ANNUAL REPORT—LUMBER, MINING, ETC. 
5 
THE LUMBER INTEREST 
Had a very satisfactory season. The winter of 1870-187i 
was an unusually favorable one for getting out logs; and al¬ 
though the prices were at first quite low, they afterwards rose 
to a paying figure, and finally, as a result of the Chicago and 
Wisconsin fires, which created an instantaneous and an im¬ 
mense demand, advanced to very remunerative rates. 
If the statistics occasionally found quoted on good authority 
in the papers of the state are at all correct, the annual product 
of 1871 very largely exceeded that of any previous year 
Pains have been taken to procure complete statistics of this 
great and growing business ; but up to the date of this writing 
we are unable to give anything like a full statement. 
MINING 
Has made but little more progress than heretofore. That 
important development of iron mining which is certain to come 
in the early future is waiting for the construction of railways 
and a general increase of facilities for its economical prosecu¬ 
tion. Happily, some of these requisite public improvements 
are already in progress. 
The resurvey of the lead region by Mr. John Murrish, com¬ 
missioner, has done something to quicken the interest in lead¬ 
mining, since the conclusions reached by him are favorable to 
the opinion that large deposits of mineral will be found in the 
lower magnesian limestone. , 
There is a growing conviction in the public, and especially 
in the minds of those who have been concerned in observations 
upon the geological formations of Wisconsin, that our state is 
possessed of a mineral wealth of which we have heretofore had 
but little idea. As required by law, the report of Mr. Murrish 
will be embraced in this volume. 
MANUFACTURES. 
But little has occurred in this branch of our industry dur¬ 
ing the past year deserving of special notice in this report. 
