peninsula, confined chiefly to the Keweenaw peninsula, forty-three miles in length and with an average width of fifteen miles, and divided into the Keweenaw, Portage Lake and Ontonagon districts. In 1864 Keweenaw district, from its eighteen mines, shipped. Total..... Ib 25,480,818 42,921,691 17,220,500 Tb 85,610,999 of ore, producing about 6,850 tons of copper. The principal mines of the Keweenaw district are the Pittsburg and Boston, Northwestern and Medora; of the Portage Lake district, the Quincy, Franklin and Pewabic; of the Onto. nagon, the National, which produced in 1864, 705,981 pounds ore, with the labor of one hundred and seven miners, the estimated production of the full year from the mine being $100,000. Pittsburg was the pioneer in the Lake Superior copper mining enterprise. The second government permit was granted to the Pittsburg and Boston Mining Company in 1844, then known as the Cliff Mining Company. There are now nine Pittsburg companies in active operation, and much of the copper produced is refined in that city. The total number of companies is ninety-four, divided into 1,960,000 shares-the amount claimed to be paid in is $13,109,1 24, not including the original cost of mining, nor the sums derived from the sale of copper which have been expended in developing the mines. The aggregate dividend is claimed to be $5,600,000. The iron region is situated in the western and northern parts of the Dorthern peninsula. The iron occurs in a metamorphic formation, bounded by two granite belts-one on the north the other on the south. This formation consists of hornblend, talcose, and chlorite slates, with associated beds of hornblende and felspar rocks. The ore consists mainly of the specular or per-oxide of iron, with an admixture of the fine-grained magnetic. It often happens that a whole ridge or knob is one mass of pure ore. The ore is sometimes mixed with s ams of quartz or jasper. The first Michigan iron used was produced from bog ore in various parts of the State. The shipments of ore has been as follows: Or a total of 895,763 tons ore, equivalent to nearly 600,000 tons of iron. The total product last year was nearly 300,000 tons of ore. The indirect wealth produced by this great development of mining industry cannot be easily estimated, but we may instance Cleveland, which has arisen from it since 1855, in which there are already iron factories having an aggregate capital of $3,000,000, giving wages to the value of $1,080,000. The receipts there have been. Of Lake Superior iron..... From all other points... Total.. .106,439 4,857 ........111,296 Pittsburg manufactures, from this ore, her best varieties of iron and steel. Buffalo and Erie have added millions to their business by it. All the furnaces and rolling mills of the Mahoning Valley have sprung up since its discovery. The introduction of this pure and rich ore has increased the iron making busi ness west of the Alleghanies to an extent of which few are aware. Before introduction, in 1855, there were but ten blast furnaces in all the region which is now supplied with this ore. Of these three used charcoal and seven bituminous coal (smelting the native ores of Ohio and Pennsylvania), and the aggregate capacity was about twenty thousand tons of pig iron per annum. In the same territory are now fifty five blast furnaces, of which twelve are charcoal, thirty-nine bituminous, and four anthracite coal, with an aggregate capacity of about 216,000 tons of pig iron per annuin. Every one of these fifty-five furna. ces uses the Lake Superior ore, some but to a small extent, while thirty-two use it exclusively. It seems strange that Michigan herself is last to appreciate the importance of her vast iron interests. The immense extent of the district, the mountain masses of the ore, its purity and adaptation to the manufacture of the most valuable kinds of iron, and the immense forests suitable for charcoal render it by far the most extensive and valuable in the world for the manufacture of iron. Add to these prime facilities in abundance of capital and skilled labor, and channels of communication unrivaled, and we see no reason why the northern peninsula of Michigan should not become pre-eminently the iron district of the coun try. There is a great lack of furnaces in the Lake Superior region, as is evidenced by the enormous quantities of ore that are being shipped to ports down the lake, where the cost of smelting is greatly enhanced. Furnaces at the mines is the cheapest and best economy. Marquette is a natural iron city, and yet her furnaces are few. Detroit and Wyandotte lie near enough to become great manufacturing cities, aud yet the total capital invested in this business in the two cities does not exceed $2,500,000, and the annual manufactured product is not over $3,500,000. Pittsburg, to-day, manufactures more of the Lake Superior iron than the whole State of Michigan. It has been urged against extensive iron manufactures in the Lake Superior region, that the supplies of timber would soon be exhausted. A single furnace in these iron regions, with a capacity of twenty thousand tons, will consume five hundred acres of heavily timbered land every year, or thirty-seven thousand cords of wood. With this ra. tio of consumption, and hundreds of furnaces to feed, it would require but a few years before the supply of fuel would give out. But it has lately been dis covered that in all the area of the upper peninsula where the carboniferous limestone exists, there are indications of the existence of bituminous coal. The coal fields of the southern peninsula possess an area of 12,000 square miles. The Jackson and the Corunna mines are already at work. The total receipts at Detroit last year being 34,355 tons. The produce compares favorably with the best bituminous coal in this country and Europe, as will be seen by the annexed table: The Saginaw Salt, which five years ago was unheard of, produced in 1864 3,000 000 bushels valued at $1,250.000. The whole eastern part of the southern peninsula north of a line drawn from Monroe to Granville contains inexhaustible reservoirs of the strongest brine. Salt can be sent thence to New York at a less price than the same can be furnished from Onondaga or Syracuse. Last year the produce reached 529,073 barrels, the value at shipping port being only 25c per barrel. ARMY MORTALITY. WHEN President Lincoln, on the 15th day of April, 1861, called for 75,000 militia for three months' service, the army of the United States had the names of about 14,000 men on its rolls. During the ensuing four years, 2,688,523 men were enlisted for the following periods of time: The records of the office of the Provost-Marshal-General show from what State, county or town these men came, and what became of each one. These records tell us that of this large number of troops, 2,408,103 left the army alive. Some of them deserted, a few were dismissed before their term of service expired; a glorious band went home armless, legless, eyeless, through their patriotic endeavors to save their country from dismemberment. But the majority returned safe and sound to the place of enlistment, there to be mustered out for home. But 280,420 men, good, true and loyal, sealed their patriotism with their blood. Death met them in every shape. Over 40,000 died on the field of battle; 35,000 survived the shock of the conflict only to die of wounds, while 184,000 died of disease in tent or hospital, or by the way-side. To give the exact figures, 96,089 died of battle or of wounds, while 184,331 died of disease. This proves that the great mortality of war does not arise from the deadly bullet. It is the hardship of the campaign, the change of mode of life, the difference in climate, that rolls up the terrible record of dead. Two persons died of disease in this war for every one that fell from an enemy's weapon. Yet this percentage of disease is far less than that of other countries and other ages. In the Crimean war, seven-eighths of the mortality of the British troops during the entire campaign were due to disease, and one-eighth only to deaths from wounds received in action. In January, 1855, the month of the greatest mortality of that campaign, ninety-seven per cent of the entire mortality of the British troops resulted from disease. "At this rate," says Elliot, "to supply the loss occasioned merely by death, this army would need to be replaced by a new army of equal numbers once in about ten months." The following tables show the causes of mortality in our armies during the whole war, and the arms of service in which that mortality occurred: 38.903 46 Artillery.. 15,954 Infantry... 226,263 Total........ 280,420 GRAND 10TALS. Whole number of deaths in Reg. Army. 4,879 | Whole number of deaths in Cavalry. 280,420 Total...... From these tables it appears that 5,221 officers and 90,868 enlisted men were killed on the battle-fieid, or subsequently died of their wounds; while 2,321 officers and 182,010 enlisted men died of disease. So that about one officer was slain in battle for about every 18 men, while only one officer died for every 80 men in the hospital. This excess of loss of life among the officers in battle is partly due to the fact that in battle they are expected to lead their men on; and still more, it may be, that when sickness intervenes they have medicines, care, and nourishing food, that circumstances forbid to be given to the bulk of the army. The number of white troops enlisted was almost exactly 2,500,000 men; the number of deaths among thein, 251,122 or one death out of 10. The number of colored troops was 180,000, of whom 29.298 died, or about one out of six. The death rate of the colored troops was therefore nearly double that of the white, but the death rate from disease alone was far worse than this. Out of every eight deaths among the white troops, three died on the field of battle, and five from disease. Out of every nine deaths among the blacks, one died on the field of battle and eight from disease. The negro, as Slavery has left him, feeble of will and with but little moral stamina, is less capable than the white man of enduring the physical trials of the military services. The above tables show that the regular service is far safer, both on the battlefield and in the hospital, than the volunteer force. Out of the same number of troops of either force, seven volunteers would die to six regulars; the mortality among the former was nearly 15 per cent greater than among the latter. These army records give the precise number of men who died while in their country's service. It does not tell us of that great host who, dismissed at their own request for disability, went home to die. An examination of the pension records would partly supply this want; but the full number of those who gave heir lives to their country can never be known. GRAIN TRADE OF MINNESOTA. A slip from the office of the Winona Republican gives some statistics of the grain trade of that town, and of the new State of Minnesota, from which we compile the leading statements. The rapid growth of wheat culture in Minnesota is approximately indicated by the following figures: Acres in Bushels Proportion of tilled land in Wheat. 2,374,415 34.45 5,101,432 53.38 10,000,000 62.00 The grain statistics of Winona give the following result : Received by railroad and shipped from elevator.. Received otherwise than by railroad and shipped from warehouses.. To4al.. Barrels of flour shipped 8,406, which, reduced to wheat, gives in bushels. Grand total of wheat and flour exported..... Bushels. 6,656,000 845,116 2,501,116 42,030 2,543,146 The following table gives a comparative exhibit of the shipments of Wheat from this port for a series of years, commencing with 1859: Besides Winona, the principal exporting towns in the State are as follows: The following partial comparison will show the rapid increase of the Wheat trade of the State: 1859.. 1860... Bushels. ...... Bushels. 6,954,519 The wheat now in store in the several elevators on the line of the Winona and St. Peter Railroad is as follows: In store outside of elevators in the foregoing places, except Winona, (estimated).. Bushels. 20,000 15,000 185,000 50,000 125,000 565,00 Other river towns, (estimated)... Total in store.. 925,000 In addition to the Wheat in store, there is stilt a very large quantity in the hands of the producere, awaiting an advance in prices. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that there is a surplus of at least 2 500,000 bn-hels in the State, to be shipped next spring. Previous to 1858, the breadstuffs consumed in Minnesota were imported. TAXATION OF STOCKHOLDERS OF BANKS-ACT OF NEW YORK LEGISLATURE. The following is a certified copy of the act passed by the Legislature of New York on the 23d of April of this year: An Act authorizing the taxation of stockholders of Banks, and the surplus funds of Savings Banks. Passed April 23, 1866. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. No tax shall hereafter be assessed upon the capital of any bank or banking association organized under the authority of this State, or of the United States, but the stockholders in such banks and banking associations shall be assessed and taxed on the value of their shares |