LEAD MINES, &c.—BOOK II. 
147 
The famous Mississippi Company, was founded principally 
upon the supposed wealth, in minerals of the more precious 
kinds, in Louisiana; and it was necessary to do something, to 
give it an appearance of seriousness. Renault was therefore 
sent, it is said, with five hundred men to search for minerals. The 
number and great extent of these diggings attest the assiduity 
of his researches.' Perhaps, Renault not being able to find gold, 
or silver ore, sufficient to reward his labor, turned his attention 
to smelting lead; and there is reason to beiieve that very great 
quantities were made. 
But after the failure of the company before mentioned, it 
does not appear that the lead mines were much attended to; nor 
even after the crossing of the French settlements to the west¬ 
ern side of the Mississippi, and the establishment of St. Gene¬ 
vieve. The lead made before the change of government, was 
not a tenth of what is smelted now, and the value scarcely a third. 
The object of this view, is to give some account of the dif¬ 
ferent mines, the manner of working them, their produce, &c. 
1. What is called a discovery , by those engaged in working 
the mines, is, when any one happens upon an extensive body of 
ore. This is made, by digging several holes or pits, five or six 
feet deep, in some spot supposed to contain ore, and if a conside¬ 
rable quantity is at once found, the place is called a discovery; but 
if only a few pounds, it is abandoned. But the fact is, that there 
are few places, throughout the mine tract, in which such disco¬ 
veries cannot be made, though perhaps, with different degrees 
of labor. Several are made every season, and each continues 
for a time in vogue, and the miners flock to it from all the others, 
until the report spreads of the discovery of some new spot, 
where the ore is found in still greater abundance, and procured 
with more ease; to this place they are again attracted. A disco¬ 
very is at length fixed upon, which obtains the preference 
throughout the rest of the season. A discovery is sometimes 
published when there is not much to warrant it, but the number 
of persons drawn to the place, make one in reality. 
2. The ore is most commonly found in the slopes, near rivu« 
lets, in a clay of a deep red color; frequently but a few leet from 
the surface of the ground, and in huge masses, of sometimes a 
