"The coal was of the bituminous variety, having a jet black color and slaty structure. It was readily ignited, burning with a dull flame and smoke, the fragments comminuting more or less by the heat. It had a specific gravity of about 1.25. "100 parts gave volatile matter 50.780, sulphur 4.028, iron 4.400, ash 8.400, carbon (not volatilized) 41.600. "The value of coal for the manufacture of gas is usually estimated by the amount of volatile matter it yields at a full red-heat." Of ten samples of English coal, this had more volatile matter than six. Of American coals, it had more of the burning principle than any, except one. The quality of this coal is unquestionably good, and its distance from Mackinaw is no objection, since access can be obtained both by water and railroad. Both the coal and iron used in the manufactures of Cincinnati are brought from places distant from one hundred to five hundred miles; and yet scarcely any place in America has prospered more by manufactures than the Queen of the West. Mackinaw has more than the advantages of Cincinnati for manufactures. It not only has iron and coal, but copper and lead, near enough for all the purposes of successful manufacture. Favorable indications of coal exist within fifty miles south of the Straits, and indications also exist of lead. When we consider these facts, and the vast extent of country, of inland oceans, and of streams around it, why should not Mackinaw be a point of concentration for manufactures, as well as of distribution for commerce?