( >N THE SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 27 



return for additional supplies. After spending the months of summer, the miners 

 could return to their homes for winter, carrying with them the mineral obtained 

 during the season. 



In relation to their dead, it, ma}' have been a custom, perhaps a part of their 

 religion, to restore the bodies to their friends. If the number of operators was not 

 great, and the mortality was no greater than it is now, this would not have been a 

 great burden. In cast- there were no women and children the proportional number 

 of deaths would be less than at present. It is now, for the season of navigation, 

 not far from five in 1000, including females and children, and including also those 

 killed by accident. 



All the ancient excavations hitherto examined could have been made, with our 

 means of working, at less expense than has been incurred during the last ten years. 

 But we -must allow much for the imperfect modes of operating, and thus increase 

 the number of men required to do the same work; we must also, on the other hand, 

 conclude that the old mines were wrought a great length of time, and infer that a 

 less mining force was kept up than we have in our times. 



In the prosecution of mining in this remote region, not only would the deaths 

 be few, but among them such distinguished persons as were entitled to sepulchral 

 mounds or monuments would not be found in great numbers. The absence of arti- 

 ficial mounds, therefore, need not excite surprise. 



The Mound Builders consumed large quantities of copper. Axes, adzes, chisels, 

 and ornamental rings are so common among the relics in Ohio as to leave no doubt 

 on this subject. We know of no copper bearing veins so accessible as those of 

 Lake Superior to a people residing on the waters of the Ohio. Neither are there 

 any others now known that produce native metal in quantities to serve as an article 

 of commerce. Specimens of pure copper are found in other mines of North America, 

 but not as a predominant, part of the lode. The implements and ornaments found in 

 the mounds are made of metal that has not been melted. They have been brought 

 into shape cold wrought, or at least without heat enough to liquefy the metal, and 

 were therefore produced from native copper. In the Lake Superior veins spots of 

 native silver are frequently seen studding the surface of the copper, united or welded 

 to it, but not alloyed with it. This is not known of any other mines, and seems to 

 mark a Lake Superior specimen wherever it is found. It also proves conclusively 

 that such pieces have not undergone fusion, for then the pure white spots would 

 disappear, forming a weak alloy. Copper with blotches of native silver has been 

 taken from the mounds. Dr. John Locke, of Cincinnati, possessed a flattened 

 piece of copper weighing several pounds, which was found in the earthworks at 

 Colerain, Hamilton County, Ohio, having a spot of silver as large as a pea forming 

 a part of the mass. 



At the first view of the logs which supported the mass m of the Minnesota vein, 

 the marks of the tool by which they were cut brought to mind the old copper axes 

 I had seen in Ohio, figured by Mr. Squier. The cut was about an inch and three- 

 tenths wide, not smooth like that of a perfectly sharp edge, and not deep enough 

 for a modern axe or hatchet. No such axes have been found on Lake Superior. 

 Those of Ohio may have been used as a chisel, although Mr. Squier thinks a 



