44 
STATE AGRICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
tude of other uses. Thus not only the Superior, but much of 
the Missouri, iron is too soft for either rails, merchant bar, or 
nails. By a proper mixture of that of Iron Eidge with them, 
it is possible to secure any degree of hardness desired. This 
quality is beginning to be appreciated even in Missouri, from 
which state there is already something of a demand for the 
Wisconsin ore, with prospect of a rapid increase. 
The lead interest remains in statu quo. No new develop¬ 
ments, and no new enterprises of great magnitude in process 
of inauguration. 
The same is also true of zinc and copper. 
There is a strong desire felt throughout the lead region, 
embracing the southeastern counties of the state, for a more 
thorough exploration of that section by a commission com¬ 
petent to throw additional light upon several questions bear¬ 
ing upon the future prospects of the mining interest. The 
reasons urged are weighty in character, and the state’ cannot 
properly much longer defer a full and fair cnsideration and 
just settlement of the question, whether it should do anything 
to encourage enterprise in this direction ?* 
MANUFACTURES 
Have made rapid progress during the past year. The large 
establishments reported in the last volume of transactions 
have not only held their own but advanced by enlargement 
of their operations and the introduction of improved methods 
and machinery. 
A few branches of this general industry demand special 
comment on these grounds. 
The manufacture of lumber is believed by those who have 
given special attention to the growth of this business, to have 
been much greater during 1869 than reported by us in 1868, 
so much greater that an addition of 40 to 50 per cent, to 
the figures found in said report would still be under the true 
* Since the foregoing was written, the State has authorized a topographicat, practical 
and statistical survey of the lead region. See law published in this volunte. 
