28 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it is found in large deposits, 
and it is not improbable that the superior ores of this State 
may yet be found in much larger beds than heretofore. 
Copper , though found in small quantities in numerous places 
within the Lead Region, gives but partial promise of profitable 
returns. Prof. Owen, U. S. Geologist, speaks in high terms of 
the comparative value of the ore, and ranks the veins in the 
vicinity of Mineral Point “ among the most important that have 
yet been discovered in the limestone formation.” He further 
says, in more general terms, “ The Copper Ore of Wisconsin 
forms an item in its mineral wealth which would be considered 
of great importance, and would attract much attention, but for 
the superior richness and value of the lead, the great staple of 
the State/' These remarks were undoubtedly intended to cover 
the Lake Superior mines, though at the date of his Report 
(1851) the mineral resources of that region had been but little 
developed. Even now our knowledge of those resources is 
very meagre; still enough is known to warrant large expecta¬ 
tions for the future. 
The Iron Ores of Wisconsin occur in immense beds in seve¬ 
ral localities, and are destined to prove of great value to the 
State. The Penokie Iron Range, on the border of Lake Su¬ 
perior, and the “Iron Ridge” of Dodge County contain ore of 
superior quality and of an extent hardly surpassed in the 
United States. The former of these deposits presents almost 
a mountain range, extending from the Montreal River, which 
constitutes a portion of the north-eastern boundary of the 
State, some twenty miles in a south-westerly direction, and 
having a mean width of about eight miles, as indicated on the 
map. In an interesting communication published in the last 
volume of Transactions, Mr. Lapham says: 
“It is not therefore an Iron Mountain simply, like those heretofore known 
in Missouri and elsewhere; but, as its name imports, an Iron Kange; as if 
mountain masses of iron had been passed between gigantic rollers, and 
drawn out for a length of twenty miles. The ore is found in a very ancient 
-chloritic state, so ancient that it is supposed to have been deposited long be¬ 
fore the existence of vegetable or animal life upon the globe. The slate 
rests upon a light-colored quartz-rock, which usually extends to the base of 
