77 



and descend in an oblique direction, at an angle 

 of about 45 degrees. They are in low, flat land, 

 and in a very unhealthy situation ; nor can the 

 miners go down very deep before they will be in- 

 terrupted by water. The mineral is very differ- 

 ent in its appearance from any other that has 

 been found in this part of the country. It is of 

 a fine, steel grain, and contains a considerable 

 quantity of silver. In smelting of it, a very dif- 

 ferent process is necessary from that which the 

 French people have employed, in the other mines., 

 The want of skilful workmen, and differently con- 

 structed furnaces, has greatly retarded the work- 

 ing of this mineral. The method these people 

 have pursued, has been to give the ore repeated 

 heatings, by laying it on piles of logs, before it is 

 prepared for smelting, by which great loss is 

 sustained. They rarely get more than thirty or 

 thirty-five per cent. 



There is also found, at this mine, a different 

 kind of ore in beds. It is called, by the miners, 

 gravel mineral, being found intermixed with the 

 soil, in small particles, from the size of a pin's 

 head to that of a hickory nut. After being 

 washed, it is put into a furnace, and smelted into 

 slag, and then placed in another furnace, not unlike 

 a miller's hopper, where a partial fluxion is pro- 

 duced. It is said this kind of ore, in the hands 

 of experienced workmen, with a proper furnace, 

 would yield large profits.. 

 7* 



