608 THE WONDERFUL FOSSIL BEDS OF OREGON. 



westward the railroad distance is short; the meanwhile the lead is going io 

 a direct line toward a market whieh can bj care he made to absorb 8,000 to- 

 12,000 tons annually. 



We have taken the trouble to visit one of our largest St. Louis sheet- lead 

 manufactories, and as well have ascertained the coat of suitable machinery, 

 aside from the propelling power and buildings of a complete plant for the 

 production of twenty tons of tea-lead every 24 hours : for $2,000 a first class 

 tea-lead mill can be built, having steel rolls eight inches in diameter and 

 three feet long, ground to absolute truth on their faces, with the carrier 

 rollers on friction bearings ; the sheets to be finished three on a iSnal pass. 



The question lias arisen as to the quality and purity of the lead demand 

 for the tea trade. We have handled many tons of tea-lead which we have 

 converted into other forms, where it was assumed that considerable purity 

 was required. No extraordinary quality of fineness is to be found in it. A 

 freedom from zinc is observable. There is, however, in the white-colored 

 tea-lead, small quantities, both of tin and arsenic, neither of which can be 

 hurtful, when the case is kept as free from damp exhalations of water as the 

 preservation of the chest's contents demand. 



We have mentioned as favorably situated, for the production of tea-lead, 

 the Kichmond Company of Eureka. The enormous production of that com- 

 pany can seriously affect the Eastern market. It is an Anglo-American 

 enterprise, and would not find such violent English competition in the mar- 

 kets of China and Japan as would the North Beach or Eureka Company 

 article, British parties would actually be interested and aid in the estab- 

 lishment of a wide spread demand. Even the tea-producing provinces of 

 India could in time be thus made serviceable markets. 



In a future article we will indicate a pojJular and general use in archi- 

 tecture for lead, wherein its economy and superiority over wood, slate, iron, 

 tin and coopper will be shown. It is now a proper time to devise permanent 

 uses and applications for lead, to prevent the possibility of its ever again 

 glutting the market or falling below five cents a pound. Well directed 

 effort will make both the task and the accomplishment comparatively easy. 

 — Mines., Metals and Arts. 



THE WONDERFUL FOSSIL BEDS OF OREGON. 



A correspondent of the Eugene City, (Oregon) Guard gives the follow- 

 ing account of a visit made last June by himself and another person to the 

 fossil beds of Lake county, that State : Silver Lake and Summer Lake lie 

 on the confines of the desert, by the crossing of which much suffering was 

 experienced by the early Oregon jjioneers. . Silver Lake is encompassed by 

 ''rim-rock," except on the northwest. On the east there is a gap which 

 leads into a basin nearly circular, and which is probably 30 miles in diam- 

 eter. This basin is surrounded by rim-rock on the south, southwest and 

 west, rising to the height of several hundred feet, with occasional breaks 



