New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-02-18

tafn6, we DelleFc the HcIcdsc Va NablonA
wealth, still more of National strength and
comfort, would have been even greater.
The popular mind is misled with regard to
the productiveness of Gold Mining when no de-
eeption is intended We hear Of men averag-
ing $40 per day By digging, and overlook the
expense of resehing the gold-bearing region,
the anxious days spent in prospecting, the ne
cessity of hut-building, &c. and the heavy cost
of every necessary of life. The dollar per
pound often paid in the diggings for meat, or
halfdOIlar per pound for meal or potatoes, rep.
resents the difficulty and cost of conveying the
food to those who require it. To every days
work in digging allow a day for prospecting
and hut-building, another for conveying thither
food, utensils, &c. and yol viii have a clearer
idea Of the actual profits Of mining, and UNDER
stand why so many have been digging for years,
yet are nearly as poor as they began. Califor.
MA is doubtless rich in gold, which many have
dug to great profit, as others wiz do hereafter;
but all lucrative pursuits are subject to very
great risks and drawbacks. and this is 10 ex-
ception.
Among the best results Of California adven-
ture, we reckon the reaction in favor of Mn
ing and Minerals in the Atlantic States. No
country is richer in Mineral deposits than our
own; though these have been too generally
dispsraged and neglected. Our want Of ex-
perience, the scarcity of realized and aggre-
gated Capital, and the relative dearness Of
Labor among US, have combined to deter Us
from Mining. Like the ssvages who from
generation to generation derive q rude sub
sistence from the soil, ignorant Of the value,
perhaps Of the existence, Of the metallic trea-
sures therein .imbedded, we had hardly given
a thought to our Mineral wealth previously to
the last few years; and even now, it is not
likely that one half the veins existing on this
side OF the Mississippi have been discovered.
That we have Iron and Coal throughout our
country in greater variety, richness and ex-
tent than all Europe, is now tolerably vel
known; yet we are buying freely of Iron land
thus virtually Of Coal also) OF Great Britain,
and paying in bills drawn on posterity, while
our own would be Iron workers have for years
stood idle. Of Lead, Copper, Zinc, Plumbago
and other Metals VIC have great abundance,
yet we produce none Of them in suffieiency to
satisfy our own wants. II might have been
fairly anticipated, from the noise made about
Lake Superior Copper seven or eight years
ago, that we should be supplying the world
with that article, and seriously reducing its
price ere this time; yet our importations Of
il are hardly set diminished, while its price is
higher than ever.
Yet we undoubtedly have the Copper in
abundance, have already mined considerable at
good profit, and the business is steadily ex-
tending. We believe some FIVE thousand tuns
were mined on Lake Superior last year; and
there are expectations that this amount viii
be nearly doubled in 1853 The bubble CON-
panies of former years, which did their busi-
ness principally in Wall-st. and expended more
i'm engraving than in mining, have nearly all
passed away, though one buying Copper Stocks
Cor any other) now, without knowing exactly
what he is about, viii be very likely to rue bis
temerity. There are still stocks got up, like
Pindar's razors, to sell; with sonorous names
but dubious veins; and some which were start
ed and have been worked in good faith will dis
appoint the expectations Of their owners As
oil fha h,afu of mir. a..
per on Lake Superior, and We trust Of Iron
also, has attained footing OF solvency and
stability tits or that Company may fail, but
the production of Copper in that quarter will
no, fail. 1t may have it's dark days as well as
its brighter; it win doubtless sympathize to
some extent with the general condition of Ia-
dustry and business throughout the country;
vet We trust the child does not live who will
see the annual production Of Copper in Upper
Michigan reduced below that Of last year.
The most general obstacle 20 successful
Mining in this country has been the absence or
deficiency Of facilities for cheap and rapid
transportation. Economists have talked Of
the advantages enjoyed BY our own producers
Of Iron, sc, over those of Europe in their
relative proximity to our consumers, when in
fact British Iron, Copper, &e., eau be con-
veyed from the point Of production TO the
great center Of American demand far more
easilyand cbesply than their American rivals.
Not Labor only but Provisions also have cost
On Lake Superior double their prices at Glas-
gov or IN Wales; while the rigorous blockade
of our Copper region through full half Of
each year is an impediment to cheap prolac-
ton which can hardly be over-estimated
These obstacles viii in time be overcome
A Ship Canal around the Saut ST. Marie is al.
ready provided for by Congress, and viii soon
be constructed; while Railroad from Chicago
tv uie. E.rl I n - IL a.