6o6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



they moved lies on the drift-clay. This is shown by the subjoined 

 diagrammatic sketch taken on the spot (Fig. 7). It is also shown 

 by the fact that some of the pits are but a few feet above the present 

 lake-level (about thirty feet) ; since during the period of the drift, and 

 particularly toward its close, the interior lakes and rivers of the North 

 American Continent were much higher than they are now. 



It has been agreed for some years, by American archaeologists, that 





Fig. 7. Explanation. 

 Oj chips and moved earth in which the stone hammers are found ; 5, the modified drift-clay ; c, 

 the cupriferous rock ; d d, depressions in the surface indicating the location of the ancient 

 pits, sometimes refilled by the old miners. 



the ancient miners of Lake Superior were identical loith the mysterious 

 race knoimi as the mound-builders. The evidence of this, first partially 

 elucidated by Messrs. Squier and Davis, has multiplied by subsequent 

 observations, so that there is now a concurrent series of facts pointing 

 to that conclusion. It consists largely in the discovery of many cop- 

 per implements in the mounds that have been opened. These imple- 

 ments sometimes contain small nuggets of metallic silver closely welded 

 to the copper. At no other place in the United States are copper and 

 silver found thus naturally combined. They must have been pounded 

 into shape, since the melting of the copper for casting would certainly 

 have produced an alloy in which the appearance of the silver would be 

 entirely lost. This, taken in connection with the well-established 

 mining methods of the Isle Royale miners, undeniably identifies them 

 with the mound-builders. 



If we inquire further what relation the mound-builder bore to the 

 aborigines found here by Colunibus, we shall be compelled to admit 

 from the evidence that the aborigines themselves were the mound- 

 builders and the ancient miners. As this conclusion is at variance with 

 the generally accepted opinion, it will be necessary to consider some 

 of the characteristics of the mound-builders, as stated by the highest 

 authorities, and to compare them with the known peculiar habits and 

 customs of the Indians : 



1. Squier and Davis state that "there probably existed among the 

 mound-builders a state of society something like that which prevailed 

 among the Indians ; each tribe had its separate seat, maintaining, with 



