354 Account of the Native Copper 
pended, first,—in exploring the northern shore of the lake, and 
the island of Maripeaux, and afterwards,—in the mining opera- 
tions which were authorized upon the banks of the Ontonagon. 
These transactions will be best illustrated by a quotation from 
the narrative account which Henry has himself published. After 
returning from the Canadian shore of the lake, and passing Point 
Iroquois, where the silver ore was found, he observes,—‘* Hence 
we coasted westward, but found nothing till we reached the On- 
tonagon, where, besides the detached masses of copper formerly 
mentioned, we saw much of the same metal imbedded in stone. 
Proposing to ourselves to make a trial on the hill, till we were 
better able to go to work upon the solid rock, we built a house 
and sent to the Sault de St. Marie for provisions. At the spot 
pitched upon for the commencement of our preparations, a green- 
coloured water which tinges iron of a copper colour, issued from 
the hill, and this the miners called a /eader. In digging they 
found frequent masses of copper, some of which were of three 
pounds weight. Having arranged every thing for the accom- 
modation of the miners, during the winter, we returned to the 
Sault. 
“* Karly in the spring of 1772 we sent a boat load of provi- 
sions, but it came back on the 20th day of June, bringing with 
it, to our surprise, the whole establishment of miners. They 
reported that in the course of the winter they had penetrated 
forty feet into the face of the hill, but on the arrival of the thaw, 
the clay, on which on account of its stiffness they had relied, 
and neglected to secure it by supporters, had fallen in ;—that 
from the detached masses of metal, which to the last had daily 
presented themselves, they supposed there might be ultimately 
reached a body of the same, but could form no conjecture of its 
distance, except that it was probably so far off as not to be pur- 
sued without sinking an air shaft; and lastly,—that the work 
would require the hands of more men than could be fed in the 
actual situation of the country. Here our operations in this 
quarter ended. The metal was probably within our reach; but 
if we had found it, the expense of carrying it to Montreal must 
have exceeded its marketable value. It was never for the ex- 
portation of copper that our company was formed, but always 
with a view to the silver, which it was hoped the ores, whether 
of copper or lead, might in sufficient quantity contain.” 
Eighteen years after the failure of this attempt (1789) Mac- 
kenzie passed through Lake Superior on his first voyage of dis- 
covery into the northwest, and in his description of Lake Su- 
perior says,—‘* On the same side, (the south) at the river Ten- 
nagon, is found a quantity of virgin copper. The Americans, 
soon after they got possession of that country, sent an agent 
thither y 
