OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 101 



cess has as yet been attained. The cost of dehydrat- 

 ing the substance is the chief impediment. Near 

 Chassell on the Keweenaw Peninsula, the National 

 Humus and Chemical Company has exploited local 

 peat deposits in the manufacture of fertilizer and 

 stable litter. Its great absorbing qualities favor its 

 use in the stable, and, when artificially nitrogenized, 

 in addition to its original nitrogenous content, 

 recommend it strongly for fertilizing purposes, inde- 

 pendently of, or following, its use in the stable. This 

 industry, however, is as yet too near its incipiency 

 to write positively of its success. It appears to con- 

 tain very attractive possibilities. 



In the district between the copper country and 

 Marquette close to the western extremity of the 

 Huron Mountains and the head of Huron Bay, is 

 an extensive formation of slate, on which quarrying 

 operations were carried on for fifteen or twenty years 

 in the seventies and eighties of the last century. A 

 narrow gage tramway was constructed to convey 

 the product from the quarries to the dock five miles 

 distant. Several companies were early organized to 

 work the formation and high hopes were entertained 

 of financial success. Undoubtedly the slate is of 

 excellent quality, except one feature which is held 

 responsible for the failure of the enterprise: it was 

 considerably shattered in its natural state and its 

 removal involved much wastage. Expert opinion lias 

 recently held that an improved method of quarrying 

 would have obtained better results, but it has also 

 been pointed out that very much slate is available 



