New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-09-18
Lake superior-Coppor tIining-Thc Gill

Some fourteen months have passed since my
,omer visit 10 this region, aud its progress mean
time has not equaled it's merits, nor my expecta
tions Copper Harbor is even less stirring and
thrifty than II was Eagle Harbor not more So
| add the only improvement in the interim is
cheap pier pushed into the ilarbor from the West
at which any vessel ON the Lake may safely lie
and easily unload in any weather. work Tor
which the vicinity is indebted to the enterprise OF
Edward Taylor Of this place. Its worth can only
he realized by those who know that 1t is the only
place above Copper Harbor at which vessel may
So he aud discharge her cargo-the only one at
which cattle may be landed without hazard OF
drowning or injury from the necessary barbarism
Of hoaving them of into the icy lake and SWIM
ming them ashore.
In Mining as a whole, little progress has been
| made within the last year-ior want, not OF en-
,ouragement but Of funds Several locations have
been entirely abandoned, espec ally in the neigh
borhood of Copper Harbor-some OF them most un-
wisely. if the holders were able to work them.
But the intense pressure for money on the sea
board has constrained many to abandon enterprises
whereof the locality and the prospects OF return
were so remote while the outlay was so imminent
Z and so burthensome. The offering for sale OF the
Mineral Lands at high prices and to claimants OF
T Preemption only in enormous tracts, each costing
moderate fortune, has cooperated TO precipltate
this course i'm many cases. Most OF the Companies
which hold on, fall OF heart and hope, have felt the
general pressure, and are working moderately or
i only holding on until they effect new arrange
ments or otherwise increase their resources while
a few are steadily extending their operations and,
repelling the idea OF speculation, are completing
their plans and estimates and perlectng their ar
raagements for working their mines as regular
business.
The famous Cliff Mine of the Pittsburgh and
/ Boston Company is still brilliant exception to
the general course of things in this quarter. Hav-
/ ing been in the hands of men OF business and
means from the outset it has been opened with
. energy science and capital and 1t has already
shipped FAC tons of Native Copper this season.
has at least 50 more on the dock, and will make
up It's complement OF 600 il the navigation holds
open as late as last yesr-say till the LIST OF Novem-
1 Der This will give an aggregate income oil over
s25OOOO and a net profit of not less than el2'OoO
on the years business-equsl to the entire invest
= ment or outlay. ! see not why this may not be
repeated. and even increased, through the next
ten twenty, 'or even fifty years Yet the CHI
has BY no means escaped the payment of its fair
share for the purchase of experience III Mining
where the experience of other Mining localities
proved Of little avail doubt that $4,000 would
repay its expenditures on works whose only use
has been instruction ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS edge
Yet its stockholders have had the benefit of rare
ndyaried Mining capacity and experience from
the outset
spent half of the day before yesterday in visit
ing this great Mine, descending its shafts 100 feet
bSow the base of the Cliff, lit is still sinking, and
has shaft nearly 60 feet lower preparatory to
drifting again each way at that depth.l Its first
drifts each way at the depth OF 50 or 90 feet have
been s,oped worked out very nearly those at
1870 feet are now following in their train. The
vein is very nearly vertical, and is richer at the
lower than the higher level, butrich enough in
either 1t is in places fully three feet wide, but
will not average more than two feet. 1t is in part
composed Of those immense masses Of pure Native
Copper which are peculiar to this region; the resi-
due is the same metal ditlused through the vein
stone quartz in the proportion Of three to TWEEN
ty-hve per cent. Some Silver is ditiused through
the Copper and vein-s,one but the quantity is
not sufficient to increase materially the value Of
the mine, except as it increases the worth Of the
Copper generally. For Balls, Buttons, or any
hing requiring either clcarness of tone or abiding
o'iliancy OF color this Copper with that OF this
region generally is worth considerably more than
the ordinary Copper of commerce.
Let me try 10 give the uninitiated some idea
Of the process OF opening and working a Copper
Nine in this region-a rude and poor idea, doubt
less tor my own acquaintance with the business
IS necessarily mesgre and suPcrhcial-but it can
not be very grossly at fault. We Will suppose
that the district OF country has been hurriedly ex
smined by the pioneer adventurers or Prospeciers,
who cossting along the lake, have landed at some
petty bay or inlet followed stream back into the
wilderness, watching the rocks it exposes and
then the faces OF the cliffs or steep, rocky emf
nences around and among which It mesnders, In
search Of Mineral outcrops or indictions. These
discovered, OF satisfactory character, location
IS made. and Lease of il lhithertol taken. Next,
probably next season. workmen team, pro-
visions, powder mining tools, &c &c. are landed
a, the most convenient point on the Lake tran
cut back to the vicinity OF the discovered vein or
VEINS, and part OF the force build some sort OF
dwellings while others are setting up the indis-
Pensable blacksmith's forge hauling up the stores
the most necessary first, &c. AS soon as posi-
bic, the vein is probed farther, by pickax, drill
log and blasting; but, if the force consists Of only
three or four men, they not likely 10 penetrate
the earth beyond twenty feet the first season.
Soon water begins to pour in, especially after
storms and still more abundanty in the thawins
season, and arrangements must be made for its re
fnova-at first by bailing, and, as the hole gradual
y becomes a shaft, by raising with rope and buck
u, until rim can be constructed or an adj run
ep-,he latter is preferable il the ground descends
rapidly from the mine in any direction. But the
~; esa bs relied on for surface water only your