The copper era., 1906-01-18
Annual Review of the American Copper
 Trade.
By Horace J. Stevens.

By Horace J. Stevens.
 Although the United States now furnishes considerably more than half the copper supply of the world, the industry is of comparatively re- cent origin. A little mining was done, in desultory way, in the state of New Jersey, near the Atlantic sea- board, in the latter years of the Eighteenth Century, and during the first half of the Nineteenth Century small mines were opened and worked in Vermont, Pennsylvania and other eastern states. Previous to the American Civil War, copper mines were opened in eastern Tennessee, near the Georgia line, but these were abandoned during the hostilities, and their working was not resumed until -SS..few years ago.
 Itwas not, however, until the dis covery o ofn2tive copper in the Lake Superior district;-that the production of the metal by Amefcan mines be- came important. The first recorded production of Lake Superior copper in commercial quantities was in 1845, the output amounting to only 24,SS0 pounds. From that year for ward the increase was steady, amounting to upwards of one million pounds in 1848, exceeding ten million pounds in 1860, 2O,OOO,OOO pounds in 1868, 5O,OOO,OOO pounds in 1881, 1OO,- 900, ,OOO pounds in 1890, and 20O,000,- 900 pounds in 1904. Montana, now the largest producer of the metal of any district in America or elsewhere, made its first recorded production in the very early eighties, and speedily assumed commanding rank, passing Michigan in production in 1887. Ari- zona's first copper was made as early as 1873, but the inaccessibility of the district, coupled with the hostilities of the most bloodthirsty of all tribes of American Indians, rendered 1t impossible to produce the metal upon any considerable scale until the ad- vent of the first railroad. So recent ly as 1895 the output was but 21, ,40S gross tons of fine metal, but in the decade that has since elapsed, the Arizona mines have made gigantic strides, and in 1905, for the first year, the output ot Arizona exceeds that of Michigan. Utah, now standing fourth in output, has produced cop per in small quantities for many years, as a by-product from the work ing of cupriferous silver-lead and gold ores, but it is only within the past few years that the old silver lead camp of Bingham has gained prominence as producer of copper.
 The Californian copper deposits are extensive, in the northern part of the state. With the advent of other powerful interests, including the United States Mining company and the General Electric company, the exploration of the copper re- sources of California should be, for the future, on scale more in keep ing with their promise.
 Although the United States now produces more than half of the worlds copper supply, this has been the case for but a comparatively short period. A quarter century ago, in 1880, the United States made but 27 ,OO0 tons of the world s total copper supply of 153,959 gross tons-only II nor cantum Of the tOta1 Ten years ago, in 1895, the United States, for the first time, made more than half the worlds total output of copper, turning out 169,9l6 tons as compared with 164, ,64S tons produced by all other countries. During the ten years since passed the United States has furnished 52 to 57 per cent. ot the total output, the proportion re maining remarkably constant at 54 per cent. in five of the ten years.
 The following table gives the American copper production, b1 states, for 1904, from the official fig ures, with an estimate of the produc tion for 1905. As the final figures vii not be available for at least si: months to come, the statistics 10 1905 must be taken merely for wha they purport to be-that is, as clos an approximation of the exact fig ures as can be arrived at from tn necessary somewhat fragmentar data at command in the closing day of the year:
 Hounds Avoirdupois)