IN NORTH AMERICA. 101 



one locality of wliicli had then become known: " The copper specimen 

 from Lake Superior and the ^'antaoiui^on (Ontonagon) Iviver which I 

 send, indicates that there is some deposit or some river bank which 

 yichls this substance in as pure a state as could be wislied, and more 

 than 20 rrenchmen have seen a mass of it in the lake which they esti- 

 mate at eight hundred weight. The Jesuit fathers among the Ottawas 

 use an anvil of tliis metal which weighs about 100 pounds. It only 

 remains to tind the source of these detached pieces." lie then gives 

 some description of the Ontonagon lliver, in which he attempts to 

 account for the tormation in situ of the copper specimens fonnd in its 

 neighborhood ({jalcis de ee mc.sfrdl, evidently float copper), and goes on 

 to say: "It is to be hoped that the frequent Journeys of the Indians 

 and French, who are beginning to make expeditions in that direction, 

 will rt^sult in the discovery of the place which furnishes such pure 

 metal, and that without expense to the king." 



The passages from the Jesuit Kelations, which have been often quoted 

 in this connection, show that the mining districts were well known to 

 the Indians. Father Dablon, in the Kelations for l()01)-'70, describes 

 these places, of which he was informed by the Indians. The tirst was 

 Michipicoten Island, on the east shore of the lake ; then came St, Ignace, 

 on the north shore, and then Isle Koyale, "celebrated for its copper, 

 where could be seen in the cliffs several beds of red copper separated 

 from each other by layers of earth." The other principal locality was 

 the Ontonagon river, from which place the French had received a cop- 

 per specimen three years previously wliich weighed 100 pounds. The 

 Indian (Ottawa) women of this region, the father says, while digging 

 holes for corn, used to find pieces of copi»er (float copper) weighing 10 

 and I'O pounds. A hundred years later Alexander Henry mentions the 

 same thing of this locality, and adds that the Indians beat the pieces 

 of cojjper into bra(;elets and spoons. Father Dablon goes on to say 

 tliat opinions diflered as to the place the Ontonagon copper came from 

 sonui thinking it was near the forks of the river and along the eastern 

 branch (near the old workings), while other guessers placed it elsewhere. 



The informati(»n tlie Indians gave was not si)ontaneous, for b'ather 

 Dablon says that it ie(|uired some address to induce them to reveal the 

 mineralogical secrets which they wished to conceal from the whites. 

 This reluctance to give information about mineral localities has sur- 

 vived down to a very recent period, and stories are known to the older 

 residents of the coi)])er district, some of them amusing enough, illus- 

 trating this trait. At all events. Father Dablon's Indians knew pre- 

 cisely where the old mining localities were. He says he was assured 

 that in the land to the south there were deposits (ininc.siti the French 

 word) of the metal in various places. He had just been speaking of 

 Keweenaw Point, but the connection is not close enough to wai-rant 

 the inferenc.e that he meant immediately to the south of the point. If 

 that could be shown, there would be a diiect reference to the "dig- 

 gings" on the peninsula. 



