Wisconsin and Missouri Lead Region. 53 



delay the immediate sale or shipment of lead for a rise in the 

 river, when one has capital to go on with in the mean time. 

 From Galena to New York $1 25 is considered a fair estimate 

 for the expenses of transportation per 100 lbs. ; but it is said this 

 amount may be diminished one third, besides the saving in time, 

 if one goes on himself with a large amount. 



Attention begins to be directed to the probability of the ports 

 on the lakes becoming the shipping points for the Wisconsin lead. 

 In this case those mines farthest east would be the most impor- 

 tant ; these are on Sngar Creek, and a reverberatory furnace has 

 lately been put in operation there. No great confidence, how- 

 ever, is expressed by the miners generally in the continuance of 

 the ores ; I did not see them. They lie about one hundred miles 

 west of Racine, the nearest port on Lake Michigan, to which runs 

 the national road, finished to Rock river, on the direct way to the 

 mines at Sugar Creek. This is one of the best roads in the ter- 

 ritory ; all the gullies are bridged over, and, excepting a few 

 months in the wet season, is very passable. I have made the 

 following estimate, from which some idea maybe obtained of the 

 expense of hauling lead across the country. 



Estimated expenses of hauling lead one hundred miles east to 



Racine. 



Four horses (or mules better) will haul two tons and come back 

 in eight days, will eat a bushel of oats to a span of horses, or half 

 a bushel to a span of mules, per day. Oats worth, at the most, 

 in the eastern part of the territory 25 cts. 



Whole amount of oats for four horses, . . . ^4 00 



Hay (if horses are put up at night) 32 nights, 12^, . 4 00 



Driver 50 cts. per day, . . . . . . 4 00 



Board of driver, 75 cts. per day at most, . . . 6 00 

 Wagon costs $75, horses $75 each, (mules $35,) eight days' 



interest at 10 per cent., .... . 1 00 



Allow for wear and tear of wagon per year, $25" 

 Shoeing four horses per year, . . 60 

 Risk of horses per year, . . . 40 V For 8 days, 3 75 



$125 



$21 75 



Now between the lake and Rock river country, no little amount 



of transportation is constantly going on, and the back loads there- 



