USA > Louisiana > Sketches, historical and descriptive, of Louisiana > Part 30
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1 torce are the nearest to them ; but these are a long dis- tance to the south west of Red river.
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MINERAL RICHES.
The source of the Washita is a considerable distance to the eastward of the Mexican mountains. On its borders . are found beds of martial pyrites, large bodies of chrys- talized spar, and hexagonal prisms, which are known to contain no small portion of the precious metals. Perhaps as our researches are multiplied and extended, new sour- ces of wealth will present themselves; and the evidence of their existence is sufficient to awaken a spirit of enter- prise, and to promise success.
On Red river in north latitude thirty three degrees, one hundred and forty six miles due west from the Mississip- pi, an alum bank has been recently discovered ; which, from appearances, is calculated to yield large quantities of : that article. Aluminous symptoms, indeed, abound in various places on that river ; and these, together with the salt rolled from the numerous springs about the country, impregnate the water to such a degree as to render it un- fit for use. Limestone abounds on this river, as likewise a sort of rock, from which the inhabitants manufacture good mill and grind-stones. Petrifactions are common ; and above the great raft a multitude of trees are constant- ly seen wholly converted into stone. A metal exists on the west side of Red river, which exhibits the appear- ance, and seems to contain some of the properties of Pla- tina ; but no satisfactory experiments have been made on it. This metal possesses a shining appearance ; it is known to receive a polish almost equal to that of a mirror, and vegetable and some other acids will not corrode it. The magnet, however, seems to have some power over it; but , may not Platina contain a mixture of iron? It is ductile, though extremely hard, and infusible in a common fur- nace.
Stone or pit-coal is an article of some importance. It already begins to form in the Delta. A large body of it exists near the mouth of the Missouri, and it is found in various places on the east side of the Mississippi, parti-
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cularly between Cahokia and Kaskaskia. It frequently makes its appearance on the Washita, the Sabine, and Red river, particularly on the borders of a lake in the neigh- borhood of Nachitoches. This article is of use to smiths even at this time, and its importance will increase as the country becomes more populous, and the villages enlarged; and the more so as various tracts, of great extent, are thinly covered with wood. To forges and furnaces it will be indispensible, and the inhabitants in some of the vil- lages must eventually resort to it. Some of this coal, however, especially that on the Missouri, is said to con- tain such a quantity of sulphur as to render it less worthy of notice.
The western country, generally, furnishes plenty of salt petre ; which is found, in some instances, almost pure in its native state. The banks of the Arkansas in many places are incrusted with it, and at some seasons exhibit a , whiteness nearly equal to that of snow. What the adja- cent country contains, is not ascertained ; but from the quantity already discovered, and the places where it is produced, it is reasonable to- conclude, that it yields an abundance of that article. Considerable quantities of it have been taken from the rocky caves and apertures, in the ridges and bluffs, along the Missouri and its waters. The powder-makers have used it in its crude state ; and. some of it by refining did not lose more than four per centum. 'This in time will become an article of exporta- tion, and prove a source of wealth to the country.
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Near Cape Gerardeau there is a substance, which, when ground in oil, affords an excellent brown paint, equal in beauty and durability to the imported Spanish brown. Many of the inhabitants on the Mississippi paint their buildings with it. This substance appears to be inexhaus- tible, and'may eventually prove of great utility to the peo- ple of the western country.
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MINERAL RICHES.
On the rivers St. Pierre and des Moin's, branches of the Mississippi from the west, is found a singular species of black hard clay ; likewise a blue clay ; a curious kind of red soap stone of a very fine texture ; and also an e- qually curious fine white clay. From the first the Indi- ans manufacture their household utensils ; from the second they make a sort of paint, which, when mixed with pul- verized red-stone, affords a beautiful color, capable of ma- ny shades; from the third they construct the bowls of their pipes and calumets ; and it is conjectured by good judges, that the last will produce a ware not much inferior to that of China. The French, on their first arrival in the country, collected a considerable quantity of this clay, and sent it to France.
They also, about the same time, opened some copper mines at no great distance below the falls of St. Anthony, where they found virgin copper. It is even said by one of their journalists, concerned in the transaction, that they procured a piece of native brass, weighing sixty pounds; . but in what way the copper came to be united with zinc, so as to produce this extraordinary mixture, is not easy to conjecture ; especially as that part of the country seems not, as in some parts of South America, to have been agi- tated by subterranean fires. At any rate, the Indians drove the French away, and the acquisition of mineral wealth in this quarter has never been resumed. .
It is doubted whether the lead mines in Louisiana, both as to number and capacity, and the purity of their trea- sure, are not superior to those of any other country. No mines of this nature, at least none of any consequence, have been discovered below the Arkansas ; those with which we are acquainted, and which are worked, are si- tuated in Upper Louisiana. In these regions various lead mines have been discovered; but the number and value of them cannot be ascertained with any degree of preci- sion. Much of the inhabited part of the district of St.
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Genevieve, is embraced by them. They are found along the Merimak, and its tributary streams, and on both sides of the Mississippi, more than four hundred miles above the mouth of the Missouri. They are numerous on the St. Francis and White river; some of them have been worked and proved productive. They discover them- selves in the country of the Osages, and in the territories of several other Indian tribes. Mineral lead is in such plenty, that fragments of it are scattered about in some of their villages ; and it is considered of no more value than the same quantity of coarse granite, or lime stone rock.
Some of these mines were opened and worked by the French more than a century ago ; and, strange as it may appear, they were not ambitious, till a late period, of ex- tending the manufacture of lead beyond their own con- sumption. Ten valuable mines in the neighborhood of St. Genevieve were worked in 1804, and several others have been opened since that period. The mineral is found in veins of various sizes, which generally extend in a hori- zontal direction, and usually from four, to six feet under ground. Some of them soon terminate ; others are of great extent, and yield large quantities of mineral. Now and then, however, the veins take a direction downwards, and descend to a considerable depth. Wherever mineral exists, certain indications of it, vulgarly called blossoms, are found on the surface of the ground; su that those in pursuit of that article are at no loss where to dig for it.
An experiment, perhaps not altogether correct, was made on this mineral in 1804. The specific gravity of it was found to be 7. 5 ). The color of it is shining and brilliant; and it appears to be mixed with a small proportion of sulphur, and a still smaller proportion of the oxyd of iron. As the country abounds with cal- careous rock, the matrix of these mineral veins appears to be mostly composed of the carbonate of lime. This mineral is by no means the richest in Upper Louisiana ;
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MINERAL RICHES.
but it yields, when properly manufactured, about seventy. per centum.
Such indeed is the quantity of mineral lead, that very little care is taken in the manufacture of it. It is the o- pinion of many, that regular machinery for the purpose is useless, and that the quantity of lead saved by it would never defray the expenses of it. They usually place the mineral on a confused heap of burning logs, and other wood, and in this way smelt it. The lead is precipitated a- mong the ashes and dirt, where no small proportion of it is lost. Notwithstanding this singular and awkward pro- cess, the manufacturers are satisfied with the profits it -yields them, and consider a machinery as an injury rather than a benefit.
This inattention to the regular manufacture of lead a- rises in part from the poverty of the manufacturers, who are not able to pursue an expensive process, but much more from the great quantity of mineral, the little labor required to obtain it, and the prolific nature of it. On ac- 'count of the water the mineral is usually taken from the ground between the first of August, and the last of No- vember ; and during this period a great number of labor- ers, sometimes as many as three hundred, resort to the - mines in the neighborhood of St. Genevieve. They dig and dispose of the mineral, and receive in payment goods , and other. articles for the support of their families. Some. : of them have been known to earn thirty dollars per day for several successive weeks ; but such occurrences are rare, and never happen, unless the laborers are so lucky as to find veins of mineral of considerable size and extent ; though the profits of procuring that article are undoubt- edly great.
'The dealers in lead, who are also in most instances the manufacturers of it, generally adopt two methods to ob- tain the mineral ; they either purchase it, or hire laborers to dig it for them. The details of this pursuit were fur-
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nished the author of these sketches in 1803 by the owner of a mine in the district of St. Genevieve, and they stand thus: Were he to hire twenty five men to dig mineral du- fing the four months already mentioned, they would fur- nish about two hundred thousand weight ; and as it yields. seventy per centum, the produce of the whole would be one hundred and forty thousand pounds for the market." The wages and food of twenty five laborers for the above time, and the expenses of transporting the lead from the mines to New-Orleans, would amount to three thousand six hundred and fifty dollars ; and were it to sell in mar- ket for nine dollars per hundred, the proceeds would a- mout to twelve thousand six hundred dollars ; so that, af- ter deducting the expenses, the sum of eight thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars would be left for the proprietor or dealer, which may be considered as the net profits. These, however, wholly depend on the price in market, which varies according as commerce fluctuates, or as war or peace prevails in Europe. In time of peace, lead sel- dom sells for more than six dollars per hundred ; during the European war it sometimes rises to twelve dollars, though the average price in market may be stated at nine dollars. Those dealers in lead, who receive mineral in exchange for goods, are supposed to make the greatest profits. They fix themselves about the mines, and pur- chase the mineral of the laborers at two dollars per hun- dred, and make their payments in merchandize at an en- ormous advance. They smelt the mineral, and carry the lead to market; and as they are not obliged to deal on credit, the profits of this barter-trade are very consider- able.
The proprietor, to whom we have just alluded, planted himself among the lead mines in 1797, and obtained from the Spanish government a grant of a league square of land, most of which is impregnated with mineral. IIe is the owner of the only regular machinery in the country
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MINERAL RICHES.
for making lead. IIe manufactures bar and sheet lead, as also great quantities of ball and shot : But it is doubted by some whether the more simple and awkward mode of manufacturing lead as practised by the itinerant pursuers of this metal, is not equally profitable; especially as they .smelt the mineral on the ground where they obtain it, and are not at the trouble and expense of removing it to a dis- tance for this operation.
The richest mineral known in the country is procured from two mines, situated on the west bank of the Missis- sippi, nearly five hundred miles above the mouth of the Missouri, which were opened some years ago by a French- man : one of them yields eighty four, and the other nine- two pounds of pure lead to each hundred weight of min- eral ; though from the manner of smelting, no more than seventy five is actually realized. The owner covered these, as well as other mines, in 1796, by a complete grant from the Spanish government, embracing a tract of one hun- dred and sixty nine thousand three hundred and forty four arpents, now recognized as valid by the laws of the Unit- ed States. The mineral is found here, as in other places, in veins ; but these generally descend at an angle of about thirty four degrees. Two of them have been pursued nearly two hundred and fifty feet beneath the base of a steep hill. At their extremity, in summer, the air moves with such rapidity, that a candle cannot be kept lighted, and is at the same time so cold as to prove uncomfortable to the workmen ; but in winter a considerable degree of heat prevails, and a small portion of air only is found to be in circulation.
It is impossible to say what might be the avails of this article, were the manufacture of it carried to its full ex- tent. It wants the hand of industry only, joined to a competent knowledge of the nature of lead, to prepare any quantity of it for market. Lead, while the Europe- an war lasts, will command a high price ; and Upper-
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Louisiana probably contains in its bosom a quantity, ade- quate to the consumption of all the belligerent powers in christendom. To those unacquainted with that country; this may seem an exaggeration ; but when they are told, ; that the banks and beds of some of the small rivers pre- sent to the traveller large masses of mineral lead, and that extensive tracts of country exhibit it in plenty, they will not presume to set bounds to the quantity.
There is no way to ascertain the quantity of lead annu- ally manufactured in Upper Louisiana ; but it is much more considerable than a mere superficial observer would be willing to admit. The mines in this quarter supply several Indian tribes, as also the extensive settlements on both sides of the Mississippi, and those on the Ohio and its waters. In addition to this, large quantities of lead are sent to New-Orleans and Pittsburgh, where part of it is consumed ; the remainder finds its way to the Atlantic and European markets. The want of capitals, and the" still greater want of industry among the inhabitants on the Mississippi, especially the Creoles, operate as power- ful checks to the manufacture of lead. When necessity compels them, they will labor with spirit till the means of a few months subsistence are obtained ; they will then retire, and indulge their indolence, till necessity again ur- ges them to resume their laborious occupations. Even the few capitalists in the country, who purchase mineral, and manufacture lead, complain of this as an obstacle to their success ; they are obliged to wait for the moment when the victims of poverty and want deposit with them the fruits of their exertion.
Most nations, who own lead mines, derive a public re- venue from them. Ilow can the United States avail them- selves of this advantage? If the country contained a given number of them only, and it required great labor, expense, and an intricate process, to obtain the lead, no difficulty of consequence would probably occur. But when mineral
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MINERAL RICHES.
lead is found scattered here and there over the surface of an extensive territory, and also deposited in the bowels of the earth, at all times easy of access, it appears impos- sible to secure an exclusive privilege. If the people be prohibited from taking it in one or more places, they will resort to others. All the troops in service would not be able to guard this treasure ; and those disposed to purloin it, would laugh at legal restraints. Some of the mines, :: "indeed, are private property ; but the number and extent of these bear no proportion to those included in the pub- lic domain. The discoverer of a mine, under the Span- ish government, was entitled to a grant of land of suffici- ent extent to embrace it; or he was at liberty to occupy and work it, provided he rendered one tenth of the produce. . to the crown.
If the lead mines may be considered as productive of individual wealth, and at the same time of great national advantage, no less can be said of the mines or masses of salt found in almost every part of Louisiana. This arti- cle is even more general than that of lead, at least a wider extent of country is impregnated with it, and it is exhi- bited in a variety of forms ; it appears in springs and o- ther streams, in and on the earth, in thin strata, and in so- lid masses ; it is likewise incorporated with vast bodies of rock found in the interior, and in some instances is easily separated from the useless substances connected with it.
The country about the Washita, and Red river, affords many instances of salt, where a sufficient quantity of that article may be obtained to supply a crowded population, 'Three salt pits or salines on the former river have been accurately examined. The specific gravity of the water in the first, when compared with that of the river, is 1. 02720 ; that of the second 1. 02104; that of the third 1.0176. The water of the two first, is of the same strength as that of the ocean along our coast ; and double the strength of the water yielded by some of the best licks -
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, in Kentucky. Ten quarts of the water, taken from one of the"first, will afford, by evaporation, eight ounces of good salt.
, Several salt springs have been been discovered about the Sabine ; and an excellent one is known to exist near the Ocatahola lake.
The saline in the vicinity of Nachitoches, and on the navigable waters of Red river, promises to be productive. 'Three wells only have been sunk ; they furnish water for thirty kettles, whose contents are six hundred and sixty gallons ; and as the water is nearly saturated, these ket- tles attended by seven laborers, produce about two hun- dred and forty barrels of salt per month, at an expense of one hundred and forty dollars. The salt is equal in good- ness to that imported from Liverpool. To what extent this manufacture may be carried is uncertain ; perhaps one hundred wells of equal value may be sunk. It is pret- ty evident, that the proprietors will soon be able to supply all the settlements about Red river, as also those in the Mississippi territory, at a cheaper rate than can be done by way of New Orleans.
The water in some of the branches of Red river is too strongly impregnated with salt to be potable. Hunters. have discovered silver ore in many places about the head .. waters of Red river, as also great quantities of mineral or rock salt. This is likewise found on some parts of the Washita, together with several springs as salt as the ocean. . The accounts, however, received of these several instances of salt, are extremely vague and indistinct; not calculated, indeed, to afford us any other than a confused idea of them. Cathartic salts, and magnesia, may be manufac- 'tured in the neighborhood of Nachitoches ; articles of some consequence in a country, where certain diseases are endemica !.
Salt springs exist on the Arkansas and Missouri, and are scattered over the country situated between them.
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They afford salt in different proportions; in some it is , hardly perceptible to the taste ; while in others it is forc- ed by the saturated water in small particles from the earth, which, as the water spreads, and the rapidity of it abates, are deposited in concrete masses on the ground. In the vicinity of one of them, the Osages have a hunting camp. No less than four tribes of Indians, who inhabit the wa- ters of the Kansas and Platte rivers, derive their sup- plies in part from similar depositories, and in part from the salt springs with which the country abounds.
One spring of this nature, remarkable for its size, and for the productive quality of its water, deserves to be no- ticed in this place. It is situated on Grand river, which" is an easterly branch of the Arkansas, and at a very little - distance from the latter river. This spring forms a foun-
· tain or bason at its source of about forty feet diameter. It then suddenly disappears under a rock of about forty yards in extent, the top of which is flat and smooth, and great quantities of salt are formed on it, though it is not fit for use, as it is apparently mixed with sulphur, or some other_ : offensive substance. The water is nearly saturated ; the . Indians and Indian traders procure their salt from it ; and they say, that eight gallons of it will yield by evaporation one gallon of salt. . About four hundred Osages, living near the mouth of Verdigris river, a short distance only from this spring, obtain their supplies of salt from it; and as it is situated on a navigable stream, it will probably very soon become of importance to the manufacturers of salt among the whites.
. The salines just below St. Genevieve are productive. The inhabitants on both sides of the Mississippi derive most of their supplies from them ; and no small propor- tion of the salt is boated up the Ohio. The salines on the Merimak are also valuable : They supply in part the : settlers on the east side of the Mississippi ; nearly all those . of the district of St. Louis; and a proportion of those in
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the district of St. Charles. There are also some salines on what is called Salt river, in the neighborhood of the upper settlements on the Mississippi, which bid fair to be productive.
In addition to these springs and salines, Upper Louisi- ana furnishes some extraordinary appearances of salt, a description of which will now be attempted with as much accuracy as the materials before us will allow.
-Near the source of one of the easterly branches of the Arkansas, and in a westerly direction from the Osage vil- Jages, is situated what is called the salt prairie. This is annually visited by some of our traders. 'Two of the most respectable characters in the country have repeatedly vi- sited it, and made themselves fully acquainted with every particular concerning it. This prairie, according to them, is about twenty five miles diameter, (others say nearly for- ty) composed of a dark colored indurated sand, free from herbage, and surrounded by lofty hills. As soon as the heat of the sun begins to exhale the moisture of the sand, a thin coat of salt is gradually formed on the surface. The quantity of salt thus produced wholly depends on the degrees of heat ; and frequently during the hottest days in summer, it accumulates to the thickness of nearly an inch and a half. In some places it has the appearance of fine table salt, and may be swept or gathered into heaps ; in others it forms an incrustation, and resembles vast sheets of thin ice. The dews dissipate it. The rains oc .. casionally precipitate large bodies of it into the branch al- luded to, where part of it concretes, and is deposited a- long the shores. The author has several times seen salt taken from the prairie and branch : That from the first is free from impurities, very white, and sufficiently fine for table uses : 'That from the last is mixed with more or less sand, collected from the bed and sides of the stream, and exhibits the colors of the several strata of earth where it is deposited. . No estimate can be made of the quantity
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of salt, which might be annually obtained from this prai- rie ; but it would yield sufficient to excite our surprise and admiration. The branch, on which it is situated, is navi- gable. at the season of high water : But no benefit can be expected from it at present, as the Indians claim the coun- try, and generally prove troublesome to those of the whites, who venture to hunt or to reside in it.
About forty miles from this prairie, there are two mines of genuine fossil salt. This article is found in solid mas- ses in the earth, and exhibits different colors : That taken from one of the mines approaches to a blue : That taken from the other is nearly red. The extent of them is un- .. known, though from a cursory examination they are sup- posed to be inexhaustible.
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