EXTRACTS ro REIGN AND DOMESTIC. 159 



Or. Jackson then read a paper on the copper mines of Lake 

 'iiperior, in which he showed that the copper ore of that region 

 s hirgely mixed with silver, particularly in the valuable mine on 

 '.wj:\c River. In a ton of the rock ore as delivered by the miner 

 n llie bank, he found, by analysis, that there was the following 

 ;iliie : Of silver, $87,25 ; copper, $ii\ 10 ; total value, $129.35. 

 Ml that it was more properly a silver than a copper mine. He 

 vliibited some very fine specimens of the silver and copper ob- 

 liiud from that place. 



The meeting then adjourned. 



FIFTH DAY. 



COPPER MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 



Prof. Jackson had said in his statement that the islands between 

 ake Huron and the Sault St. Marie were of the same fossilifer- 

 us character as the limestone of Niagara. At the Sault we come 

 ) the red sandstone. Here the rapids are two or three miles wide 

 tid nearly a mile long; the fall is about IS feet; it would be very 

 isy to make a canal round them, as the excavation for the whole 

 lile would be in soft, grey sandstone, easily blasted, and th ■ sides 

 f which would form good walls for the rocks. On the flat 

 round between the Sault village and the Lake there, is a large 

 uantity of boulders of many tons weight; of sienite, porphyry, 

 reenstone, trap rock, with epidote and sandstone. T':.jse have 

 Ibeen brought hither by drift ice; and we have abundant proof 

 f this all along the shores of the Lake. There are two well 

 arked old shores of the Lake. One is a gravelly beach a short 

 istance off, and another is at the base of the hills; and there is a 

 rge bog between the two. The soil on the hills is good, and sup- 

 orts fine trees — rock maple, birch, larch and Norway pine. 

 rue, there is no limestone on the borders of the Lake; but there 

 'e enormous veins of calcareous spar, enough for all the purpo- 

 !S of fluxing the copper ore; and the old red sandstone which 



found up the Lake will just do to build the smelting furnaces 

 ith. The rocks dip all round the Lake towards the water at an 

 igle of about 18 degrees, and run N. E. and S. VV. The pre- 

 liling rock in the neighborhood of the copper is coarse conglom- 

 ■ate. with trap dykes intersecting. The ore is a hydro-silicate 

 ■ copper, and was known to the old voyagers as the green rock. 

 eins of black oxide of copper have been opened at Point Ke- 

 eewenon that contain from 60 to 70 per cent of copper. Bluffs 

 conglomerate and trap dykes intersecting are found in place be- 



een Agate harbor and Eagle harbor, with veins of calcareous 



