I am unable to say, with any degree of exactness, what is the amount of the aggregate output of the Canadian mines; but I saw it stated in a local paper that, in 1885, it was under 1,500 tons, and that in 1886 it had reached 2,000 tons, giving an increase of over 500 tons for the year. This is quite sufficient to show the rapid strides the business is making, and is probably near about correct, judging by the rate of progression in the imports to the States, for instance. The value of manufactured asbestos imported into the United States from Canada, in 1880, is given in the Government Returns as under 10,000 dollars. In 1884 it had risen to 48,755 dollars, and it has been increasing yearly ever since. That the demand is rapidly increasing is unquestionable, not only for the present articles of manufacture, but for the new purposes to which it is being daily applied. More capital will, doubtless, soon be put in, and then new lines, which almost indicate themselves, will prepare the way for continued success. As regards the progressive output of crude asbestos at the mines, since its introduction in 1887, the following may no doubt be taken as authentic, being extracted from the "Statistical Report on the Production, Value, Exports, and Imports of Minerals in Canada during the year 1886 and previous years," by Eugène Coste, M.E., published by authority of the Dominion Parliament. In this Report the production and value is given as follows:-- Value at the Mines. Tons. Dollars. 1879 300 19,500 1880 380 24,700 1881 540 35,100 1882 810 52,650 1883 955 68,750 1884 1,141 75,079 1885 2,440 142,441 1886 3,458 206,251 The mode of extraction in all Canadian asbestos mines is by open quarry work. Whether the drills are worked by compressed air, or by hand in the old-fashioned way, the effect is the same. When a sufficient number of holes of the proper depth are drilled and duly charged with dynamite or powder, they are linked together, and fired by a battery in such a way that the face of rock shall be thrown outward on to the floor of the pit. The asbestos is then picked out, the adhering rock roughly broken off, and the ore piled into boxes or tubs, which are loaded on to trolleys, and run off on tram-lines to the cobbing-sheds. The refuse rock, of which there is always an enormous quantity (probably as much as twenty tons of rock to one ton of asbestos), is loaded into cars, run off and shot over on to the dumping-ground.