The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-07-03
From the Cleveland Herald.
The ntal-- CoPper--Copperdom
Cornwall.
EAGLE HARBoR, L. S. June 6, '52.

EAGLE HARBoR, l.. ). June b, '52.
DEAR EDS This is one of the days
when, if ever, one is disposed to read or
to mrite. 1t is just cool enough to make
a gentle fire feel comfortable: cloudy
enough to give everything out Of doors a
gloomy aspect, and windy enough to keep
all mosquitoes and sail crafts quietly at
home. 1t may sound out of season to you
Southerners 20 be speaking Of cold and frost
in June, yet you must remember that we
are six degrees of latitude nearer the Pole,
and that the snow and ice is still piled up
along shore, in the sheltered hooks and
caves that indent the coast. expect to
be believed, therefore, when say it is
cold. The spring flowers are striving to
raise their heads and expand their leaves,
but ii is discouraging business.
l saw to-day few lady slippers and
the blossoms of the " shad" or June ber-
ry. But there is so much of the ever
green here, that the forest is never bare
OF leaves. In summer, fall or winter,
there is always the same dark green of
the pine, the balsam and the lighter tinge
of the white cedar, as immutable as the
rocks on which they stand. There is
never breeze, but there is the same cv-
erIasting moan in the tops of the trees,
like the distant subdued woe of the surf
The most experienced connot distinguish
them apart. How many weary traveller
through this tangled swamp, has imagin-
cd himself near the wished for lake when
he only heard in the distance the low
song OF millions of long pine leaves play
ed upon by the northern winds. Toling
onward till night puts an end to his hopes,
ne lays his weary body on the ground
Their tone which was so sweet when it
seems to be the tone of the waves, be-
come sad and melancholy, when it is
sung by the breezes among the branches
over his head, in the solitude of night.
But there are in this rugged, forbid
ding, winter cold region, objects such as
are alluring to men. The atmosphere is
clear, dense and cold, and, and therefore, it
is peculiarly land of health. There are
white fish and speckled trout not to be
mentioned at the same meal with any other
fresh water fish, and only one of the salt
water tribe, the she'll.
And then those ancient hoary looking
mountains, so grim and rough that have
looked down upon these solitudes for so
many centuries, with the same forbidding
aspect they wear to-day, they are rich in
veins of that precious metal which comes
next TO gold and silver III the affections of
the miser and of women. These riches
are destined to great celebrity throughout
the world. AS yet the mines are not
fairly opened. 1t will require at least ten
years to develop them at the rate of pro-
gress hitherto.
The greatest depth already reached is
only about $50 feet, and the greatest
length of galley is not less than a quarter
of mile. Copper mines in the old world
that have been long wrought, are some
times worked to this extent before any
valuable mineral is obtained. There are
additional levels in the Cornwall mines
said to be twenty miles in length and
shafts that have reached depth of $500
feet. In Germany they have not carried
their galleries, drains and adits as far
horizontally as in Cornwall, but have
descended $500 feet into the earth.
1t is well with copper mines that
they increase in richness with the depth,
the limit to profitable operations being
fixed by the expense Of raising the water.
You see plainly that Lake Superior min
ing is in its first infancy. 1t might be-
fore this have kicked off its swaddling
clothes had it not been for the discourage
ment and troubles that have been for
years imposed by the action of the gener-
al government in regard to titles. If its
future prospects had not been brighter
than any other known mines of copper,
the region would now have been deserted.
Being in sentimental mood, l have
thus given you my sentiments on the
weather, on music, and on copper, and
beg leave to close here, by subscribing
myself respectfully yours,
PHOCION.