GEOLOGY. 299 



perior, in a late report of the United States Geologists : " The beds 

 are found on a scale of such magnitude, and the ore is of such purity, 

 that it requires little search to discover them, and little caution in pro- 

 nouncing on their value. This iron region is perhaps the most valu- 

 able and extensive in the world, for the manufacturing of the finer 

 varieties of wrought iron and steel. When we consider the immense 

 extent of the district, the mountain masses of ore, its purity and 

 adaptation to the manufacture of the most valuable kinds of iron, and 

 the immense forests which cover the surface, suitable for charcoal, 

 this district may be pronounced unrivalled. The iron occurs in a meta- 

 morphic formation bounded by two granite belts, one on the north 

 and the other on the south, and it is prolonged westerly beyond the 

 Machiganig River. This formation consists of hornblende, talcose, 

 and chlorite slates, with associated beds of hornblende and felspar 

 rocks, evidently trappean in their origin. The ore consists mainly 

 of the specular, or peroxide of iron, with an admixture of the fine- 

 grained magnetic. In some instances, the whole ridge or knob appears 

 to consist of one mass of PURE ORE, so pure that no selection is re- 

 quired, but an unlimited quantity might be quarried, or picked up in 

 loose blocks around the slopes. In others the ore is mixed with 

 seams of quartz or jasper, which renders it less valuable, and requires 

 more care in the selection. The iron, in such cases, presents a band- 

 ed structure, or alternating seams of steel-gray and brilliant red. The 

 appearance of a mountain cliff thus made up is extraordinary. 



" This region possesses an inexhaustible supply of iron ore, of the 

 best quality, removed from twelve to thirty miles from the lake shore, 

 with a soil by no means sterile, and covered with a heavy growth of 

 maple, yellow birch, pine, and oak, and that it is to this source that 

 the Great "West will ultimately look for the finer varieties of bar iron 

 and steel. This region also contains extensive beds of marble. Flesh- 

 red is the prevailing tint, with veins of a deeper hue. The Novacu- 

 lite slates are valuable, affording hones equal to the Turkey or Scotch 

 stones. In the iron region, the Jackson Company was the first to 

 commence the manufacture of blooms and bar-iron. They have now 

 two forges in successful operation, producing 2,000 Ibs. of blooms per 

 day, at an expense of little over $21 per ton. Their forges are lo- 

 cated on Carp River, about ten miles from the lake shore." 



i 



AMERICAN LEAD AND COPPER. 



APPENDED to the geological report of Dr. Owen, United States 

 Geologist for Wisconsin and Iowa, is a table showing the actual re- 

 corded shipments of lead from Galena from the year 1841 to 1847. 

 It is as follows : Number of pigs of lead shipped in 1841, 452,814 ; 

 1842,447,859; 1843, 561,321; 1844, 624,601; 1845, 778,460; 

 1846, 730,714 ; 1847, 771,679. As a pig of lead will weigh, on an 

 average, 70 pounds, it appears from the above table that the annual 

 produce has varied, in the seven years referred to, from 32,000,000 

 Ibs. to 54,000,000 Ibs. A correspondent of the New York Journal of 

 Commerce furnishes a comparative statement of the receipts of pig lead 



