server, it would be easy to believe that the miner is a "gentleman of color." The aspect of the workman is due to his occupation; as Shakspere says, that "the dyer's hand is subdued to the color in which he works." This mine is made up of many galleries or drifts, and away at the extremity of each there is a man at work, following his lode of metal through the earth, blasting the rock sometimes to procure it, and then removing the fragments with his pick, until he has enough debris to load a tub for the windlass man on the surface. Each "drift contains its man, but men don't always find the mineral for which they are searching. Mining becomes almost as alluring a pursuit as the gaming table itself. The poor fellows sometimes follow the ignis fatuus luck down there out of the sunlight, month after month, without procuring lead enough to pay for sharpening the pick, and still the idea is powerful as ever that a lode will be found presently that will pay for all this labor. The miner does not call his vein a "lode"; his term is "lead," and very naturally so, because he is led by it as far as the vein traverses the rock until he reaches the confines of his claim. His drive is from four to six feet high, and from three to four feet wide, without apparently any timber sup ports to prevent the superincumbent earth "caving in," and burying the human mole at his work. This man has found lead long, long ago, and he kindly allows you to see him at his work, striking, lifting, driving, forcing in every way that seems most likely to effect his purpose, to dislodge the mineral from the crevice of rock, into which it is wedged and fastened, as metal runs into a mould. The colors which flash from the treasure as it stands. there waiting to be won are sometimes brilliant as diamonds and opals, as the candle reflects its light on a hundred glancing facets, and you wish there were some richer results than lead to reward the patient labor of these sons of toil; but when they win lead enough to keep their families in comfort they are content. Gold in the earth does not look always as brilliant as the mass of lead now before us, and the returns of the gold miner are not nearly so steady as the more moderate earnings of the lead miner at Galena The one mineral gives a profit to its workers, and to the nation; the other is an absolute loss to the community. Mine lead, and you will find, after the wages fund of the whole enterprise and all

of its expenses have been paid, there is a margin of gain to be divided among the promoters. Mine gold, and although some few will strike "pockets," and "jewelers' shops," the great majority of hard working and hard faring men will not earn wages, nay, worse than that, they do not get, in thousands of cases, enough to pay for their stores. The gold "finds" in California and in Australia have only sold at the best for about $20 per ounce, and when the number of men working in the mines has been charged against the whole result, at wages which would readily be earned by easier work in their several trades and callings, it is found that the cost of the precious metal which will sell at $20 is a little more than $26.25. Perhaps when gold mining comes to be followed out more systematically by skilled workmen, with the aids of machinery, and under the supervision of able metallurgists, as is growing to be every day more and more the case in our quartz mines, there will be better results in that industry also. Certainly gold has been mined in the most reckless way that can be imagined, and the waste of labor and capital in the process has been no more than might be expected in any pursuit in which persons, without special culture, would undertake to direct "enterprises of great pith and moment," in which fortunes could be expended in a year. When Galena was first made a settlement there were no white neighbors within a journey of about three hundred miles. Dubuque was mined much more extensively than any other locality in the northwest for this mineral, and the Frenchman who gave his name to that region began his operations in the last century, when Spain still claimed sovereignty over the tract of territory under which he and his workmen pursued their toilful avocation.

A visitor, who has given special attention to the mines at Galena says, concerning the indications of metal, which are sought with so much solicitude by the miner: "Veins of mineral in the same vicinity run in the general direction. Those in the vicinity. of Galena run east and west. The crevice which contains the mineral is usually perpendicular, and from one to twenty feet in width, extending from the first solid rock above the mineral to uncertain depths, filled with large, loose rocks, and a peculiar red dirt, in which are imbedded masses of mineral. These masses are

made up of cubes, like those formed by crystallization, and many of them are as geometrically correct as they could be made with compass and square. Before the mineral is broken, it is of the dull blue color of lead; when broken, it glistens like silver. Sometimes caves are broken into, whose roofs are frosted over with calcareous spar, as pure and white as the frost upon the window pane, and from dark crevices in the floor comes up the gurgling of streams that never saw the sun. The life of a miner is dark and lonesome. His drift is narrow, and will not admit of two abreast; therefore, there is but little conversation, and no jokes are bandied about from mouth to mouth. The alternations of hope and disappointment give a subdued expression to his countenance. There are no certain indications by which the miner can determine the existence of a vein of mineral without sinking a shaft. Several methods are resorted to, such as the linear arrangement of any number of trees a little larger than the generality of their neighbors, which is considered an indication of an opening underground corresponding to their arrangement. Depressions in the general surface are also favorable signs, and there are yet some believers in the mystic power of witch-hazel and the divining-rod. In the largest number of cases, little attention is paid to signs other than to have continuous groundthat is, to dig on the skirts of a ridge that is of good width on top, so that any vein that might be discovered would not run out too quickly on the other side of the ridge. On such ground the method of search is by suckering, as it is called. The miner digs a dozen or more holes, about six feet deep, and within a stone's throw of each other, and in some one of these he is likely to find a few pieces of mineral, the dip of certain strata of clay then indicates the direction in which he is to continue the search, in which, if he is so successful as to strike a lode, his fortune is made."

LANSING. The earlier and more eventful days of the state of Michigan were not identified with the city in which the capitol now stands, and we shall, therefore, turn aside from the usual course before describing Lansing, to say a few words of the state and its early history, which otherwise might escape our recording pen. The Jesuits were the earliest settlers in Michigan, some French missionaries having established themselves in the country as early as 1630. Thirty years later they extended their labors from Lake Huron to Lake Superior, and other missions were successively established in 1668, and in 1671, the latter being the special labor of Father Marquette, whose name is identified with Chicago and the earliest navigation of the Mississippi. The Hurons who were converted by the Jesuits were destroyed in subsequent assaults by the Iroquois; and the Indians generally have preserved but little of the religious spirit which their teachers strove to enforce. Trading posts were established in commanding situations, and gar: risons of French soldiers were concentrated on points which were likely to be most effective in preventing disorder or massacre. The nearness of Detroit to the French possessions in Canada, led to a colony being formed there in 1701; but the beauty of the position and its fitness as a commercial basis could not sustain the community against the enmity of the Iroquois and their allies. In spite of a fort and garrison, the colony languished. Pontiac sought to expel all the white settlers from Michigan after the conquest of Canada by the British, and the scheme came very near being successful. The organization of the territory of Michigan was effected in the year 1805, and Detroit was then the seat of justice; but many vicissitudes were endured during the war of 1812, and the population of the territory was so scanty in the

year 1820, that Michigan and Wisconsin, then united in one government, had less than nine thousand souls collectively. Twelve years later, Michigan became the center of attraction for thousands of families which were anxious to discover locations adapted to settlement, as the steamboats on the lakes had opened new views of life, and entirely new possibilities for the population, in the state which enjoyed such exceptional navigation of vast inland There was an increase of inhabitants steadily progressing, until in 1834, there were ninety thousand persons in the territory, including the Wisconsin district, and in the year 1837, Michigan was admitted to the union. The war record shows that during the great rebellion, Michigan sent more than ninety thousand men into the field to uphold the government and the great principle which was imperilled and vindicated by that struggle.

seas.

Lansing is the capital of the state of Michigan, having been formally constituted the seat of government in the year 1850, prior to which time that honor and advantage had been enjoyed by the city of Detroit. Lansing is a city, and is situated on the banks of the Grand river, at the point where that stream joins the Cedar river, in Ingham county, one hundred and ten miles northwest of Detroit. The original plans of the city have not been carried out, but enough has been effected in that direction to show that Lansing will become the home of a great and enterprising community, as its development proceeds. The streets are very broad, and they intersect each other at right angles, the breadth being availed of to plant rows of shade trees which have an excellent effect upon the appearance of the city, which otherwise might seem much too scattered; an outline drawing instead of a state capital. The railroad communications of Lansing are excellent. The Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad here forms a junction with the Peninsular road, and the Lansing Division of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. There is a large manufacturing interest here, and the water powers afforded by the two rivers are largely used by several mills. There are flouring mills, saw mills, chair factories, a woolen mill, and sash and blind factories, which employ a number of hands, and the commerce of the city is considerable. It is claimed by many of the foremost residents in Michigan, that the Massachusetts of the