No Effort Has Been
Made In Any Of These Mines To Subdue The Water, Nor Has Steam Been
Applied To The Working Of Them.
The lodes have been so rich with
lead that the speculators have been content to take out the metal
that was easily reached, and to go off in search of fresh ground
when disturbed by water.
"And are wages here paid pretty
punctually?" I asked. "Well, a man has to be smart, you know."
And then my friend went on to acknowledge that it would be better
for the country if smartness were not so essential.
Iowa has a population of 674,000 souls, and in October, 1861, had
already mustered eighteen regiments of one thousand men each. Such
a population would give probably 170,000 men capable of bearing
arms, and therefore the number of soldiers sent had already
amounted to more than a decimation of the available strength of the
State. When we were at Dubuque, nothing was talked of but the
army. It seemed that mines, coal-pits, and corn-fields were all of
no account in comparison with the war. How many regiments could be
squeezed out of the State, was the one question which filled all
minds; and the general desire was that such regiments should be
sent to the Western army, to swell the triumph which was still
expected for General Fremont, and to assist in sweeping slavery out
into the Gulf of Mexico. The patriotism of the West has been quite
as keen as that of the North, and has produced results as
memorable; but it has sprung from a different source, and been
conducted and animated by a different sentiment.
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