238 The American Geologist. October, 1893 
own account with little or no capital. The "diggings," which 
have often been termed " poor men's mines," soon attracted 
;i large population. Laborers and miners were drawn thither 
from Cornwall and other mining centers, and those not bred 
to the use of the pick, gad, and windlass soon gained an ex- 
perience in the use of tools and methods most useful to them 
in the new fields of the great west and in the mountain ranges 
sloping to the Pacific. 
We are also largely indebted to the lead- and zinc-deposits 
of Wisconsin for the early institution of mineral and geologi- 
cal surveys by the general government, and also for the state 
surveys, by which the progress of geological work in America 
was greatly promoted. No pure love of science for its own 
sake, however, moved and stimulated either national or state 
legislatures to vote money for such surveys. It was in every 
case the hope of gain and the expectation of promoting the 
revenues of the state that led to the organization of geologi- 
cal surveys in those days, and that really lie in most instances 
at the root of the sources of state appropriations at the pres- 
ent day. 
The chief centers of shipment of ores are Shullsburg and 
Benton, both within the region drained to the Mississippi by 
the Shullsburg branch and the Fievre river debouching at Ga- 
lena. A series of mines extends from below Benton to and 
beyond Shullsburg. Some of the most prominent are the 
Von Dusko, Buncombe Hill, Bennett Brothers, Diamond Joe, 
Byrne's, Coltman's, Blende, Ida Blende, Sallie Waters, Rais- 
beck's, Leary and Coulthard, and Cuba City; the Zinc Car- 
bonate Co.'s mines (with mill), and the mines of the Wiscon- 
sin Lead and Zinc Co., including the Monte Christo, Helena 
(with mill), Blaine and Logan, McCarty, Galena Level, Little 
Giant (with mill), Oakland Level, Wagner or McFeeley, Bo- 
nanza, Stop-line, Hempstead or Old Elevator diggings, and 
others. There are numerous shafts, tunnels, and drainage- 
adits, some of great length and draining extensive areas. 
The shafts seldom exceed 80 feet in depth. Most of the ores 
are hoisted by hand-windlass or trammed out of the tunnels. 
but open-cut mining for "dry-bone" (earthy smithsonite) 
has been successfully practiced in some places. 
