248 APPENDIX 



lactites, which conceal from the eye of the spectator the rich 

 lead ore which thev encrust. 



" Upon the whole, a review of the resources and capabili- 

 ties of this lead region, taken in connection with its statis- 

 tics (in so far as it was possible to collect these), induces me 

 to say, with confidence, that ten thousand miners could find 

 profitable employment w^ithin its confines. 



" If we suppose each of these to raise daily one hundred 

 and fifty pounds of ore, during six months only of each year, 

 they would produce amiually upwards of one hundred and 

 fifty million pounds of lead — more than is now furnished by 

 the entire mines of Europe, those of Great Britain included. 



*' This estimate, founded (as those who have perused the 

 foregoing pages will hardly deny) upon reasonable data, 

 presents, in a striking point of view, the intrinsic value and 

 conamercial importance of the country upon which I am 

 reporting ; emphatically, the lead region of Northern Ame- 

 rica. 



" It is, so far as my reading and experience extend, decid- 

 edly the richest in the known world. 



COPPER ORE. 



" The copper ore of Wisconsin Territory forms an item 

 in its mineral wealth, which would be considered of great 

 importance, and would attract much attention, but for the 

 superior richness and value of the lead, the gi'eat staple of 

 the Territory. 



'' This ore occupies, in the district under examination, the 

 same geological position as the lead ore. It originates in 

 the fissures of the cliff limestone. It has been spoken of, 

 very incorrectly, as ' float mineral ;^ as if, like the fragments 

 of native copper sometimes found in the diluvium of Western 



