on, by
two men named Doyle and Hanley. It is stated to have been twenty-two
feet wide by one hundred feet in length, and weighed many tons. It was
of the kind of formation called sheet mineral, which occupies what
appears to have once been an open fissure.

The face of the country is exceedingly beautiful, the soil fertile, and
bearing oaks and shagbark hickory. Grass and flowers cover the prairies
as far as the eye can reach. The hills are moderately elevated, and the
roads excellent, except for short distances where streams are crossed.
We passed the night at Willow Springs, where we were well accommodated
by Mr. Ray.

On the 18th it rained in the morning. We stopped at Rocky Branch
Diggings, and I obtained here some interesting specimens. We also
stopped at Bracken's Furnace, where I procured some organic remains. I
examined Vanmater's lead; it runs east and west nearly nine miles. There
was so much certainty in tracing the course of this lead, that it was
sought out with a compass. The top strata are thirty-six to forty
feet--then the mineral clay and galena occur.

While examining some large specimens which had been thrown out of an old
pit forty feet deep, whose edges were concealed by bushes, I had nearly
fallen in backwards, by which I should have been inevitably killed. The
fate that I escaped fell to the lot of Bennet's dog. The poor fellow
jumped over the cluster of bushes without seeing the pit beyond. By
looking down we could see that he was still living. Mr. Vanmater
promised to erect a windlass over the pit and get him out before Mr.
Bennet returned.

We reached Mineral Point about eleven o'clock. I immediately called on
Mr. Ansley, to whom I had a letter, and went with him to visit his
copper ore discovery. On the way he lost his mule, and, after some
exertions to catch the animal, being under the effects of a fever and
ague, he went back. A Mr. Black went with me to the diggings. Green and
blue carbonates of copper were found in rolled lumps in the clay soil,
much like that kind of lead ore which is called, from its abraded form,
gravel ore. Taking specimens of each kind of ore, I went back to the
town to dinner, and then drove on two or three miles to General
Dodge's. The General received me with great urbanity. I was introduced
to his son Augustus, a young gentleman of striking and agreeable
manners. Mrs. Dodge had prepared in a few moments a cup of coffee, which
formed a very acceptable appendag