Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-08-17
THE COPPER MINING AND COPPER RE-
GIoN OF THE SOUTHWEST.

The copper mania which prevailed 20 e1cIuei'ey
in this part OF ;ne State for the pact two or three
years IL is4t dying out, and men begin to think, talk
aud act sen-ibly on the subject again. They do not
now see mountains of copper that could be dug
down and smelt, withou, practical knowledge, and
without experience in tho profession; they do not
nd the oxydes to DO ineIhaustlble, and the sulphur
eta exposed to inc day, in yellow masses; but they 90
find rich copper region, indeed, more productive
than the moat celebrated copper mines OF ths Old
World Yet these veins OF metallic ores are bid, mys-
teriousy TO the ignorant, beneath the mighty noun
tans, and may we'll be compared to "neede In
hay stack" and almost hard to find and follow,
without the mid Of scientific knowledge and pract.
cal experience As far as we have observed, the
miners or men, employed in The exploration for cop
per in the counties of Carroll and Floyd, were more
confuaed in their operaions-made without system
or scientific knowledge-than otherwise. That ia,
two wears of hard work. and many thousands of dol
Iars, have left the copper pretty much as it was
found. with vast masses Of oxydes; but the pure
ores-the yellow sulphure;e-have not been satisfac
toriy tested; though money enough has been spent
TO do the work twice three times over. There can
he no doubt however, that suoh veins Of copper ex
Is ]
acquainted with the matter, but, with the public gen.
orally there Ia always doubt, until the thing begins to
pay-that Is the touchstons on which they depend
and we cannot gay that it ia not reliable one. But
were there no ad adventurer7 there would be develop
mens; and nothing venture, nothing win, Is good
and tri,e old saying, az applicable to our farmers and
our merchants, as TO miners and manufacturers.
The Toncrsy copper mine, as well as those in the
neighborhood in Floyd, as promising now as even
the fret anticpations, saneune as they were, coald
lead any one to expect That they are not considered
with lhe same enlarged views they were at 6rst s
ot 30 much the fault of the lodes the imaginatons.
Formerly they were viewed with magnifying glaze.
now it ia with the small end of spy glass and things
at the copper mines ara more diminished now, than
they were magnifed before. But still practical men
have better opportunity, under present circumsan-
cea to devpope those hidden resources of our State
than when the unsafe speculative mania, held copper
property ar too high for investment. Though some
thousands of dollars have been spent at the Ton
cray mines do not suppose that the snlphurets
have yet been stuck, and DO regular walls have
been defined indeed, pe hare seen no evidence
of any effort 10 accomplish such purpose,
though it i. right suppose that such was the nten-
tion Therefore, the same doubt t1iss now Of the
true character tha richness and productveness of
the lodes as form-rlyi but with ihe came evidences
that formerly existed and, If these enough to
create such excitement, nothing hss since been de
yeIoped 10 diminish The prospects that we're then pre-
senied.
AT the Paint Bank or Betty Baker mine, the
came thing is manifest. Thet mistakes should be
made in new and strange region we might expect
hut that they should be general is matter OF sur
prise. or haf ..e should continue iu error without
attempting remedy, unless they proiessedly un
accr.iDied with the business in which they are en-
gagged is in fact, rather Astounding. AT the only
point where we observed anything like systematic
search tor the suphur-ts are Informed that they
have been Ipartialy if not fully successful; that 49,
at the Early Cranberry mines, from which We have
seen some very rich specimens of the sulpburet inter
mixed with large quantity Of silver. We under
saDd that the suphures have ALEC been stuck in the
Ashe county mines, On the same lode in North Caro-
lina from which We have also seen some good spec
mans.
But, aiiel ri when the lojss have been stuck and
the oataired it must te much richer than We are
led to expect by anything W. nave Yet seem 10 prove
profitable under Present ciscum-tancea 10 the hrst
place, e1perruce is wanted, sut our speculative,
would-bs miners know too much, e. and practice