Mohave County miner., 1901-03-23
Copper Takes Lead in Metals.

Copper is the American metal par ex-
cellence. We shall mine 6J0,0O0,O00l
pounds of it in 1901, and will sell to
foreign consumers over 100000 pounds
per day. In fact, we produce consider.
ably more than one quarter of the
worlds total supply of copper.
Copper mining has very picturesque
interest for more reasons than one. In
point of beauty the metal is hardly sur
passed even by gold, rivaling the latter
in the brilliancy of its yellow glitter
when new and unoxidized. So far as
usefulness goes, iron is its only super
Tor, and within the last few years there
has been an enormous increase in its
production, owing chiefly to the devel
opment of electrical industries. In
mense quantities of copper are required
by the telegraph, telephone and the
electric railway, as well as for wires
used in the transmission of electric
power.
The great boom in copper production
came at the end of the eighties, when
there was much speculation in the
metal, and since then the increased
price has led to an eager seeking for
fresh deposits. There has been fever
ish development of new mines in vari.
Gus parts of the world, but notwith.
standing the anxiety of the search, no
great properties have been discovered.
Improved processes have made it pos
sible to extract the copper protitably
from very low grade ore, some of them
containing as little as one.half of one
per cent, and it is mainly due to this
cause that the wonderful growth of the
output may be attributed.
Though we are by far the largest
users of the metal, we are able, while
supplying our own wants, TO export i'm
mense quantities, In fact, we sell to
/ foreign purchasers as much as we util.
ize ourselves, Great Britain, France
and Germany taking pretty nearly all
of the copper ingots and plates that we
send abroad. Those countries-except
ing Germany, which has only small
out--are not producers of copper, and
so they are Obliged to buy from US the
enormous quantities of the stuff which
| they require in their business.
During the year 1900 we sold to for
eign consumers about 3Sl 100000
pounds of copper. Full statistics for
! that Twelfth month have not yet been
gathered by the output of the United
States Geological survey, bnt the out.
put of this country in 1899 was 567 ,500,-
900 pounds. In the same year the rest
of North America contributed 95,594,-
600 pounds; South America yielded
733l50y0 pounds; Europe sent to
market 204O75 900 pounds; Asia fur
nished 6l,730,OOO pounds; Australia
supplied 40,O96,000 pounds, and Africa
added for her share 14,537 900, and the
output of the entire world being thus
somewhat over one billion pounds of
the metal.
The bulk of the copper output of
this country comes from three states
Michigan, Montana and Arizona The
mines of the Lake Superior region,
which up to 2 years ago furnished four.
fifths of orr total yield of the metal,
are most picturesquely interesting, not
only because they produce the stuff in
pure state, already refined by nature,
but also on account of their history.
They were worked by the Indians for
centuries before the coming of Colum
bus, and the copper from this source
was distributed all over the eastern
part of the United States through that
wonderful system of barter and ex.
change which had been established
among the aborignees, extending from
the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico
and from the Mississippi river to the
Atlantic ocean,
The Jesuit priests who first explored
the southern shores of Lake Superior
found huge masses of pure copper,
which naturally excited their astonish-
ment, inasmuch as the metal is not
found in such shape anywhere else in
the world. Early aboriginal miners
found it impracticable to deal with
these great Jumps because of the diff
ficulty of cutting them to pieces, and
modern operators, provided with ma
chinery and every facility that capital
and enterprise could furnish, have had
much the same trouble. Indeed, the