IGS EXPEDITION TO THE 



lies exposed to view in some places, is for the most part 

 covered with an alluvial dcposite consisting of the detritus 

 of primitive rocks. Upon the shore of Lake Michigan, 

 specimens of native copper have likewise been occasionally 

 picked up. We have in our possession, owing to the libe- 

 rality of Dr. Hall, a specimen which is part of a mass, 

 weighing two pounds, found by the express from Chicago 

 to Greenbay ; it was picked up, on'wie lake shore, about 

 five miles south of the Milwacke, a stream which empties 

 into the lake about eighty-five miles north of Chicago; 

 the spot at which it was found is known by the name of 

 the Soapbanks, and is stated by Mr. Schoolcraft to consist 

 of a bed of white clay ; Dr. Hall was led to visit the spot 

 in hopes of finding more copper, but met with none. We 

 have dwelt upon this fact merely from the great im- 

 portance which has been attached to every locality of 

 native copper, by those who are induced to believe that, 

 where a specimen exists, a mine ought to be looked for. 

 In reading the relations of travellers on the subject we 

 become satisfied of the incorrectness of this conclusion ; 

 wherever the copper has been found, it has always been 

 in detached masses, generally of a small weight, and 

 appearing evidently out of place. We must not there- 

 fore expect to find veins in their vicinity ; if the existence 

 of copper in the west deserves all that importance which 

 it has received, a circumstance which we very much question 

 in the present state of the country, it is not upon the study 

 of the localities of these fragments of native copper that we 

 are to waste our time and means. The main object must 

 be to ascertain whence they came ; and this can only be 

 determined by an examination of the nature of the valleys, 

 of the extent and abundance of the alluvial deposite in 

 which they are found, and of the original primitive forma- 



