N Til I' SHO K ES <» F I, A K E SUPE R tOR. 



23 



Fig. 15. 



Fig. 1G. 



which Mr. Burl conjectures once formed (lie bed of the river, but the channel of 



this time is ten feet lower. Soil had accumulated over the tools to a depth of two 



loot, and on it wore pine tiros, considered to be al least one hundred years of age. 

 The knife was harder than (he chips, and 



does not bend so easily. This hardness is 



probably due to the process of hammering 



which the mass underwent while it was in a 



cold state, and not to am tempering, If the 



bodkin-like implement had not been of this 



parcel the others mighl have been referred 



to the present race of Indians. They pos- 

 sessed knives and other implements made 



of copper when the French came among 



them, but these were very rude, Mr. 



Baily, of Eagle Harbor, has one which 



resembles somewhat the semilunar knife 



used by saddlers. There is a notch in the 



middle by which to attach a handle. Mr. 



B. thinks it was used in dressing and work- 

 ing skins. It was found in the gravel within 



the pickets at Fort Wilkins, Copper Harbor. 

 Near the mouth of Carp River there are 

 remains of cabins, placed in a row like the 

 houses of a village. This is shown by a 

 line of heaps of stone and clay, like the 

 remains of chimneys, and connected with 

 them slight ridges of clay, resembling the 

 low embankments around a lo<r building 

 after the timber has decayed. They may 

 have been formed of clay which was used 

 to daub the chinks. A forest of ancient 

 growth covered these ruins. Although I 

 know of no historical evidence illustrating 

 the point, I should hesitate to give them a 

 greater antiquity than the early French ad- 

 venturers. It is about two hundred years 

 since the Jesuits established themselves on 

 Lake Superior. Traders may have preced< d 

 them thirty years, and constructed cabins at 

 places not mentioned by the Jesuits. 



I have seen the ruins of buildings on the 

 west fork of the Ontonagon, near the old 

 Copper Rock, the history of which has 

 reached us, and which were erected in 1769. In 1845, eighty-four years afterwards, 

 all the logs except such as were of cedar, had disappeared. Near a cabin which 



8 



Pointed Tool with a 

 Socket.— Full size. 

 Carp River. 



Rcde Coppun Knife. — Full size. 

 Carp River. 1, 2. Spots of silver. 



