Geologist, says: "Without excepting even Missouri, there is no region of the world where the specular ores of iron are developed in so great a degree of purity, and on a scale of such magnificence, as in the district of Lake Superior. They occur, not in veins, not in beds, but in mountain masses, forming, in some instances, the crowning summits of the country.' This region commences along the coast of the lake, with the metamorphic rocks, extending from the Chocolate to the Dead river, a distance of ten miles, following the shore, and sweeping away southerly and westerly across the branches of the Menomonee river, far into the State of Wisconsin. A surveyor, in his report of the ore along the Michigamig river, on the east boundary of township fortysix north, range thirty west, says: "The river here forms a lake-like expansion, and is bounded on the northeast by a range of hills, which rise abruptly to the height of two hundred feet above the water. We explored this ridge, and found that it was composed, for the most part, of nearly pure specular oxide of iron. It shoots up in a perpendicular cliff, one hundred and thirteen feet in height, so pure that it is difficult to determine its mineral associations. We passed along the base of this cliff for more than a quarter of a mile, seeking for a gap, through which we might pass, and gain the summit. At length, by clambering from one point to another, we succeeded. Passing along the brow of the cliff forty feet, the mass was comparatively pure; then succeeded a bed of quartz, composed of grounded grains, with small specks of iron disseminated, and large, rounded masses of the same material inclosed, constituting a conglomerate. This bed was fifteen feet in thickness, and succeeded again by specular iron, exposed, in places, to the width of one hundred feet; but the soil and trees prevented our determining its entire width. This one cliff contains iron sufficient to supply the world for ages; yet we saw neither its length nor its width, but only an outline of the mass." On the line between sections ten and eleven there is an elongated knob of almost pure ore, rising to the height of fifty feet above the surrounding country. Further south, in the same sections, there is a mass of still greater magnitude, though not of equal purity, on what is known as the Cleveland Company's location. It rises in an oblong knob to the height of one hundred and eighty feet above the surrounding country, and one thousand and thirty-nine feet above Lake Superior, being the culminating point on that meridian line between the two lakes. There are other localities of ore in this region, to which we need not refer. There is such an abundance of it to be obtained by working an open quarry, that it can never command a price much above the cost of the labor of quarrying and transportation. "This iron region is the most valuable and extensive in the world for the manufacture of the finer varieties of wrought iron and steel. When we consider the immense extent of the district, the mountain masses of the ore, its purity and adaptation to the manufacture of the most valuable kinds of iron, and the immense forests which cover the surface, suitable for charcoal, this district may be pronounced unrivalled. The ore consists mainly of the specular or peroxide of iron, an admixture of the fine-grainedmagnetic. In some instances, the whole ridge or knob appears to consist of one mass of pure ore so pure that no selection is required; but an unlimited quantity might be quarried or picked up in loose blocks around the slopes. In others, the ore is mixed with seams of quartz or jasper, which renders it less valuable, and requires some care for the selection. The iron, in such cases, presents a banded or contorted structure, or alternating seams of steel-gray and brilliant red. The appearance of a mountain cliff, thus made up, is extraordinary. The iron mountain of Missouri becomes insignificant compared with these immense deposits." In 1849, two samples of this iron, selected without care from among the products of the Jackson forge, were placed in the hands of Major Wade, of the Ordnance Department whose office it is to test the tenacity of the guns made for Government-for the purpose of experiment. The results obtained were as follows: Sample No. 1, 7,550 density, 89-582 lbs. pressure to square inch. 66 72.885 66 66 66 In the second sample there was a slight flaw observed after it was parted, which would account for its inferior tenacity. These results give an unparalleled tenacity, and prove the high value of this iron. The following are the results of the numerous experiments of Professor Walter R. Johnson, on the tenacity of bar-iron in various parts of the world: Strength in lbs. per square inch. Iron from Salisbury, Ct., by means of 40 trials............ 58.009 To which we add the tenacity of the Carp River iron, The transactions in iron ore, for the past year, says the "Lake Superior Journal," though small in comparison with what can and will be done, exceed, by far, the antici- . pations of those interested. The ore has been successfully introduced into market, where it sells readily at high prices. The shipments, for the year 1856, were, for the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, 6536 gross tons, making a total of 10,036 tons mined; for the Sharon Iron Mining Company, 4497 gross tons, and the same have now on the dock, ready for shipment, 2805 gross tons, making a total of 7352 tons; the Eureka Iron Mining Company have shipped 2000 gross tons, and have some 600 more ready for shipment, giving them a total of 2600 tons mined. The whole amount shipped being 13,033 gross tons, and the total amount mined 20,538 gross tons, which, at $5 per ton, the lowest price quoted, would net $102,690. These shipments may look small, but it should be remembered that this is the first really active season, and it was the finishing of the experimental work. When this is taken into consideration, with the fact that the trade has been established on a firm basis, it is highly gratifying. From the preparations now making by the companies already in operation, and by others who will shortly commence, it is estimated that the shipments for 1857 will exceed in value $1,000,000. Although the facilities for shipping ore from Lake Superior are unrivalled the mines being from five to twenty miles only distant from the lake- yet, during part of the year, these mines, with the men who work them, and the villages and towns supported by them, are, for all practical business purposes and communication, locked up from the rest of the world; they depend for their supplies entirely upon the East and South, and these supplies must be provided by the shipping on the lake before navigation closes in the autumn. Fortunately for the Lake Superior country, the General Government, as we have before mentioned, granted a large body of these valuable mineral lands to the States of Michigan and Wisconsin, to build railroads through them. As soon as these contemplated communications are opened, there will be but few days in the year in which conveyance to and from the mines cannot be had with every market connected with the entire line of iron road from the lake to the Gulf of Mexico. We are convinced that the construction of these railroads would cause many of the copper mines (which are at present suspended) to be worked at a profit, by reason of the facilities it would give for reducing the cost of labor and supplies, and would obviate the necessity now existing for the heavy outlay of capital required to procure all the necessary means one year in advance. CHARACTER OF THE SOIL. It must not be supposed that the soil of the Lake Superior country is unfit for cultivation; on the contrary, it is preferable to that of New England. The materials, in some of the eastern parts of the district, consists of fine sand, forming the "pine plains" south of the "Pictured Rocks." The coarse drift which abounds on the southern slope affords a warm dry soil, which will require repeated dressings to make it productive, after the vegetable mould shall have been exhausted. The region where it prevails is not low and marshy, but is thrown into gentle undulations, like the rolling prairies of Illinois. Such is the character of the lower valley of the Menomonee.' The northern part of Wisconsin, bordering on the lake, ranks first in agricultural capacity. Dr. Owen2 says: "The red clay and marl lands, occupying the high plains skirting Lake Superior, are characterized particularly by the predominance of oxide of iron, from which they derive their color, and which amounts to four and a half per cent., 2 Geological Report. 1 J. W. Foster's Report. |