The United States: Her Mineral Resources 333 



and Florida, their phosphates ; Tennes- 

 see, coal, copper, iron ore, and phosphate 

 rock; Alabama, coal and iron ore; Louis- 

 iana, sulphur and salt ; Kentucky has 

 coal, iron, zinc, and lead; West Virginia, 

 petroleum, natural gas, coal, and salt ; 

 Texas, petroleum, coal, iron ore, quick- 

 silver, and silver ; Arkansas, zinc, man- 

 ganese, bauxite, whetstone, and coal ; 

 Missouri, lead, zinc, iron ore, and clays ; 

 Ohio has coal, petroleum, natural gas, 

 clays, grindstones, salt, and iron ore; 

 Michigan, copper, iron ore, coal, cement, 

 grindstones, clay, limestone, and salt ; 

 Illinois, coal ; Indiana, natural gas, coal, 

 petroleum, whetstones, and clays ; Wis- 

 consin, iron ore, lead, and zinc ; Iowa, 

 clays and lead ; Kansas, lead, zinc, coal, 

 natural gas, salt, and gypsum ; Indian 

 Territ< ry, coal ; South Dakota, gold, 

 copper, and leadi; Wyoming, petroleum, 

 coal, copper, salt, and iron ore ; Colo- 

 rado, gold, silver, lead, copper, petro- 

 leum, coal, and iron ; Utah, gold, silver, 

 lead, coal, iron, and sulphur ; Montana, 

 copper, silver, gold, and sapphires; 

 Idaho, lead, gold, and silver ; Oregon, 

 gold, copper, and silver ; Washington, 

 coal, iron ore, lead, and silver ; Arizona 

 is famous for copper, silver, and gold ; 

 New Mexico for coal, iron ore, copper, 

 and silver ; Nevada for silver, gold, 

 and copper, and California for gold, 

 copper, quicksilver, petroleum, borax, 

 asphaltum, magnesite, and stone. 



As the pioneers penetrated into our 

 country the}' caught some glimpses of 

 these treasures. The Jesuit fathers, in 

 the reports of their journeys in 1659 and 

 1660, mention the copper of Lake Su- 

 perior, and Le Sueur, in his explora- 

 tions of the Mississippi at the commence- 

 ment of the eighteenth century, noticed 

 the lead deposits of that region. Cop- 

 per was mined in Connecticut and in 

 New Jersey, and iron manufacture be- 

 gan in New England and in Virginia at 

 about that time, but it was not until the 

 end of the eighteenth century that iron, 

 lead, and copper mining were carried 



on on a fairly comprehensive scale. 

 Coal was mined in the vicinity of Rich- 

 mond from 1770 to 1780. In 1820 the 

 first cargo of anthracite reached Phila- 

 delphia, while in 1833 and 1834 Vir- 

 ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 and Georgia were in the zenith of a gold- 

 mining boom which resulted in an an- 

 nual product of about $600,000. The 

 year 1844 saw the opening of the Lake 

 Superior copper region, and then in 

 1848 came the famous California gold 

 excitement, followed by gold mining in 

 Oregon in 1852, in Arizona in 1858, in 

 Colorado in 1859, in Idaho and Montana 

 in i860. Iron mining on Lake Superior 

 began in 1856. In 1859 came the dis- 

 covery of the Comstock lode, which 

 created an enormous activity in silver 

 mining and led to the opening of the 

 Unionville, Kelso Run, Belmont, White 

 Pine, Eureka, Esmeralda, and Pioche 

 districts in Nevada, the Owyhee in 

 Idaho, the Cottonwood and Bingham 

 in Utah, and the silver districts of Col- 

 orado. The year i860 brought the dis- 

 covery of petroleum in Pennsylvania, 

 to be followed many years later by the 

 utilization of natural gas. 



The development of the copper mines 

 of Arizona began seriously in 1880 and 

 1 88 1 with the opening of the Bisbee, 

 Globe, and Clifton districts, to which 

 later on the United Verde was added. 

 Butte rushed into prominence at about 

 the same time. Later in the seventies 

 Leadville began to pour forth its mass 

 of argentiferous lead. 



It may be stated in a general way that 

 enterprise did not seriously turn to the 

 mining industry in this country until 

 the second half of the last century, and 

 that its greatest achievement has been 

 crowded into the last 30 years. I do not 

 propose to wear)' you with an endless 

 array of figures. Suffice it to sa)' that 

 the value of the mineral product of 

 the United States had risen to about 

 $370,000,000 in 1880, reached $620,- 

 000,000 in 1890, and, according to the 



