36 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



" discovered workable to advantage, with the price of 

 " labor customary now in Jersey and the uncertain sale 

 " of the ore in the English markets. Every copper vein 

 " in New Jersey has the same surface direction from 

 " northeast to southwest ; and each plunges in very 

 ' nearly the same manner, that is to say, making an 

 ' obtuse angle towards the east. The veins grow 

 broader at a depth, and the copper better. It is still 

 unknown how far to the southeast the veins underlie 

 the surface, for although several mines have been 

 worked for 60 years, there is no instance of a vein 

 having been exhausted. 

 In the county of Morris alone there are a great num- 

 ber of iron mines, high furnaces, bloomeries, and forges. 

 Most of these were the property of a private English 

 company which long ago had already spent a great sum 

 on them. At such a distance, and under the super- 

 vision of managers, these works as early as 1773 had 

 consumed a capital of 120,000 Pd. sterling and never- 

 theless did not pay interest. A certain Johann Jakob 

 Faesch, + from Germany, wa^ formerly one of the 

 managers of this company's works, but relinquished 

 the business and set up his own furnace, equipped with 

 a particularly advantageous mechanism. 



The business of the mines and foundries, in New 

 Jersey as well as throughout America, cannot be said 

 to be on as firm a basis as in most parts of Europe, be- 

 cause nobody is concerned about forest preservation, 

 and without an uninterrupted supply of fuel and timber 

 many works must go to ruin, as indeed has already 

 been the case here and there. Not the least economy 

 is observed with regard to forests. The owners of 

 furnaces and foundries possess for the most part great 



