Lead. 



59 



opened forty or fifty feet deep, in several places, and masses of ore 

 were dug out from half an inch to a foot in diameter. As the vein de- 

 scends almost perpendicularly into the rock, water soon accumulated 

 in such quantities, as induced the proprietors to attempt reaching the 

 vein hy a horizontal drift or adit, from the bottom of the hill to the 

 east. This was a prodigious undertaking, as the opening must be 

 carried nearly a quarter of a mile into the solid rock. It was perse- 

 vered in however, at a great expense, for a distance of nearly nine 

 hundred feet, when one of the principal miners having died, and the 

 price of lead having fallen two or three hundred per cent, all opera- 

 tions were suspended, and I believe the proprietors wish to dispose of 

 the mine. Had they continued this drift a few feet farther, there is 

 every probability that the principal vein would have been struck, from 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet below the surface. Per- 

 haps, however, the work cannot be successfully and profitably resum- 

 ed, until the market shall cease to be glutted with lead from Missou- 

 ri ; but as there can be little doubt, that immense quantities of ore may 

 be obtained at this spot, it may then probably be explored with advan- 

 tage. I do not doubt, however that those who first examined this 

 mine were mistaken in the opinion that this vein extends from Mont- 

 gomery to Hatfield, a distance of twenty miles. Lead may indeed 

 be found at intervals along a line connecting those places. But I 

 have every reason to suppose, that it proceeds from several distinct 

 and independent veins. 



The principal ore above described is the sulphuret ; but there have 

 been found here also, the carbonate, sulphate, molybdate, muriate and 

 phosphate of lead, along with the sulphuret of zinc, pyritous copper, 

 and fluor spar. Mineralogists will greatly regret, that mining opera- 

 tions have been suspended here, because they were anticipating the 

 development of rich specimens of these and other minerals. 



Another vein of galena exists in the south part of Southampton, 

 near the line of Montgomery. It appears for several rods on the 

 surface, but is only a foot or two in breadth. A few years ago, efforts 

 were made to open this vein by a horizontal adit, but the proprietors 

 have become discouraged and abandoned the undertaking. 



In Northampton. 



This vein is only a short distance north of the principal vein in 

 Southampton, above described. The gangue is radiated quartz, and 

 the walls are mica slate. Yellow blende or sulphuret of zinc abounds 



