5. The upper and lower Silurian formations come next in order; they occupy a tract almost 200 miles in width, and extending from the Missouri river to the southern line of the State, and also crop out in the immediate bottom lands of the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri. The groups of the upper Silurian found here are Oriskany sandstone, lower Helderberg or Delthyris shale, Niagara group, and Cape Girardeau limestone. Of the lower Silurian formation there are three groups belonging to the Trenton period, viz.: The Cincinnati, Galena and Trenton groups, composed mainly of shales and limestones; and three groups of the magnesian limestone series, consisting of magnesian limestones, saccharoidal and other sandstones, and Pots. dam limestones, sandstones and conglomerates.

6. Below these, around the head waters of the affluents of the St. Francis and White rivers, there are frequent outcrops of eozoic or archaic rocks-greenstone, porphyry and granite. Much of the limestone of the coal measures, as well as some of the other formations, is cavernous, and there are numerous caves of great extent and beauty in the central and western portions of the State.

Missouri has a great variety of minerals, and in those of greatest economic value is hardly surpassed by any State or Territory of "Our Western Empire." Gold has thus far been discovered only in the drift in Northern Missouri in placers overlying the coal measures, and therefore without hope of veins or lodes; these placers are, as they are situated, too lean for profitable working, yielding only from thirteen cents to $2.51 per ton. Silver has been diligently sought in the lead ores which abound in the State, but they are not, to any profitable extent, silverbearing. In August, 1879, argentiferous galena was discovered in the eozoic rocks in Madison county, one of the eastern counties of the State, about twelve miles east of Ironton, and perhaps fifteen miles southeast of Pilot Knob. What is the value of these lodes is not stated, but they are sufficiently rich to have drawn about twenty companies there, who are now at work, and are very sanguine that these lodes also contain gold and platinum. The first attempts to reduce the ores were made by the wet amalgamation process, and not by smelting.

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But if the precious metals (so called) have not hitherto yielded much wealth to Missouri, her mines of lead, copper, zinc, and, above all, of coal and iron, have made ample amends for any lack of the others. Iron is found in some form in every county in the State-bog ores in Southeastern Missouri; limonite, or brown hæmatite, in most of the southern counties: goethite, a variety of the brown hæmatite in Adair county; red hæmatite throughout the coal measures; red and yellow ochres in many counties; spathic ores in the coal measures and in Phelps county; the specular oxide, in vast masses, such as the Iron mountain, Shepherd mountain, Pilot Knob, Simmon mountain, Iron ridge, the Meramec mines, in Phelps county, and numerous other deposits in eight or ten other counties; sulphurets (iron pyrites) throughout the coal measures, and sulphate of iron (copperas) in the coal measures and abandoned coal mines. Some States and Territories have perhaps an equal abundance of iron ores, but lack smelting coals to reduce them; but Missouri has an abundance of excellent smelting coals and fluxes in close proximity to her beds of iron ores.

After iron, lead is the metal most largely produced in Missouri, her product of that metal being greater than that of all the rest of the United States. Our latest complete statistics of the lead produced in the State are for 1879, when the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange reported a production of 56,868,960 pounds. This was a very decided falling off from the product of 1878, which was 60,348,560 pounds, and still more from that of 1877, which was 63,202,240 pounds. About one-third of the whole was exported. The consumption as well as the production of lead has largely increased within the past five years, and while Colorado, Montana, Utah, Nevada and California are sending into market large amounts of lead parted from silver, and New Mexico and Arizona are preparing to do the same, the production in Missouri, Iowa and Kansas has also increased and kept pace with them. There are two great lead fields-one in Southeastern and the other in Southwestern Missouri. It is also found in smaller quantities in many counties outside of these lead fields; galena, or sulphuret of lead, and cerussite, or the carbon

ate, are the principal ores, though some deposits of the phosphate (pyromorphite) are found. Zinc in the form of blende is abundant in the same regions as the lead-in Southeastern and Southwestern Missouri, and the silicates and carbonates, also, while zinc bloom sometimes occurs. The production of zinc in Missouri is about one-third of that in the entire United States, and is exceeded only by that of Illinois. Copper in the form of blue and green carbonates (malachite) and sulphurets, is found in large quantities in Shannon, Crawford, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison counties, and in smaller quantities in a dozen other counties. For many years copper mining was successfully carried on in the State, and even now small quantities are produced; but the yield of copper in the ores ranges only from twenty-two to twenty-six per cent., and the Lake Superior ores are so much richer, and their mines contain so much native copper as to render the business generally unprofitable. The sulphate of cadmium (greenockite) is associated with the zinc blende in many of the mines. Nickel and cobalt are found in paying quantities at Mine La Motte, in Madison county, and in the St. Joseph mines, and the beautiful hair-like crystals of sulphuret of nickel (Millerite) in the vicinity of St. Louis. Wolfram occurs in Madison county, and manganese and manganiferous iron in Iron and other counties.

Of minerals, not ores, there is a great variety; carbonate of lime (calcite), arragonite, pearl spar, fluor spar, quartz in all forms; heavy spar (sulphate of baryta), mainly used in the adulteration of white lead; gypsum, mainly in the form of selenite; pickeringite, feldspar, mica, hornblende, asbestos, bitumen or mineral tar (throughout the coal measures), fire-clay, potter's clay and kaolin; an excellent glass sand from the saccharoidal limestone; lime of several qualities; hydraulic lime and cement; polishing stone, saltpetre, building stones of granite, sandstones, limestones and marbles, grindstones, millstones, slates, and numerous fine varieties of colored marbles are the principal of these. But of all the minerals not metallic, coal is the most important in Missouri. The coal fields underlie an area of about 26,000 square miles in the State. The coal includes deposits belonging to the upper, middle and lower coal measures, and is of various quali

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ties, some being common bituminous, some very rich in carbon, and developing excellent results under the coking process, while some will not coke; some is equal in quality to the Liverpool cannel coal. The percentage of fixed carbon varies from thirty to sixty per cent., the average being not far from fifty per cent. Among the coal beds already worked are many which produce excellent smelting coals, though perhaps a larger number yield a coal better adapted to the use of locomotives and stationary engines. The coal mines are usually easily worked, and do not require deep shafts or expensive machinery, and coal is very cheap. There are many mineral springs in the State, sulphurous, saline and chalybeate, but none of national reputation. There are also brine springs in Howard county, which yield from two to three ounces of very pure salt to the gallon.

Zoology. Having extensive forests, Missouri has an abundance of wild animals. They are mostly those of the Mississippi valley and of the plains. Bears (the black and cinnamon), cougars or panthers, wild cats, lynxes, wolves, both the gray wolf and the coyote, foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, beavers, martens, minks, muskrats, gophers, woodchucks, and nearly all the rodents and burrowing animals. The buffalo and the elk have disappeared from Missouri, though they were formerly abundant there; but there are two species of deer, antelopes (rare), rabbits and hares. Wild turkeys, quails, pigeons, partridges, prairie hens (though these are not as numerous as formerly), and other grouse exist in great abundance. The birds of prey, eagles, vultures, hawks, owls, etc., destroy great numbers of game birds and rodents; wild geese, ducks, brant, teal and snipe are found in their season on the rivers and in the marshes, and with them herons, swans, divers, and more rarely ibises. Snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, turtles, etc., are numerous.

Climate. The climate of Missouri is generally healthy, except in the river bottoms and the marshy districts of the southeast; but it is a climate of frequent changes and of great extremes. The months of July and August are marked by extreme heat, and there are periods of equally intense cold in January and February. The autumn and spring are very mild and pleasant, though with occasional days of intense cold or heat.