OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 97 



and of discovering through exploration ore bodies 

 that will materially add to the present ore reserves. 

 The first possibility must rely for its realization on 

 private enterprises; the second, on liberal support 

 of the State Geological Survey as well as on private 

 efforts. 



While Michigan is not ordinarily classed as a sil- 

 ver-producing state, its production of this metal in 

 the year 1919 amounted to 441,430 fine ounces. 

 In the pioneer days of copper mining, silver in its 

 pure native form was not infrequently uncovered 

 in conjunction with the red metal, and many stories 

 are related of the practice among the Cornish miners 

 at the old "Cliff'' and other mines, of depositing 

 small nuggets of silver in their boots and elsewhere 

 about their persons on the theory that whatever be- 

 sides copper was revealed in their mining operations 

 belonged to the miner himself, — a view not shared 

 by the owners of the mine but circumvented only 

 with difficulty. Occasionally the silver was recov- 

 ered embedded in nuggets of copper, and the mass 

 was then popularly referred to as a "half-breed.'' 

 A very remarkable silver formation on a diminutive 

 island near the north shore of Lake Superior was 

 discovered shortly after the Civil War, and while 

 the "Silver Islet" lay just outside the territorial 

 limits of the State, Michigan citizens were pri- 

 marily concerned in developing its rich vein of the 

 metal and were the beneficiaries of their enterprise 

 from which $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 in the aggre- 

 gate were realized. The area of the Porcupine ]\Ioun- 



