100 PRE-COLUMBIAN COPPER-MINING 



they have heard say of those of Saguenay, there was never iiiau heard of 

 that fouud out the end thereof, for as they tokl us they themselves 

 were never there." 



Allowing for the difirtculty of communicating by signs and the many 

 chances of misunderstanding, of which the interpretation of the Indian 

 signs to mean gold is doubtless an instance, this is a geographical descrip- 

 tion which can almost be followed on the map, and the account shows 

 that the St. Lawrence Indians knew that the copper they had came from 

 a place in the west where there were great lakes and a " sea of fresh 

 water." This was all hearsay with them, as they had never visited the 

 distant country, which was inhabited by other tribes. But it seems 

 evident enough that there was at that time a widely diffused knowledge 

 of the source of the copper, which would hardly have been the case if 

 the supiily had ceased two or three generations before. When, over a 

 hundred years later, French settlements had been established and 

 traders and missionaries began to push forward to the great " sea of 

 fresh water," they continually encountered the statement that copper 

 could be found on its shores, and Indian guides tiually took them to 

 the precise localities where the metal had formerly been mined, and 

 whence it was still occasionally obtained. Copper specimens, some- 

 times of large size, all reported as coming from Lake Suijerior, were 

 not uncommon, at this time, as the following extracts show, and it seems 

 evident that Indians still visited the old diggings and carried away 

 such pieces of copper as they could iind. 



The Abbe Sagard, who was a missionary to New France about the 

 year 1030, gave an account of the resources of the country in his 

 "Graml Voyage du pays des Hurons," jjublished at Paris inl63L*. He 

 did not penetrate as far as the upper lakes, but says that there were 

 copper mines in that distant country which might prove profitable if 

 there was a white population to support them and miners to work them, 

 which would be the case if colonies were established. He saw a speci- 

 men of co])per from the mines, which, he says, Avere 80 or 100 leagues 

 distant from the country of the Hurons. In Margry's Decoureiies et 

 etahlinsements des Francais, Premiere partie, voyages des Francais surles 

 grands lacs^ 1614-1684, p. 81, is an extract fr<nn a letter relating to an 

 exploration for cojjper written by Sieur Patoulet in Canada to Colbert 

 in Paris. It is dated at Quebec, November 11, IGOO, and is as follows: 

 "Messrs. Joliet and Pene, to whomJM. Talon paid 100 and 400 livres 

 resjiectively, to exi)l()re for the copper deposit which is above Lake 

 Ontario, specimens iron) which you have seen, and ascertain if it is abund- 

 ant, easy to work, and if there is easy transportation hither, have uotyet 

 returned. Tlie first named should have been here in September, but 

 there is no news of him yet, so that a report of what may be expected 

 of the mine must be postponed until next year." On page 05 of the 

 same volume is a letter from Jean Talon to the king, dated Quebec, 

 November L>, 1071, in which occurs the following reference to copper, 



