In addition to the returns received directly from the mines there are several minor points to be included in the total yield. A larger item than it is usually considered to be is the annual hoarding of rich specimens. This is not accounted for in the mine production as reported. While it is impossible to state the actual amount thus absorbed with any degree of precision, a careful estimate would place the value of the gold nuggets and ore annually added to the cabinets of collectors at not less than $150,000, and that of the silver ore at about $50,000. This, in view of the great number of mineral collections maintained throughout the mining territory, is certainly not an overestimate. There is also quite an extensive manufacture of gold quartz into jewelry and souvenirs, particularly in San Francisco. The value so absorbed probably does not fall short of $50,000 annually. In 1870 the United States mining commissioner estimated the amount of gold hoarded as specimens or worked up by local jewelers at $400,000. The same authority at that period estimated the annual loss of gold dust in handling as currency at $100,000; but as the practice of using dust for money has almost disappeared, the amount so lost is now very small. Another indefinite quantity is the value of precious metal lost in melting, in assay grains, etc. Summing up the estimates for these additional items, the following result is reached: TABLE LXIII.-PRECIOUS METALS-Production unaccounted for in the preceding Total Bullion product shown in preceding tables. tables. Estimated value of gold quartz made into jewelry and souvenirs.. Estimated loss in melting and assaying, assay grains, etc NON-PRECIOUS MINERALS. TABLE LXIV.-Condensed statement of mineral production of regular mining establishments of non-precious minerals for the United States, by substances: 1880. Total Bituminous coal Anthracite coal. Iron ore Copper ore... Lead and zinc.. 24 3 6,732, 592 2,896, 011 8,886, 295 1,391, 826 10 4, 182, 685 331, 970 a Anthracite irregular, 28,441 tons, valued at $56,938. The above table was compiled with a view to the comparison of the economic features of the industries in 1880 and 1870, and consequently it covers the production of the regular mining establishments only, excluding the "farmers' mines". From these last, 5,368 returns were received, aggregating 909,877 tons of iron ore and 916,569 tons of bitu minous coal. The statistics of the copper-mining industry, as given in the table, are restricted to the production of the country east of the 100th meridian. The copper mining in Arizona, California, etc., results not in the production of copper alone, but in that of "copper matte", a mixture of copper and other metals, which is sold in the East to be refined. The copper ore east of the 100th meridian is, however, valuable for the copper Value of all ma- Capital employed and invested. alone, with few exceptions. The amount of copper produced from both sources, as taken from the statistics of smelting establishments, is 54,172,017 pounds metallic copper, of which 9,041,884 pounds were refined in eastern works and 45,130,133 pounds smelted in western works (all lake Superior). The statistics of lead and zinc, which are given together, for the reason that in the northwestern districts-Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin-they are generally produced from the same mine, cover all the mining returns where either of these metals was the main product. The mining returns of the north western districts, where it was out of the question to gather the full statistics from the miners themselves, for various reasons, especially on account of the irregular and constantly shifting character of the local industry, have been increased to make them correspond to the amounts of lead and zinc ore which the smelters' returns showed were produced there during the census year. The total annual yield of these metals, taken from the statistics of the smelting establishments, is as follows: Smelted from ores LEAD. Pounds. 66,970, 838 Refined from base bullion, the principal value of which was silver 95, 967, 267 Total yield of metallic lead, census year 162,938, 105 ZINC. Metallic zinc or spelter..... Zinc oxide (produced in chemical works from ore, 20,213,631 pounds), equivalent to metallic zinc... Total yield of metallic zinc, census year.. RECAPITULATION. 46,477,999 16, 203, 460 62,681, 459 The grand total of the production of the non-precious minerals embraced in this report would therefore be, bringing together the regular industrial production, the irregular production, and the production as a by-product in precious-metal mining, as follows: Total value of all non-precious mineral product a Includes irregular product. b Includes the coal and lignite mined west of the 100th meridian. With this exception the product is from east of that line. from regular establishments from census of 1870 and 1880 in the United States. TABLE LXV.-NON-PRECIOUS MINERALS-Averages applicable to mineral products Kind of product. Kind of product. TABLE LXVI.-NON-PRECIOUS MINERALS-Percentage of gain per ton in mineral products in the United States since the census of 1870. a Decrease. In the two preceding tables the values of 1870 are, of course, reckoned in the currency of the period. As remarked before, the industries considered are the mining industries proper, which are limited to the work of extracting the mineral from the ground and such preparation or dressing on the spot as is necessary to fit it for transportation. When an industry is compound, embracing both mining and manufacturing, as, for instance, when a furnace company mines ore and reduces it to the state of pig iron, that part of the return which relates to manufacturing has been carefully eliminated. The "irregular production" by persons whose chief business was not mining does not enter into the totals in Table LXIV, and was probably not included in the returns of 1870, at least in the case of the bituminous coal industry, since it is made up of very small individual contributions. For the purposes of comparison, the irregular product of iron ore in 1880 is also excluded from Table LXV. In the volume on Industrial Statistics, census of 1870, the Superintendent remarks that the iron ore raised that year was understated by an amount corresponding closely to the "irregular product”. The copper, lead, and zinc statistics, as compiled from the census of 1870, correspond very closely in extent and scope to the statistics of those industries as given in Table LXIV for 1880. |