ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY. 355 



public pulse to a state considerably below par. These circumstances do not, however, dimi- 

 nish the interest of the veins of lead in a scientific point of view : they still furnish facts of 

 importance ; and should the business of mining prove unprofitable, still the principles which 

 have been established in the examination of these veins remain important, and applicable to 

 future business, whenever they shall be needed by future discovery. 



Coal Hill Mine. 



The first vein which I shall notice, is the Coal Hill mine, sometimes called the Nash vein. 

 A view of its eastern termination in the face of a ledge of gneiss, is given at the head of this 

 article. The vein is four feet wide, and is filled with calcareous spar and galena, the latter 

 having only a width varying from two or three inches to eighteen : probably the average width 

 is about ten inches. Its direction is S. 82^ E., and its dip about 85° N. The galena is 

 distributed through the gangue of spar rather sparsely at some points of the vein, but generally 

 it is disposed in nearly parallel lines in the form of subordinate veins. Large masses of lead are 

 occasionally met with, weighing several hundred pounds. It occupies, as a whole, the central 

 part of the gangue, var\'ing in width at different points ; often running out into a narrow strnig, 

 which, after continuing quite thin or narrow for a time, widens out again to its usual dimen- 

 sions. In the distribution of the galena in the gangue, we find it similar to that of the magnetic 

 oxide of iron : the arrangement, as a whole, scarcely differs. We find the same thinning out, 

 the same parallelism in the lines of ore in each case. The iron, however, is developed upon 

 a much larger scale. 



The Coal Hill mine has been worked to the depth of two hundred feet. The mining has 

 been carried on by two distinct companies ; the eastern division or section by the Rossie Lead 

 Mining Company, and the western section by the Rossie Galena Company. Of the profits 

 which have accrued to either of these companies, the public have never been furnished with 

 oflScial reports. There is no doubt, however, but losses have been sustained by both compa- 

 nies. The pressure of the times, the fall in the price of lead, but more than all, the interest 

 upon the capital of the purchase money, not only must have been a great drawback on imme- 

 diate profits, but must have rendered the prospects in future hopeless. That the owners may 

 succeed in working this vein at a profit, is highly probable. But upon these points it is un- 

 necessary to dwell. 



Coal hill is composed of gneiss, with a mixture or interlamination of black hornblende and 

 mica. It is a tough rock, and but slightly affected by the weather ; it is distinctly stratified, 

 but its strata are often remarkably contorted and twisted ; and although these phenomena are 

 not particularly common in the immediate neighborhood of the veins, yet they may be observed 

 over the whole country. The surface is quite uneven and broken by protruding ledges, whose 

 ranges vary from northeast to northwest ; it is in a line nearly perpendicular to these ranges, that 

 the veins of lead are found. The Coal Hill mine was first discovered upon the face of one of 

 those ledges, which was between sixty and seventy feet in height. When first uncovered by 

 the removal of loose stone and rubbish, it presented the appearance represented in the cut 



