70                 THE WISCONSIN FARMER.


        T H   E    MINE        R             from some cause seems to spread
and soften at
                                             the spot of this discovery.
We have heard it
J. MURKIsH        COKELESPONIDNG ZDITOR. described as an Amygdaloid belt
of the Epi-
          _ __ _ __=_       m                dote character. The agent of
this thus fortu-
            Wondrfu Coper iscver in he ortge nate mine, is prosecuting the
work of opening
 Wonderfol Copper Dlseoovss in the Porta~  the vein with diligence, employing
all the labor
               Lake District.                he can obtain. The general impression
among
  Some two weeks ago says the Lake Superior the oldest and ablest mining
men is that a vein
NVews and Journal of Oct. 31st, a huge mass of of extraordinary richness
has been struck.
float copper, weighing at least twenty tons, was which will add new interest
to this heretofore
discovered on the location of the Mesnard wonderful district.
mine, at Portage Lake.  In size it was some  Portage Lake is the general
name by which
sixteen feet long, four wide, and one and a half that section is known. The
Lake itself is an
thick, which is by far the l.argest wit mass inland body of water. cutting
the range near-
ever before fouind upon the l.aske. .9ucis being ly east and west but whose
general course is
its prodigious weight, it was patent that it southeast and northwest. Its
outlet is into the
came frout a vein near by, as it was impossible West side of Keweenaw Bay,
and has been
that any l:itnan agency known to exist in the made navigable for first-class
steamers. This
past, could' have moved it a gre:t diitance.  wever, has been secured by
dredging out
Beneath it, charcoal was found. and also stone the channel at its confluence
with the bay, and
hammers. indicating plainly that the ancient building piers on each side
to protect it from
miners, who-c history is unwritten. and of the action of the waves.  A number
of its
whom nothing is known, except as traces of shortest bends have also been
abandoned, and
their workings are thus found, hall either taken new channelscut, while others
have been great-
it from its original bed and placed it in fire, ly improved, which was easily
done, the shores
in order to burn the rock front it. or finding it of the outlet being marshy.
These improve-
in the spot where it was now discovered, placed ments have cost about $ in000
; but the parties
it in the fire for the same purpose. We find making them have organized themselves
into a
those who are of the opinion it was never put corporation, known as the ",
Portage River
in the place where it was found by human agen- Improvement Company,"
and levied a toll up-
cy, for the reason that a large amount of the on all articles passing either
way until they
float copper in suall masses, weighing from a shall have been reimbursed.
 This toll is a
half pound to fifty, are found scattered imme- small consideration to the
benefits conferred,
diately around it.  Already some two tons as steamers now pass in and out,
by day or
have been gathered, and whose existence in night, at pleasure.  *
proximity with the large mass, would indicate  This lake, with its outlet,
extends nearly
that water and ice may have been the agencies across the base of Keweenaw
Point-there be-
by which they were thus moved and scattered ing nportage of only two miles
between its
from their original resting place. The agency, northwestern extremity and
Lake Superior-
however, by which they were thus placed over one half of which distance is
tow, marshy land
the surface, it is not so important to know, as which can be easily opened,
while the remain-
their existence, and the more important fact to ing mile, through dry land,
is low-simply a
which they point, viz: that they must hare come sand beach covered with Norway
pine. There
from some vein near at hand. With this convic- is no question but that what
is now Portage
tion, simultaneously with the cutting up of the Lake was, at one time, simply
a vein of Lake
  huge mass, and the collecting of the smaller Superior, connecting its waters
on the west
  ones, the work of a most thorough exploration side of Keweenaw Point with
those of Kewee-
  was begun, in order to find the vein from which naw Bay, thus leaving the
point itself an is-
  they came. What was thus reasonably mani- land: nor have we any question
but that the
  fest, seems to have been accomplished, for the day is hastening when this
short portage winl
  work of a few days uncovered, about forty feet again be opened, and made
to contribute to the
  distant from the huge float a mass of still lar- security and dispatch
of commerce. It is es-
  ger dimensions in the vein itself. At last ac- timated that $100,000 judiciously
expended,
  counts, this new wonder had been stripped would so open it as to permit
the passage of
  some five feet in breadth for a length of twelve steamers and vessels.
 This would secure at
  feet, and three thick, with no indication of once the double advantage
of shortening the
  growing less at any point. It is opened suffi- distance from Portage Lake
ports, to those
  ciently to indicate that it will far exceed the above, nearly one hundred
miles, and affording
  float mass. The vein in which it is found has a good and secure harbor
on a dangerous coast
  been known for years.  It runs through the now without one; while every
west wind would
  Quincy, Pewabic, Franklin, Pontiac, Albany, cause a current of pure fresh
water to course
  and Boston, &c., and they all, in the value of through this passage,
the value of which to
  theiT stock, must at least feel the effect of this health cannot be estimated.
  development.                                   This channel from the outlet
of Portage Lake
     The vein is of the Epidote eharacter, but to where, if thus opened,
it would again con-