352 Account of the Native Copper 
river is upon sand-stone similar to that which supports the Pa- 
lisadoe rocks upon the Hudson. There is an island nearly in the 
centre of the river, which serves to throw the current against the 
west bank where the copper reposes, and which, as it is the only 
wooded island noticed in the river, may serve to indicate the lo- 
cality of this mineral treasure to the future inquirer. 
Several other masses of native copper have been found on this 
river at various periods since it has been known to Europeans, 
and taken into different parts of the United States and of Eu- 
rope, and a recent analysis of one of these specimens, at the Uni- 
versity of Leyden, proves it to be native copper in a state of un- 
common purity, and uncombined with any notable portion either 
of gold or silver. 
A mass of copper discovered by the Aborigines om an island 
in Lake Superior at Point Chegoimegon eighty miles west of the 
Ontonagon, weighed twenty-eight pounds, and was taken to the 
island of. Michilimackinac some years ago by M. Cadotte, and 
disposed of. It was from. this mass that the War Department 
was formerly supplied with a specimen, and from which the ana- 
lysis alluded to is also understood to have been made.. About 
eleven. years ago, a trader by the name of Campbell procured 
from the Indians a piece of copper weighing twelve pounds, which 
they found on an island in Winnebago lake, about a hundred 
miles in a direct line east of the copper rock on the Ontonagon. 
This was also taken. to the island of Michilimackinac, and there 
disposed of. Other discoveries of this metal in masses, varying 
from one to ten pounds, are stated to have been made on the 
shores of Lake Superior—the Fox river—the Chippeway—the 
St. Croix, and the Mississippi about Prairie du Chien, but the 
statements do not rest on sufficient authority to justify any par- 
ticular enumeration. The existence of copper in the region.of 
Lake Superior appears to have been known to the earliest travel- 
lers and voyagers. As early as 1659 the Baron La Hontan, in 
coucluding a description of that lake, adds ‘ that upon it we 
also find copper mines, the metal of which is so fine and plenti- 
ful that there is not a seventh part loss from the ore*.”’ In 
1721 Charlevoix passed through the lakes on his way to the 
Gulf of Mexico, and did not aliow the mineralogy of the > country 
to escape his observations. ** Large pieces of copper,” he says 
in speaking of Lake Superior, ‘‘ are found in some places on its 
banks, and around some of the islands, which are still the. objects 
of a superstitious worship among the Indians. They lock upon 
them with veneration, as if they were the presents of those gods 
who dwell under the waters; they collect. their. smallest frag- 
* La Hontan’s Voyages to Canada, p. 214. 
ments 
