The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-01-03

hAl W INV ~ 80
Tho Calumet and Hocla mine has been
worked so extensively since 1870 that the
underground timbcring included many mil
lion feet of beams and supports. To those
not familiar with mining it IS only necessary
to say that the interior of a large mine must
DO divided into floors OF 'lcvels,"
and as fast as the ore and waste
material are removed each floor must be
laid with stout cross timbers supported
by the strongest uprights, to furnish a work
ing basis to take out ore above it and support
whatever mass of rock and earth is between
the top Of the ore and the surface. The
pr0Der arrangement Of this timbering is one
of the most technical Jobs in a mine, and
fearful disasters occur when it is badly done.
When burned out, as in tbs mine, the entire
roof falls in the debris mast then he cleaned
out and all the timbcIing reset. Many GEN.
turies AGO the mines on III ..u1hern shore OF
Lake Superior wcI e worked by that mysteri-
Gus people 80 whom scholars ave given the
! vague name OK mound builders" They
worked by very rude processes, such as stone
hammers and wedges; but they used the cop
per to make axes, and 10 IS conjectured that
they had the ant Of hardening it. The whites
began regular workings there in 1915, but
advanced so slowly that at the beginning nf
the war the entire output had not amounted
10 5000 tons. But the mighty energies
evolved in the strife soon found a field in in
dustrial development, and in a few years the
product of the Michigan copper mines reached
1900 tons annually. Suppressed fer a time
by the panic of 1888, the product again in
creased rapidly; and new mines being opened
elsewhere the price declined greatly. Down
to 1850 the United States imported some cop
per; since that date it has exported enormous
quantities. The coppcrof Michigan is almost
wholly '~nativo'-that IS, IL smelts from the
ore directly into pure copper, and masses Of
the pure metal weighing many tons are met
with. 1t is found in the bedded trappean
rocks, with interstratified sandstones and
conglomerates. The smaller masses or
grains. which still furnish the largest
amount. are found in u soft amygdaloidal
trap, locally known as the lash beds"
There is also q copper region of great extent
and supposed richness in the adjacent Sec
tons OF Virginia, North Carolina and Ten
nessce, with spurs running into Georgia,
and smaller mines in Maryland, Nevada,
Vermont and other places, all Of which would
be proftably worked with a small advance
in the price. But the great hope OF far west
ern miners is in the development Of copper
mines in Montana which ere claimed to be
very rich and inexhaustiblc. If the Calumet
and Hecla mine should have to be closed for
one year-as Is quite probable, all the tim
bering in the mine being burned-ample time
would be given to develop the Montana
mines on a large scale. 1t is claimed
that eO,OoO tons yearly can easily be produced
there. and II. 900 or more in Arizona; and as
the United States has lately exported some
1900 tons yearly, it would certainly Seem
that the closing of the largest mine in Michi-
gan could make no appreciate difference in
the price. Chill is also Increasing her output.
1t is true the chcapening of copper has greatly
increased its uscs, but the supply has in
creased much faster, so we may rely upon
permanent low prices. The worlds yearly
supply Of copper has been estimated as fol-
lows. $500 tons in 1850, 1900 tons in 1910,
5000 tons in 1850, GS,0O0 tons in 1870, and
over $1,000 tons since 1880.
Tie worlds yield OF copper sold at an
average Of $500 a ton for many years, then
the long decline set in and continued with
scarcely n change TIL during the last
season it sold in New York for ten cents
a pound. Arise came et last, purely specu-