A \ (' 1 ENT MINI N(i 



handle was attached to them. The difference between the axe and chisel is 

 principally in the taper of the axe towards the head. No groove or eye has been 

 noticed b) which to inseri a handle, but the Peruvians had means of fastening a 

 handle to a similar instrument without either. There are also chisel-like tools from 

 the Ohio mounds almost identical with those T have already figured. James 

 McBride, Esq., of Hamilton. Butler County. Ohio, has in his possession four of 

 them, found in is.").") near that place, that may be regarded either as chisels, axes, 



or adzes. 



Eow much time has passed since these mines were wrought, or since the\ were 

 abandoned, is a question of great interest. 'The timber found in some of the ancient 

 mines is in a better state of preservation than that of the Ohio mounds; but it does 

 not follow that it is more recent. Mosl of the pieces exhumed were covered by 

 water, or wet earth. In a northern climate the decay of wood is slower than in 

 warmer regions. The timber itself is mostly resinous, which assists in its preserva- 

 tion. The wooden cobwork that remains in the Ohio tumuli, hitherto examined, 

 always lies above water, and the loamy earth in which it was buried does not wholly 

 exclude the atmosphere. 



In the Grave Creek mound the timber was very much decayed, but the chambers 

 inclosing the skeletons were elevated above the natural surface, and the surrounding 

 earth was dry. These circumstances being considered, it does not follow that the 

 wood work of the mounds is the most ancient because it is the most decayed. 



The living trees now standing, with their roots entwined among the mauls, skids, 

 and shovels of the old miners, are reliable witnesses as to the least space of time 

 since the mines were abandoned. The age of suck trees varies from 300 to 350 

 years. Beneath the shade of these patriarchs of the forest are the prostrate and 

 rotten trunks of a preceding generation. 



General Harrison, in a discourse before the Historical Society of Ohio, adds 

 another score to the tally of ages that have passed since the earthworks were 

 evacuated. When ground that has been cleared of its timber is abandoned, the 

 second growth differs from the first in kind. It is not until several generations of 

 trees have disappeared, that such places produce the varieties which constituted the 

 orieinal forest. The same thins: is observed on Poinl Keweenaw; where a sweep- 

 in"- tire has consumed or deadened the resinous trees of the mountains, the firsl 

 succeeding growth is that of birch and aspen. 



In process of time, however, the balsam, cedar, pine, and hemlock, resume their 

 ancient domain, overshadowing and obscuring the deciduous trees. On the ancient 

 burrows, and in tin- old pits of Lake Superior, the same kinds of timber flourish 

 now as are observed in the surrounding forest. These works could not have been 

 carried on without destroying the growth of timber of that day. Before the pines, 

 and oilier evergreens that now occupy these places, overcame the birch and aspen 

 tree-, one or two generations must have passed away. 



Is it going too far. on the strength of this evidence, to place the abandonment of 

 the mines at a distance of 500 to 600 years from our times! 



There may have been inhabitants covering large territories for long periods who 

 have disappeared withoul leaving an\ monumental evidence- of their occupation. 



