k ^ %5^J \ '\ I '': s ^ C C . ^ ^fcrr- ^-- , ?M ,ff BANCROFT LIBRARY o- THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA C c . ; 5 s ( ^ C....V 4 ! i V . s V , , i ^ ; IL. \ V " v 1 With the Authors' Compliments. MINING INDUSTRIES. JAMES D. HAGUE. L 163 [ Extract from the Official Classification. J CLASS 43. MINING AND METALLURGY. Collections and specimens of rocks, minerals, ores. Ornamental stones. Hard stones. Refractory substances. Earths and clays. Various mineral products. Raw sulphur. Rock salt ; salt from salt springs. Mineral fuel: various kinds of coal, coal dust, and compressed coal. Asphalt and rock asphalt. Bitumen. Mineral tar. Petroleum, etc. Metals in a crude state : pig-iron, iron, steel, cast-steel, copper, lead, silver, zinc, etc. Alloys. Products of washing and refining precious metals, of gold-beating, etc. ######* [NOTE. The following report refers to only a portion of the subjects in the class.] [In forwarding this report to the Department of State, Mr. Hague offered an expla- nation, under the date of December 26, 1879, from which the following is extracted:] " When I had the honor of accepting, nearly two years ago, the appointment of Ad- ditional Commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1878, I confidently expected to have fully discharged, long before now and to the best of my ability, all the obligations incurred by such acceptance. "Among these obligations, as I found after arrival in Paris, was the preparation of a report upon Group V of the Exposition. A brief inspection of the catalogue, how- ever, showed this group to be so comprehensive in its range, comprising exhibits of products so diverse in character, that, after consultation with the Commissioner-Gen- eral, I determined to limit my official investigation to some of the exhibits of Class 43, embracing ores, minerals, and the crude products of mining industry. "It was my good fortune to secure the aid of my friend, Mr. George F. Becker, of the United States Geological Survey, and lately of the University of California, in making the necessary examination at the Exposition, and he has contributed largely to the paper which I herewith submit." 164 The larger portion of the accompanying report is the work of Mr. George F. Becker. The authorship of each of the several papers is shown by the following statement : France and the French Colonies, by J. D. HAGUE & G. F. BECKER. Great Britain, by G. F. BECKER. Austria, by " " Russia, by J. D. HAGUE. Sweden, by G. F. BECKER. Norway, by " " Belgium, by J. D. II AGUE & G. F. BECKER. Austria-Hungary, by G. F. BECKER. Italy, by " Spain, by " " Portugal, by " Greece, by " " Dutch East Indies, by " Bullion Product of the United States, by Dr. A. SOETBEER ; translated by MRS. G. F. BECKER. The aim of the report is to present a sketch or a review of the condition, during recent years, of the chief mineral industries of the principal foreign countries represented at the Exposition, utilizing for this purpose much of the varied information which, for the occasion of the Exposition, had been made available, in printed form or otherwise, either by foreign Governments or private exhibitors. JAMES D. HAGUE. PRINCIPAL ERRATA. ige 169, 6th line from top, for tt 1866-1877" read 1866-1875. " 170, 4th it tt tt tt n Laurim " " Laurium. " 182, 1st " of table, " tt 48,962 " a 48,662. " 183, 5th tt from top, " tt apparatuses " tt apparatus. " 185, 1st " tt a tt tt has" tt was. " 187, 19th tt " bottom " tt composed " tt exhibited. " 187, 10th tt " " omit "above ground." " 187, 1st tt tt tt it it wires " read lines. " 192, 17th it tt tt a u 59.09 " it 59.00. " 198, " 203, " 206, " 207, " 216, 8th 22d 12th 8th price tt " top, " tt work" tt tt week, wet. Swede bars 269,750. " bottom " art " surbars " 260,750" r " 69 T 9 e " of silver for 1870, fo " 225, Russia, 1865, for tt 465,988" tt 465,989. " 230, 13th line from top, for tt habitus " tt habital. " 233, " 234, 1st " Victoria, "bottom," " prior to 1870, for Zukumft " "152,524,819 tt >> tt Zukunft, 152,624,81$ " 241, 18th line from bottom, for " numerous " tt enormous " 251, 19th tt top, tt " iridosonine" " iridosmine. u 270, 3d tt " bottom, tt " Has Sachsen >> tt Hus Sachsen " 271, 7th tt top, tt " resilverized >> tt desilverized. " 301, 1st tt tt tt u " Kilos " tt Kilometers . " 301, 1st tt " bottom, tt " carved " tt earned. " 307, 16th tt top, tt " Ligmien " n Ligurien. " 315, 6th tt " " aggregate horsepower, for " 659 " tt 668. " 322, 14th " tt tt tt " curioseuse " tt cuiv reuse. " 322, 23d tt " bottom, u " Breja " tt Beja. " 326, 20th " tt tt a " received " tt stripped. " 341, 3d n u it tt " worked " it washed. " 353, 2d table total in 1877, tt " 998,421,754 ft 98,421,754. 5th line from bottom, after " weight " insert presents. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. The leading mining countries of the world, their total product, rank, and pro- duction of each metal per square mile 171 France and the French colonies. History and general condition of mining industry in France 174 Iron < 175 Historical and general remarks 175 Table of the importation and consumption of iron ores 176 Table of the sources of supply of iron ores imported into France 176 Coal 176 Historical and general remarks 176 Table of the importation, exportation, and consumption of coal 177 Table of the consumption of coal in various industries 177 Prices of coal 177 Table of the product of the French mines for a number of years 178 Table of the importation and exportation of ores 179 Table of the labor relations of French mines 180 Table of the equipment of French mines 181 The Anzin Coal Mining Company's exhibit 182 Product of the French smelting works 183 Table of the iron and/steel product 183 Table of the quantities of other metals produced in France 184 Giant-powder and dynamite gum 184 Safety apparatus 185 Accidents in the French mines 186 Advances in the art of mining in France 187 Some general remarks on models 187 The French colonies. ALGERIA 189 Tabulated data concerning Algerian mines 189 Algerian importation and consumption of coal 189 Exportation of ores 190 General condition of the mining interest 190 GUIANA 190 Gold 190 NEW CALEDONIA 190 Geological, etc 190 Nickel ores and Gartner's processes for smelting gamierite 191 Great Britain. General remarks upon the British exhibit . 194 Statistical review of the mineral industry of the United Kingdom lor the years I860, 1865, 1870, and each year since 195 Objects of the discussion 195 Prices of the metals and coal for each year, with table in pounds and dollars . 198 Quantities produced, with table 199 Value of the products, with table 200, Importation, exportation, and consumption of metals and minerals, with t able 201 Importation, exportation, and consumption of tin, with table 202 Importation, exportation, and consumption of copper, with table 203 Importation, exportation, and consumption of lead, with table 205 Importation, exportation, and consumption of zinc, with table 20H Importation, exportation, and consumption of iron pyrites, with table 206 Importation, exportation, and consumption of silver 207 Importation, exportation, and consumption of coal, with table *^10 165 166 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Page. Foreign sources of supply and points of destination of ores and metals bandied in the United Kingdom, with tables of the data for tin, copper, lead, zinc, pyrites, and coal 211 Australia. The Australian exhibit, general remarks 226 The mineral resources of Australia 227 Geological and geographical description of the mining regions 227 Gold 229 Its occurrence 229 Its fineness and the variations in its fineness 231 Discovery of gold in 1839, 1841, and 1851 231 Area of the gold fields in 1876 232 Yield of quartz per ton 232 Proportions of the gold product from placers and veins 232 Gold in New Zealand 233 Table of the gold product of Australia and New Zealand and the world's product of gold and silver since 1851 234 Methods of mining and milling in use in Australia 235 Silver . 235 Estimate of the quantity alloyed with the gold product 236 Silver from silver ores 236 Tin 236 Geological and geographical occurrence 236 Discovery of tin in Australia 236 Production of tin in Australia 238 Treatment of stream tin 239 Copper 239 General description of the copper regions 239 Attempt to estimate the copper product 240 Coal 241 General description of the coal fields 241 Quality of the coal 242 Quantity available 242 Table of the output, consumption, and price of coal in New South Wales. 243 Coal in New Zealand and Tasmania 243 Kerosene shale 244 Occurrence and properties 244 Production 245 Lead 245 Antimony. 245 Gems 245 Mercury 245 Russia. The metals which occur in Russia 247 Geographical distribution of ores 247 Historical notes 247 Table of the product of the Russian mines, 1830 to 1875 248 Gold 248 Detailed table of gold washing, 1867-1877 248 Production by provinces 249 Influence of amended mining laws 249 Character of the mines 249 Platinum 250 Occurrence 250 Character of the ores 250 Table of the production, 1867-1876 251 Silver and lead 252 Table of the production, 1867-1876 252 Production by provinces 252 Present state of this branch of mining 252 Copper 253 Table of the Russian copper product, 1867-1876 253 Production by provinces 253 Tin 253 Table of the production, 1869-1875 253 Source of the tin product 254 MINING IDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 167 Page. Table of the product of the Russian mines, &c. Continued. Cobalt and nickel 254 Table of the production, 1837-1876 254 Geological and historical notes on cobalt and nickel mining 254 Zinc 255 Table of the production, 1867-1876 255 The zinc deposits of Poland 255 Iron 256 Table of the production, 1867-1876 256 Production by provinces 256 Table of the production of iron and steel 257 Coal 257 Table of the production, 1867-1876 257 Production by provinces 258 Petroleum ' 258 Table of the production, 18o7-1876 258 Sources of supply 258 Salt 2C9 Table of the production, 1H67-1875 259 Chromic iron 259 Table of the production, 1867-1875 259 Graphite 259 Table of the production, 1857-1875 259 Sulphur 259 Present condition of the metallurgical industry 260 Importation and exportation of metals and minerals, with table 260 Sources of supply of imported metals and minerals 261 Sweden. The Swedish exhibit 262 Notes on the mining geology of Sweden 262 Coal 263 Importation of coal and coke 263 Peat 263 Iron 1 264 Copper 264 Gold 265 Lead and silver 265 Nickel 265 Zinc 265 Mining machinery 266 Norway. Notes on the mining geology of Norway 267 Table of the mean annual value of the production, importation, exportation, and consumption of metals in Norway 269 Progress of the Norwegian mining industry 269 Table of the products of the Norwegian mines 269 Table of t he products of the Norwegian smelting works 269 Table of the value of products 270 The Kongsberg mines 270 Nickel mines 270 Belgium. Mineral resources of Belgium 272 Table of the occurrence of valuable minerals in the various geological formations , 278 Coal 273* The Belgium coal fields and coal seams 273 Table of the production of coal in Belgium, 1836-1876 276 Table of the importation, exportation, consumption, etc 277 Steam-power employed at the Belgian coal mines 278 Mining appliances 278 Iron...?.... 279 Occurrence of iron ores 279 Table of production, importation, and exportation of iron ores 281 168 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Pago. Mineral resources of Belgium Continued. Iron Table of pig-iron produced 281 Historical notes 281 Memorandum on the John Cockerill works 282 Lead and zinc 282 Occurrence aud product 282 BLKYBERG 283 Character of the vein 283 Great flow of water and means of handling it 284 Other difficulties encountered 285 Ore dressing and smelting 285 Product and profits 286 The VIELLE-MONTAGNE 286 List of establishments 286 Engines and horse-power 287 Table of the products, purchases, and sales of the company, 1830-1877 288 Table of workmen, wages, etc 289 Zinc IK ine at Moresnet 289 Description of the ore deposits 289 Historical notes 290 Character of the ores 290 Ore-dressing establishments 291 Smelting works 291 Austria- Hungary. Mineral resources 292 Table of the number of miners and of the value of products in 1875 292 Remark ou the relations of government to mineral deposits 292 Table of the mineral produce in 1876 293 Occurrence of the various minerals 293 Coal 294 Table of the output from 1860 to 1876 294 The coal fields and their development 294 Importation, exportation, and consumption, 1880-1837 295 Comments on the trade in coal 295 Consumption of coal for various purposes 295 Persons and engines employed in 1870 295 The Pribram mines 296 Historical notes 296 Ore deposits 296 Exploitation : 297 Production 298 Ore-dressing establishments 298 Smelting 299 Table of the product of the smelting works, 1860-1877 300 Joachimsthal 300 Historical notes 300 Ore deposits 300 Concentration 301 IdrUi 301 Geology 301 Extent of the deposits 301 Exploitation 302 Sorting ...............I.. 302 Metallurgical treatment 303 Furnaces 303 Losses 304 Vermilion manufacture 304 Labor /....."... ."___. 304 The Idria exhibit 304 Table of the product of Idria from 1860 to 1877 ". 304 Schneeberg 305 Historical ] " 305 Geological 305 Ore dressing 305 Production 305 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 169 Italy. Page. The Italian exhibit 306 Table of the exportation of ores in 1877 306 General statement of the condition of the mineral industry 306 Coal, lignite, and peat 307 Geographical distribution 307 Table of the production of brown coal, 1866-tg?^ . i .* .7 T 307 Analyses of specimens of brown coal 307 Table of the importation and exportation of coal 308 Iron '. 308 Condition of the iron industry 308 Geographical distribution of iron ores 308 Exportation of iron ores 308 Table of the production, importation, and exportation of iron ores. . . 308 Zinc ... 309 Description of the Sardinian zinc deposits 309 Exploitation of the mines of the Maltidano Mining Company 310 Production of these mines, with table 311 Analysis of ores 311 Treatment of ores 312 Spain. Remarks on the Spanish exhibit and the mineral resources of Spain 313 Table of the ore raised in Spain from 1867-1869 313 Changes since these dates 313 Distribution of ores in Spain 313 Coal and lignite resources of Spain 314 Table of the distribution and working data of coal mines in 1874 314 Table of the production of coal and lignite, 1860-1877 315 Table of the consumption of coal for various purposes 315 Capacity of the coal fields and the hinderanccs to their development 316 Iron 316 Resources 316 Table of production and exportation 316 Geographical distribution of the output in 1877 316 Analyses of iron ores 317 Portugal. Geological notes 318 Historical notes 318 Mining law 318 Distribution of the mines 319 Table of the product of the mines, 1851-1872 320 Table of the exportation of ores 321 Table of the consumption of metals in Portugal 321 Table of the exportation of metals from Portugal 321 Saint Domingo's cupreous pyrites mines 322 Geographical position 322 Geological character 322 Mineralogical character 323 Archaeology 323 Present workings 324 Extraction 326 Local treatment of ores 327 Exportation 327 The port of Pomarao 328 The settlement of Saint Domingos 330 Capital and management *831 Greece. Historical 332 Remarks on the geology of Greece 332 Occurrence of ores 333 Deposits of Laurium 333 Description 333 Exploitation by the ancients 334 170 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Page. Deposits of Laurium Continued. Ore-dressing by the ancients 334 Smelting by the ancients 335 History of the ancient mining industry at Loujim . .k. 230 Tonnes. 1 110 900 Tonnes. 1 174 290 Per cent. i Smelting works 4 96!) 859 4 099 509 4 880 gg3 24.58 Railways 2 108 471 2 031 119 1 980 773 803 Ocean steamers 327 700 281 500 30Q 500 1 26 River steamers 71 SOO 61 800 68 000 27 In other ways (by difference) 16, 182, 220 15 226 642 16 238 084 65.88 Total 24 702 3?0 93 417 530 24 657 530 100 00 Mode of con- sumption of coal. By reference to the articles on Great Britain and Austria it will be seen that the percentage consumption varies greatly in the three countries. The mean price of coal and lignite has risen steadily dur- Mean price. ing the period covered by the table. It was as follows : Francs. In 1883 H.31 111 1867 12.23 In 1872 13. 46 In 1875 15.93 These are practically prices of coal, to the production of which that of lignite bears a very small proportion. 12 p R VOL 4 178 FRANCE. UNIVEESAL EXPOSITION AT PAKIS, 1878. Products of mines. Table of the products of the French mines. Products of the mineral industry. 1863. 1867. 1872. 1875. Combustible minerals : Coal Tonnes. 10, 447, 022 Tonnes. 12, 464, C59 Tonnes. 15 359 195 Tonnes. 16 504 635 Lignite 262, 547 274, 029 443, 319 452, 205 Total 10 709 569 12 738 688 15 802 514 16 956 840 Peat 421, 342 326, 744 324, 323 817, 748 Raw iron ore . - 4 009 624 3 279 395 3 081 026 2 505 870 Metallic ores : Copper . 70,870 75, 508 7,653 8 698 Lead 305 220 817 Lead and silver .... 106, 629 89, 809 77, 513 *8 728 36 100 173 223 Manganese -. 4,239 4,434 10 315 9 016 "Nickel and cobalt 23 Zinc 550 202 4 088 Tin 273 1 000 Iron pyrites 28, 717 40 933 45 813 131 154 Iron and copper pyrites 89 539 Total 210 819 211 554 232 298 162 907 Various minerals : Bauxite and aluminous minerals 1 200 1 600 2 669 Sulphur 4 563 4 900 Bitumen and bituminous schists 147 377 163 932 208 130 140 696 Graphite 10 Rock-salt 168 3C4 212 767 191 722 231 64 9 Total 315 751 377 899 406 016 379 907 *In former years the crude ore as it came from the mine was entered in the Statistique, but of late years the poor ore which is concentrated appears in the tables only for the weight of the con- centration. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 179 To complete the foregoing statement of the products of the mining industry there should be added the products of quarries, concerning which accurate statistical data are not readily obtainable. They furnish building materials, hard stones, marbles, jasper, agate, slates, clays, phosphates, etc., which in the aggregate form a very important part of the mineral resources of the country. The following table will give a sufficient idea of the for- eign trade in ores : Foreign in ores. trade Names of minerals. 1873. 1874. 1875. Importa- tion. Exporta- tion. Importa- tion. Exporta- tion. Importa- tion. Exporta- tion. Lead ores ...... . . Tonnes. 12, d86 4,591 25, 370 Tonnes. 2,512 1,058 3,250 ~ 1,651 1 14, 697 459 51 449 Kilos. Tonnes. 12, 631 7,349 23, 720 428 26, 014 27 11, 785 46, 293 934 4,226 Kilos. 493 123, 119 Tonnes. 2,848 1,256 1,743 Tonnes. 12, 495 6, 462 25, 219 Tonnes. 3,595 1,746 2,788 Copper ores Zinc ores Tin ores Manganese 24, 498 29 14,416 47,420 975 4,298 Kilos. 32 4,546 686 96 9,893 114 73 924 Kilos. 17, 440 37 25, 755 38, 916 973 2,675 Kilos. 1,910 121, 356 1,362 134 13, 770 58 55 40 Kilos. Antimony... Iron pyrites Sulphur Graphite Other ores Ores of gold and platinum. . . Ores of silver 104, 259 56, 259 180 FBAKCE. Statistics of la- borers and wages. UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. In 1872 the laboring population employed in the mining industry amounted to about 320,000 men, of which number 134,173 were employed in the mines and peat works, 19,820 in underground quarries, 78,319 in open quarries, and 86,503 in metallurgical establishments. The fol- lowing table presents some interesting data concerning wages and value of the products of labor in mines of different nature : Mines of 1863. 1872. ( Mean of wages paid annually to laborers in mines of < Mineral fuel $152 40 14 40 111 50 113 40 329 00 25 60 241 00 253 00 Tonnts: 146.60 13.80 275. 00 34.90 108. 00 $196 00 13 00 149 40 117 40 478 00 26 60 304 00 256 00 Tonnes. 172. 50 12.05 320.00 23. 60 136. 00 162. 50 34.06 Peat Iron Other metals Mineral fuel Peat Average annual production in tonnes of material per laborer in mines of Other metals . . Mineral fuel Peat Iron Manganese Iron pyrites Copper pyrites Argentiferous galena . 31.08 In the above table the franc is reckoned at kilos =2,205 pounds. cents United States currency. The tonne is 1,000 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 181 Number, ex- tent, and equip- ment of mmes: 1863-1872. A general idea of the condition of the mining industry of France is expressed by the following tabular statement, showing the number, extent, and equipments of mines in the years named below : Mines of < 1863. 1872. Number of mines 322 310 Greatest depth feel 2 066 2 093 C Number '750 873 Laborers employed \ Horse-power . 28, 979 73 357 40, 824 91 899 Total production tonnes . . 10, 709 658 15 802 514 i Number of exploitations 1 655 Peat ! Laborers employed 30 518 26 893 "1 Total production Number of mines ... tonnes.. 421, 342 92 324, 697 81 Number of quarries 814 282 T C Number 53 47 Laborers employed I Horse-power . 787 14 545 755 9 605 Total production tonnes - - 3 277,895 2,781 790 59 51 Greatest depth feet.. 804 4 572 4 029 Total production tonnes 210 819 232, 296 , ro 25 bitumen and sul- ^ Laborers employed 714 147 387 214 293 Number of mines 13 16 Greatest depth feet.. 571 869 Steam-engines C Number 32 35 Rock-salt ) Horse-power . 338 492 Hydraulic engines 5 Number 3 13 ) Horse-power . 14 999 147 1,033 Total production . tonnes . 168, 364 191, 720 182 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. FRANCE. It is not practicable to bring these tables up to date, for the form in which the statistics are published has been slightly changed 5 nor is this altogether to be regretted, since the data are evidently, if accurate, very incomplete. incompleteness Laborers working in the peat-bogs, for example, certainly do not work the whole year through for thirteen dollars, and, if not, the corresponding data as to the number em- ployed give no idea as to the amount of work done. Fluctuations in The price of labor has risen since 1872. In 1875 the mean dncon per man*, wages paid colliers was $211.65. The production per man in the coal pits has notwithstanding diminished. In 1875 it was 156 tonnes, against, 172.5 in 1872. This falling off is possibly due to the increased depth of the mines, but the difference is very large to be accounted for in this way. Number Engineers will be able to gauge the extent of the mining steam-engines Si industries of France in 1875 by a glance at the following French s : ^^ o f ^ e num b er an( j p Ower o f the steam-engines in use in that year : Character of the mines. Number of en- gines. Equivalent in horse-power. Coal or other fuel 1,023 4 $.66-5 53 976 Other metals 101 1,893 Total . . 1,177 51, 531 Anzin Ceai The Anzin Coal Mining Company. Mining Co. The Coal Mining Company of Anzin, as has been men- tioned, is the largest in France. Its property covers 28,054 hectares, or about 108 square miles, and it produces an- Extentandpro- nually above 2,000,000 tonnes of coal, employing 15,000 men, 12,000 below ground and 3,000 on the surface. If the facili- ties for drainage were good, from 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 of tonnes might be produced. Excellent ex- The exhibit of this company was particularly complete and 1 geological?* and instructive. Not only was very full statistical informa- tion furnished, but geological specimens illustrating the deposits were to be seen, as well as samples of coal and of artificial fuel, the tools employed, and, above all, a magnifi- cent model of a portion of the coal-seam, with the under- ground and surface works accurately carried out to a scale Model of mine of one-tenth. This model was as large as a small house. and mode of ex- c pioitation. A passage led into the lower part of the structure, where the folding and faulting of the coal-seams and their relations to the overlying and underlying strata were admirably ex- hibited. The passage also led to a representation of the MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 183 underground working, where were seen the division of the _ ground on the panel-work plan, the method of breasting the coal, the transportation of the cars by the tail-rope ^ and endless-chain systems, and the hoisting through the shafts, in complete detail. The safety apparatus is that of Cousin, mentioned elsewhere. Ascending a stairway one reached a model of the surface works, including the build- ing's, engines, coal-screens, etc. In short, from the excel- Model of the mines and works. lent disposition and execution of the model, the mines could be studied almost as well, and much more easily, than on the ground. The Anzin Company washes its own coals, and inanufact- co ' ures coke and artificial fuel. This latter branch is one of ficialfueL great importance, the product being no less than 150,000 tonnes per year. For the purpose of sustaining it, the com- pany has been obliged to establish a tar distillery, the liquid products of which are rectified and sold. The company owns 845 coking furnaces and manufactures 300,000 tonnes of coke a year. The usual arrangements for the material and intellectual welfare of the workmen and their families are provided on a liberal scale by the company. Products of the French smelting works. To supplement the foregoing tables, information is given below concerning the yield of the French metallurgical in- dustries. In this connection it is important to observe, what has already been noted, that French works draw a very large portion of their ores and crude metal from abroad. Iron and steel produced in France. Smelting works. Iron and steel produced in .France. Years. Pig-iron. I Bar-iron. | Steel. 1819 112 500 74 200 1826 .. . 4,915 1830 266, 302 138, 469 1840 .. . 347, 774 237, 379 9,263 1850 461 653 246 196 10, 981 18CO 898, 353 532, 212 29, 849 1870 1, 178, 114 830, 786 94, 387 1876* 1 395 657 870, 312 230, 829 * These data differ somewhat from those given in the "Annuaire des Mines, d'apres le service des mines." 184 FRANCE. Production of other metals than iron in France. UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Other metals produced in France. Metals. 1863. 1867. 1872. 1876. Tonnes. 14 762 Tonnes. 18 016 Tonnes. 21 455 Tonnes. 25, 085 Lead and litharge 23, 652 27, 761 21, 486 27, 163 1 175 3 485 8 245 Nickel crude - ... 877 12, 783 1 i. 7 1.8 Silver fine '.. Kilos. 44, 409 Kilos. 41, 080 Kilos. 34,454 Kilos. 48, 914 Gold fine 500 737 410 850 Giant powder. Relative expio- po- ^ in' Get- ! 1S Relative danger of nitro-glycerine and gunpowder Astospontane ous decomposi tion and ignition. Giant-powder. It is familiar to every one that the use of dynamite or giant-powder has increased enormously during the last years, in consequence of its greater explosive power, which may be estimated at from four to five times that of ordinary black powder $ indeed, according to experiments made by order of the Prussian Government, the relation is as 1 to 6.7. Exact data as to the quantity of dynamite used are not ac- cessible, but from 1875 to 1878 the factories of Nobel & Co., in Germany and Austria, alone manufactured 2,G67 tons a year of this explosive, which is equivalent to about 10,000 tons of black powder per annum, which is not far from the amount of the latter yearly produced in England. The preparation of nitro-glycerine explosives has been popularly supposed to be excessively dangerous. Figures, however, would seem to show that this is a mistake, at least when the operations are conducted with skill and care. There were only two explosions involving loss of life in the German and Austrian dynamite factories above mentioned, against twenty-four in England in the saltpeter-powder fac- tories during an equal period. A dozen years or more of the use of dynamite have also shown that when made with even moderate care spontaneous decomposition and ignition do not take place, at least within four or five years after the material has been prepared. Another point upon which misapprehension has existed is the behavior of frozen nitro-glycerine. It has been supposed that in the solid state nitre-glycerine and the explosives of which it is the base were much more dangerous and more easily fired. It ap- pears to be true that cutting frozen nitro-glycerine with an iron tool may induce an explosion ; it is said, however, that an explosion may even more readily be produced by similar means at a temperature exceeding the melting point of nitro- glycerine (7 or 8 degrees O.). In experiments made by ar- tillery officers in Austria it turned out that fluid nitro-glyce- MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 185 fine placed upon an iron plate tes exploded by the impact FRANCE. of a rifle-ball at a distance of a thousand paces, while when frozen the distance had to be diminished to sixty paces in ze n e nftrogiycer- order to produce the same effect. It is also known that ine - much stronger percussion caps have to be used in firing cartridges of frozen dynamite than in those where the ex- plosive is in its normal pasty condition. Besides samples of the ordinary preparations of nitro- Dynamite-gum. glycerine, there was exhibited at Paris a new explosive in- vented by Mr. Nobel, and called dynamite-gum or explosive- gum. This is a mixture of collodion with nitroglycerine its nature. containing from 93 to 94 per cent, of the explosive compound. The two substances are mixed in such a manner that the product forms a gelatinous solid. In this new shape the nitro glycerine exhibits somewhat different properties from those of the well-known preparations. When not confined exploded, for example, on a piece of boiler plate the dyna- Behavior. mite-gum produces less effect than No. 1 giant-powder ; on the other hand, when confined as, for instance, in a drill- hole the effect is 50 per cent, greater. The new explosive is, furthermore, vastly less sensible to shocks than other Less sensible to shocks similar mixtures. A chassepot ball, striking the gum at a range of only 25 meters, failed to produce an explosion. It is consequently applicable to the filling of shells and to other military uses. Furthermore, water has no effect upon in Wa ^[ it , resist ' this substance. As to the permanency of the compound, the invention is too new to speak with absolute certainty ; but cartridges kept for over a year in the air and under water show no sign of any change. In a private letter the general manager of the Societe Generate pour la Fabrication de la Dynamite says : The com- parative tests which have been made on blocks of lead shown in our exhibit gave the following relations*" between the various explosives by volume. These relations may be re- garded as those of the strength of the powders : Military or mining powder ...................................... 1 Explosive _ power of respect- Dynamite No. 3 ................................................ 5 i ve powders, etc. Dynamite No. 1 ................................................ 7.5 Dynamite No. (cellulose base) ................................ 8. 5 Dynamite-gum ................................................. 10 Safety apparatus. ratus Safety appa " There were various safety apparatus exhibited at Paris, for the most part modifications of devices already familiar to mining men. M. Cousin's apparatus, invented a couple Cousin. of years before the Exhibition, however, possesses some 186 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. FRANCE, novel features. The clutch, iiistead of acting on the guides iu case of accident, clasps a rope extending from the top to apparatu 8 8 for f e the bottom of the shaft. The lower end of this safety rope vators. i s fixed, but the upper end passes over pulleys, and is at- tached to a string of graduated weights, the upper one of which is the lightest. Consequently, when the safety clutch seizes the rope the arrest of the cage is not instantaneous ; the safety rope is drawn down until, one weight after an- other being raised from the ground, the cage and its load Description, are counterbalanced. This is an ingenious construction, and no doubt insures a gradual arrest of the motion of the cage, and prevents the destruction of guides. Whether American mining men will agree with the managers of some of the most prominent French mines, that thedifficul- somewhat com- ties experienced with the more usual constructions are suf- ficient to warrant the complication involved by M. Cousin's plan, seems questionable. Auti-overwind- Safety apparatus providing against overwinding are be- ing apparatus. . _ . _ A ' J _ . , . coming general in France. The fundamental idea is com- monly to detach the cage automatically from the hoisting rope when it approaches the sheave dangerously. The attachment between hoisting rope and cage is so constructed that on striking a beam, passing through a ring, or; prob- ably best of all, upon entering a hollow truncated cast-steel Description of cone, the cage is detached. Its fall is then prevented by its action. the action of the same apparatus upon which dependence is placed in case of the breakage of the hoisting rope. Provisions against overwinding should be more common in America than they are, even in our most important mining districts, and miners will readily recall frightful accidents arising from the lack of this precaution. Special regulations looking to the safety of the miners exist and are strictly enforced in France, as in all the great Annual per- European countries. The number of accidents however is centage of killed . . ... and wounded by large, nearly two per cent, of the men being killed or wounded each year. More exactly, in the year 1875, which was not an exceptional one, 2.06 men per 1,000 employed in mining were reported as killed, and 17.73 per 1,000 as wounded. The coal-mining interests of France so greatly exceed the rest, that one might suppose the accidents mainly ascribable to the peculiar dangers met in the extrac- tion of coal. Such, however, does not seem to be the case, fire d^m^iis'fre 1 ^^ ie i n j es arising from explosions of fire-damp and as- quent than those phyxia amount to only 8 in 10,000 coal miners. A large from caving. majority of the accidents, especially of the fatal ones, in all classes of mines, are caused by the caving in of ground. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 187 The advances in the art of mining in France during the FRANCE. last ten years present no especial peculiarities. Steel ca-bles improvements . . .. , . , n . in machinery of have been introduced instead of iron to a very great extent ; French mines. wooden and iron guides have replaced ropes used for the , same purpose ; the lowering and hoisting of miners on the cage, instead of the use of ladders, has become prevalent ; rotary pumping engines have been introduced ; safety lamps have been improved, but electric illumination has made little progress; ore-dressing and coal- washing have been greatly developed ; and the manufacture of artificial fuel has Artificial fuel. become a very large business. In this last branch of indus- try pitch has been almost altogether substituted for tar, giving the advantages of lumps, whicii are more solid, and burn with less smell and less smoke. An addition has been made to the metallurgy of lead and silver by the introduc- tion of the Luce and Rosan process, which is '& Pattinson Luce & adaptation of the process, in which the stirring is effected by a jet of steam. Pattinson lead- . silver process. By this process the complicated mechanism necessary in what is called the mechanical steam-pattinsouizing is avoided ; the steam assists in the oxidation of impurities, and the concentration of the silver can be carried somewhat further than by the old method of manipulation. This process has been introduced into America (at Eureka) and into England. Some general notes on models. and works. One of the most noteworthy exhibits of this kind was the model in wire^eamnoQcia by La Compannie des Fonderies et La , des Fonderies et Forges de Terre Noire, Lavoulte, et Besseges, presenting in Forges de Terre relief and at one view the form and features of the surface and the subterranean works of the mines at their proper relative depths beneath the surface. The subject of this plan comprised a superficial area about 3 miles long by 2 miles wide, perhaps a little more or less, beneath which ^Description of were represented a portion of the underground works of the collieries and iron mines belonging to the company. This method consists in producing the form of the sur- face in equidistant contour lines represented by wires of sufficient strength, the contour in this instance being taken at intervals of five meters in vertical distance, and the horizontal wires being held in their relative position by other wires joining them transversely in such manner as to form a net- work presenting the relief of the surface. This model was constructed by first preparing a map of map Preparatory the surface, on which the contour wires were carefully drawn. 188 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878 FRANCE. Each of these contours was then reproduced in brass wire. In order to place these contour wires in their proper rela- ModeiofTerre-tive position a series of profiles in wood was employed, Xoire mines and works. formed of thin boards set up vertically and parallel to each other, each cut on its upper edge so as to form the profile of that part of the surface of which it represented a section. struction f c n ^ ne COIlto ur curves in wire were placed upon and supported by the system of profiles, and after being adjusted precisely to their proper relative position were joined together by other smaller wires, so placed as to bind the net- work firmly, and at the same time to represent other features of the surface, such as the crests of the ridges, the beds of the ravines, the boundaries of properties, the lines of roads, the courses of streams, etc. The surface Upon this net-work it was then easy to place the repre- sentation on the desired scale (ydW? or $3 J ^ eet to the inch) of the principal buildings and works on the surface, remov- ing finally the wooden profiles from underneath, and sub- stituting for that means of support a sufficient quantity of small uprights of the desired length, and at convenient points. workSi d g e s rground ^ ne underground works of the mines were shown in sim- ilar manner. The various drifts, tunnels, and cross-cuts were represented by horizontal wires, each having the form. required to correspond to the course and length of the work represented by it. These horizontal wires being placed in proper relative position beneath the surface net, were con- nected with other wires corresponding to the shafts, in- clines, winzes, etc., and other accessory works of the mine, the whole being also supported from below by uprights Colors to show fixed at convenient points. Moreover, the surface wires and sreological forma- tion. those of the underground works were made to show the main features of the geological formation, by coloring them with different tints indicating the various rocks exposed on the surface or traversed by the mining works below ground. Excellent effect. The general effect of this method of representation is exceed- ingly good. The form of the surface, its nature expressed by color, and the relative position of all the objects shown upon it, were brought out in bold relief, while the spaces between the wires afforded a clear view of all the works lying beneath. Models in pias- There were also various interesting models exhibited in plaster and in glass. Some of the plaster models were left in steps or terraces, the edges of which represented the contour lines. The glass models were made up of sheets set at regular distances. On each plate was drawn in trans- MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 189 parent color a vertical or horizontal section of the ground FRANCE. corresponding to the scale of the model. Algeria. Algeria. Sixteen mines were being worked in Algeria in 1876, . statistics of besides various prospects. In 1876 3,618 workmen were**" employed in making excavations and in extraction of ore. The following table gives the situation and production of those mines yielding over 5,000 tons in the year 1876 : Algerian mines in 1876. Situation of the mine. Nature of the ore. Number of mines. Production 1 in tonnes. DEPARTMENT OF ALGEB. Snuinah Iron 35 11 936 82 7 500 Zaccaf Iron 190 40 000 Qued Messelmoun Iron 222 12 000 DEPARTMENT OF ORAN. Beni-Saf ... Iron 310 50 000 Djebel Haronaria 220 14 000 DEPARTMENT OF CONSTANT1NE. Kef-Oum-Theboul Lead 387 12 162 Kharizar Iron 167 21 636 Ain-Morkha .. .. . . Iron 1 471 366 446 Iron-ore mines 2 830 568 320 Other mines 788 17, 412 3,618 585, 732 Situation production mines. and of In 1875 the iron mines employed eighteen steam-engines, giving altogether 349 horse-power 5 the other mines, four engines, amounting to 60 horse-power. Algeria possesses no blast furnaces. The greater part of NO blast furna- its ores goes to France. Next to France, England buys the ce largest portion of iron ores ; then follows Belgium, and then the United States. The importation and consumption of coal for Algeria is importation and consumption seen from the following : of coal. Imported from I Consumed. jcear. England. France. Total. 1873 Tonnes. 64,390 Tonnes. 9,950 Tonnes. 74, 340 1874 58, 360 18, 260 76, 620 1875 59, 450 12, 400 71, 850 190 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Algeria. The quantity of ores exported from Algeria has been as follows, in tonnes of 2,205 pounds : Tear. Iron. Copper. Lead. Total ore.* Export of ores. 1869 215 205 5 2,827 218, 036 109 4?9 65 3 497 172 991 1871 172, 333 1 2,611 174, 945 1872 391 190 111 3 514 394 814 1873 420, 700 72 5,446 426, 214 1874 460 273 493 3 050 463 815 1875 52, 630 3 020 2,355 528, 005 1876 456 812 6 372 1 615 464 799 Total 2 808 566 10 138 24 913 2 843 618 *The original is given in quintals, or tenths of tonnes; consequently, there is an apparent error in the last figures of some of these totals. Effect upon AI- Up to 1876 Algeria escaped the effects of the financial depression prevailing all over Europe. Spain had for some Pyrenean mines? years been involved in civil war. The mines of Biscay were shut down, and African ores, to the exclusion of all others, supplied the steel works. But since that time two causes have modified the situation the pacification of Spain on the one hand, and on the other development of the mines of the Eastern Pyrenees, which have been put in communi- cation with the sea and with the French system of roads by the completion of the railway from Perpignan to Prades. This checked the Algerian production, but only momenta- rily. The high quality of her iron ores, better appreciated every day, inspires the Algerines with confident hopes. Guiana. Guiana. Gold. The exportation of gold since 1875 has been not far from 2,000 kilos per year, representing a value of 0,000,000 fr., say $1,250,000. These are the official figures, but they prob- ably fall considerably below the truth. New Caledonia. Ncic Caledonia. The geological formations observed in Few Caledonia are of a very complex nature ; but, speaking in general terms, it is easy to distinguish three distinct geological regions. cunaritSs 5 ^ pe ~ First, fragments of primitive and of crystalline rocks, which occupy the extreme northern end of the island ; sec- ond, serpentine rocks of great depth, which form, as it were, the skeleton of the island ; third, metaxnorphic beds and sedimentary rocks associated with melaphyres, which occupy the west side. In respect to the metallic wealth which they contain, each one of these regions presents a pe ? old and c p special interest. Gold and copper are found in veins tra- versing the primitive rocks at the north of the island, the MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 191 serpentines contain an abundance of iron, chromium, and FRANCE. nickel, and the sedimentary rocks at the west inclose coal New Caledonia. Seams. Iron, chromi- um, nickel, coal. It was at one time supposed that New Caledonia would equal Australia and Xew Zealand in its mineral resources, but these hopes have been for the most part disappointed. Some gold has been obtained, but the mines appear to have Gold and coal , -, -I-,. T ,1 , . -i ,, i ,. enterprises have been abandoned, and it is said that in depth the metal is not thriven. replaced by pyrites. The coal seams are inclined at a high angle, and, so far as worked, yield only poor fuel. It is doubtful whether they can ever be made to pay. Thus far the most important ores furnished by New Gale- importance of donia seem to have been thoss of nickel. As for the yield the nicljcl orea of the mines, no authoritative statement has been found.* The New Caledonian nickel industry, however, possesses considerable technical interest, because it is founded upon a new ore, which is treated in part by new processes. On this account the following notes, which have been taken mostly from a paper by M. Jules Gamier, read before the juies Gamier. Society of Civil Engineers, will be read with interest. It will also not be amiss to call the attention of engineers to the possible discovery of deposits of the new nickel mineral. M. Jules Gamier was the discoverer of a new nickel ore Garnierite. in New Caledonia, which has since been named garnierite. This metal is a hydrated silicate of nickel and magnesia, and occurs in various forms in serpentine rocks. Its for-, its nature and L location. mula is (MgO,NiO) SiO 2 +nH 2 O.t It is accompanied by compounds of iron and chromium and cobalt mineral. As is well known, the methods of extracting nickel from ,, Process with the usual nickel such ores as have hitherto been treated consist in concen- res - trating the nickel in a regulus or speiss, dissolving the compound sulphide in acids, precipitating the nickel as ox- ide, and reducing the precipitate with carbonaceous sub- stances. As garnierite contains no sulphur or arsenic, the applica- Addition of in- gredients to Gar- tion of ordinary methods to it involves the addition of mm- niente to render it amenable to erals containing those substances in sufficient quantities to old process. take up the metal. This mode of treatment M. Gamier considers economical under some circumstances (for highly ferruginous ores of low nickel tenor), but under many con- ditions, and with a large proportion of the ores, it was very desirable to invent a process less indirect, since the sulphur * In 1876, 463 tonnes of nickel ore, regulus, etc., were imported into France. In 1877 the importation rose to 3,790 tonnes. The increase is probably due, at least in great part, to the New Caledonian mines. t According to M. Gamier, Dana's formula differs slightly. 192 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. FRANCE. and arsenic are added only to be again separated from the New Caledonia, nickel. an M. Gamier has made numerous experiments with, a view New process. Fen-o-nickei. to devising such a process. The direct application of acids to the ore is ineffectual, since iron and nickel are not sepa- rated thereby. Experiments were also made upon the frac- tional reduction of the ore. The reduction was undertaken at a low temperature, at which it was supposed that nickel might be reduced, while the iron, or the greater part of it, would remain in an oxidized condition. This also proved impracticable, in part on account of the highly divided con- dition of the reduced nickel. Finally, M. Gamier made experiments, and this time suc- cessfully, in the direct reduction of the ores in such a man- ner as to produce a pig-iron containing large quantities of nickel a metal which may be called ferro-nickcl. This process is carried out in a cupola furnace of about four me- ters in height, with cold blast at low pressure. Under these conditions, and with the proper smelting mixture, only a portion of the iron is reduced ; the remainder goes into the slags, unaccompanied by nickel, and of course greatly in- creases its fusibility. When, as is sometimes the case, the ore contains only a small amount of iron, an addition of some ferruginous mineral must be made. The following are analyses f some of the ferro-nickels produced from an ore containing about equal quantities of iron and nickel : Iron ..................................... 4G.55 41.30 38.70 Nickel ................................... 0.91 54.25 59.00 Carbon .................................. 3.04 4.45 2.30 A complete analysis gave : Nickel ........................................................ 60.90 Iron . . ........................................................ 33.35 Silicon ........................................................ 0.85 Carbon.. 3.90 99.00 As might be expected, the double carbide of iron and nickel is more fusible than the carbide of either metal by itself. feiro nfckei ter f Ferro-nickel possesses great malleability, is easily worked under the file, takes a high polish, and shows a fine grained or foliating fracture. A large proportion of the nickel em- ployed is used in the manufacture of German silver and other alloys of copper and nickel, bearing in trade a variety ^ names ' suc ^ as ar g en tan, alfeuide, etc. German-silver founders prefer to purchase their nickel already alloyed with a certain amount of copper. To satisfy this demand its use. cop]Sr r aiioy Ckel MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 193 the ferro-nickel is refined in a reverberatory furnace in the FUAXCE - presence of copper, which, perhaps, also tends to preserve New Caledonia. the nickel from oxidation. The refining of the ferro-nickel Ferro-nickei. proceeds similarly to that of v pig-iron, silicon oxidizing first of all, and the oxidation of the carbon soon manifesting Befinin/rv -, -,,- -.0-/X -i i view of mineral dom for the years 1860, 18G5, ISiO, and each year since. industry of Great Britain. One of the most important of the questions which are suggested by an international exhibition is: "Where do the ores, metals, and coal come from, and where do they go to?" An answer to this question, so far as the United a ^| fo d ^SgJj.. Kingdom is concerned, goes very far towards forming a mine ' ral reply to the inquiry in its most general form, and cannot fail to be of interest and value to those who have to do with the products of mineral industries, whether as producers, consumers, or traders. Mining and metallurgical industries are, like others, very sensitive to disturbances arising from temporary causes, and a statement of their condition at any one period of time may consequently prove misleading. A systematic statement for a series of years, on the other hand, will exhibit the effects of temporary conditions, with- out obscuring the tendencies of the time, and assist the 196 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BRITAIN, j u fl gm eD t, j n estimating the probabilities for the future. In the following pages I have endeavored to give, in the most condensed form, a review of the mining industry and com- merce of Great Britain for the years 1860, 1865, 1870, and each year since, drawing the material for my data mainly RHunt, "Min-from the yearly memoirs of Mr. E. Hunt, entitled " Mineral ' Statistics of the United Kingdom," and from "The Econo- mist." The market price of commodities regulates both the con- sumption and the production, for the price determines the con- ditions under which profit is possible, either to the consumer or the producer. No discussion of the mineral industry is, therefore, of much value in which this all-important factor England the is lost sight of. England, moreover, is the great metal . market of the world, and English prices of metals control those obtainable at all commercial centers. The prices in London are consequently of great general importance, and Table i (page & given for the series of years under discussion in Table 21 London prices I- ^ change in prices indicates, of course, a change in the of metais. relations of supply and demand, but no invariable inference is to be drawn from it as to the prosperity of the industry productively concerned. The price of a metal may fall in Causes of fluctu- consequence of improvements in processes, such as followed ations in prices : ... ,. ,, - -i o.. , -, . the inventions ot Bessemer and Siemens in steel making. Steel used to cost in England from $200 to $300 per ton. accord- ing to quality, when nearly all of this metal was produced cesses heaper pr " bv tne blister-steel process, followed by remelting in cruci- bles ; but steel rails were sold in November, 1878, at less than 7 ($34) per ton, delivered. Discoveries of new sources of Kew sources of supply, such as the Australian tin fields, may also bring down the price. The market, however, may also decline in Disturbances consequence of disturbances in consumption, and a decrease am\ Sonera? pro?- of general prosperity, as has lately been the case. On the other hand, a riseiii price may originate in a diminishing sup- Diminishing ply, as has been the case at times with tin and graphite, iUI New appiica-or in new applications (nickel plating), or in a sudden increase of consumption, based rather upon hope than upon that normal development of civilization with which the mining industry might keep pace. Iron of an ordinary Ordinary iron quality is the metal most affected by the inflation or depres- themostfluctuat- . . ,. ing in price. sion of speculative enterprise, because it enters more largely than other metals into the construction of railways, steam- ships, and the like. Cleveland pig iron at the works was worth, in 1871, 2 9s. 6tf. ($12.03). In February, 1873, it rose to 6 7s. 6d. ($31). At the close of the year 1877 it MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 197 was worth only 2 4s. 6d. ($10.81), and it has recently been GREAT BRITAIN- quoted at considerably below 2. Lead, in the mean time, has varied less than 30 per cent, of its lowest value. The tendency of the prices of metals and minerals it is scarcely possible to discuss from a general point of view with profit, because the price is dependent upon so many factors; among others, the prosperity of one branch of min- eral industry, viz, gold mining. The more largely the cost causes of flue- ,, , , . .' tuations in value oi manipulation enters into the value of a metal, the greater of minerals. will be the downward tendency of the price, because " im- proved" processes means "cheaper" processes. Contrast with the variation in the price of steel mentioned above that of coal, which was cheaper in 1860 than in 1878, the increased CoaL depth of the pits and the higher wages having more than offset the improvements in coal-cutting machinery, etc. It cannot be doubted that in the care of copper, too, the development copper. l of the extraction of metal from " burnt pyrites " has had a considerable effect upon the price. The uuctuations in the price of silver have been voluminously discussed of late, saver. The broad facts of the case seem to be that, in view of the im- mense production, it became manifestly impossible to main- tain a definite relation of value between the precious met- als; that thereupon gold was adopted as a standard by Germany and the United States, and the coinage of sil- 8tan ^.' metaUic ver limited by the Latin Union. The abandonment in so great a measure of the principal use of silver, together with new discoveries, depressed the market violently, and would have done so still more had not the absorption of silver in Indian absorp- tion oi silver. the East increased. It is significant of the fact that silver has depreciated instead of gold appreciating, as some have maintained, that the East has absorbed silver in direct ratio to the depreciation, as might have been the case with any other commodity. Silver, as is well know^i, is circulated in the East in great part not by count, but by weight and fineness, like other merchandise. While all the metals are m ^j th chea P er at lower rates than in I860, wages have not receded to old have not receded , i . ,- , -n, ., . to old standard. standards in Great Britain. Wages of average miners in Scotland. Miners' wages in Scotland, 185*- " Economist," March 9, 1878. *. d. 1858 3 1868 39 1873 8 6 1877.. .43 198 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BRITAIN. This is in part attributable to the higher price of the necessaries of life,* brought from constantly increasing distan- ces, and in part to the difficulty the workmen experience in returning to the more penurious habits of their predecesors. i (page Table I shows the average price of common metals and prices of coal in England for the series of years under discussion, the same being obtained from the average price of each (page^Hk/ j n Table II the same prices are converted into London prices American money. In these tables the miner or metal mer- A m fT-i r.a.Ti * Britain. Decrease in i copper, American money. chant will read a record of technical improvements, dis- coveries of ores, political convulsions, legislative experi- ments, of wild hopes and desperate panic, such as could in no other way be set before him in the same space. Causes for some of the fluctuations have already been indicated, and reasons for others may appear later. 21 gj able m (page Table III exhibits the quantities of the several metals and Production of minerals produced in Great Britain for each year. The minerals in Great amount of copper produced from British ores, it will be seen, decidedly decreasing. Tin, while it has undergone some- what violent fluctuations in quantity, maintains itself tol- *erably, in spite of the great reduction in price since the opening of the Australian mines. The quantity of lead pro- duced in the years 1860, 1872, and 1877 differs but little. Silver follows lead very closely, as would be expected, since the silver extracted in Great Britain from native ores is almost exclusively obtained from lead. The same quantities of different metals correspond to very different quantities of ore 5 the relations, however, are so nearly constant that it would be scarcely worth while to give the variations from year to year. Mining men may, nevertheless, be interested in knowing approximately the relations prevailing at British mines. Metallic contents of British ores, t Relation of quantities of metal to ore. . 6 g i .2 g 8 o i'S In the year. rH .a | iJ a g .2 a .2 ifS I o g N H i r 02 igeo 64 Ci 28 47* 7H 8.C8 1865 64 3 25 48i 74* 10.78 1870 67 7 29 41 74J 10.69 1875 68! 7 28 38i 73 8.49 * From 1845-'50 (6 years), wheat averaged 53s. a quarter, and beef of inferior quality was 4 to 4a. per Ib. In 1877 wheat was 57s., and beef 5i to 6|dL IMd. t " Mineral Statistics," in part by calculation. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE, 199 The rise in the percentage of metal in the " black tin" is GREAT ERITAIX no doubt due to increased care in the concentration so im- Causes of fluc- ,, , . , tuationa in pro- portant with tin-stone. The zinc ore is almost exclusively auction of metal " black jack." The diminished percentage of the iron ore is Sty oFore. qi due to the increase of the proportion of British iron pro- duced from the argillaceous carbonate of the Middlesborough .The Cleveland district, which is low in grade.* In 1870 the North Eiding of Yorkshire and the county Durham produced 26f per cent, of the total iron smelted in the United Kingdom. In 1875 this district produced nearly 32 per cent. Table III gives the metals produced from British ores ex- Table in (page clusively, except in the case of iron, the figures for which in- ' elude the pig produced from imported iron ores and " pur- Production of native minerals pie" ores, the residue of the pyrites-burning process, plus imported The quantity of imported iron ore will appear later. It n amounts to less than 10 per cent, of the ore smelted. As the residue of the pyrites-burning after extraction of cop- per is used as an ore, both in the blast furnace and as u fettling," its composition may, perhaps, be more appro- priately given here than later. Mr. F. Claudet found in "purple ore" Ferric oxide 96. 00=67 per cent. iron. Composition of Lead (as sulphate) 75 {Jj flgV*; Copper 20 rites burning Sulphur 36 Lime 40 Insoluble 2. 11 Phosphorus none Soda... .10 Total 99.92 The amount of iron produced in 1877 was within about 2 Comparison of production and per cent, of the maximum production in 1872. Taken in con- prices of iron in 1872 and 1877. nection with the table ot prices, this fact affords a remarka- ble example of the extent to which the consumption of a metal can be stimulated by reduction in price. The year 1877 was assuredly not marked by enterprise, especially of the character which signalized the period of inflation, and yet nearly as much iron was consumed. It would be inter- esting to trace the details of this consumption were this the place for it. The production of zinc ha.s increased greatly, d ^? M ^ Z P ' and was scarcely checked by the panic of 1873. The same wit, d d*y- remark applies to salt and clay, especially the latter, which is about six times what it was in 1860 The quantity of pyrites mined has fallen off, but the decrease has been far * Typical Cleveland iron stone contains 30 per cent. iron. See Bell, "Chemical Phenomena of Iron Smelting," p. 4. 200 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BRITAIN. moV Q than compensated by increased importation. The out- immense out- put of coal is astounding and highly indicative particularly when it is remembered that as improvements in the economy of fuel are constantly being made, the effective application of heat increases in a still greater ratio than the quantity of coal mined. According to Siemens, the annual improve- vaiue of annual Bient in the economy of fuel is equivalent to about 4 per - cent, of the consumption. At present about 90 per cent, of fuel ig ineffectually consumed or wasted. The output of coal was diminished by the panic only for a single year, and in 1877 was about 7,600,000 tons greater than in 1873. Table iv (page Table IV, the value of the metals and minerals produced 21 vaiue of annual in the United Kingdom, is compiled from the yearly issues the f of the " Mineral Statistics." It is difficult to understand pre- om. cigely how ^ items have been estimated. The value of any metal produced in any year would seem to be the quan- tity produced multiplied by the market price, and this view is borne out by many phrases in the " Mineral Statistics," and by the coincidence of the values there assigned, in a large proportion of cases, with the values arrived at by the method of calculation indicated. In n large number of cases, however, the values given differ from the product of the amount produced into the market price. Thus, while the Discrepancies value of the pig-iron produced in 1870 and 1871 is the same between the re- . . , ,, , . , . 1,1^1 suits of the price which results iron) multiplying the total product by the the statement "of average market price of Cleveland pig at the Tyne or Tees 3t ' for each of these years, the value of the pig-iron produced in 1873 corresponds to an average value per ton of only 2 15s., which is 1 15s. below the lowest price paid in En- gland for the cheapest iron in the district where it was pro- duced in that year, and 3 below the average price of the same iron. In reply to an inquiry, Mr. Hunt writes : "I must beg you to observe that the mean price of Cleveland pig, which you quote, is from the ' Market Prices of Pig-Iron, 7 whereas, the value given in the introduction is an estimate of the value at the place of production, determined by private in- quiry." But as the market prices are given "at works," or for the immediate neighborhood of the works, this explana- tion does not appear to me entirely satisfactory. It is im- possible to suppose, in view of the phraseology and of many explanations in the "Mineral Statistics," that by "value" is meant "cost of production."* *In the "Mineral Statistics" for 1870 Mr. Hunt says of the product of pig-iron, "This quantity, estimated at the mean average price at the place of production, would have a value of" so and so, which value is adopted in the general summary and corresponds to the market price MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 201 For the years 1872-1876, both inclusive, the value of pig- GREAT BMTAIS. iron is uniformly estimated at a price below the average price of Cleveland pig. The values of the other metals and minerals correspond more closely with the market prices, though some not inconsiderable variations are observable. Thus, the value of the copper product for 1870 answers to a Discrepancies in the tables. price per ton which is over 4 higher than the average price of best selected copper for that year. Of course the sums total are proportionately affected. That for 1870 contains a further error, and should, apparently, read 47,946,300. The price of coal is assumed at from 5s. to 7/>. 6d. Importation, exportation, and consumption of metals and^ o^fon^con minerals. sumption of min- erals and metals. The United Kingdom neither supplies its own smelters with all the ores they require nor its native consumers with the needful quantity of every metal. Great Britain, more- over, exports enormous quantities of metals and minerals to other countries. The importation, exportation, and con- sumption of the products of mining industry are so closely connected that it seems best to discuss them together and metal by metal, reserving for the present the subject of the sources of supply and the distribution of the material handled. The necessary facts for this discussion are not, in all cases, directly obtainable. Estimates, however, where unavoidable, have been made on assumptions which will be explained as the cases arise, and which it is hoped will ap- prove themselves to the judgment of the reader. The u consumption" of the metals and minerals is as- Mode of esti mating consump- sumed, tor the purposes of this paper, to be the amount re-tion: tained in the country each year. The quantity retained is found by adding the importation to the production and sub- t * and ucton an tractiug the exportation. Of course it is not true that the importation mi- nus the exporta- amount retained each year is consumed in that year. A tion. portion is, no doubt, usually stored, either for future use or exportation. For a series of years, however, it must be true that what is retained is consumed, and no other method of ascertaining the yearly consumption presents itself. The merely general correctness of the method will explain some of the fluctuations which will here and there be noticed. Doubtless many men of long experience in metallic com- susp Stog n8 t f he rnerce will recognize in some of these fluctuations periods ^ lute accu " when stock was allowed to accumulate on account of the and value. The same remark and treatment is repeated in 1871. After this date I find no explanation of the method of arriving at the " value " given in the summary. 202 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GIIEAT BRITAIN, unremunerative condition of the market, or when the state of affairs seemed to justify the policy of a holding for a rise." It is, however, foreign to the purposes of this paper to enter into any description of these exciting phases of the imports m both history of commerce. The metal imported into Great Brit- tno ore ana me- x taiiic forms. a in is partly in metallic form and partly in the ore. In most cases the metallic contents of the imported ores is not published, but simply the quantity of ore, or its quantity and value. For the object of this discussion, however, it is essential to have an estimate of the quantity of metal con- tained in imported ore. Where the value of this ore is Mode of esti- known I have supposed the relation of its metallic contents aetaSm imported to its value to be the same as hi the case of ores of British production. A rule-of-three calculation thus gives the de- sired datum. This is not strictly accurate, because in many cases an extra price is paid for the superior quality or pur- ity of foreign ores. The influence of this disturbing factor must, however, be very small. In the comparatively few cases where only the weight of the imported ores is known, I have been obliged to assume their metallic contents to be near about, but a little higher, than that of British ores ex- importation, tracted in the same year. The importation of metal, the co^umpdon ai of metallic contents of imported ore as estimated, the expor- tation, and the quantity retained in the country are given V (page for each metal and mineral in Table y Tin, Tin. The world's production and consumption of tin have greatly increased within the period of time under dis- Biiiitonini865. cussion. The output of Billiton first amounted to 1,000 tons in 1865, and the Australian mines only became impor- ' tant in 1873. The consumption (for example, in the form of "tin" plate in the canning of food) has grown proportion- ately, notwithstanding the various devices, to which the great fluctuations in the price of this metal have given rise, Cheap tin-piate. for making a pound of tin cover a greater and greater sur- face of iron. Except in the years 1873 and 1874, after the opening of the mines in Australia and before the erection of smelting works there, the amount of tin ore imported into Great Britain has been small. In the mineral statistics for 1860 and 1865 only the quantity of imported ore is given. The metallic contents are taken at 64 and 65 percent. ; that of British ore being somewhat less. For the remaining years the contents are calculated from the value. The latter method would also lead to the conclusion that the ore contained about 65 per cent, of tin, so that there can be no consider- Large exporta- able error in the estimate. The exportation of tin is very large for the years 1874, 1876, and 1877, larger than the pro- MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 203 duction from home resources. The consumption has ex- GREAT BRITAIN. ceeded the production ever since 1870, and Great Britain, Tin. which used to supply the world with tin, is now unable to increased con- sumption. meet her own demands, so much have these increased. Copper. As is well known, immense quantities both of copper. metallic copper and of copper ores are imported into Great Britain. In 1860 the amount of this metal produced in the kingdom was slightly in excess of the metallic copper im- ported. With the exception of the year 1872, when the amount was exceptionally great, the importation increased steadily up to 1875, the home production decreasing the while to such a degree that in the last-mentioned year it was only slightly more than one-tenth of the importation. If the mines have retrograded, the smelting works have none the less flourished to such an extent that the metal produced from foreign ore treated in Great Britain in 1877 was twelve times as great in quantity as that extracted from native ores.* The larger part of the 50,000 tons, or so, thus separated is reduced from copper ores in Cornwall and at Swansea. Of late years, however, the extraction of' copper from "burnt pyrites," containing about 4 per cent, burnt pyrites, of copper, by -as. processes of recent invention has assumed great dimensions and importance. Mr. Hunt estimates the amount of copper extracted in this manner in 1876 at 15,000 Estimated tons, and in 1877 at 17,000 tons, and states that the esti- an mates in former years have been too low; a fact which accounts in part, but not wholly, for the enormous rise in the metallic contents of imported ore of late years according to the table. The " Mineral Statistics" records an increase of about 40,000 tons in the import of foreign ore for the imports of ore. year 1877, but, unfortunately, from unenumerated countries. The exportation of copper from Great Britain is very large and has been very steady since 1870, averaging about 54,000 Exportation of tons. In compiling the data tor the exportation and for the importation a difficulty has been encountered in the fact that, in several cases, the value only of manufactured copper is given in the " Mineral Statistics." The weight has been estimated from the value, on what appeared to be suf-f}J en in tbo ta ficient grounds, at seven-eighths of the value divided by the price of best-selected copper for the year in question. As the quantities are small, from a few tons to a few hun- dred tons, any slight error in this rule will affect the result but little. A small amount of ore and foreign regulus is * The metal reduced from foreign ores and regulus is given in the "Mineral Statistics" for each year except 1865. For that year I have estimated it by the rules presently to be mentioned. 204 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BKITAIX. sometimes exported from Great Britain. I have taken the copper. metallic contents of such ore at 16 per cent.* and that of the regains at 25 per cent. The foreign regulus seems to have contained considerably less than 25 per cent, in the earlier portion of the series of years and considerably more towards its close. The quantity of copper retained for con- sumption in Great Britain is, according to the table, very tuaSon 8 in f con i rre g u l ar - The high price and active foreign demand in 187 1 sumption, price, explains the small amount retained during that year, and the impetus given to manufacturing and short stocks account for the large figure for 1872. As residual quantities, the figures for consumption are most affected by the known inaccuracy of the returns of copper extracted from pyrites previous to 1876. amountof copper ^ s Mr. Hunt himself draws attention to the erroneously rites inedfr mpy sma ^ estimate of the amount of copper obtained from pyrites, perhaps it will not be amiss to calculate roughly what the true values probably were. According to Mr. J. A. Phillips (manager of one of the burnt- pyrites extraction works in Widnes), the copper contents of the burnt ore from imported pyrites is remarkably constant, and is about 4 per About 4 per cent., which is also the percentage adopted by Mr. Hunt for 1876 and 1877. The following table shows the data in the matter and the difference in the copper product which would arise if the conjectural quantities were adopted. Pyrites, when roasted, leaves about 70 per cent, of "burnt ore, 77 which (making an allowance for non-cupreous mineral) agrees well with the suggested corrections. In 1876 some pyrites must have been unreported, or a part of the mineral richer than usual. Statistics of copper extracted from burnt ore. Copper extracted from burnt ore. so Aj| '"*"* 43 . 5-J ^1 It . Years. "v'fr ,g- "g g Is's ?^ | 'S CO r^ S 33 M 9 h Q Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. 1870 . 200, 000 7, 500 8, 000 500 1871 225 750 7 900 9 030 1, 130 1872 253 529 8,500 10,141. 1,641 1873 . .. 323, 910 12, 800 12, 956 156 1874 1329,004 9, 000 13,160 4,160 1875 .. 1365,368 9,600 14, 614 5,014 1876 379 269 15, 000 15, 170 170 1877 427, 954 17, 000 17, 118 118 * Partial returns of foreign ores sold at Swansea in 1865. tThese are the values given under "Pyrites." Under "Copper," the "Mil istics" gives, for 1874, 450,000 tons, and for 1875, 480,000 toi:s; but these q 'Mineral Sta- tistics" gives, for 1874, 450,000 tons, and for 1875, 480,000 toi:s; but these quantities would bo over 80 per cent, of the total import and home production of pyrites in these years, whereas pyrites loses 30 per cent, in the roasting process. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 205 The metallic contents of imported ores and the consump- tion as given in the table would be altered as follows, by assuming the copper extracted from "burnt ore" to be 4 per cent, of the quantity of that substance returned as "con- sumed : " GREAT BRITAIN. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. Kevised table 1875 ^ metallic cop- par in imported Metallic contents of imported ore. 27, 525 12 418 24, 801 7 G76 23, 343 24 851 26, 912 12 276 32, 054 17 199 34, 497 4 per Cent> 28* 880 Lead. Fluctuations in relation of home The variations here are less abrupt than in Table Y. Lead. The home production of lead is both large and steady, and in 1860 was just about equal to the home de- mand. The quantity of metal imported was one-third of the home production in 1860, but both consumption and export trade have so increased that in 1877 half as much again production "and . importation. was imported as was produced. The business of smelting foreign lead ores has grown in a still greater proportion, the metal extracted from them in 1860 being but-a few hundred tons, while in 1877 it was close upon 10,000. So steady has the lead trade been, that, although the import of metallic lead was quickened in 1872, it has since risen to far higher figures. The irregularity observable in the importation of lead ore in the years 1871 and 1872 was caused by shipments from the United States, which sent 7,589 tons of ore to En- gland in 1871 and 2,709 tons in 1872. For the other years under discussion the importation from this country has been quite insignificant. The export of lead in 1860 was very p ^ or s f ^^ nearly the same as the import. It has about doubled since equaL that time, but shows considerable irregularity, owing prin- cipally to fluctuations in the demand from America and China. The consumption, too, has doubled during the past increased con eighteen years, and its growth was scarcely checked by the crisis of 1873. In collecting the data for the table it has been necessary to assume a certain percentage of metal & the lead ore in order to reduce the quantities to comparable terms. The percentage taken was 75 (pure galena contains the table - 86.6 per cent.), which is about 1 per cent, above the average of British ores. The few tons of litharge and white lead which appear here and there in the statistics are taken to- gether at 80 per cent, metal. For the years 1876 and 1877 the export of British lead only is reported by Mr. Hunt. In 1874 the export of foreign lead was about 5,000 tons, and in 1875 about 3,300 tons. For the sake of completing the table approximately, I have therefore added 3,000 tons to the ex- port of British lead for each of the last years in the table. 206 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GliEAT BRITAIN. Zinc. Like lead, zinc has been comparatively steady in zinc. price, production, and consumption. In both cases this steady in price, steadiness is probably attributable to the extent to which production, and , , . consumption, tney enter into tne indispensable construction of buildings and the manufacture of paint. Great Britain possesses but little zinc ore, and this little is almost exclusively zinc blende, or "black jack," the most inferior of zinc ores. Conse- quently the country has depended chiefly for the quantity of metal consumed on supplies from Germany, Belgium, and Britain im- Holland, receiving some six times as much as it produces. ports six times the quantity of Large quantities of foreign ore have also been smelted in home production. . _ . Great Britain of late years, particularly since the importa- tion of the carbonate from Sardinia began in 1867. The sup- ply of foreign ores has latterly decreased. The exportation of zinc is small, about 7,000 tons, or slightly more than the production. The consumption has risen very steadily to Consumption tre ^ le wnat & was in 186 ? and is nearly ten times the pro- trebied 1860-1875. duction. The metallic contents of the imported ore have been ascertained fqom its weight and value, on the supposition that these quantities bore the same relation to one another in the foreign as in the British ore. Iron Iron. For the sake of comparison the data with reference to iron are also introduced. As the figures for the prod- inciuded in ta- uct of Great Britain include the pig reduced from imported comparison ake of ore ? it is n t necessary to consider separately the metal thus obtained. The imported ore probably contains about 66 per cent, iron, and includes the u purple ore" from the burnt pyrites. Wrought-iron and steel are, of course, not taken into account in the production, because they are manufact- ured from pig-iron. In the exportation, on the other hand, both must be counted, as they cannot represent the same metal. The iron imported into England used to be exclu- sively of high quality and such as could not be made in the country, ssbars (made from manganiferous ores with char- coal), Westphalian u spiegel," and perhaps some other. The reviews now complain that Belgium is sending the cheapest iron to England for building purposes, and that Westpha- lian steel works are underbidding English establishments in the home market. Pyrites. Pyrites. The extraction of sulphur and sulphurous acid For sulphuric for the sulphuric acid manufacture from the minerals classed ture. IC under this name is said to have been suggested only some 40 years ago. The business has assumed enormous propor- tions of late years, as will be seen from the table. The plan of extracting small quantities of copper from the residue MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 207 after expulsion of the 45 per cent, or so* of sulphur contained GREAT BMTAIN. in the mineral seems to have been first carried into opera- Pyrites. tion on a large scale in 1867. In that year 500 tons of cop- per is accredited to this source in the "Mineral Statistics." Extraction of copper irom the As has been already mentioned, the residue after the ex- waste. traction of the copper is employed under the name of " pur- "Purple" ore. pie ore" in iron-smelting. This is a proof of the perfection of the preceding processes, for, as is well known, sulphur and copper are fatal to the value of iron ore when present in more than exceedingly minute proportions. Indeed, the process may be considered as one of the most perfect in the arts, all the essential ingredients of the mineral being pro- fitably extracted and thoroughly separated. Prof. Thomas Prof. T. Thomson, of Glasgow, a famous chemist in his day, is cred- ited by Muspratt with the initiation of the manufacture of sulphuric acid from pyrites in 1835, when the King of Sicily placed a heavy duty upon exported sulphur. Henderson and Longmaid, English chemists, worked out the copper ex- traction process much later. The treatment of pyrites is, therefore, an achievement of modern science. Both as an instance of the relations existing between science and in- dustry and as a matter of growing commercial importance, it may be interesting to dwell for a moment on the financial Illustrat i 0n O f results of this process, results which ought to go some way Smc Teac towards vindicating the "practical" character of modern ^s 8 scientific teachings. Results of the treatment of cupreous pyrites in 1877. The pyrites in dustry. Pyrites imported, 679,312 tons, yielding 45 per cent, sul- phur, or 305,690 tons, equal to sulphuric acid (worth Id. per lb., or 9 per ton), 917,071 tons 8, 559, 024 Copper extracted, 17,000 tons, worth at 74 12s. 6d. (price of tough cake) 1, 268, 625 Purple ore, smelted, 415,000 tons, containing 65 per cent, iron, or 269,750 tons pig, worth at 2 5s. Gd. (price Cleve- land) 613,670 Total 10,441,319 $50,144,810 This is a minimum estimate, for a large proportion of the small percentage of silver contained in the pyrites is ex- tracted, as well as some of the gold, by M. Claudetfs process. Silver. The data relating to the exportation, importation, silver. *It has been stated under "Copper" that the burnt ore amounts to about 70 per cent, of the pyrites. This is not inconsistent with the loss of 45 per cent, of sulphur, because the sulphur is replaced by oxygen. A gross loss of 30 per cent, by weight answers to a loss of 48 per cent, of sulphur. A little sulphur remains in the burnt ore. 208 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. <;REAT BRITAIN. anc [ consumption of silver are iraperfect and unsatisfactory. silver. The movements of this metal are so largely controlled by the exigencies of Eastern commerce and by the financial The great cast- policy of the great commercial countries, that their discus- orn UT3.1H tor sil- ver - sion is only in a very subordinate degree an affair apper- tainin g to the mineral industry. During certain years vastly more silver has been exported from Great Britain than has been imported. In other years enormous quantities have been retained in the country. The facts bearing upon this iiesearches of point have been elicited by the British and the American the British and r American silver Silver Commissions. A single feature of the subject ap- Commissions. -IT pears to me to have received less attention than it was entitled to, viz, the extent to which foreign argentiferous ores are treated in Great Britain. This point is not covered by the "Mineral Statistics," and I know of no source whence absolutely trustworthy data are to be obtained. In the ab- sence of such, I have prepared a rough approximation, which may serve to give those interested at least some idea of the extent to which silver is separated in the United Kingdom. British source Besides the desilverization of argentiferous British lead, of metallic silver. ,. _ . ., _ , _ .. mi metallic silver is derived from the following sources : The treatment of silver ores entered at the custom house as such ; the desilverization of foreign lead sent to England largely for that purpose ; copper ore and regulus and cu- preous pyrites. Foreign ores Considerable quantities of silver ore are annually sent to ain. Britain, mainly to Swansea, and the declared value of these ores is regularly noted in the " Mineral Statistics." The num- ber of tons is also given up to the year 1873. The silver Mode of esti- contents of these ores are not, however, inferable from their mating value of g rogs we jg n t and value, because a higher price per ounce is paid for the silver in high-grade ores than for that in poor ores. A comparison of the average price per ton with a price list would consequently lead to too high a valuation of the number of ounces of silver imported.* The error which would be incurred by such a procedure can be obviated by assuming a sufficiently high rate in calculating the contents from the value. Five pence per ounce would certainly be a small mean charge for the separation of silver from its ores.t * The maximum price per ounce is subject to a deduction which is inversely proportional to the number of ounces per ton. Hence the mean contents of two lots correspond to a lower rate than is actually paid. Were this relation reversed it would pay to mix poor ores with rich ones, an absurd supposition. t The average value of the imported silver ores for three of the years tinder discussion in which the tonnage is given is just 100. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 209 8Uver - This is about the difference between the value of standard silver and fine silver. In the table given below the amount of silver obtained from silver ores has been estimated by dividing the declared value of the silver ores imported dur- ing that year by the average price of standard silver (0.925 fine) for the same period. It may be assumed that all the lead imported into Great silver m lead. Britain is desilverized there, because, on account of the or- ganization of industry and the abundance of fuel, the sep- aration can be more economically effected there than, for instance, in Spain or Greece, the principal sources of supply. It is probably fair to assume that the imported lead con- tains at least 25 ounces of silver per ton.* The cupreous pyrites treated in England contains a small quantity of silver per ton, which is at present recovered, at least in part, by Claudetfs beautiful process. According to Mr. Phillips, ordinary pyrites yields in this way 0.65 ounces silver per ton. The process was, however, only introduced in 1870. It does not seem excessive to allow ounce per ton since 1874 from this source. The amount of silver derived from copper ores other than pyrites I have no means of estimating. Only certain cop- per ores are apt to contain silver, but such, either raw or in the form of regulus, would naturally be preferred for ship- ment. I will assume it at 12J ounces per ton of copper pro- duced.t Estimate of silver produced in Great Britain from imported materials, in Silverproduced ounces. j n Britain from imported mate- rials. Claudet. Silver from copper ores. Tears. l| From lead. 00 |l ri From other copper ores. Total iu round numbers. I860 1 489 200 569 475 171 438 2 230 000 1865 1 503 000 979 275 299 9 5 2 780 000 1870 . 1 187 800 ] 732 5 9 5 337 813 3 260 000 1871 3 784 300 2 0l' 730 295 888 6 100 000 1872 8 707 000 2 030* 050 271 275 11 010 000 1873 4, 134, 100 1 796 100 334 450 6 'J60 000 1874 3 166 600 1 839 950 249 319 348 675 5 600 050 1875 2 300 300 2 227* 725 268 778 3GF 538 5, 170, 000 1876 2 273 900 2 2V 975 252 376 452 388 5 230 000 1877 2 463 200 2 602 700 339* 656 669 775 6, 080, 000 * Italian lead averages 25 ounces, according to Phillips. Greek lead averages in the neighborhood of 20 ounces, according to Percy. Span- ish lead, according to a circular of Luce and Rozan, 44 ounces. French lead is richer. English lead averages about 10 ounces. t Cupreous pyrites contains 2.8 per cent, copper. If -J ounce per ton pyrites is recovered, then 18 ounces of silver are obtained for each ton of copper derived from this source. 14 p K VOL 4 210 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BRITAIN. The items axe given in the table as they result from cal- culation, but are to be viewed, of course, only as, perhaps distant, approximations. It is, however, probably fair to ishpSc^^of 8 ^ tliat tne amount of silver produced in Great Britain from foreign ores has been, since 1870, excepting in 1872, from 5 to 7 millions of ounces yearly, or, say, from 6J to 9 millions of dollars. Sir Hector Hay, in his testimony before the British Silver Commission, estimated this quantity at 1,000,000; Mr. E. Seyd at considerably less. consumption of The consumption of silver in Great Britain was estimated at about the value of 5J millions cf dollars, but, it is said, without taking into consideration the quantity separated either from foreign or native material. Coal - Coal. Bather more than one-tenth of the output of coal in Great Britain is exported, and this relation has been pretty constantly observed throughout the period under Export one- discussion. Both export and consumption were merely dis- tenth c it- ^ ur | 3e( j by. {- ne cr j s j s O f nve y ears back, and were far greater in 1877 than in 1872-'73. Mr. Hunt has gathered some exceedingly interesting data concerning the uses to which coal is put in Great Britain for the years 1871-'72- 7 73. The table for 1873 is here sub- stantially reproduced. In a second table I have calculated the proportion of fuel consumed for various purposes from Mr. limit's table. It will bo seen from these tables that the mining industry consumes almost half of the coal used in England for industrial purposes and 40 per cent, of the total amount burned. The employ- The uses for which the coal raised in Great Britain was employed in 1873. im-iit of coal. " Tons. Tin smelting and refining 42, 422 Copper smelting and refining 360, 195 Lead and silver smelting and refining 179, 540 Zinc smelting and refining 181, 450 Iron smelting and refining 35, 119, 709 Mines and collieries 9, 500, 000 Total mining and metallurgy 45, 383, 316 Railways 3, 790, 000 Steam navigation 3, 650, 000 Steam power in factories 27, 550, 000 Water works 650, 000 Gas manufacture 6, 560, 000 Pottery, bricks, lime, glass, etc 3, 450, 000 Chemical works and sundry 3, 217, 229 Household consumption 20, 050, 000 Exportation * 12, 712, 222 Total , 127, 012, 767 * The quantity of coal exported in 1873 is given at a slightly lower figure in later numbers of the " Statistics." MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 211 Relative quantities of coal employed for various purposes in Great Britain GREAT BRITAIN. in 1873. 1 5 - g ii 1 11 i t o C2 f o oft s O i- Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. In niinin .1 -r-v ._ i T T 11 and the Straits, tm from the Dutch Indies going principally to Continental markets. It is interesting to observe from the table how rapidly the Australians mastered the business of tin- smelting, the exports of ore having fallen within a couple of years of the great discoveries to a lower point than that at which they were before, and the amount of metal sent "home" having more than proportionately in- creased. The imports of tin from Australia are given as per parliamentary returns. In later volumes of the " Sta- tistics," however, Mr. Hunt appears to adopt figures at first given as unofficial, and which are as follows : Tons. Importsof Aus- 1872 .......................................................... 150 tralian tin. 18?3 1874 .......................................................... 5, 800 1875 .......................................................... 7,210 The imports from the Straits show a rapid increase. This tin appears to be smelted by natives and Chinese on the Malayan Peninsula, from stream tin, in rude hearths, but the writer has been unable to find any statement of the condi- Faii in price and tions. The principal consumers of tin are, as might have Snsump C tion 8e m been expected, France, Germany, and the United States, and the consumption has grown enormously with the fall of price. Germany produces some tin for home consumption, and, of course, Dutch tin is consumed more or less in all countries. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 213 It will be observed that tlie table contains no data for GREAT purrAiy. 1876 and 1877, and the same will be found to be the case for several of the succeeding tables as well. For these years Tin. neither the " Mineral Statistics" nor the "Economist' 7 gives sufficiently detailed accounts of the imports and exports to make the compilation of the data possible, a fact which I greatly regret. Copper. By no means all of the sources of supply are copper. given in the table, many other countries sending small lots n Jai>ie Vil of ore and metal ; nor are the copper contents of cupreous pyrites taken into account. Chili. Australia, and the Cape sources of cop- of Good Hope are the principal countries from which Great ores. an ' Britain imports copper and its ores, and of these Chili is much the most important. It will be noticed with interest incrcaso in that both Australia and Chili are every year sending achuiau imports , . , f of metallic cop- greater proportion of metallic copper, and a smaller one of per. ore, indicating the advance of the metallurgical industries of those countries. The Cape, on the other hand, while- sending far more ore to England than any other country except Chili, sends no metallic copper and only an insignifi- cant quantity of regulus. The metallic contents of the ore and regulus are higher than formerly, apparently because most of the regulus now imported is concentrated at the mines. The average copper contents of ore and regulus together were 18 per cent, in 1873, in which year about one- imports. third of the total importation was regulus, while in 1877, less than one-fourth of the total being regulus, the average copper contents were about 24 per cent. All the principal countries of Europe and British India co c r omn are large consumers of copper from England, though several lauiL of them are large producers. The United States, on the other hand, has bought only insignificant amounts of this metal from England, except in the years of inflation, nor does this country send any noticeable quantity of ore or metal to England, although Lake Superior copper has the preference for telegraphic purposes. Lead. Comparatively little lead ore is imported into En- Lead. gland, and that chiefly from Italy, while Spain sends enormous T^ 10 vm and increasing quantities of the metal. Greece sent large p amounts of metal for a time, but the import from that country Sources of lead " and lead ore. fell off suddenly in 1874. Much the most important customer of the English lead merchants is China, which in 1877 took c . about as much as all the other principal countries together. o France, Germany, Eussia, and the United States are of course large producers of lead. The quantity bought by the United States has fluctuated greatly, though on the 214 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BRITAIN. w hole it Las declined since 1870, when it was nearly 13,000 Lead. tons. In 1875 we bought of England only 485 tons, but the importation had risen again in 1877 to nearly 3,000 tons. The figures for exportation are the corrected values given in the " Mineral Statistics " for years subsequent to those to which the numbers refer. I am inclined to the opinion that for the years 1876 and 1877 only the British lead is reported, al- though no statement to that effect is made. The exporta- tion of foreign lead is small, being less tiian 10 per cent, of the whole in 1875. Eussia in that year took the largest proportion of foreign lead, about one-eighth to seven-eighths of British production. zinc - Zinc. Large quantities of zinc ore of foreign production ^Tabieix( P age are sme lted at Swansea. They come chiefly from Spain and Spanish and Sardinia, especially the latter, and are mainly carbonate. The importation of zinc ore from Sardinia began in 1867, and was over 30,000 tons in 1870, but little more than half this quantity in 1875, and still smaller since, for in 1876 the total quantity of zinc ore imported fell short of 12,000 tons. In 1877 the total import rose again to over 19,000 tons. The imports of ore from other countries are insignificant. The metallic contents of the imported ore, as calculated from its value, are in the neighborhood of 40 per cent. Pure carbon- ate contains 52 per cent.* importations Belgium and Silesia are the two most important zinc-pro- of Belgian and r s^csian metallic (jucing districts in Europe, and from them England imports the greatest quantity of crude and manufactured (mostly rolled) metal. England also imports much zinc from Hol- land, a country which produces none. I have failed to dis- cover how this happens. Great Britain exports insignificant quantities of zinc, ex- cept to its own possessions in India. Iron Iron. No sufficient data for ascertaining the distribution of iron exported from England have been found. pyrites. Pyrites. Spain, Portugal, and Norway furnish essentially ^Tabie x (page all the pyrites imported into England. In the beginning of the period under discussion Portugal was the main source of supply, but the Spanish mines have been developed with great steadiness and rapidity, and in 1876 furnished more than four-fifths of the total supply. Coal - Coal. Excepting Belgium, all the principal countries of are j ar g e consumers of British coal, France and * The zinc contents of Sardinian ore probably fall a little short of 40 per cent., a higher price being paid for the superior quality of the ore. According to a statement of Mr. Vivian to Mr. J. A. Phillips, the Sardinian product averages about 33 per cent. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 215 Germany leading. The large amount taken by Chili is no GREAT doubt sent out, with manufactured goods, in ships which Coal. come home loaded with copper, etc. The coal sent to the United States is probably for gas-making purposes. The . of high prices of lcS73 checked the exportation to most coun- tries, but the general tendency is to a decided increase ; Germany, however, has never since imported so much coal from England as in 1871, while France takes about half as much again as at that peiiod. British India affords a large and constantly increasing market for English coal, notwith standing the immense distance. 216 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BRITAIN. London prices of inetals 1860- 1877. u^ ic -* t- co t- co w i-i t> ic eooo rij(MC4eCfO-HtC"*OiHH t- o t> t- 05 co in o eo ^ooco^ooooogqgo^ ^^ t 1 e ^coocooooooowooi-(-i ~ lOr-Irt ^ ic cs t- co o e o OJ iM f Cjj 1C O O CO T)< CO CO * O rH rH CO CO OS OJ d C4 IM i v_x s u^ -^t o 10 IM co g ^oo ^N^^gg^go^^ "? g ; n|2 ^rHOOrHOOOCC O rH <3> ^.TjHTftcoeococococo r-t eo oc2^wpqHww ofi CO . ^ 1 i 1 * ;g 3 : SS i t ; r .5? p, ^ tfg - if .9 & S .S- 1 PH H O H? N30J O MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 217 CO CC GREAT BRITAIN. London prices of metals 1860- 1877, in American money. 3 ' ; ;* :' : : CJ b^ * : il^'ac ; u i 218 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GUEAT BRITAIN. Production of metals and min- erals in the Uni- ted Kingdom. Weight. I .1 ~ lO 00 O 1-1 N rHWOlOOIOvS r C-T O CC" *" CO" O~ Cf r-1 ( > ~ C~ (M < ^ ' 'MODa5 ccoioot o >r: c^j o i- cT v" oo" o" cvTi - Ot~Tj o o o o 1 ft So 8 I i a MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 219 GREAT BRITAIN. OlNOrHCOOCOC- 05 t~ CJ r ^T O CQ ^H (M CO O CO < oooocoooo o'ccfaTec'i-H'oVri' ' O O C^l O CO CM OinCOCMrHiH ' O r-l i-i L~ t- CO tQ O r-l ^ (Xr^oTN D o o o o SctgS? O i-H l-H CM O g""sss o co o TH in oo o h- O O O O CO -^t* rH O CO co"r-"co"o"cr j 3 Mi '"A': Production of metals and min- erals in the Uni- ted Kingdom. Value. 220 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. ORE AT BRITAIN. Importation, exportation, con sumption of met- als and minerals. > W5 rH t- rH O T* t-OOl ro"cf co" o~co" cTco" CM"<*" CO CO C O b- >t- -*rH tfdf iOIO CO O h~ ' r-ICOOO CM ^ O Tf O O CO O IO rH OC !"r^Ti^T o" cTr^ r-Tci"r- "co" o"cc~co"c ' i>~c*-'o~o" 1^10" TjTc I IO> CC r-l r-l O O (M O rH rH OO Ift CO rH O -C^I C^lTjl C5( Ot~SM COirjrHCO Ot CJ CMOCOt- r-,C-' Tjr^o-Tro"" orr-Too^cs" co"^ o"o" O -i O CMCM^rH COCOI> CO CM C50 C^OO t^i-^co" CM" ro~o" co"co"o""o~ of eo'of -^i-Tof c " " " " lOTCTf r-li-ii-JrHCMCMOCM C rH O5 ^ 8S tcgj f, II if, : :g : . : S : . !|j! i!M H i 11 1 !ri i> ' "** i . : . a . . : g-i ^|^ Mfr| !& n&i aq rH^WO fl^WO fi^S'^ M^HO M MHO MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE TABLE VI. Tin : Principal sources ^ metal and ore liandl _ ly and points of destination of GREAT BRITAIN m England, -c \TK. IMPORT OF ORE. Countries. 1860. 1865. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. A ustralia 120 222 164 192 812 4,726 3,656 60 Chili 79 105 187 18 157 28 Holland 1 43 1 1 1 Peru 516 307 70 150 101 671 535 296 Straits 14 1 1 26 IMPORT OF METAL. EXPORT OF METAL. Sources of sup ply and points of destination. Australia 9 .. 10 50 494 4, 024 7,213 Chili 2 13 150 209 79 114 43 58 Hollamt 517 510 2, 060 1,866 298 1.770 452 467 Pern 65 17 16 284 448 387 367 202 Strait s 2, 289 4, 932 2, 335 5,456 6,095 4,812 4,177 8,566 ' Russia 519 480 659 681 625 957 780 933 Turkey 270 221 1 243 328 477 383 451 362 France 1,173 1,627 1,455 2,367 2,480 1,556 2,124 2,420 Germany United States . . 155 528 368 194 2,943 2,079 739 1,699 '978 1,462 718 1,720 1,150 3,489 1,371 1,832 ' 222 UNI GREAT BRITAIN. VER SAL EXPOSITI o IMPORT OF METAL. ^ AT PAI K EXPORT OF COPPER. J 1878. frica is small ; in 1875 it was 34 tons, ven and includes engraved plates. Calculation of the weight from the value would be very uncertain. ::::::: its? s> |ii 1 ni ? 5T2 S? TABLE VII. Copper: Principal sources of supply and points of destination of melal and ore nandled in England. IMPORT OF ORE (INCLUDING REGULUS). I 1 ;U Is 1 jlllHI Ir Cfco rf of tff 1 O O .-1 t~ O5 CO CO O O t* CO i-H oi o o * cs t- m g o~.n~of ofio" E-S CM TJI CO co m co os t~ t- o co co o m m - o i> m oi o c^i co Tt"i>"Tirco" o"cT (M "^ lO CO G^ C5 i ' C^l i 1 i T-H oo in ^* o "' ? ^ ^ : : : : : : : : iead. .' : : CO 00 CM O Id T< Sources of sup- i i! : : : : : OO CO t> P4 O CO r-T O* r-T r-T OT rH* ply and points of destination of ex- ports. : : : in Englanc .0 S 28 o 1-1 IO t~ C^ ssasgfc o e~ CM I-H o co'i-Ti-TcNTcT -i* 00 CO O 00 r-rcTcaeo'or re handled i eo ^ o * CO i-T ~r t-^ ^SS122S CO r-( rH tO 00 rH ^"ft"rt" ^"'* "W 3 i M M M : : i : : : : : M s^ j ' ! ! :::::: g | : : : : : : ; : ::;;:: ; ; ; ; : : : : : ::::: i : ! : : : : : : JiilU Is if lit! <1PHH^ a : ^^ ; 5 a/ a tc iliw pqonpn^ ijiNI 'C3 2 S ad pqoP=HOrtti 224 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREAT BRITAIN. TABLE IX. Zinc : Principal sources of supply and points of destination of metal and ore handled in England. Zinc. IMPORT OF ORE. Sources of sup- ply and points of destination. Countries. 1860. 1865. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. France Tons. 796 Tons. 1 519 Tons. 2 246 Tons. 1 058 Tons. 843 Tons. 146 Tons. 710 Tons. Italy 31, 417 20 761 25 2G6 21 693 14 734 17 295 Norway and Swe- den 138 75 1,444 945 1 439 1 114 328 55 Spain 3 434 3 545 9 162 6 086 5 010 5 129 5 01 3 500 IMPORT OF SPELTER AND MANUFACTURED ZINC. Belgium 3 431 8 240 16 786 17 175 10 39 8 781 6 310 13 681 France 363 427 432 389 1 965 3 298 1 375 2 247 Grermany 18 942 18 354 8 492 5 879 7 115 11 522 11 882 11 468 Holland 1,593 3 886 4 632 6 027 7 433 8 514 8 890 10 Oil EXPORT OF SPELTER AND MANUFACTURED ZINC. Australia 232 526 424 242 403 505 782 962 British America.. 116 130 1 O O lO C ' ~ / J L. Tt : eftS r t lO CO 4O CO CC - I CM Cvj Tjl TJ- CO I '^' GKEAT BRITAIN. Points of desti nation of exports. IV. AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIA. THE AUSTRALIAN EXHIBIT. Four colonies The Australian colonies represented at the Exposition, viz, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, made a fine exhibit of ores and metals and of photographs of localities and mining operations. Mining appliances were, unfortunately, absent, but on the other hand descriptive and statistical information were freely dis- tributed. After all, an exhibit of ores and products serves as little more than an illustrated index to the mineral industry of a A co lection of country. For any comprehensive view of the subject one oresandproducts MI j_ i c j_- must ho supple- must necessarily have recourse to printed information, - whether statistical or technical. An attempt will be made in the following pages to pre- sent such a sketch of the mining industries of the great southern continent as it is supposed will be welcome to Americans, not altogether neglecting applied science nor omitting to trace the developments and achievements of the Extraordinary purely commercial side of mining. The astonishing variety donoeof Anoint and abundance of the mineral resources of Australasia, and Sources nei re more particularly of New South Wales, and, as it seems, of the islands of New Zealand, where development has scarcely yet begun, make them an interesting subject for the tech- nologist and an important one to those who " go down to the sea in ships." An extensive but somewhat desultory literature of the The sources of Australian mineral resources exists. The writer has availed the author's in- . . . -.-,.. formation. him self, in addition to the catalogues, essays, and pam- phlets distributed at Paris, of a variety of works and scattered memoirs, and would gladly have extended his inquiries to many publications not within reach. It is not too much to hope that one result of the approaching International Ex- The approach- hibitiou in Australia will be a wider dissemination in Amer- ica of the valuable documents in the publication of which hibitiori of 1880. ,, , . , , . , ,,. the colonial governments have shown a most intelligent re- gard for technology and science. It has been the writer's intention to accredit all informa- tion to the proper sources. 226 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 227 The mineral resources of Australia. . AUSTRALIA. Its mineral re- So little attention is, in general, devoted to Australia, the souree8 - character of the country, and its resources, that a few words of general description may not inappropriately precede an account of its mineral industry. Australia has an area of 3,000,000 square miles, or approxi- Area of Aus- tralia about the mately the same as that of the United States, excluding same as the Alaska. The interior of the continent is a desert, and one- Alaska excluded'. third of it is practically unexplored. Leaving out of con- terior. y c sideration the comparatively insignificant colony of West Australia, the interest concentrates upon four colonies in the eastern and southeastern portion of the territory. The east- The eastern ern side of the continent is occupied by Queensland, New c South Wales, and Victoria. Queensland is the most north- erly and the largest of the colonies ; Victoria the southern- most, smallest, and most populous. On the south shore and and the southern. immediately west of New South Wales and Victoria lies South Australia. The four colonies offer a continuous coast, occupying perhaps three-eighths of the circumference of the continent. The settlements cover a strip of country extend- Settlements ana ing two or three hundred miles inland, aud amounting to P perhaps one-fifth of the area of Australia. The population of these four colonies exceeds 1,600,000. The physical character of Eastern Australia is remarkably Physical char- _ , ___ . . . i . . acter of Eastern regular and resembles Western Amencamitsmost striking Australia similar features, essentially as it differs from the Pacific coast in a coast 6 f North , . , America. geological aspect. From one end to the other of the east side runs a chain of cordilleras parallel to the coast. The main ranges are at The coast range, an average distance of not more than 100 miles inland, and their average elevation is not over 1,500 feet, although peaks in the southern portion rise to 7,000 feet. Subordinate par- allel ranges and divergent spurs occupy a tract of country and divergent extending some hundreds of miles from the coast, and the main range turns westward for some 400 miles at its south- ern extremity, still following the shore line. It is almost a matter of course that the line of the great cordillera should experience local deflections from its general direction, and these deviations would not be referred to but for the extra- ordinary fact that strike of the slates and other older sedi- Upheaval of the . . . , . older sedimen- mentary strata upheaved along this chain preserves a men- tary strata. dianal course irrespective of the mountain formation. The strike of the slates consequently crosses the westerly branch in which the cordillera terminates at its southern extremity nt right angles, and crosses more northerly bends in the chain 228 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. AUSTRALIA. a t an angle equal to their deviation from the meridian ; and rts mineral re- go strictly uniform is this line of fracture that bewildered travelers in the mountains refer to the slates to regain their bearings. Comparison of It was once supposed that the geology of Australia and Australian and tho Pacific coast, the Paciuc coast were nearly allied, and analogies there un- questionably are ; but these tend rather to prove the preva- lence of similar physical and chemical conditions in various indications of geological eras than the coeval development of the mineral - resources of the two most important gold-bearing regions of geological the world. In fact, so far as the formations found in the two localities are concerned, they may be said to be almost anti- thetical, in some respects much to the advantage of Aus- tralia. Rocks spec- In Western Australia Archaaan granites are largely de- wcstem" AustnS veloped, while the Silurian is represented only by occasional patches. The Tertiary is well developed in Western Austra- Abseuceof cer- lia and along the southern coast into Victoria. On the east- t^ewtern ooat era coast, with its cordillera, however, it is doubtful whether any Azoic rocks have been found, the crystalline schist, etc., being referred to the lower Silurian. Paleozoic rocks are very highly developed, as are also the Mesozoic, while ex- cept at its northern and southern extremities the great mount- ain belt of Eastern Australia lacks the Tertiary. The eastern The eastern cordillera of Australia is then a mountain range which has been upheaved in Paleozoic and Mesozoic its upheaval, formations. The disruption has been accompanied by out- bursts of igneous rocks, apparently of many different ages; and this action has been accompanied by more or less meta- morphosis or transmutation. These are plainly geological conditions likely to be accora- vast oro de- panied by ore deposits, and such there are in wonderful va- ." so ?y a 1,700 riety, covering a belt coincident with that of the settle- ments, two or three hundred miles wide and 1,700 miles long. There is a second belt of mineral deposits in South Aus- tralia, where there exists a comparatively small range of mountains, also running north and south, at a distance of some 700 miles west of the more important chain. The pre- dominant ores in the South Australian chain are those of Parallel ore copper, and in their parallelism and difference of mineraliza- belt of South L L Australia, tion we recognize an analogy to the successive ore-bearing iamd f Now Zea ^elts f the re gi n of the Pacific. New Zealand may be re- garded as a second parallel mineral belt. Unequaied va- The variety of valuable minerals met with in the Austra- riety of valuable . . . minerals lian coast ranges is unequaled in any other part of the world. Gold, copper, tin, and coal are indeed the principal MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 229 mineral products, but several others are of no trifling coinmer- AUSTRALIA. cial importance, as bog-head mineral or " kerosene shale," iron, its mineral re- lead, and silver and antimony, while diamonds and a variety of other gems and quicksilver have been sought for with some success. The importance of the rainfall to mining interests, and j^^jj^j! 1 1 ^ 4 Murchi ' be found to be a gold-bearing country. Gold nuggets of small size were sometimes found by shepherds, and not only * Gold Fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria, p. 240 t Dana's Mineralogy, p. 5. t See Gold and Silver, by Mr. J. A. Phillips. 232 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. AUSTRALIA, brought to the settlements, and even exhibited there, but its mineral re- gent to England. Yet it was not until a returned Calif or- sources. GOW. ^ ^^ nian miner, Mr. E. H. Hargreaves, set to work at Ballarat, greaves. that the auriferous character of the country was realized. Ballarat Attention once aroused, the discoveries of alluvial " dig- gings " multiplied with great rapidity, and such were soon discovered from one end of the cordillera to the other. Quartz veins were also soon discovered, and, as in Califor- nia, an increasing proportion of the gold has been extracted from this matrix. f gold ^ e area ^ ^ e ^ Diggings varies from year to year, surface deposits being exhausted and abandoned. The fol- lowing are the most recent data accessible as to the extent of ground being worked in : Sq. miles. Victoria, in 1876 1,134 New South Wales, in 1876 1,370 Queensland, in 1873 1, 367 Australia, say 4,000 er ton f quartz ^ e y i e ^ ^ Q uar t z per ton (2,240 pounds) varies in the dif- ferent colonies, and indeed in inverse ratio to the fineness, as might be supposed. The following table represents the gold per ton in the parcels respecting which the mining offi- cers succeeded in obtaining information : Oz. Dwt. G-r. Victoria, in 1876 10 13.48 New South Wales, in 1876 13 8.20 Queensland, in 1873 1 14 20 The poorest parcel crushed in New South Wales in 1875 yielded only 1 dwt., or, say, $1 per ton, and in 1876 quartz scarcely better was milled. . The lowest yield should indi- cate the cost, but such rock can only have been crushed in ignorance of its contents. of ow'oESed ^^ e P r P r tion of gold obtained respectively from alluvial from ?Sns rs and Deposits and from veins is not precisely ascertainable. Of the gold, the history of which was learned by the mining officers of $ew South Wales in 1876, more than two thirds was obtained from quartz, but the entire quantity thus traced was only something like one-third of the total prod- uct, and it is evident that it must be easier to get reports from mills than from diggings. Ten years since, the pro- portions estimated in Victoria were just the reverse of the above relation. It seems probable, therefore, that the quan- tities obtained by mining and by washing are very much the same. Zealand. Kew Zealand did not exhibit at Paris. For the sake of completeness, however, it may be interesting to add a few MINING INDUSTKIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 233 words on the subject of that colony, which are translated AUSTRALIA. from the memoir of Dr. A. Soetbeer : * its mineral re- "New Zealand. In 1852 about 1,000 ounces of gold were Gold. obtained upon the east side of the north island at Cape Coro- DT?A. mandel, after which the workings were abandoned. Four years later a beginning was made at the south, in the prov- ince of Otago. A great increase in the gold production of New Zealand took place in the summer of 1861, when new and very rich deposits were discovered on the Tuapeka Successive se , nce f s - American mining apparatus was equally conspicuous by its absence. There are few places in Australia where hydraulic mining infrequeucy of is practicable, for lack of sufficient water supply. Wherein A^rX alluvial gold is mixed with any adherent material, it has to be ^puddled" or stirred up mechanically with water, so that a separation of metal from dirt may be possible; a method avoided in this country almost entirely. Cradles, pans, etc., seem also in vogue in Australian diggings. For crushing quartz the stamp mill is there as here stamp mtus. almost the only machine employed. Data are not accessi- ble as to their construction and duty, but the inference from what we know is not favorable. In 1876 there were 1,326 ., statistics of 7 the number and stamp-heads at work in New South Wales, according to the J^^JJ^ ot ' report of the Minister of Mines. But if the quartz ran $13.50, and if half the gold was produced from quartz, this large number of stamps must have crushed only in the region of 370 tons per diem. The loss is estimated at 21.8 LOSS. per cent. Mr. G. T. Deetken calculated the loss at Grass G. T. Deetken. Valley, Oal., at 27 per cent. (Mining Commissioners lie- port for 1873, p. 333.) In respect to the treatment of pyrites, the Australian colo- Treatment of nies are making vigorous efforts to develop some method pyri1 more economical or better suited to the ordinary conditions of gold-mining localities than has hitherto been brought to public attention. The Plattner chlorination process has done good service in California, but only pyrites carrying ru $20 or so per ton will pay for treatment. In England vast quantities of pyrites are treated at small cost, but in con- nection with the sulphuric acid manufacture and iron smelt- ing ; industries ordinarily absent from gold-mining localities. A process for the treatment of this material should be self- A new process contained, or nearly so, and admit of the utilization of at least the copper and , ., , , ,, silver as well as the copper and silver as well as the gold. The subject is one the gold. well worthy of the attention of California engineers, who will find, among other Australian publications, a paper by Mr. W. A. Dixon in the eleventh volume of the Journal of w.A.Dixon. the R. 8. of New South Wales of interest. Silver. But little attention has been paid in Australia to saver aasoci ated with the silver ores. It may, however, be worth while to point out gold. that native gold always contains silver, and that conse- 236 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. AUSTRALIA, quently a very considerable quantity of silver has accompa- its mineral re- nied the Australian gold product into commercial channels. sources. silver. The value of this silver is relatively so small, that it can- not be taken into consideration in the official estimates of siivel^ssocfated tne value of tue S old product. In Victoria the value of the with the gold. g O ]^ p er ounce is estimated at four pounds, corresponding to a fineness of nearly 0.942, or about 22J carats. The re- maining 0.058 silver would have a value amounting to less than one-half of one per cent, of the total value of the bull- ion, and it is pretty certain that the official estimate does not possess this degree of accuracy. In spite of the inaccuracy of the estimate of the mean value of the gold bullion, the data may be used to estimate the amount of silver obtained with the gold. The records show that the average fineness of Australian gold is not far Amount of sii- from 22 carats, or 0.916|. The weight of the silver contents the gold bullion, of the gold bullion has, then, been one-eleventh of that of the gold. If one ounce of silver is taken, according to Ameri- can law, at $1.2929, this calculation leads to an amount of silver worth a little over seven million dollars on my esti- mate of the gold product up to the end of 1876. saver ore?. Ores the valuable contents of which is distinctively silver are found in patches through the gold districts of Australia, not, as in Western America, in separate belts of country. Productm Vic- The amount of silver produced from silver ores in Victoria to the end of 1876 is officially estimated at a value of in New South 21,206. New South Wales has produced, up to the same date, 105,466 worth of this metal. Queensland appears to claim no silver product. The value of the silver from silver ores has there amounted only to some $600,000. Tin. Tin. The uniformity in the character of tin deposits all over the world has long been a subject of remark, and Australia has no exception to offer. Here, too, it occurs in AUuviaidepos- alluvial deposits of various ages, and in place in lodes and reticulated veins, less properly described as "strings," in D. Forbes, 1859. granite and greisen rocks. Mr. D. Forbes, as far back as ^stanniferous 1859, received specimen s of stanniferous granite from New South Wales, and found them "perfectly identical with the stanniferous granites of Cornwall, Portugal, Bolivia, Peru, and Malacca," and Banca and Billiton might have been Tin ore found added to the list. The tin ore is freq uently found associated associated with ,, ,.,.-, -, . , ,, -,, , , , i gold. with gold, which indeed it greatly resembles in its lithologi- cal behavior. It is nearly always associated with quartz, Crystals of cas- many crystals of the latter mineral showing crystals of 8lteriteinqTiartz> cassiterite imbedded in and implanted upon them, whence the conclusion seems inevitable that their deposition has been MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 237 simultaneous. Arsenical and copper pyrites are also asso- AUSTRALIA. elated with the tin-stone, and diamonds and sapphires occur its mineral re- sources. in the same leads. Their high specific gravity and perfect Tin. resistance to atmospheric action account in part for the occurrence of gold and tin-stone together in alluvial deposits. The stream deposits are not confined to the beds or banks . stream depos- of present water-courses. They often extend high up the sides of the valleys of the present streams (indicating ero- sion), and are also found in u deep leads" or the beds of Deep leads, ancient streams. The only source of the tin seems to be Granites the source of tin. the granites. On high ground, cassiterite is sometimes found over granite in unworn crystals, and existing there as a residuary deposit. The granites are Paleozoic, and, ac- cording to Mr. Clarke, Devonian. The veins do not exhibit a uniform strike as in Cornwall. The tin fields of Australia center on the eastern cor- LO <*Mjg* of dillei a, about half-way up the coast, and near the boundary between New South Wales and Queensland, though there is tin ore in the southern portion of New South Wales and in Victoria, and very valuable discoveries have been made in Tasmania.* The area of the New South Wales fields is Areas. estimated at 6,250 square miles, and that of the Queensland tin-bearing district at 100 square miles. Kev. W. B. Clarke, whose active share in the investiga- Clar ^? v - w< B< tion and development of the mineral resources of Australia has so often been referred to, was the first to draw attention to the probable occurrence of extensive deposits of tin ore in Australia. His prediction was made in a report to the ^g^f^edS 1 colonial secretary of New South Wales, dated May 7, 1853, jg v jy t f tin ore the subject of which was the district of New England, the same which became so famous for its tin deposits in 1872. No practical notice was taken of Mr. Clarke's observation. The existence of tin-stone was recognized in Victoria dur- ing the same spring. The occurrence of tin in the more southern colony is comparatively trifling, but the discovery was not entirely overlooked as in New South Wales. As has been pointed out in the report on the mineral industry of Great Britain, relatively considerable quantities of tin- stone and tin were obtained in Australia long before 1872. This appears to have come exclusively from Victoria, which still produces a few scores of tons a year, a quantity quite insignificant in comparison with the recent yield of New * See paper by Mr. Wintle, Trans. R. S. of New Soulh Wales, vol. ( J, p. 87. The deposits seem to present great peculiarities, the ore oc- curring in sharp detritus and often in lumps weighing hundreds of pounds. 238 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. A^J8TKAUA : South Wales and Queensland. According to the Victorian its mineral re- Year Boole for 1876-'77, the total value of the tin raised 80UTCG8* Tin. since its first discovery in that colony was 330,391 , repre- Productof vie- senting, perhaps, 3,000 tons of metal. The product of 1875 toria. and 187G cannot have been far from 60 tons per year. Tin in New The fact of the existence of tin- stone in the northern part of STew South Wales fell so entirely into oblivion that in a government volume entitled Industrial Progress of New South Wales in 1871, an essay on the mineral resources of the colony contains no mention of this metal. Since 1872 great quantities of tin have been extracted, mainly from stream deposits, and the business of tin smelting has been rapidly mastered. The returns of the tin raised and smelted are confessedly imperfect. As the great tin fields lie close upon the borders of New in Queensland. South Wales and Queensland, the discovery of tin-stone in the latter colony was simultaneous with that in the former. The data accessible to me for the production in Queensland are exceedingly unsatisfactory, for in 1874 I have the product for the first quarter only, for 1875 nothing, and for 187G only a statement of the value. In the following table 1 have calculated the contents of the tin-stone raised at 70 per cent, metal, and estimated the missing figures as well as I could. These unauthoritative sums are printed in bold-faced figures : Table of pro- duction of tin in Australia. Approximate production of tin in Australia. NEW SOUTH WALES. QUEENSLAND. Years. | ll I. 1872 1 al 84,208,298,667 tons. It has been ascertained by the Rev. Rev. w. B. w. jg. Clarke and the examiner of coal fields that there are Clarke. in the upper coal measures at least 16 seams of coal, each more than 3 feet thick. One seam, whose outcrop is near w.Keene. Stroud, described by the late Mr. W. Keene, is more than 30 feet thick, as tested by several trial pits sunk on the dip side; and another, whose outcrop is near Wallerawang, A. Liversidse. recently examined by Archibald Liversidge, esq., professor of geology in the University of Sydney, is 17 feet 6 inches thick. The principal seam from which coal is now being ob- tained is from 8 to 10 feet thick, the coal being free-burning MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 243 and bituminous suitable for household, steam, smelting, AUSTRALIA. gas, and blacksmith's purposes. Its mineral re- "Mr. R. W. Moody, mining engineer, gives the following coal.' description of coal land on the southeastern coast: 'The 5 seams of coal contained in these 600 acres will yield 3 1 ,250,000 Coal ot tons of coal, which will supply a vend of 1,000 per day for coast. over 100 years ; and this is independent of the exceedingly rich bed of kerosene-oil shale, which is sufficient to yield Kerosene-oil 2,000 gallons of refined oil per week for over 72 years. The 8 position of all the seams is so favorably situated, that the coal from each can be got by tunneling into the mountain range, and conveyed to the proposed railway terminus be- low by self-acting inclined planes.' Writing of the upper coal measures in the western district, the government geolo- gist (0. S. Wilkinson, esq., F. G. S.) says: 'They are 480 c. s. Wilkinson feet thick, resting conformably on the marine beds of the ?easure? per lower coal measures, and overlaid by more than 500 feet of Hawksbury sandstone. Eleven seams of coal have been counted in them : the lowest, which is 10 feet thick, lies about 25 feet above the marine beds, and is the same seam worked by Bowenfels, Eskbank, Lithgow Valley, and Vale of Clwydd Collieries. This seam of coal crops out on the surface on the railway line near Bowenfels. It dips at a low angle of 3 to 5 degrees to the northeast, and is therefore easily worked ; and as it passes under the vast extent of mountain ranges to the north and east, it will be inexhausti- ble for generations to come.' " The following table of the output, home consumption, statistics of and mean yearly price of coal in New South Wales is taken romption, utf ^5 from the Annual Report of the Department of Mines for pnce ' 1876: Coal in New South Wales. [Output, consumption, and price.] Years. Output. Consump- tion. Price. 1829-1869 Tons. 8, 110, 076 868, 564 898, 784 , 012, 426 , 192, 862 , 304, 567 , 329, 729 , 319, 918 Tons., . d. 1870 290, 175 333, 355 343, 316 419, 783 431, 587 402, 722 451, 101 7 I 12 12 12 3.54 0.47 9.92 1.94 1.37 3.89 2.06 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 Total 16, 036, 926 New Zealand, which seems to form the other edge of a New Zealand great submerged basin whose western boundary is the East Australian cordillera, possesses immense coal fields, 244 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. AUSTRALIA, the product being, it is stated, even superior to that of New its mineral re- South Wales. Tasmania also is rich in coal, of which a few sources. , , J thousand tons are yearly raised. Kerosene shale. Nearly allied to coal is the a kerosene shale," "kerosene- oil cannel coal," or Australian boghead mineral. Boghead coal is of limited local occurrence in Scotland. It consists chiefly of the mineral torbanite, which is nearly allied to cannel coal, and contains, according to Dana, carbon 82.19, New south hydrogen 11.64, oxygen 6.17. In New South Wales bog- head coal and similar bituminous shales are found exten- sively in association with the coal beds the boghead some- times passing over into ordinary coal, sometimes interstrati- Areaofworka-fied with it. The official estimate of the area of workable ble seams. seams of this substance in New South Wales is 660 square miles. The value of boghead and similar coals, both for the manufacture of an oil resembling petroleum and for gas Yield of Hart- manufacture, is well known. The Hartley shale yields from 150 to 160 gallons of oil per ton, or 18,000 cubic feet of gas, with an illuminating power equal to 40 candles. This is more than is commonly claimed for the Scotch boghead. Analysis. An analysis * of best Hartley shale gave : Volatile 86.6 Fixed carbon 6.8 Ash 6.6 100.0 Export. The mineral is largely exported for gas-making. The oil Competition competes in Australia with American petroleum, but appar- with American ,, .., . , . , , . . petroleum. ently with no great margin in its favor, as one of the princi- pal sources of supply seems to be worked or not according to the market rate for petroleum. The oil is said to be equal to American petroleum in illuminating power, and superior in safety ; and Mr. Eeid reports that the oil of the New South Wales Shale and Oil Company "has secured the market to the extent of 300,000 gallons, with increasing de- Saies. mand." From the returns in the mining reports of shale raised by them it is plain that this is their aggregate, not the yearly sale of this company. The amount of shale obtained in Victoria appears to be insignificant, and in Queensland no attention has as yet been paid to it. The following table exhibits the progress of the oil-shale industry in New South Wales : * Mineral Map and General Statistics of New South Wales. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 245 Kerosene oil shale. AUSTRALIA. Its mineral re- Years. 1865... 570 2,770 4.079 16, 952 7,500 8, 580 14, 700 11, 040 17, 850 12, 100 6,197 15, 998 4 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 *. 2 18 14 17 10 4 (5 11 1(5 5 10 (t. Production and 5. 47 price, 1865-1876. 9! 21 7.11 3.18 3.91 11.91 6.55 1.48 2.22 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 Total... 118, 336 Average s 2 14 10.95 Antimony. Lead. Ores of lead, largely argentiferous, are known to Lead exist in Australia, and a few thousand dollars' worth of the metal have been produced in South Australia and Victoria. In New South Wales the plumbiferous area is estimated at 500 square miles, but there are no returns of product and no mines working. As a mineralogical curiosity it may be mentioned that Mr. Smyth states * the occurrence of native lead sometimes studded with gold in deep gold leads at Talbot and Avoca, where they have frequently been seen in situ by competent witnesses. The specimens have not been analyzed. Antimony. Antimony is met with in various localities in New South Wales. From 1871 to 1874 72 tons of the ore, valued at 897, were treated. In 1875 the production was 142 tons regulus, valued at 5,000. In 1^76 40 tons of ore, valued at 140, were raised. In Victoria there are five antimony smelting works, and 120,000 of antimony had been raised up to the end of 1876. Gems, though of frequent occurrence in Australia, have thus far paid but poorly, for while many stones of high quality are found in some gold and tin leads, the size is almost always small. Mercury. Eev. Mr. Clarke writes as follows, in the Mines and Mineral Statistics of New South Wales, 1875 : " Some years since I reported on the occurrence of mer- cury in this colony, but my expectation of the discovery of a lode of cinnabar has been disappointed. The cinnabar cinnabar. occurs on the Cudgegong in drift lumps and pebbles, and is probably the result of springs, as in California [?]. In New Zealand, and in the neighborhood of the Clarke River, North Queensland, the same ore occurs in a similar way. Geins. Mercury. Kev. W. B. Clarke. * Gold Fields of Victoria, p. 420. 246 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. AUSTRALIA. About 1841 1 received the first sample of quicksilver from its mineral re- the neighborhood of the locality on Carwell Greek, on the Mercury. Cudgegong, where the cinnabar is found." In the Annual Eeport of the Department of Mines for cimabar and 1875 it is mentioned that "a cinnabar mine has lately re- its. commenced work n in the district mentioned by Mr. Clarke, which lies near the center of the gold fields ; but the report for 1876 passes it over in silence. Samples of ore and quick- silver at Paris made a handsome show, but were accom- panied by no information as to the prospects or yield. fro The Iron producing capacities of Australia are unques- tionably great, but they are little developed, and do not be- long to this report. Y. EUSSIA. RUSSIA. THE MINING INDUSTRY OF EUSSIA.* Mineral wealth. The mineral wealth of Eussia is very large, and is based variety and upon a great variety of substances, widely distributed Son? throughout the empire. Its principal metals are gold, plati- Metals, uum, silver, copper, lead, and iron ; tin, zinc, nickel, and cobalt are developed to some extent, but are of minor im- portance. Coal is said to exist in immense quantity in Coal, Southern Eussia, and its production, already considerable, shows a steady increase during late years. Salt, sulphur, salt, sulphur, , ., ., graphite, gems. graphite, precious stones, etc., contribute also to the value of the mineral product. The principal sources of the more valuable metals are in Preckmsmetais the mountain ranges of the Ural and Altai. Copper is not li$i ranges. an only found in great abundance in the regions just mentioned, but also in the Caucasus, in Finland, and in the Kirghese district. Iron also occurs abundantly, not only in the Ural iron. and in some portions of the Altai, but in some of the cen- tral and southern departments of the empire, in Poland, Finland, and in the north. The zinc mines of Poland are zmc. counted among the richest of Europe. A single mine in the government of Viborg, Finland, furnishes the entire tin product of Eussia, but this is very irregular, and of late Tin. years very small. The mines of Eussia did not assume much importance in Former impor- ,,.,.. n -t >i i ji i _tance, followed the industries of that country until about the beginning of by stagnation. the eighteenth century. Thence until the reign of Eliza- beth their development progressed rapidly ; but in the latter half of the past century a period of stagnation ensued, which lasted, for reasons partly political and partly econom- ical, for many years. Of late, however, the mining indus- Revival of in- terest. try has shown in most departments a very considerable ad- * The substance of this paper is drawn chiefly from official or semi- official sources, published by the administration of Department of Mines of the Russian Government. Most of the figures are taken from a pamphlet prepared for the occasion of the Paris Exposition, entitled Tableaux Statistiqucs de V Industrie des Mines en Russie en 1868-1876, par C. SkalJcovsJcy, ingtfnieur des mines. M. Skalkovsky is the secretary of the Comite" Scientifique des Mines, and the statistics of the department are prepared and published under his supervision. 247 248 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. vance. Its progress during the last fifty years is shown by Mineral wealth, the following table I Production of Production of sundry metals and minerals in the Russian Empire during y ears named ldow - (Table from page 14 of ''Statistics," given in poods.) Tears. Gold. I Silver. 1830. 1835. 1840. 1845. 1850. 1855. 1865... 1870... 1875 .. Poods. 383 393 458 1,307 1,454 1,649 1,491 1,576 2,155 1,955 Poods. 1,282 1,212 1, 280 1,192 1, 068 1,043 1,070 1,084 868 601 Platinum. Poods. 107 105 108 1 9 ""ei 139 119 94 Years. 1830.. 1835.. 1840.. 1845.. 1850. 1855. 1865 1870. 1875 Cast iron. Coal. Poods. 600, 000 875, 000 3, 160, 000 2, 500, 000 8, 000, 000 12,679,311 22, 163, 107 79, 444, 328 Salt. Poods. < 20, 920, 393 } 22, 500, 000 27,195,512 55, 476, 527 24, 829, 009 32, 224, 453 26, 109, 602 29, 058, 933 29, 013, 458 37, 591, 399 Copper. Poods. 238, 9Q5 240, 204 280, 918 260, 048 393, 618 378, 618 315, 693 253, 037 306, 387 222, 291 Naphtha. Poods. 261, 000 348, 956 337, 009 327, 166 255, 000 554, 291 1,704,455 8, 174, 340 The pood, consistin 524 1869 1 129 1, 054, 570, 392 2 007 21, 844, 188 1870 1 208 983 475 095 2 157 23 476 788 1871 978 1, 081, 518, 424 2,400 26, 121, 600 1872 1 055 1 044 027 585 2 8iil 25 370 604 1873 1 018 954, 648, 764 2,025 22, 040, 100 1874 1,035 937, 578, 045 2,027 22, 061, 868 1875 1 092 1, 007, 293, 492 1,996 21, 724, 464 1870 1,130 1, 022, 543, 362 2,054 22, 355, 736 1877 2,430 26, 448, 120 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 249 Of this product Siberia furnishes from two-thirds to three- fourths, the remainder coining mainly from the departments of Perm and Orenburg, in European Russia, with small con- tributions from the Kirghese district and Finland. The prod- uct of 1876 is credited as follows to the several governments and territories : Mineral wealth. Gold. Government, Lot atiou. i S Quantity of gold-' lakoutsk Siberia 35 Poods. 628 I6nisseisk and Irkoutsk . do 3J6 386 Transbaikal do 64 234 Amoor do 10 172 Tomsk do 126 107 Littoral do 3 12 Perm European Ilussia 197 177 Orenbur" do 2(i3 110 Scmipalatinsk Kirghese district 24 12 Akmoliusk do 6 1 Uleaborg . . Finland 9 Production of gold by govern- ments. Important concessions on the part of the government have imperial con recently conferred great advantages upon individual mine ce owners, and an increased activity in mining operations has increased ac- tivity in private been noted as a consequence. Under these new conditions mines. the product of gold in 1877 amounted to 2,430 poods, of which only 155 poods came from the mines of the crown and state ; the remaining 2,275 poods came from mines of pri- vate individuals ; an increase of 437 poods over the product from private mines in 1876. Of the product from private mines in 1877 Eastern Siberia furnished 1,793 poods, Western Siberia 129 poods, and the Ural 353 poods. It is expected, for the same reasons, that gold-mining operations will hence- forth become still more active, and the product of the metal will be accordingly greater in the future than in the past. Nearly all the gold produced in the Russian Empire is obtained from placers. Vein -mining for that metal has not beeu actively prosecuted until recently, and only in the Ural Mountains. In the foregoing tabular statement of the gold product, the quantity of sand and mineral treated during ten years, as expressed in poods, amounts, in the aggregate, to about 184,000,000 tons of 2,000 pounds avoirdupois, and the treated. corresponding product for ten years is valued at $221,576,472, its product. presuming that the weight of gold given is that of fine metal. This would show a yield per ton of about $1.20. To what extent the product of vein -mining figures in this statement does not appear from the data in hand ; but as the product of placers so far exceeds that of vein-mining, it is not likely Placer mining principally. 250 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. BUS8IA - that the latter raises the general average yield per ton very Mineral wealth, much. Kecent official data, referring to the placer- washings of the Ural Mountains, show that in that region in 1875 there Percentage of were extracted 5,300 kilos of gold from 4,240,000 tonnes of gold in placer . -, . . washings of the auriferous sand, giving an average per tonne of 1J grams. This would correspond to about 20 grains of gold, or some- thing over 80 cents per ton of 2,000 Ibs. avoirdupois. Vein-mining is carried on in the several districts in the Ural, but apparently to a small extent. The district of Beresowsk, in which gold-bearing quartz veins have been worked for many years, still appears to be the principal The geological locality for this branch of mining. The formation consists of beds of talcose schists, in which occur broad dikes of beresite, a granitic rock containing pyrites and a little mica. The quartz veins traverse the beresitic dikes perpendicularly, rarely, though sometimes, passing beyond the limits of the dikes, which generally have a width of 60 to 80 feet. The quartz veins are not generally large (varying from a small seam to 3 or 4 feet), and the average value of the ore is low, being stated at 2 to 25 grams to the tonne, say about 30 Percentage of grains, or $1.20 to four- fifths of an ounce troy, or $16 to $17 per ton of 2,000 Ibs. avoirdupois. The average value of quartz veins worked in this district during former years is stated at about 13 grams to the tonne, or, say, half an ounce of metal per 2,000 Ibs. of ore. Platinum. Platinum. This metal is generally found with the gold usually occurs of auriferous sands. It rarely occurs by itself, that is, with- out gold, though such is the case in one or two districts of the Ural, namely, Taguilsk, Goroblagodatsk, and Bisersk. It has not, so far, been found, at least to any considerable extent, in rock in situ, although grains of platinum are said to have been observed in the quartz of the mines of B6re- from sowsk, and the entire product is obtained from placers, that is, sands resulting from the disintegration of the rocks. The deposits of Taguilsk and Bisersk, in which districts platinum is generally found unaccompanied by gold, are de- scribed as follows in the official publication of the Depart- Nature of the ment of Mines. Serpentine and peridotite form the bed and rocks a o?the r pia^the borders of the platiniferous deposit, and fragments of posit" 8 de these rocks predominate among those occurring in the sand. Chloritic and talcose schists also occur to some extent in the material comprising the deposits, together with chromic iron and a certain conglomerate of serpentine peridot and chromic iron, with a calcareous cement. From the occurrence of the metal in grain distributed through the fragments of serpentine and peridotite (from MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 251 p which last-named rock the serpentine is believed to have re- sulted), it is supposed that the platinum originally existed in a state of dissemination throughout these rocks in place s^entme and prior to their disintegration. This view of the intimate re- lation of platinum to serpentine is corroborated by the evi- dence of several examples, as for instance in the district of Miassk, where platinum is found in auriferous sands ; the portions most productive in platinum are those which rest upon the serpentine rocks. At the sources of the river Miass, near the Narali Mountains, which are composed of serpentine rocks, the auriferous sands contain considerable platinum ; but down the river, in proportion to the disap- pearance of the serpentine rocks, the quantity of platinum becomes less and less, and finally nothing in places where there are no outcrops of that rock. The platinum occurs in the form of grains and sometimes in nuggets of greater or less size. The largest nugget so far found weighed about 22 pounds. Platinum is compauied by chromic iron, gold, iridium, and The average tenor in metal per tonne of the platiniferous sands is from 6 to 8 grams, or about one-fourth of an ounce troy ; sometimes it amounts to an ounce and a> third. Since the discovery of the platinum deposits in the district of Mjre-Taguilsk, that is, from 1825 to 1877, the product of that metal there has amounted to 67,500 kilos, or 148,810 Ibs. The average quantity of platinum now annually produced tio ^of al iatinum in the districts of the Ural is placed at 1,650 kilos, or 3,360 * the rrrai. Ibs. The production of platinum during recent years is given in the following table : Production of platinum in Russia during recent years. Table of plati- num production. Years. Number of exploi- tations. Quantity of sands washed. Quantity of crude metal obtained. 1867 Poods. 11,607 050 Poods. 109 1868 18, 070, 650 123 1869 6 13 678 700 143 1870 6 9, 609, 150 119 1871 & 10 440 650 125 1872 5 8, 252, 900 93 1873 6 7,620 300 96 1874 5 9, 954, 800 123 1875 1 9 C91 000 94 1876 5 10, 370, 100 96 Product for ten years - . ... 1,121 590, 296 Annual average during ten ywws - ...... 59,030 252 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. RUSSIA. The entire product of platinum is furnished from mines Mineral wealth, of private individuals, and situated in the northern portion of the government of Perm. The refining of the metal was formerly done wholly in the mints of St. Petersburg, but at present, since the removal of the tax, the principal por- tion is exported in the crude state. silver and lead. Silver and lead. The following table shows the produc- tion of these metals during recent years : Table of pro- duction. 13 1 | I 1 a 1 Tomsk, Siberia 5 Poods. 616 Poods. 58, 499 Transbaikal Siberia 1 41 5,077 Terek Caucasus . 1 26 7,701 According to the published data of the Department of Extensive de- Mines there are no very extensive deposits of rich silver ore e hf the known at present in the Ural. Occurrence of silver-bearing veins are described in the official papers referred to, but they do not appear to be extensively worked. It will be ob- served in the above statement, referring to the year 1876, that no part of the silver product is credited to the Ural. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 253 Copper. The following statement shows the production RUSSIA. of copper in Eussia during recent years : Mineral wealth Copper. Years. Number of mines. Quantity of mineral raised. Number of metallur- gical establish- ments. Number of furnaces. Quantity of mineral treated. Table of copper Production of production, copper in M 1 M $ 6 3 086 317 15 506 413 372 442 241 1872 1873 13, 043, 881 12 026 281 3, 324, 595 3 559 106 16, 368, 476 15 585 387 813 472 511, 727 546 033 1874 14 301 375 3 673 745 17 975 120 711 469 718 1875 14, 842, 451 3 705 208 18 547 659 8--"8 789 253 1876 13 853 076 4 016 229 17 869 305 681 1 093 757 Table of produc- tion of wrought iron and steel. Coal. The official statistics of mineral fuel furnish the Coal. following data concerning its production during recent years : Years. Number of collieries. Quantity of bitumin- ous coal produced. Quantity of anthracite produced. Quantity of lignite and bitumin- ous schists produced. Total min- eral fuel produced. 1867. . Poods. 19 613 026 Poods. 6 903 189 Poods. 80 000 Poods. 26 596 215 1868 21 925 657 5 455 141 150 141 27,532 141 1869 248 24 871 106 11 064 248 800 794 36 736 148 1870 193 28 661 490 13 017 371 551 728 42 230 589 1871 327 35 009 156 14 190 455 1, 454 941 50 654 552 1872 348 45 076 324 20 262 302 1 684 116 67 022 742 1873 232 44 537 625 24 704 675 2 244 028 71 486 328 1874 303 52 419 779 23 714 063 2 679 295 78 813 137 1875 . .. 504 76 551 713 25 728 732 2 067 6"2 104 348 067 1876 640 76 210 736 33 274 467 1 787 245 111 272 448 1876, tons (2,000 pounds) 1, 376, 105 600, 823 ' 32^272 2, 009, 200 Table of pro- duction of coal. 17 P -VOL 4 258 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. RUSSIA. The anthracite product in the above table is from the Mineral wealth, basin of the Douetz. In 1877 the mining of anthracite in Anthracite, iig- the department of Olonetz was commenced. The lignite and bituminous schists come mainly from Southern Russia (Kiev-Elisabethgrad), partly from Poland, and, to a small extent, from the Caucasus and Turkestan. The product of mineral fuel in 1876 came from the fol- lowing-named sources : Sources of min- eral fuel, 1876. Government. Location. Poods. Don European Russia 41 964 529 do 16 4 "-8 424 Toula do 13 2 :) 4: 846 Iliazane do 7 452 500 Kiev do 1 453 478 Perm ..do 1 075 567 Esthonie do 3 000 P6trokov . Poland 27,668 407 872 623 Kouldja . Turkestan 298 932 Siv-Daria do 50, 000 Tomsk Siberia 294, 976 Littoral do 122, 166 Kouban Caucasus 281 000 Kouta'is . .... do 52, 000 Petroleum. Petroleum. The official statistics furnish the following data concerning the production and distillation of petro- leum during recent years : Table of pro- duction and dis- tillation of petro- Jeum. Tears. Number of artesian wells. Quantity of crude 'pe- troleum obtained. Number of distilla- tion es- tablish- ments. Quantity of oil pro- duced. Quantity of sun- dry pro- ducts. 1867 Poods. 998 905 Poods. Poods. 1868 1. 753, 984 1869 1, 685, 229 1870 771 1, 704, 455 1871 697 1, 375, 523 1872 733 1, 535, 981 62 51h, 546 5,076 1873 636 4, 176, 885 99 1,254,441 41, 100 1874 567 5 208,710 110 1, 460, 596 56, 487 1875 8, 174, 440 106 2, 227, 704 41, 769 1876 Sources of pe- tfcroleum. The sources of the above product are almost altogether in the Caucasus, a small proportion coming from Southern Russia and the Kirghese district. In 1877 the production of petroleum and the distillation of mineral oil increased largely, the department of Bokou, in the Caucasus, pro- ducing 12 million poods of petroleum and furnishing 4 million poods of mineral oil. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 259 Salt. The official statistics furnish the following data RU86IA - concerning the production of salt during recent years : Mineral toealth. Salt. Quantity produced (poods). Production of 1867 44,228, 075 . 1867-1876. 1868 36,798,253 1869 39,876,926 1870 36,114,580 1871 28,254,530 1872 39,712,311 1873 50,398,710 1874 46,947,518 1875 37,991,399 1876 42,508,217 Product of 1875, equivalent in tons (2,000 pounds) 767, 372 The principal portion of the salt product is obtained from sources of sup- saline lakes, a.bout one-third from evaporation, and a small ply ' portion from rock-salt. Large deposits of the latter are said to have been recently discovered by borings. Chromic iron. The official statistics show the following Chromic iron, concerning the production of chromic iron during recent years. It is mainly derived from the departments of Perm, Orenburg, and Oufa, in European Kussia : Years. ! No. of ! mines. Quantity, of df Je of pro- chromic iron obtained. 1867 2 Poods. 86 877 1868 5 41, 084 1869 . 2 66 831 1870 . 9 600, 024 1871 6 450 973 1872 7 372 549 1873 9 391, 809 1874 6 316, 561 1875 g 209 848 1876 4 58, 167 Graphite. The official statistics show the following con- cerning the production of graphite during recent years. Its chief source is the territory of Semipalatinsk (Kirghese dis- trict) and the department of Perm : Graphite. Years. No. of mines. Table of pro* Product, ductiom 1867... 1 Poods. 4 000 1868 . 2 5 168 1873... 1 2 000 1874 ] 4 178 1875 4 18 500 1876 ... 7 100 ir. There is one mine of sulphur and one refinery in Poland (department of Keltze). The product of refined sulphur in 1875 was 31,100 poods; in 1876 the product was Sulphur. Production. 260 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. statistics. RU88IA - ____ 18,379 poods. Exploitations of sulphur have recently been commenced in the territory of Daguestan, in the Caucasus. The total number of laborers employed in the mining in- dustry of Eussia amounted in 1876 to 285,758. The horse-power of machines employed in 1876 in the mines and metallurgical works of the empire is stated at 65,717. ee C ai Tne metallur g ica l industry of Eussia is far behind the industry of KUS- needs of the country. This remark applies, however, more to the extent of its development than to its methods, and more to the quantity than to the quality of the products. Within recent years an increased activity in metallur- gical industry has been noted. The abolition of serfdom in 1861, the expansion of the system of railways, and the in- creased use of domestic mineral fuel are among the princi- pal causes that have already promoted and are likely still to advance the development of this branch of industry. The Liberal policy administration of the Department of Mines pursues, on be- tum. M ra half of the government, a very liberal policy. A large corps of engineers are employed constantly in visiting the various sections of the empire, studying and mapping the geology and obtaining all available information tending to promote the development of the mineral resources of the country j and competent men are sent from time to time to visit all por- tions of Europe and America for the purpose of noting and introducing at home any desired improvements in their methods of work. te uffi out n ut ^ ne P ro diicts of mineral industry in Eussia are, in many con res P ec ts, insufficient to supply the demand, and the impor- tation of metals and minerals generally exceeds their export. To what extent this is true is partly indicated by the follow- ing statement of imports and exports for the year 1876 : of Table of ports. Importation. Exportation. From Europe. From Asia. To Europe. To Asia. Platinum Poods. Poods. " i.'ogi 9.769 851 Poods. 66 12,304 "380 858, 546 4,330 2,919 34, 475 Rubles. 140,149 127, 023 424, 425 Poods. Copper 357, 644 1, 354, 229 36,724 2, 965, 032 8, 622, 736 10, 320, 349 2, 622, 486 17, 279, 925 88, 189, 206 Rubles. 26, 825, 336 27, 154, 897 510, 387 6,622 240 105, 107 ""94,948 10, 343 00,354 13, 835 Lead Zinc Cast iron (pig) Wrought iron 4,900 3,164 3, 193 696 48, 555 Rubles. 133. 952 60, 039 1,344 Steel Petroleum Salt Coal Manufactures in metal Rubles. 293, 710 " 1,650 Machines Manufactures in gold and silver. . . . MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 261 Among the principal products imported into Russia, ac- cording to the foregoing table, are coal, cast iron, wrought iron, steel, copper, and salt. The folio wing statement shows the sources from which those imports were derived in 1876 : Ol 8 Countries. Coal. Cast iron. Wrought iron. Steel and steel rails. Copper. Salt. Great Britain Germany Poods. 63, 467, 021 22 606 138 Poods. 1,920,267 561 282 Poods. 2,987, 677 3 469, 666 Poods. 5, 283, 332 2, 493, 594 Poods. 177, 129 125 115 Poods. 4, 690, 004 7 024 501 Austria 1, 054, 384 33, 465 1,223 France 90 097 64 676 79 316 22 736 66 446 Spain 1 433 Q3i Portugal 597 311 Sweden & Norway. 214, 029 39 734 35, 206 203* 218 Holland 7 937 1 250.933 1 208 938 1 368 BeMam 1 220 Italv 17 980 48 303 66 719 Turkey 415 232 lioumaii in 358,894 87 394 VI. SWEDEX. THE SWEDISH EXHIBIT. ** was not onl y in ^ er display f iron and iron ores that iron ores. Sweden surpassed other countries. The admirable explana- tory literature prepared for the occasion under the auspices of tne Swedish Government was, on the whole, unequaled. One of the capital volumes distributed in the Swedish pa- Royaume vilion was entitled Royaume de Suede, Expose Statistique, p and con taius a complete series of papers touching on all uthor's inform^ tne social > industrial, educational, and scientific features of tion - the country, written, too, for the most part, by well-known specialists. It would be a waste of time to attempt any im- provement upon the account of the mineral industries of Sweden given in this manual, and the following pages con- sist essentially of literal translations from it, abbreviated where the original seemed fuller than was needful for the purposes of this report. io iaTc"udttfe e n8 ^ we den is* so to speak, made up of the extremes of the of Sweden. series of geological formations. The crystalline rocks of the primary formations are, as a rule, immediately covered by the soft beds of tbe Quartenary epoch, and only a small portion of the intermediate formations are represented. Of these the Silurian covers the greatest area. Throughout vast regions the country consists of rocks of the primary formations, gneiss alternating with other sedi- mentary rocks of the same period and even with granite. The gneiss for- in Sweden, as in other countries, one grand division of the mat 1011. ' territory occupied by this rock is composed of red gneiss, another of gray. The gray gneiss extends over most of the eastern portion of the country, the red over the western. Another division of primary origin, probably later than euSte groSp rtant the preceding, consists of the group called eurite or petro- silex (hallefliuta). Although they cover a relatively insig- nificant territory, these last rocks are of great industrial value, inasmuch as they contain the most important deposits of iron ores, which do not occur as veins, but in beds or len- ticular masses evidently formed at the same time with the re&ee of iron~ inclosing rocks. The same is the case with certain of the ores. and copper deposits of zinc and of copper. 262 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 263 CoaL of CO{U So far as is known, coal occurs in Sweden only in the ex- treme southern province in the Malmohus district. The geo- logical horizon of the coal beds is not definitely determined, but is commonly referred to the Trias or the Jura. They have, however, been worked at long intervals since the mid- dle of the eighteenth century. The greater part of the coal extracted has been won in the neighborhood of Hogauas, in the northern portion of the Hoganas field. field. At this point there are two seams. One of these, varying in thickness from six to eighteen inches, is aban- Quality of tte doned ; the other is, to be sure, some four feet six inches thick, but contains only about seven inches of good coal and thirteen inches of poor coal, the remainder being com- posed of bituminous shale partings. Below the coal is a bed of fire-clay about five feet in thickness, which is mined with the coal to some extent. The coal called second quality contains 20 per cent, ash, and the third quality no less than 42 per cent. The quantity of coal mined in 1876 was nearly 3,700,000 cubic feet (or, roughly, 80,000 tons). The produc- tion has doubled since 1871. Active explorations have been going on by boring in the coal district, and to some extent with satisfactory results, several seams, some of them much thicker than that of Ho- ganas, having been thus discovered ; but usually much of the thickness is shale and clay. The refractory clays are of superior quality, and are extracted in large quantities. co S uallty of th< " Most of the coals are unfit for making coke. The importation of coal and coke, which comes almost ex- imports of coai clusively from England, has increased constantly during the last decades. In round numbers the quantity imported was In 1860 .................. 12, 000, 000 cubic feet, or, say, 260, 000 tons. In 1870 .................. 21, 000, 000 cubic feet, or, say, 470, 000 tons. In 1876 .................. 38, 000, 000 cubic feet, or, say, 840, 000 tons. If Sweden is wretchedly off for coal, it at least has abun- pe t t bundance of dance of peat. Eecent explorations has 7 e proved that the peat marshes cover one-twelfth of the area of the coun- peat ^Shes . th try, and that the average thickness of the peat in these marshes is two meters. For the past few years the high price of coal and "the zeal of a number of patriots" have greatly stimulated the raising and application of this fuel to such an extent that at least eight times as much peat is now extracted as in 1865. No official statistics as to the amount of peat raised exist, but it is believed that at least 450 machines for making peat are at work, and that they will turn out an average of 5,000 tons a year each. Several pr 264 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. SWEDEN. machines are mentioned in the report, but that of Eichorn, Peat machines, which makes the peat into balls, as improved by Horn and Thunberg, seems to enjoy special favor. .states^ There are districts in the United States where peat is the most plentiful fuel. We have therefore a direct interest in eationsofpeat. the Swedish efforts to render it a convenient one. No men- tion is made of the metallurgical application of peat, though j well known that it is applied, to some extent, in the manufacture of gas for Siemens furnaces. It is of course in its admirable iron ores that Sweden pos- sesses its chief mineral wealth. Professor Akerman con- tributed a special memoir on the Swedish iron industry to the literature of the Exposition, and by far the greater part of the exhibits related to that metal, with which, however, this report is not concerned. to nd hat ^ ext to iron, copper is the most important metal obtained o?iron. i n Sweden. The most productive copper mines are those of Fahlun and Atvidaberg, The former is about 120 miles northwest of Stockholm ; the latter a few miles nearer, in a Localities of south westerly direction. Copper ores are also obtained in 8 ' numerous other places in smaller quantities. Lapland has a copper mine at Svappavara, the importance of which has been much exaggerated. varieties of The chief ore of copper is chalcopyrite. Variegated copper ore and copper glance are rare. With a view to economiz- ing fuel, which was constantly rising in price, an elaborate ore-dressing establishment was constructed at Fahlim some ten years since, but, in spite of admirable organization, the methods" 13 dl y l ss f c PP er i n ^ ne ore-dressing operations was too great, and ^ extraction by wet methods was adopted, instead of concen- tration and smelting. The greater part of the copper is now The present extracted by chloridizing, roasting, leaching, and precipita- tion with iron sponge, the copper precipitate being refined in gas furnaces. At Atvidaberg the old method of smelting rocess smelting is still pursued. The regulus produced by smelting the ore is roasted and reduced to black copper, which is subse- quently refined in reverberatory furnaces. The smelting of the ore and calcined regulus is carried out in blast furnaces. Production. i n 1876 901 tons of copper and 280 tons of sulphate were Workmen. produced in Sweden. The number of workmen employed in this industry was 1,455. The production of copper has undergone a sensible diminution in the course of late years. It reached its maximum in 18G9, when it amounted to about 2,300. Some 350 to 500 tons commonly remain in the country ; the remainder is exported. Copper ore is also Export. exported to England. In 1871 this exportation was in the MINING INDUSTEIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 265 Gold. Lead and silver. neighborhood of 1,500 tons, but had sunk to half this amount SWED in 1876. Copper is worked up in part in the smelting works and Copper. in special rolling mills, partly by coppersmiths in town and country, and in part, and that on a large scale, by the great inachiiie shops of the country. The manufacture of appa- P er ratus for the distillation of spirits is one of the principal branches of the Swedish copper industry. Gold is extracted at present only from the copper pyrites of Fahlun, and to the extent of some half-dozen kilos per year. Lead and Silver. The principal silver mine of Sweden is the old and famous one at Sala. Its production is insignifi- cant now in comparison with its former yield, and in 1876 was only 798 kilos. All the silver is produced from lead ores, and of lead as well as of silver only a very small quantity is now produced some 300 tons. Nickel. Niekeliferous ores are of frequent occurrence in Nickel. Sweden, but comparatively seldom in paying quantities. The principal mines are at Kleva, in the province of Jon- koping, and at Sagmyra, in Dalecarlia. The product con- sists of an alloy of nickel, more or less rich in copper, of which somewhat less than a ton was produced in 1876. At Tiiuaberg about a thousand pounds of clean cobalt ore was extracted in the same year. Zinc occurs only as a blende, of which there are several mines. The most important is that of Ammeberg, which lies between the great lakes Werner and Wetter. It belongs to the famous Belgian company La Vielle Montague. The product of this mine was about 1,300 tons of ore in 1860, but since 1865 the output has been from 25,000 to 30,000 tons. Adding the product of mines in the provinces of Orebro and Kopparberg, the total production for 1876 was 35,523 tons. The ore is concentrated by roasting, leaching, and dressing, and is thus exported. No metallic zinc is produced in Sweden. Manganese, iron pyrites, for sulphuric acid manufacture, etc., and graphite are mined to a small extent. Metal working in its various branches is carried on with Metal-working establishments. some activity for the supply of the home market. There are four brass works in the country, several German-silver fac- tories, silver-plating establishments, and the like. The greater portion of the surface of Sweden is composed Tn primitive character of the ot hard and compact rocks belonging to primitive formations, Swedish rocks. such as gneiss, eurite, granite, etc., and it is in these rocks that most of the ore deposits are found. In consequence of Zinc. Mine of Amme- berg. of 266 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878 SWEDEN. this fact, prospecting by boring has not been so much prac- ticed in Sweden as in some other countries. The position ex * ens i ou f deposits of iron ore have been for a century, and are still, investigated by the magnetic needle. It is certainly incorrect to speak of this method of prospecting for magnetic ores of iron, as the Swedish commissioners do, as presque inconnu a Vetr anger. Professor Thale"n, the investigation well-known physicist, has lately mounted the needle as an needle 6 m J instrument of precision, and has shown how, by a consider- able number of observations on the deflections of the needle above a deposit of iron ore, the positive and negative poles of the magnetic mass can be determined. Between these points lies the greater portion of the ore body. Boring appa- The apparatus most used for boring, where this method is practicable, is that of Mortensen. The diamond drill and the Chinese rope-drill have also been applied. For drilling short holes many machines have been tried. The u Iron Bu- reau" (Jem Kontoret) had a series of competitive trials exe- cuted at its expense with the machines of Burleigh, Schram, Eand, Ingersoll, and 'Cederblom. Our authority reports : Diamond and "The result of all these trials hars been that machine drill- other machine . . ., _ drills. ing, iar irom being cheaper than hand work, cost much more in most cases, a circumstance due principally to the as- touishing dexterity of our miners." It would be interesting han? drilling, to know something of the size of the openings where the trials were made, etc., in order to gage the extent of our astonishment. Swedish mining machinery offers no special points of in- terest. Access is obtained even to the mines at Fahlun Miners' ladders. (1,200 feet) and Sala (1,100 feet) by ladders only. Little Drainage and trouble is experienced with water, and pumping and hoist- ing are commonly effected by power derived from water- wheels, for water-power is more generally available in Sweden than in almost any other country. VET. NOKWAY. THE NORWEGIAN EXHIBIT. The Scandinavian peninsula is a geological unit, and what has been said of the geology of Sweden is, for the most part, equally true of Norway. The deposits of lignite in the southern province of Sweden do not extend into Norway, and the kingdom is practically without coal or lignite. Even the formations where such might be looked for are confined to the portion of the country lying within the Arctic Circle. The fundamental rocks of Norway are assigned* by Nor- wegiau geologists to the Azoic epoch, in which is included <>r the rocks of what Hunt and other American geologists call the Eozoic or Archaean, as well as the earlier gneiss. The close of the Archaean period in Norway was marked by eruptions of granite, forming in part ranges of hills, in part irregular masses. These granites are frequently accompanied by gabbroj and possess great importance with reference to the deposits of ore. Immediately after the great topographical changes pro- d ^^JJJ 8 and duced by the eruptions of granite, and possibly while they were still going on, began the deposition of the Taconic beds.f These beds rest uucouforinably on the older strata and are three in number. The second has been identified as corresponding to the Potsdam epoch in the United States. The Taconic beds cover a very large proportion of the area of Norway. Important occurrences of eruptive rock are also met with Eruptive rocks. which are referred to the close of the Taconic era. The eruptive rock is mainly gabbro, but granite, syenite, and diorite of seemingly eruptive character are also referred to the same period. The Silurian and Devonian formations occur mainly in saurian and 1 Devonian lorma- two considerable areas, the one at and north of Christiania, * Le Eoyaume de Norvdge et le Peuple Norvcgien, par le Dr. O. G. Broch, p. 106. 1 A variety of greenstone ; equivalent to the Fr. Euphotide. tThe Taconic system of Emmons is nearly synonymous with the Lower and Middle Cambrian of Sedgwick and others. 267 268 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. NORWAY. the other in nearly the northernmost portion of the country. Eruptive rocks are assigned to periods during the Silurian and succeeding the Devonian. Periods of erup- Four outbursts of plutonic rock are. then, recognized in tive rocks. Norway : An Ante-Taconic, a Post-Taconic, a Silurian erup- tion, and one in Post-Devonian times. Absence of cer- Throughout Southern Norway all the formations from the tain formations. . Devonian to the Post-Tertiary are wanting. On the little island of Andoe, off the northwest coast of Coal seams. Norway, occur coal seams determined by Dahll as Jurassic. These seams are thin, varying from 4 to 20 inches,* and are at present of no practical value. In Finmark, the northern- Graphite, most province of Norway, there are also beds of graphite, supposed to be of Carboniferous origin. The connection between the ore deposits of Norway and its geological structure is interesting. Norway is the home The Fahibands. of the Fohlbands, or the impregnated zones of rock, and these deposits are almost uniformly at or near the con- The positions tact between the eruptive crystalline rocks and the more or of their occur- rence, less metamorphic sedimentary strata. Thus to the west and northwest of Kongsberg, at the limits of an Ante-Taconic granite area, occur masses of gabbro. Near the gabbro the Metallic depos- adjoining " Azoic" rock contains the famous deposits of na- iond*. the F ^ ma ^ ^ e sa ^ that, excepting certain metals, pre- cious stones, and some other substances of but little real use, the country furnishes all the materials necessary to satisfy the wants of mankind. The extraction of these sub- stances is facilitated also by their mode of occurrence in Favorable the rocks containing them. The geology of the country is reological condi- tions. highly varied, nearly all the important and economically valuable formations being represented among the rocks out- cropping at the surface j and it is partly to this circum- stance that the great diversity of industries developed in the land is to be attributed. Coal, iron, lead. Coal, iron, lead, and zinc are of chief importance among principal mineral the mineral resources of Belgium; but, besides these, there is a great variety of other valuable substances, the prod- ucts of the earth, such as materials used in construction, in agriculture, in the arts and manufactures, which form the basis of many varied and extensive branches of industry. The following table, which is an abridgment of one pre- Cornet on the sented by M. Cornet, in his paper on the Mineral Industry tr^Bei^um!" of Belgium, shows the different useful substances occurring in Belgium, grouped according to the geological formation in which they are found : {Peat. Materials for bricks. r> 14- 1*1 Gravel lor road metal. Iron ore. r Materials for bricks, ) Con8tructlon . Quaternary \ Gravel for road metaf. , t Iron ore. I Iron ore. Sandstone for rubble, dressed stone for build- ing, pavements, refractory stones, etc. Sands (construction, ballast, molding, glass manufacture, and other uses). 272 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 273 Tertiary Cretaceous. Jurassic. Triassic . C Clays for tiles, drainage pipes, pavements, BELGIUM. bricks, etc. J Concretionary limestones lor Roman ce- ] ment. Formations and I Limestones (dressed stone for building). their y ield - ^ Marls for fertilizers. Limestones for building. Phospliate of lime (fertilizer). Chalk for manufacture of lime, carbonic acid, etc. Si lex for pottery and road metal. Marl. Fiiller's-earth. Clays for sundry uses. Sands. Iron ore. ( Limestones for sundry uses. I Iron ores. 1 Fertilizers, t Sandstones. J Marls. \ Hydraulic limestones. Coal. Sandstones for various uses. Schists producing alum. Silicious sandstones for road metal. Carboniferous. Devonian. for various uses. I Lead ores. Iron pyrites. I Zinc ores. t. Barytes. Limestones and Dolomites Sandstones. Iron ores. Zinc ores. Iron pyrites. Barytes. Slates. Whetstones. Grinding stones. f Slates. Whetstones. I Sandstones for various uses. Silurian and Cambrian . . { Cut stones for construction. Sands and minerals us^xl in pottery. Manganese. Manganiferous iron ore. Coal. A broad and deep valley, formed by a depression coal, of the Carboniferous limestone, traverses Belgium from the southwest to the northeast, passing by Quievrain, Mons, . Th region of Charleroi, Namur, and Liege. The rocks of this valley con- sist of the coal-bearing formations, and along its line from the French to the German frontier active coal-mining opera- tions are in progress. The depth of the coal-bearing strata, considered with ref- Depth of the coal-bearing erence to sea-level, varies very much at different points strata. 18 p R VOL 4 274 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. BELGIUM - aloDg the line of the valley, in the near neighborhood of Narnur, in the central line or axis of the basin, the lower members of the coal-bearing formation are exposed at the surface at a height of 650 feet above the sea. From that point the formation is inclined both to the east and the west, reaching its greatest depth or thickness near the town of inclination, Mons on the west and near Liege on the east. Beneath the depth, and thick- n-n/r ji T ji /> n ness of the coal town of Mons the depth of the coal basin is 2,270 meters (7,445 feet) below sea-level. At Boussu, a little farther west, its depth is probably 325 feet greater ; and, as the alti- tude of that locality is about 100 feet above the sea, a ver- tical shaft sunk at that point would only reach the lowest coal-bearing rocks at the great depth of 7,872 feet. Near Liege the thickness of the coal-bearing formation is also very considerable, and probably exceeds 4,600 feet. B ^ reason of this inclination or dip of the coal formation in opposite directions to the east and the west from the neighborhood of Kamur, the coal fields, considered geo- graphically, are divided into two parts the basin of Liege at the east and the basin of Hainaut at the west. The last named, which is the more important for the production of coal, includes in the mining district of Charleroi that pa-rt of the basin which is situated in the province of Kamur. Relation of The number of coal seams occurring at any part of the coal "seams to coal basin is generally proportionate to the thickness of the the Varbonffer- Carboniferous formation at the part considered. They are L0n ' accordingly less numerous in the province of Namur and increase in number, both to the eastward and the westward, in approaching the districts of Liege or Mons. In the west- ern basin, where the coal formation has its greatest known thickness, there are from 130 to 160 coal seams, of which aboufc two- thirds are workable. According to Andre Du- mont there are 85 coal seams in the province of Liege. ov?riyin^ mati the ^- n ^ ne provinces of Liege and Namur, as well as in a por- coai measures, tion of the province of Hainaut, the coal formation is cov- ered only by the alluvial formations of the Meuse and the .Sambre or by inconsiderable thicknesses of the Cretaceous, Tertiary, or Quaternary beds. The sinking of mining shafts in those localities is consequently attended by no very seri- Depth of over-ous difficulties. West of Fontaine PEv6que, in the district lying deposits in * ' rict f ^ ^ a ^ nai1 ^? ^ ne deposits overlying the coal formation attain a constantly increasing thickness, reaching a depth of 1,000 to 1,300 feet between the town of Mons and the French frontier. To pass through these formations, which contain inexhaustible sources of water and quicksand, some of the MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 275 most important and extensive works known in the records of mining industry have been undertaken. The rocks of the Carboniferous formation most intimately J ted with the coal. associated with the coal are schists and sandstones. The former are the prevailing rocks. Generally the coal seam is intercalated between two strata of schist ; occasionally the coal is overlaid with sandstone, and sometimes, though rarely, the sandstone forms the floor on which the coal re- poses. The relation of the strata to each other is usually as follows : Schist. Coal. Schist. Sandstone. In general the coal forms less than a one -thirtieth part of , Relation of the thickness ot co;il the whole material composing the formation. 8ea n>3 to that of the wholo forma The thickness of the coal seams varies from a few inches tio n- to 8 or 10 feet, but generally the workable seams are from 20 inches to 4 feet thick. Those less than 15 inches are Thickness of seldom if ever exploited. The workable seams are rarely composed of coal unmixed with other material, but are fre- quently divided by thin layers of carbonaceous schist. The following is one of a number of examples represent- ing a vein of average character : Inches. Carbonaceous schist 2 Example. Coal 15.5 Carbonaceous schist 6 Coal 18.75 Schist 2 44.45 The length of the Belgian coal basin, measured along its Length of Bei- central axis, from the French to the German frontier is 170 Riau c " al basin - kilometers, or about 106 miles. Its width, measuring its exposure at the surface is variable, as shown by sections width. at various points named below : Miles. At the west of Mons, about 8 At the meridian of Charleroi, about 9 At the meridian of Namur, about 2 At Huy, about 2 At Seraing, about 5 East of Liege.. 11 The entire area of the surface exposure of the coal for- Area of woriw- ination of real economic value in Belgium is estimated at 532 square miles, of which total 316 square miles are in the 276 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 18: Early coal. Liege, 1198. basin of Mons and 216 square miles are in the basin of Liege. of The exploitation of coal in Belgium commenced at a very early age. Indeed, notwithstanding the probability that mineral fuel was known and used in China a thousand years before Christ, one of the existing legends concerning the history of coal refers its first discovery to the neighbor- hood of Liege, in the year 1198, by a smith named Hullos, from whom the name of the mineral houille was derived. The coal-mining industry began to assume importance in Belgium in the last century and has since then been almost constantly growing, promoted as it has been by the use of steam power, first for drainage and later for extraction of coal. statistical The complete statistical data concerning the coal industry utitit commence m 1836. of Belgium go back only to the year 1836. At that time the annual production of the country already exceeded 3,000,000 tonnes. The annual increase since that period appears in the following table, which shows the production of the sev- eral provinces traversed by the coal basin, together with the total production of the country. From 1836 to 1873 the production of coal in Belgium was multiplied fivefold. In the last-named year it reached its maximum. Its dimi- nution since that date is attributed to the general depres- sion of all industry, not only in Belgium but in neighboring countries. Coal industry of Belgium. Table of pro- duction of coal: 1836-1876. (Continued.) Years. Production of coal in Belgium in the provinces of Total. Hainaut. Namur. LiSge. Luxem- bourg. 1836 Tonnes. 2, 349, 374 2, 469, 605 2, 405, 909 2, 599, Oil L', 951, 781 Tonnes. 97, 174 92, 473 103, 954 124, 397 125, 054 122,777 134, 451 140, 698 134, 008 161, 872 159,864 158,307 157, 264 109, 688 177, 306 187, 857 182, 578 185, 504 209, 990 230, 861 218, 609 201, 804 217, 774 220, 850 204, 528 243, 061 Tonnes. 627, 916 666, 729 740, 408 753, 753 853, 124 935, 854 946, 902 966, 365 , 019, 908 , 086, 045 1,078,380 , 303, 905 , 050, 170 , 063, 453 , 122, 225 , 292, 099 , 377, 906 , 503, 275 , 582, 790 Tonnes. Tonnes. 3. 074, 464 3, 228, 807 3, 260, 271 3 479 1C1 1837 1838 1839 1840 4 261 927 758 89.i 753 823 707 518 507 296 3, 929, 963 4, 027, 767 4, 141, 463 3, 982, 274 4, 445, 240 4,919,156 5, 037, 402 5, C64, 450 4, 862, 694 5,251,843 5, 820, 5P8 6, 233, &17 6, 795, 254 7, 172, 687 7, 947, 742 8, 409, 330 8, 212, 419 8, 383, 9d2 8,925,714 9, 160, 702 9, 610, 895 10,057,163 1841 2, 968, 875 3, 059, 183 2, 874, 453 3, 290, 728 1842 1843 1844 .. ... 1845 3, 670, 486 3, 798, 335 4, 201, 531 1846 1847 1848 . . 3, C51, 712 4, 018, 195 4, 420, 761 4, 753, 186 5, 234, 646 5, 482, 771 6, 154, 860 6,458,416 6, 219, 132 6, 441, 182 6,885,011 7, 099, 326 7, 507, 720 7. 935, 645 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 , 720, 053 , 774, 678 , 740, 916 , 85-,, 929 ------- 1856 1857 1858 1859 , 840, 526 , 898, 647 , 878. 457 1860 1861 . . MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 277 Coal industry of Belgium Continued. Tears. Production of coal- in Belgium in the province of Total. Hainaut. Namur. Liege. Luxem- bourg. 1862 Tonnes. 7, 795, 170 8,101,102 8, 670, 372 9, 206, 058 9,851,424 9, 595, 289 9, 398, 550 9,840 530 10, 106, 530 10, 037, 230 11, 616, 166 11, 652, 953 10, 698, 130 10, 968, 175 10, 48G, 660 Tonnes. 246, 500 255, 667 266, 235 305, 734 358, 687 389, 586 310, 969 303, 638 338, 407 350, 389 389, 688 450, 870 440, 124 491, 365 474, 975 Tonnes. 1, 893, 975 1, 998, 561 2, 221, 729 2, 328, 911 2, 564, 551 2, 770, 956 2, 589, 070 2, 798, 726 3,162,181 3, 345, 557 3, 653, 094 3, 674, 578 3, 530, 775 3,551,791 3, 367, 943 Tonnes. Tonnes. 9, 935, 645 10, 345, 330 11, 158, 336 11, 840, 703 12, 774, 662 12, 755, 822 12, 298, 589 12, 942, 894 13, 697, 118 13, 733, 176 15, 658, 948 15, 778, 401 14, 66'.', 029 15, Oil, 331 14,329,578 1863 1864 1865 1866 - 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 IV.ble of pro- duction of coal : 1*36-1876 (from former page.) Years. Population of Bel- gium. Quantity of coal . . Table of popu- g3 lation. Extrac- tion, and con- iB 13 sumption of coal: 1836-1876. CJ H * ill "S3 4 Extracted. ! M Exported. 1 1836... Tonnes. 3, 074, 4G4 3, 228, 807 3, 230, 271 3, 479, 161 3, 929, 963 4, 027, 767 4,141,463 3, 982, 274 4, 445, 240 4, 919, 156 5, 037, 402 5, G64, 450 4, 862, 694 5, 251, 843 5, 820, 588 6, 233, 517 6, 795, 254 7, 172, C87 7, 947, 742 8, 409, 330 8, 212, 409 8, 383, 902 8, 925. 714 9, 160, 702 9,610,895 10, 057, 163 9, 935, 645 10, 345, 330 11, 158, 336 11, 840, 703 12, 774, 662 12, 755, 822 12, 298, 589 12, 942, 894 13,697,118 13, 733, 176 15, 658, 948 15, 778, 401 14, 669, 029 15,011,331 14, 329, 578 Tonnes. 22, 447 28,415 34, 703 28, 363 30, 424 28, 962 35, 192 30, 855 11,449 9,348 11,088 9,930 9,557 10, 969 0,397 9,998 8,102 12, 845 53, 082 68, 578 88, 709 146, 069 107, 605 110,069 97, 009 92,771 78, 817 72, 907 68, 224 76,044 187, 306 461, 130 247, 749 239, 342 235, 250 205, 838 221, 890 683, 373 470, 514 720, 534 826, 131 Tonnes. 773, 612 789, 083 775,534 745. 569 779, 473 1, 015, 194 1. 014, 716 1, 086, 3-21 1, 245, 399 1, 543, 472 1, 355, 833 1, 827, 105 1, 400, 570 1,664,973 1,987,184 2, 057, 050 1, 103, 546 2, 331, 595 2. 625, 958 2, 974, 349 2,866,137 2, 877, 012 3,091,316 , 145, 235 3, 450, 30H 3, 379, 409 3. 290, 595 3, 329, 507 4,011,197 4, 404, 488 4, 865, 894 4, 401), 364 4, 659, 000 4, 606, 946 3, 964, 844 4, 368, 287 5, 630, 197 5, 286, 190 4, 662, 896 4, 9U5, 227 4, 632, 097 Tonnes. 2, 323, 299 2, 468, 139 2, 519, 440 2, 761, 955 3, 180, !U4 3, C41, 535 3,101,939 2, 920, 808 3,211,290 3, 385, 032 3, 092, 657 3, 847, 275 3,411,681 3, 597, 839 3, 842, 801 4, 186, 465 4, 699, 810 4, 853, 937 5, 374, 866 5, 503, 559 5, 434, 991 5, 642, 959 5, 942, 003 6, 125, 536 6, 257, 598 G, 770, 525 G, 723, 867 7, 088, 730 7, 215, 363 7,512,259 8, 096, 074 8, 810, 588 7, 887, 338 8, 575, 290 9, 967, 524 9, 570, 727 10, 250, 631 11, 175, 584 10, 476, 647 10, 766, 638 10, 523, 612 Tonnes. 1837 ""6.634 0.688 0.784 0. 743 0.763 0.699 0.754 0.790 0.852 0.885 0.783 0.811 0.859 0.932 1.043 1.067 1.172 1. 215 1.197 1.229 1.285 1.311 1.322 1.415 1.390 1.448 1.460 1.505 1.676 1.800 1. 589 1. 707 1. 959 1.871 1.980 2.142 1.989 2.028 1.972 18J8 1839 3, 972, 943 4, 013, 052 4, 054, 352 4, 092, 557 4, 113, 775 4, 194, 093 4, 258, 426 4, 290, 316 4, 335, 319 4, 345, 014 4, 359, 090 4, 398, 016 4, 469, 310 4. 490, 113 4, 502, 912 4, 548, 507 4, 584, 932 4, 529, 461 4, 539, 228 4, 590, 217 4, 623, 089 4, 671, 187 4, 731, 957 4, 782, 255 4, 836, 566 4, 893, 021 4, 940, 570 4, 984, 451 4, 829, 320 4, 897, 992 4,961,644 5, 021, 336 5,087,105 5, 113, 680 5, 175, 037 5, 215, 823 5, 265. 634 5, 308, 217 5, 336, 185 1840 1841... 1842 A 1843.... 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 . 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860... 1861 1862 1863. 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1 873 1874 1875 1876.... 278 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1^78. BELGIUM. According to the second of the foregoing tables, which considerations shows for a series of years the population of Belgium, the going tables. quantities of coal produced, imported, exported, and con- sumed, and the amount consumed per each inhabitant, it appears that the consumption of coal, which in the earlier years considered did not exceed two and a half million tonnes, or about 000 kilos (1,320 Ibs.), per inhabitant, increased in thirty-six years to more than eleven million tonnes, or 4,712 Ibs. per inhabitant. If the coal production of 1873 (the most productive year) had been furnished in equal proportions from all parts of the surface of the coal basin, each hectare (2.47 acres) would ^ Yield per hec- have yielded 115 tonnes of coal. The yield per hectare is, of course, not equal, some portions yielding much more than others. In one of the concessions (Bonne Esperance) near Charleroi each hectare of coal laud furnished, on the aver- age from 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes of coal annually. The foregoing tables give an idea of the extent of the coal-mining industry of Belgium, and of its development during past years. The following data refer to the year 1876. statistics: In that year 180 companies were engaged in the exploita- tion of coal in Belgium, employ ing in the underground and Laborers, surface works together, 108,543 laborers with 4,668 horses steam power, and 1,645 steam engines, the latter classified as follows : Horsepower. 335 engines for extraction, with 39, 222 365 engines for ventilation, with 12, 312 189 engines for drainage, with 31, 828 756 engines for sundry uses, with 8, 669 1,645 92,031 With the exception of a small quantity of coal produced in the mines that are situated above the level of the valleys and worked by adits, the coal product of the country is Depth of shafts, raised from vertical shafts. Many of these do not exceed 300 to 400 feet in depth, while some attain a depth of 2,500 feet. In 1875 there were 322 shafts in operation in Belgium, having an average depth of 1,150 feet. arsiu caSes 1 iu ^ ue 8 Tea ter part of these shafts are furnished with guides, and the method of extraction is by cages, on which cars are raised from the levels below to the surface. Most of the hoisting engines are non-condensing, some of them having styieof engines. 500 horse-power and upwards. For pumping, condensing engines are generally, but not always, used. Some of these have from 800 to 1,000 horse-power. In some cases the MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 279 purnps are operated by means of a balance-bob acting upon BELGIUM. the pump-rod, but in more instances the power is direct, coal. the piston-rod of the engine being in line with the pump-rod and connected with it. Compressed air as a motive power for machinery employed compressed-air in mines has been in use in Belgium since 1845, and its application is steadily increasing in extent and in variety of uses. Iron. The ores of iron worked in Belgium are hematite, iron. liniouite, and argillaceous carbonate. The latter occurs sometimes in small quantities with the liinouite, and it also character of occurs independently in deposits, but which are too small to permit profitable exploitation. Hematite is found in various forms and in very different Hematite, geological positions, but it is almost altogether, if not only, in the oolitic form of deposit that it is worked in Belgium. In this condition it forms important deposits in the quartzose schists that underlie the coal measures and crop out on both sides of the valley containing the coal basin. The princi- pal mining operations are on the north side of the valley, where, in the neighborhood of Vedriii, there are four sepa- v ^? ore bed of rate strata, having the dimensions of 2f inches, 4 inches, 8 inches, .and 11 J inches, forming with the intercalated schists a bed of nearly 4 feet in thickness. At Marchovelette there are live strata, varying in width Ma^wVi^u./'' from 4 to 8 inches. At Ville-en-Waret the developments vniM-n-W:m-t, have shown four strata, of which two are from 8 to 20 inches thick, forming with the interstratified schists a group of 23 to 24 feet. At Houssois, near Vezin, at a point where Houssois, the outcrop turns abruptly to tne southwest, the beds of hematite attain a thickness of about 7 feet. The bed of hematite is traversed at several points by veins and faults, at the contact of which the ore and the inclosing schists are often impregnated by pyrites, galena, and other substances which impair the quality of the iron ore. Along the out- crop on the south side of the valley the developments are much less important than on the north. The principal workings on the south are near Huy, where the formation and Hu y- comprises two layers of hematite having a thickness of lit- tle less than lour feet, separated by a bed of schist of about one foot. The average yield of the hematite ores is from 35 to 40 Percentage of . , metal in the hern - per cent 01 metal. atite. The limonite ore also occurs in varied forms and in de- Limonite O re. posits of very different geological position. In recent form- 280 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. _ ___ ations it forms beds G inches to 3 feet or more in thick - iron. ness, reposing upon argillaceous sands in the depressions of the surface, and mainly along the borders of the rivers De- Limonite ore. mer, the two Nethes, and their affluents. The ore from these deposits is concretionary and porous, containing about 40 per cent, of iron. It has much phosphorus, but is easily re- duced. Quaternary ii- In the Quaternary formation a silicious lirnonite is worked mm!? ^ near Quevy, in the district of Hainaut, which, mixed with argillaceous sand, forms a bed varying in thickness from 3 to 5 feet, resting in a depression of the Tertiary sandstone. The ore contains phosphorus. Superficial de- The isolated and superficial deposits of iron ore occurring posits of Luxem- . , . T , , , , i)ourg. in the province ot Luxembourg, and notably at Kuette, Athus, Toeiiich, etc., also belong to the Quaternary forma- tion, resting upon the Jurassic, the ore deposits having ap- parently resulted from the disintegration of Jurassic rocks in the Quaternary age. It contains about oO to 45 per cent. of metal. Tb mm ores The Jurassic formation which forms the surface of the of the Jurassic formation. southern part of the Belgian province of Luxembourg and of the grand duchy of the same name, and of the northern portion of Lorraine, is also exceedingly rich in iron ore, and furnishes a large quantity to the Belgian iron industry. The ore from this source is known by the name of minette, and is an oolitic limonite consisting of fine grains (from one- third to one-sixth of a millimeter in diameter). The ore occurs in deposits, which are very extensive in the localities just named, but of limited extent in Belgium, forming beds near the French frontier about 5 to 6 feet thick. The ore contains 30 to 45 per cent, of iron. The gangue consists chiefly of carbonate of lime, silica, and a little gypsum, and is very fusible. The limonite The primary rocks of Belgium, comprised between the deposits inclosed in the primary lower quartzose schists and the coal formation, inclose many important deposits of limonite, which, up to the present time, furnish the greater portion of the ore consumed in the Belgian iron industry. These ores always occur in masses or veins never in stratified form. The deposits are often of large dimensions. Table of pro- The following table shows the production, importation, and exportation of iron ores in Belgium during a series of years. The notable decline in the production in late years finds its explanation in the fact that the Belgian furnaces are con- MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 281 stantly drawing their supplies of ore (minette) more and more from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg : BELGIUM. Iron. Iron ores. Table of pro- duction, importa- tion, and exporta- Produced. Imported. tion of iron ores : Exported. 1850-1876. 1850 Tonnes. 367, 360 Tonnes. Tonnes. 1860 809 176 1 486 152 114 1365 1 018,231 301, 846 230 539 1867 603 829 322 891 152 227 1868 . . .- 519, 740 396, 282 136 067 1869 . 628, 046 551, 900 164, 576 1870 654 332 568 571 179 867 1871 697, 272 594, 405 162, 566 1872 749 781 790 593 178 997 1873 503, 5155 739, 541 215 042 1874 527, 050 738, fr35 109, 144 1875 365 044 804, 370 141 767 1876 209, 206 671, 134 166, 418 Of the entire quantity of iron ores imported in 1875, 1876, po ^ rce of im ' and 1877 about three-fourths were brought from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ; the remainder mainly from Prussia, France, Netherlands, Spain, and Algeria. The iron ores Destination of exported in same years were sent mainly (over 90 per cent.) ex to France; nearly all the remainder to Prussia and the Netherlands. The following table shows the amount of pig-iron pro- . Table of i duction, importa- duced in, imported into, and exported from Belgium during tion, and exporta- tion of pig-iron : a series of years : 1840-1876. Pig-iron. Years. Produced. Imported. Exported. |l 1840... 10 438 1850 144 452 Q-> 345 41 1860 319 943 725 22*086 51 1865 470 707 24 864 10 711 56 1867 ... 423 069 53 385 11 062 1868 435 754 42 549 16 525 1869 . 534 319 61 600 14 206 1870... 505 234 82 330 10 176 48 1871 609 230 84 299 48 526 49 1872 655 565 137* 008 49 096 52 1873 . 607 373 145 212 "7 208 54 1874 532 790 158 291 16 188 55 1875 540 473 146 886 15 672 42 1876 490 508 207 264 9 479 31 The iron industry of Belgium is very ancient. In the The iron indus- r. -T-. try of the Belga> time of the Eomans the inhabitants of the Belgian prov-in .the inces were noted for their skill and industry, and were well pe acquainted with the arts of the production and manufacture of the metals. The ruins of two furnaces of that period were discovered a few years ago at Lustin, between Nanmr 282 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. BELGIUM. an d Denant, which threw much light upon the methods of iron. producing iron then in use. In the twelfth century the iron in^h? i2tu u S ittdustry nad already attained a high degree of excellence * ur y- in the Netherlands j and in 1560 there were in that country tu ^ thel6thcen 'not less than 35 melting furnaces and 85 forging establish- improvements ments. About the year 1800 great improvements were in- troduced in the form of furnaces, increasing their height from 15 to 25 feet, and greatly enlarging their productive capacity. The largest iron and steel establishment in Belgium is Soc;6t6 John that of the Societe John Coclcerill, at Seraiug, founded in 1817. It employs 8,750 workmen, aided by 259 steain-en- statiatics. gines of 6,600 horse-power. Its daily consumption of fuel exceeds 1,000 tonnes, and its annual production has a value of about 32,680,000 fr., or about $6,500,000. Lead. Lead and Zinc. The principal ore of lead mined in Belgium Galena. is galena. It occurs only in the older formations, where it is found in veins or in masses, and either alone or associated Mode of its oc- with zinc blende and pyrites. The gangue of the veins is generally a carbonate of lime, barite, and quartz, with clay and with limonite ; in the masses the gangue is commonly a dark clay. Associates of In some places the galena is often accompanied with other lead minerals, such as cerusite (the carbonate), which is quite frequent, and pyromorphite (the phosphate), which is com- paratively rare. Galena occurs in numerous veins in a number of places, many of them too unimportant for exploitation. The prin- cipal lead-mining operations of Belgium are in progress in Mine at Biey- the celebrated vein at Bleyberg, near Moresnet the only vein in the country which, after having traversed the Car- boniferous limestone, penetrates the coal formation. At the line of contact it forms very considerable masses, which, however, are worked with great difficulty, on account of the enormous quantity of water there, involving the necessity of very expensive machinery for its removal. Zinc . The zinc ore most important in the production of that Calamine. metal in Belgium is commonly known as calamine. It is a combination of different oxides of zinc, in which the car- bonate, smithsouite, predominates. Calamine, properly so called, that is, the hydrous silicate, is comparatively rare, as Blende. also is the anhydrous silicate, willernite. Zinc blende forms also a considerable item in the production of the mines, but its treatment being comparatively difficult it is less sought for than the other ores of zinc. In Belgium the ores of zinc, like those of lead, are found only in the older forma- MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 283 tions, chiefly tlie Devonian and the Carboniferous limestone, BELGIUM. occurring in veins and masses, associated with galena and zmc. pyrites. The localities are numerous, but the most impor- tant are in the eastern portion of the province of Liege. The zinc ores - ore there is calainine, generally associated with blende and galena. The ore bodies occur as masses of very considera- ble dimensions and in various geological positions, but gen- erally at the contact of the Carboniferous limestone and the coal formations. The ores of these masses, which are some- times hundreds of meters in length and breadth, have a gangue of clay and sometimes limouite, which is worked for iron ore. In 1876, in Belgium, the lead product was 6,963 tonnes, and the zinc product (crude metal) was 49,960 tonnes. BLE YBERG-ES-MONTZEN. Bleyberg mines. The Bleyberg vein is situated in the Carboniferous lime stone and in the Coal Measures, the latter of which overlie the former. The fissure penetrates both and has a general character ard strike of the vem. strike northwest and southeast, forming an angle of 57 with the meridian and 115 with the lines of stratification. It has been recognized for a distance of five kilometers in the Coal Measures and of above two kilometers in the limestone. It either stands vertically or dips at an angle of 75 or 80, sometimes to the east and sometimes to the west. No fault or cross-course has been met with, but it is believed that a change of direction toward the north may be the result of such a phenomenon. The fissure is partly filled with fragments of the country Contents of the rock. In some places these fragments are entirely sur- rounded with ore. In others, where the adjacent rock is of a readily decomposable character, the de"bris has been so closely packed as nearly or quite to exclude the deposition of ore. The ores are essentially galena and zinc blende, and of lend ^ alena and these the zinc 'oleude appears to have been deposited before .order of depo- the galena ; for while masses and layers of zinc blende are found free from galena, the masses of galena are invariably mixed with zinc blende. Small quantities of copper, anti- occurrence of rnony, and silver minerals are also met with. Wherever the other metala - interstices between the fragments of wall rock were of any size, the ore exhibits the ordinary banded structure. Subsequently* to the deposition of the ore, calcite quartz Theory as to the associated and iron pyrites have crystallized out from solution, and now crystals in the form a portion of the vein matter. 284 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. BELGIUM. Many phenomena make it evident that subsequently to Bieyberg mines, the tilling of the veins the fissure has reopened and closed again. This action has resulted in sliekeusides, the disturb- ance of the original deposits of ore, and the fracture of the mineral crystals. width of metal- The metalliferous portion of the vein has a total width of literous portion of the vein. 90 centimeters j in those portions of the vein which are densely filled with debris, and in which the walls have given way extensively, the width is much greater. difference is perceptible in the mineral filling of the coal meas-vein between those portions which traverse the limestone and those in which the walls belong to the Coal Measures. At one point in the limestone a cave 500 meters long and 70 meters wide and about the same depth adjoins the vein on anging wa ll- Large quantities of ore of banded struct- ure have been deposited upon the sides of this cave, but the greater portion has been dislodged by violent earthquake shocks, and has rolled down in fragments into the fissure. Enough is left in place, however, to show the origin of what has been dislodged. Remarkable ^ the contact between the limestone and the CocJ Meas- OCU.U.6U. IllilSS OI galena. ures, and adjoining the vein, a remarkable bedded mass ex- ists. It is supposed that at this point there was a valley, where a sort of lake was formed, which was fed for a long- time from springs highly charged with plumbiferous matter. Theory as to The result was the formation of a large mass of galena with- the mode of its ; . deposit. out partings and reposing solidly upon the underlying rocks, and was not broken up by the force which reopened the fis- sure. This deposit is only some 40 meters from the present The overlying surface ; it is covered with materials originating in the Coal Measures, with various clays, and with Tertiary strata, which are horizontal and lie unconformingly on the limestones and coal measures. immense flow There is said to be no mine where the flow of water is so of water into the Bieyberg mine, great as at Bleyberg. The average quantity is 33 cubic me- ters per minute, but the amount occasionally rises to the enormous figure of 45 cubic meters (nearly 1,600 cubic feet, or 12,000 gallons) alter heavy rains or when the snow is Quantity melting. The quantity pumped from a depth of 182 meters pumped. k as been for some years past 18,000,000 cubic meters. This Cause of the tremendous flow of water is due to the geological conforina- Irater. m tion of the surrounding country. The mine lies between two ridges in a synclinal, in such a way as to receive the drainage of a large area. The basin is, indeed, in part drained by the river Gueule and its tributary brooks, but wherever these streams pass over porous or broken ground, MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 285 water from them, too, percolates into the mine, and in such BELGIUM. quantities that it has been necessary to convert the beds of the streams into canals by covering them with clay held in place by stone flags. Four thousand meters of the river Gueule and 12,000 meters of its tributaries have been thus treated, together 1G kilometers, or about 10 miles. The force employed in pumping amounts to 3,300 horse- ine ]3 Umpillg en " power, and the annual cost is 500,000 fr. A water-wheel of Annual cost. 12 meters in diameter and 2.68 meters in width, which drives water-wheel superseded by pumps of 60 centimeters in diameter and 1.50 meters stroke, Cornish engine 7 and that by ro- was, up to 1847, the principal engine used in pumping, and tary compound still develops a force equal to 90 horse-power. Cornish steam- gine. en8 pumping engines were introduced in 1847, and in 1867 the company had the credit of ordering, and the John Cockerill Company of building, the first powerful rotary engine em- ployed in pumping. This machine is a direct-acting com- pound condensing engine of 640 horse-power ; the fly-wheel with its shaft weighs 52 tons, and the pistons have, respect- ively, diameters of 1.63 meters with a stroke of 1.25 meters, and of 2 meters with a stroke of 2.50 meters. The pumps of this engine are force-pumps of 65 centimeters in diameter and 2.50 meters stroke. Their capacity is 840 liters per stro ke. capacity. The engine makes 10 revolutions per minute, and is supplied with steam from 8 Cornish boilers, with two fires each. This first application on a large scale of rotary pumpiug-engines has been widely imitated. During six years of constant use no accident has happened to the machine, and it has con- sumed an exceptionally small amount of fuel. The coal, by actual experiment, is only 1.25 kilos per horse-power. Thanks to the good machinery, the mine has not been shutdown for an instant for more than 20 years. The main difficulty in mining, beyond that caused by water, arises from the want of cohesion of the ore in the large ing- ore bodies. These are extracted by cross-cuttings, while in the veins the method is by overhand stoping. There are numerous shafts for hoisting and ventilation, furnished with engines of from 8 to 12 horse-power. In spite of the great danger caused by the enormous quantity of water and the loose character of the ground, accidents are of very rare iiarity of acci- occurreuce, and the number of miners killed amounts to one in 700 each year. There is a large ore dressing establishment attached to ore dressing. the mines, employing a force amounting to 45 horse-power and using 800 cubic meters of water per hour. The ma- chinery consists of jigs, percussion tables, etc., as is usual in works of this class, and the capacity is 180 tons of un- capacity. Dnty. Difficult char- acter of the rain- 286 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. BELGIUM. dressed ore in ten hours. The ore as it comes from the mines contains 18 per cent, of valuable matter. The zinc ore is Percentage of Brought up to a tenor of 45 per cent., the galena to 80 per value m the ore. cent., and the cerusite and the pyroniorphite to 65 per cent. Furnaces. The Bleyberg Company treats most of its own ores. The zinc furnaces are of the Belgian type, and the lead furnaces those known in mining literature as " Bleyberg furnaces." Desiiverization. The loss of fume amounts to almost nothing, and there is no lead colic among the men. The lead is desilverized in the works (process not stated), and the market lead produced is of great purity. The Bleyberg Company is said to have chemically been the first to guarantee the almost chemical purity of its leads, and to sell on the basis of analysis made by both seller and buyer. Hundreds of these analyses might be shown in proof of the excellence of the products. The fur- nace lead carries only some eight dollars per ton in silver. Production Since the organization of the company in 1853 up to the year 1878 the works have produced 59,940 tonnes of lead and 29,934 tonnes of zinc. Over $4,000,000 have been dis- tributed in dividends about four times the original capital. The advantages and inducements to workmen to remain benefits. in the employment of the company usual in Europe are given at Bleyberg, and in 1867 the company received honor- able mention at the Paris Exposition for their care of the welfare of the miners. Vielle-Mon- THE VIELLE-MONTAGNE. tagne Mining Co. The Vielle-Montagne Mining Company is probably the most famous association of the kind in Europe. It derives immense ex- its importance not only from the extent of its operations, tent and wide dis- of its but from the number of establishments counted among its property, and their wide geographical distribution. The following is a list of the works of the company : In Belgium. BELGIUM. WelJcenraedt. Mine of calaminp, zinc blende, arid, lead ; ore-dressing works ; calcining furnaces. Angleur. Zinc foundry and rolling mill. Tiiff (near Liege). -Rolling mills. St. Leonard (at Liege). Zinc furnaces. Valentin-Cocq (station, Jemappe). Zinc furnaces, zinc-white works, and colliery. . FWne (station, Hermalle). Zinc and lead mines, blende-roasting fur- naces, and zinc furnaces. Baldaz-Lalore (station, Fle"malle). Collieries and coking furnaces. Moresnet. Mines of calamine, ore-dressing works, calcining furnaces, and zinc furnaces. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 287 GERMANY. Borbeck (near Essen). Zinc foundry. Distribution Oberhausen. Rolling mill ; blende-roasting furnaces. Vielle- Montague Bensberg Lead and zinc-blende mines and ore-dressing works. Co - Uckerath (Siegen district). Mine of zinc blende, lead, and copper, and In Germany. ore-dressing works. Mayen (near Coblenz). Mines of zinc blende, lead and copper, and ore-dressing works. Wiesloch (near Manheim). Mine of calamine ; ore-dressing works. FRANCE. In Franco. Asnieres (near Paris). Zinc-white works. Bray (Euse). Rolling mills. Sainte Marie (Oise). Rolling mills. Droittecourt (Oise). Rolling mills. Vimez (Aveyron). Furnace. Panchot (Aveyron). Rolling mills. SWEDEN. I D Sweden. Ammeberg (near Askersund). Mines of zinc, copper, and cobalt, ore- dressing works, and blende-roasting furnaces. ALGERIA. In Algeria. Hammam and Ain-Safra (province of Constantino). Calamine mines. SARDINIA. In Sardinia. Various calamine mines, owned wholly or in part by the company, in the district of Igle*sias. The company has, besides, numerous agencies in various countries for the purchase of ores and for the sale of prod- ucts. The establishments above enumerated contain 179 en- horse-power cti of gines, representing a collective power equal to about 4,450 horse-power English. 288 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Vielle-Mon- tagne Mining Co. PUB OUtZ JO 89 [Bg 4 Table of pro- .g ducts, purchases, ;s ^ and sales: -- : - 1*00-1877. 2 g panto 9JO jo sap 'outra't; ^o-^Cieooaoaoooocoaot^coeoi-ipaoo i i ouz S 3" S PUB 9tttraB SuC*SS$ccSSococoooo*oQoooo 1 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 289 The following data as to the employes of the company DKLGIMI. for the year 1877 may be of interest : vieiie-Mon- tagiie Mining Co. Average number of workmen employed 7, 121 Statistics of Number of persons dependent on their wages 14, 481 ^ r l ien ' wa es Toial number of persons supported by wages paid by the company 21, 602 Regular wages paid for the year $1, 318, 830 Premiums paid for extra good work $118, 877 Total amount paid to hands $1, 437, 707 Number of days' work done 2,290,699 Mean salary per head per day $0. 63 As will be seen from the foregoing table, a considerable bcnefl ^ orkmens sum is yearly expended in the encouragement of excellence in workmanship and of faithfulness in discharge of duty on the part of the men. The wages paid are low, but the men enjoy a number of for facilities not offered by American mining companies, company provides quarters, commonly cottages with gar- tions,etc. den attached, at very low rates, and encourages the pur- chase of these houses on a very favorable installment plan. It also contributes largely to hospital insurance funds, to the support of schools and of churches, and even aids in the support of various clubs, musical societies, etc. In short, a systematic effort is made to attach men perma- nently to the service of the company. Note on the deposit of zinc ore and the smelting works at Mores- Moresnet. net. The deposit of calamine of Altenberg or Kelinisberg be- Deposits of cui- longing to the Vielle-Montague lies in the lower part of the ^eimisber^ limestone strata of the Carboniferous formation. This lime- stone is for the most part converted into dolomite. It occu- Geological oc pies the extremity of a zone which simulates a basin raised cu toward the surface on one side and buried on the other. At the place where the metalliferous deposit occurs it reaches a width of GOO meters. This basin of dolomite and ore is in its turn inclosed in soft dry Devonian schist, which rises on both sides of the basin. A bed of quartzose dolo- mite, earn ing large quantities of water, separates the two rocks. This bounds the dolomite formation and the whole deposit with remarkable regularity. This ore, which is composed, toward the surface, princi- Deposit of rich pally of carbonate of zinc of great purity and richness, and pure corbon: without a trace of lead or zinc blende, has filled the basin thus raised on one side nearly full, and crops out on the surface to a very considerable extent. It) p i?, VOL 4 290 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. BELGIUM. The formation of Kelmisberg, which is entirely surrounded by dolomite, does not anywhere come in contact with other tagne Mining Co. ^" rocks, and must be considered as resulting; from the sloic and Keimtebo?g! n of y ra d ua l change of the inclosing rock into ore by an exchange of bases. It cannot possibly be considered as a deposit of sec- ondary origin, such as many of the contact deposits of the country unquestionably are. This remarkable deposit was most largely developed towards the surface ; its length may have reached 450 me- ters, and its breadth from 100 to 150 meters. ^ ne wno ^ e ^ tae hollow formed by the basin at the sur- face appears to have been filled with ore, or with rock im- pregnated with metalliferous salts. The most highly con- centrated and most remarkable portion of this ground is situated at the northern extremity of the basin, and is almost entirely separated by a projecting point of dolomite from what is known as the southern body. Toward the southwest the deposit is continuous, but is hidden under the dolomitic rocks. It has been followed to the consider- able depth of 110 meters, and it is between this level and a depth of 75 meters that the actual workings are being car- ried on. The filling, that is to say, the metalliferous sub- stance, appears to have been very different at the surface change in the from what it is in depth. While at the surface the ore was character 01 the ore at lower nearly pure carbonate, lower down it was mixed with hy- drated silicate, which gradually increased until at a certain depth it came to form the larger portion of the ore. An- hydrous silicate, willeinite, so characteristic of the Kelmis- berg deposit, has always been found in large masses, of a hundred cubic meters or more, scattered without any rule in the mass of the other ores, and completely surrounded by them. First workings The first shafts are said to have been sunk in the north- ^tury he ;n "ern deposit, in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Without any knowledge of the metal which the ore contained, the use by brass- brass-founders at Aix-la-Chapelle and its neighborhood used . founders of the crude ore. the mineral in its crude state. From ancient times and up Abbe Dony's to the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the Abbe Dony constructed the first furnace for the reduction of zinc (180G), the amount of ore taken from, the deposit at its crop- pings was inconsiderable. The work done after the begin- ning of this century was no doubt more thorough, but it Regular pro- W as not until 1846 that regular or serious operations were eeedings in 1846. begun. Yield of. 1855. j n the year 1855 the yield was probably the greatest which had ever been taken from a metalliferous mine of this MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 291 vieiie-Mon- ta description. It reaches the figure of 137,000 tons of ore as it came from the mine, or 50,900 tons of concentrated ore ; the northern deposit was the ore principally worked by former generations, but it yielded a large amount of ore as an open cast between 1846 and 1856, when the bottom of tol85G the basin was struck at from twenty-five to thirty meters below the surface. It is estimated that in all no less than 1,500,000 tons were thus removed up to 1856. From the year 1856 on, the workings have been entirely Subsequent r yield of the wort- underground, and have embraced both the north and south ings. ore bodies. The whole quantity of ore extracted from these deposits is known to amount to at least 200,000,000 tons, representing about a million and a half tons of first-class tenor and quality. The ore-dressing works were built in ore dressers. 1850, and since that time have been brought to the highest state of perfection, and are almost altogether automatic; 200 tons of material can here be treated in ten hours, and capacity. yield above 80 tons of concentrations. For some years past the ores from the ancient waste-dumps and those from the newer workings have been separately treated. The smelting works handle only the ores from this local- smelting works. ity. These are for the most part very refractory, being mixtures of silicate and carbonate, and are often at the same time very fusible, from the presence of double silicates of lime and alumina. These two circumstances make reduc- tion very difficult, for it can only take place at -very high temperatures, which are accompanied by the formation of slag and consequent losses. The furnaces employed are on the Belgian system, and Furnaces. contain 130 tubular retorts each. The works possess four blocks of furnaces charging 2,400 Capacity. kilos of ore, reaching an average production of 850 kilos of metal, with a consumption of 3,300 kilos of coal per 24 hours, of which 20 per cent, is lean coal and the rest bitu- minous. It is at the works of Moresnet exclusively that the almost chemically pure zinc is produced which is employed in making blanc de neige and for art-castings. AUSTRIA-HUN- IX. AUSTBIA-HUNGABY. THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EXHIBIT. source of the The following outline of the present condition of the information: Dr. H. F. Bracheiii. mining industry of the empire is made up of material pre- sented in the official catalogue of the Austrian exhibit and gathered by Dr. H. F. Bracheiii. Greaty variety of o res in the Em- pire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is exceedingly rich in ores and technically valuable minerals, and is not surpassed by any other state in Europe in respect to their variety. A greater development of the mining industry of the country is, however, most desirable. The number of persons employed in this branch of indus- try and the results for 1875 were as follows : Table of work- men and product ; 1875. Austria. Hungary. The empire. WORKMEN. At the mines 83 581 At smelting works At the salt works do... .... do .. 10, 438 8 805 I 42, 391 1,192 136, 410 10, 797 Total 102 84 44 383 147 207 VALUE OF PRODUCT. Minos florins 42 800 000 Smelting works do .. 25, 200, 000 I 19,700,000 87, 700, 000 Salt works do 20 600 000 10 200 000 30 800 000 Total 88 600 000 29 900 000 118 500 000 domain 6 f crown. These values appear to be given in paper florins, which fluctuate slightly in value. From the value of the silver product mentioned in Dr. Brachelli's essay I have calcu- lated that the florin, as used by him, is equivalent to $0.4435, while the value of the silver florin is $0.4878. ^^ mineral deposits of technical value are property of the crown, and prospecting and exploitation can only be undertaken with the permission of the mining authorities, whose duty it is to see that all mining operations are carried out according to law. A large proportion of the most val- uable mines in the empire are owned and worked by the state. 292 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 293 The principal results of the mineral industry in 1876 were as follows : Mineral produce of Austria-Hungary in 1876. Mineral ducts of the i~ 10T*J Ero- m- Austria. Hungary. The empire. Gold kilos 14 25, 166 375, 400 273, 046 4, 934, 335 6, 933, 382 249, 465 442 7,529 3,979 207 12, 717 1,064 1,890 22,784 23, 100 127, 379 636, 991 884, 139 120, 115 1, 025 2,419 567 1,904 47, 950 398, 500 400, 425 5, 571, 326 7, 817, 521 369, 580 1,467 9,948 4,546 207 12, 717 3,031 Silver do... Quicksilver do Iron .. tons* do Brown coal . do Salt do .. Copper do Lead and litha Zinc ITC6 - - ... do . . do Tin . . do . Graphite do Petroleum -do 1,967 Occurrence of minerals and metals : Gold. Silver. Quicksilver. Iron. Coal nite. Salt. and *Of 1,000 kilos or 2,205 Ibs. Besides these a number of others might be enumerated, such as ores of cobalt, nickel, manganese, arsenic, bismuth, antimony, and uranium, and some others. A few words on the distribution of the valuable minerals may be a not unwelcome addition to the table. Gold is found in notable quantities only in Hungary and Transylvania, Silver in the same countries and in Bohemia; Quicksilver almost exclusively at Idria in Carniola, but de- posits occur in Carinthia, and a small quantity is obtained in Hungary from tetrahedrite. Iron is found and smelted in almost every province of the empire, but Styria leads in this branch, and produces over a quarter of the whole. Coal, both true and brown or (in part) lignite, is found in large quantities in the northern portion of the empire, in Bohemia, Moravia, Austrian Silesia, and Galicia. Hun- gary also pioduces some coal, but the southern provinces are badly off for fossil fuel. Salt is found in enormous and uncon tarn mated deposits in the Carpathian Mountains and is also won by solution in great quantities in Salzburg. Copper is found chiefly in Salzburg ; Lead in Bohemia, at copper: lead. Pribram, while in Carinthia, Villach is a famous lead-pro- ducing locality. Zinc: Western Galicia, Carinthia, and Carniola produce zinc, and the Tyrol must now be added, as will appear in this report. Tin is obtained only at one or two spots in Bohemia (Zinmvald, etc.). Graphite comes mostly from Bohemia, but is likewise obtained in Moravia and Southern Austria. Petroleum is found in Galicia, as are also the paraffin minerals, but not nearly in sufficient quantities to supply native consumers. Mining has been dull of late years in the empire, except in the collieries, which have increased their output largely. Zinc. Tin. Graphite. Petroleum. 294 AUSTRIA-HUN- GARY. Coal. UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. owing chiefly to the large exportation of brown coal, which is however partially balanced by a large importation, mostly of Prussian coal. Coal. The development and extent of the coal produc- tion of Austria-Hungary may be seen from the following table, in tonnes : * 1860-1876. Tears. True coal. Brown coal. Total. I860 1 948 189 1 548 306 3 496 495 1865 2 806 884 2 232 419 5 069 303 1870 4 295 775 4 060 169 8 355 944 1871 4 969 980 5 078 058 10 048 038 1872 4 788 455 5 767 612 10 556 067 1873 5 171 189 6 732 884 11 904 073 1874 5 096 659 7 183 098 19 279 757 1875 5 185 234 7 666 812 19 832 046 1876 5 564 331 7 798 255 13 362 586 Relative great- er increase of lig- nite production. Coal fields lim- ited, but of good qual- ity. Localities of the coal. The lignite de- posits. The lignite fields of the Erz- gebirge ; and elsewhere. *Kohle und Eisen, by J. Pecbar. It is a remarkable fact, and one of great importance to Austria, that, as may be seen from the figures, the increase in the product of lignite is much more rapid than that of true coal. This is a consequence of the rapid increase in the production of the lignite fields of the Erzgebirge, which yield brown coal of a peculiarly good quality. Austria, to be sure, has no true-coal fields to be compared with those of England or Westphalia. On the contrary, the coal fields are of small extent, with the exception of that of Kladno- Schlan-Kakonitz, and are, moreover, frequently of such a character as to be worked only with difficulty ; the quality of the coal, however, is for the most part excellent, espe- cially for coking. The Austrian true-coal fields lie for the most part on an east and west line, beginning at Pilzen, on the Bavarian frontier, and reaching to Galicia, on the Kussian frontier ; there is, however, also coal in the east and southeast of Hungary, in the Fuenf kirchen and Styerdorf basins. The lignite deposits of Austria .are inexhaustible and easily worked. This fuel is not alone excellent for house- hold use, but answers the purpose of many branches of in- dustry, for raising steam, etc. It has even been used in iron blast furnaces. The most important lignite or brown-coal fields extend along the southern slope of the Erzgebirge. The out- put from this district is greater than that from any other in Austria, and was 4,800,000 tonnes in 1876. Other less ex- tensive brown coal districts lie between the spurs of the Alps, especially upon their eastern slope in Steyermark and Carniola ; finally, there are deposits of brown coal in Hun- MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 295 gary and Transylvania. That of the Zill thai is said to be particularly promising. The following shows the relations of the Austro-Hungarian coal trade : Years. Table of impor- Importation. Exportation. Consumption. 1860 Tonnes. 240 128 Tonnes. 279 675 Tonnes. 3 456 948 1865 366 488 385 662 5 050 129 1870 927* 119 925 198 8 357 865 1871 1 363 974 1 046 501 10 365 511 1872 1 587 800 1 167 401 10 876 466 1873 . . 1 785 266 1 681 029 12 008 310 1874 1 627 355 2 160 812 11 746 300 1875 1 627*942 2 703 237 11 776 751 1876 1, 574, 575 2, 734 862 12,202 299 sumption of coal. This table requires some comment. While in the tables Explanation of the terms im- representmg the coal trade of most European states " im- portation " and portation" means importation from England, this is not the case with Austria. The political boundaries between Ger- many and Austria pass through the coal region of Central Europe. Silesia, in Prussia, and Galicia and Moravia, in Austria, form, properly speaking, one true-coal field, and the brown-coal regions of Bohemia are more or less contin- uous with those of Saxony. Accordingly, there has been a the mutual traf- ,. , ~ fie between Sile- lively trade in both species ot mineral tuel across the (rer- sia and Bohemia. man line ever since the railroad communication between the countries was established. The importation of coal in the table represents almost exclusively Silesian coals, and the exportation Bohemian brown coal carried to Germany. The following table shows the purposes for which coal whi JJ^JJf 8 ^ was consumed in 1875, so far as it has been possible to ascer- consumed in 1875. tain them : Per cent. Railways 15.5 River boats 2. Manufacturing 55. Household and trade consumption 27. 5 The number of persons employed in the coal mines of workmen em- Austria (excluding Hungary) in the year 1876 was as follows : an coal mines in 1876. Men. Women. Children. Total. True coal 32, 968 2,680 735 36, 383 Brown coal 24, 238 1 780 252 26, 270 Total 57, 206 4 460 987 62,653 296 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. AUS GAKY HUN number of steam-engines in use in the coal mines of Austria, again excluding Hungary, in 1876 was as follows : Steam-engines - in use in Austri- an coal mines in 1876. Hoisting. Pumping. Hoisting and pumping. Total. True-coal mines 187 175 37 399 Brown-coal mines 229 198 48 475 Total 416 373 85 874 Several of the Austrian mines made instructive exhibits illustrating the geological occurrence of deposits and the methods of mining and smelting the ores. In addition, an excellent account of the exhibiting mines was prepared for the occasion, and sold at a merely nominal Report on AUS- price. This pamphlet is entitled Notice sur quelque-unes des trian mines ex- hibiting in Paris, principalcs mines de Vetat Autrichien, and it is believed that the purposes of this report will best be served by translating literally the greater portion of this authorative and well- digested description, with occasional omissions or abbre- viations. Pribram. its position. History. The town and mines of Pribram are 51 kilometers south- east of Prague, upon a table-land some 500 to 600 meters above sea-level, which is crossed by low ranges of hills. it is not known when mining began at Pribram. Con- cessions to reopen the mines were granted in 1527, since which time they have been worked more or less actively. But it was not until the greater part of the mines became state property, at the end of the eighteenth century, that the era of their real prosperity began. Geological oc- The metalliferous deposits of Pribram are veins which oc- metainferous de- cur in the lower beds of the Silurian formation of Bohe- mia, the " etage A " of M. de Barrande. The rocks are princi- pally sandstone, quartzites, conglomerates, and schists, bounded to the east and west by granite and a thin stratum of primary slates of M. de Barrande's " etage B." These lat- ter rest conformably upon the older slates. Next come the sandstones of the Grauwacke, which in their turn are cov- ered by Grauwacke slates of a mean thickness of 1,000 me- ters. Above the Grauwacke lie the sandstone and quartz- ite forming the extreme limit of the metalliferous deposits. All these beds have a strike of from 60 to 75. Between the sandstone and the higher Silurian strata to the west of Pri- bram and of the Birkeiiberg occurs a fault of great length MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 297 and of some centimeters in thickness, which is filled with dark gray clay. The strike of this fault is very constant E", 56 E. Its dip is 75 N. Numerous metalliferous veins and dikes of diorite cross the lower Silurian strata. Most of the veins show gossans at the croppings, and are filled with argentiferous galena only at the depth of 100 meters and more. The thickness of the veins now being worked varies from a few centime- ters to six meters and over. Besides galena, the veins con- tain black-jack or zinc-blende poor in silver iron spar, and often calcite, ruby silver, and tetrahedrite, while argentite and native silver are rarely found. The galena occurs in stringers, or in veins, or in lenticular masses, or dissem- inated in the compact and quartzose gangue. Many veins have been explored for a long distance, both in the strike and dip, without showing any decrease in richness or sensi- ble variation in the gangue ; on the contrary, it may be af- firmed that the thickness and the contents in silver increase with the depth. Almost all the veins now being worked appear in the Grauwacke, many of them pinching and growing poorer to- wards the surface, as they enter the more tenacious strata of this formation, while the contents of other veins are en- riched in the upper portions in spots, or in the line where they enter the Grauwacke. Some of the veins cross the fault above mentioned, and have been recognized at a great distance in the schists on the other side of the fault. There are nineteen shafts at Pribram, which are connected at various levels. The deepest is at Adalbert, which has reached the depth of 1,020.1 meters and has thirty levels. It is the deepest perpendicular shaft in the world. At the thousand-meter level a station for magnetic observations is established. The underground workings also communicate with one another through the great drainage-tunnel " Joseph II," which is 21,906 meters long. All the water of the mines is raised to the level of this tunnel, which is 445 meters above sea-level. The total length of thegalleries is 245,089 kilometers. The exploitation is effected through the shafts and galle- ries, which latter are driven at vertical distances of from 50 to 70 meters, and from a system of levels. The sinking of the shafts goes on constantly, and powder or dynamite are used in the operation in conjunction with machine drills. By this method of exploration thirty-five veins have been discovered, of which the Adalbert is the principal, not only in its regularity and permanence in strike and dip, but in Pribram. Nature and con- tents of the veins. character of the veins. The workings. Exploitation. The Adalbert Pribram. 298 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878, AU8 GARY HUN *ke 8 Ta( ^ e f i* 8 or es. Finally, several isolated aggrega- tions and feeders running into the walls of the veins have been found, and most of them are workable. Mode of work- The ore is almost always extracted by overhand stoping, exceptionally by underhand stoping. The country rock being for the most part strong, there is scarcely any timl Ber- ing in the galleries. When a drift cuts through weak strata, it is temporarily timbered, and subsequently walled. The haulage is performed in "Hungarian dogs" (small, Mining cars, three-wheeled buggies) and cars running on rails, of which there are 37,125 meters laid in the mine. For some years past the haulage has been effected at the Adalbert Mine by horses, one animal drawing from 4 to 6 cars, each contain- ing about 900 kilos of ore. compressed-air In the underground workings of a certain depth hoisting engines are employed, which are run by compressed air from a compressor above ground, and at a distance of about 1,000 meters. Hoisting cages. In the large shafts the hoisting is effected on cages by cast- steel wire ropes, made on the premises. For the deeper shafts the rope is tapered toward the lower end. The mo- tors are almost altogether steam-engines. The miners go Man-engines, down and come up either on cages or man-engines, rarely on ladders. Annual pro- The annual production is duction. Tons. Ore requiring sorting 4, 000 Ore requiring crushing 60, 000 Ore requiring dressing 145, 000 Mixed ores 1, 000 Sorting. The first hand-picking is done underground. The high- grade ore is hoisted separately to grass, where it is resorted and passed on to the smelting works ; 3,000 tons of smelting ore are thus obtained, with a mean contents of 65 per cent, lead and 0.45 per cent, silver. Dressing. The mechanical dressing (stamping, crushing, settling, classification, and separation by water) takes place in four large mills, distributed so as to reduced transportation to a minimum. Breakers, These mills are furnished with rock-breakers, stamps, set- tanks. 8 ' 8 3g tling tanks, and a very complete array of ore-dressing ma- chinery. The writer of this report noticed in visiting the Percussion works that lateral and terminal percussion tables and con- tinuous jigs were the machines most employed in the final concentration. The favorite material for the lateral percus- sion tables (Rittinger's Stossherd) seemed to be cast iron, planed smooth. California stamp-batteries were introduced MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 299 some time since, but were abandoned again for the old style "on account of the rapid wear of the cams." This is an experience not readily accounted for by those who are familiar with these batteries on the Pacific slope. The water for the concentrating mills is furnished by four Concentrating large reservoirs, with a total capacity of 2,250,000 cubic mi meters. The annual product of these mills is Tons. Smelting ore 5, 800 Blende 600 Spathic iron ore 90 The fixed steam-engines supplying mines and mills with steam-engines. power number 34, with an aggregate of 1,579 horsepower, besides water-power equivalent to 274 horse-power, and a number of steam pumps, hammers, portable engines, etc. The smelting works are provided with all the apparatus Smelting works. necessary to work up the products of the mines, of which the Notice gives only a list. The method of smelting is what is known as the "Coin- Roasting /- . . , . furnaces. ineru process" m German3~$ i. e., the galena is roasted in large reverberatory furnaces in which the ore is gradually moved towards the fire. In front of the fire-bridge it is melted down in order to decompose lead sulphate by silicic acid, and get the roasted product as a slagged mass, which is broken into lumps. The ore so prepared is smelted in Smelting high furnaces of the Pilz type, only a trace of regulus being found in addition to the lead. The latter is desilverized and the argentiferous lead refined. This process is appli- cable in Pribram on account of the freedom of the ores from copper. The workmen employed in the mine number 3,500, in the workmen em- ore-dressing works 1,000, and in the smelting works 400. The Pribram Mine has a mutual insurance fund which workmen's . , . . benen clary insti- provides pensions for workmen no longer able to earn their tutions. living and for widows and orphans. Medical treatment and medicine, and in some cases assistance and money, are also furnished out of the fund, which amounts to 370,321 florins, or, say, half as many dollars. It is controlled by a committee elected ly the workmen. Its revenue consists in drawbacks from wages and payments made by the works, which amount to one-half those made by the men. The Notice gives the production of Pribram for 100 years. du ^ cl>easijl gP ro - Less will serve the present purpose. The product is rapidly increasing, and there has been a net profit every year since 1818 The exhibit made by Pribram included sections of views, hibit pribram ex ' samples of ores of different grades, products of ore-dressing 300 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Pribram. Production 1860-1877. processes, furnace products, wire ropes, maps and plans, and surveying and magnetic instruments. Product of the Pribram Smelting Works. Years. Fine silver. Litharge. Lead. Profit. 1860 Kilos. 12 807 Kilos. 858 256 Kilos. 340 684 Florins. 119 298 1865 14, 286 1, 384 004 369 650 227 720 1870 15 390 797 410 1 065 978 757 204 1871 16 274 1 627 956 500 990 634 429 1872 16 824 1 605 263 641 194 495 527 1873 18, 053 1,904 302 939 464 693 415 1874 20 351 2 333 926 1 054 330 683 761 1875 22, 857 2, 846, 116 967 670 774 728 1876 23 750 2 868 638 962 119 981 002 1877 27, 015 3, 466 306 1 292 125 1 288 722 Joachimsthal. Joachimsthal. Position. The little town of Joachimsthal lies on the south slope of the Erzgebirge (Metal Mountains) of Bohemia, in a ravine History. running north and south. Mining began there, in all proba- bility, during the first years of the sixteenth century. In 1517 the number of miners was 8,000 and the town counted 20,000 souls. It was in 1518 that the first silver crowns were struck here. They were at first called Joaehimsthaler, afterwards, by abbreviation, Thaler, whence also dollar. Depressing The wars of the seventeenth century had a highly preju- effect of the wars -,.., /v t j_ j i i -i -i of the i7th cen- dicial eflect upon the exploitation, which declined to such an extent that the annual production sank rapidly from a mean of 22,000 kilos of silver during the first 80 years to an average of 3,000 kilos, at which it remained from 1595 to 1877. Geological The vein-bearing rocks of Joachimsthal are mica schists the metalliferous inclosed by granite. The veins in the eastern portion of the mine, where there are masses of included limestone, carry calcite as the gangue mineral. Those in the western part of the mine are quartzose, and are accompanied in part by masses of included porphyry. There are seventeen veins which strike north and seventeen which strike east. It is a remarkable fact that those which strike north show en- richment where they pass or cross the intruded limestone or porphyry, while the other set of veins are not thus affected. The width of the veins varies from two meters down. They have been explored to a depth of 520 meters and to a hori- zontal distance of from 1,500 to 4,000 meters. Nature of the The ores raised carry silver, cobalt, nickel, bismuth, and '^workings, uranium. There are four shafts, the deepest being 533 meters. The drainage is accomplished by the aid of two MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 301 vc iCoro*l*'PS tunnels, with a united length of 40 lukis. About 600,000 AUS ] HUN - kilos of ore are raised yearly. Compared with those of other mines the ores raised at joachimsthai. Joachimsthal seldom require stamping. The ore is concen- trated on Rittinger's percussion tables. The result is 4,000 of concentration kilos of concentrations, containing from 0.1 to 0.5 per cent. silver, 5 to 6 per cent, cobalt and nickel, and 8 per cent. bismuth 5 and, farther, 2,500 kilos of uranium concentrations, containing 24 to 30 per cent, of uranoso-uranic oxide. The concentrations containing silver, etc., are shipped to ^^^^l Freiberg. The uranium ores are delivered to the local uranium ores factory, where they are converted into pigments much em- ployed in glass and porcelain coloring. The production of C0 k, duction of colors amounts to 4,500 kilos yearly, and samples were ex- hibited in Paris. As a subsidiary product vanadates are also prepared and were exhibited. Idria. Idria, in Carniola, lies above twenty miles east of north Position. from Trieste. The deposit of cinnabar at Idria was dis- covered between 1490 and 1497. Recent investigations of the geology of Idria by the pres- Geological oc- currence of the ent manager, M. Lipold, have proved that the ore-bearing cinnabar. rocks are exclusively Triassic, and that the Carboniferous sandstones and schists which form the roof of the metallif- erous Triassic beds have assumed this abnormal position only by dislocation, displacement, or reversal. The direction of the principal fracture of dislocation can be studied above ground. It runs from north west to south- east for a long distance, and is encountered again in one of the principal faults of the mines, and in the extensive fract- ures and folds of the metalliferous Wengen beds which occur in the northern part of the mine. The nature of the deposit is very different here and in the Geological asso- . . TTTI j i n ... elation of the de- southeast portion. While in the former the deposit is in- posit. closed in the Upper Triassic Wengen beds, which are cal- careous conglomerates and dolomitic breccia, and there assumes the form of a segregation or of a bedded vein, in the southeast the ore is contained in limestone and dolomite belonging to the Lower Triassic. Here it occurs especially in transverse fissures filled with schistose limestone and impregnated with cinnabar. This impregnation is observed even in the country rock, in which it occurs in remunerative quantities. The richest ores assume a lenticular shape, and are found in the Wengen beds in the northwest. Their ap- pearance has *ieai3f?*t for them the names of u steel ore' 7 302 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. AUSTRIA-HUN- GARY. Idria. Workings. Winning. Filling. Sorting in the mine. Exploitation. Annual produc tion. Sorting at the works. Stamps. Blake crusher. Sorting table. (Stahlerz), " liver ore" (Lebererz), and u brick ore" (Ziegel- erz). They sometimes contain as much as 40 per cent, of quicksilver. The workable region at Idria is 300 meters deep, 800 meters long, and from 20 to 60 meters thick. At the end of 1877 there were 925,800 cubic meters of rock in sight, with a contents of 32,580,000 kilos of quicksilver. The cubic meter of rock in place gives an average of 2,600 kilos of roasting ore, with a contents of 1.35 per cent, quicksilver. Winning the ore is accomplished by " cross-cut work," a modification of pillar and stall work, involving filling, which is applied to thick seams on ore bodies of great dip and feeble tenacity. Drifts are run at various levels in the ore body, and cross-cuts are run at intervals to foot and hang- ing wall. The pillars thus formed are won in from the cross-cuts toward the center, and from the walls of the de- posit toward the central drift, by side stopes or stalls. To sustain the roof, timbers are set and immediately packed. After the whole level has been stoped out in this way the ore immediately overlying the exhausted stopes is opened out and won in the same manner. The filling is obtained from workings driven for prospecting purposes, from the barren rock won with the ore, or if necessary is even sent down from the surface. The ore is divided in the mine into roasting ore, sorting ore, and waste. There are five shafts, varying in depth from 100 to 307 meters. The hoisting engines are for the most part hy- draulic. The tramways under ground measure 4,000 meters, those above ground 2,900 meters. The mean annual production is 1,800 metrical tons roast- ing ore and 28,200 tons of ore requiring sorting $ or, in all, 30,000 tons, with a contents of 500 tons of quicksilver. Hand-picking of the poor rock was substituted in 1842 for a primitive wet dressing. The ores raised are dumped into a screen which separates the coarse stuff from the fine. What does not go through the screen is carried to a sorting house, where it is classified into high grade, low grade, crushing ore, and waste. What goes through the first screen falls into a second and finer screen. What goes through the second screen is delivered to the smelting works direct, and the comparatively small stuff which does not pass the second screen is sorted. The ore, high grade or low, is crushed dry in a 25-stainp battery, and afterwards delivered to the reduction works separately. The finer ores are reduced in a Blake crusher, then sifted, and the coarse stuff sorted on a revolving sorting table into MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 303 ore and waste. The contents of the various classes of ore is from 0.4 per cent, to 50 per cent. The methods employed in the extraction of the quick- I( iiia. silver from the ores have varied greatly since the mine was first worked. At first open vessels were used,* afterwards earthen pots, for which cast-iron receivers were substituted Retorting. in 1641. These re3eivers at first approximated to the form of jars 5 in 1665 they were made as retorts. It was at this time that the method of heating the cinnabar with lime was Lime process. invented. In 1750 the Almaden furnace was introduced. In 1787 the horizontal furnace, called the Idria furnace, with Furnaces. a chimney and condensation chambers, was built. The great quadruple furnace called the Leopold, and Leopold erected in 1825, was derived from the last mentioned. It was at work till 1870. The Alberti reverberatory furnaces , Albert! furnace. date from 1842. They are provided with inclined conden- sation pipes, cooled by sprinkling with cold water. In 1869 lime kilns were adopted as a type, and two cupola furnaces provided with condensation chambers were erected. This system was perfected in 1870 by M. Exeli, manager of the Exeii's iron- works and the inventor of the "iron -clad furnaces." At c ' the same period reverberatory muffle furnaces with 8 muf- Muffle furnaces. fles were constructed for the treatment of the rich ores. In 1871 these furnaces were replaced by the two muffle fur- naces now in operation. Since 1875 the reduction of the ores of both high and low grade has also been accomplished by the help of long reverberatory furnaces of the type in . Reverberate, use in lead works for roasting purposes (Fortschauflung- sofen). The reduction of cinnabar in muffle furnaces is effected Processes of re-, auction 01 cmna- by decomposition of the sulphide by caustic lime. In all bar. the other furnaces it is simply a process of roasting and distillation. A system of flues of a total length of 706 meters stands Fume flue. in connection with a high stack placed at the summit of the mountain, through which the gases escape, leaving the quicksilver behind. The following is a list of the furnaces in use : Albert! reverberatory furnaces, heated through, the bottoms, con- List of furua- densation in forked pipes 10 cesinuse. Roasting furnace, with bottom heat and condensation in forked pipes 1 *The "Notice" says meules ouvertcs. I suppose this to refer to the tertia ratio described by Agricola. Open vessels of ore were placed in a tight room over furnaces heated from the outside. To promote conden- sation green boughs were placed in the inclosed space. The quick- silver gathered on the floor and the leaves. 304 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1R78. Loss. Vermilion. Process. AUSTRIA-HUX- Cupola furnaces, condensation in forked pipes 2 ^ Iron-clad furnaces, the stack heated with wood, condensation in Idria. crockery pipes 3 Furnaces. Muffle furnaces 6 Ore production. In a run of eleven months the works can reduce 13,000 tons of ore in lumps, 20,000 tons of gravelly ore, and 2,000 to 3,000 tons of pulverized ore. The loss has been determined during the last years at 13.58 per cent. Vermilion is manufactured on a large scale at Idria. The process is very old, but satisfactory, and consists 1st. In the preparation of sethiops by intimate mixture of mercury and sulphur. 2d. Transformation into cinnabar by distillation. 3d. Conversion of cinnabar into vermilion by grinding and washing. Sixty tons of quicksilver are annually converted into vermilion in this way, with a loss of 0.35 per cent, of metal. The workmen employed at Idria number 1,040, of whom 602 are occupied in the mine, G5 in the ore-picking houses, 195 in the smelting works, and the remainder in various shops. Besides their wages, which are small, the miners receive grain and fuel at a fixed price, and when ill are provided with medical attendance and medicine free of charge. There are also government lodgings for the employe's. The mutual insurance association possesses a fund of 78,000 florins, and disposes of a hospital. The mine supports a school for the children of the miners. Idria exhibited cinnabar in its various associations and specimens illustrating the geology of the mine j also char- acteristic fossils of the important beds, very necessary to the proof of so extraordinary a fact as the occurrence of the Triassic under the Carboniferous. The various vermil- ion colors and the intermediate products in their manufact- ure were also displayed : Production. Workmen. Wages benefits. mil Cinnabar ex- hibit of Idria. Product, of Idria smelting works. Product of the Idna Smelting Works. Years Length of run, : in months. Quick- silver. Artificial cinnabar. 1800 Nine Kilos. 160 346 Kilos. 78.117 1865 . . . Ten 109,320 100, 81 1 1870 Twelve 37(1, 090 98,819 1871 ... . Ten 375, 789 33, 005 1872 Eleven 383, 495 60, 498 1873 do 377, 387 46, 983 1874 i do 372, 135 48, 041 1875 do 309, 7l'9 58, 064 1876 do ' 372,413 49, 205 1877 Ten and a half. 3fO, '200 64, 080 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HA-GTJE. 305 Sclmeeberg. AUS R A Y HUN ~ Another mine mentioned by the Notice, and which also ex- hibited in Paris, is worthy of mention because of its excep- tional character and its considerable commercial importance. The Sclmeeberg (Snow Mountain) lies about 30 miles Position. southwest of Innsbruck, and forms the intersection of sev- eral lofty ranges. Near its summit, 2,200 meters above sea- level, and just below the glacier limits, is the Schneeberg zinc-blende mine. Everything leads to the belief that this History mine was worked as far back as the middle of the fifteenth century not for blende, of course, but for argentiferous galena and chalcopyrite. In 1486 a thousand miners were tifewnw galena. at work ; but soon afterwards the ore was practically ex- hausted. In 1868 and 1869 new examinations of this mine led to its blen aeT m> y 7 hi gmV nn, in the provinces Yicenza, Verona, and Ber- gamo, and on the island of Sardinia. The total area of these coal fields is 13,500 hectares, = 51 square miles. There are, besides, tolerably extensive deposits of peat at the foot of the Alps. The extent of the output of brown coal is apparent from the following figures : Tonnes of 1,000 kiloa, 2,204 Ibs. Average of the years 186G-1870 70,000 For the year 1871 84,000 1872 95, COO 1873 110,305 1874 121,855 1875 101,640 The peat product amounts to about 95,000 tonnes yearly. Picked specimens of fuels analyzed in the laboratory of the Royal Technical Institute in Florence gave the follow- ing results : Area. Peat. Output of lig- nite. Peat product. Description. Locality. t i I i i tc 00 i i s 4 '5 p Lignite ... Montebanaboli 1 32 73 44 6 15 33 20 5 10 7 485 Do Tatti 1 GG 73 10 5 88 15 89 2 50 Peat Ghedi 55 60 6 72 33 83 ^ 80 5 353 Prepared peat ....do 1 28 50 00 G 80 32 43 8 77 4 978 Analyses of lig nite and peat. It is plain that in spite of the very moderate consumption of fuel in Italy the importation of coal must reach consid- erable figures. J. Pechar, Kolile und Eisen. 308 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. The imported coal comes almost exclusively from England, in what quantities appears in the following table : Italian trade in coal, in tonnes of 1,000 kilos. tation and expor- tation of coal. Years. Importa- tion. Exporta- tion. 1866 524 042 1 879 1867 .... 515 943 2 068 1868 580 388 3 934 1869 653' 694 6 442 1870 941 789 11 456 1871 791' 589 12 550 1872 1 039 724 5 902 1873 ... ... . .... ' 959* 532 4 189 1874 1 032 035 4 778 1875 1 0'9 816 7 736 1876 454 54 5 794 Iron. If Italy possessed coal in proportion to the quan- Large deposits titv and quality of her iron, she would take rank with the of excellent qual- ity, great iron-producing countries of the world. In the absence of coal the iron industry is of little importance and ad- Smeiting with van ccs but slowly. Smelting is eifected almost exclusively with charcoal, and it is more profitable to export ore than to smelt. Iron ores. IRON ORES. Tal)1e of the production, importation, and exportation, in tonnes of 1,000 kilos. Production, im- portation, ami ex- poi tation : 1850- 1876. Years. Produc- tion. Importa- tion. Exporta- tion. 1850... 64,000 1830 71, 000 1866 145 000 392 18 110 1867 105 000 6 578 31,562 1868 102 000 6 263 24 513 1869 . .. 101 000 1 54 122 1870 74 000 1 40 711 1871 72 000 7 45 322 1872 167, 000 45 1G8, 472 1873 . 260 000 431 151 949 1874 265, 000 12 203., 397 1875 234, 000 19V, 157 1876 248 000 53 197. 697 Localities of Iron mines are worked in the Lonibardic provinces of the iron mines. Bergamo, Brescia, and Corno, in Sardinia, and in the Pied- montese provinces of Turin and Novara, but the most fruit- Eiba. ful mines are those of Elba, and to them is due the credit of the greater part of the production recorded in the fore- Historical iron going table. The inexhaustible iron mountain of Elba has been celebrated from the earliest times, and was worked by the Etruscans and the Eomans. The ore is shipped at the . harbor of Eio, in the neighborhood of which lies the Yer- rucano Mine, the most important in the island. Since 1872 the production of iron ores in Italy has been tolerably large, and in the last two years the exportation MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 309 lias been four-fifths of the output. The exported ore goes ITALY - mainly to France, but a few ship-loads go as far as the iron ore. United States. Mines of Nalfidano. in Sardinia. ^. Z J%? mines of Malfidano: The change brought about in the zinc industry by the re- opening of the ancient mines of Sardinia and Greece is fa- Ancient mine. railiar to all who have to do with that metal, and informa- tion concerning these resuscitated mining districts will be welcome to many. Accordingly, a large part of the Notia, published by the Zinc Mining Company of Malfidano, is here reproduced. The deposits worked by the Malfidano Company are ^ the SoSSS^TO two general descriptions. For the most part they partake vei ns ^^ ed bv of the character of bedded veins. This is the case at Mal- fiditoo, at Genna- Arenas, and at Planu-Sartu. But some- times they are masses or chimneys of ore, which appear to bear no relation to the stratification of the inclosing lime- stones, except that they preserve the same dip, which is more or less nearly vertical, as at Planedda and at Monte- Eexio. The limestones are supposed to be Silurian. The most important of these deposits is that of Malfidano, The deposits at which contains calamine, blende, galena, and cerusite. These minerals are mingled without any order in the de- posit. Calamine, however, predominates and constitutes seven-eighths of the whole. The deposit of Malfidano takes the form of an immense vein, parallel to the stratification of the limestones. Its limits have not yet been precisely determined. This vein appears to have two branches. In the more of t important of them the calamine is generally distributed vein in masses or chimneys, which are parallel to the limestone beds. These chimneys or masses of ore exhibit very vari able horizontal dimensions, and sometimes attain a thick- ness of twenty meters. When several of them unite, as is not infrequent, the ore is developed in the general direction of the deposit for a hundred meters, or even more. Else- where the calaniiue is distributed more regularly in veins of varying thickness. In both modes of distribution the ore follows the general dip. It is in this branch of the vein that the mine of Malfidano, properly so called, is situated. The other branch contains few workable deposits. The deposit at Planedda has the form of an inverted Iran- ne ^ osit at pla " cated cone, the larger ba&e reaching the surface, where it presents an area of about 1,200 square meters. At GO me- mine. 310 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. ITALY - _ ters from the surface the area is about 110 square meters, zinc mines of below which there is no ore of any importance. This mass Maltidano. .. . * _. seems to have been nearly worked out. The ore is pnnci- >dda ine at Plan P a ^y ear thy calamine, but of remarkably constant compo- sition, carrying from 39 to 43 per cent, of zinc. j n ae deposit of Mbnte-Rexio are found various concen- trations of calamine, occurring in masses of varying size in dolomite limestones. The mass bearing the name " De la Route f is the most important ; it measures 100 meters by 30, and has been explored for 50 meters in depth without reach- Character of ing its inferior limit. It consists, for the most part, of white calamine, which is nearly pure carbonate, and of yellowish calamine covered with crystals of zinc silicate. The ore is mixed with lime-spar ferruginous matter, containing a small amount of zinc. The ore of this mine, like that of Pla- nedda, contains little or no metallic sulphides. oejina-Arenas The Genna- Arenas Mine, to the west of Monte-Rexio. has mine. not been worked to any great extent. It consists of lenticu- lar bodies, sometimes isolated and sometimes connected by veins of calamine. rianu-Sartu The Planu-Sartu claim contains two deposits, distinguished as the north and south bodies. Next to Malfidano the south body is the most important and richest of the deposits be- longing to the company, and it is the most regular of all. Its general strike is north 25 east, and its croppings extend for 340 meters, and are from 40 to 50 meters wide. character of At the surface the ore forms a series of lenticular bodies, the deposit. ' arranged like a string of beads, and were very profitably worked. But in depth the walls of these ore bodies ap- proached each other, whence it was believed that the de- posit of the Planu-Sartu would give out. But explorations by shafts proved that below the croppings there are veins of considerable thickness and great regularity, such as are seldom found in deposits of calamine. All these veins are parallel to the limestone beds in which they are situated, and are remarkable for their continuity in depth. Five of these veins have been discovered, and their thickness va ries from 1.5 meters to 5 meters. At some points they open out to a greater width, and one of these enlargements reaches 12 meters. The character of the ore of this mine is very varied. The color is white, yellow, red, and black, and the texture varies as greatly as the color. The north body is parallel to and analogous to the south body r but carries comparatively little ore. Exploitation. Exploitation. The mines of the Malfidano Company seem to be exceptionally weil situated for working, for a large MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 311 part of the ore lies at or near the surface, while at the same ITALY - time the topography is such that tunnels can be run into zinc mines of Halfidano the ore bodies. Hence, the deposits can, for the most part, be worked as open casts, and the material dumped through chutes to the tunnels, through which it is brought to the surface nearly at sea-level. Underground workings of the workings. ordinary character are also necessary in a few places. There is little trouble with water. Production of ore. The ores extracted are divided into classification of ores. two great classes, lump ore and earthy ore. The latter come almost exclusively from Planedda and Planu-Satu. The production of lump ores, from the organization of the com- lump ^** 011 f pany, has been as follows : Tonnes. 1866-'G7 28,7531866-1877. 1868 35,967 1869 33,963 1870 16,287 1871 15,290 1872 26,878 1873 29,073 1874 31,459 1875 35,119 1876 42,364 1877 45, 598 Total 340, 756 In addition, there have been produced, during the same period, 59,102 tons of earthy ore sufficiently rich for sale. An ore-dressing works is being constructed at Buggerru for works for the treatment of a couple of hundred thousand tons of low- ore 68 grade ore now on hand, and will go into operation at the end of 1878. Besides the ore above mentioned, 21,250 tons of zinco- plumbiferous ore has been sorted out from the products of fer U80re the mines. The following is given as the mean composition of the ore actually extracted from the Malfidano Mine : Per cent. Carbonic acid and combined water 26. 40 Analysis. Zinc 40. 00 Oxygen 10.06 Silicic acid 5. 00 Lead 5.54 Ferric oxide and aluminum 6. 50 Lime and magnesia 4. 40 Sulphur 2.00 Total 99.90 This composition is nearly the average of the ores from the various mines, which contain from 38 to 45 per cent, of 312 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. ITALY - _ zinc. The earthy ores are of a similar composition. The zinc mines of zinco-pluinbiferous ores contain 34.50 per cent, zinc, 20.50 per cent. lead, and 150 grams of silver per ton of ore. Analysis. Exploitation. Calcining. Workmen. These latter, as well as the earthy calamines, are sold raw, while the lump ores of zinc are roasted at Buggerru, with charcoal, in shaft furnaces 6 meters high and 3 meters in diameter at the widest point. The calcining increases the zinc contents of the ore to 54.40 per cent., and it is said that the variation in the com- position of the roasted calarnine does not amount to 1 per cent. The number of workmen employed by the company is 1,465. XI. SPAIN. So far as natural resources are concerned, Spain is one of Grand natural the first mining countries in the world. It leads all countries quicksilver, cop- in the amount of lead and quicksilver produced ; the copper- pe mining district of Huelva is one of the most imywrtant in Europe ; the iron mines of Bilbao are as famous for the quantity of their ores as for the quality of the metal pro- duced from them ; its coal fields are extensive and have the coni and zinc. advantage of lying near the sea-coast ; and ores of zinc and other metals abound. The exhibits made at Paris, however, inadequate e\- 7 hibit in Paris. as far as Glass 43 isc oncerued, were utterly unsatisfactory, some of the most famous mines not even being represented by specimens of ore, and information either as to the mining statistics of the country or as to the nature and workings of particular deposits was conspicuous only by its absence. Under these circumstances the Commissioners would be justified in omitting any report upon the Spanish exhibit, but Spain plays a part really so important, and potentially so much more so, in the mining industries of Europe, that a few facts gleaned from various authors are here set down. The following resume of the product of the metallic mines Beportof Denis de Lagarde. of Spain is taken from a work by M. Denis de Lagarde : Production of ores in Spain. Ores. 1867. 1868. 1869. Lead . . Tonnes. 337 L93 Tonnes. 317 670 Tonnes. 278 374 Argentiferous lead . . . 30, 417 28 908 33 440 Silver 1 648 3 464 2 931 ATgfTitifernns pyrites ...,., 25 500 1 825 Copper 237 488 27 732 306 620 Argentiferous copper . 116 ' 95 223 Zinc 86 8 9 2 131 407 113 485 Nickel and cobalt 122 1 83 Production ol res in Spain : 1867-1869. While no trustworthy figures are attainable for the prod- uct of the Spanish mines since 1869, it is known that the fig- ures of the above table have undergone considerable modi- fication. The amount of lead and zinc produced has dimin- ished, while that of copper has largely increased. The chief lead-mining province of Spain is Murcia, on the The lead mines southeastern coast, which produces two-thirds of the yearly oi output. The province of Santander, on the Bay of Biscay, 313 314 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Coal. SPAIN - _ in Old Castile, leads in the production of zinc, but the prov- zinc mines of ince of Murcia stands next to it, and the two together pro Santander and Murcia. duce nine-tenths of the total zinc product of the country. copper. Almost all the copper is produced in Huelva, which lies in the southwestern corner of Spain, adjoining the great py- rites-mining district of Portugal. Iron ore is largely mined both in the Bay of Biscay, in the neighborhood of Bilbao, and in the southeast (Murcia), while coal comes chiefly from Asturias and Palencia, on the northern coast, but also from Cordova, in the south. The following notes are mostly taken from M. J. Peehar's valuable treatise, Kohle und Eisen in alien Laendern der Erde: Spain possesses such important deposits of coal that the miring f coal ent i re ly inadequate prosecution of coal mining would be very remarkable were it not fully explained by the unfavorable political conditions of the country. i^Joaffleils^ 11 " The extent of the coal fields of Spain is estimated at 906,720 hectares (nearly 3,500 square miles). The store of coal is supposed to be from 3,000 to 3,500 million of tons. Of this two-thirds can certainly be mined with profit, and at the present rate of consumption (a million and a half of tons a year) would last Spain for 1,300 years. m Jri? g S spa? n al ^ oal mining in Spain was begun about the middle of the eighteenth century, but in 1825, on the promulgation of a new mining law, there was no coal being mined. Since that time there has been a very gradual rise in the production and consumption. But more than half the amount used is still imported, as will be seen by the following table : Statistics of Spanish coal mines and work- ings. Provinces. Extent of coal prop- erties being worked. Number of workmen employed. Steam-engines. Number. Horse-power. Coal. TRUE COAL. Oviedo Acres. 51, 874 1,769 3,341 94 748 995 408 59, 229 3,883 1,066 1,540 120 42 39 48 6 1 3 1 144 272 97 95 50 Tonnes. 374, 914 176,336 119, 259 13, 500 6,380 4,721 230 Cordova .. Palencia Sevilla . ... Gerona Leon Burgos Total 6,738 32 658 695, 340 Lignite. LIGKITE. Barcelona 4,605 198 304 1,047 124 119 282 165 66 12 77 10 12 51 1 10 7,516 2,022 1,584 1,157 243 208 200 Santander Gruipuzcoa . . Teruel .Logrono Alicante Balearic Isles . . MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 315 ii | j Steam-engines. Plfe .3 L Provinces. 3* 111 A) | < ii 1^ 1 | 1 II ! S fi 1 LIGNITE. .4. ere*. Tonnes. .Navarra 30 4 200 277 34 140 Oviedo 259 29 56 Castellon 272 27 20 Total 7,517 13, 346 587 1 ]0 Aggregate 1)6,746 7,325 33 fTs 708, 686 Statistics of coal industry. Productior t. Importa- Production, importation, con- Consump- sumption : True coal. Lignite. Total. tion. tion. 1860 Tonnes. 320 899 Tonnes. 18, 952 Tonnes. 339 857 Tonnes. 452, 479 Tonnes. 792,330 ]8GO 1877 1865 461 896 34 359 495 755 394 806 890 561 1870 6''1 832 40 095 601 927 566,911 , 228, 838 1871 589, 707 43, 824 633, 531 5:;4, !-".)" , 168, 428 1872 687 791 33 4CO 721 251 592 5G7 313, 818 1873 658, 744 20, 938 679, 682 619, 248 , 298, 930 1874 695, 310 13,346 708, 686 580, 708 , 289, 394 1875 628 810 25 689 654 499 704, 287 , 358, 786 1870 675, 926 30,888 706, 814 774, 770 , 481, 584 1877 699, 500 837, 053 , 536, 553 In the report on England an interesting table was given comparative . ,. , . , . , . , consumption for showing the purposes ior which the coal raised was con- various sumed. The consumption in Spain from 1872 to 1874 for se various purposes was as follows : Tonnes. Per cent. Mineral industries 500 000 38.6 Railways 190, 000 14.7 Illuminatin 1 n3S ous fumes. Even the spontaneous and purely accidental ^ ns ve s eta - kindliug of certain piles of ore aroused seditious and men- acing movements among the country people, and it conse- quently became necessary to abandon this method of treat- ment. Operations are hence, for the time being, limited to en f operations on crushing the ores and saturating them with water from time p or ores - to time. With patience and the lapse of years the copper will be extracted in a soluble condition and subsequently precipitated in tanks by cast-iron. Exportation. The transportation of the pyrites from the Exportation. mine to the port of shipment is performed by a railway of 3 ft. G in. gauge and locomotives averaging 55 horse-power. The distance is about 11 miles (17 kilometers), but upon parts of the road the action is automatic, the grade being Railway to tin- such that the cars descend without traction. At the bot- co torn of the first down-grade the cars are attached to the lo- comotives and drawn up the ensuing up-grade, after which they descend as before. This method of transportation accomplishes a certain economy of fuel, the consumption of which is very great upon the steep up-grades. 328 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. PORTUGAL. The construction of the railway from the mine to the ship- ping port on the Guadiaua was accomplished in spite of serious difficulties arising from the broken and mountainous character of the country to be crossed. It was necessary either to leave slopes of 1 in 19 or to employ very powerful locomotives for the haulage of the ore, while in some places curves of 50 meters (164 ft.) radius had to be passed, ren- dering locomotives with a very short base essential. On ei- the other hand, innumerable difficulties had to be overcome uent to the trans- to fl th? in conduc ti n g tne traffic demanded by the exportation of the pyrites upon such a road, with freight carried amounting sometimes to 200,000 tons, or thereabout, per annum. If there be further taken into consideration the difficulties arising to the management through the excess of costs over profit, and the dearness of fuel, which has to be imported wholly from England, it will be readily seen that the trans- portation of the pyrites to the point of shipment is one of the largest elements in the price of our ores. Railway plant. Twenty-four locomotives are in use at Saint Domingos ; of these the more powerful are used on the railroad to Po- marao, and the others on the different roads within and with- out the mine for removing the barren material overlying the ore, etc. There are 791 cars, without counting the side- dump cars, exclusively used in terracing work. The lolling stock represents a total value of 83,342. ore exported. The whole quantity of ore exported since the commence- ment of operations at the mine up to the end of 1877 Lo.v-or.ade ores amounts to 2,325,802 metrical tons. About 636,864 tons of Scnt cal treat " low-grade ore have been set aside for metallurgical treat- ment on the spot. Embarkation. Embarkation. If the construction of a railway across the country so broken as that through which the Guadiana runs was an enterprise beset with difficulties, the establish- ment of a shipping port for Hie large quantities of ore was scarcely less so. It was necessary to choose a part of the river at which a minimum distance from the mine should be Difficulty in combined with a sufficient depth of the channel to permit shipping port, of access to steamers of deep draught. But just at the point where these advantages were combined the hills de- scended very steeply to the banks of the river. The crea- tion of a port, the establishment of buildings, and the other necessary constructions here, hoc opus, Me labor est ! Perse- verance and the liberal use of capital, however, overcame the obstacles which the nature of the country offered to these plans. The commencement was made by constructing a quay MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 329 along which the ships were to anchor. The surface of the quay PORTUGAL. was raised to the level of the railroad from the mine. Kails .,,.,., ,, , . . , Pyrites mine of were then laid to chutes in the quay, projecting to a point samt above the holds of the vessels to be loaded, and lined with boiler-plate. On reaching these chutes the cars are tipped on a rocker, dumping their contents directly into the vessel. The perfect success of this arrangement has led to the construction of a second quay at a short distance from the first. By these means 1,500 to 2,000 tons can be loaded per in day if necessary without much difficulty. The problem of mentsf the embarkation of ores having been solved, the next step was to build a village for the accommodation of the neces- sary employes, and to construct warehouses, offices, etc. For this purpose it was necessary to make cuttings in the slopes, remove rocks, fill ravines, and open up roads where there had been mere trails, accessible only to the goats and herdsmen who till then had been the sole inhabitants of these regions. At last the port of Pomarao was estab- Tho port of Po- lished, a port now well known and annually frequented by m more than 400 sailing ships and steamers of a capacity of from 250 to 1,500 tons. Two tugs are kept upon the river for towing the sailing ships from the bar of the Guadiaua to the port of Pomarao, a distance of 30 English miles. There are at Pomarao a large number of warehouses, offi- Tho buiiam : - ,,. ^ ., ,, and olficcs at tho ces, dwellings, etc., for the various persons to whom the port. shipping of the ore gives employment or business. A por- tion of these buildings was destroyed by the terrible flood of the Guadiana which occurred from the Gth to the 8th of December, 187G. This flood, the most disastrous of which Tho flootl of there is any record, produced the most terrible devastation, December ' 187G - not only at Pomarao, but along the whole course of the river. Constructions of the most solid character, which had resisted all previous inundations, failed to stand this one, and the enormous volume of waters rushing down the mountains swept the country before it in its dizzy course, leaving nothing after its passage but a vast slough, which covered a scene of fearful destruction. It need scarcely be D e s tructiou of Pomarao. said that Pomarao was completely demolished and had to be reconstructed. Happily, these terrible phenomena are repeated only at long intervals. On the bank of the river opposite to the shipping port a Arrangements , for deposit of bal- steam apparatus has been placed to draw up cars charged last. with ballast, which is deposited at such a height as to be safe from freshets. Grave inconvenience would otherwise be occasioned by filling up of the channel. A steam-engine of 9 nominal horse-power draws the cars up the hill by a chain. 330 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARI- 1 , of the D company'8 buildings. PORTUGAL. TJ I m i ne O f. Saint Domingos, buildings, etc. The village known under the name of Saint Domingos was built by the com P anv which works the mine, in the immediate neighbor- hood of the works. For nearly twenty centuries, ever since it was abandoned by the ancient miners, this region has been a desert, occupied only by wild beasts and an occa- sional goat-herd with his flock. ^ s soon as P ossess i n was taken the construction of a village was begun, which now entirely surrounds the hill of Saint Domingos. An enormous building was erected, which contains the lodgings of the director, the offices, the labora- tory, the billiard-room, and a reading-room for the recrea- tion of the employe's. The latter contains a library and the greater part of the journals of Portugal and of the princi- pal foreign countries. A church, dedicated to the Catholic worship, stood upon the highest point of the hill of Saint Domingos, and was in charge of a priest, whose salary was paid by the company. The enlargement of the open cast having encroached upon the site of this church, it became necessary to demolish it, after solemn deconsecration, leav- ing only the 'clock tower, which remains as a relic of the former edifice. Keligious service is now performed provisionally in a chapel which has been consecrated in another part of the company's estate, out of reach of the workings. Among the buildings is a hospital, which has been estab- lished for the gratuitous treatment of the workmen, to which is attached a dispensary where medicines are fur- nished free of charge, the whole being under the care of a physician and an apothecary paid by the company. There are, moreover, a number of stores for the supply of food, etc., and 500 dwellings more or less spacious. Of course there are various foundries, carpenter and machine shops/smithies, etc. At Saint Domingos motive power is furnished in these shops by a 16 horse-power engine. There are also spacious storehouses for the supplies of the company. There are workmen em- from 1,500 to 2,500 persons employed, according as the work is being more or less actively pushed. For the purpose of making the works of Saint Domingos independent of the effects of the natural dryness of the country, and of supplying the needs of the constantly grow- ing number of steam-engines, considerable capital has been invested in the construction of dams in the rivers and ra- stora S e reser- vines in the surrounding country, which admit of storage of a sufficient quantity of water during the winter. The neglect of this precaution might be followed by serious con- Hospital. stores. Dwellings. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 331 sequences, since the great heat of summer dries up all the water-courses in the neighborhood, and even the springs and sai wells. The largest of these reservoirs will contain from g 5,000,000 to 6.000,000 cubic meters, and suffices for the sup- storage reser- voirs. ply of the boilers and of the various processes of saturation and cementation. There is even a project for the employ- ment of the surplus water in the irrigation of lands about the mine. These lands have been acquired by the company with the intention of clearing them for the culture of such crops as are adapted to the climatic conditions of the place. The attempt has even been made to cultivate barley and oats, to serve as feed for the mules kept at the mine. As a hygienic measure, and for the purpose of modifying culture of tho as far as possible the natural barrenness of the country, the uiu y culture of the Eucalyptus globulus (better known in America as the blue gum) has been undertaken in all suitable posi- tions. This species is perfectly adapted to the climatic con- ditions and to the soil about the mine, and several thousand of the trees are already in a flourishing condition. The capital represented by the works, the railway, rolling capital mi- stook, etc., of the mine and its dependencies may be esti- F mated at 560,000. The general direction of the company is in London, and the ores are exported almost exclusively to England. A beginning has been made looking toward the manufacture of chemical products at Lisbon and else- where, but as yet only on a small scale. The managing director is Mr. James Mason, who has been James Mason, successively made " Commander of the Order of Christ," tor. ' r "Baron of Pomarao," and "Viscount Mason of Saint Do- mingos" by the Portuguese Government, and has latterly been appointed " Commander of the Order of Charles the Third" by the Spanish Government. The commercial ad- ministration of the company in England, which is not less important than the able and energetic working of the mine in Portugal, devolves upon the brother-in-law of M. le Vis- count de Saint Domingos, Mr. F. T. Barry, who has been F. T. Barry. elevated by the Portuguese Government to be "Commander of the Order of Christ," and promoted by a decree of No- vember 22, 1876, to the title of " Baron de Barry." May this example excite the emulation of the Portuguese capitalists and lead them to the development of the abun- dant and varied resources which their country offers to their own benefit and that of the national industry. Domestic order, persevering work, and the intelligent application of capital will restore Portugal to the rank she formerly occu- pied among the powers of Europe. XIII. GREECE. GEEEOE. The exhibits. THE GREEK EXHIBIT. The exhibits illustrating the mineral industry of Greece possess a peculiar interest. The ancient mines of Attica, be- longing to the most highly cultivated people of antiquity, were, unquestionably, worked with the utmost degree of technical skill the age afforded. While other ancient mines are obliterated by the weathering of the rocks or the pres- sure of the surrounding material, or have been worked by succeeding generations till every trace of their original char- Ancient mines acter is gone, many of the mines in Attica bear every ap- of Attica. pearance of having been recently abandoned. The very tool-marks in the rock are so fresh that the form of the im- plements is apparent and nearly every detail of the exploi- tation can be followed. To a great extent we can also infer the methods of treatment of the extracted ore, from the relics hidden under piles of slag and mining waste. Few ancient writers touched upon such subjects, and if anything like technical treatises existed, which is improbable, they are lost. After having been abandoned for a couple of thousand years, the mineral industries of the country have been, as all know, revived, and Greece an older mining country than Saxony or Transylvania is a newer field for mining enter- prise than Australia. It is principally to M. A. Cordelia that the public is in- debted for a knowledge of the ancient and the modern mines of Greece, and from two of his publications, La Grecesur It Rapport Geologique etMinemlogique,~P3LT\Si'L818, andLeljau- rium, Marseilles, 1871, nearly all of the following informa- tion is drawn. The geology of Greece is in a very unsatisfactory condi- ^^ from a fa^i^l as we n as f rom a purely scientific stand- point. The lowest known beds of sedimentary origin are crystalline schists and saccharoid limestones. The age of these rocks is uncertain. Paleontological evidence there is next to none. M. Cordelia found a single almost obliterated im- print, which seemed to him to belong to a Silurian crinoid animal. Dr. Neuinayer found a Cretacean fossil (Nerinaca) near the foot of a tower, but was unable to find it afterwards 332 Revival of an- cient mining in- dustry. A. Cordelia. Geological con- dition ot Greece. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 333 in the same place. Cordelia believes it to have occurred in a GREECE. building stone from elsewhere. Mr. Sauvage also regards these rocks as Cretaceous, arguing from analogy. Thetechni- cally important point involved is evident. If these crystalline rocks are truly Cretaceous, there is hope of discovering coal below them. If they are Silurian, the coal-bearing meas- ures are probably wanting in Greece. These rocks consti- tute a very large proportion of the area of the country. The strata which have been identified by tolerably pre- served fossils belong exclusively to Cretaceous and later eras, especially to the Tertiary, which is well represented. Plutonic and volcanic rocks are also largely represented in Greece and possess some technical importance. Gold is found in some fluvial sands of Greece, as a con- Gold - stituent of one bed of iron pyrites in the Morea, and accom- panying silver in argentiferous lead, but the known occur- silver. rences of this metal are of no economical importance. Ores of the other metals obtained in Greece, particularly of argentiferous lead, of zinc, and copper, occur for the most ead part in the crystalline and inetarnorphic rocks to which ref- erence has been made, though the granite also contains veins carrying silver as well as of manganiferous iron ores and heavy spar. The principal mineral district is that of Laurium, at the .Mines of Lau- num. southern extremity of Attica. Here the ores of lead and silver, of zinc, and, to a smaller extent, of copper, occur some- ^^^^^tletA, times as regular veins in the micaceous schists, and occa- silver, and zinc. sionally in irregular bodies in the limestone, but for the most part in segregations and beds at the contact between the limestone and the schists. These strata have been broken through by recent igneous rocks, to the influence of which the formation of the ore deposits is ascribed. The deposits are of great extent, as is proved by examination of dc E ^. c t 1 ^ of tho the ancient workings and prospecting shafts. Thus, at Camaresa, the center of operations of the Societe des Mines du Laurium j one of the beds has been shown to be metal- liferous over an area of about 1J square miles. The contact deposits are from 1 to 7 meters thick, and parallel ore-bear- ing beds are found at different levels. Of these the ancients . Ancient work- recognized four, and the existence of other deposits below m their deepest workings has been proved. It is plain that in the absence of labor-saving machinery the ancients cannot have cared to prospect below a certain depth. The ores consist of galena, blende, lead and zinc carbonates, copper rS atul sulphides, and carbonates. Pyrites, spathic iron ore, etc., are also constituents of the deposits. In general, the main 334 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREECE. portion of the ore bodies consists of galena, more or less mixed with blende, the zinc carbonate occurring on the ot Lau " walls and in part in separate deposits. A rare mineral, adamine, a zinc olivenite, has been found at Laurium, and seems characteristic of the zinc deposits there. mod Tne min es of Laurium were worked by the ancients with great energy, thoroughness, and skill. The ore deposits were reached by vertical and inclined shafts. Tunnels were not employed, and, according to M. Cordelia, with good reason, as the dryness of the mines made tunnels unneces- sary for drainage, and the topography is unfavorable to their construction. The deposits were systematically worked, the veins by stoping from one level to another, the beds by pillars and stalls. When the ore was tractable it was all removed and pillars of dry masonry substituted, Where the galena was largely mixed with blende, which was of course intractable, pillars of vein matter were left. In thick beds two floors were established, as is now often done in thick coal seams. The extraction was very com- plete, even metalliferous wall-rock being removed. Masonry pillars. Dry masonry seems to have been exclusively employed in the comparatively lew cases in which the roof or walls needed support. Tools used. The tools used in bringing down the ore and rock appear to have been picks, bars, and sledges. In hard rock picks with conical points were used, in softer material the point was pyramidal. Contrary to Eeitmaier's supposition, tire does not appear to have been employed in bringing in the rock, which is not of an appropriate character for the appli- cation of that method. Traces of the use of tools are every- where met with, and M. Cordelia has found a gad which was once iron, and still retained its shape when found, though completely oxidized. siavc labor in Transportation was effected bv slaves, who carried the carrying ore. * ; ore up the inclined shafts, probably in skin sacks, as is still the practice in some eastern mines. Water must have been got rid of in the same way. The steps in the inclines up which the men went are still visible, as are the niches for earthenware lamps, some of which have been found in place. The use of the perpendicular shafts is not altogether clear. From the dumps surrounding them, M. Cordelia is strongly of the opinion that both the windlass and pulley were known, and that they were used to some extent for -it7 cutUatins hoisting. The shafts certainly served to promote ventila- tion, and at the top of some of them is found, offset from the main opening, a sort of chimney, in which a lire was MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 335 probably built to increase the circulation of air. The shafts GREECE - and inclines are nearly always rectangular and of about 4 square meters cross-section. The deepest shaft mentioned riu ^ ncs of L:u is 395 feet. None of the shafts penetrate to sea-level. The ore as it was removed from the mine in ancient times Ancient con centratrog appa- was in part too poor lor economical smelting, and was con- vatus. centrated. Some of the concentrating apparatus, in a fair state of preservation, has been found under heaps of waste. Although, as may be readily imagined, it is not possible to make out from the abandoned apparatus all the details of the process of ore-dressing as practiced by the Greeks, the main features can still be traced. Water was scarce at Laurium and large reservoirs were scarcity of water. built to store a supply. So solidly were they constructed that some of them might even now serve the purpose for vo f r cient reaer ' which they were designed. The concentrating apparatus was ingeniously planned to permit the use of the same water over and over again. It consisted of a sluice some 70 feet concentrating sluice. long and provided with three sumps or wells at intervals in its length. The sluice was not straight, but made several angles in such a way that the lower end came close to the higher. Ore must have been placed at the higher end and washed with water taken by baling or otherwise from the lower end. A current was thus established, and the mixture of ore and gangue separated in virtue of the difference of specific gravity of the minerals. The rich ore and the concentrations were smelted in shaft smelting fur- furnaces without preliminary roasting, a process for which they were very well suited, being nearly free from quartz and containing lime and iron. That the ore was not roasted is proved by the globules of fused galena found in the slags. Of the furnaces many have been found. They are of small height (our authority does not give this dimension), and about 3 feet in diameter. The fuel was wood or char- Fuel and blast. coal, and blast was supplied by bellows worked by hand. The results obtained were very fair, the slag containing from 5 to 14 per cent, of lead. Many ancient slags found LOSS of lead in in Spain and Italy contain no less than 23 per cent, of lead. The furnace lead, which M. Cordelia has reason to sup- pose averaged 0.4 per cent, of silver, or, say, $150 per ton, Desiiverization. was refined by cupellatiou. The apparatus used has not been discovered, but the frequent occurrence of fused pieces of desilverized litharge proves the nature of the process. The silver was refined and the litharge reduced, and the reduction of resulting lead employed as material for weights, missiles, ht lamps, vases, pipes, etc. 336 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. GREECE - The lead was assayed, and cupels of earthenware (M. Mines of Lau- Cordelia merely says de terre) have been found in the dumps. Assays: cupels. They were of nearly the same form now in use, 1J inches in diameter, f inch high, and f inch deep. zinc accretions, zinc accretions formed at the tops of the ancient furnaces. They were sold for the manufacture of bronze, and, as it appears, also for use as medicine. If so, lead colic must have been familiar to the ancients, even at a distance from the mines. cient rLod activity ^ ne P ei> i O( l f greatest activity in the Laurium mines was coo-430 B. c. between GOO B. 0. and the Peloponnesian war, say 170 years, state property. The mines were exclusively the property of the state, but they were leased to citizens in claims for long periods. The worked by labor was performed by slaves, even the formen or superin- tendents being owned. M. Cordelia estimates the number of workmen employed at Laurium at about 15,000. This was a vast body of slaves to handle, and must have required very strict organization. During the Peloponnesian war Revolt. Laurium was cut off from the capital and the slaves revolted. It is very easy to see that the re-establishment of the work- ings on the only possible basis of slave labor must have been a matter of great difficulty in the troubled times which followed, and a knowledge of these circumstances sufficiently subsequent accounts for the historical fact that the mines were after- workinga on a small scale. wards worked fitfully and with little energy, operations be- ing sometimes confined to the resmelting of old slags, an enterprise which might evidently be conducted with small capital or permanent stake in the prosperity of the district. The mines were worked to some extent under the Romans, Abandoned ist but through Greek factors. In the first century of the century of the Christian era. Christian era Laurium was completely abandoned and be- came once more the haunt of wild beasts. There is no evi- dence that work was ever recommenced until the present generation. Enormous ex- The amount of work done in the Laurium mines was workings ancient enormous. Some 2,000 shafts have been found, averaging about 250 feet in depth, and the extent of the subterranean siag of former workings is vast. The quantity of slag found is about 2,000,000 tons, and M. Cordelia shows that this slag must have represented 2,100,000 tons of lead and 8,400,000 kilos of silver, or, say, 345,000,000 of dollars. The whole period of 700 years during which operations were going on at Laurium M. Cordelia regards as equivalent to about 300 years of active work. Mining laws of The modern development of the mineral industries of Greece dates from the promulgation of mining laws in 1861. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 337 These laws were founded upon those embraced in the French QRKECE. legislation of 1810 on the same subject. Since this time many persons have boldly undertaken mining enterprises, and the country has been prospected foot by foot. Many economically valuable deposits have been discovered. Some of them are being worked, others are waiting for the capi- tal necessary to develop them. It was at this period that the Society Hilarion, Eoux and Co. was formed. This coiu- pany undertook in 1864 the resmelting of the plumbiferous slags of Laurium, and in 1869 the smelting of the ancient miniug waste. um - Prodigious excitement followed upon the results obtained Mining excite- ment. by this company. Claims were taken up by the hundred all over the kingdom on deposits of lead, zinc, copper, iron, manganese, chromium, lignite, and sulphur. Of course time proved the fallaciousness of many hopes and the ne- cessity for patience and capital, and the inevitable process of weeding out has followed. A portion of the more hope- ful enterprises have attracted the support of foreign capital. The want of acquaintance on the part of the public in ignorance of Greece with the conditions of industrial enterprises, and th the lack till lately of Greeks possessing any professional ac- quaintance with mining or smelting, Luve been calamitous to the mineral industries of Greece. For a long time com- ^ 8 of Greekoffi missioners visited Laurium at short intervals to find the gold bars and the hidden sources of supply of the bullion turned out by the smelting works. That this was the legit- imate result of the treatment of ores and slags was not credited. Then, by a sudden change in popular sentiment the contents of the material at Laurium was as much over- valued as it had previously been undervalued, and taxes Ruin of the companies by un- were placed upon the working amounting to more than half just taxation, the worth of the output. The Hilarion Company was obliged to sell out, their successors and many others were nearly or quite ruined, and affairs reached such a pass that the interference of foreign governments had to be called in interference of- fer the protection of the rights of those of their subjects Sent? 1 g V( who had ventured to attempt the development of industry among a people whose tone of mind was so little congenial to it. Of late years an essential change for the better has come change for the a,bout. Numbers of young Greeks have studied mining at better ' the great schools of Europe, and returned to Greece. More equitable arrangements as to imposts have been made, and La Societe des Usines du Laurium seems to be in a flourishing condition. 22 p R VOL 4 338 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Plant. Product. GREECE. This company smelts ancient slag and mining waste and such lead ores as are now raised in the district. It pos- Mmes of Lau- sesses a mechanical ore-dressing establishment, where 300 tons of waste, containing 5 to G per cent, lead, are treated Present works, per diem, yielding 50 tons of concentrations. The remain- der of the waste is concentrated at the ancient dumps in hand-jigs. The smelting works contain 7 Pilz furnaces. Plumbiferous iron ore is used as flux, and 12 per cent, of coke is burned. The annual product is 7,000 to 7,500 tons of lead, with $40 to $70 per ton in silver, and about 400 tons of speiss, containing 20 to 22 per cent, copper and 2 per cent, nickel, besides lead, arsenic, etc. The amount of fame caught in a condensation flue 1,200 meters long is from 1,200 to 1,500 tons. French com- The mines of Laurium are also being worked with vigor ?hrm mines! " u by the Compagnie Frangaise des Mines du Laurium^ which blende ^nd^eaci ^ e ^ an operations at the close of 1875. Calamine (carbon- ores. ' ate), blende, and lead ores are raised. A portion of the calamine is roasted. The following are the results which have been obtained by this company,* in tons of 1,000 kilos : Product. 1876. 1877. Half of 1878. Haw calamine 1,166 2,425 3,006 Roasted calamino 4 810 18 477 10. 104 Blende 340 119 Lead ores 432 507 The calamine of Laurium is richer than that of Sardinia, which is said to average about 33 per cent. The mean con- tents of the roasted calamine for each year was as follows : Per cent. zinc. Analysis 1876 ........................................................ 40.081 -of i-easted cala- 1H77 rf oft mine. 1877 ....................................................... L " U 1878, above .......... . ...................................... 60 The last steamer-load was settled for on a basis of 65.585 per cent. zinc. There is a large amount of calamine in sight, and the boast seems justified that this is the most impor- zinc ore sent tant output of calamine in the world. The zinc ore is sent :to Anvers and , _, Swansea. to Anvers and Swansea. Blende and ga- The lead ore raised is mostly mixed with blende, and the lena separating company has built an ore-dressing works to separate the two. The galena is very rich, much of it running over $90 to the ton of lead. other metaiiif- There are numerous other deposits of ores in Greece, not erous deposits. ' only of lead and zinc, but of copper, iron, and sulphur. Note sur lea Mines de la Com. Fran, des Mines du Laurium. Lithographed. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE, 339 Many of these have been prospected, and even worked. GREECE. Thus, 45,000 tons of iron ore have been extracted at Sere- phos, and smelted in England with results highly satisfac- Jxm ore - lory so far as the metal was concerned. In the eparchy of Copper. Phthiotide two copper mines of a very promising character have been opened, and in the island of Milo sulphur is act- Sulphur. ually being extracted to some extent, but the unwise policy of the Greek Government until a recent date, the general badness of the times, and the recent protracted wars on the Greek frontier have prevented active exploitation. Greece, however, promises much in the near future. No true coal is known to exist in Greece. The coal and G ^ C g rae al m ' coke annually imported from England amount to 76,000 tons. Lignite, however, occurs over large areas, estimated Li ste. at some 1,200 square miles. This lignite is of very fair quality, and is easily mined. Its heating effect is much less than that of English coal, and it takes from 125 to 150 parts of the native product to do the work of 100 parts of the im- ported fuel. About 6,000 tons were mined in 1877. The exhibits made by Greece were of a highly interesting character, and illustrative of the facts set forth in the fore going pages. The ores, ancient slags, and mining waste found at Lauriuin were shown, and M. Cordelia presented models of the simple and ingenious ore-dressing apparatus Models of an- cient ore-dress- in use when Eome was struggling into notoriety. The story ing apparatus, of Laurium is certainly one of the most romantic chapters in the history of technology. The genius of Athens may fairly be said to have mastered the difficulties presented, but the conquest was dependent on unnatural economical conditions, and was consequently temporary. The hold which modern science has taken on the subterranean treasures of Attica will not be so easily shaken off. XIV. NETHERLANDS. THE DUTCH EAST INDIES. THE DUTCH EXHIBIT. Holland produces no valuable minerals, unless a certain quantity of dredged peat may be so considered. The Dutch ^of "the possessions in the East Indies, on the other hand, lie in East In ~ a remar kable mineral belt, extending from the mainland through the peninsula of Malacca into the Malayan Archi- pelago. This region furnished the only important supply of tin, besides the mines of Cornwall and Devonshire, until the Banca tin. recent discoveries in Australia. Banca tin, too, is renowned for its great purity. Gold, gems, and coal also occur, and occasionally in remunerative quantities. The mineral resources of the Dutch Indies are not yet thoroughly investigated, and there seems a probability of considerable increase in their productiveness. It is only Biiiiton tin within a few years that the Billiton mines began to put tin mines. upon the market in considerable quantities, causing a sud- den depression in the price of that metal, a harbinger of the greater disturbance caused by the discovery of immense deposits in Australia. New tin fields have since been found, and bid fair to become important. Exploitation All work connected with the exploitation and treatment of tin ores is performed by Chinese. Formerly agents were appointed to encourage their emigration, but at present they present themselves in sufficient numbers. They work in companies, under contract, receiving a fixed price for tin delivered, and enjoying some privileges in the matter of supplies. European engineers exercise a certain amount of control and supervision. Exhibit of R. The exhibit of M. E. H. Arntzenius, manager of the Bil- liton Company, and the collective exhibits of the products of the Dutch Indies, gave very full and interesting informa- tion as to the methods, instruments, and apparatus employed, as well as of the products obtained, the mode of life of the miners, etc. Cornelius de M. Cornelius de Groot, who was formerly at the head of Groot's account * of the Nether- the Department of Mines in the Dutch East Indies, prepared , lands mining in- dustries in the at the request of the members of the jury, a short account of the mining and metallurgical industries of Banca, Billi- ton, and the other islands belonging to the Netherlands. As 340 MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 341 the subject has considerable commercial and professional NETHERLANDS. interest, while but few papers on the subject have been pub- lished excepting in Dutch technical journals rarely seen in America, some space may well be devoted here to an ab- stract of the above-mentioned essay. Some supplementary information will be properly accredited. The island of Banca. Banca, The sedimentary rocks are argillaceous and quartzose sand- 8Cr p^ gical de ~ stones, etc., belonging to the Lower Devonian (Grauwacke). The crystalline rocks are, for the most part, granite, to some extent diorite, and rarely griesen and schists. The remain- ing formations are of Quaternary origin, and it is in these that the tin ore, " stream tin," occurs. Veins containing tin occurrence of _^ , , . the stream-tin. ore occur in Banca, and the gneseu is sometimes impreg- nated with tin-stone, but the mineral is for the most part found in reticulated veins (stockwerke), associated with quartz. The tin-bearing gravels of the island are found in ancient . Occurrence of the tin-bearing or recent valleys, and deposited in one of three ways: gravels, disseminated through the surface stratum to the depth of nine feet or more ; disseminated through several beds, one above the other. These beds consist, besides the stream-tin, of but little worn fragments of quartz and feldspar, sand, etc. Finally, the tin- stone is found disseminated through quick- sands which rest upon the bed-rock. The latter is sometimes granite, but oftener kaolin, or, in other words, granite in a highly advanced stage of decomposition. In prospecting for tin-stone a small Chinese boring appa- C ^ ine8e pro " ratus called Tsjain is employed. This apparatus* consists of ratus. an iron rod over 20 feet long and 1 inch thick, to the lower end of which is attached by its side a conical tube of a few inches in length, open at both ends, and with the smaller end down. In use, the small end of the tube is stopped up by a rag, attached to a string, while sinking through super- ficial strata. When the bed under examination is reached, the rag is detached by pulling the string, and the tube fills with gravel. To determine the value of an ore bearing stratum, a copper tube armed with a steel cutting shoe is forced through it, and a core thus removed for examination. The workings are all open, and not more than^o^Ojrie- Open ters in depth. After excavation the tin-stone is hoiked free of barren gravel. The reduction of the ore is carried on in two different * See Berg- und Hilttennuinmache Ztittmg, 18(53, p. 333. 342 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. furnace. NETHERLANDS, species of furnace,* one of the Chinese design, which has Tin-reduction been in use ever since the mines were worked by Chinese, the other the construction of Dr. C. L. Ylaanderen. The Chinese furnace. Chinese furnace consists of a kettle-shaped smelting cham- ber, cut in a clay hearth, and connected by an open tap with an external well, into which metal and slag run together as fast as they melt. The fuel is charcoal, and the blast nozzle entering the lower portion of the smelting chamber is directed downward upon the bottom of the chamber to keep it hot. The slag is resmelted once or twice, besides being crushed and washed. The blast is produced by piston blast engines worked by hand. Vlaanderen's furnace is a small open- top blast furnace, run with a fan blast. The height is somewhat over 5 feet, and the cross-section nearly square and 2 feet 3 inches from front to back. There are three tuyeres, which are so placed that the jets of blast cross each other. The fuel used is charcoal, and lime is added as a flux. The "glass" is thrown into water and subsequently re-smelted with more Tungsten. lime. Tungsten, which is however rare in Banca, is re- duced in the comparatively hot Vlaanderen furnace. The furnaces are run only during the night on account of the beat, the island lying nearly under the equator. Several other constructions of furnace have been tried in Banca, but with indifferent success. Furnaces of a very simple construction like those above mentioned are preferable, be- cause they can be set up in the immediate neighborhood of the workings, and removed or abandoned as the deposits Bredemeyer. are successively exhausted. Bredemeyerf speaks of roast- ing the tin ore in reverberatory furnaces, and leaching out copper, etc., but of this De Groot makes no mention. Proportion of The ore carries from 71 to 72 per cent, of pure tin. A metal in the ore. slab of tin weighs picul, or 30.8806 kilos, .according to De Groot. According to a printed description of the exhibit, weight of tin the weight of a slab is about 32 kilos, and Mr. E. Hunt states that 1,000 slabs weigh 32 tons, in which case a slab must weigh 32 J kilos. V rament ^ ae S overnmeu t undertook the working of the tin deposits in 1816, employing Chinese miners and smelters, of whom the number at work at the end of the year 1876 in Banca was 7,789. The natives are known to have smelted tin fully two centuries ago, and continued to produce metal in small quantities until the Dutch Government took the matter in hand. * See, also, Van Diesl, in Berg- und Huttenmdnnische Zettung, 1873, p. 4*23. \San Francisco Mining and Scientific Press, 1872, p. 470. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 343 The production is known since the year 1821. In that NETHERLANDS. year it was 1,250 metrical tons* of tin. In the year 1846 the production exceeded 4,400 tons, and attained its maxi- t inS8n c -i876 f mum, 0,250 tons, in the year 1856; since then it has dimin- ished gradually to a mean of 4,340 tons in the years 1871 to 1875, while in 1876 Banca produced but 3,932 tons. Prof. G. J. Mulder analyzed Banca tin with the following Analysis of to Banca tin. results : Copper 0.006 Impurities 0.039 Tin 99.961 100 00 Considerable deposits of magnetite are found in the east- ern part of the island. Gold is found in small quantities Gold, with the stream-tin, and sometimes in quite important quan- ities on the sea-beach in the district of Merawang. The island of Billiton. Billiton. The geological formation and the methods of working the Geological for ore are essentially the same as those of Banca. Stock werke m< take a more important place, and are mined to some extent. Tungsten occurs in a single mine, and in another galena is met with. Copper occurs only in traces. The tin deposits in Billiton were discovered by M. De c.DeGroot. Groot, in 1851, and the workings were opened in 1853, in tin ^^ff g[ which year 11 tons of tin were produced (1 ton equals 1851 - 1,000 kilos). In 1863 the production was 645 tons, and in o , Production lOOl JOfO. 1870, 2,957 tons ; for the years 1871-'75, both inclusive, annu- ally 3,390 tons, and in 1876, 3,721 tons. Dr. Vlaanderen analyzed Billiton tin, which is of the Analysis of Billiton tin. same degree of purity as Banca tin. It contains, however, about .03 of 1 per cent, of arsenic and antimony, but no copper. The Billiton tin mines are worked by a stock company, employing Chinese workmen. Other tin deposits in the Dutch East Indies. Cassiterite is found in small and not important but work- Cassiterite in able quantities in the little islands of Karimou and Singkep. A concession has been granted for working deposits of tin- stone in Negri Tapong, a mountainous district in Eastern *A metrical ton is 1,000 kilos, or 2,205 Ibs. 344 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. NETHERLANDS. Sumatra, and in 1877 200 Chinese miners were at work Tin mines in there in three mines. A company is being formed for work- Dutch East In- . dies. ing these deposits on a larger scale. Coal - Coal is mined in the eastern and southeastern portions of Borneo. It occurs in the Lower Eocene and appears to be of a fair quality. Diamonds. Diamonds are found in the eastern and in the western parts of Borneo, in the detritus, but thus far not in place. Itacoluinite is found with them in the detritus. They are also found not far from mountains of serpentine. ]STo re- port is made of the quantity or value of the diamonds found. Gold. Gold is found in many parts of the Dutch Indies ; in pay- ing quantities in the interior of Sumatra and Borneo, in the north of Celebes, and on the island of Kassarouta, in the Moluccas. Platinum is found associated with gold, and with it, in some instances, ruthenium sulphide. The quantities of Banca and Billiton tin yearly put upon the market are regularly reported in the Mineral Statistics of Great Britain. XV. BULLION PRODUCT OF THE UNITED STATES. Little that is new to mining men in this country could be said of the United States exhibit in Class 43. Instead of any attempt to do so, the following discussion of the bullion yield, perhaps the most condensed and exhaustive which has as yet appeared, is submitted as a valuable addition to the English literature of this important subject, and as being in harmony with the tone and purpose of the preceding es- says. "THE PRODUCTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS IN THE Bullion product UNITED STATES. gj** b g By DR. ADOLF SOETBEER. Adolf Soetbeer. [Petermanri'a Mittheilungen, Erg'dnzungsheft No. 57. Translated by A. T. Becker.] THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J. D. Whitney. The Metallic Wealth gf the United States, described Literature of and compared with that of other countries, Philadelphia, 1854, pp. the 8ub J ect - 79-185. Laur. Du Gisement et de FExploitation de l J Or en Californie, Annales des Mines, Gienie s6rie, t. iii, Paris), 1863, pp. 347-435. Berichte des deutschen (Resp. preussischen) Konsulats ia San Fran- cisco, Veroeffentlicht iin preussischen Handels-Archiv, 1850-74. F. von Richthofen. Die Metal 1-Produktion Calif orniens und der an- grenzenden Laeuder, Gotha, 1864, 4. Jacoby. Russlands, Australiens und Californiens Gold-Produkion, im Arcbiv fur wissenschaftlicho Kunde von Russland von A. Erman- band, 24, St. Petersburg, 1835. J. Ross Browne. Mineral Resources of the United States, Washington, 1867. W. P. Blake. The Production of Precious Metals, etc., New York and London, 1869. J. A. Phillips. The Mining and Metallurgy of Gold and Silver, London, 1837, pp. 29-76. Rossiter W. Raymond. Mineral Resources of the States west of the Rocky Mountains, Washington, 1839. Statistics of Mines and Min- ing in the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains for the year 1870, Washington, 1870. Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains, 4-8 annual report, Washington, 1873-77. Silver and Gold, New York, 1873. The Production of Silver and Gold in the United States, in American and English Mining Journal, 1875, vol. ii, p. 329. Report of the Select Committee on Depreciation of Silver, Parl. Pap., London, 1876, fol., Appendix No. 8-19, -No. 21, pp. 133-147. E. Suess. Zukunft des Guides, Wien, 1877, 9, 118-157. Report and Accompanying Documents of the United States Monetary Commission, vol. i, Washington, 1877, Appendix, pp. 1-60. A. Del Mar. Report on Silver Production in the United States. 345 346 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. of^SJe 11 p un d ited " Two es s entia Uy different periods may be distinguished in states. the production of precious metals in the extensive region of country which now comprises the United States of America. They are separated by the discovery of the gold fields of California. Before the year 1849 the United States yielded perhaps less gold and silver than any other diversified re- gion of country of the same extent. Since then the coun- try has rapidly advanced to the foremost rank in this respect. We first meet with traces of gold mining at the end of the last century in Virginia and South Carolina. The industry became somewhat more important between 1820 and 1840, when gold was also found in North Carolina, Georgia, Ten- nessee, and Alabama, and the gold obtained was coined in the newly- established mints. According to the summaries j.D.whitney. of Mr. J. D. Whitney, the gold product in the separate States from 1804 to 1850, and in the respective divisions of time, was as follows : Gold produc- Value of gold production from 1804 to 1850. don previous to v . rg . nia ................................................ $1,198,600 North Carolina .......................................... 6, 842, 900 South Carolina .......................................... 818, 100 Georgia ................................................ 0, 048, 1)00 Tennessee and Alabama ............................ _____ 263, 800 Total 15,172,300 Value of gold production in the respective divisions of time. 1804-'23 $47,000 1824-30 715,000 1831-MO 6,695,000 1841-'50 7,715,000 15, 172, 000 Gold delivered u From 1851 to 1867 the whole amount of gold delivered at mints^ e i85i-i867? the mints in the Eastern States amounted only to $4,39 1,915. How insignificant this sum appears when compared with the enormous quantities of gold California and, latterly, also other States and Territories west of the Kocky Mountains have produced since 1848. It is a difficult task to ascertain Means for esti- even approximately the quantity of gold which has been ductioi of there- obtained here, and all the estimates which have been made Eocky CSt Moim^ must be regarded as untrustworthy, as they vary very much from one another. They have for the most part been founded upon the export returns of San Francisco, 1 he coinages and assays in the mints, and, above all, the books of Wells, Fargo, & Co., who have transported much the greater part of the precious metals from the various mining districts lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and keep exact accounts of the MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 347 same. Such estimates cannot however be regarded as ac- curate, for mere opinion based on probabilities enters largely states. into them. A considerable part of the gold obtained by thousands of isolated gold-diggers is exported either by the owners themselves or by their friends, and does not appear t^y * gJ d J- T duced west ot the on the books of the express agents or in the export returns ^"^ Mount- of San Francisco. The valuations in question usually in- clude silver. This was especially the case in former times, when the silver product was comparatively small. In many of the estimates of later years, on the contrary, a part of the gold product is reckoned with that of the valuation of the silver, especially in the product of Nevada. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that in the sum total of the afore- mentioned estimates gold is included which was originally obtained in British Columbia or in the mining districts of Mexico adjacent to California, and which is, therefore, not to be reckoned as the product of the United States. It also sometimes occurs that in the summary of the amounts trans- ported the same item is twice stated. Therefore, we must allow a wide margin for errors, nor should we lose sight of the fact that the temptation to overestimate would naturally be much greater than to underestimate. u We will begin by giving a table of the export of gold and Table of the ex- silver from San Francisco from 1843 to 1803, taken from the silver from Ian commercial publications of that city, which are based on the isge, custom-house schedules, and are given by Mr. Blake, and also by Herr von Richthofeii in the above-mentioned trea- tise, Die Metall-Produktion Californiens und der angrenzenden Laender. An addition has been made to the amounts de- clared during the years 1848-'59, on account of the acknowl- edged incompleteness of the official returns. On the other hand, for the years 1861, 186iJ, and 1863 a reduction has been made of, respectively, one and a half millions, six mill- ions, and thirteen millions, on account of the silver contained in the amounts declared. The export of the latter by way of San Francisco has become of greater importance since 1861. Tears. Declared gold export. Declared and Estimated estimated gold actual gold export from San export. Francisco : 1848 ~\ ( $10 000 000 1848-1855. 1849 >$66 000 000 < 40 000 000 1850 .... ( 5o' 000' 000 1851 up to May 1 11,497,000 34 960 895 > 55, 000, 000 1852 45 779 000 60 000 000 1853 54 905 000 65 000 000 1854 52 045 633 60 000 000 1855... 45,161,731 55, 000, 000 348 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Bullion product of the United States. Years. Gold exports from San Fran- Declared gold export. Estimated actual gold export. cisco : 1856 1863 1856 $50 697 434 $55 000 000 1857 48 976,692 55 000 000 1858 47 548 026 50 000 000 1859 47 640 462 50 000 000 1860 42 3^5 916 42 3 9 5 916 1861 40 676 758 39 176 758 1862 42 561 761 36 061 761 1863 46* 071 9 9 33 071 920 Bichthofen elucidates his tables with the following re- remarks on the table. marks : " The gold product of California during the last few years may be estimated with considerable exactness, that produced in eai lier years only approximately. The exporta- tions three times a month per steamer via Panama, and by ship to China and other parts, serves as the basis for the statistical statements. These figures give almost the total export in gold coin and ingots during the later years, but do not include the gold regaining in the country. The amount of this latter is by no means insignificant, as in California paper money is not current and only payments in specie are accepted. Furthermore, the fact of silver being contained in the ingots of gold is not stated. But, as the average standard of gold is 0.850, this last mentioned fact may be neglected as of small importance. Of far greater importance, however, is the fact that large sums are transmitted abroad through private individuals, and in for- mer times even larger sums were thus exported in the form of gold dust. In the first years the whole exportation was 6 ^ 111 ^ 6 ^ on * u *'*" s wav - ^ n the preceding tables is given, first, the value of the gold according to official tables, and, secondly, the value according to estimates, in which the sums exported by private individuals are allowed for. Up to 1860 the recorded export consisted entirely in gold coin and ingots of gold. In order to obtain accurate estimates for the three years 1861, 1802, and 1 863, the gold contained in the bars of exported silver must be taken into consideration, as it amounts to no inconsiderable sum. This fact has been left unnoticed in the above statement in order to present a clear idea of the yield of the gold mines and gold-washings.' Herr Bichthofen further observes that the decrease in the Calirornia gold . . product. California gold product is very noticeable when it is remem- bered that in former years the whole amount obtained was from the gold-washings of California alone, whereas in later years the gold mines of the whole country and the gold- washings of Idaho, Arizona, and British Columbia contrib- uted to the sum. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 349 " The decrease in the gold yield would have been greater were it Dot for the increase of the Chinese popula- states. tion. A white man is rarely satisfied with $4 a day, whereas the Chinese work for $1, and even less, and consequently the abandoned gold-washings could be reworked with suc- cess. " Jacoby (Archiv fur wiasenschaftlicJie Kunde von Buss- land, B. 24) declares Herr von Kichthofen's estimates to be too thofen's esti- low $ that the decrease in the export is no indication of a de- crease in the product, and that the increase of the other products and exports of California is an evident cause for the retention of a much larger proportion of gold and silver in the country. It also appears unwarrantable to make no allowance for the gold which has been shipped during the past three years without declaration. The gold yield of Cali- fornia and the adjacent States for the years 1856-'62 may be estimated at an average of from seventy-five to eighty ml lion dollars. " Mr. W. P. Blake, who has extended the above tables of t ^ 8 u B1 f e R ^J; the qxport of gold and silver for the years 1874-'76 according thofen's tables. to the custom-house schedules of San Francisco viz, 1864, $56,707,201 ; 1865, $45,308,227 ; 1866, $44,364,393 ; 1867, $44,676,292 observes further: 'Without doubt large amounts of precious metal are carried away from San Fran- cisco by passengers in the form of gold coin and ingots. The amount thus exported is variously estimated. Commis- sioner Browne estimates it at about two hundred millions to the year 1865. This estimate is, however, probably too high. Usually an addition of 10 per cent, is made to the de- clared amount sent from the interior for what is carried off by the gold-diggers themselves, and which does not appear on the books of the express agents/ This addition must also be regarded as too great, for it would amount to more than the sums shipped without declaration. Blake esti- mates the whole precious-metal export of California as fol- lows : Declared export from San Francisco .................... $864, 495, 446 Undeclared export, assumed at 10 per cent, of the declared. 86, 449, 544 metal export of Assumed to have been retained in the country ........... 45, 000, 000 Total .............................................. 995, 944, 990 Herefrom to bo deducted as product of British Columbia and Mexico . . ...... 35, 000, 000 Remains, in round numbers 961, 000, 000 Of this sum, according to approximate estimation, gold. . 807, 000, 000 " Before we proceed to the valuations of the entire bullion yield of the United States we will complete the above table 350 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. the declared exports from San Francisco for the years 1868 to 1875 from published estimates by Mr. Valentine, fr^sSi^aS superintendent of Wells, Fargo, & Co. Express. Accord- states. Bullion export 1868-187 Destination. Co. Bullion export: 1875-1877. ing to these statements the export amounted to 1868 $35, 444, 395 1869 37,287,117 1870 32,983,140 1871 17, 253, 347 1872 29,330,436 1873 24, 715, 126 1874 30, 180, 632 1875 42, 911, 048 " We add especial statistics of the bullion export from San Francisco during the three years 1875 to 1877 from the re- ;s of the German consulate of that city, including the countries for which the exports are destined, as well as the nature of the same. Export of bullion in ingots and gold-dust, in coin, and paper money. [Paper money is included in the calculation merely in order that the sums of the two statements may agree.] Destination. 1875. 1876. 1877. Export by sea to England $173, 147 7, 652, 953 2, 070 6,963 507, 321 $43, 803 10, 918, 967 10, 300 981, 854 440, 610 Export by sea to China $17, 601, 274 5,292 643, 049 874, 574 Export by sea to Panama Export by sea to Japan Export by sea to other countries Remitted overland to New York 8, 342, 454 34, 568, 594 12. 395, 534 37, 384, 612 19, 124, 189 38, 619, 462 Total 42, Oil, 048 49, 780, 146 57, 743, 651 This total export consisted in Nature of the exports. 1875. 1876. 1877. Gold ingots $995 019 $3 457 323 $2 209,282 Silver ingots 8 734,714 10, 733, 367 8, 820, 082 Gold coin 04 939 587 21 761 040 29 600, 525 "\fpTnV.nr dollars .. . l'82 978 2 897, 113 2, 671, 666 Gold dust 44 972 28 4 M6 9 2 397 Silver coin ... 1 140 919 5 168,931 5, 7G3, 297 Trade dollars 4 910 859 5 734 126 8 6 9 9 345 Peruvian dollars 27, 057 9] 000 Total 42, 911, 048 49, 780, 146 57, 743, 651 sioneAf^MiSn^ " Since the year 18G7 a Commissioner of Mining Statistics, statistics. " appointed by the United States Government, has held of- fice. It is his duty to send in a yearly and circumstantial account to the Secretary of the Treasury. This report is then laid before Congress and printed. For the first two J.ROSS Browne, years this position was held by Mr. J. Eoss Browne; after MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 351 him by Mr. Eossiter W. Raymond, who in the year 1877 O f handed in his eighth annual report (for the year 1876). states. These reports, which, as the author states in the preface to the last, are concluded for the present, contain a vast num- E w - Raymond, ber of details concerning the various mining enterprises and also much technical information of all sorts. Mr. Raymond has personally inspected most of the mines in the various States and Territories and put himself in communication with a large number of persons who could give him useful information on the subject in question, and from whom he almost invariably met with the readiest assistance. In col- lecting the statistical information he was especially aided by the express companies. On the other hand, the circulars containing lists of queries, which were distributed, proved of little use. " Complete and statistically accurate accounts are given of many of the mining enterprises, but in regard to the sum- ming up of the entire bullion yield one can readily perceive Mr. Raymond's diffidence about giving comprehensive state- value of Mr. ments as the result of his own special investigations, whereas taiS n 8 state- it is precisely his estimates which have the greatest value m< for the public and the civil authorities. But this very re- Absence of com- _,_. . , . . . prehensive gen- serve on the part of the author in giving general estimates, erai estimates. on account of the incompleteness of his materials, gives one confidence in his detailed statements. When Mr. Raymond occasionally, though with reservations, gives general esti- mates, they may be regarded as more authoritative than others, unless a decided reason for material deviation be given. " The following tables contain the yearly reports of Mr. Annual yield of Raymond on the annual yield of the precious metals in the ?y ea s?ates rae and various States and Territories, and also a summary of the presumable total yearly yield of both gold and silver : States and Territories. 1868. 1869. 1870. 1871. California P 9 2 00^> 000 $22 500 000 $25 000 000 $20 000 000 Nevada 14 000 GOO 14 000 000 16 000 000 22 500 000 Montana 15 000 000 9 000 000 9 100 000 8 050 000 Idaho . . .... 7 000 000 7 000 000 6 000 000 5 000 000 Oregon and Washington 4, 000, COO 3, 000, 000 3 000 000 2 500 000 Arizona 500 COO 1 000 000 800 000 800 000 New Mexico 250 000 500 000 500 000 500 000 Colorado and Wyoming . 3 250 000 4 000 000 3 775* 000 4 7C3 000 1 300 000 2 300 000 From other parts 1 000 000 500 000 525 000 250 000 Total 67 I 00 000 61 500 000 66 000 000 66 663 000 1868-1871. 352 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. Bullion product of the United States and Territories. otaTes. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Annual yield of California $19 049 098 $18 025 72^ 0 300 531 25 548 801 35 254 507 35 452 233 by States and "Montana 6 068 339 5 178 047 3 844 72'^ Territories 1872 Idaho 2 695 870 2 500 000 1 880 004 1875. Oregon and "Washington Arizona 2, 000, 000 625 000 1, 585, 784 500 000 763, 605 487 000 1, 246, 978 750 000 ~\p,w "VTfvxino 500 000 500 000 500* 000 Colorado and TVyoming 4 761 465 4 070 263 5 188* 510 5 3() l> 810 Utah 2 445 284 3 778 200 3 911 601 ) 107 fJQQ From other parts 250, 000 250, 000 100, 000 500, 000 Total 63 943 857 71 642 523 72 428 206 74 817 59G Total bullion product of the United States : 1848-1875. Total bullion product of the United Stales. Years. Gold. Silver. Gold and silver. 1848 $10 000 000 $50 000 $10 050 000 1849 40 000 000 50 000 40 050 000 1850 50 000 000 50 000 50 050 000 1851 ... 55 000 000 50 000 55 050 000 1852 60 000 000 50 000 60 050 000 1853 65 000 000 50 000 65 050 000 1854 60 000 000 50 000 60 050 000 1855 55 000 000 50 000 55 050 000 1856 55 000 000 50 000 55 050 000 1857 55 000 000 f,0 000 55 050 000 1858 50 000 000 50 000 50 050 000 1859 50, Oi)0, 000 100 COO 50 100 000 I860 46 000 000 150 000 46 150 000 1861 43 000,000 2 000 000 45 000 000 1862 39 200 000 4 500 000 43 700 000 1863 40 000, 000 8 500 000 48 500 000 1864 46 100 000 11 000 000 57 100 000 1865 53 225,000 11 250 000 64 475 000 1866 53 500 000 10 000 000 63 500 OCO 1867 51 725 000 13 500 000 6") 225 000 1868 48, 000, 000 12, 000, 000 (>0 000, 000 1869 49 500 000 13 000 000 62 500 000 1870 . 50, 000, 000 1 6. 000, 000 66 000 000 1871 1872 43, 500, 000 36, 000, 000 22, 000, 000 25 750, 000 65, 500, OCO 61 750 000 1873 36, 000, 000 35, 750, 000 71, 750, 000 1874 72 428 206 1875 74,817,596 On the relative That Mr. Raymond refrained from expressing an opinion proportions of . cold and silver in m his latter reports in regard to the relative proportions of gold and silver in the sum total is explained by the fact that a sufficiently explicit statement had not yet been made of the gold contained in the ores of the Comstock Lode. On another occasion he estimated the silver product for 1874 at $32,800,000 and for 1875 at $41,400,000. In the material for the report of the British Parliamentary Commission Mr. Raymond's estimate in regard to the relative proportions of gold and silver in the total yield of the product for the years 1874 and 1875 is supplemented by roughly assuming the relative proportions of gold and silver in the total yield for the years 1874 and 1875 at the round sums of $40,000,000 gold and $32,000,000 silver. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 353 u The following tables, made out by Mr. Valentine, of the presumable bullion yield in the United States from 1871 to states. 1876, have been published by Professor Suess : Years. Gold. Silver. valentines Gold and ta ^ le of tho bul- silver lion >" iol(1 of ttte United States: 1871 $35, 900, Of $20,290 000 $56 190 COO 1871 1876 1872 39 460 000 20 530 000 59 990 000 1873 . .... 40, 460, 000 28 250 000 68 710 000 1874 40, 100, 000 3l, 500, 000 70, fiOO 000 1875 41,750 000 34 040 000 75 7!)0 000 1876 ... 44, 330, 000 41, 500, 000 85 830 000 " Mr. Raymond's reports of the annual bullion yield in the Report of Ger- various States and Territories w^est of the Eocky Mountains iaTrraSco. at may be complemented by extracts from the report of the German consulate at San Francisco, according to approxi mate valuations of the amounts of gold and silver : Value of gold and silver pro- duct: States and Territories. 1876. 1877. California $19 000 000 $18 174 716 Nevada, 49 300 000 51 580 290 Oregon 1 200 000 1 191 ( ) ( )7 Washington 100 000 92 " )9 6 Idaho 1 8'{ ' 49 ~t Montana 2 800 000 2 014 91'* Utah 5 600 000 8 113 755 Arizona 1 400 000 2 388 6' >:> XfiW "VTflyiro . , . .. , , 500 000 379 010 Wyoming and Dakota 700 000 1 500 000 Colorado 7 000 000 7 913 549 Mexico 2 200 000 1 4'! l> 99'-' British Columbia 1 500 000 1 177 190 Total . . 93 000 000 498 41 754 Subtracted lor Mexico and British Columbia 2, 700, 000 * 2, Gltt', 182 Bullion yield of the "United States .... 90 300 000 95 811 572 1876-1877. " Of this product, in 1877 ($98,421,754) about $50,000,000, Relative or rather more than half the sum total, was gold, whereas tf^w the yield in 1876 about $48,000,000 was gold and $45,000,000 silver. The consular report contains the following observa- tions on the sources of these tables : i The statements of Difficulties in the various mining companies regarding the yield of thei mines are by no means accurate, for no one is disposed to filst p " rties - i show his hand,' and the artificially stimulated fluctuations of the stock market are dependent upon reports alternately hopeful and discouraging, and which have little in common with the real state of affairs. Wells, Fargo, & Co. still re- main the most trustworthy authorities for the bullion yield, tie most as the greater part of it is transported by them. In cases, too, where mere estimates only are possible, they have busi- ness connections through which they can arrive better than any one else at the correct valuation, 7 23 P R VOL 4 Data of the Ex- press Company " bio. 354 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. of Ba the np uSi " The whole tadHon product of the United States west of states. the Kocky Mountains is roughly estimated as follows : California ........................................... $1,165,200,000 Total bullion Nevada .............................................. 396, 600, 000 United* States? Oregon and Washington . ............................. 44, 000, 000 65,000,000 Montana ............................................. 130,600,000 Utah ................................................ 35,500,000 Arizona .............................................. 10, 300, 000 Colorado ............................................ 52, 600, 000 Wyoming and Dakota ................................ 3, 100, 000 New Mexico ......................................... 4, 600, 000 Total 1,907,500,000 From British Columbia 31, 200, 000 From the northwest coast of Mexico 7, 400, 000 Aggregate 1, 946, 100, 000 rep?rf ct of fl Se " We extract from tne reports of the British consul at San British consul at Francisco some of the observations which are annexed to San 1? rancisco. the tabular statements, at the same time noting the fluctu- ations in the price of quicksilver, as they are of great im- portance in the milling of silver ores, not only in the United States but also in Mexico and South America. Report for 3872. "Report for the year 1872. Wells, Fargo, & Co. Express forwarded silver to the value of $62,000,000, and as it may be presumed that at least a quarter mure fouud its way to San Francisco through other channels, the statisticians do not consider $80,000,000 too high an estimate for the total bullion yield of the whole country west of the Kocky Mountains. The largest part of it, however, no longer comes from California, but from Nevada, which State is credited with $25,500,000. Comparatively the greatest advance was made by Utah Territory, whose share has been variously estimated at from $4,000,000 to $10,000,000, while the Washoe Silver Mines still remain the most productive. It is worthy of note that the gold product is on the decrease, while that of silver is on the increase. The quicksilver product in California amounted to 30,306 flasks ; the price ranged from 85 to 87 cents per pound. Report for 1874. " Report for the year 1874.* The yield of the mines in the various States and Territories is larger than that of any preceding year, partly in consequence of the extraordinary richness of many veins, partly also because, the rains hav- ing been early and plentiful, mining could be carried on longer than usual. The returns exceed those of 1873 by * No report has been presented for the year 1873. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 355 $2,000,000, and those of 1872 by $12,000,000. The yield consisted of gold dust aod ingots to the value of $26,358,776, of silver ingots (which, however, frequently contain one- quarter part gold) to the value of $35,681,411, and of argen- tiferous lead ores to the value $12,360,868. Utah yields principally argentiferous lead ; the gold yield of this Ter- ritory in 1874 did not exceed $100,000. Colorado ingots con- tain about five-eighths silver and three-eighths gold. The mines of California (with the exception of the Inyo district) and New Mexico yield almost exclusively gold. The most important event was the discovery towards the end of the year of an ore body in the Comstock Lode which appears to surpass all former discoveries in size and richness. The yield of the quicksilver mines was 34,154 flasks ; the price rose from $1.20 to $1.55. " Report for the year 1875. The total yield for this year may be estimated at $90,000,000 ; for besides the $80,889,037 which were intrusted to Wells, Fargo, & Co. as the yield of the mines in the States and Territories lying west of the Missouri, ores, gold dust, etc., were exported by other and private means. The Nevada (Comstock Lode) mines yielded $5,000.000 more than in the preceding year, in spite of the fire, which caused a suspension of work for many months, and therefore the assumption that they will yield $50,000,000 in 1875 is not unfounded. The product of the California quicksilver mines was 53,706 flasks. At the end of the year the price had sunk to 62J cents per pound. " Report for the year 1876. Wells, Fargo, & Co. trans- ported $75,199,541 in. gold and fine silver ingots. But a large amount of bullion from the distant mines was transmitted by private means and by post to save the high express and insurance rates, and the base bullion was sent almost with- out exception as freight. The sum total may be pretty ac- curately estimated at $93,000,000. In consequence of the loss which the mine owners met with through the deprecia- tion of silver, they lowered the wages of the miners. The yield of the quicksilver mines in the year 1876 was unusu- ally large, and amounted to 75,074 flasks. This increased produce reduced the price of quicksilver to 55 cents per pound. u Report for the year 1877. It was supposed that the gold yield for this dry year had been as poor as the wheat har- vest, as water is almost as essential for mining as for agri- culture. The primitive method of washing the gold found on the surface by hand (placer mining), now falling into disuse and undertaken to any large extent only by the Bullion product of the United States. Reports of the British consul at San Francisco. Report for 1874. Report for 1875. Report for 187G. Reportforl877. 356 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. "UniSd Cninese ? is as a matter of course dependent upon rain. So, states. too, is the process known as the hydraulic method, in which, hill-sides are disintegrated and strata of auriferous gravel Br?u?h r ion/ui at are ^ ashecl out - Jets of water issue from movable nozzles San Francisco. o f Q anc j iQ inches in diameter under tremendous pressure towards the bank which is to be demolished. This method Report for 1877. of mining, too, must suffer from a dry year, although tbe water-power is obtained from large brooks which seldom run dry. Finally, in very many of the tunnel mines proper Apprehensions water is the only motive power for the quartz mills. In of water. consequence of all this, the natural conclusion was that the yield for 1877 would be far smaller than that of the previous year. This apprehension appears the more warrantable, because, during the year, the whole list of mining shares sunk lower and remained depreciated longer than had ever Depreciation of before been the case. It appears, however, as if there were mining stocks. ,, , ., . .. ,, ., some other ground for this continued depreciation of the stock besides the unproductiveness of the mines, and the reason is probably to be found in the fact that there was a great lack of money among the speculating public and a consequent inability to buy ; for if the newly-issued reports are in any way to be credited, the bullion yield in 1877 was not inferior to that of the previous year. In California, New Mexico, Montana, British Columbia, and Mexico the total yield is, to be sure, somewhat behind that of 1870, but the difference is comparatively small. It may, therefore, be concluded that the loss caused by scarcity of water has been made good by the discovery of new mines and the enlargement of old ones, and that, had it not been for this drawback, the yield would have been far higher, as Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, and Dakota, where rain and snow were plentiful, have larger returns to sbow. These remarks are followed in the report by the detailed estimate of the probable yield, amounting to $94,421,754, which has already been given. The quick silver product amounted to 78,600 flasks. In consequence of the low prices the production of many of the mines was intentionally reduced. A combination of the principal quicksilver mining companies succeeded in bringing the price up to 02^ cents for a short time, but the average was about 42 cents per pound. silver produc- Some data respecting the silver production of the United States have already been given in connection with the gold UP to 1839 re- yield for the same period. It is confessed on all sides that up 11(3 to the year 1859 the silver yield of the United States arose almost exclusively from the parting of gold, and was of very MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 357 small importance. Since the discovery and opening of the rich silver mines of Nevada, however, it has obtained a stat es. much greater importance, especially since the opening of the Nevada mines. Comstock Lode, from which within a short time such enor- Comstockiode. mous quantities of silver have been produced as was never before known since the best days of the mines of Potosi and one or two Mexican mines. The silver yield of the United States seems to have reached its maximum in the years 1875-77. But large as the yield really was, the exag- geration usual in such cases was not lacking. For this reason there was a great variation in the estimates. This was the more natural, as at that time the fluctuations in the price of silver and the extraordinary reduction of the same aroused an unusual interest in the subject. "The board of commissioners appointed by the Briiish British Parlia- mentary in vest i- Parliainent on the 3d of March, 1879. to investigate thegation on the , cause of depreci- cause of the depreciation ot silver, give, 111 their report dated atum in the value July 3, of the same year, a detailed account of the develop- ment of the silver produce in the United States, and espe- cially in regard to the years 1874-'76. They also collected a quantity of material in reference to this subject, which is published in the supplement to the report. The yield of several individual mines of the Comstock Lode are given 5 also the quotations and dividends of many of these mining enterprises, and various other details of the same character. The general statistical statements which were submitted to them, however, vary very much from one another, and the commissioners were, therefore, unable to come to a final decision as to which of the estimates was approximately the most correct. Many of the estimates give a presumptive silver yield in the United States in the year 1876 of about $50,000,000. There was an equally large and even an in- creasing yield anticipated until a correspondence from San Francisco, which was published in the 'Times, 7 put an end to such exaggerated representations. It is here stated with authority that the silver product in the United States in the year 1876 did not exceed 24,000,000 ounces fine silver or (the ounce being reckoned at $1.15) $27,600,000. " We had intended limiting ourselves to the brief notes already given in reference to the silver produce of the United States, regardless of the fuct that so great a mass of detailed reports lie before us that many pages might be filled with them ; a decisive reason for this limitation, however, is the special report tothoTJ. S.Mone- appearance ot a new special official report bearing the title tary commission. 4 Special Report to the United States Monetary Commission on the Eecent and Prospective Production of Silver in the 358 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. ^ Bullion pr^^ct United States, particularly from the Corns tock Lode/ states. Washington, February 24, 1877. This treatise is to be found in the supplement to the report of the aforementioned Sil- DePfia? of A ' ver Commission ( vo ^ 1? PP- 1 to 60), which appointed Mr. Del Mar to examine into the bullion product at its source, in order to do away with the universal uncertainity in regard to the amount of the same. " Mr - Del Mar first explains the methods for estimating the on annual bullion yield in the United States which had been yield. in use up to that date. The "export and consumptions an? 6 coSump^ me ^ O( ^" consisted in estimating the product according to tions " method, the export schedules and the amounts which had been coined during the year. The results of this method are, however, most imperfect owing to the notorious untrust- worthiness and incompleteness of thy export statistics. The "express "The so-called " express method" consists in the estimates made by Mr. Valentine, superintendent of Wells, Fargo, & Co. Express, of the bullion produce of the mining district west of the Great Salt Lake, which is transported : linost exclusively by this company. The ordinary statements which are published in the San Francisco papers are from this source, and are regarded by tiu*. commercial public as being more approximately accurate than the discordant published estimates ; but, on the other hand, the objection is raised that considerable amounts of gold dust and ingots are brought to market from the interior without the express company being employed, and that ores which frequently contain bullion are usually sent as ordinary freight by rail, and that, therefore, in these cases Mr. Valentine is unable to do more than merely calculate the probabilities. It is also very possible that the same amount may be twice stated, which would of course unduly increase the estimate. Furthermore, the auriferous silver is stated simply as silver, and, therefore, in the declarations which have heretofore been made, the gold product is put down at too low a figure and the silver product at more than it should be. The "bank" " The * bank method' is the estimate which is gained from a combination of the returns of three banks of San Fran- cisco, through whose hands almost the entire silver product of California and Nevada is put upon the market. In criti- cising this method it was pointed out that it would be pos- sible to gain a trustworthy estimate of the bullion yield of the United States in this way if all the assayers were obliged by law to declare the results of their assays to the Treasury, as all the gold and silver obtained in the United MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 359 States, down to trifling sums, are tested for their alloy either in the mints or by private assayers. states. u To ascertain the bullion yield of Nevada the ' assessor's 6 of A- method ? may also be employed. According to a law of this State, made in 1864, a yearly tax is levied on the mines of 8or v about 1 per cent, of the amount of their net proceeds, and as a cbeck, statements of the gross proceeds must be made quarterly. Mr. Del Mar is convinced that with one or two trifling exceptions, such as the omission of the quarterly declaration on the part of small mining enterprises, and con- cerning the reworking of ores, the estimates of the bullion yield of Nevada gained in this way may be regarded as ac- curate. " Mr. Del Mar made use of a new and independent method senator Jones of valuation suggested to him by Senator Jones, president of the Silver Commission. Mr. Jones has large mining in- terests in Nevada, and is well acquainted with the state of affairs there. This method consists in extracting from the bullion books of the various mining companies their output. There are certain difficulties connected with this method : the number of small mining enterprises is large j the fiscal year of the various companies differs ; and, finally, in early days the gold and silver yield was not entered separately upon the bullion books of many of the companies. It was possible to overcome these difficulties, however, though not without much labor. It is said, to the credit of the mining companies, that the desired information was always given with great readiness, and the tax-lists of Nevada were of service in supplementing and verifying the reports. " On account of the insufficiency of time and assistance, ,. .{^graphical ... ' limitation of the these detailed and statistical! v comprehensive investigations statement up to , _ date of publica- could not be extended to any extent beyond the limits of turn. Nevada up to the date of publication. That State, how- ever, furnishes the preponderating part of the entire prod- uct. For the present only the returns for the years 1871- ? 76 have been given. The necessary material for the reports of the preceding years, 1861->70, has already been extracted from the bullion books, but not yet worked up. This will, however, be done subsequently. 360 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS, 1878. States. " Tne results of Mr. Del Mar's investigations are as fol- 1OWS I Result of Del Mar's investiga- tion. Gold and silver product of the United States. 1871-1872. 1873-1874. 1875-1876. Districts. 1871. 1872. Gold product. Silver product. Gold product. Silver product. $6, 612, 943 9, 953, 634 Comstock Lode $4, 077, 427 1, 485, 007 $6, 230, 587 7, 880, 764 $6, 310, 035 2, 142, 730 Other mines in Nevada Wliole of Nevada 5, 562, 434 14,111,351 4, 000, 000 8,452,765 16, 566, 577 2, 000, 000 Remainder of the United States . . Entire silver product - 18, 111, 351 18, 566, 577 Comstock Lode 1873. 1874. 10, 493, 756 2, 678, 469 11,037,020 8, 094, 440 12, 579, 825 1, 650, 202 11, 881, 000 3, 521, 382 Other mines in Nevada Whole of Nevada 13, 172, 225 19,131,460 6, 000, 000 14, 230, 027 15, 402, 382 10, 000, 000 Remainder of the United States Total silver product 25,131,460 25, 402, 382 Comstock Lode 1875. 1876. 11, 739, 873 2, 256, 618 14,492,350 6, 717, 636 18, 002, 906 1, 337, 798 20, 570, 078 7, 462, 752 Other mines in Nevada Whole of Nevada Remainder of the United States 13, 996, 491 21, 209, 986 9, 000, 000 19, 340, 704 28, 032, 830 10, 151, 520 Total silver product 30, 209, 986 38, 184, 350 silver product " The silver product in the United States (with the excep- ting Nevada?! tion of Nevada) is given for 1876 as follows: 1876. Utah $3,351,520 Colorado 3,000,000 California 1,800,000 Arizona 500,000 Montana 800,000 Idaho 300,000 New Mexico 400,000 Total, about 10,151,520 Reason forgiv- rp ne bullion yield in the United States is of such impor- ing a variety of statements 'and tance that it has been considered best to give in detail the authorities. . . , principal estimates and valuations, however much they may differ from one another. From this material any one who takes an interest in the matter can form his own opinion on the subject. MINING INDUSTRIES: COMMISSIONER HAGUE. 361 RECAPITULATION. Periods. No. of years. Gold product. Silver product. Total. Yearly average. Value. Total. Yearly average. Value. 1804-'20... 1821-'30... 1831-'40... 1841-'50... 1851-'55... 1856-'60 .. 1861-'65... 1866-'70... 1871-75. . . 17 10 10 10 5 5 5 5 5 Kilos. 60 1,100 8,500 176, 000 444, 000 385, 500 333, 500 380, 000 297, 500 Kilos. 3.5 110 850 17, 600 88. 800 77, 100 66, 700 76, 000 59,500 Marks. 9,800 306, 900 2, 371, 500 49, 104, 000 247, 752, 000 215, 109, 000 186, 093, 000 212, 040, 000 166, 005, 000 Kilos. Kilos. Marks. 41, 500 31,000 870, 000 1, 505, 000 2, 824, 000 ""8,300 6,200 174, 000 301, 000 564, 800 ' 1,494," 666 1, 116, 000 31, 320, 000 54, 180, 000 101, 664, 000 Bullion product of the United States. Dr. Soetbeer's conclusions. TOTAL YIELD. 1821 '50 30 185 600 517 824 000 5 271 500 948 870 000 1851-'75 25 1, 840, 500 ::.::::: 5, 134, 995, 000 1821-75 55 2 026 100 5, 652, 819, 000 "The e above table gives in German money and metrical weight, the estimates which we ourselves consider the most accurate." JAMES D. HAGUE, Additional Commissioner. &. w i -V S; '' ' C-" II . rv K' -