Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-02-27
From the State Journal.l

lAivm tue otAto JVuth@hl
Prof John Murrish, Commissioner
of the Survey of the Lead District
of Wisconsin has made a report OF
his examination of the lead regions
TO the Governor. 1t contains sixty
four pages Mr. Murrish is a practi-
cal miner of long experience, and
ardently devoted TO the pursuit in
which he is now engaged. A former
geologi5t, who surveyed the lead
district, believed that lead was once
held in solution ia the water on the
earths surface and settled down on
the rocks like mud In "a dirty pool
He held also that as a certain rock
was then the bed Of the ocean, or
water upon the earth, it would be as
idle TO look beiolC that rock for lead,
as to look under the floor of a contri-
button box for tic money deposited.
Mr. Murrish holds, on the contrary,
we believe, that the lead came up
from below, and thinks that tho
lower down we 60 the richer the
mines will be. lie consequently
made q survey of the lead veins in
their relation to the lower strata
He says;
The mines of the lead district, up
to the present time, have been con-
fined mostly to that portion of the
strata above the water, whore mining
operations can be carried on at
trfng expense. But this portion of
the strata is almost exhausted most
of the important mines are worked
down to the water, and as they are
finished to this point in depth, they
are abandoned. This is all the
present system of mining individual
enterprise) can do, all it contemplates
doing. To work these mines deeper,
or to follow these assures into strata
below those into which they have
been already worked new system
of mining must be introduced a
system that combines capital, and
skill; system like that by which
mines are worked in other parts OF
the world. There is no mineral
strata, or system Of mineral veins
any where, that could be prOftably
worked many years with such a
system of mining as that by which
mining operations have been carried
on in tho lead district of Wisconsin
But before such systcm can be
successfully introduced, and estab-
lished, the question Of the origin,
and nature Of our mineral veins,
with their relation TO the lower
strata. must be settled, so far as the
present condition Of our mines can
do it. Before any man, or company
Of men, will be disposed to risk the
amount of money necessary to un-
water those mines at a greater depth,
either by levels, or pumping, they
will want to know if the theory
advocated in our last report is really
founded on facts if not, they will
want to know what relation these
mineral veins bear to mineral veins
OF other mining regions whether or
not they are connected with physical
forces acting from beneath, and what
the probabilities are of deposits of
ore in the lower strata.
Besides this, the question of prov
ing the lower strata o: the lead
district by sinking a deep shaft into
| it, has been before the Legislature
more than once. And should the
State see fit at some future day, to
appropriate a sum of money for this
purpose, nothing would be of more
Importance to the experiment, than
a knowledge Of the origin Of our ore
deposits, and their relation to the
lower strata, as far&s phenomena of
the lead district, will afford it, With
out this knowledge, selection of the
| proper place cannot be made and
without "A proper selection, the
chances are hundred TO one that
the money will be spent to no pur>
pose. The general and pressing
wants, then, Of the lead district,
seem to center here and TO meet
the wants, as far as survey Of this
kind can meet them, has been my
object. Ii must not be expected
then, that my report will be q report
of the lead district as q whole, but
only of the class Of information that
has a hearing on this question. In
presenting il, | shall, as far as posi-
bic confine myself to the following
order:
| I. A description and classification Of the
phenomena OF the lead district, Chat IS the
observed features Of the lead district as SUCH
and their relation 10 the phenomena OF other
miningfegoas.
?. The nature of the underlying strata, and
their adaptation TO mineral veins.
3. Mineral veins, in general, but those of
the lead district in particular
4. Scientific, practical and theoretical con-
sderatious.
In order TO get clear and correct
idea of the underlying rocks, and the
relation of the mineral veins TO those
rocks, vertical section was neces-
sary. To obtain this there was no
other way, than by examining the
different lay ers Of rock as they were
breugh, TO the surface by the gradual
rise Of the strata 20 the north of the
lead district. In travelling from the
4 State line south, TO the north, one
! hundred miles along the fourth prin-
cipal meridian, have found q chance
20 examine the different beds COM
prising the lower strata of the lead
district, and have laid them down in
map that will accompany this re-
: pore. Mineral veins aud ore deposits
in the mineral kingdom are as much
the results or fruits of well defined
and Interchangeable laws, and physical
conditions, as are the fruits and
flowers in the vegetable kiugdom, or
E animals in the animal kingdom
These conditions are heat. or a Ger.
tain range of temperature, and water
, in humid condition of the atmos,
phere.
/ The experienee of mining ha.