and if the first work to the satisfaction of the stockholders, the number will be duplicated in the year following. The officers of the company are William Richardson, president, and Alfred Thruston, treasurer. The machinery will be built in New England, Pittsburgh, and Louisville; the overseers, machinists, &c., and teachers of the female operatives, will be obtained from New England. Female labor can be had in the greatest abundance at an average price of $150 per week, exclusive of board, and board can be had at $1 per week. These rates are about 25 per cent lower than in New England. I regard this movement of as much importance to the East as to the West and Southwest; for this is a clear proposition, that a country, out of its infancy, which does not work up its peculiar staples, and make its coarse fabrics, must become a very unsafe customer to the foreign manufacturer and factor. Yours respectfully, H. S. PROCESS OF WORKING A LAKE SUPERIOR COPPER MINE. HORACE GREELY, Esq., the editor of the Tribune, who recently visited the Lake Superior copper mines, thus describes the process of opening and working a copper mine in that region: We will suppose that the district of country has been hurriedly examined by the pioneer adventurers, or prospecters, who, coasting along the lake, have landed at some petty bay or inlet, followed a stream back into the wilderness, watching the rocks it exposes, and then the faces of the cliffs, or steep, rocky eminences, around and among which it meanders, in search of mineral outcrops or indications. These discovered, of a satisfactory character, a location is made, and a lease of it (hitherto) taken. Next, (probably next season,) workmen, a team, provisions, powder, mining tools, &c., &c., are landed at the most convenient point on the lake, a trail cut back to the vicinity of the discovered vein or veins, and a part of the force build some sort of dwellings, while others are setting up the indispensable blacksmith's forge, hauling up the stores, (the most necessary first,) &c. As soon as possible, the vein is probed further, by pickaxe, drilling, and blasting; but, if the force consists of only three or four men, they are not likely to penetrate the earth beyond twenty feet the first season. Soon water begins to pour in, especially after storms, and still more abundantly in the thawing season, and arrangements must be made for its removal—at first by bailing, and, as the hole gradually becomes a shaft, by raising with rope and bucket, until a wim can be constructed, or an adit run up-the latter is preferable, if the ground descends rapidly from the mine in any direction. But the adit can be relied on for surface water only; your shaft will in time be below it, and then you must raise water by hand or machinery, (a wim.) What with making road, building, getting up provisions, iron, tools, &c., cutting wood, timber, and the like, of the first five thousand days' work done on a location, only from one to two thousand, except under peculiar circumstances, can be devoted to mining; but at length, if the work is prosecuted, the shaft has obtained a depth of forty to sixty feet, at which is commenced a drift-a horizontal gallery or excavation in the rock following the course of the vein, (usually both ways from the shaft,) and from six to seven feet high, and four to six feet wide. The rock is not merely to be blasted out, but raised to the surface by such rude machinery as may be at command, with probably a hundred lifts of water to one of rock. The rare exceptions are the cases (like that of the Cliff) in which the vein is discovered at the base or in the side of a steep acclivity, into which may be run upon it without sinking a drift, which shall also be an adit, dispensing from the first with all necessity for raising either minerals, rock, or water. In ninety-nine of every hundred cases the process is very different from this. But the shaft being sunk and a drift or adit run for fifty to two hundred feet, and if the product answer or exceed expectation, your vein is tolerably proved; but you have as yet obtained very little mineral. All you will obtain in sinking, even on the richest vein, will pay but a small share of the cost; in drifting you do a little better, and but a little. You want two shafts sunk, and one of them down a hundred feet so, with your second drift opened for some distance at the bottom, and now (if the vein be a good one and you have a practicable road and other fixings) you may begin to stope or blast down the forty or fifty feet of vein over head of each drift, in which only you can hope for profit. Six miners will take out more mineral in this manner than sixty in sinking and drifting. Very few companies have reached this point. I consider $50,000 a moderate estimate for the cost of opening a mine in this region, counting from the location to the moment at which the mine will pay its way, and including the cost of land. The Cliff expended over $100,000, but its managers inevitably bought some experience which others may now borrow. When a mine has been fairly opened and proved, it will not do to work it only with a view of immediate profit by stopping out all the backs so far as you have gone down. If that course be taken, you will soon have no place to work-no mineral to take out. You must keep sinking deeper and deeper, and working your drifts longer and longer, the vein probably extending as you go down. New shafts from the surface will also be required, in order to purify the air in the mine, and afford room for hoisting out the mineral, rock, &c. If this be done energetically, the number of miners employed may be steadily increased, with a corresponding increase of product. There will also be an increasing demand for more perfect and expensive machinery, as the distance to be overcome and the amount to be raised increases. The Cliff Mine must already have at least $30,000 worth of machinery, fixtures, &c., which it is rapidly increasing. The space about the mouth of the mine looks like a combination of ship-yard and steam-engine manufactory. A quantity of rock and vein having been thrown down, the copper masses it contains, and the masses of rock as well, severally are here grappled by giant machinery, dragged to the most convenient spot, and lifted to the surface, where they are placed on railway trucks and promptly wheeled their several ways. If a copper mass is thrown down too heavy to be thus handled, or too large to be got up a shaft, it is at once set upon by cutters, one holding a hardened chisel, another striking heavy blows upon it with a sledge, and thus wrought upon until it is cut into two or more pieces, the largest weighing not more than two tons, though a ton and a half is the preferred maximum. These are dragged out and up, wheeled off to the place of deposit, and are soon on their way to the lake, thence taking the propeller to the Saut, and so on to Pittsburgh or Baltimore. I observed masses that have thus been cut on three sides, indicating an original bulk of ten tons or over, but such are not common, though I observed one mass in the mine which must weigh fifty tons. This, however, will doubtless, when taken down, exhibit fissures and indentations which will seriously lighten the labor of cutting it. I believe the average cost of cutting up the large masses is not far from $10 per ton, all things considered, though rather less than that sum. If any Yankee can invent a means of cutting up these masses at a dash by steam or lightning, his fortune is made. The masses being disposed of, the yein-stone is next in order. This is likewise hoisted out into daylight, whereof its first experience is a roasting for twelve to twenty hours on a fire of logs, after which the rock is easily knocked to pieces with a sledge, and the larger junks of copper thrown aside for barreling. The residue, in pieces of one to two inches in diameter, is now ready for stamping. To this end it is passed through a hopper, and along with a stream of water, under a set of steam-moved trip-hammers, pile-drivers, or what you please, with iron faces coming down alternately on their iron bed with tremendous power, and grinding the calcined rock to powder. The copper hardly condescends to be rubbed bright by this ordeal; but it comes out free and clear of rock, and is found in a trough below, whence it is taken to be barrelled for market, ready to be coined into cents, if required. These stamps, six in number, are kept steadily going, and turn out several barrels of copper daily, but the mine gains upon them, and the speedy extension of this part of the machinery is inevitable. SARDINIAN PRODUCTS OF INDUSTRY. The "Journal of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts,” an old and valuable periodical, having reached its fortysixth volume, furnishes the following translation of a "Notice of the Sardinian Exhibition of the Products of Industry," by M. BONAFOUS: The work which I have the honor to present is compiled by M. le Chev. Giulio in the name of the Royal Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, and presents a classified table of the products of Sardinian industry admitted to the public exhibition which took place last year at Turin, with a list of the recompenses awarded to the most deserving of the exhibitors. I shall confine myself to noticing only a few of the arts. There are at present worked in the kingdom of Sardinia, 28 mines of iron ore, which employ from 3,000 to 4,000 workmen, and produce 80,000 quint. metriq. of iron, value, 4,000,000 francs, ($800,000.) This product not being sufficient for the consumption, the rich Elba ore, and charcoal from Tuscany are transported to several points on the shore of the Mediterranean to supply other works, in which they prepare 30,000 quintals of iron by the direct method, which in France is called the Catalonian, in Italy, the Ligurian process. Add to this 8,000 quintals of wrought, and 30,000 quintals of cast iron, and we get the amount consumed. The establishments of this country also produce steels of a remarkable temper. In the exhibition of 1844, there were files which promised competition with those of Styria and of England. The iron wire and hollow ware also attracted attention. There are three mines of argentiferous lead, those of Pesey and Macot in the Tarentaise; those of SaintJean-de-Maurienne and of Tenda, produce only a mean value of 300,000 francs yearly, ($56,000.) From 25 workings for gold only 500,000 francs are produced, ($93,500.) Several copper mines are also but feebly worked. Three mines of manganese furnish 35,000 kilogrammes of peroxide (34 tons) fit for the manufacture of chlorine for bleaching linen and cotton goods. Two mines of cobalt are neglected. The pottery is almost entirely abandoned to the peasants. Yet about 100,000,000 pieces of bricks and tiles are produced, of which about one-tenth part is exported. No glass is as yet made in the Sardinian States, but several manufactories of flint and bottle glass are in progress. The chemical products amount annually to 300,000 francs, ($56,000.) The Genoese paper a century ago was celebrated everywhere. At present, since England, and especially France, have paid attention to this article, it is only in Spain, Portugal, and South America, that the paper of Genoa is consumed. Sardinian industry furnishes from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 kilogrammes (3,000 to 4,000 tons) of leather coming from 8,000,000 or 9,000,000 raw hides, of which one-fourth are imported. Silk holds the third rank in the scale of agricultural or national products of the kingdom after grain and wine, and is the most important object of commerce of the country. The annual production is estimated at 600,000 kilogrammes (1,322,842 lbs.) of silk, having a value of about 38,000,000 francs, ($7,000,000.) The silk-spinning establishments are about 1,000, and employ 65,000 persons of all ages. Were it not for the loss caused by the muscardine in the cocooneries, this act would suffice of itself to pay the whole expenses of the government. The cotton trade furnishes about 6,000,000 francs ($1,122,000) of spun cotton, and employs more than 5,000 workmen. The woollen business, notwithstanding the competition of foreign cloths, which get -access indirectly to the country, furnishes more than 1,540,000 metres (1,680,000 yards) of stuffs of all qualities. To add to its importance, this manufacture awaits the time when it shall be freed from the necessity of using foreign wool. PRODUCE OF GOLD IN RUSSIA. Accounts from St. Petersburgh, says the London Mining Journal, give a summary of the returns of gold delivered from the mines of the Ural Mountains during the half year ending the 31st December, 1847. The quantity of gold produced in the royal mines during that period had been 60 puds., 27 lbs., 77 sol., 79 parts. The private mines had produced 101 puds., 24 lbs., 1 sol., 76 parts. The quantity of platina obtained from the crown properties and from private mines had been 18 lbs., 92 sol., 17 parts. The royal and private mines in the Altai Mountains, and in East and West Siberia, had produced, in 1847, 1,434 puds., 12 lbs., 57 sol., of gold; and the district of Nertschinskinche, 25 puds.-making a total of 1,780 puds., 37 lbs., 69 sol., for the year 1847, independently of the silver obtained from the Altai Mountains and Nertschinskinche, which amounted altogether to 168 puds., 25 lbs. more than in 1846. THE COAL FIELDS IN ENGLAND AND WALES. A Ruabon correspondent in the Chester Chronicle, signing himself "Asbestos," says that the North Wales coal field, measuring from the point of Ayr, in Flintshire, to a few miles beyond Oswestry, in Shropshire, covers an area of 200 square miles, of 10 yards in These coals at thickness. The weight of a cubic yard of compact coal is 19 cwt., 16 lbs. The total weight of the coal in this extensive area will thus be 5,929,690,000 tons. 6s. per ton, at the pit mouth, would produce £1,778,907,000. To exhaust this field it would require that 2,000,000 tons be worked annually for nearly three hundred years. The extent of the other coal-fields in England and South Wales, estimated at the same thickness as the North Wales fields, would yield 177,890,700,000 tons, which would furnish us with 40,000,000 tons of coals for nearly 4,000 years. * A disease of the silk worm-a kind of mould or mouldiness which destroys it. MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE FAR WEST. The Prairie du Chien of July 26th states that Mr. A. Randall, of the United States Geological Corps, accompanied by his assistant, Major M. Dagger, of Iowa, reached this place on Wednesday, July 19th, from the sources of the Des Moines River, which he has explored from its mouth. He has also made a critical examination of the Coteau des Prairie, west of the river, and the western portion of the Undine Region of Nicollet, on the east. Mr. Randall speaks in the highest terms of the country which he traversed for beauty, agricultural capacity, and mineral resources. Coal was found for 200 miles on the Des Moines, and from indications, heavy deposits of iron ore are believed to exist. Gypsum, in abundance, for miles was encountered; an article that is very important in the arts, and extensively used in the East for agricultural purposes. This must prove of immense value to the West, as this is the great valley of the Mississippi. Limestone that makes a superior hydraulic lime exists in abundance. Limestone suitable for lime, clay suitable for bricks, rocks suitable for polishing, for grindstones, whetstones, and for building purposes, some of superior quality, are found in abundance along the Des Moines River. There is a great abundance of water-power in the whole region over which he passed, and timber plenty throughout most of the country. A PROCESS OF HARDENING HIDES. The following patented process for hardening hides, extracted from Examiner Page's Report, will be found to be not a little interesting. The hide is hardened and rendered transparent as horn. In the first place they are submitted to the sweating operation, or the liming, for removing the hair. They are then submitted to the action of powerful astringents, such as sulphuric acid, alum, or salts of tartar dissolved in water at a high temperature. During the operation of cleaning the hides of the oil, they are rubbed, or friction is applied in any convenient way, whereby the hide becomes thickened; and after this process is finished, they are rinsed in warm water and dried. After being dried they are submitted to the action of boiling linseed, or any other drying oil, and retained in the hot oil until a yellow scum appears on the surface of the hides, when they are withdrawn. If it is desired to impart color to the material, as staining it in imitation of tortoise shell, it is done while in the oil bath, and when removed from the bath it is submitted to pressure in moulds for the formation of various articles, as knife handles, &c.; for the article, when it comes hot from the oil bath, is very soft and pliable, but when allowed to cool it becomes hard, and susceptible of a high polish. A SHOE AND BOOT MANUFACTORY. The editor of the Lawrence (Mass.) Courier, gives an account of the shoe and boot manufactory of Mr. G. F. Tenney, in Georgetown, (Mass). He says:-"The work of this establishment is intended for the South, principally, and is confined to the manufacture of boots, shoes, and brogans of the heaviest description. A large building, three stories high, is occupied exclusively for cutting, crimping, treeing, finishing, drying, and packing. Three men do the treeing and finishing; two are engaged in crimping, which is done by machinery. We were informed that this establishment used and sold last year ten and a half tons of shoe tacks and nails. The bare boxes in which to pack the boots and shoes of this establishment, cost upwards of $1,000 per annum." IRON MANUFACTORY AT POUGHKEEPSIE. A new and extensive iron manufactory has recently been put in operation by Mr. William Bushnell, at the old Union Landing, near Poughkeepsie. The Poughkeepsie Journal says the works are very extensive, put up in the most substantial manner, and are calculated to use ten thousand tons of iron ore in a year. The operations are aided by an engine of one hundred and twenty horse power. Anthracite coal alone is used, and the same heat that melts the iron drives the engine. But large as the works now are, they are to be much extended, as soon as possible, by the construction of additional buildings, to manufacture the iron into bars, &c. A large number of hands will be constantly employed, and such an establishment cannot fail to be of great and permanent benefit to the village. JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY AND FINANCE. COINS AND CURRENCY OF NORWAY. UNDER the department appropriated to "Commercial Regulations," in the present number of the Merchants' Magazine, we have published several ordinances of the Norwegian government, relating to the tariff, port charges, &c. The following particulars of the coins and currency of that country, derived from authentic sources, will not, therefore, be without value at this time: This country was formerly a part of the dominions of the king of Denmark, but in 1813 was transferred to Sweden. It has always preserved a separate national character, and has a distinct system of coinage.* There appears to be no gold coin peculiar to Norway. The silver coins consist of the rigsdaler-species, of 120 skillings, the half, of 60 skillings, the fifth, or 24 skillings, and the fifteenth, or 8 skillings, all coined at the rate of 94 dalers to the Cologne mark of fine silver. The standard fineness is 14 lods, (875 thousandths,) at which proportion, 8 3-32 dalers weigh a Cologne mark; equal to 445.8 grains to each piece. There are smaller pieces of four and two skillings, coined at the rate of 10 2-5 dalers to the fine mark.t These are the old established standards; no change was made at the time of the alterations of Swedish coinage, in 1830. However, the dalers of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are interchangeable as to intrinsic value. The daler of Norway may be distinguished from that of Sweden by the legend on the obverse; in the former, the word Norges comes before Sveriges; in the latter, this order is reversed. Before the separation from Denmark, the Norwegian coins were not to be distinguished from the Danish by the legend, but by the shield containing a lion rampant, and underneath two hammers crossed, probably referring to the silver mines of Norway. The silver mines at Kongsberg yielded 17,000 marks in the first half year of 1834; and about the same amount in the whole of 1835.§ FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. POPULATION, DEBT, LOANS, TREASURY NOTES, REVENUe, etc. From a circular for the European correspondence of Cammann and Whitehouse, we are permitted to copy the annexed interesting tables, compiled at their request by the Treasury Department, in order that official information might be given to foreigners desirous of investing in American stocks-of the extent of our population, resources, and debt. STATEMENT EXHIBITING THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, THE public debt, THE RE- Debt. $75,463,476 52 Receipts from loans and treasury notes. $5,791,112 56 5,070,806 46 Revenue exclusive $4,418,913 19 Principal and in- Year. Population. 1791 4,067,371 1792 4,205,404 1793 4,343,457 $5,287,949 50 77,227,924 66 7,263,665 99 80,352,684 04 1,067,701 14 4,652,923 14 5,819,505 29 1 * Eckfeldt and Du Bois's Manual of Gold and Silver Coins. + Letter of HELMICH JANSEN, Esq., United States consul at Bergen, to the Treasury Department, August, 1834. Consul's letter. Karsten's Archiv. The Norwegian mark equals 3857.7 troy grains; and a mark of fine silver would be worth $10 39 in our money. |