The Mining and Statistic Magazine; Devoted to Mines, Mining Operations, Metallurgy, &C., &C (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE MINING MAGAZINE AND JOURNAL OP GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY, METALLURGY, CHEMISTRY, AND THE ARTS IN THEIR APPLICATIONS TO MINING ASD WORKING USEFUL ORES AND METALS. DECEMBER, 1859. Art. I?THE LEAD DEPOSITS OF TEIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.? Br Peof. J. D. Whitney. [Extracted from the Rtport on the Geological Survey of the Stale of Imra. Vol. LJ The great lead deposits of the Mississippi valley may be classed, according to their geographical position, under two heads: the Upper Mississippi and the Missouri mines; at the West they are commonly distinguished as the Upper and Lower mines. The first of these divisions embraces the lead- region lying in the south-western portion of Wisconsin, and including a small portion of each of the adjacent States of Illinois and Iowa: the second comprehends the mines in the State of Missouri, which lie chiefly to the south of the river of that name. These lead-producing districts possess many features in common, both in regard to the geological position and the mode of occurrence of the ore; but the Upper mines have always been, and will probably continue to be, much the most important. It is with that portion of the Upper Mississippi mining region which lies within the limits of Iowa, that we have to do SECOND SERIES.?VOL. I. NO. II. 7 in this Report; but, as a correct idea of the character of the lead-deposits could hardly have been acquired, had the examination been confined to that narrow space, it will be necessary, for the purposes of comparison, to take into consideration and develop in as brief a manner as possible, the principal features of the occurrence of the lead ores, as deduced from repeated examinations of different portions of the lead- region within the boundaries of each of the three States in whi...