generally known. I will only briefly state that they mainly consist of two distinct districts 
 of different geological ages. We have upon the Atlantic coast the Loyrcr Silurian rocks, forming a band 
 which extends the whole length of the Xova Scotian peninsula. This district is not less than 50 miles in, 
 width at its western extremity, gradually narrowing as it proceeds eastward, and finally coming almost to 
 a point at Cape Canso. The other district, the Devonian and Upper Silurian, forms several comparatively 
 lofty and isolated ridges. One of these extends from Digby county, along the south side of the Annapolis 
 valley, to the vicinity of Windsor. Another commences at Cape Chicgnccto, forms the Cobequidhkls, and, 
 with a slight divergence from its original course, proceeds eastward to the Strait of Canso, throwing off 
 spurs northeastward to the Guff of St. Lawrence, and southwestward on both sides of the Stewiacke river. 
 In the island of Capo Breton, nearly the whole of Victoria county, a large portion of Inverness, and several 
 detached eminences in Cape Breton and Richmond counties, belong to the same formation. Among the 
 gold-bearing formations of this province I might also include the Trap ridges, considerable as to extent, for 
 auriferous quartz lias been discovered and to some slight extent mined in flip Trappean headlanda of Part- 
 ridge island and Cape D'Or ; but I will leave this geological district out of further consideration. 
 
 The extent of the two larger districts which I have indicated, comprises, in the aggregate, a large pro- 
 portion of the surface of Xova Scotia. I would roughly estimate the area of the Lo\ver Silurian district at 
 7,000 square miles, and of the several tracts of the more recent formation at 3,000, in all 10,000 square 
 miles. The whole area of the province amounts to about 18,600 square miles. It must not be assumed that 
 this large area is throughout auriferous.' I will observe, parenthetically, that, judging from what is already 
 kuown,"thcre is every reason to believe that future explorations Avill prove the greater part of this area to 
 be rich in metalliferous deposits of some kind. 
 
 As to gold I will begin with the Devonian district. The several ridges of highlands which come under 
 this denomination have, as yet, been but little explored for gold ; nor is it probable that they will be, to any 
 great extent, for some time to come. These hills are, for the most part, in the interior of the country. 
 Their rocks arc rarely exposed, being covered with a pretty deep soil from which has arisen a heavy growth 
 of timber. Gold has been found in the alluvium brought down by many streams which take their rise in 
 these hills. It has seldom been discovered, as yet, in quartz in situ, but, for the reasons just referred to, 
 quartz in situ has seldom, been seen in this geological district. In Wagainatkook, which is a proclaimed 
 gold district, about the head waters of the river of the same name, in Victoria county, quartz lias been 
 mined to some small extent. The little done hero in this way did not afford as good promise of profit as lias 
 been met with in quartz mining elsewhere in the province, but it cannot be considered a fair test of the 
 productiveness of the district. Most of the gold obtained at Wagamatkook has been taken from the beds 
 of streams which flo\v down from the hills, and the quantity thus procured indicates the presence of numer- 
 ous auriferous quartz veins in the vicinity. Gold has been discovered in the sands of nearly all, if not all, 
 the streams of Victoria and Inverness, which take their rise in these mctamorphic hills. It has also been 
 found in the same formation at Cape Porcupine, near the head waters of the Musquodoboit and the Stewi- 
 acke, and, I believe, at Five Islands and elsewhere, so that gold may be sought for, with not unreasonable 
 expectations of success, in any part of this geological district. 
 
 We have more reliable dataV.s to the auriferous character of the better known Lower Silurian coast band. 
 We know that in the Lower Silurian district there are found bauds of quartzite seemingly nearly parallel 
 with each other, alternating with various slates, extending in a general easterly and westerly direction. 
 These bands arc intersected by various masses of granite, in some places extending quite across the whole 
 formation, but more frequently forming detached masses, protruding through, and surrounded by, the strati- 
 lied rocks just named. In this quartzito, and, in a less degree, in some of the slates, we find numerous 
 veins of quartz ; and these veins, especially those of the quartzite, we find to 1)0 auriferous. Of the num- 
 ber of the quartzite bands, and of the latitudinal extent of each, little is yet known. From a general 
 acquaintance with the country, and not from actual survey, I am inclined to "the belief that, in the aggre- 
 gate, they form the largest portion of the width, superficially, of this metamorphic district skirting the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 Longitudinally this quartzite, with its auriferous quartz veins, can, except when interruptions are caused 
 by the" granite dikes already mentioned, be traced the whole length of the Nova Scotiau peninsula. Gold 
 has been taken from quartz veins at Yarmouth and on the shore of Chedabucto bay,' and, I might add, at 
 every intermediate point where diligent search has been made for it in the proper formation. The quantity 
 of quartz embraced in this great length and breadth of quartzite veinstone must be something enormous. 
 I speak of it in comparison with the bulk of the enclosing rock. Of course we have no sufficient data from 
 which to estimate this quantity. The opinion I have just hazarded is based upon observations of the cross 
 cuttings in the rock yet made in the few localities of this province where gold mining is yet carried on, and 
 these openings have in many, I believe I might say in most instances, been made at mere hap-hazard. Oil 
 one occasion"! myself removed carefully the drift, so as to expose a cross section of the surface merely of 
 the bed-rock, for "a, distance of about 160 feet. Within that distance I discovered over 30 quartz veins rang- 
 ing from an inch to 15 inches in thickness. The whole number of veins would average not less than six 
 inches, or say 15 feet in all, thickness of quartz in 160 feet of enclosing rock, the dip being here nearly ver- 
 tical. In another instance, after counting and measuring the quartz veins exposed within a distance of 250 
 feet, I estimated their aggregate thickness at 25 feet ; and yet, as within a part of the distance of 250 feet 
 there was no exposure of the bed-rock, the actual thickness of this quartz may hare been considerably 
 greater than what I hav6 stated. In both of these cases the quartz veins exposed, or the greater number 
 of them, were known to bo auriferous from examination made at the several spots where laid bare. In 
 other localities quartz veins of 5, 10, and even up to 30 feet in thickness, are found, but I will not multiply 
 instances. Those which I have specified do not, I think, exhibit a much greater thickness of quartz in pro- 
 portion to that of the enclosing rock than will be found generally throughout these quartzite bands. 
 
 Such is, in brief, a description of the auriferous districts of Nova Scotia. As to the most 
 important of these, economically speaking, viz : the Lower Silurian, the operations being 1 
 carried on throughout its whole extent are almost exclusively those of quartz mining. 
 Owing to the conformation of the country, no part of this district being estimated to attain 
 a greater elevation than 500 feet above sea level, and the whole of it lying in immediate 
 propinquity to the sea, the deposits of auriferous diluvium and alluvium to be found iii the 
 
58 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 more mountainous and inland gold-fields west of the Rocky mountains, and in Australia 
 and elsewhere, are few in Nova Scotia, and f very limited extent. Following what seems 
 to have been the course of the current which has produced a partial denudation of the rocks 
 of the Atlantic coast band, the disintegrated rock thus set free has been swept into the 
 Atlantic. Accordingly we find that at most points along that coast, where anything like a 
 thorough examination is practicable, the sands'of the shore contain a greater or less propor- 
 tion of gold. The same remark applies to Sable island, off the eastern coast of Nova Scotia. 
 This island consists altogether of sand into the composition of which gold enters to such an 
 extent that it is believed," by those who have experimented in the matter, that gold washing 
 on a large scale could here be carried on at a handsome profit. 
 
 I have already mentioned that this Lower Silurian district embraces a number of quartzite 
 bands maintaining an easterly and westerly course. It must be added that each of these 
 quartzite bands represents a distinct line of upheaval, and has its anticlinal axis. Conse- 
 quently a section crossing the whole district at right angles with the coast line, would rep- 
 resent a series of undulations of strata. The quartz veins, or, more properly speaking, beds, 
 have generally the same strike and dip as the strata enclosing them. "Cross leads," as 
 they are called by the miners, or veins cutting the strata transversely, are of not unirequent 
 occurrence ; but, as a rule, they are found to be comparatively unproductive in gold. I 
 shall presently have to notice some exceptions to this. 
 
 The conditions under which gold is found in these quartz lodes are extremely varied. In 
 many instances, probably in a majority of cases yet observed, the lode itself lias a casing of 
 dark-blue clay slate, or talcose slate, on one side, or both, but more frequently the former. 
 In other cases nothing intervenes between the quartz vein and the enclosing quartzite rock. 
 In some instances the lode consists more of slate than of quartz ; and, frequently, both in 
 this case and in that of the slaty casing just mentioned, the slate itself is found to be as pro- 
 fusely impregnated with gold as even the quartz is. Sometimes a quartz load is of a snowy 
 whiteness throughout, interspersed with gold of perfect purity unassociated with any other 
 mineral ; but more frequently these lodes are highly mineralized, mispickel or arsenical 
 pyrites, zinc blende, and oxides of iron, being the prevalent associated minerals, the first 
 named pre-eminently so. Throughout the Nova Scotia mines the gold, as taken from its 
 matrix, is, when compared with the immediate product of other mines in the world, of unsur- 
 passed if not unsurpassable purity. Owing in part to this fact the treating of 21111 if erous ores 
 to extract the gold from them is beset with comparatively few difficulties in Nova Scotia. 
 
 The discovery of gold in Nova Scotia was a very remarkable incident ; remarkable, not 
 because gold was actually discovered, but because it was not discovered at a much earlier 
 period in the political history of this country. This fact becomes particularly striking when 
 we remember that gold was a special object of inquiry among the eatlier European navi- 
 gators who visited our shores : that Nova Scotia is the site of the oldest European settle- 
 ment in America north of Florida ; and that the auriferous rocks, composing so large a pro- 
 portion of the surface of the whole country, crop out upon its surface, and are found to 
 exhibit gold at the surface of the outcrop at almost innumerable localities. As to when and 
 by whom it was first discovered there is a diversity of legends and some disputes. At all 
 events, the first unmistakable discoveries, which the public felt bound to take notice of, are 
 thus described in the gold commissioner's first annual report that for 1862 : 
 
 The earliest discovery of gold in the province, made known to the public, occurred during the summer of 
 I860, at a spot about 12 [it is less than 10] miles north from the head of Tangier harbor, on the northeast 
 branch of the Tangier river. The discoverer, John Pulsifcr, of Musquodoboit, was induced, from what he 
 had heard of the gold-bearing quartz of California, to search for the same substance amongst the rocks on 
 the upper waters of tho Tangier river ; and, while in company with some Indians -whom ho had hired, Mr. 
 Pulsifer found several pieces of gold in quartz, in a brook at a place now known as the Mooscland diggings, 
 or, more frequently, Old Tangier, owing to this circumstance. This discovery being known a number of 
 pereous gathered to the spot from various parts of the province, during tho summer and tho succeeding 
 autumn, for the purpose ox prospecting. 
 
 In the month of October, of the same year, Peter Mason, a fisherman and landowner near the head of 
 Tangier harbor, was passing through the woods about half a mile from his own residence and on his own 
 land ; he stooped to drink at a small brook, noticed a particle of shining yellow metal in a, piece of quart/ 
 which was there very abundant, and having picked it up and examined it he concluded, from what he had 
 heard of the discovery of gold up the river, that he also had found the precious metal. Upon this fact 
 becoming known a number of the inhabitants in the vicinity of Tangier nocked to the locality and com- 
 menced a search for tho supposed source from which the specimen had been derived. 
 
 The public attention was now fully aroused, and with the opening of the following spring, 
 that of J8G1, gold mining in a rude way was commenced at Tangier, for the regulation of 
 which and tke appropriation of land for mining purposes, the provincial government found 
 it necessary to frame certain " orders in council." Explorations were also .prosecuted with 
 vigor both at Tangier and elsewhere in the coast band of metamorphic rocks. The conse- 
 quence was that during the ensuing summer promising discoveries of gold were made at tho 
 Ovens, in Luuenburg county ; Lawrencetown, Waverley, and Oldham, in Halifax county; 
 Renfrew, in Hants county; Sherbrooke, Wine Harbor, and Isaac's Harbor, in Greysborough 
 county, and elsewhere. These places still comprise the greater number of the, as yet known, 
 most productive gold districts of the province. Of the others which have become particu- 
 larly noted, Montagu, about six miles from. Halifax, in the county of the same name, was 
 discovered in the spring of 1863 ; Wagamatkook, in Victoria county, in the summer of the 
 same year ; and Uniacke, Hants county, in 1865. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 5 
 
 As one of the best modes- of illustrating the character and exhibiting the progress of gold 
 mining in Nova Scotia, it may be well to give a few sentences to each of these districts, 
 taking them separately. To begin at the most western, thon, the Ovens are so called from 
 the shapes of a succession of caverns which, by the action of the sea-waves, have been 
 washed out from the face of a low cliff on the west side and near the mouth of Malegash 
 bay. Gold was here first discovered among the sands along the shore beach, and in such 
 quantity as to cause no small excitement at the outset. At rst it was supposed that tha 
 auriferous sands were thrown up. from the bed of the neighboring sea, for gold was found in 
 increased quantity after every storm which drove the waves in shore. It was eventually 
 learned that this result was produced by the action of the waves in sapping the face of th-e 
 rock forming a cross section of an auriferous band of the shore itself. The washing of 
 these sands was carried on with vigor for some time, but has, of late, been almost wholly 
 abandoned. The process was found to be an expensive one, and the area over which it could 
 be carried on very limited. The auriferous band of the shore itself at this place presents 
 some characteristics seldom me with in the other gold districts of the province. The quartz 
 veins, although numerous and rich, are comparatively thin, and the " cross leads" true 
 veins cutting the strata transversely are the richest in gold, a fact seldom met with else- 
 where in Nova Scotia. 
 
 The Ovens is one of the oldest known gold districts in Nova Scotia, and those who first 
 invested money there seem to have entertained most extravagant, expectations of the richness 
 of the place. Their anticipations were not realized, and consequently, in the reaction which 
 took place in the public mind, the place was unreasonably cried down. It is beyond doubt 
 that gold mining can be carried on at the Ovens with fair profits. 
 
 ffatverieg is situated 10 miles; distant from Halifax by the post road to Truro, and about 
 12 miles distant from the same place by railway. Thus far Waverley has produced a larger 
 gross amount of gold than any other district in the province, a result which is in a large 
 degree attributable to the favorable situation of the place, and the unwonted vigor with which 
 mining operations have there been carried on by two or three of the most largely interested 
 companies, for the average yield of gold per ton of quartz, over the whole district and for a 
 period of six- years, has been less at Waverley than at several other districts. The most 
 effective rule to apply in order to ascertain, at least approximately, the profit derivable from 
 a mine, or from a whole district, is to show the product of gold for each man engaged in 
 and about mining. In 1&63, the first year in which complete official returns were obtained, 
 Waverley gave .$258 40 per man for the year. This rate has gradually increased year by 
 year, until, in 1865, it amounted to $895 87. There was a slight falling off during the 
 ensuing years. 
 
 Lawre.ncetown, is about 12 miles eastward of Halifax, between the great eastern shore road 
 and the shore of the Atlantic itself, and is of easy access. Since 1861 mining has been 
 carried on at this place with varying success, operations being wholly suspended at intervals. 
 It was not until the latter part of 1886 that the real value of this gold field came to be appre- 
 ciated. Since then a large portion of the district has fallen into new hands ; some very rich 
 lodes have been struck, and mining has been prosecuted with considerable vigor. 
 
 Montagu, six miles eastward of Halifax, and of easy access by post road, has not been 
 distinguished by the same activity which has characterized operations in some other districts. 
 Nevertheless the ground is favorably situated for mining ; and the monthly and yearly returns 
 of its gold product are rather remarkable for the slight degree of fluctuation they exhibit. 
 These for the year ending 30th of September last showed a product of $406 60 per man. 
 
 I may here observe that since 1864 the 30th September has been held as the termination 
 of the fiscal year in Nova Scotia. Consequently when, hereafter, I speak of any returns 
 for either of the years 1865, 1866 or 1867, I allude to the twelvemonth ending with the 30th 
 September of the year in question. 
 
 That part of Oldlutm district in which the principal mining operations have heretofore been 
 carried on is about three miles eastward of Knfield railway station, which station is 27 miles 
 distant by rail from Halifax. Owing to causes which are attributable less to the nature of. 
 the place than to the management of those who have invested there, mining has been less 
 uniformly successful there than in some other localities. Oldham has the distinction of having 
 shown a larger maximum yield of gold than any other district. At one time this amounted 
 to 103 ounces, 14 dwts. per ton of quartz. In another respect it is almost, singular, fo*r a 
 " cross vein " of quartz has here proved to be one 01 the most productive lodes in the district. 
 
 Renfrew is distant about seven miles westward from Enfield railway station, already men- 
 tioned. From 1862 to 1865, inclusive, mining was carried on in this district on no very 
 extensive scale, but with fair and increasing profits, and a gradual extension of operations. 
 In 1866, owing to an influx of additional mining capital, and the opening of a number of new 
 lodes, a great stride in advance was made, and the aggregate gold product for that year was 
 more than five times that of the last previous year. This prosperity has continued unabated 
 to the present time, and in 1867 the Renfrew mines afforded $895 30 per man. 
 
 The centre of Uniacke mines is about three miles eastward of Mount Uniacke railway 
 station, this station being 26 miles by the Windsor Branch railway from Halifax, and 22 from. 
 Windsor. . Mining may be said to feave really commenced in the early parf of 1867, the first 
 important discoveries of gold having; been made there during the preceding year. Thet 
 
60 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 prospects throughout the district, so far as explorations have boen extended, are very prom- 
 ising, and mining, where it has been carried on, has shown large returns. The operations 
 of one company at Uniacke, for some. .mouths during the latter part of 1867, yielded at the 
 rate of an ounce of gold per day per man, a larger average, I believe, than has been shown 
 elsewhere in Nova Scotia. 
 
 Tangier is upon the Atlantic coast, 56 miles eastward from Halifax by post road, and about 
 the same distance by water. This district, although an exceedingly rich one beyond all 
 question, has been subject to great and frequent fluctuations, owing mainly, in the first 
 instance, to the injudicious mining regulations adopted by the government when goid was 
 first discovered there ; and secondly, to the business complications of tho.se into whose hands 
 a large portion of the rruning ground subsequently fell. This district is divided into two 
 sections, known as blocks A and 13, or Old Tangier and Tangier proper. The latter lies 
 immediately upon the shore about the tide-waters of the sale and commodious havens of 
 Tangier and Pope's harbor, and consequently possesses great facilities of access. Old 
 Tangier, as already mentioned, is situated about nine miles back fronvthe shore. Although 
 this was rtie first spot where gold was mined in Nova Scotia" the operations carried on there 
 are still upon a somewhat limited scale. This has been owing to the difficulties of access to 
 the place. Latterly, however, a road has been opened through the wilderness, and mining 
 has there been renewed with much spirit. The quartz lodes are numerous, continuous, and 
 of even thickness, and yield a good average of gold. A large quantity of specimens of aurif- 
 erous nuggety quartz taken from old Tangier during the latter part of 1867 exceed in richness 
 and brilliancy anything of their kind previously found in Nova Scotia. 
 
 Sherbrooke gold district lies upon the west side of St. Mary's river. It is 150 miles from 
 Halifax by the most direct land route, and about two-thirds of that distance by water. This 
 district has been one of the largest producers of gold in Nova Scotia. It has also been, per- 
 haps, one of the most uninterruptedly successful, a fact which, however, I am inclined to 
 attribute less to the exceeding richness of the mines tlian to the skill and energy with which 
 they have been worked. The profits of mining in Sherbrooke have continue'd to increase 
 steadily year by year. This can scarcely be questioned when we find that the annual yield 
 of gold has attained an average of $1,592 58 for every man employed. 
 
 Wine Harbor gold district is situate upon the harbor of the same name, four miles eastward 
 of the moifch of St. Mary's river, already named. During the first four years of i's mining 
 history, this district kept pace with Sherbrooke as a gold producer indeed, rather surpassed 
 the latter place. Since then there has been something of a falling off in the product. This 
 is mainly owing to the fact that latterly the parties most largely interested at Wine Harbor 
 have engaged a large share of their joint efforts in works which are not immediately pro- 
 ductive, but which are essential to an extension of mining operations. There seems to be 
 no reason to doubt that. the place will soon resume its former high position as a gold district. 
 
 Isaac's Harbor or Stormont district is advantageously situated upon one of the finest harbors 
 iipon the eastern coast, and is about 20 miles eastward of the mouth of St. Mary's river. This 
 district has also been a large producer in proportion to the amount of effort that has there 
 been put forth in mining ; but enterprises of that class have never yet been entered into upon 
 anything like a large scale. The possibilities of the place may be imagined from the fact 
 that, taking the whole period since gold mining commenced in Nova Scotia, we find that 
 the mines of Isaac's harbor have kept up the largest average yield of gold per ton of quartz. 
 
 The situation of Wagamatkook is comparatively remote from the centres of population, 
 being in the wooded highlands of the interior of Victoria county. The difficulty of access 
 to it has militated against its prosperity as a mining district. Another cause of its lack of 
 prosperity is to be found in the fact that a large portion of its most promising ground remained 
 for a long time in the hands of parties who did little or nothing to develop it. Indeed, little 
 more can be said of Wagamatkook than that it affords very promising indications as a gold 
 field ; but that much may be alleged with perfect safety. 
 
 The progress of development of these mining districts, although not very rapid, lias been 
 continuous, steady, and increasingly satisfactory. The aggregate quantity of gold produced 
 by them was, in 1862, 7,275 ounces; in 1863, 14,001 ounces, 14 pennyweights, 17 grams ; 
 in 1864, for nine months ending September 30, 14,565 ounces, 9 pennyweights, 8 grains ; iu 
 1865, for 12 months ending September 30, 24,867 ounces, 5 pennyweights, 22 grains; in 
 18(T6, 24,162 ounces, 4 pennyweights, 11 grains ; in 1867, 27,5d3 ounces, 6 pennyweights, 9 
 grains. 
 
 In another respect, these results are more gratifying. There are no- returns of the 
 number of men engaged in mining in 1862; but in 1803 the total quantity of gold produced 
 was equivalent to $296 to every man engaged in and about gold mining iu Nova Scotia during 
 the year. In 1864, this average had attained, for nine months only, $324 66 per man ; in 
 1865, $664 80; in 1866, $669 '41 ; and in 1867, $765 per man for the 12 mouths, equal to 
 $2 44 per man per day. In all these calculations gold is estimated at $18 50 per ounce, which 
 Ls less than its real value. 
 
 When the first of these averages was made known to the public, it was clearly shown that 
 the mines of Nova Scotia in the aggregate yielded a larger average product per man engaged 
 in mining than thfese of any other country, and this average has been nearly trebled in four 
 years. In fact, although the above calculations do not necessarily prove it, the results pro- 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 61 
 
 duced from the various gold mines of Nova Scotia, taken separately, do not present those 
 striking contrasts observable in every other gold-producing country. We seldom hear of such 
 extraordinarily rich prizes as are, at times, met with elsewhere, but, on the other hand, a mine 
 which is a total failure which does not at least yield a moderate profit is a very rare exception. 
 It will be seen that, with the exception of the last named, and even that may scarcely be 
 considered an exception, all of the gold districts above briefly described are easily accessible, 
 lying, as they do, immediately upon a coast abounding with superior harbors, or within a 
 very few miles of the great interior thoroughfares of the province. Thcy are so situate that 
 they can be readily supplied with all the requisites of a mining district at a low rate of 
 charge. When one considers this fact, together with that of the productive character of the 
 mines themselves, he may naturally wonder at the paucity of the numbers engaged in mining, 
 and of the consequent aggregate result of their operations. Doubtless, in the very propin- 
 quity of Nova Scotia to Great Britain, the Atlantic States, and the other Canadian provinces, 
 the sources from which most great commercial enterprises emanate, awd the facility with which 
 reliable auriferous districts may be reached, become possessed, and profitably developed in 
 Nova Scotia, may be found, in great measure, the solution of the problem thus suggested. 
 There probably never was an adage more pregnant with truth than that embodied in the oft 
 quoted poetical line : 
 
 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view. 
 
 Even from Nova Scotia itself people sometimes go to Colorado, Columbia, California, Aus- 
 tralia, or New Zealand, to mine gold, thus abandoning at least ten chances in their favor at 
 Lome for one that they can pitk up abroad. 
 
 Comparing the prospects with the results, as above set forth, it will be seen that gold 
 mining is yet in its infancy in Nova Scotia. We may further infer that the discovery of 
 localities in which gold mining can be carried on with profit has scarcely more thau com- 
 menced. Among the places not already named where gold has been discovered, with good 
 prospects of prolitable mining, may be mentioned Cranberry Head, at the extreme western 
 limit of the province, in Yarmouth county ; Gold river, in Lunenburgh county ; Boar's Back, 
 near Gay's river, and Stewiacke, in Colchester; East river, Chizzelcook, Musquodoboft, 
 Scraggy Lake, Killagg river, and elsewhere on the Sheet Harbor rivers and their branches, 
 in Halifax county ; and the shores of Chedabucto bay and Cape Porcupine, in Guysborough 
 count}'. The existence of auriferous deposits in some of these places has been known for 
 years ; in others it is of recent discovery. 
 
 It may not be out of place, in this paper, to give a brief outline of the more important 
 provisions of the law of Nova Scotia relating to gold mines. It must be premised that, 
 whoever may be the owner of the laud, gold mines in Nova Scotia belong, in the first instance, 
 to the Crown. At least, this is practically the case as yet. There are portions of land in 
 the province which have been granted without reserving to the Crown any minerals, but upon 
 such unlimited grants no gold has yet been discovered. As a rule, out of all land granted 
 in Nova Scotia there are reserved to the Crown all mines and deposits of gold, silver, lead, 
 tin, iron, copper, and coal. All other mineral substances are conveyed with the soil. 
 
 The regulations improvised by the governor and council on the first discovery of gold in 
 Nova Scotia, as also the first "gold field act" passed by the provincial legislature, were 
 framed, as might naturally enough be supposed, with but a very imperfect knowledge of 
 what was requisite to a gold mining community anywhere, still more of all that was peculiar 
 in the Nova fcscotian gold fields, and would most conduce to their development. Conse- 
 quently they were hampered with many provisions which experience soon proved to be use- 
 less, but which bore heavily and vexatiously upon those who engaged in mining enterprises. 
 There is little room to doubt that the check thus given to such enterprises at their very con- 
 ception is, in its results, felt to some extent even yet. The law now in force, which, with 
 its subsequent amendments, was framed by the writer of this paper, has been found to work 
 satisfactorily to all parties concerned, although, of course, every yearns additional experience 
 suggests some further amendation. 
 
 According to the existing law, the intending miner, having determined upon the site of his 
 future operations, it not being preoccupied by another, may, in the first instance, apply at 
 the department of mines for either a "prospective license," or a lease. There is no limit to 
 the extent of ground that he may apply for. To obtain a prospecting license he must pay 
 at the rate of 50 cents per acre, and,*where the ground applied for is not Crown land, 
 must enter into a bond to reimburse the proprietor thereof for any damage that may be done 
 to his land. This license holds good for three months, but is renewable for a further term of 
 three months upon the prepayment of 25 cents per acre. This gives him the exclusive right 
 to explore over th3 whole tract applied for, and select any part, or the whole of it, upon 
 which to cariy on mining operations. 
 
 Before entering upon any such mining operations, he must, whether he has previously held 
 a prospecting license or not, apply for a lease of such unoccupied ground as he may have 
 selected for his purpose. On making such application, he is required to pay at tho rate of 
 f>2 for each area of 250 feet in length by 150 feet in breadth ; a,nd, also, when the ground 
 applied for is private property, to make an arrangement with the owner of the soil for any 
 damages the latter is likely to sustain. Thereupon he receives a lease for 21 years, reserv- 
 ing a royalty of two and one-half per cent, upon all the gold mined. The law further requires 
 
62 
 
 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 him to have labor performed annually at the rate of 100 days' work for every 250X150 feet 
 leased by him ; and to furnish quarterly, and swear to, a return showing, among other things, 
 the amount of work and where performed, the quantity of quartz mined, the mill to which 
 it was sent, and the quantity of gold obtained from it. 
 
 Any person is liable to a beavy fine who runs a quartz mill without a license. Before 
 obtaining this license, for which there is no charge, he must give bonds with ample sureties 
 for the performance of his duties as required by law. The licensed mill owner must every 
 month make and swear to a return showing the quantity of quartz crashed, the mine whence 
 it came, and the quantity of gold taken from it; and out of this gold he himself pays to the 
 mines department the royalty reserved by law, receiving three per cent, out of that royalty 
 commission for his trouble. 
 
 It will thus be seen that every pains has been taken to insure reliability in the statistical 
 returns furnished from the Nova Scotian gold fields. A glance at this outline of the leading 
 provisions of the law will convince the reader that, at least, there can be no exaggeration in 
 the statistical statement above set forth, or in the tables appended to this paper. Doubtless 
 some gold is smuggled away from the mines without paying royalty, and consequently never 
 appears in the official returns. The amount which is thus eliminated from the auriferous 
 products of the country cannot be estimated with anything approaching to accuracy. 
 
 The following yearly abstracts of the results of gold mining operations from 18b'3 to 18S7, 
 inclusive, shows the progress that has been made and the aggregate product, so far as official 
 returns can show them : 
 
 * 
 
 Abstract of gold mining statistics 1863. 
 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 1 . 
 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 I ill 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 r; ^ 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 IT* [***&""' 
 
 
 a . 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1 ^53, 
 
 Districts. 
 
 11 
 
 s 
 
 fe 
 
 o 
 
 g s 
 
 h 
 
 S a 
 
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 fl 
 
 g 
 
 
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 bo 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
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 ^ -S 
 
 ta 
 
 
 toft 
 
 
 p 
 
 ft 
 
 N > 
 
 ft 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 s 
 
 & - = 
 
 
 1 
 
 > 
 
 ft 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 Jg 
 
 js 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 "5 
 
 'i 
 
 111 
 
 
 
 
 
 a: 
 
 $ 
 
 <y 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 f 
 
 ^ 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 TonsCiot.Lbs 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 Oz. Diet. Gr. 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 
 Isaac's Harbor 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 526 11 
 
 307 
 
 
 1 567 13 12 
 
 800 $587 30 
 
 
 124 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 
 3 644 10 
 
 1 10 
 
 
 3 718 2 19 
 
 (56 o 1 - e > ; " ? <>n 
 
 Sherbrooke 
 
 100 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 3 454 1 68 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 3 304 14 12 
 
 12 
 
 611 40 
 
 
 120 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 655 9 40 
 
 15 2 
 
 
 4"4 8 21 
 
 400 
 
 76 20 
 
 
 G 
 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 123 10 
 
 * 10 11 
 
 
 64 17 12 
 
 
 200 00 
 
 Montagu 
 
 124 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 139 18 
 
 2 16 2 
 
 
 306 14 16 
 
 598 
 
 55 50 
 
 Waverley 
 
 187 
 
 5 
 
 
 n 
 
 6,754 19 15 
 
 7 1 
 
 
 2, 380 6 3 
 
 17 14 
 
 258 40 
 
 Oldham 
 
 83 
 
 g 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 1 025 16 33 
 
 146 
 
 
 1 "''} 3 21 
 
 43 13 6 
 
 27 60 
 
 Renfrew 
 
 68 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 574 17 
 
 177 
 
 
 785 7 7 
 
 660 
 
 203 90 
 
 Ovens 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 102 1 59 
 
 4 13 23 
 
 
 76 5 14 
 
 900 
 
 69 40 
 
 Total 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 877 
 
 35 
 
 25 
 
 10 
 
 17,001 14 15 
 
 16 12 
 
 28 
 
 14,001 14 17 
 
 66 
 
 2 ( J6 (JO 
 
 Abstract of gold mining statistics 1864. 
 
 
 a 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 t-t 
 
 fa*?g 
 
 Districts. 
 
 h 
 
 || 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 ll 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
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 rs 
 
 3 
 
 ^a 
 
 ~ K 'p 3 
 
 !b 
 
 
 <s 
 
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 a 
 
 
 
 p 1 
 
 .."P 
 
 g 
 
 ll 
 
 1 
 
 S 
 
 2 Si 
 
 
 g & 
 
 2 5 
 
 s 
 
 - 
 
 
 Pi 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 2^1-3" 
 
 
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 1 
 
 "a 
 
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 ' 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 "o 
 
 
 < 
 
 O fr 
 
 cc 
 
 & 
 
 
 JH 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 p) 
 
 <J 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ToJis.Cwt.Lbs 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 0i.J9Ktf.Gr 
 
 O:. 7)wt. Gr. 
 
 Oz.Dirt.Gr 
 
 
 Stormont, Isaac's 
 
 78 
 
 fc -j 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 391 10 
 
 2 14 21 
 
 
 1, 049 4 21 
 
 8 10 
 
 $2-18 80 
 
 Harbor. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "\Vino Harbor 
 
 MM 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 738 
 
 1 2 18 
 
 
 3, 120 9 5 
 
 16 
 
 749 73 
 
 Shcrbrooke 
 
 113 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1,909 12 
 
 178 
 
 
 2,611 22 22 
 
 29 
 
 All 51 
 
 Tantricr 
 
 51 
 
 g 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 468 17 
 
 15 11 
 
 
 363 2 
 
 2 7 20 
 
 I'il (7 
 
 
 37 
 
 
 
 
 304 15 
 
 2 2 15 
 
 
 649 8 23 
 
 3 10 
 
 3-J4 50 
 
 "\Vaverley ........ 
 
 279 
 
 G 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 6,979 14 
 
 12 17 
 
 
 4, -J!U 3 
 
 20 
 
 297 80 
 
 Oldham 
 
 134 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 1, 757 
 
 15 12 
 
 
 1,362 15 8 
 
 1C3 14 
 
 188 14 
 
 lien 1 re w 
 
 42 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 *750 6 
 
 137 
 
 
 874 5 6 
 
 610 
 
 385 00 
 
 Other and tin pro- 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 17 
 
 6 1 
 
 38 11 3 
 
 43 13 19 
 
 
 42 54 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 830 
 
 35 
 
 23 
 
 12 
 
 15,316 14 
 
 19 
 
 38 11 3 14,565 9 8 103 14 
 
 3-^4 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 4cwt.fr'm 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 email lode. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 63 
 
 Abstract of gold mining statistics 1865. 
 
 
 a 
 
 ^8 
 
 
 
 
 
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 C3 . 
 
 
 | 
 
 IS 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 S 
 
 r O" 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 3 
 
 & 
 
 ^3 
 
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 Districts. 
 
 it 
 
 5;j 
 
 S C- 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 -tf-S 
 
 S3 3 
 
 C3 
 
 1 
 
 || 
 
 <0 
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 ^d 
 
 e o 
 
 III 
 
 
 o 2 
 
 6T 
 
 o 
 
 
 4 
 
 *4 
 
 Bl 
 
 
 
 S - 
 
 t IQ 
 
 
 r 
 
 .5^ 
 
 s >> 
 
 S d 
 
 a, 
 
 h 
 
 v 
 
 fl 
 
 P< 
 jg 
 
 
 t"> 
 
 1 
 
 c?""" 00 
 
 
 > 
 
 ?* 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 ft 
 
 
 "o 
 
 ~o 
 
 a 
 
 > a * 
 
 
 < 
 
 ^~ 
 
 co 
 
 
 
 o> 
 
 $H 
 
 
 H 
 
 f^ 
 
 <j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tons.Cwt.Lbs 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 O:. Dwrt. Gr. 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 
 
 94 
 
 ? 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 122 2 
 
 1 15 15 
 
 
 1, 999 2 
 
 8 10 18 
 
 $394 47 
 
 Harbor. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 51 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 4 363 17 
 
 JO O 
 
 
 2 664 3 11 
 
 ]6'lO 
 
 946 8Q 
 
 
 83 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 2 637 3 
 
 1 3 19 
 
 
 3 137 5 
 
 830 
 
 69') 27 
 
 Tangier 
 
 50 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 681 10 
 
 18 7 
 
 117 9 
 
 741 *7 15 
 
 9 6 21 
 
 274 CO 
 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 675 4 
 
 1 12 10 
 
 
 1 095 17 13 
 
 3 18 9 
 
 553 50 
 
 
 270 
 
 <i 
 
 
 1 
 
 10 709 2 
 
 1 4 11 
 
 
 13 102 21 
 
 3 13 10 
 
 895 87 
 
 
 65 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 T 
 
 2 409 15 
 
 10 7 
 
 
 1 242 6 21 
 
 10 15 3 
 
 353 52 
 
 
 35 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 1 114 10 
 
 14 17 
 
 :::::::::: 
 
 820 12 23 
 
 7 17 12 
 
 436 60 
 
 Other and uupro- 
 claiaied 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 122 8 
 
 10 10 
 
 23 18 
 
 64 6 21 
 
 1 17 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 692 1 33 
 
 23 
 
 23, 835 11 
 
 1 21 
 
 141 7 t 24, 867 5 22 
 
 16 10" 
 
 664 80 
 
 Abstract of gold mining statistics 1866. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fc, 
 
 
 i 
 
 %$ 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 1 
 
 d 
 
 PI 
 
 ft5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 jg 
 
 r- C 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 Districts. 
 
 s^ 
 
 >> 
 
 ag- 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 ! 
 
 01 
 
 O 
 
 %A 
 
 '^2o 
 
 
 >"3< 
 
 aS 
 
 S. 
 
 a 
 
 NT > 
 
 g< 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 ^ 
 
 ..0 2 
 
 
 H 
 
 If 
 
 'B 
 
 S 
 
 "S 
 
 
 3! 
 
 I 
 
 "o 
 
 i 
 
 > Its 
 
 
 <! 
 
 CJ ' ' 
 
 02 
 
 ^ 
 
 0? 
 
 K~l 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tons. Cwt.Lbs 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 Oi. Z>w. Gr. 
 
 Oz. Dwi. Gr 
 
 
 
 041 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 1, 956 7 
 
 10 18 
 
 
 1,055 7 13 
 
 300 
 
 $565 91 
 
 Harbor. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 1 1 
 
 2 192 8 
 
 11 4 
 
 
 1,224 13 1 
 
 87 
 
 647 27 
 
 
 69 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 2 684 1 
 
 1 22 
 
 
 5 157 14 17 
 
 16 6 16 
 
 1 382 86 
 
 
 28 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 956 2 
 
 8 19 
 
 11 17 4 
 
 420 3 
 
 4 18 
 
 277 .50 
 
 
 2fif 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 563 5 
 
 160 
 
 
 707 1 1 
 
 3 12 
 
 488 95 
 
 Wiverley 
 
 332 
 36 
 
 7 
 7 
 
 6 
 5 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 17; 286. 
 964 2 
 
 12 1 
 
 16 2 
 
 
 10, 486 21 
 776 12 4 
 
 370 
 6 3 19 
 
 584 31 
 399 6 
 
 Oldham 
 
 
 
 94 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 4 181 7 
 
 19 23 
 
 
 4 170 3 17 
 
 9 18 
 
 81 90 
 
 Unproclaimed and 
 other 
 
 12* 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 179 10* 
 
 17 15 
 
 24 17 11 
 
 158 11 8 
 
 12 
 
 234 65 
 
 
 667f 
 
 38 
 
 27 
 
 It 1.30,963 2 
 
 15 14 
 
 36 14 15 
 
 24, 162 4 13 
 
 87' 
 
 669 41 
 
 Abstract of gold mining statistics 1867. 
 
 
 i 
 
 f3 
 a 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 is 
 
 s 
 
 "o 
 
 1 
 
 If 
 
 
 . 
 
 r* 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 rt c 
 
 
 gfd 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 ;* 
 
 'Q 2 
 
 
 a5 
 
 *S 
 
 
 p a* 
 
 Districts. 
 
 S 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 S y 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 ^o 
 
 cat* 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 hi 
 
 o '3 
 
 
 ** 
 
 
 
 & &> 
 
 2? 
 
 A 
 
 P< 
 
 ~ > 
 
 S, 
 
 S 
 
 T 1 
 
 
 |L S a 
 
 
 2 
 
 OJ 
 
 | 
 
 S 
 S 
 
 "S 
 
 |jb 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 |3 
 
 "o 
 
 'x 
 d 
 
 s&! 
 
 
 < 
 
 W 
 
 02 
 
 !* 
 
 Q? 
 
 >H 
 
 O 
 
 h 
 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tons. Cwt.Lbs 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 Oz. Z?rt. Gr. 
 
 Oz.Dwt.Gr 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 1 149 
 
 158 
 
 
 1 505 2 11 
 
 4 10 
 
 $618 73 
 
 
 33 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 667 
 
 B 13 
 
 
 764 9 9 
 
 26 13 8 
 
 48 60 
 
 
 99 
 
 5 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 809 
 
 198 
 
 
 8 522 8 11 
 
 11 13 5 
 
 1 59 58 
 
 Tangier 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 
 486 
 
 16 7 
 
 20 6 
 
 395 16 10 
 
 4 6 16 
 
 385 50 
 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 214 
 
 1 19 
 
 
 417 13 21 
 
 2 9 20 
 
 406 60 
 
 Waverley 
 
 181 
 
 
 4 
 
 i 
 
 11,289 
 
 7 7 
 
 
 4,134 18 17 
 
 1 12 18 
 
 4-22 63 
 
 Oldham 
 
 52 
 
 4 
 
 
 i 
 
 960 
 
 187 
 
 
 1 359 12 2 
 
 4 20 
 
 483 88 
 
 
 189 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 
 7 770 
 
 144 
 
 
 9 401 2 10 
 
 381 
 
 895 3f) 
 
 Uuiacke 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 1, 212 
 
 15 15 
 
 
 947 1 17 
 
 14 10 
 
 584 00 
 
 Unproclaimed and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 other districts.. 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 117 
 
 134 
 
 28 15 15 
 
 135 21 
 
 200 
 
 278 55 
 
 Total 
 
 676 
 
 35 
 
 27 
 
 8 
 
 30,673 
 
 17 23 
 
 49 1 15 
 
 27,583 6 9 
 
 26 13 8 
 
 765 00 
 
64 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 As intimated elsewhere in this paper, operations in search of gold in Nova Scotia have 
 been prosecuted almost invariably in the veins of quartz in situ. In the few localities where 
 "Diluvial mining has been carried on the means employed have been, as in other countries, 
 those of the cradle, long-torn, and sluice, but more especially the latter. But even in the 
 few alluvial auriferous deposits which have yet been discovered free gold is only found in 
 small quantity. In such places the surface soil is usually found to be profusely interspersed 
 with fragments of auriferous quartz, with boulders and pebbles of what had been its enclos- 
 ing rock. The processes referred to merely wash off the earthy matter from the mixed mate- 
 rial, retaining the free gold and the fragments of quartz and other socks. From the latter 
 the quartz is separated and subjcctcd'to the stamping mill. This may seem a tedious process, 
 and it requires much care; but in the few localities which have favored the operation, it has 
 proved very remunerative. In some instances, and generally where the situation favored 
 such a j recess, thp whole of the surface material has been run through the stamping mill, as 
 the more profitable mode of saving the gold contained in it. 
 
 The Nova Scotiau gold, as taken from the matrix, is almost singularly free from alloy, a 
 fact which, in a very material degree, exempts the gold hunter there from difficulties which 
 beset him in many other parts of the world. As to the mode of reducing the auriferous 
 tquartz, slate, &c., and extracting the gold therefrom, numerous processes have been tried. 
 For pulverizing quartz the first apparatus employed not considering the rude and tempo- 
 rary appliances hurriedly improvised on the first discovery of gold was the stamping mill. 
 Since then, and more especially during the first two or three years of Nova Scotia's gold- 
 mining history, numerous other contrivances, involving some variety of mechanical princi- 
 ples, have been tried. We have had improved specimens of the rude arrastra, the Chilian 
 mill, the revolving pan and sphere, the "dry process " of pulverizing quartz by passing it 
 through a rapidly revolving cylinder, and various combinations and varieties of these. Some 
 processes which I have not had opportunities of inspecting have also been employed for a 
 time. But all others have, as yet, been, by practical men, sooner or later discarded in favor 
 of the old stamping mill. 
 
 In the appliances used for amalgamation there has been almtst as great a variety, but a 
 pretty nearly uniform process has eventually been adopted. Quicksilver is deposited in 
 quantity in the stamper-boxes. As a thin stream of water runs continually into each stamper- 
 box while the mill is in operation, the finer and lighter particles of the triturated gangue are 
 being constantly washed out, through a wire gauze or finely perforated plate, upon a sloping 
 table, the sides of which converge, and, at its lower end, conduct to a succession of sluice- 
 boxes which form a gradual descent. The bottom and sides of this table and these sluice- 
 bxes are covered with copper plates. In some mills, instead of sluice -boxes, there are pro- 
 vided shaking tables, the superior advantages of which yet remain, I think, to be proved. 
 By this mode a greatly preponderating portion of the gold freed from its matrix never leaves 
 the .stumper-box, but amalgamates and remains there with the quicksilver. The particles of 
 bath metals, thrown out by the mechanical action of the machinery and the current of water, 
 are caught upon the copper plates, over which, for a time,, they are carried. 
 
 This is the mode of treatment which, thus far, has 1 met with the most general approval. 
 It is of not unfrequent occurrence that when a new comer from abroad enters a mining dis- 
 trict he regards somewhat scornfully the simple processes I have briefly sketched ; but it 
 invariably happens that, after indulging in some frequently very expensive experiments 
 in setting up "the latest improvements," he falls back into the old mode, or some very slight 
 modification of it. That all the gold is saved by this treatment is more than any person 
 would be justified in saying. For about the first year of gold mining in Nova Scotia most, 
 mills had in connection with them kilns for roasting the quartz before it was subjected to the 
 stamps. It was discovered, however, or supposed to be, that no profit was made by this, 
 and that, indeed, the balance, if any, was on the other side of the account. 
 
 It is certain that in most auriferous quartz veins mispickel (arsenical pyrites) is found, in 
 some of them in large and numerous masses. It may be safely averred that all of this is 
 impregnated with gold; and, owing to the difficulty, if not impossibility, of amalgamating 
 any considerable portion of the gold so associated by this simple process above described, a 
 considerable quantity must be lost. Latterly some proprietors of mines have carefully sep- 
 arated this arsenical pyrites from the tailings of their quartz mills, barrelled it up, and sent 
 it to Europe, where it has been subjected to chemical treatment and has yielded, I have been 
 led to believe, a good profit to the owner. I am not aware that a like treatment has yet 
 come into use in Nova Scotia. 
 
 I must here observe that the sodium amalgam, of comparatively recent discovery, where 
 experimented with in the mines of this province, has produced highly gratifying results, and 
 is gradually creeping into general use. 
 
 OF MINES OTHER THAN GOLD. In treating of the mineral resources of Nova Scotia other 
 than auriferous deposits, and more especially of its coal fields, I find myself even more at a 
 loss to speak definitely than in dealing with its gold mines. This difficulty is owing to the 
 very imperfect character of the geological and mineralogical explorations that have yet taken 
 place in the province. To explain this, again, I must be historical to the extent of a few 
 sentences. 
 
 In 1826, at which time little or nothing was known of the geology and mineralogy of the 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 65 
 
 courtr^, all the minerals reserved to the crown in granted lands and all those in crown lands 
 were granted by George IV to his brother, the late Duke of York, for a term ot'^60 years. 
 This grant virtually transferred nearly all the mineral products of Nova Scotia. The prop- 
 erty thus conveyed to the Duke of York eventually came into the hands of the "General 
 Mining Association," a powerful English company. While the whole mineral resources of 
 the country were thus locked up by a monopoly, little or no disposition was shown, either by 
 the provincial government or private individuals, to ascertain what the extent of those 
 resources was. At length, after years of irritation, probably on both sides, and some not 
 very successful efforts on the part of the Nova Scotians to possess themselves of a share of 
 the mineral wealth of their own country, an arrangement was effected between the provin- 
 cial government and the General Mining Association in August, 1857, which was confirmed 
 by the Nova Scotian legislature early in the ensuing year, and went immediately into effect. 
 According to this arrangement the association were allowed to retain, with some ameliora- 
 tions in the terms of their lease, all the coal seams contained in about 75 square miles, com- 
 prising- the mines already opened and worked by them at Sydney, Point Aconi, Lingan, 
 and Bridgport, in Cape Breton, the Albion mines in Pictou, and Springhill and The Jogging 
 in Cumberland. The association, on their part, relinquished all claim whatsoever to the 
 mines and minerals throughout the remainder of the province. Almost immediately upon 
 the conclusion of this arrangement there commenced an activity previously unknown in Nova 
 Scotia in exploring for minerals, and more especially for coal, outside of the tracts still 
 retained by the General Mining Association. Years must yet elapse before the results of this 
 still actively continued exploration can enable us to form anything like a close approxima- 
 tion to an estimate of the area of Nova Scotia which is underlaid by available coal seams, 
 or of the aggregate quantity of coal which may be extracted from those coal beds and put in 
 the market. I shall, however, give a brief outline of what seem to be the possibilities of the 
 country in this respect. 
 
 It has already been stated above that of the 18, (500 square miles of the total area of the 
 province of Nova Scotia about 10,000 square miles belong to the geological formation through- 
 out which auriferous deposits are found. Let us deduct from the remaining surface of the 
 province that portion which belongs to the new red sandstone formation, associated with trap 
 rock. This is represented by a narrow strip of land varying from two to five miles in width, 
 extending along the south shore of the Bay of Fundy, from Brier island to Cape Blouridon, 
 and also some islands and isolated headlands on both sides of Minas basin and Cobequid 
 bay. All the remainder of Nova Scotia belongs to the carboniferous formation. The pro- 
 ductive coal measures of this formation naturally divide themselves into the following inde- 
 pendent coal fields : 
 
 The North Hants and South Colchester coal basin presents no good, natural cross section, 
 although it is bisected in nearly equal halves by the Slmbenacadie river. Thin seams of 
 coal have been discovered at several points near the margin of this basin, but no mines have 
 been opened, and its value as a productive coal field yet remains to be proved. 
 
 The North Colchester field comprises a narrow strip between the Cobequid Hills, on the one 
 side, and the shores of Minas basin and Cobequid bay on the other, and extending from the 
 vicinity of Parrsborough to the confines of Pictou county. Coal has been mined to a small 
 extent, but, although several seams have been discovered, they are so thin that to work them 
 to any extent, in the present state of the coal arid labor markets, would not prove remunerative. 
 
 The Cumberland coal field is much more extensive. At the western confines of this district, 
 at a place called The Joggins, the shore of Chiegnecto bay affords a remarkably fine cross 
 section of the whole formation. Here may be observed upwards of 70 coal seams, compris- 
 ing an aggregate thickness of over 40 feet. The more important workable seams, taken in 
 descending order, are of the respective thicknesses of five feet, one foot nine inches, two feet 
 nine inches, five feet, four feet, and five feet, being six in all. Two of these seams are 
 worked on the Joggins shore by the General Mining Association, who there hold four square 
 miles of mining territory. From three to four rniies east of the Joggins mine are the Vic- 
 toria and Lawrence mines, oa opposite sides of the navigable river Hebut. Further east, 
 and fronting upon the navigable Macan river, is the Macan mine. On the east side of the 
 same river and lying contiguous to each other are the mines of the Chiegnecto, the St. 
 George, and the New York and.Acadia companies. All of these mines have been opened 
 within a comparatively recent period, and all are supposed to be worked upon some of the 
 same seams which exhibit themselves upon the Joggins shore, although none of them con- 
 form in every particular to any of the beds found at the latter place. 
 
 Near Northumberland strait, the extieme eastern shore of Cumberland, some coal seams 
 have been discovered which are supposed to be the equivalents of those seen at The Joggins, 
 but none of workable thickness have there been exposed as yet, 
 
 At a place called Spring Hill, in the interior of this county, and near the northern base of 
 the Cobequid Hills, about 20 miles southeast of The Joggius, the General Mining Association 
 possess a tract of four square miles. A seam of excellent coal, 12 feet in thickness, has 
 here been found, but no proper mine has yet been opened. The explorations made of late 
 years by other lessees, outside of the association's tract, seem to indicate that ftiere are sev- 
 eral available coal seams in this vicinity : but the partial nature of those explorations and a 
 very considerable degree of disturbance of the strata, which is a characteristic of the district 
 
 5 T 
 
66 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 and a serious difficulty to the explorer, precludes our forming anything but a vague estimate 
 ot either the number or extent of its coal beds. 
 
 The Pictou coal basin lies about the centre of the county of the same name. Considering 
 how comparatively limited is its horizontal extent, it comprises an enormous aggregate thick- 
 ness of coal beds. The most important seams of good coal known, as yet, in this district 
 are of the respective thicknesses of 38, 22, 6, 11, H ("oil coal,") 19, and 13 feet. In the 
 centre of this district the General Mining Association have an area of four square miles, and 
 at their colliery, known as the Albion mines, have carried on operations for many years. 
 Surrounding this colliery on every side are others which have but recently been opened. 
 Judging from its development thus far, the horizontal area underlaid by the above-mentioned 
 seams, including what is believed to be an eastern extension of the Albion mines coal meas- 
 ures to Merigonish harbor, may be roughly estimated at not less than 30 square miles. Upon 
 this space there are eight collieries now in operation, and preparations are being made for 
 opening several others. 
 
 The Antiironish coal field comprises a small portion of the northeastern coast of the county 
 of that name. Some small coal fields have been found in the vicinity of Pomquet harbor, 
 and in consequence of this, explorations are being prospected with the sanguine hope of dis- 
 covering one that can be worked with profit. 
 
 The productive measures of the Inverness coal field seem to be confined, for the most part, 
 .to a narrow band of country near the coast. A mine has recently been opened at Port Hood 
 upon a seam of good coal, averaging six feet in thickness. Other coal seams, varying from 
 three to seven feet in thickness, are found along the coast at Mabon, Broad Cove, and Chim- 
 ney Corner. Although showing no extensive deposit on the shore, these beds, like the one 
 being worked at Port Hood, dip seaward and are probably the outcrops of an extensive coal 
 field under the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the southern part of this county, 
 along the river Inhabitants, coal has been found in several places, and there are promising 
 indications of a valuable deposit of that mineral, but, owing to the comparative remoteness 
 of the place from navigable water and the existence of so much coal elsewhere in the province 
 in more favored situations, little exploration has been made in this locality. 
 
 This River Inhabitants district may more poperly be considered a northern extension 
 of the Richmond coal field, which comprises, along with the tract just mentioned, all the 
 western and middle portion of Richmond county. Here; all along the north side of Lennox 
 Passage, from St. Peters west to the Strait of Canso, good indications of coal are found, 
 although the stratification is, in places, very much disturbed. At Seacoal bay, in the south 
 western part of the county, a mine has been opened upon a bed of coal and bituminous 
 shale, nearly 12 feet in thickness, and of which four feet only are worked as a coal seam. 
 The dip is here nearly vertical. 
 
 The Richmond mine is four miles inland, and northward of the last mentioned. Here two 
 seams of three and four feet respectively are beiug worked. Their dip, as at Seacoal bay, is 
 nearly vertical. 
 
 Victoria county has also its special coal field, isolated from any that have yet been, or will 
 hereafter be described. Coal has been discovered'on the north side of St. Patrick's channel, 
 in the vicinity of the Wagamatkook and Baddeck rivers ; but no mine has yet been opened, 
 nor have explorations been there prosecuted to any extent. 
 
 The last, and in all probability most extensive and most important coal field which I shall 
 have to describe, is that of Cape Breton. It extends along the eastern coast from Cape 
 Dauphin, near the southeastern extremity of Victoria county to an unknown point under the 
 waters of Mira bay, off South Head or Point Gage, a distance of about 40 miles. Along 
 this whole coast band, the productive coal measures are found extending inland for a dis- 
 tance of from seven to nine miles. The contained coal beds dip northeastward, thus indi- 
 cating the more than probable existence, of an immense body of coal beneath the sea. 
 Notwithstanding the explorations which have been prosecuted with spirit and diligence for 
 some years past, it is impossible as yet to state with confidence the number of coal seams of 
 sufficient dimensions to be profitably worked in this fine district. I may state that not less 
 than 20 of these seams have been opened and worked, and that these opened seams comprise 
 an aggregate thickness of over 100 feet of superior coal. The whole district of these pro- 
 ductive measures covers a horizontal area of from 250 to 300 square miles. All that portion 
 of the district immediately adjoining the coast is under lease, and there are 10 collieries here 
 in operation. These are jail of recent origin, except those of the General Mining Association 
 at North Sidney, Lingan, and Bridgport. Here is the largest tract retained by this associa- 
 tion. It covers all the land extending along the line of coast from the north side of Boular- 
 derie island to a point about a mile south of Bridgport basin, and comprises over GOquare miles. 
 A cross section of the association's ground, on the north side of Sidney harbor above, shows 
 no less than 34 seams of coal ; but of these only four have yet been worked. I may observe 
 that all the coal yet found in Nova Scotia is soft bituminous coal. 
 
 In our present still very limited knowledge of the real extent of the productive coal 
 measures in Nova Scotia and their available contents in coal, any estimates of either the one 
 or the other mtght be so remote an approximation to the truth as to be of very little practi- 
 cal value. It can only be said, iu general terms, that the circumstances of that Province 
 point to an enormous future development of that branch of mining. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 67 
 
 The following figures showing the total amount of coal raised and shipped, in Nova Scotia, 
 in tons and hundred weights from 1827 to 18G7, inclusive, will exhibit the progress of its 
 trade in this particular : 
 
 Years. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 1827 
 
 11 491 
 
 
 1848 
 
 170 518 
 
 , 
 
 
 19 49 
 
 17 
 
 1849 
 
 lf.8 955 
 
 10 
 
 1829 
 
 20 252 
 
 12 
 
 1850 
 
 163 728 
 
 8 
 
 1830 
 
 25 240 
 
 6 
 
 1851 
 
 139 976 
 
 13 
 
 1831 
 
 34 424 
 
 8 
 
 1852 
 
 17] 821 
 
 18 
 
 1832 
 
 46 585 
 
 Q 
 
 1853 
 
 196 935 
 
 17 
 
 1833 
 
 59 497 
 
 4 
 
 1854 
 
 213 250 
 
 16 
 
 1834 
 
 46 677 
 
 1 
 
 1855 
 
 216 338 
 
 3 
 
 1835 
 
 51 813 
 
 5 
 
 1856 
 
 231 934 
 
 7 
 
 1836 
 
 98' 47 
 
 3 
 
 1857 
 
 267 808 
 
 17 
 
 1837 
 
 109 347 
 
 12 
 
 1858 
 
 289 618 
 
 
 1838 
 
 97 938 
 
 14 
 
 1859 
 
 267 496 
 
 
 1839 
 
 133 928 
 
 
 I860 
 
 304 129 
 
 
 1840 
 
 98 2f>7 
 
 17 
 
 1861 
 
 334 545 
 
 15 
 
 1841 .. 
 
 136 110 
 
 9 
 
 1862 
 
 393 631 
 
 
 ]842 
 
 119 478 
 
 1 
 
 1863 
 
 424 45 
 
 2 
 
 1843 ,. 
 
 97 200 
 
 12 
 
 1864 (9 months) 
 
 406 699 
 
 
 1844 
 
 99 993 
 
 14 
 
 1865 
 
 651,256 
 
 14 
 
 1845 
 
 137 908 
 
 13 
 
 1866 
 
 601 302 
 
 o 
 
 1846 
 
 134 393 
 
 12 
 
 1867 
 
 54 127 
 
 
 1847 
 
 183 099 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The slight falling off during the last two years is to be attributed to the abrogation of the 
 "reciprocity treaty" between the Provinces and the United States. 
 
 The law of Nova Scotia relative to coal mines, as well as to all other mines other than 
 gold, may be briefly summed up thus : The first step to be taken by the party intending to invest 
 is to apply to the department of mines for a "license to search" upon whatever ground he 
 may have selected for that purpose. The application must be accompanied by a payment 
 of $20, and the filing of a bond t.o make good any damage done to private lands, and the 
 license is not to cover more than five square miles, and it holds good for one year. At the 
 expiration of this license, the holder thereof may, out of the ground covered by it, select one 
 square mile ; this area to be enlarged under certain special circumstances, over which, upon 
 the payment of $50, he can obtain a "license to work," which holds good for two years. If, 
 during this period, he shall have commenced "effective mining operations," he is entitled 
 to receive a lease, terminable in 1886, but renewable. On such leases there is reserved a 
 royalty of 10 cents on every ton of 2,240 pounds of coal; eight cents on every ton of iron, 
 and five per cent, on all other minerals except gold, the royalty upon which has already been 
 stated. 
 
 I may here add a few remarks as to the presence in Nova Scotia of the other more important 
 reserved minerals. Copper has been found at several localities. Mining operations havo 
 been carried on for some years past in a bed of cupriferous clay, containing nodules of 
 copper, in the carboniferous formations, at Tatamagouche, Colchester county. As this 
 happens to be a place where the minerals have been granted with the soil, I have no reliable 
 means of knowing what degree of success has attended the venture. What were considered 
 promising indications were found a few years since, at Cheticamp, Inverness, and a Copper 
 Mining Company commenced work there ; but their operations have not yet proved success- 
 ful. This mineral is also found in thin veins and detached masses, in the form of native 
 copper and of the gray sulphuret, green carbonate, and oxide of that metal, at numerous 
 , points in the trap rock, on the shores of the bay of Fundy. At some localities in the vicinity 
 of Poison's lake and the head waters of Salmon river, oil the confines of Antigonish and 
 Guysborough counties, there are to be found large and numerous masses of copper ore, 
 yielding from 5 to 20 per cent, of metal ; but no real lode has yet been discovered. 
 
 At Gay's river, near the northern bounds of Halifax county, the boulders of lower carbon- 
 iferous rock scattered through the surface soil over a tract of country considerable as to 
 extent, as well as the soil itself, are profusely interspersed with galena, seeming to indicate 
 the vicinity of an important lode of that mineral. Washed samples of this ore afforded 17 
 percent, of lead, and this lead gave Hi ounces per ton of silver. 
 
 The only other useful mineral known to exist in quantity in Nova Scotia, of which mention 
 need be made, is iron. On this head I will make some extracts from a work by the writer 
 of this paper, entitled " Nova Scotia considered as a field for emigration," published in 
 1858: 
 
 The most western deposit of any extent yet discovered occurs at Clements, on the south side of Annapolis 
 basin. The outcrop of the vein may be traced on the surface for the distance of a mile, with an. average 
 thickness of niup feet six inches. The ore consists of scales of specular iron, firmly cemented together and 
 mixed with silicious and calcareous matter, and it has been iu%art converted by heat into magnetic iron 
 ore. It yields from 33 to 40 per cent. o_f cast iron, the quality of which is said to be very superior. * * * 
 * * * A bed of iron ore occurs at Xictau, also in the county of Annapolis, and is similar to 'that found 
 
G8 
 
 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 at Clements. There arc several parallel veins at this place, varying from 4 to 10 feet in thickness. Six of the*e 
 have been examined and accurately defined, and the ore contains r>.">. :J per cent, of iron of excellent quality. 
 
 The next great deposit of iron ore which we will mention is found on the southern slope of the Cobequid 
 hills. This deposit, considering its extent and the variety and quality of its ores, may he pronounced the 
 most important in the Province. That part of it to which attention 'has been more particularly directed 
 lies between the Debert river and a point some two miles westward of the Great Village river, a distance. 
 in all, of about 10 miles. Between these points the vein extends nearly east and west, and at a distance of 
 from five to eight miles from the shore of Cobequid bay. It consist's of a veinstone of the species of ore 
 called ankerite, associated with xpathoxe iron, surrounding and including a number of other varieties of ore. 
 The whole vein is of very irregular width. At one spot on the bank of the Great Village river it is 
 330 feet wide, whilst at another, not far from the most eastern point to which the vein has been traced, it 
 attains a breadth of over 500 feet. Its breadth is unequal at various intermediate points where measure- 
 ments have been made. The length of this vein is not yet ascertained ; its continuation may be seen near 
 Jbive islands, 20 miles westward of Great Village river, so that the vein is known to extend a distance of 
 about 30 miles in length. It is not at all improbable that upon continued examination it will be found to 
 extend along the whole length of the Cobequid range of hills. * * * The iron made from these ores is 
 found to be equal to any in the Avorld in the rare properties requisite for making good steel. x * * 
 
 A very extensive deposit of iron ore, of a description similar to that of Nictau, is found at East river, 
 Pictpu, and within 10 miles distance of the Albion coal mines on that river. The vein at this place is It: 
 feet in thickness. The situation of this deposit, like that of the Cobequid hills, affords every facility for the 
 profitable manufacture of iron. 
 
 Iron ore, in the forms of red ochre, red hematite, and brown hematite, is found on the Shubenacadie near 
 . its mouth. It has also been found in small quantities in several other places, affording good reason to believe 
 that further extensive deposits of that valuable mineral will be discovered upon a more general research into 
 the mineral wealth of Kova Scotia. 
 
 Recent explorations have fully verified this prediction ; yet Londonderry, on the southern 
 flank of the Cobequids, is the. only place in the province where an iron mine is worked. At 
 this place, known as the "Acadian mines," blastfurnaces were erected about 17 years since, 
 and the manufacture of charcoal iron has continued ever since. 
 
 I will only add in conclusion that by far the largest proportion of the surface of Nova Scotia, 
 taken as a whole, is yet an unexplored territory, and that this remark applies especially to 
 the large area of metamoiphic rock, in the explored portions of which gold and iron are found 
 in such abundance and under such favoring circumstances. From what has already been 
 discovered it is only reasonable to believe that the country abounds to an almost singular 
 degree in mineral wealth. 
 
 I have the honor to be your obedient, servant, 
 
 PIERCE S. HAMILTON. 
 
 J. W. TAYLOR, Esq., Washington. ' 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 i 
 
 Comparative statement of rates of duly on imjwrts between the United States 
 
 and Victoria, Australia. 
 
 Articles 
 
 Rates of duty. 
 
 
 
 United States. 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 Beer, ale, porter, &c. in bottles 
 
 35 cents per gallon 
 
 12 cts per gallon. 
 
 casks 
 
 20 cents per gallon . 
 
 Do 
 
 Butter 
 
 4 cents per pound 
 
 2 cts per pound. 
 
 Bacon 
 
 
 Do ' 
 
 Cigars ... 
 
 $3 per pound 
 
 fsl ^0 per pound. 
 
 Coffee 1. 
 
 5 cents per pound 
 
 4 cts per pound. 
 
 Cocoa . 
 
 8 cents per pound 
 
 Do. 
 
 Chocolate . 
 
 G cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 Candles, adamantine 
 
 5 cents per pound ...... 
 
 2 cts per pound. 
 
 
 8 cents per pound 
 
 Do. 
 
 all other kinds 
 
 24- cents per pound 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 4 cents per pound 
 
 Do. 
 
 Confectionery, value above 30 cents 
 
 50 per cent 
 
 Do. 
 
 per pound. 
 Doors 
 
 
 24 cents each. 
 
 Fruits, dried 
 
 J per cent ...... ...... .... 
 
 2 cts per pound. 
 
 preserved 
 
 30 per cent .. . .... ...... 
 
 Do. 
 
 Hams 
 
 2 cents per pound . ... ...... 
 
 Do. 
 
 Lard 
 
 2 cents per pound .... ..... 
 
 Do. 
 
 Maccuroni and vermicelli . . 
 
 30 i>er cent. . 
 
 Do. 
 
EAST OF THE ROCKY MpUNTAINS. 69 
 
 Comparative statement of rates of duty on imports, Sfc. Continued. 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Rates of duty. 
 
 United States. 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 Nuts. 
 
 Meats and fish, prepared 
 
 Soap, toilet and shaving 
 
 not otherwise provided for 
 
 Starch... 
 
 Sweetmeats 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Rye and barley 
 
 Indian corn, maize, and oats 
 
 Hops 
 
 Malt..." 
 
 Oil, illuminating 
 
 petroleum or rock 
 
 crude coal 
 
 linseed, flaxseed, hempseed, and 
 rapeseed. 
 
 neatsfoot, whale, &c 
 
 crotou 
 
 olive, salad, and castor 
 
 cloves 
 
 cognac 
 
 anise 
 
 almonds 
 
 amber, crude 
 
 rectified 
 
 bay leaves 
 
 bergamot and cassia 
 
 caraway, citronella, fennel, lem- 
 on, and orange, 
 fruit 
 
 cinnamon 
 
 cubebs 
 
 juniper 
 
 thyme 
 
 roses * 
 
 valerian 
 
 not otherwise provided for . . . 
 
 Opium 
 
 for smoking 
 
 Rice 
 
 Salt 
 
 beef and pork 
 
 mackerel 
 
 salmon 
 
 fish, all other kinds in barrels 
 
 Snuff 
 
 Spirits and wines 
 
 Wines in bottles 
 
 Cologne and other perfumery 
 
 Sugar 
 
 Molasses, sirup of sugar cane 
 
 Tea 
 
 Tobacco, manufactured 
 
 unmanufactured 
 
 Vegetables 
 
 Varnish 
 
 Vinegar 
 
 Wood, manufactured 
 
 2 cents per pound. 
 
 30 per cent 
 
 10 cents per Ib. and 25 per cent . 
 I cent per pound and 30 per cent 
 3 cents per pound and 20 per cent 
 
 40 per cent 
 
 20 cents per bushel 
 
 15 cents per bushel 
 
 10 cents per bushel . 
 
 5 cents per pound 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 40 cents per gallon 
 
 20 cents per gallon 
 
 Jo cents per gallon 
 
 23 cents per gallon.., 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 $1 per pound 
 
 jjjil per gallon 
 
 $2 per pound 
 
 !|>4 per ounce 
 
 50 cents per pound. 
 $1 50 per pound ... 
 10 cents per pound. 
 20 cents per pound . 
 $17 50 per pound. . 
 
 $1 per pound 
 
 50 cents per pound . 
 
 $2 per pound 
 
 $2 50 per pound 
 
 $1 per pound 
 
 25 cents per pound 
 
 30 cents per pound 
 
 $ L 50 per ounce 
 
 $1 50 per pound .. 
 
 50 per cent 
 
 $2 50 per pound 
 
 100 per cent 
 
 2 cents per pound 
 
 18 and 24 cents per cwt 
 
 1 cent per pound 
 
 $2 per barrel 
 
 $>3 per barrel 
 
 $1 50 per barrel 
 
 50 cents per pound 
 
 20 cents to $2 50 per gallon 
 
 $3 to $6 per dozen 
 
 $3 per gallon and 50 per cent 
 
 3 to 5 cents per pound 
 
 2^ cents per pound 
 
 25 cents per pound , 
 
 50 cents per pound , 
 
 35 cents per pound 
 
 10 per cent ! 
 
 50 cts pr gal. and 20 and 25 pr cent. 
 
 10 cents per gallon 
 
 20 per cent . 
 
 Not including co- 
 coa, 2 cts per Ib. 
 2 cts per pound. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 18 cts per cwt. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 4 cts per pound. 
 12 cts per bushel, 
 6 cts per gallon. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 D> 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 $240 per pound. 
 
 Do. 
 
 48 cts per cwt. 
 $4 80 per ton. 
 $1 20 per cwt. 
 
 Dof 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 48 cts per pound. 
 $2 40 per gallon. 
 72 cts per gallon. 
 
 Do. 
 72 cts per cwt. 
 
 Do. 
 
 6 cts per pound. 
 48 cts per pound. 
 24 cts per pound. 
 2 cts per pound. 
 48 cts per gallon. 
 12 cts per gallon. 
 Window sashes, 
 24 cts per pair. 
 
70 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES 
 
 Comparative statement of rates f>f duty on imports, fyc. Continued. 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Rates of duty. 
 
 United States. 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 Articles of gold ................. 
 
 silver and platina ..... 
 
 Apparel and slops made up wholly or 
 
 in part of silk. 
 Apparel, &c., made up wholly or in 
 
 part of wool. 
 Apparel &c. t made up wholly or in 
 
 part of linen. 
 Boots and shoes .................. 
 
 Brushes .......................... 
 
 Building materials, boards, planks, 
 
 staves, scantlings, hewn and sawed 
 
 timber, &c. 
 Carpeting, value $1 25 and under ____ 
 
 over $ I 25 ........ . 
 
 various kinds ........ _____ 
 
 Oilcloths ......................... . 
 
 Carriages ......................... 
 
 Copperware, brassware, and tinware . 
 Cordage .......................... 
 
 China and porcelain ................ 
 
 Earthenware ...................... 
 
 Furniture, household ............... 
 
 Furs .............................. 
 
 Glass ............................. 
 
 Glassware ....................... .. 
 
 Gloves ............................ 
 
 Glue ....... - ...................... 
 
 Hats, caps, and bonnets ............ 
 
 Hosiery ........................... 
 
 Jewelry ........................... 
 
 Lead, sheet, pipe, &c .1 ............ 
 
 Leatherware ...................... 
 
 Marble, manufactures of ............ 
 
 white statuary, &c ......... 
 
 Matches .......................... 
 
 Metal, manufactures of ............. 
 
 Millinery, not otherwise provided for. 
 Musical instruments ................ 
 
 Tapioca and spices ................. 
 
 Arrowroot ......................... 
 
 Pepper ............. . ............. 
 
 Ginger ______ ... ___ _____ ........ ___ 
 
 Plated metal ...................... 
 
 baddies and harness ................ 
 
 Tarpaulins ........................ 
 
 Japanned ware . -. .................. 
 
 Wooden and other toys ............. 
 
 Watches .......................... 
 
 Clocks ....... . .. ................... 
 
 Willow and wooden ware ........... 
 
 Woollen blankets .................. 
 
 Woe lien bags ...................... 
 
 Anchors .......................... 
 
 Animals and birds ........... * ....... 
 
 Books ............................ 
 
 Bristles ....................... ____ 
 
 hair ....................... 
 
 Baggage, personal ................. 
 
 40 per cent. 
 
 40 per cent 
 
 50 and 60 per cent 
 
 24 cents per Ib. and 40 per cent 
 35 and 40 per cent 
 
 30 per cent . 
 40 per cent . 
 20 per cent . 
 
 70 cents per square yard 
 
 80 cents per square yard 
 
 35 to 50 per cent 
 
 30 to 40 per cent 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 35 and 40 per cent 
 
 2| and 3 cents per pound .'. 
 
 50 per cent 
 
 25 per cent 
 
 35 per cent '. 
 
 10 to 20 per cent 
 
 f to 60 cents per square foot 
 
 35 to 40 per cent 
 
 50 per cent 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 35 to 60 per cent 
 
 20 cents per ib. and 30 per cent. . 
 
 25 per cent 
 
 2f cents per pound 
 
 35 to 50 per cent 
 
 fiO per cent 
 
 $1 per cubic foot and 20 per cent 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 30 per cent 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 14 cents per pound 
 
 30 per cent 
 
 18 cents per pound 
 
 50 per cent 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 40 per cent 
 
 00 per cent 
 
 25 per cent 
 
 35 jier cent 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 24 cents per Ib. and 40 per cent. .. 
 
 24 cents per Ib. and 40 per cent. .. 
 
 2 cents per pound 
 
 Exempt 
 
 25 per cent 
 
 J 5 cents per pound 
 
 1 cent per pound 
 
 Exempt 
 
 $1 92 pr oz. troy. 
 24ctsproz. troy. 
 10 per cent 
 
 Do. 
 Do.' 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 5 per ce'it. 
 Exempt. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 D). 
 
 Do. 
 
EAST OF THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 71 
 
 Comparative statement of rates of duty on imports, fyc. Continued. 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Rates of duty. 
 
 
 
 United States. 
 
 Victoria. 
 
 Chain cables ........ ... 
 
 2 cents per pound 
 
 
 Coal bituminous * 
 
 $1 25 per ton 
 
 Do 
 
 
 40 cents per ton 
 
 Do 
 
 Coke 
 
 25 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Coins and bullion 
 
 Exempt 
 
 Do 
 
 Copper ore 
 
 25 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 when imported for U. S. mint- 
 
 Exempt 
 
 Do 
 
 Cotton, in the piece . 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 raw .... 
 
 3 cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 Fish, fresh 
 
 50 cents per cwt 
 
 Do 
 
 Flax 
 
 $15 per ton .. 
 
 Do 
 
 Guano and other manures 
 
 Exempt 
 
 Do 
 
 Hatter's plush .. 
 
 25 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Hemp 
 
 $10 to $40 per cwt 
 
 Do 
 
 Hides and skius 
 
 j per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Iron, scrap 
 
 $8 per ton 
 
 Do 
 
 ni (T 
 
 $9 per ton 
 
 Do 
 
 re 
 
 bar 
 
 
 Do 
 
 rod 
 
 1^- and J-J cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 hoop .. 
 
 ]4 and ! cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 sheet 
 
 ji to g cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 railroad bars 
 
 
 T>o 
 
 Jute 
 
 $10 per ton 
 
 Do 
 
 Kerosene shale .. . 
 
 40 cents per gallon 
 
 Do 
 
 
 1 \ cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 bars 
 
 2 cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 scrap 
 
 J-J cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 Linen 
 
 35 to 40 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Oil, palm and cocoa 
 
 10 per cent . 
 
 Do 
 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 wrapping- .1 
 
 30 per cent . . 
 
 Do 
 
 Pitch .. 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Plants, medicinal 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 ornamental . 
 
 30 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 for dying 
 
 Exempt 
 
 Do 
 
 Printer's ink ... 
 
 35 per cent 
 
 T)o 
 
 Quicksilver 
 
 15 per cent 
 
 T)o 
 
 Rao's 
 
 Exempt 
 
 Do 
 
 Resin . 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Saltpetre 
 
 3 cents per pound 
 
 "Do 
 
 Soda, ash 
 
 J cent per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 caustic 
 
 1 cent per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 Specimens natural history, &c 
 
 Exempt 
 
 Do 
 
 Steel 
 
 2J to 34 cts pr Ib and 10 pr cent 
 
 "Do 
 
 Stones, building 1 . 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Sulphur, flour of 
 
 <1>20 per ton and 15 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Tallow.. .. 
 
 1 cent per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 Tar 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Timber, logs 
 
 20 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Tin ? 
 
 "Wire, steel 
 
 1 5 per cent .- 
 24- and 3 cts pr Ib and 20 pr cent 
 
 Do. 
 "Do 
 
 Wool 
 
 3 to 10 cts per Ib and 10 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 Woollen cloths 
 
 24 cents per Ib and 40 per cent 
 
 Do 
 
 
 3 cents per pound 
 
 Do 
 
 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
 Page. 
 
 Letter of Secretary of the Treasury 
 
 1 
 
 r \ he Great Plains 
 
 ;{ 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 l 
 
 Colorado 
 
 <; 
 
 Wvoming or Lincoln 
 
 1-2 
 
 Montana 
 
 1-2 
 
 
 
 Minnesota T 
 
 15 
 
 Canadian Mines .. 
 
 . it; 
 
 Nova Scotia 
 
 : is 
 
 Alleghany Gold Fields 
 
 ID 
 
 Metallurgical Treatment 
 
 21 
 
 Taxation 
 
 -21 
 
 Transportation 
 
 Treasure Product of the World 
 
 2* 
 
 '2(5 
 
 General Observations 
 
 :;o 
 
 APPENDIX. SECTION I. 
 
 Artesian Wells... 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Lignites of the West , 85 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Montana, mineral resources of X 
 
 historical account of . -) 8 
 
 area of 3D 
 
 discovery of gold in 
 
 population of 40 
 
 physical geography of - 40 
 
 geology of ..-. 43 
 
 mining regions of 44 
 
 distribution of metals and minerals in 45 
 
 gold product of 51 
 
 Ai genta, smelting works in 54 
 
 copper in 54 
 
 coal in 54 
 
 cost of mining, milling, and smelting, in 55 
 
 milling in 55 
 
 smelting in f 55 
 
 other resources of $5 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Nova Scotia, gold mines of *. 
 
 abstract of gold mining, statistics of 
 
 mines other than gold, in 2^'i. G4 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Comparative statement of rates of duty between the United States and Victoria, 
 
 Australia : 68 
 
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