Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-09-21
Written FOR the Chronicl
III N n G..

eration or discussing anlmportant mining
question, we should always keep in view
the fact, that mining as branch ofindus-
try Is very peculiar. We lock in vain for
those laws, and relations, that connect la
bor and reward in every other branch Of
industry, and By which we are enabled to
judge Of the success or failue Of an enter
prise in which we may embark. For in
stance, the farmer plows his land sows his
seed, cui;ivates his soil as nature requires,
then rests assured that unless nature fails
to fulfill her prom Sc. his labor will be re-
wasded. Or the manufacturer figures first
on the cost Of his machinery, and material,
then on the supply and demand Of the mar
ket with commercial advantages, and dis
advantages. In doing this he obtains data
upon which he can rest a pretty safe con-
clUsion as to the success Of any contempla-
ted scheme. Bot the miner goes out in
quest Of a mineral vein, he may End it, or
he may not; if found it may be worthless
or his fortune may be made in day. Or
the vein may be rich to-day, the prospect
Of a fortune the most fattering, but to
morrow change in tue strata may cut of
the vein, and with it his prospects, and
even his hopes and there is no CONNER
cial rule, or natural law that points to the
place where that vein will resume its
riches,o or thatit Kill ever resume them again.
The idea l. wish. to convey is this. We do
rot grow our metals as we grow our vege-
tables, nor do we manufacture them out OF
material in our possession. They are ma
lures products ready made, and by him
stored away in the secret chambers Of the
earth, to be used ONLY as the wants Of the
world demand them. Dccming it best not
to reveal those secret places to man, but
to excite bis interest, and stimulate his
efforts by few faint traces Of her foot
prints on the rocks, or her preferences for
certain strata. .aGaass3ta
We are not however to suppose from
this, that the mineral treasures Of the
earth, are not a part Of that provision made
for the wants Of our race or that they are
scattered through the rocks without refer
ence to their becoming branch of INDUS
try. The world can do Just as well with
out agriculture, and her products, as with
out mining, and the metals. The one is
just as much the provision OF nature as
the other, and just as Indispensable in our
political economy.
In the history Of the past, nothing is
more evident than that nature has adopted
herself to the earliest stages ofsociety, and
her mineral treasure to the simplest form
of mining. And whether We look on the
savage of oIden times, guided by light,
but little stronger than that efinstinct,
gathering his gold from the sand Of the
river, Of the miner Of the present day aid
ed with the best machinery that art can
prepare, and guided by the light Of science,
digging his way down down, three thous-
ana feet below the surface of the rock, we
cannot fail to be impressed with the fact
that the mineral kingdom is part Of that
field Of labor thrown open for man, and
adapted to every age of the world, and eg-
cry stage Of civilization, and that the time
will never come in the history ofour world
when mining will not be a profitable and
interesting branch OF industry. Bat from
the simplest forms of mining to The most
elaborate and scientific, it viii have that
same peculiar feature, want Of conn ection
between labor and it's reward This has
ever been so, and suppose ever win be so
Hence we should ever view mining enter
prise in this light. Not to discourage, but
to show, that labor here must be pursued
with a different review; not with the assn
rance Of reward Gas in most other branches
Of industry,) but with Interpretation Not
because nature has brought her rewards
within the sphere Of human observation
and calculation, but because she has left
them beyond; promising however to be.
stow them on labor intelligently, faithful
ly, and perseveringly performed. Take
the Cornish mines, that have been in oper-
alton for over three thousand years, as an
example, this peculiar feature has mark
ed its history from its commencement t.
the present time. And yet it has BEEN a
source of British wealth, and one of the
main-springs of civilization, and commerce
MazoManie Sept. 10, 1868. J. NJ.