12    UNITED STATES.

The American forests were the wonder of the early discoverers. Such a stately growth
had been reached by the noble oaks, chestnuts, magnolias, cotton-trees, elms, maples, and,
above all, the tall, straight pines, as rendered calculation almost wild in its anticipations of
profit. What in the old countries had been the result of careful cultivation appeared here in
all the unbounded luxuriance of nature, rendering the scenery picturesque often, and beautiful
in the extreme, although more generally overburdened, tangled, and obstructed, and demand-
ing the judicious hand of skill and taste. Much remains, in some parts of the country, in its
original state still; although the rapid diminution effected by steaming excites not unfrequently
an anxious fear, that our posterity may, if systematic attentions do not prevent, inherit a
denuded patrimony, abandoned, like many portions of the “ Old World," to sterility.

But here a provision meets us which seems to reassure our hope. The vast coal-beds which
are wrought now to so great an extent and profit in Pennsylvania, and in several other states,
“ cropping out " along the navigable rivers of the west, will yield fuel, either in the bituminous
form, or in the hard anthracite, which, it may be hoped, will prove a preservative of much
forest scenery and highway shade. The substitution of coals for wood is rapidly advancing.

With respect to mineral wealth, it had been supposed until recently that little of the more
precious metals would be found within the regions assigned to these states. But a sudden
Durst of what is almost universally regarded as good fortune surprises us in the acquisition
of California. Its treasures of gold have surpassed all previous calculation, although not
every hunter of it has been gratified with success. Millions have been gained, and will be
brought into circulation, notwithstanding sickness, vice, and misery have often been coparceners
in the enterprise. A new empire is founded, also, notwithstanding an almost incalculable
expenditure of human life has been sustained to effect it. And we may hope, that, by the
overruling hand which “ educes good from partial evil," benefits to the human family will
eventually be realized, though many individuals be sacrificed and lost.

Lead and copper had long been mined to much advantage before this unexpected discovery.
And their abundance was a subject of gratulation, previous to the working of the copious
supply of copper near Lake Superior, and of lead at Galena. Silver has been of rather rare
occurrence, although gold has been obtained among the Alleghany ranges, and east of them;
and the indefatigable exertions of Dr. C. T. Jackson have even discovered tin. Iron, pro-
verbially the most useful of all the metals, abounds almost every where.

While dwelling on these treasures of the earth, it should not be forgotten that great
progress has been made in turning to profit many of the rocks which in some parts of the
country are abundant, but of which other parts are destitute. Thus New Hampshire and
Massachusetts send their granite to Georgia and Louisiana. The abundance of limestone in
the north compensates the want elsewhere ; and while in Florida, and Georgia, and Alabama,
the live-oak has been felled, by dwellers of Maine, to furnish timber for their ship-yards, the
mortar made of the lime from Thomaston has been cementing the buildings of the south —
the abundance of one furnishing the other a needed supply, and that alternately and mutually.

Beautiful marbles also have been wrought in quarries of different kinds, from the famous
verd antique to the rival of the Parian for whiteness and uniformity of texture, giving to
statuaries and architects the materials from which the most splendid trophies of art may be
elicited. To this may be added the red sandstone of Connecticut, the appearance of which,
in various buildings, has been greeted with much favor. Before the introduction of the
“ Quincy granite," this material was the most commonly wrought stone of the market. Slate
is also obtainable, and begins to be employed, and may soon equal the productions of ancient
Wales, which, however, are still imported largely.

Of native animals but little is said at the present day, except in respect of the frontier
settlements, and the employments of professed hunters who frequent the forests. Immense
wealth has in time past been amassed from the furs, for which several species are sought
and killed. Indians complain of the diminution of buffaloes, which heretofore had formed no
small portion of their dependence; and it is unquestionable that the once abundant supply
has been wasted in very many instances, in which their hides only have been the objects of

A Gazetteer of the United States of America by John Hayward.

Hartford, CT: Case, Tiffany and Company. 1853. Public domain