It the pack is protected by one of the case. The most important use of gold is as a medium of exchange. For this purpose it is converted into coin at the mints, and into bars or bullion at the government assay of fice. In this form a large portion of the receipts from California is immediately exported from New York to make up the balance of foreign trade. Each bar is stamped with marks, representing its fineness and weight, and may continue to be thus used, or when received at foreign mints, is converted into coin. A large amount of gold is consumed in jewelry, trinkets, watches, and plate, and still more in the form of gold-pose them all equally to the beating. When leaf. This last being worn out in the using, or being distributed in too small quantities together to pay for recovering it, is altogether lost to the community, after the articles have served the purpose intended. This loss in the time of James I. was considered so serious, that a special act was passed, restricting the use of gold and silver-leaf, except for specified objects, which, singularly enough, were chiefly for military accoutrements. Gold employed in the recently invented process of electrotyping, in which large quantities are consumed, is similarly lost in the using. 15000 they have attained the full size of the vellum, which is done in about twenty minutes, they are taken apart, and cut each one into four pieces, making 600 of the original 150. These are packed in gold-beater's skin, and the pack is beaten as before, but with a lighter hammer, until they are extended again to sixteen square inches. This occupies about two hours. The gold-leaves are then taken out, and spread singly upon a leather cushion, where they are cut into four squares by two sharp edges of cane, arranged in the form of a cross. To any other kind of a knife the gold would adhere. Besides the use of gold-leaf in gilding, it is These leaves are again packed, 800 together, employed quite largely by dentists as the in the finest kind of gold-beater's skin, and best material for filling teeth. They also expanded till each leaf is from. 3 to 31 use much gold plate and wire for securing inches square. The aggregate surface is the artificial sets in the mouth. In book- about 192 times larger than that of the origbinding, gold is consumed to considerable inal sheet, and the thickness is reduced to extent for lettering and ornamenting the about the T of an inch. The beating backs of the books. The manufacture of is sometimes carried further than this, esgold-leaf is carried on in various places, both pecially by the French, so that an ounce of in the cities and country. It is a simple gold is extended over 160 square feet, and process, known in ancient times, but only of its thickness is reduced to of an inch, late years carried to a high degree of per- or even to. When the pack is openfection. The ingots, moulded for the pur-ed, the leaves are carefully lifted by a pair pose, and annealed in hot ashes, are rolled of wooden pliers, spread upon a leather between rollers of polished steel, until the cushion by the aid of the breath, and cut sheet is reduced from its original thickness into four squares of about 31 inches each, of half an inch to a little more than of which are immediately transferred one by an inch, an ounce weight making a strip ten one between the leaves of a little book of feet long and 1 inches wide. This is an- smooth paper, which are prevented from adnealed and cut into pieces an inch square, hering to the gold-leaves by an application each weighing about six grains. A pile is of red ochre or red chalk. Twenty-five then made of 150 of these pieces, alternating leaves are put into each book, and when fillwith leaves of fine calf-skin vellum, each one ed, it is pressed hard, and all projecting edges of which is four inches square, and a number of the gold are wiped away with a bit of of extra leaves of the vellum are added at linen. The books are then put up in packthe top and bottom of the pile. The heap, ages of a dozen together for sale. called a tool or kutch, is slipped into a parchment case open at the two ends, and this into a similar one, so that each side of 8 0 34 An imitation gold-leaf, called Dutch goldleaf, is used to some extent. It is prepared from sheets of brass, which are gilded, and beaten down in the manner already described. When new it appears like genuine goldleaf, but soon becomes tarnished in use. Party gold-leaf is formed of leaves of gold and of silver, laid together and made to unite by beating and hammering. It is then beaten down like gold-leaf. The gold-beater's skin used in this manufacture is a peculiar preparation made from the cæcum of the ox. The membrane is doubled together, the two mucous surfaces face to face, in which state they unite firmly. It is then treated with preparations of alum, isinglass, whites of eggs, etc., sometimes with creosote, and after being beaten between folds of paper to expel the grease, is pressed and dried. In this way leaves are obtained 54 inches square, of which moulds are made up, containing each 850 leaves. After being used for a considerable time, the leaves become dry and stiff, so that the gold cannot spread freely between them. To remedy this, they are moistened with wine or with vinegar and water, laid between parchment, and thoroughly beaten. They are then dusted over with calcined selenite or gypsum, reduced to a fine powder. The vellum, which is used before the gold-beater's skin, is selected from the finest varieties, and this, too, after being well washed and dried under a press, is brushed over with pulverized gypsum. In the great exhibition at London in 1851, machines were exhibited from the United States, and also from Paris, which were designed for gold-beating, and it was supposed they would take the place of the hand process. They have been put into operation at Hartford, in Connecticut, but after being tried, they have been laid aside for the old method. CHAPTER IV. LEAD. LEAD is met with in a great number of combinations, and has also been found in small quantity, at a few localities in Europe, in a native state. The common ore, from which nearly all the lead of commerce is obtained, is the sulphuret, called galena, a combination of 86.55 per cent. of lead and 13.45 of sulphur. It is a steel gray mineral of brilliant metallic lustre when freshly broken, and is often obtained in large cubical crystals: the fragments of these are all in cubical forms. The ore is also sometimes in masses of granular structure. Very frequently galena contains silver in the form of sulphuret of that metal, and gold, too, has often been detected in it. The quantity of silver is estimated by the number of ounces to the ton, and this may amount to 100 or 200, or even more; but when lead contains three ounces of silver to the ton this may be profitably separated. Ores of this character are known as argentiferous galena; if the silver is more valuable than the lead they are more properly called silver ores. In Mexico and Germany such are worked, but not in the United States. Galena is easily melted, and in contact with charcoal the sulphur is expelled and the lead obtained. The ore is found in veins in rocks of different geological formations, as in the metamorphic rocks of New England, the lower silurian rocks of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri, in limestones and sandstones of later age in New York and the middle states, belonging to higher groups of the Appalachian system of rocks, and in the new red sandstone of Pennsylvania at its contact with the gneiss. Carbonate of lead is another ore often associated with galena, though usually in small quantity. It is of light color, whitish or grayish, commonly crystallized, and in an impure form is sometimes obtained in an earthy powder. At St. Lawrence county, New York, large quantities of it have been collected for smelting, and were called lead ashes. The ore may escape notice from its unmetallic appearance, and at the Missouri mines large quantities were formerly thrown aside as worthless. It contains 77.5 per cent. of lead combined with 6 per cent. of oxygen, and this compound with 16.5 per cent. of carbonic acid. Beautiful crystals of the ore, some transparent, have been obtained at the mines on the Schuylkill, near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; the Washington mine, Davidson county, North Carolina; and Mine La Motte, Missouri. Another ore, the phosphate or pyromorphite, has been known only as a rare mineral until it was produced at the Phoenixville mines so abundantly as to constitute much the larger portion of the ores smelted. It is obtained in masses of small crystals of a green color, and sometimes of other shades, as yellow, orange, brown, etc., derived from the minute portions of chrome in combination. With these a variety of other compounds of At different times this adit has been pushed on, and when last abandoned, in 1854, it was supposed to be within a few feet of the vein. The rock was so excessively hard that the cost of driving the adit was about $25 per foot. Lead veins are found in Whately, Hatfield, and other towns in Hampshire county. lead are mixed, together with phosphate of lime and fluoride of calcium, so that the percentage of the metal is variable. The compounds of lead met with at these mines are the sulphuret, sulphate, carbonate, phosphate, arseniate, molybdate, chromate, chromo-molybdate, arsenio-phosphate, and antimonial argentiferous. Besides all these, a single In Connecticut, also, several veins have vein contained native silver, native copper, been worked to some extent. That at Midand native sulphur, three compounds of zinc, dletown, referred to in the introductory refour of copper, four of iron, black oxide of marks as one of the earliest opened mines in manganesc, sulphate of barytes, and quartz. the United States, is the most noticeable. The eastern portion of the United States It is unknown when this mine was first is supplied with lead almost exclusively from worked. In 1852 operations were renewed Spain and Great Britain, but the western upon it, and a shaft sunk 120 feet below the states are furnished with this metal from old workings. The vein is among strata of mines in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri. a silicious slate, in some places quite rich, The lead veins of the eastern and southern but on the whole it has proved too poor to states are of little importance. In Maine the work. In Maine the work. The ore contained silver to the value ores are found in Cobscook Bay, near Lubec | of from $25 to $75 to the ton of lead. and Eastport, in limestone rocks near dikes Lead mines have been opened in New of trap. A mine was opened in 1832, and York, in Dutchess, Columbia, Washington, a drift was carried in about 155 feet at the Rensselaer, Ulster, and St. Lawrence counbase of a rocky cliff on the course of the ties. In the first four of these the ore is vein; it was then abandoned, but operations found in veins near the junction of the metahave recently been recommenced. In New morphic slates and limestones. The Ancram Hampshire argentiferous galena is found in or Livingston mine, in Columbia county, has numerous places, but always in too small been worked at different times at considerquantity to pay the expenses of extraction. able expense, but with no returns. A mine in At Shelburne a large quartz vein was worked Northeast, Dutchess county, was first opened from 1846 to 1819, and three shafts were by some German miners in 1740, and ore sunk, one of them 275 feet in depth. The from it was exported. The Committee of ore was found in bunches and narrow streaks, Public Safety, during the revolutionary war, but in small quantity. Some of it was sought to obtain supplies of lead from it. smelted on the spot, and five tons were The lead veins of this part of New York have shipped to England, which sold for £16 per attracted more interest, on account of their ton. The richest yielded 84 ounces of silver highly argentiferous character, than the quanto the ton. Another vein of argentiferous ga- tity of ore they promise would justify; but lena has been partially explored at Eaton, and it seems to be almost universally the case this is most likely of any to prove valuable. throughout the United States that the galena Massachusetts, also, contains a number of yielding much silver fails in quantity. The lead veins, none of which have proved prof- Ulster county mines are found on the west itable, though some of them have been side of the Shawangunk mountain in the worked to considerable extent. The most strata of hard grit rock which cover its westnoted are those of Southampton and Eastern slope. At different places along this hampton. Operations were commenced at the former place in 1765 upon a great lode of quartz containing galena, blende, copper pyrites, and sulphate of barytes. It is in a coarse granitic rock near its contact with the red sandstone of the Connecticut valley. About the year 1810 an adit level was boldly laid out to be driven in from 1,100 to 1,200 feet, to intersect the vein at 140 feet below the surface. A single miner is said to have worked at it till his death, in 1828, when it had reached the length of 900 feet, ridge veins have been found cutting across quan From to 35° east, and dipping steeply south-east. amounted to from 60 to 70 tons, of which 50 tons yielded 24.3 per cent. of copper. Where the vein was productive it contained the rich ores unmixed with stony gangues, and sometimes presenting a thickness of five feet of pure ore; where it became poor it closed in sometimes to a mere crack in the grit rock, and then the expense of extending the workings became very great from the extreme hardness of this rock. Open fissures were met with, one of which was more than 100 feet long and deep, and in places 12 feet or more wide. It was partially filled with tough yellow clay, through which were dispersed fragments of sandstone, magnificent bunches of quartz crystals, and lumps of lead and copper ores. The walls on the sides also presented a lining in places of the same ores. A drift was run into the base of the mountain about 200 feet, and a shaft was sunk at the foot of the slope about 100 feet. The expense of working in the hard rock proved to be too great for the amount of ore obtained, and the mine was abandoned in 1854, although its production, for the extent of ground opened, has been exceeded by but few other mines in the eastern states. The most promising veins in the state are those of St. Lawrence county in the vicinity of Rossie. They occur in gneiss rock, which they cut in nearly vertical lines. One of these was opened along the summit of Coal Hill, and was worked in 1837 and 1838 by Lead ores are found along the Blue Ridge, an open cut of 440 feet in length, to the in Virginia, and at one point, near the cendepth, in some places, of 180 feet. In 1839 tral portion of its range across the state, a the mine was abandoned, after the company mine has been worked for a number of years. had realized about $241,000 by the sale of They are also met with in several of the gold some 1,800 tons of lead they had extracted. mines, but not in workable quantities. In The galena was remarkably free from blende, south-west Virginia and east Tennessee the and from pyritous iron and copper, which ores are found in the silurian limestones, and (especially the first-named) are so often asso- a considerable number of mines have been ciated with the ore, rendering it difficult to worked to moderate extent in both states. smelt. Calcareous spar, often finely crystal- The most important one is the Wythe lead lized, formed the gangue of the vein. A mine, 16 miles from Wytheville, which was nearly transparent crystal, weighing 165 lbs., worked in 1754. It is in a steep hill on the is preserved in the cabinet of Yale College. border of New River, a fall upon which, near Other attempts have been made to work the the mine, affords power for raising the water mine; and the cause of its being allowed to required in dressing the ores, and also for lie idle appears to be the difficulty of nego- producing the blast for the furnace. Several tiating a mining right with the proprietors. shafts have been sunk, one of which extendIn Pennsylvania the most productive leading down to the adit-a depth of 225 feet— mines are those of Montgomery and Chester counties, found in a small district of 5 or 6 miles in length by 2 or 3 in width, at the line of contact of the gneiss, and red shale and sandstone. About 12 parallel veins have been discovered, extending north 32° is used as a shot tower. The ores are galena, with more or less carbonates intermixed. The product for 1855 is stated to have been 500 tons of lead. The transportation of lead, in pigs, bars, and shot, from the southwest part of Virginia toward the east, by the Virginia and Tennessee railroad, for the years on the spot where now stands the city in named, has been as follows: Pig Lead Bar Lead Shot... Total...... 1856. 1857. 1858. lbs. lbs. lbs. 1859. 409,649 514,878 234,087 .864,660 120,142 774,809 869,057 $2,580 163,405 In the other direction the transportation of the same articles was comparatively unimportant. Iowa bearing his name, until his death in 1809. When the United States acquired possession of the country in 1807, the min854,695 eral lands were reserved from the sales, and 254,970 leases of mining rights were authorized. These were not, however, issued until 1822, and little mining was done before 1826. From that time the production of lead rapidly increased; and the government for a time received the regular rates for the leases. South of Virginia the only lead mine But after 1834 the miners and smelters refused of importance is the Washington mine, Da- to pay them any longer, on account of so many vidson county, N. C. This was opened in sales having been made and patents granted 1836, in the silicious and talcose slates of of mineral lands in Wisconsin. In 1839 the the gold region, and was worked for the United States government authorized a geocarbonate of lead, which was found in a dull, logical survey of the lead region, in order to heavy ore of earthy appearance, with which designate precisely the mineral tracts, and were intermixed glassy crystals of the same this was accomplished the same year by Dr. mineral. Some galena and phosphate of D. D. Owen, with the aid of 139 assistants. lead were also met with. After a time native In 1844 it was decided to abandon the leassilver was detected, and the lead that had ing system, and throw all the lands into the been obtained was found to be rich in silver. market. The lead region, according to the Till 1844 the mine continued to produce ores report of Dr. Owen, extends over about 62 containing much silver, and afforded the first townships in Wisconsin, 10 in the north-west deposits of this metal in the mint from do- corner of Illinois, and 8 in Iowa-a territory mestic mines. The character of the ores altogether of about 2,880 square miles. Its changed, however, below the depth of 125 western limit is about 12 miles from the feet, the silver almost disappearing. The Mississippi river; to the north it extends actual product of the mine is not known. nearly to Wisconsin river; south to Apple That of 1844 is said to have been $24,209 river, in Illinois; and east to the east branch in value of silver, and $7,253 of gold, ob- of the Pekatonica. From east to west it is tained from 160,000 lbs. of lead—-an average 87 miles across, and from north to south 54 of 240 oz. of auriferous silver to 2,000 lbs. miles. Much of the region is a rolling of metal. In 1851 the production was 56,896 prairie, with a few isolated hills, called lbs. of lead and 7,942.16 oz. of auriferous mounds, scattered upon its surface, the highsilver-equal to 279 oz. to the ton of metal.est of them rising scarcely more than 200 Zinc blende and galena became at last the feet above the general level. The prevailing prevailing ores, the silver varying from 2.5 limestone formations give fertility to the soil, to 195 oz. to the ton; and the workings were and the country is well watered by numerextended upon two parallel veins which lay ous small streams, which flow in valleys exnear each other in the slates. Iu 1852 min-cavated from 100 to 150 feet below the ing operations were abandoned as unprofita- higher levels. The limestone, of gray and ble, but were soon after renewed, and are yellowish gray colors, lies in nearly horizontal strata, and the portion which contains The great lead mines of the United the lead veins hardly exceeds 50 feet in States are the upper mines, in a district thickness. Beneath it is a sandstone of the near the Mississippi, in Iowa, the south-west age of the Potsdam sandstone, and above it part of Wisconsin, and the north-west part are strata of limestone recognized as belongof Illinois; and the lower mines, in Missouri. | ing to the Trenton limestone, so that it The existence of lead ores in the upper dis- proves to be a formation interposed between trict was made known by Le Sueur, who dis- these, quite western in character, as it is not covered them in his voyage up the Missis- met with east of Wisconsin. The veins ocsippi in 1700 and 1701. They attracted no cupy straight vertical fissures, and several further attention, however, till a French miner, near together sometimes extend nearly a Julien Dubuque, commenced to work them in mile in an east and west direction. They 1788; and in this employment he continued, never reach downward into the sandstone, |