STEAM NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
Steamboats were first introduced on the Mississippi about 1812; and, within seven years of that time, not less than fifty boats, of all classes, had been built. The following list, which I made in 1819, embraces all the steam-vessels which are known to have been put upon that stream and its tributaries, prior to that era, and is believed to give with accuracy their names and tonnage.
Fulton's first successful experiment in the application of Savary's steam-engine, as improved by Watt and Bolton, to the propulsion of vessels, dates in 1807; so that but five years elapsed before the invention was introduced, and twelve years before it was spread, on the western waters. The impracticability of navigating those waters by the force of sails, caused the invention to be hailed there with acclamation; and this explains the cause of its rapid multiplication.
No.Names.Tons.No.Names.Tons.1.Etna20027.St. Louis Packet1502.Vesuvius28028.Ramapo1003.Orleans20029.Rising States1504.Alabama30030.Maid of Orleans1005.Columbus40031.Hamlet1006.Tamerlane20032.Perseverance507.James Ross25033.Johnson758.United States50034.Eagle1009.Paragon25035.Vesta11010.Thomas Jefferson20036.Harriet4011.Ohio30037.Constitution4512.General Jackson10038.Louisiana6013.Maysville15239.Governor Shelby6014.Exchange15440.Franklin8015.Volcano14041.Rifleman6016.Madison10042.Newport4517.Kentucky6043.Expedition15018.Hecla10044.General Clark15019.Napoleon20045.Henderson15020.Washington15046.Tornado25021.Buffalo10047.Elizabeth17522.James Monroe7048.Missouri Packet10023.Cincinnati8549.Post-Boy (for pas'gers only)-24.St. Louis20050.Western Engineer4025.General Pike75Total7,30626.Independence100
In addition to these, there are two new boats building at Pittsburgh, one at Wheeling, one at Steubenville, one at Marietta, two at Cincinnati, one at Frankfort, two at Shippingport, one at Madison, and two at New Albany, making a total number of sixty-three. There are also several more in contemplation, so that it is probable another year will considerably augment the number. The first steamboat on the western waters was built at Pittsburgh in 1811, eight years ago. Hence it appears there has been an average increase of eight boats per annum; but by far the greatest proportion have been built within the last three years.
7306 tons, at 4 cents per lb. freight up from New Orleans, amounts to$584,480 007306 tons, at 1 cent per lb. freight down to New Orleans146,120 0010 passengers down in each boat, at $6039,800 005 passengers up in each boat, at $10031,500 00$801,900 00
It is presumable that each boat will perform three trips to and from New Orleans per annum, which will make an aggregate amount of freight and passage money of $2,405,700 per annum. From this, some idea of the trade, population, and business of the vast valley of the Mississippi, may be formed. And let it be remembered, at the same time, that the transportation of merchandise is not wholly done by steamboats. The Ohio and Mississippi are still lined with keel-boats and barges; and much of the produce is still carried to market in flat-bottomed boats, of a temporary construction, which are not calculated to ascend the stream, and are therefore generally sold for a trifle, or abandoned.
The following is extracted from a comparative statement of the increase of the principal articles of produce which arrived at the New Orleans market during a period of three years.
Productions.1815.1816.1817.Bacon and hams, cwt.7,00013,00018,000Butter, lbs.-5001,800Cotton, bales60,00065,00065,000Corn, bushels120,000130,000140,000Flour, barrels75,00098,000190,000Molasses, gallons500,000800,0001,000,000Pork, barrels8,0009,70022,000Sugar, hhds.5,0007,30028,000Taffia, gallons150,000300,000400,000Tobacco, hhds5,0007,30028,000Wheat, bushels--95,000Whiskey, gallons150,000230,000250,000
SOME ARTICLES OF CURIOUS WORKMANSHIP FOUND IN AN ANCIENT BARROW.
An opinion is entertained by many well-informed persons in the United States, that the country has, at some remote period, been inhabited by a civilized people, prior to its settlement or subjugation by the savages. To the many evidences furnished to strengthen this opinion, by the remnants of fortifications, tumuli, &c., may be added the discovery of several articles of antiquarian value, and of singular workmanship, of glass, or antique enamel, lately made on the eastern shores of lake Erie.
I have had an opportunity of examining a specimen of these antique glasses, and, on the authority of my informant, am enabled to remark that they were taken up about two months ago, from an ancient barrow in the town of Hamburg, where they were found deposited in an earthen pot. Contiguous to this pot were also found a skull, and some other human remains, thought to be of an unusual size. This mound, or supposed repository of the dead, is situated in an uncultivated part of the town, and several trees were growing upon it at the time the excavation was made; some of which were judged to be upwards of two feet in diameter.
The glass relic which I had an opportunity to examine, (and I am told they are all alike,) is in the form of a large barrel-shaped bead, consisting of a tube of transparent green glass, covered with an opaque coarse red enamel. Its length is nine-tenths of an inch, its greatest width six and a half tenths of an inch, and the bore of the tube two-tenths of an inch. Near the circle of the bore of this tube, is an aperture of the size of a large needle, perforating the tube from one end to the other. The enamel which covers the tube of transparent glass appears to have been ornamented with painting, in figures resembling a spindle, or two inverted sections of a circle; but they are now hardly perceptible, as the bead appears to have been considerably worn.
But the circumstance most indicative of art in the making of this bead, is a species of enamelling which has been performed both on the external and internal surfaces of the tube, previous to its being covered by the coarse red enamel. This second enamel is white, and, as the external surface of the tube was not smooth, but in parallelstrieor veins, exhibits the appearance of a white vine between the green tube and the red enamel. This enamelling appears to have been done, not by melting on any vitreous composition, as is practised at the present day, but by the effect of calcination for some time in a low red heat. This, it is known, will deprive glass, especially green glass, of its transparency, and render the surface white to a certain depth.
The composition of the tube of glass, I have judged to be simply a silicious sand and an alkali, probably with a small addition of lime or vegetable ashes. It is hard, and will not receive scratches like the lead glasses; and I conclude from this circumstance that there is no lead in the composition. Its color seems also owing to the impurity of the materials employed, like the common window and bottle glass, and is probably caused by a minute portion of iron, in the state of an oxide, combined with the sand and alkali.
The red enamel covering the tube, and the pot in which these glasses were found, seem to have been constructed of similar materials, as they differ very little in color, texture, or other external character. Probably a very fusible brick-clay, highly impregnated with the oxide of iron, and pulverized fragments of green glass, are the principal ingredients of both. The earthen pot is manifestly constructed of different materials from those employed for brown pottery at the present period. It is a more imperishable substance, of a close texture, and vitreous appearance.
I shall not presume to speculate in opinions which discoveries of this interesting nature are calculated to create; it may, however, here be added, that the fabrication of these glasses would suppose a perfection in the arts, which none of the Indian tribes inhabiting this country at the period of its discovery, had arrived at. That if introduced by the French from Canada, in their earliest communications with the Indians inhabiting the western parts of the State of New York, a sufficient time would hardly have elapsed for the growth of trees of such size as were found upon the mound from which these relics were taken. And that, if not introduced by the French at the period alluded to, we must refer their manufacture back to a very remote date, and one on which Indian tradition is wholly silent.
Since visiting the western country, I have had occasion to notice a similar discovery on Big river, in the Territory of Missouri. On opening an Indian grave (or what was considered such) on the bank of this river, several beads of glass, of a similar character, were found. They were accompanied by many bones of the human frame, of extraordinary size, and which indicated, to common observation, a stature of seven or eightfeet in height. The person appeared to have been deformed, either by birth or accident, as the right jaw-bone ran in a straight line from the mouth back, while the left preserved the usual curve. The excavation was made near the edge of the stream, where the soil is a rich alluvion, and covered by a heavy growth of forest trees, such as are peculiar to the richest Ohio and Mississippi bottom-lands. We may add, that it corresponds best with history and probability to attribute these relics to the early period of the fur-trade.
ANCIENT INDIAN CEMETERY IN THE VALLEY OF THE MARAMEC RIVER.
In the autumn of 1818, the existence of a number of small tumuli, or antique Indian graves, was made known in the valley of the Maramec. This discovery was made about fifteen miles south of St. Louis. Curiosity led several persons to visit the spot and examine them, and my attention was thus called to the subject. It was conjectured that the bones found in these graves were the remains of a race of beings much smaller than those of the present day.
The essential facts connected with these discoveries, are these:—The tumuli, which are small, occupy a wood near the dwelling of a Mr. Long. The attention of this gentleman was arrested by this smallness of cemeterial dimensions, or place of burial. Drs. Walker and Grayson, of St. Louis, proceeded to the spot, opened several of the graves, and examined their contents. The length of the stature of the interred persons, measured by their stony casings, varied from twenty-three inches, to four feet two or three inches. But the skeletons, with the exception of the teeth, were reduced to a complete limy substance, and their forms destroyed. The graves had originally been cased with rude flat stones at the sides, and also at the head and feet. A flat stone had also, in some instances, been laid over the top, and earth piled on the grave, above the surface of the ground, to the general height of three feet. This was a characteristic feature, and seemed designed to mark the locality. In this stony coffin, all the softer and destructible parts of the body had submitted to decay, with the exception before mentioned—the teeth. The examination of these became, therefore, the principal source of interest. They found the enamel perfect, and were surprised to discover that they were the teeth of rather young persons, who had, however, passed the age of puberty. The molars and incisors were of the ordinary dimensions and character of second teeth. The jaw-bone of the first specimen examined, appeared to have its full complement, except the dentis sapienta, whichphysiologists do not generally recognize until after the ages of eighteen to twenty-three.
Many graves were examined, which differed more or less in length, between the extremes stated, but agreed in their general conformity of parts; from all which, these gentlemen came to the conclusion that the remains denoted a stature of inferior size, while appearances indicated a remote antiquity as the epoch of burial, which might as well be supposed to be five centuries as one. This antiquity was inferred, as well from the reduction of the bones to their elements, as from the growth of large trees upon the graves, the roots of which penetrated into their recesses.
Upon this exhibition of facts, a legal gentleman[21]of intelligence calls attention, with great pertinency, to the ancient manners and customs of the Indians, in the burial of their dead.
"As yet, I have seen no attempt to account for the size and appearance of these skeletons, upon any other supposition than that they are the remains of a people far less in size than any known at the present day. Unwilling to adopt a belief so contrary to the general order of nature, and to the history of the human species, so far as it has been transmitted to us, I shall hazard some conjectures upon the subject, which I think will, in some measure, tend to dissolve the mystery that hovers over these bones, and to reconcile their appearance with the general history of our race. To be sure, Nature, in her sport, has now and then produced monsters. A taste for the marvellous among travellers and historians, has occasionally conjured up a race of giants, or a nation of pigmies; but when the light of truth has reached us from the distant corners of the earth, where they were said to dwell, we have found them to assume the size, shape, and attitude of men, and nothing more. So far as observation or history extends, we find the species nearly the same in all ages and in all countries. Climate has had some effect upon the size, and upon the complexion. The excessive cold of the north has shortened an inch or two the necks of the Esquimaux, and the heat of the south has colored the African. But what, in this genial climate, should make dwarfs? It is here, if anywhere, that we should naturally expect to find giants! All the other productions of nature are here brought forth in the highest perfection. And shallmanhere grow a pigmy? Unless we are ready to adopt the opinion of certain naturalists, that the human species are the legitimate descendants of the apes, and that they once wore tails, and were of their diminutive size—unless we are ready to believe the history of the Lilliputians, and of Tom Thumb—I think we shall discard the idea of a nation of dwarfs, as wholly preposterous. But how, on any other supposition, shall we account for the appearances upon the farm of Mr. Long?
"None of the graves found there exceed four feet in length, many ofthem fall short of three, and the teeth found in all of them show that they contain the remains of human beings who had arrived at years of maturity. The manners and customs of the Indians with respect to the treatment of their dead, will, I think, solve all difficulties, and satisfactorily account for these appearances, without doing violence to nature. According to the testimony of travellers and historians, it has been the custom among many tribes of Indians to hang their dead in baskets upon trees and scaffolds, until their flesh was consumed, and then to take them down, clean their bones, and bury them. There existed an order of men among them calledbone-pickers, with long nails like claws, whose business and profession it was to clean the unconsumed flesh from the bones, previous to burial. This custom still exists among the Indians on the waters of the Missouri, and rationally accounts for the appearances upon the farm of Mr. Long. The bones of a skeleton of the ordinary size, when separated, would naturally occupy a grave of three or four feet in length. It appears that in all the graves which were opened, the bones, except the teeth, were reduced to a chalky substance, so that it would be impossible to know, with any certainty, in what state, condition, or form, they were deposited there. These skeletons are said to rest on their sides. Taking this fact to be true, it goes to strengthen my ideas on this subject. In burying a corpse, it is natural, and, so far as we are acquainted, universally the custom, to bury them with the face upwards. We can look upon our dead friends with a melancholy complacency—we cast a long and lingering look after them until they are completely shut from our view in the grave; and nothing is more hard and heart-rending than to tear our last looks from them. It is natural, then, that the body should be placed in such a position as most to favor this almost universal desire of the human heart. But, in burying a skeleton, it would be as natural to avert the horrid grin of a death's-head from us. To face the grinning skeleton of a friend, must fill us with horror and disgust. 'Turn away the horrid sight,' would be the language of nature. If we adopt my supposition as correct in this case, all the facts correspond with nature. But if we adopt the opinion of a recent writer, our conclusions will be at war with nature, reason, and universal observation."
The following observations by the Rev. J. M. Peck, of St. Louis, may also here be added:
"One grave was opened which measured four feet in length; this was formed by laying a flat stone at the bottom, placing one on each side, one at each end, and covering the mouth with another. In the last circumstance, this grave differed from the others that were opened; the contents were a full-grown skeleton, with the head and teeth, part of the spine, the thigh and leg bones, in a tolerable state of preservation. The leg-bones were found parallel with the bones of the thighs, and every appearance indicated, either that the corpse had been entombed with the legs and thighs placed so as to meet, or that a skeleton had beendeposited in this order. The first opinion seems the most probable, from the fact that a large stone pipe was found in the tomb, which I understand is now in the possession of Mr. Long."
Both implements of war, and of domestic use, are buried with the dead bodies of the Indians; but it admits of a query if they are ever deposited with the mere skeleton.
"It is a well-known fact," says Bishop Madison, while writing on the supposed fortifications of the western country,[22]"that, among many of the Indian tribes, the bones of the deceased are annually collected and deposited in one place, that the funeral rites are then solemnized with the warmest expressions of love and friendship, and that this untutored race, urged by the feelings of nature, consign to the bosom of the earth, along with the remains of their deceased relatives, food, weapons of war, and often those articles they possessed, and most highly valued, when alive."
This fact is substantiated from various respectable sources. The pious custom of collecting the relics of the dead, which accident, or the events of a battle, might have dispersed through the wilderness, easily accounts for the graves on the Maramec, as well as explains the origin of the artificial mounds in the vicinity. If these were opened, there would be found promiscuously deposited the bones of the aborigines, which pious veneration, from year to year and from century to century, industriously collected. The cemetery alluded to, on the plantation of Mr. Long, may be viewed as the public burial-place of some powerful nation of the same size, and similar customs, with other Indians.
OSAGES.
This tribe claims, as original possessors, the territories of the Ozarks, over which my journeys have chiefly laid. They claim all the country north of the Arkansas, to the Maramec. The term Ozark appears to me to be compounded from Osage and Arkansas.
They are manly, good-looking, stout-limbed men, erratic in their mode of life, living a part of the year in fixed villages, and roving with their families through the forests, in search of game, the remainder. Their territories are immense.
The Osages, if we may judge from popular opinion, are very much in the condition of the sons of Ishmael—"Their hand is against every man,and every man's hand against them." It is remarkable that they possess so much skill as they do in public negotiations, which they manage with address, with a bold, direct air, employing enlarged thoughts and phrases, which are calculated to impress the hearer favorably as to their mental abilities.
But little opportunity has been had of personal observation on their manners and customs. Their mode of encampment has been seen, and is so arranged as to place the chiefs of the village, or camp, in the position of honor. It is stated that, at daybreak, a public crier makes proclamation of the expected events and duties of the day, which, to ears uninitiated, sounds like a call to prayer. I fancy the prayer of Indians, if they pray at all, is for deer and buffalo.
It appears from the manuscript records of General William Clark, at St. Louis, which I have been permitted to see, that they have a tale, or fiction, of their origin from a snail and beaver. If this is an allegory, we are to suppose that persons bearing these names were their progenitors. I avail myself of the public interpreter of the language to submit the following vocabulary of it.[23]
[21]Rufus Pettibone, Esq., of St. Louis.
[21]Rufus Pettibone, Esq., of St. Louis.
[22]See American Philosophical Transactions, Vol. VI.
[22]See American Philosophical Transactions, Vol. VI.
[23]Omitted.
[23]Omitted.
Notice of "A View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri, including some Observations on the Mineralogy, Geology, Geography, Antiquities, Soil, Climate, Population, and Productions, of Missouri and Arkansas, and other sections of the Western Country; accompanied by three Engravings. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft, Corresponding Member of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York." 1821.
Notice of "A View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri, including some Observations on the Mineralogy, Geology, Geography, Antiquities, Soil, Climate, Population, and Productions, of Missouri and Arkansas, and other sections of the Western Country; accompanied by three Engravings. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft, Corresponding Member of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York." 1821.
As this work has been more than a year before the American public, and is already well known, it may seem superfluous to make any remarks upon it at so late a period. It was our purpose to have given it an early notice, but circumstances which could not be controlled, prevented. Still, as it is devoted to subjects which form a prominent object in this Journal, and is, as far as we are informed, the only elaborate and detailed account of a mining district in the United States, we are not disposed to remain silent, especially as the discharge of the duty is not likely to be painful, either to ourselves or to the author. Reviews in form, although within the plan of this Journal, do not constitute one of its most leading objects, and we do not hold ourselves responsible for analyses or even for notices of new American books, unless they appear particularly interesting or important, or hold a very intimate connexion with the great design of our work.
We have already intimated that we regard Mr. Schoolcraft's work in this light. We take it for granted that the statements of facts made by this author, are both faithful and accurate; the information which we have incidentally derived from other sources, certainly countenances this impression, but the whole amount of it is small, compared with the details contained in the present volume.
Mr. Schoolcraft's opportunities for observation were extensive, particularly in relation to the mines of lead in the Missouri region. Among those mines he spent a year. "I have made (says he) a personal examination of every mine of consequence, with a view to ascertain its general character and value and its peculiarities. I have travelled on foot over the whole mine country, exploring its minerals, its geological structure, its geographical position, soil, climate, productions, towns, streams,settlements, and whatever else appeared to me to be necessary to describe, explain and illustrate the subject before me."
Mr. Schoolcraft appears to have made good use of the advantages which he enjoyed, and his countrymen are indebted to him for a great amount of valuable information. He appears also to have studied the observations of preceding writers, and, with their works before him, it was in his power to correct errors and to supply deficiencies.
He has prefixed an historical sketch which we presume will be acceptable to every reader. The French, as is well known, were the original discoverers and settlers of the Missouri, and Illinois regions, which were embraced in their vast scheme of forming a chain of posts and settlements from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to that of the Mississippi. They did not occupy the country of the Missouri and Illinois till more than a century after the settlement of Quebec, and about a century before the present period. At that time, (1720,) the lead mines were discovered by Philip Francis Renault, and M. La Motte, and by them they were wrought, although they and the adventurers under them were disappointed in their expectations of finding gold and silver.
At the end of about half a century, the country passed into the hands of the Spaniards, and under their dominion, probably about forty years since, the principal mine was discovered by a man of the name of Burton, and from him it has derived the name of Mine à Burton.
It appears that the processes of mining under the Spaniards were very imperfect, as they obtained only fifty per cent. of lead from the ore, threw away the lead ashes, and did not attempt any manufactures of shot or any other articles. They employed only the open log furnace.
In 1797, Moses Austin, Esq., a native of Connecticut, who had been occupied with lead mines in Wythe county, in Virginia, obtained from the Spanish government, a grant of a league square in the mining district in consideration of his introducing a reverberatory furnace. He sunk the first regular shaft—the mining having, till that time, been prosecuted solely by open digging, in the manner of quarries. Mr. Austin also introduced the manufacture of shot, and that of sheet lead soon followed. About the same time several other American families collected at the mines, and infused new spirit and enterprise into the mining operations, so that they were carried on with considerable vigour at the time when (in 1803) the country was transferred to the United States. Mr. Schoolcraft, from whom these facts are taken, remarks, that since 1804, the number of mines has been astonishingly multiplied—population has flowed rapidly in—the processes on the ore have been much improved—better furnaces have been constructed, and "every season is adding to the number of the mines." "Every day is developing to us the vast resources of this country, particularly in lead," and the author expresses his opinion that "the mines of Missouri are paralleled by no other mineral district in the world."
From the specimens which we possess of this ore, and from the documents produced by the author respecting the produce of the mines, we believe his opinion is correct, especially if we consider the fact that "the earth has not yet been penetrated over eighty feet;" "we know not what may be found in the lower strata." "There is reason to believe that the main bodies of ore have not been hit upon, that they lie deeper, and that we have thus far been only engaged upon the spurs and detached masses."
Mr. Schoolcraft informs us that although the mining business is much improved, there is still a great deficiency both of capital and of skill—there is in the whole district but one regular hearth furnace for smelting, and that not the best;—among forty mines, there are only four or five regular shafts—there is among all the mines, no engine of any description for raising water, and some of the richest mines with the best prospects in view, have been in consequence abandoned. Yet, under all these disadvantages, the annual produce of the mines is estimated at three millions of pounds of lead.
The author suggests the expediency of establishing a school of mines and minerals in the midst of the mines themselves; this would, without doubt, be a very proper measure, but in the meantime, skilful practical miners, and captains of mines, such as are found in every mining district in Europe, would supply the immediate demands of the country.
The mining district, formerly called the lead mines of Louisiana, is situate between the 37th and the 38th degree of north latitude, and between the 89th and 92d degree of west longitude, covers three thousand one hundred and fifty square miles—it is from seventy to one hundred miles long by forty or forty-five, extending in width from the Mississippi south-west to the Fourche à Courtois, and in length from the head waters of St. Francis northerly to the Maramec.
Lead ore is found in almost every part of this district. Mr. Schoolcraft says, "the general aspect of the country is sterile, though not mountainous: the lands lie rolling, like a body of water in gentle agitation. In some places the hills rise into abrupt cliffs, where the great rock formations of the country may be seen; in others, they run into level plains—a kind of highland prairie."
"The soil is a reddish colored clay, stiff and hard, and full of fragments of flinty stones, quartz and gravel; this extends to the depth of from ten to twenty feet, and is bottomed on limestone rock. It is so compact in some places, as almost to resist the pick-axe; in others it seems to partake of marl, is less gravelly, and readily penetrated. The country is particularly characterized by quartz, which is strewed in detached pieces over the surface of the ground, and is also found imbedded in the soil at all depths. This is here called blossom of lead. Iron ores and pyrites are also scattered over the surface of the ground, and occasionally lead ore. Such is the general character of the mineral hills, which are invariably covered by a stinted growth of oaks."
Walnut is also found on the hills, and there is a ridge of yellow pine, not more than six or eight miles wide, running nearly south-east and north-west, but it is nearly or quite destitute of lead—the mines lie generally east of it. In summer the flinty aspect of the country is veiled by a luxuriant growth of grass, which gives it a very pleasing and picturesque appearance.
The valleys have a rich alluvial soil, well fitted for cultivation; but our limits will not allow us to mention the vegetable productions of the country. This region is well irrigated, and very healthy, being possessed of a fine climate. Mr. Schoolcraft remarks, that during a residence of ten months he never heard of a death; the country is free from the fevers which infest some of the neighboring regions. It seems, however, that the animals are visited by what is called the mine sickness. "Cows and horses are frequently seen to die without any apparent cause. Cats and dogs are taken with violent fits, which never fail, in a short time, to kill them." It is said that the inhabitants impute these affections to the sulphur exhaled in smelting the lead, as the cattle are often seen licking about the old furnaces. But sulphur is not poisonous either to men or animals. The author imputes it to the sulphate of barytes, with which the district abounds, which he states is a "poison to animals."
The carbonate of barytes is eminently poisonous; but we have never heard that the sulphate is so. May not the licking around the furnaces expose the cattle to receive lead in some of its forms, minutely divided? or, if it be not active in the metallic state, both the oxides and the carbonate, which must of course exist around the furnaces, would be highly active and poisonous. Is it not possible, also, that some of the natural waters of the country may, in consequence of saline or acid impregnations, dissolve some of the lead, and thus obtain saturnine qualities? We must allow, however, that we are not acquainted with the existence of any natural water thus impregnated.
Among the mineral productions of this region, certainly not the least remarkable mentioned by Mr. Schoolcraft, is the Iron Mountain, where the ore is piled in such enormous masses as to constitute the entire southern extremity of a lofty ridge, which is elevated five or six hundred feet above the plain: the ore is the micaceous exide, and is said to yield good malleable iron.
There is another body of iron ore five miles west of the iron mountain, scarcely inferior to that mentioned above, and it appears that several other beds exist in the same vicinity.
Zinc is abundant, but as the ore is the sulphuret, it is not very valuable. It is not mentioned that calamine, which is the useful ore of zinc, has been found.
As to the geological nature of the country, in which the lead mines are situate, he informs us that "Bellevue abounds in granite;" that the only vein of granite rock in the mine country (as far as he had opportunity toobserve) passes across the south-western end of Madison county—runs into Bellevue—is four or five miles wide, and twenty or thirty miles in a direction from south-east to north-west.
The granite is spoken of in another place, (p. 170,) as being a geological phenomenon, as containing imbedded in it or lying upon its surface, gneiss, green stone, porphyry, iron ores, &c.; it is spoken of as a red granite, containing very little mica, and as being used for millstones. It is mentioned as the "only mass of granite known to exist between the primitive ranges of the Alleghany and Rocky mountains," and as being surrounded on all sides, and to an almost immeasurable extent, with secondary limestone.
Again, (p. 193,) the granite is cited as the "old red granite in mountain masses, with some veins of green stone, green stone porphyry, and gneiss;" it is said to terminate in very rough and broken high lands. At page 213, it is mentioned, still again, as giving origin to the river St. Francis, whose "springs gush out among these stupendous piles of red granite." Besides the ores of iron, lead and zinc, "quartz, feldspar, shorl, mica, and graphite are among the minerals furnished by that region," and "green stone, gneiss, and green stone porphyry, are among the larger masses of rock." The green stone, it seems, "is found in large isolated fragments, lying promiscuously among the fragments of granite which have tumbled down from the lofty cliffs above, and is rendered porphyritic by crystals of green and flesh-colored feldspar."
We have no right to doubt that the rock described is granite, as the principal features delineated, correspond with that supposition. As it is described as being solitary, the only granite between the Alleghanies and the Rocky mountains, we are led to ask, is it a portion of the nucleus of our globe, covered on every side, for many hundred miles, with secondary rocks, and here heaving its head through the superincumbent strata, and standing alone? But what are we to conclude of the limestone? We should have liked especially to have had the relations of this limestone with that remarkable granite region pointed out. Does this latter repose on the granite, where it dips obliquely under, as it probably does, in order to find its way beneath the other rocks, and to vindicate its claim to a fundamental position? But, perhaps we are asking more than is reasonable, for, it may be that there are no such sections in the strata as would expose all these facts to view, and enable the observer to decide.
These hints we have dropped, not, we trust, from a captious disposition, but because we have found a real difficulty in conceiving clearly of the geological nature of this limestone, which, it seems, is the basis of the lead-mine country, and therefore it is very important that its characters should be indubitably fixed. We have not been so fortunate as to see Mr. Schoolcraft's specimens; possibly a view of them would have rendered the preceding remarks, in part at least, unnecessary.
Leaving the geological features of the lead-mine district, we proceed tocite some interesting and important facts from Mr. Schoolcraft's work:—"The soil," he remarks, "is a reddish colored clay, stiff and hard, and full of fragments of flinty stone, quartz and gravel; this extends to the depth of from ten to twenty feet, and is bottomed on limestone rock. It is so compact in some places as almost to resist the pick-axe; in others it seems to partake of marl, is less gravelly, and readily penetrated. The country is particularly characterized by quartz, which is strewed in detached pieces over the surface of the ground, and is also found imbedded in the soil at all depths. This is here called blossom of lead. Iron ores and pyrites are also scattered over the surface of the ground, and occasionally lead ore. The mineral productions of the country, in addition to lead, are zinc, iron, ochre, red chalk, saltpetre, sulphur, alum and salt."
The ore (the author remarks) is the lead glance, galena, or sulphuret of lead. It is very rich and beautiful, and specimens in our possession fully confirm Mr. Schoolcraft's account; they have a very broad and perfectly foliated fracture, and a high degree of metallic lustre; they break in cubical fragments, and the minutest portions still retain this form.
We have already observed that large fragments are found loose in the earth: they sometimes weigh four or five pounds; we have such specimens from these mines; they are of a cubical form, and are surrounded, except where they have been broken, by an earthy incrustation.
It is observed that the marly earth thrown out from the pits, enriches the ground, so that in a few years it is covered with a very rank growth of trees, vines, &c., and this is a regular characteristic of old diggings. Innumerable portions of radiated quartz, and sharp fragments of flinty stones are mixed with the clay, and form the first stratum of about fourteen inches. The next is of a red clay, and is four or five feet thick, and less mixed with similar siliceous substances. Then comes a layer of gravel and rounded siliceous pebbles, about one foot thick, containing small portions of lead ore. The thickness of the bed of ore is generally a foot; and the lumps of ore appear to have been rounded by attrition, like common gravel. "This is the character of what is called the gravel ore, and no spars are found accompanying it. The greatest proportion of lead ore is, however, found imbedded in, and accompanied by, the sulphate of barytes, resting in a thick stratum of marly clay, bottomed on limestone rock." They invariably arrive at the rock at the depth of from fifteen to twenty, or sometimes thirty feet; a new process by boring and blasting is now necessary, and most diggers abandon their pits rather than prosecute them at this expense. If, however, as there can be little doubt, the limestone is the real matrix of the lead ore, the time will come when the present diggings will be considered as merely superficial beginnings, and the work will be resumed where hitherto it has been abandoned. It seems that the almost invariable practice of the miners is, to persevere till they strike the rock, and then to go and dig elsewhere; they cannot, if disposed, prosecute the business by levels orgalleries, for they are not permitted to carry on their mining except immediately under the surface that is covered by their respective leases, or by twelve feet square, which, if unoccupied, an adventurer may cover by occupancy. Among the substances accompanying the lead, blende and the sulphate of barytes are said to be very abundant; the latter in specimens which we have, is particularly brilliant and white;[24]the quartz is often prettily crystallized, and is so invariable a concomitant of the ore, that the miners, as we have before remarked, give it the meaning appellation of mineral blossom.
A curious fact is mentioned by Mr. Schoolcraft, respecting the Elliott's mines. "During the remarkable earthquakes of 1812, a fine spring of water at the mouth of the mines suddenly became warm and foul, and in a few days dried up entirely, and no water has run there since." "Illuminations in the atmosphere are frequently observed in this vicinity on the approach of night."[25]
It seems there is a considerable quantity of a greyish white sublimate collected at the log hearth furnaces, and rejected by the workmen upon the supposition that it is sulphur and arsenic; but Mr. Schoolcraft, by unquestionable experiments, ascertained that it was lead, as would appear, in the form of a carbonated oxide. A considerable loss is in this manner sustained, and in a more advanced state of the metallurgic operations of these mines, the author's valuable suggestions will not be neglected. There is one mine (M'Kain's) where the ore is of the steel-grained variety—it is said to yield less lead, and is inferred to contain more silver than the common ores; we are aware that this is the common impression, but our own experiments on different varieties of lead ore would induce us to think that it cannot be relied upon. We have examined fine steel-grained ore which contained very little silver; in one specimen only one five-thousandth part, and in another, and that a foliated specimen, we found three and a half per cent, of silver.
The methods of digging for the ore are sufficiently simple. "A pick-axe and shovel are the only tools used for removing the earth, and the drill, hammer and priming rod are added when it is necessary to blast." The process is carried on as in digging a common well.
We must refer our readers to the book itself for a clear account of the furnaces and furnace operations, employed for smelting the lead; it will be the more intelligible, as it is accompanied by two good plates containing views and sections of the furnaces. A circumstance which appears very extraordinary is, that the furnaces are most commonly built oflimestone, which is of course calcined, and brought to the condition of quicklime by a few blasts, and then it crumbles and the furnaces must be rebuilt.
The ore yields at first fifty per cent., and then the ashes give fifteen per cent, more—sixty-five[26]in the whole.[27]
Custom, says the author, has established a number of laws among the miners, with regard to digging, which have a tendency to prevent disputes. Whenever a discovery is made, the person claiming it is entitled to claim the ground for twenty-five feet, in every direction from his pit, giving him fifty feet square. Other diggers are each entitled to twelve feet square, which is just enough to sink a pit, and afford room for throwing out the earth. Each one measures and stakes off his ground; and though he should not begin his work for several days afterwards, no person will intrude upon it. On this spot he digs down, but is not allowed to run drifts horizontally, so as to break into or undermine the pits of others. If appearances are unpromising, or he strikes the rock, and chooses to abandon his pit, he can go on any unoccupied ground, and, observing the same precautions, begin anew. In such a case, the abandoned pit may be occupied by any other person; and sometimes large bodies of ore are found by the second occupant, by a little work, which would have richly rewarded the labors of the first had he persevered.
Mr. Schoolcraft, from various particulars, infers that the average annual produce of the Missouri lead mines, as mentioned before, is three million pounds per annum, and the lead was worth in 1819, at the mines, four cents per pound. For the last three years, up to 1819 inclusive, the produce of the mines was estimated at three million seven hundred twenty-six thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds per annum of pig lead, which the author supposes to be not more than one half what the mines are capable of yielding.
The number of miners is between eleven and twelve hundred, and the number of hands employed in labor at different mines is from twenty to two hundred and forty, including in both cases persons of all descriptions.
Many miscellaneous topics connected with the general subject of his work, are introduced by Mr. Schoolcraft, such as the sections relating to the manufactures, and uses of lead, &c., but it is not our object to advert to these topics.
Among the miscellaneous mineral productions of the western regions, there are some that are interesting; and it will be seen from the author's table of minerals, that the list is various. There are several caverns which produce nitrate of potash by the usual treatment; and Ashley'sCave, about eighty miles from Potosi, is said to be one of stupendous size, and to "afford native nitrate of potash in beautiful white crystals."
The novaculite is mentioned as occurring on Washita, as described by Mr. Bringier in the present number.
Steatite exists in abundance at the falls of St. Anthony, on the Mississippi, and is used by the Indians for pipes.
The fluate of lime, near Shawneetown, was described in the first volume of this journal.
Among other minerals, Mr. Schoolcraft mentions chalcedony in several varieties, earthy oxide of lead, native copper, alum, manganese, opalized and agatized wood, opal, jasper, coal, gypsum, native epsom salts, pumice stone, agate, onyx, burr millstone, native iron, &c.; for the localities and descriptions of which, we must refer to the book itself.
Those facts of Mr. Schoolcraft's volume which relate to statistical and political topics, do not come within the plan of these remarks.
During our cursory notice of this work, we have cited a number of the most prominent facts which it contains, both because they are in themselves important, and because we were willing to call the attention of our readers both to them, and to the volume in which they are contained. Both are, in our view, entitled to great respect; and we confess ourselves very much indebted to Mr. Schoolcraft for a great mass of valuable information, which, in a connected form, is, we believe, nowhere else to be found. His statements (as regards the most valuable part) are drawn from his own research and observations, and have evidently been the result of much effort, and of no small share of fatigue and personal privation. We trust that so valuable a work will not stop with a single edition, and perhaps we might venture to suggest to the author, that in a second, he might advantageously condense into one view some facts which are several times repeated in different parts of the volume—such as those respecting the granite and its connected rocks, the lead ore and its associated minerals, &c.
We consider the present work as an acquisition to our means of information respecting our mineral resources, and believe that it must be a regular volume of reference for all those who are interested in the investigation of these subjects.