Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-12-21
An UnbeIieving verm monter.

pose the great American Union, the nam
of James Madison. the fourth Presiden
thereof, has been perpetuated by ooun
ties called from that popular Virgiuian
Among thess the State of Missouri wa
the sixteenth to fall into that line of ter
ritorial nomenclature, and Ripley & Dams
in their "New American Cyelopedia,
published by Appleton & Co., inform I'll
that it is a southeast county of the State
drained by St. Francis and Whitewater
rivers. and that in 1850 the population
was 6,256, of whom 571 were slaves; thai
among other evidences of thrift and val
liable property therein existing, very fine
iron and lead ores abound.
Since twenty years great changes have
1transpired in the historT of that part OF
Missouri, as indeed all over the south and
west. Slavery has gone out, and Cover
uors and Senators are now made of ma
terial then held as human cattle. And
Madison County, Missouri, has changed
in the development of its wealth. The
Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob and other 10.
calities are visited and prospeoted for ores
and hidden treasures are sought after
more than ever Lead mines are develop
ed, and all by free labor. How long
since, or who first discovered here what
! ia claimed to be the only tin mine in the
United States, we have not the material
before us to inform our readers. But it is
trne that large sums of money-estimatc atcd
at $150,00O- have been expended by
capitalists in developing this mine, and
even during the past season fifty thous-
and dollars have been paid out here in
the erection of smelling works adapted to
the wants of the enterprise. And yet
from the evidence of science the query
forces itself upon the mind, "Is it Tin p
On the examination of the mine by A. D.
Hagar, formerly of this State, and for q
time editori4lly connected with THE
HERALD, he pronounced the mine a de-
lusion, and advised the owners that it
could never be worked to a profir, that
common green stones euch = found often
in Vermont could never be manufactured
into tin. Hence we infer, coupled with
the political changes in the ruling powers
of the State, may be found one cause of
his removal from the geological survey of
Missouri.
But, perhaps, we cannot better explain
this matter, or more interest our readers
than by quoting from Egery Saturday
under date of Dec, 9th, part of Ralph
Keeler's and A B. Wards description of
IAN Excursion to Iron Mountain and the
Mineral Regions of Missouri" during the
past season. Keeler says
Late in the afternoon the train start
ed back to St. Louis. We left the excur-
sionists at Bismarck, the town where the
railroad branches off, or perhaps more
properly speaking goes right on, to make
its true connections with the south. Our
purpose was to see more of the mineral
wealth of Missouri, and especially to visit
what is claimed to be the only tin mine
in the United States. The nearest we
could get to the mine in question by rail
road was Frederickstown, and the quick
est wav to reach Frederickstown was to
SJHy hlL nlRHt ~ DIcIudEChs duo thhS hll
early freight train the next morning. We
were charmed with the neat little hotel
where we were to pass the night. After
supper we were struck by the aptness
with which q bright-faoed old gentleman
in the office was holding forth to youn-
ger gentleman about hornblende and per-
milan and silicious shales and rhomboids
The clean-cut precision of language, the
verbal halters and check reins by which
scientific man keeps from talking con-
tinual nonsense, were apparent about this
elderly gentlemsn's speech. 1t ell seemed
very odd. away out there on what some
people might call the frontier.-as if we
had come across resuscitated academi- |
can, who may have dropped as an
acrolite from the moon, or something of
the kind. At least in such circumstances
ones astonishment is likely to take q
geological turn and we congratulated
ourselves thrt ours had done SO, when we
learned that we were listening to the
State Geologist of Missouri, Prof Albert
D. Hagsr. He will be remembered in
the East as the gentleman who undor |
Prof. Hitchcock made the geological re-
port of Vermont. The evening passed all |
the pleasanter for the meeting. although,
unawares to the members of the present
it was then and there that
Dur scientific troubles began. Prof Ha-
gar opened on the negative of an argu-
ment that rang in our cara for the rest of
our stay in Missouri. He told us very
frankly that he had been accused of un-
the mineral wealth of the
State, and that he was really hazarding
his reputation, on the assertion that there
"a no tin in the mine we were about to
visit. Well, the next scientific man we
met was Just as sure that we were going
10 the richest tin.mine in the world and
from that day to this we have had no rest
rom the subject. We have been kept up
nights by people arguing the question
,ay of this muddle further along.
Mr.. Keeler, after describing his ride
rom Fredericktown to the tin mines,
goes on to say. "In the course of another
neur we found ourselves going headlong
Down the craggiest and steepest place in
he whole ride, but it was the last. AT
The foot of the opposite mountain nestled
,he pine buildings of the tin works. If
the roughness aud precipit.noy of this
sst descent was a surprise 10 nature,
wh 1t shall call the surprise that await
id at least one of our wagon load at the
1oor of the tin company's boarding house.
For there we were received by the super
ntendent of the works. and the euperin-
tendent was no other than an cid fellow
student of mine at the University of
Heidelberg. We bad parted on the
banks of the Neckar, to meet thus oddly /
In a wilderness on the banks of the Little /
st. Francis. This recounter, though illus
rating the superior romance of real life. is