"At the Indiana we have one of the most brilliant surface shows ever opened in this country. The vein is large and well defined, and exceedingly rich in copper, and is creating a great deal of excitement throughout Ontonagon district." There is also another vein on the west part of the What Cheer, from which good specimens of native copper have been taken, where the vein crosses the stream. The land is well timbered, and there are several streams suitable for washing ore. Phoenix Mine.-A letter from the superintendent says:-"I have the pleasure of informing you that the prospects of the mine are indeed flattering. We have thirty miners at work in all. Six are upon the south side of the bluff, in the east adit, where we have discovered a vein, and although it is not as wide as the vein in the west adit, yet it promises much better. It is well defined and thoroughly charged with copper. We have six men in the adit north side of the bluff, drifting for the vein near the foot of the bluff. In No. 6 shaft, we have one set sinking second lift, and the lode as we go down improves in width, appearance and wealth; also both the north and south levels look well, and we are preparing to sink No. 7 shaft, which has become necessary for ventilation as well as to open the mine. The produce of the farm has been secured in good condition, and the crops have been remarkably good. We are pushing the work and are ready for the winter campaign, of which we hope to give, by next spring, a good account." Algomah Mine.-From this mine, Mr. Sales, the superintendent, writes:— "We are sinking two shafts on the Algomah Mine, the vein is from two to three feet in thickness, and rich in stamp and barrel copper. We have built a large boarding-house which will accommodate forty men. All my crops are taken care of. We raised 600 bushels of potatoes and 200 of tur ips. I have commenced exploring at the end of the bluff for the vein for some time since, but the surface is forty or fifty feet in depth, and it has been so wet that it has been almost impossible to sink in the surface, unless you make a tight box. We have four shafts down nearly seventy-five feet. I shall go east and commence two more shafts between No. 4 and the mouth of the adit. I shall commence exploring again at the end of the bluff for the vein, and as soon as I find it, shall commence the adit level, which is the first work to be done. I shall want to work twelve miners this winter, four in the adit and four in each shaft. By next spring we shall have six shafts down." Forest Mine.-The mine is looking very well indeed, but the bulk of the lode consists of stamp work, and though there is some large piles of it ready, it is not at present in a condition to realize from. The agent writes, "our lode yielding but a small portion of mass and barrel copper to the stamp stuff, we cannot be expected to make large shipments of the former descriptions of ore, but we can ship goodly amounts of stamp ore as soon as we get into a position to manufacture it, without stoppages incidental to a new stamping mill. I have not the least doubt, but what we can get over 100 tons ready early in the spring. By that time a large portion of the new works the west end of the mine will be ready for stoping, and then we shall have to erect additional stamps to manufacture the material, and thereby increase our monthly yield very materially." Dana Mine.-A letter from Mr. Hill, says: "We now have the 'Owl Creek' vein of the Copper Falls location, opened within 200 feet of the Dana land on the line of the vein. It is fully four feet wide, and full of fine copper. Some pieces of pure copper were found on the back of the vein, one of which will weigh seventy pounds." Winthrop's Mine.-In a letter, Mr. Cox, the agent, writes as follows:"The vein as far as opened is two feet in width, good walls, and the vein matter well filled with stamp work of excellent quality. The main vein, I am inclined to think, lies a short distance farther east, but the ground being favorable, I deem it expedient to drive a little farther, and, then cross-cut when both veins can be seen in the same geological position, and the expense will be trifling. Should the vein continue to improve towards the bluff, I shall sink the shaft eighty feet, which will prove the ground to the south. The force to be employed will be as follows: until the middle of November, four miners, one wheeler; after that time the miners and two windlass men, will be the proper force to work, at present. On the surface, from the first of November, I shall require one teamster, and one laborer to get a few logs to the mill, and have them sawed into various kinds of lumber, for use next summer, and also haul the supplies from the harbor to the mine, which will require two months and a half." The Ohio Trap Rock Mining Company have shipped this summer 89 bbls., net 59,346 lbs., and 2 masses net 400 lbs., all of which has been taken out of the mine since the opening of navigation, and does not include the spring shipments. Copper shipped from Ontonagon by Spalding & Lockwood.-That reported under Minnesota, includes the Minnesota, Rockland, and Flint Steel Mining Companies. Copper shipped by Spalding & Lockwood, from May 4th, to Oct. 14th, 1854. Fulton Mine.-The Report of the officers of this Company, made in September last, present the following facts relative to their mine and property:— The vein that is now being worked is located in an uplift of trappan cork, in the southern sub-division of Sec. 33, range 32 West, Township 57 North, and extends from the summit northerly; and as yet the limits in this direction have not been ascertained. But should it reach the distance of a mile, it would yet be on the land of the Company. One shaft, No. 1, has been sunk on the southerly side of the apex of the hill to the depth of 95 feet, and three additional shafts have been sunk on the northerly side respectively of No. 2, 170 feet; No. 3, 120 feet; and No. 4, 80 feet in depth; and two winzes have been sunk from the levels between shafts Nos. 1 and 2 to the extent of 137 feet. There have been levels run from shaft to shaft at various points, and an adit opened in from the surface at about 100 feet perpendicular below the summit. This one adit traces the vein over 700 feet, and fully developes its character at that altitude. It is from these shafts, levels and adit, and the comparatively small amount of stoping that has been done, that the rich masses and other mineral have been taken. The uplift, at the summit, is about 125 feet above the average level of the section, and terminates at its northerly base in a strip of meadow land. It is in the direction of this meadow that the vein has been traced. In order to determine whether the vein continued under and beyond this low ground, the Committee directed the rising ground on the opposite side to be opened, and at the distance of 1000 feet northerly from the shaft No. 4, under the base of the uplift, a shaft was sunk which, at the depth of 61 feet from the surface, struck the same metal bearing amygdaloid trap, that distinguishes the formation in which the vein has already been found. This gratifying discovery is now being followed up by cross-cutting, in search of the vein. The rock taken from this new shaft is of a character, in some respects, superior to that surrounding the present works, as being more yielding and metalliferous. A very short time must suffice, in rock like this, in bringing the vein to view: and when reached will determine its length to the extent of sixteen hundred feet, and with the whole breadth of the Company's land before it for further extension. The quantity of work done in the mine foots up, in lineal measure, as follows: The quantity of stoping has not been as yet accurately measured. The quality of the metal produced from this mine is equal to any other in the country. The masses have a purity unsurpassed, and are found generally in sizes convenient for handling, although occasional exceptions occur by pieces being of such dimensions as to require cutting up before removal from the mine. In this view the masses may be said to run from 100 lbs. to 4,300 lbs., the latter being the largest mass yet taken out. The quantity of mineral already shipped is as follows: The quantity on the surface of rich stamp work is estimated at 100 tons, and of barrel and masses at 10 tons. It will be perceived that no stamp work has been shipped, it being deemed advisable to retain it on the ground until machinery be introduced and power applied to a few heads of stamps, would make the metallic per centage marketable; thereby avoiding loss, on unnecessary transportation of the rock. SURFACE IMPROVEMENTS. They consist of the three old houses on the location, used as dwellings, and the following new: Two double dwelling-houses; three single, do.; one warehouse and office attached; one house for mining captain; one root-house; one carpenter's shop; one blacksmith shop; one barn; two coal houses; one whim house; two dwellings built by employees with Company's materials and the shaft houses. In all eighteen houses, exclusive of the shaft houses, which will have to be increased with the extension of the work. The buildings are judiciously located, with a proper regard to sanitary precautions, and to prevent the spread of a conflagration. The force employed has at all times been as large as circumstances would justify. In fact it has occasionally been found inconveniently large for effective service and consequently reduced, or increased as occasion required. At present there are employed: This force is deemed sufficient until such progress is made in ascertaining the principal seat of mineral as will enable the mine to be effectively worked at a point. EXPENDITURES. The amount of expenditures from the commencement have been as fol A portion of these expenses was regarded as too large for any company having no more business to perform than this. And the present direction took immediate means for its reduction, both in salaries and office expenses. Wages and supplies exceeded the amount anticipated, owing to the advance in both during the year. PROPERTY AT THE MINE. The Inventory of the Committee, taken during their stay at the mines, exhibits, at a view, the value of the property the company held at that date, and is thus summed up: Surface improvements, consisting of buildings, roads, cleared $6,126 00 1,964 54 5,970 78 3,199 50 $17,260 82 $11,134 82 27,875 00 5,500 00 1,400 05 $45,909 87 LIABILITIES. $5,256 14 616 00 $45,909 87 BOLLY FIELDS COPPER MINES. The following is the report of Mr. M. F. Stephenson on this property, dated Dahlonega, Sept. 20, 1854: I have just completed the survey of your property called the "Bolly Fields" Copper Mines, situated seven miles southeast of this place. The vein is on the south side of the rich auriferous belt from which so much gold was obtained in former years. This section is about four miles wide here, and composed of micaceous, talcose, and hornblende slates-alternating with granite and gneiss. It is in the mica and talcose slates where all the rich gold veins are found. The copper vein now being opened by your Company, is enclosed between hornblende and a mica-talcose slate, the traprock forming the southeast wall or roof of the vein in some places, and being twenty or thirty feet from it in others. It runs parallel with the strata, S. 37o, W. and N. 37°, E. Dip. 70° to the southeast, varying in width from four to forty feet. The ore is the gray or bi-sulphuret, with green carbonate in the underlay, and pockets of black oxide. The gray ore ranges from ten to thirty per cent. The depth of the gossan thirty to seventy feet, which is an immense mass of the red oxide and bi-sulphuret of iron, containing from $3 to even $20 per ton of gold, and some silver. This mine can be drained 392 feet by an adit 1100 feet long to the Chestatee Kiver, through hard mica slate, at a cost of $3000 or $4000, and two years' time,-900 feet will drain the ore 148 feet, and a drain is now being run from the east line 640 feet, principally through digging ground, to the whim shaft (A), which will drain the ore near 30 feet-in pockets at point-of good quality. Several tons have recently been taken out at this shaft worth 20 per cent. From this shaft to shaft 13, 320 feet, the ore rises and the vein becomes formed, the lode increasing from 4 to 15 and 20 feet; and estimating the vein to be only 15 feet wide and an average depth of 40 feet, of ore of that quality,—and from the whim shaft to the west line 1340 feet, it would yield over 20,000 tons, worth over $100 per ton, and it will give the gross sum of $2,000,000. The expenses of mining which and getting it to market will be near $40 a ton, leaving a profit of more than one million of dollars. The whim shaft A is 83 feet deep, the shaft B is 50 feet, and the shaft C at the summit level is 73 feet, at all of which points the lode is from 4 to 20 feet; and, judging from external indications, the vein is equally good on lots No. 110, 115 and 119, as shown in the map comprising over a mile. No positive opinion can be formed on these lots, as the works have as yet not reached the vein at any point. As soon as the various openings now made are drained, you will be enabled to raise three hundred tons of ore per month with thirty hands (ten being miners), worth over $30,000; and when you shall have completed your great adit from the river level, you may safely estimate twice that amount. Monsieur Eugene Gaussoin, a scientific member of the National School of Mines in Paris, is of opinion that the manufacture of sulphuric acid may be made to pay a profit from the vast quantities of bi-sulphuret iron overlaying the copper, and also from the poorer copper ores, which are now rejected, leaving the gold and silver an extra profit, which are now both entirely lost to both the miner and smelter. M. Gaussoin is now corresponding with a company in France, and another in Belgium, on its practicability. The experiments recently made at Ducktown (Tenn.), in the common section (cold air) blast furnace, to reduce the poor ores to a regulus, has proved a failure; owing, it is said, to the too great excess of alumina in these copper ores. Timber and water-power are good and abundant on your premises, and a plentiful farming country, equal to all the wants of the miners. The distance to Athens Railroad is 55 miles, Atlanta 70, and Rabun Gap 43. The cost of a railroad from Athens would be one million of dollars for a single track. The cost of hauling 10,000 tons of ore, at $15 per ton, would be $150,000, more than double the interest on the money necessary to build the road, all of which is respectfully submitted. COPPER IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA. In the region of Floyd county, Virginia, contiguous to the line of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, have been lately discovered extended deposits of copper ore. A correspondent of the Lynchburg Republican says: The whole distance through which the copper ore has been traced and shown to exist, with more or less certainty and distinctness, is some forty miles. Its general course corresponds with that of the Blue Ridge. It seems to follow the sinuosities of the mountains, being upon an average of about fourteen miles distant. On this line, copper ore in considerable quantities and of good quality has been discovered. At Carters it is very abundant and of fine quality; and the owners of that property are now putting up buildings and removing mineral. Examinations have also been made, and various |
