298 APPENDIX. 



certainly as substance by shadow, by the wild indigo, two plants 

 which were afterward detected of less luxuriant growth on Fox 

 River. The roads are in their natural condition, they are excel- 

 lent, except for a few yards where streams are crossed. At such 

 places there is a plunge into soft, black muck, and it requires all 

 the powers of a horse harnessed to a wagon to emerge from the 

 stream. 



On reaching Gratiot's Grove, I handed letters of introduction to 

 Mr. H. and B. Gratiot. These gentlemen appear to be exten- 

 sively engaged in smelting. They conducted me to see the ore 

 prepared for smelting in the log furnace ; and also the prepara- 

 tion of such parts of it for the ash furnace as do not undergo 

 complete fusion in the first process. The ash furnace is a very 

 simple kind of air furnace, with a grate so arranged as to throw 

 a reverberating flame upon the hearth where the prepared ore is 

 laid. It is built against a declivity, and charged by throwing the 

 materials to be operated upon, down the flue. A silicious flux is 

 used ; and the scoria is tapped and suffered to flow out, from the 

 side of the furnace, before drawing off the melted lead. The 

 latter is received in an excavation made in the earth, from which 

 it is ladled out into iron moulds. The whole process is con- 

 ducted in the open air, with sometimes a slight shed. The lead 

 ore is piled in cribs of logs, which are roofed. Hammers, la- 

 dles, a kind of tongs, and some other iron tools are required. 

 The simplicity of the process, the absence of external show in 

 buildings, and the direct and ready application of the means to 

 the end, are remarkable, as pleasing characteristics about the 

 smelting establishment. 



The ore used is the common sulphuret, with a foliated, glitter- 

 ing and cubical fracture. It occurs with scarcely any adhering 

 gangue. Cubical masses of it are found, at some of the dig- 

 gings, which are studded over with minute crystals of calcareous 

 spar. These crystals, when examined, have the form of the dog- 

 tooth spar. This broad, square-shaped, and square-broken min- 

 eral, is taken from east and west leads^ is most easy to smelt, and 

 yields the greatest per centum of lead. It is estimated to pro- 

 duce fifty per cent, from the log furnace, and about sixteen more 

 when treated with a flux in the ash furnace. 





