1822.] Native Copper of Lake Superior, S^c.** 57 



two miles from the lake, and in the centre of a region charac- 

 terized by its wild, rugged, and forbidding appearance. The 

 large mass of native copper reposes on the west bank of the 

 river, at the water's edge, and at the foot of a very elevated 

 bank of alluvion, the face of which appears, at some former 

 period, to have slipped into the river, carrying with it the mass 

 of copper, together with detached blocks of granite, horn- 

 blende, and other bodies peculiar to the soil of that place. 

 The copper, which is in a pure and malleable state, lies in con- 

 nexion with serpentine rock ; the face of which it almost com- 

 pletely overlays, and is also disseminated in masses and grains 

 throughout the substance of the rock. The surface of the 

 metal, unlike most oxydable metals which have suffered a long 

 exposure to the atmosphere, presents a metallic brilliancy; 

 which is attributable either to alloy of the precious metals, or 

 to the action of the river, which during its semi-annual floods 

 carries down large quantities of sand and other alluvial matter, 

 that may serve to abrade its surface, and keep it bright. 

 The shape of the rock is very irregular — its greatest length is 

 three feet eight inches — its greatest breadth three feet four 

 inches, and it may altogether contain eleven cubic feet. In 

 size, it considerably exceeds the great mass of native iron found 

 some years ago upon the banks of Red River in Louisiana, and 

 now deposited among the collections of the New York His- 

 torical Society; but, on account of the admixture of rocky 

 matter,, is inferior in weight. Henry, who visited it in 1766, 

 estimated its weight at five tons. But, after examining it with 

 scrupulous attention, I have computed the weight of metallic 

 copper in the rock at twenty two hundred pounds. The quan- 

 tity may, however, have been much diminished since its first 

 discovery, and the marks of chissels and axes upon it, with 

 the broken tools lying around, prove that portions have been 

 cut off, and carried away. Thft author just quoted observes, 

 * that such was its pure and malleable state, that with an axe 

 he was able to cut off a portion weighing a hundred pounds.*^ 

 Notwithstanding this reduction it may still be considered one 

 of the largest and most remarkable bodies of native copper 

 upon the globe, and is, so far as my reading extends, exceeded 

 only by a specimen found in a valley in Brazil, weighing 2666 

 Portuguese pounds." 



After various details as to circumstances under which the 

 copper has been found, the author proceeds : 



" From all the facts which I have been able to collect on 

 lake Superior, and after a deliberation upon them since my 

 return, I have drawn the following conclusions : — 



" 1st. That the alluvial soil along the banks of the Onton- 

 agon river, extending to its source, and embracing the con- 

 tiguous region which gives origin to the Menomonie river of 

 Green Bay, and to the Ousconsing, Chippeway, and St. Croix 



