27 



found. Near to Three Rivers this ore was smelted for 

 more than a century, and although the ancient fur- 

 naces are new abandoned, others have been esta- 

 blished near by at Batiscan, known as the Radnor 

 forges. The fuel here used is charcoal, and the metal 

 produced is highly esteemed not only for castings 

 but for the manufacture of wrought iron. 



COPPER. 



Veins of copper ore occur in various places in the 

 Laurentian region, and some of them are now being 

 opened, with what success remains to be seen. On 

 the northeastern shore of Lake Huron, in the Hu- 

 ronian rocks, extensive veins of rich copper ores 

 have been mined for several years, and in some 

 instances with great profit, as at the Wellington 

 Mine. The ores of copper are widely disseminated in 

 the Eastern Townships, for the most part in the form 

 of irregular beds and interstratified masses. The 

 Acton mine was one of these, which in three years 

 yielded ores equal to about 1000 tons of copper, but is 

 now exhausted. Numerous other attempts have been 

 made to work copper ores in this region, and several 

 millions of dollars have already been invested, chiefly 

 by New- York and Boston capitalists, in the purchase 

 of mining lands in this region ; but the workings 

 hitherto have not generally proved remunerative, 

 although from the wide diffusion of the metal in 

 the rocks of the district, and from the great richness 

 of the Acton deposite, there is reason to expect that 

 some of these mines may become sources of profit. 

 The most extensive mining operations as yet under- 

 taken in the Eastern Townships, are at Harvey's Hill 

 in Leeds. Several localities in the vicinity of Sher- 

 brooke now give promise of profitable mining. 



The mines of native copper on the south side of 



