Thus we find veins and deposits of silver ore scattered throughout almost the entire length of America; and no doubt many an unknown Potosi still lies concealed in the lonely ravines or on the bleak sides of the Andes, awaiting but some fortunate discoverer to astonish the world with its treasures.
CHAPTER XXVI.
COPPER.
Its valuable Qualities—English Copper Mines—Their comparatively recent Importance—Dreary Aspect of the Cornwall Copper Country—Botallack—Submarine Copper Mines—A Blind Miner—Swansea—Smelting Process—The Mines of Fahlun—Their Ancient Records—Alten Fjord—Drontheim—The Mines of Rivaas—The Mines of Mansfeldt—Lake Superior—Mysterious Discoveries—Burra Burra—Remarkable Instances of Good Fortune in Copper Mining.
Copper derives its name from the island of Cyprus, where it was extensively mined and smelted by the Greeks; but its first discovery is of much more ancient date, and loses itself in the darkness of the prehistoric ages. Weapons and tools of bronze—its alloy with tin—have been found both in the tumuli of extinct nations and in the lacustrine dwellings of the Swiss lakes, erected by an unknown people in unknown times. Among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and Etrurians, copper was in immemorial use, and the ancient Celtic nations fought their battles with copper or brazen swords, and felled the trees for the construction of their rude hovels with axes of the same metal.
As in many parts of the world native copper is found scattered over the surface of the earth in large lumps or masses, it naturally attracted the attention of barbarous tribes much sooner than iron, which very rarely occurs in the native state; and some fortunate chance or lucky experiment having shown that, when rendered malleable by heat, it could easily be hammered into any convenient shape, it soon became, and has ever since remained, one of the most valuable metals. Forming important compounds with tin (bronze) and zinc (brass), remarkably incorrodible as compared with iron, and nearly as tenacious in structure, but not so hard, it is recommended by its qualities for a variety of uses, and its consumption everywhere increases with the progress of civilization and the extension of commerce. Fortunately copper is of such common occurrence that a mere enumeration of the localities where it is found would swell into a long and tedious list; it is enough to state that rich copper mines exist both in the Old World and the New, and promise an inexhaustible supply to the most distant generations.
In Europe England is the chief copper-producing country. Rich mines have been discovered and worked in Anglesey, Shropshire, Cheshire, and Staffordshire, in the counties of Wicklow, Cork, and Waterford; but by far the largest quantity is supplied by Cornwall and Devon.
‘The history of Cornish copper,’ says Mr. Warner, ‘is as a mushroom of last night compared with that of tin. Lying deep below the surface of the earth, it would be concealed from the inquiries of human industry till such time as natural philosophy had made considerable progress, and the mechanical arts had reached their present state of perfection; for notwithstanding tin in Cornwall seldom runs deeper than fifty fathoms below the surface, good copper is seldom found at a less depth than that. Accordingly we do not find that any regular researches were made for copper ores in Cornwall till the latter end of the fifteenth century, when a few adventurers worked in an imperfect manner some insignificant mines. Half a century afterwards, in the reign of Elizabeth, though the product of the mines would naturally be greater than before, yet little advantage seems to have been derived to the country at large from the working of its copper. Writers hint at the mystery made of its uses by the merchants. In the next reign, however, all mystery was dispersed, the mines were inspected, their value determined, and a system was introduced of working them to greater advantage.’
Yet so wretched was the knowledge of mineralogy before 1712 that the yellow copper ore, at present so highly valued, was considered of no importance and cast aside as worthless rubbish. Since the reign of George I. there has been so much improvement that, next to iron and coal, copper is now the most important of our mineral products.
The chief Cornish copper mines are situated in the districts of Camborne, Redruth, and Gwennap, which are about the dreariest of all British wildernesses. Few trees are to be seen, few fields; furze and wild berries form the chief vegetation of the niggard soil. Blocks upon blocks of stone are scattered over these desolate moorlands, that have been excavated, dug into hillocks, disturbed and turned over and over again, sometimes by the primeval stream-works of the old men or ancient miners, sometimes by more modern labour in search of metallic wealth. Off the roads these districts are utterly impervious on wheels or on horseback, and the traveller can only walk, or rather flounder, over them by jumping from patch to patch of firmer land. Yet this scene of apparent poverty is in reality one of the very richest portions of the kingdom, and conceals more wealth beneath its sterile surface than has ever been produced by a similar extent of the fairest fields and pastures.
