STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 333 



sesses on the north shore of Lake Superior a region of eruptive, 

 igneous rocks, with tabular masses of trap, slates, granite, con- 

 glomerates, gneiss, and indeed the whole metamorphic family, 

 wild in their grandeur. This is in strange contravSt with the 

 agricultural areas of the State. Here is one of the greatest iron 

 deposits of the world. Hard, specular hematite, or the true 

 Bessemer iron ore, is found in limitless quantities, breaking the 

 trapean crust through ninety miles of territory, and to which 

 already a line of railway has been constructed from the great 

 lake, giving rise to new towns and new and substantial industries. 

 Beyond this, there has recently been discovered veins of argen- 

 tiferous quartz, richer than that of Silver Islet, which, twenty- 

 years ago, gave a Monte Christo celebrity to a little rocky island 

 off the shores of the great lake. It is also to be recounted that 

 since last September as much as two entire townships of this 

 metaphormic rock in this region have been entered by experts 

 as gold bearing, and men and machinery are now at work open- 

 ing mines, whose fabled wealth is as much a revelation to our- 

 selves as to the world at large. Copper mining has recently 

 begun in the same region with great promise. Mica, porphyry, 

 plumbago and pyrites are abundant. Indeed, the whole north 

 shore, once supposed to be the only worthless region of our State, 

 now promises to be the richest, and this mineral region has 

 special value by reason of proximity to Lake Superior, affording 

 inexpensive transportation. 



This summary of our resources would be incomplete without 

 some reference to the wonderful stone formations and varied 

 clays of the state. The beautiful stone shaft which lifts itself 

 nearly forty feet in height before you, correctly represents the 

 varied and consecutive stratas of the extended formation from 

 which it was taken at the city of Mankato. The thickness of the 

 strata, its ability to sustain pressure and withstand the corroding 

 influence of the elements, the pink-tinted stone, in juxtaposition 

 with it, at Kasota, so well calculated and celebrated for decora- 

 tive work; but above all the marvelous deposit of hydraulic 

 cement rock, west of Mankato, which is admitted by experts to 

 be the most tenacious of any natural cement rock — these com- 

 bined make this one of the most remarkable families of limestone 

 known to the world. The manufacture of this cement is in full 

 operation, and its approved merit is causing it to su]3plant even 

 the artificial Portland. This, with the rich families of clays, 

 such as the fire brick, porcelain clay, clay for tileing and pot- 



