868 APPENDIX. 



facts wlncli I possess in relation to this subject are before you, 

 and you will assign to them such importance as they merit. It 

 is a subject upon which I have bestowed some reflection and 

 much inquiry, superadded to limited opportunities of personal 

 observation, and the result has led me to form a favorable esti- 

 mate of their value and importance. It is not only certain that a 

 prodigious number of masses of metallic copper are found along 

 the borders of the lake, but every appearance authorizes a con- 

 clusion that they are only the indications of near and continuous 

 veins. Some of these masses are of unexampled size, and all 

 present metallic copper in a state of great purity and fineness. 

 Of its ductile and excellent qualities for the purposes of coinage 

 and sheathing, the analysis of Utrecht leaves no doubt. It is 

 true that a mistaken idea has prevailed among travellers and 

 geographers respecting the weight of the great mass of copper on 

 the Ontonagon Eiver; but it is, nevertheless, of extraordinary 

 dimensions, and I have endeavored to show, from their works, 

 how these errors have originated, and that the metal is dissemi- 

 nated throughout a much greater extent of country, and in masses 

 of every possible form and size. Until my facts and data can, 

 therefore, be proved to be fallacious, I must be permitted to con- 

 sider these mines not only fertile in native copper and its con- 

 generous species, but unparalleled in extent, and to recommend 

 them as such to the notice of the Government. 



But, whatever degree of incertitude may exist respecting the 

 riches of these mines, their situation with respect to a market can 

 admit of no dispute. As little can there be concerning the ad- 

 vantages which this situation presents for the purposes of mining 

 and commerce. Let us compare it with that of other mines, and 

 appeal to acknowledged facts for the decision. The value of a 

 coal mine, a stone quarry, or a gypsum bed, often arises as much 

 from its situation as its fertility. But the proposition may be 

 reversed with respect to a metallic mine, the value of which to 

 the proprietor arises more from its fertility and less from its situa- 

 tion. Gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, &c., when separated from the 

 matrix of the mine, are so valuable that they can bear to be tran- 

 sported a long journey over land, and the most distant voyage 

 by water. Their worth in coined money, produce, or manufac- 

 tures, is not fixed in the particular circles of country where they 



