Copper was used for money at a very early period. Some coins are in existence supposed to be twenty-five hundred years old. They contain from sixty to seventy-five per cent. of copper, and the residue is made up of tin, lead, and zinc.
EXTENT OF COPPER MINES.
The mines which supply the copper of commerce are situated in almost all parts of the world. Many of them are worked by English companies, and made tributary to the great smelting establishments at Swansea, in Wales. It is easier to carry ores to the localities where coal is mined, than it is to carry the coal to the copper mines. The great value of many copper ores admits of their transportation from the interior of countries to the sea-coast, and their shipment thence by sea to the place where they can be reduced with the greatest economy.
In America there are many smelting works on various parts of the coast, and at some interior points, but none of them are as extensive as the English ones.
Many copper mines are worked on the Andes, particularly in Chili and Peru. Central America and Mexico contain many mines, some of them of great value. Copper deposits are scattered throughout the United States, all the way from New England to California, though comparatively few of them are valuable. There are copper mines of great value and world-wide celebrity in Cornwall, England. Other parts of the British Isles produce this metal. There are valuable copper mines in Germany, Sweden, and Norway, and the mines of the Ural Mountains of Russia are among the richest on the globe. In 1830 the copper production of Great Britain was more than half the entire copper production of the world. Copper mining in other parts of the world was not extensively prosecuted; but subsequently the industry increased so rapidly that twenty-five years later the amount of copper produced in Great Britain, though not less in quantity, was only one fourth of that of the entire globe.
Occasionally circumstances give a great impetus to copper mining. For instance, in 1866, the war between Chili and Spain cut off the copper supply from the former country, and gave a great impetus to copper mining elsewhere. In California several copper mines were opened, and were making an enormous profit for their owners, when suddenly the war between Spain and Chili came to an end, the Chilian mines were opened again, and the copper mines of California diminished greatly in value.
Copper is found in various forms; sometimes in sulphurets or oxides, and crystallized in various ways. In some parts of the world it is found in a pure state.
A HOLE IN THE GROUND.
Copper mines are very much like other mines, and do not require a special description. They may be tersely set down as holes in the ground; and one hole in the ground, so far as light and darkness go, is very much like another. I remember that on one occasion, while travelling in a distant part of the world, I endeavored to urge a friend to accompany me to visit a curious cave. He shook his head doubtfully, and said, “O, it’s nothing but a hole in the ground; what’s the use of going there?” A few days later, I had arranged an excursion into a silver mine, and urged him to join me. He declined, with the remark, “What’s the use of going into it? it’s nothing but a hole in the ground.” Again, when a mining excursion was in progress, he declined to be of the party because the place was in a hole in the ground, and he did not wish to get beneath the surface of the earth until he was dead.