the town of
Errol, New Hampshire, to tax certain logs on their way to points in
Maine, while they lay in the river before the town or along its shore
awaiting the spring freshets and consequent rise of the river. As to the
logs in the river, which had come from Maine on their way to Lewiston in
the same State, but had been detained at Errol by low water, the Supreme
Court of New Hampshire itself ruled that the local tax did not apply,
the logs being still in transit. As to the logs which had been cut in
New Hampshire and lay on the shore or in tributaries of the river, both
courts were again in agreement that they were still subject to local
taxation, notwithstanding the intention of their owners to send them out
of the State. Said Justice Bradley: "* * * goods do not cease to be part
of the general mass of property in the State, subject, as such, to its
jurisdiction, and to taxation in the usual way, until they have been
shipped, or entered with a common carrier for transportation to another
State, or have been started upon such transportation in a continuous
route or journey."[541]

STATE TAXATION OF MANUFACTURING AND MINING

Under the above rule, obviously, production is not interstate commerce
even though the thing produced is intended for the interstate market.
Thus a Pennsylvania _ad valorem_ tax on anthracite coal when prepared
and ready for shipment was held not to be an interference with
interstate commerce although applied to coal destined for a market in
other States;[542] and in Oliver Iron Company _v._ Lord[543] an
occupation tax on the mining of iron ore was upheld, although
substantially all of the ore was immediately and continuously loaded on
cars and shipped into other States. Said the Court: "Mining is not
interstate commerce, but, * * * subject to local regulation and
taxation. Its character in this regard is intrinsic, is not affected by
the intended use or disposal of the product, is not controlled by
contractual engagements, and persists even though the business be
conducted in close connection with interstate commerce."[544] Likewise
an annual privilege tax on the business of producing natural gas in the
State, computed on the value of the gas produced "as shown by the gross
proceeds derived from the sale thereof by the producer," was held
constitutional even though most of the gas passed into interstate
commerce in continuous movement from the wells.[545] And in Utah Power
and Light Co. _v._