Menominee Township (part 2 of 2)

To charge a furnace, oak logs were sawed into lengths of four feet, the largest were rolled down to the bottom and smaller ones succeeded until there was a floor of logs, raised about six inches from the stone floor from the bottom of the enclosure to the top. Then smaller wood stood on end around three sides of the pit, and about 2,500 pounds of mineral packed in on the logs in each, the largest pieces at the bottom; wood was then piled on the top of the mineral, and the furnace was ready to fire. In burning, fresh wood was constantly piled on the top and the fire kept up until the logs were burned out underneath, and then allowed to die out. When the furnace was sufficiently cool the pits were cleared out; the largest pieces of mineral remaining, taken out to be added to the next " charge," and the ashes thrown into a pile to be washed and re-smelted in an ash furnace. A log furnace of this description costs about $25. A "charge"' usually burned out in sixteen to twenty-four hours, depending on the size of logs -used.

The ash furnace was a different and more expensive affair. Selecting a proper spot at the foot of a hill, a sort of box, with bottom and sides of stone (not unlike a mason's mortar-bed in form) was made. This was generally about six feet long and three feet wide. On one side was an eye, on the level with the floor, but filled with clay, and on the other side another, higher up. Over this was built a structure of masonry, and extending far enough below or from the hill for the fire, which was fed through an arch in front, something like the arches of a brick kiln. From the other end of this structure was a long flue, three feet wide, floored and covered with stone, something like a chimney built on the ground up the sloping side of the hill, fifteen or twenty feet, with a flue three feet wide and about one foot high. Here, then, we have a huge fire box, with the " lead box " in the up hill side, w th a chimney from it lying on the ground at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The fire kindled, the ashes, after being washed, are thrown in at the top of the chimney, smelted by the heat and draft from the fire passing over them, the lead runs down into the box prepared for it below, which is kept hot by the fire which passes over into the chimney. Here the liquid lead accumulates, the " slag " or dross, which floats on top running out of the upper hole in the " box." When the lead gets high enough to run out of the same " eye," the clay is knocked out of the lower " eye " on the other side, and the pure lead is drawn off and ca^t into " pigs." The " eye " is then plugged again, and the process is repeated. The " slag " was fora long time considered worthless, but when the cupola or blast furnace was introduced, it was smelted, yielding, in some cases, fifty per cent pure lead.

The introduction of the " cupola" furnace, and improvements indented by N. A. Drummond, in 1837, and called the " Drummond Furnace," and the "blast furnace," entirely superseded the rude log and ash furnaces above described. The " cupola " or chimney of the furnace of that name was from thirty to forty feet high, with a flue about eighteen inches in diameter, and was so constructed as to cause the blaze and heat from the tire to pass over the mineral, and it was necessary to keep it in operation constantly, day and night. The " blast furnace " was so called because a strong and constant current of air was sent into the fire from a bellows, driven by water or other power. The blast furnace "blows out " in from six to twelve hours. Ihe blast furnace requires more labor and less fuel than the " cupola." Ordinary furnaces smelted from sixty to one hundred and fifty pigs of lead, of seventy pounds each, per day. At some of them -two hundred pigs per day were manufactured in the palmy days of the mining interest.

In 1846-'7-'8, there were at least twenty-four smelting furnaces within Jo Daviess County in active operation. The mines reached the maximum of production about 1846, during which year about 25,000 tons of lead were manufactured. The importation of lead into the United States in the year ending June, 1859, amounted to about 64,000.000 of pounds. This shows that the importation of lead into the United States that year much exceeded the whole production of this county in 1846.

At this date (1878), there are only five furnaces in regular operation in this county, and these are not run to their full capacity. These are as follows : T. B. Hughlett, Galena, who is the largest smelter; M. Spencely, Vinegar Hill; Richard Bowden, Council Hill; Henry Green, Elizabeth; T. G. Stevens, Rice. There is also a small furnace at Warren. Mr. Hughlett, smelted during 1877, about 1,500,000 pounds of lead, and the total production in the county last year, he estimates at 3,300,000 pounds, or a little over 1,600 tons, against 25,000 in 1846.

It is thought by some, because the product of the lead mines has decreased, that the mineral has become exhausted, but this is not a correct conclusion. It will undoubtedly be found that the proper development of these mineral deposits has only just commenced. Capital and labor, directed by science and observation, and rightly applied to deep mining, will produce more wonderful results than any yet attained. The Burrichter & Harris mine, which has been described in the preceding pages, may be cited in corroboration of this statement. It is probable that many old leads now abandoned, will be found to yield abundantly under the skillful application of labor and capital.

The lead mines of Cumberland, Durham, and York, in England, are said to resemble these in this country in their general features, and from these are raised more than one half the entire lead products of Great Britain.

The production of these English mines is more than double that of all the lead mines of the United States, and this result has been brought about by deep mining. An English miner stated to Mr. Iloughton a few years ago, that his father, who was also a miner, well remembered the time when it was- believed in England that their lead mines were nearly worked out. Capitalists then took hold of the matter, invested prudently but boldly, sunk deep shafts, and made discoveries astonishing for their richness, and which are apparently inexhaustible.

The same process should be inaugurated here. That it would be successful in a high degree there is no doubt. The old mines will be taken up by and by, drained of their water, sunk to the depth of English mines, if necessary, and be worked as successfully.

Zinc And Zinc Mining

The. mineral wealth of the territory embraced within the limits of Jo Daviess County ia not developed as it must be in the future. The application of capital and labor in deep mining for lead will probably utilize immense deposits of lead now only supposed to exist. But the treasures hidden in these hills are not confined to lead. Zinc ore has been found more or less intermingled with galena in nearly all the lead diggings, and in some instances, at least, it is known that the mineral has rested upon inexhaustible deposits of zinc in the forms of sulphuret (blende, or black-jack), and carbonate of zinc (calamine, Smithsonite, or dry-bone). The sulphuret, or blende, underlies the lead in the Burrichter & Harris mine, and undoubtedly under all the Sand Prairie leads. The carbonate of zinc which frequently occurs in lead mines, is called " dry-bone," by the miners, probably from its fancied resemblance to old bones in color and appearance.

In March, 1854, the celebrated Marsden mine, was discovered by Stephen Marsden, about four miles south of Galena. The spring on the farm at the foot of the hill, in a ravine, had become choked up and for some distance around, it was boggy; the water was unfit for use, and the place was unhealthy. Mr. Marsden determined to drain it. In digging the drain he found " float " mineral, and when he reached the spring he struck a large mass, indicating a lead. For twelve hours the water ran off through the drain, perfectly black. He then followed the lead about 20 feet into the hill and discovered a cave 20 or 30 feet in diameter from which the water had been drained, and which accounted for its color. This cnve contained a large amount of mineral blende and pyrites, the cogs, or cubes of lead and formations of blende being coated in some instances to the thickness of half an inch with beautiful crystallized sulphuret of iron. From this anothe'r vein led to an immense deposit in circular form, in some places fifty yards wide, and from the inner edge of this circle it was found that the mineral u fell off," on an angle of about 45 degrees. From the cave to the " pitch " is a distance of about 75 yards. This mine has yielded probaably 8,000,000 pounds of mineral, and was worked from that until 1868. Large quantities of blende had been raised and thrown away as worthless, but about^this time it was found to be valuable. Mr. Marsden sold the first " black-jack " from this mine for $12 per ton. Since that time he worked it for blende principally, taking out immense quantities andjshipping it to La Salle.

In January, 1877, Mr. Marsden sold the mine to the Illinois Zinc Company of Peru, for $20,000, by'whom it is now extensively worked under the skillful superintendence of Mr. August Pein.

History Of Jo Daviess Cottnty

reached a depth of about 90 feet, and are still working downward on the inclined plane of about 45 degrees. The ore here is mixed with lead which must be separated from it before smelting, but the farther down they go the less lead is found. The ore is worth $16 per ton, and is shipped by railroad to the company's factory, in Peru, 111., to be smelted. It yields about 45 per cent pure zinc. Eighty men are constantly employed producing about 120 tons*of ore per week. Galena, black-jack, pyrites, spar, etc., arc found in wonderful combinations in this mine. Immense quantities of sulphuret of iron are raised and thrown away, as the blende was until within ten years. It is more than probable that this now worthless mineral will be utilized in the coming future and become valuable. The finest cabinet specimens of mineral, black-jack, pyrites and spar, and other strange and beautiful combinations, ever found in this country have been obtained from the Marsden mine.

Other zinc mines will undoubtedly be worked in this county in the not far distant future, and wonderful discoveries of mineral wealth in this region are yet to be made. .For a more extended and scientific account of the mineral treasures of Jo Daviess County, see the chapter on Physical Geography and Geology, which will be found very interesting.

Ancient Mounds

The history of Jo Daviess County would be incomplete without some mention of a subject which properly, perhaps, should have been mentioned first, and would have been, but for the fact that the first occupants of this region have left no records from which their history can be written, and there are no traces of their existence except the mysterious mounds they built containing the bones and some of their singular implements of war and household utensils to mark the spot where they once lived a numerous semi-savage people - the Mound Builders.

The high bluffs on both banks of the Mississippi, from its head waters to the low lands of Louisiana, are thickly dotted with these remarkable mounds, which are also found along many other water courses of the West. These mounds have largely attracted the attention of antiquarians, who have proposed many theories of tjieir origin, plausible enough, perhaps, but which thus far are only vague speculations, for there is no voice from these wonderful old sepulchres, the only traces now of the pre-historic age, except to tell that they were built by the race that occupied this country and became extinct many centuries ago.

On the top of the high bluffs that skirt the west bank of the Mississippi, about two and a half miles from Galena, are a number of these silent monuments of a pre-historic age. The spot is one of surpassing beaaty. Standing there, the tourist has a view of a portion of three states - Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. A hundred feet below him, at the foot of the perpendicular cliffs, the trains of the Illinois Central Railroad thunder around the curve; the Portage is in full view, ancfthe "Father of Waters," with its numerous bayous and islands stretches a grand panorama for miles above and below him. Here, probably thousands of years ago, a race of men now extinct, and unknown even in the traditions of the Indians who inhabited this region for centuries before the discovery of America by Columbus, built these strangely wonderful and enigmatical mounds. At this point these mounds are circular and conical in form. The largest one is at least forty feet in diameter at the base, and at least fifteen feet high now, after it has been beaten by the storms of many centuries. On its top stands the large stump of an oak tree that was cut down about fifty years ago, and its annular rings indicate a growth of at least 200 years. Whatever may have been the character of these mounds in other localities, these could not have been the dwelling places of their builders.

The mounds on the bluff have nearly all been opened "within the last two or three years by Louis A. Rowley, Esq., Mr. W. M. Snyder and Mr. John Dowling, assisted by Sidney Hunkins and Dr. W. S. Crawford. These gentlemen have taken much interest in these pro-historic structures, and have very carefully investigated them. In all that have been opened the excavators have found in the centre a pit that was evidently dug about two and a half feet below the original surface of the ground, about six feet long and four feet wide, in the form of a paralellogram. The bottom and sides of this pit are of hard clay. The bones found in this pit indicate a race of gigantic stature, buried in a sitting posture around the sides of the pit, with legs extending towrards the centre. In some cases the position of the bones indicate that they were placed back to back in the centre with their feet extending toward the walls of the pit. Over these bones are found layers of anhydrous earth of dark color, hard from pressure, but easily crumbles into fine powder. Above this is a strata of hard-baked clay or cement, on the top of which is found a layer of ashes mingled with burnt shells and bones, indicating that after the bodies were barely covered with dry earth, a layer of the clayey cement was spread over the earth and a fire kindled upon it perhaps in the performance of some rite - perhaps to harden the cement, or both. This done, a huge mound of earth was with infinite toil heaped above the pit thus filled and finished, and what is remarkable, the most of it was evidently brought from a distance, as it is unlike the surrounding soil, and there is no evidence of excavations in the vicinity.

It will be seen that thus hermetically sealed from air and moisture, the bones became indestructible and will be preserved until the world ends or they are exposed to the action of the elements. Kemovirg the superincumbent earth, penetrating the shell of baked clay and carefully removing the earth beneath, Mr. liowley and his associates invariably found several skeletons at the bottom of the pit before described, and in most cases, but not all, mingled with the bones, or lying beside them, were found various implements of stone. Axes, arrow and spear-heads made of a f-pecies of flint not found in this region; a singular and finely finished pear-shaped implement of stone, flat, four or five inches long and sharp at the edges, probably used for skinning animals; large pearls perforated to be strung; very finely wrought copper chisels and wedges; great numbers of the large teeth of some carnivorous animal supposed to be the bear, in some instances with a piece of the jaw attached and carved, and each pierced with holes like the pearls; ornaments made of copper mingled with silver, indicating that the metal came from the Superior region; copper implements somewhat resembling a bodkin, about the size and length of a lead pencil, pointed at one end and chisel-shaped at the other. Lastly, and most important as indicating some civilization and knowledge of arts, a piece of pottery, about twelve inches in height, urn-shaped, round on the bottom and ornamented. This was made of clay, but when broken the fracture shows in the centre a substance like pounded lead or silver and ground fliiit.

The skulls found are packed with earth. Some of them testify that the original owners were killed, as they are pierced with holes made with some blunt, sometimes sharp, instrument. Generally they have low, receding foreheads, are long from front to back, narrow across the top and indicate a preponderance of back brain; a patient, plodding people with some little intelligence, and a brain formation unlike the modern Indian.

It must be admitted that these mounds were built and the race who built them had vanished from the face of the earth long before the Indians occupied the land, but the date must probably forever baffle human ingenuity to diccover. There seems but little doubt that these are as old as the pyramids and indicate that in the days of "Cheops and Cephenes " the American continent, at least this part of it, was densely populated by a semi-civilized people, perhaps more civilized than these pre-historic relics indicate. At best, however, the origin of these mounds can be only a matter of speculation. Only the u Ancient of Days " can unravel the mystery.

In this connection it is to be stated that in several localities in this county, miners have found at a depth of 100 to 150 feet below the surface, the bones of animals now extinct. These have been found in Elizabeth, and have been pronounced by eminent savans to be the bones of the cave bear, and an animal of the buffalo or bovine species. The position of these bones says Hon. Henry Green, indicate that they were either carried into the caves, which in ages past abounded in this region, by the action of water, or that the animals fell into deep crevices and remained there, sometimes being washed into the caves. It is a problem whether since that period this entire region has been submerged beneath the waters of an ocean which deposited the superincumbent clay, filled the almost bottomless chasms, broke into and filled up many of the caves, covering the bones where they are now found. Some geologists do not coincide with this view, but it is the opinion of many intelligent men that since the mysterious mounds were built, this entire region has been for ages submerged, and was the bed of an ocean for ages before it was again thrown up to become the dwelling place of a great and prosperous people. However this may be, close observers, says Mr. Green, can not fail to recognize the action of water in connection with these fossil bones.

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