METALS AND THEIR ORES. 



67 



native copper, wolfram, fluor, and molybdenite. In 1843, eleven and a half ounces of 

 ingot tin were obtained from the Jackson ore ; but the mine never seems to have been 

 worked steadily, though it was being mined at the time of my visit in 1864. 



The following notes in regard to the working of the tin mine were furnished by 

 Mr. George N. Merrill, as also a view of the tin locality, and a profile (Fig. 8) show- 

 ing the situation of the schist and shafts. 



" The American Tin Company was chartered by the legislature of New Hampshire 

 July 15, 1864, and they issued sixty thou- 

 sand shares at $5 per share. The company 

 actually expended and paid out $4,371.69. 

 The last work done at the mine was in 

 August, 1865. The company sunk two 

 shafts, one twenty-five the other forty-five 

 feet, and made an adit ninety feet. To 

 have reached the main shaft would have 

 required an adit 400 feet in length." The : 

 rock excavated from the adit is composed ' 

 mainly of a uralitic sienite not found else- 

 where. This may furnish a clue to the kind 

 of rocks carrying tin. 



Considerable time has been devoted to 

 exploring the country between Madison and 

 Milan, where it was supposed, from the 

 character of the rocks, that tin might be 

 found. In many places there are indica- 

 tions of metallic deposits, but for the most 

 part they are iron sulphides, at least on the 

 surface, while a few blasts might reveal 

 something more valuable. Every new mine 

 that is discovered has characteristics pe- ~ 

 culiar to itself, and these have to be care- 

 fully studied before any one can form a 

 correct judgment in regard to it. Minerals 

 present themselves, too, under so many 

 different phases, and when exposed to the 

 atmosphere are often so changed as scarce- 

 ly to be recognized, that no one, unless he 

 has made explorations, can form any esti- 

 mate as to the time required or the labor 

 necessary to be performed. Hence, explorations for tin in New Hampshire require 

 the expenditure of considerable means in costeaning and sinking shafts before it will 

 be possible to pronounce definitely that the metal cannot be found. In going from 



