THE CALUMET AND HECLA MINE 55 



chosen such a spot to cache their copper ; for the loca- 

 tion of the hole was such that the lay of the land would 

 enable any one who knew of it to find it easily. We 

 must imagine that any one of a hundred possible calami- 

 ties overtook these primitive miners, who never returned 

 for their treasure, which in the course of time weathered 

 into verdigris. 



This explanation did not occur to Hulbert at the 

 time, who imagined he had discovered a spot where the 

 Indians had once dug out copper. Looking about in 

 the vicinity he found, a few hundred feet to the south- 

 west, a huge block of conglomerate rock cemented to- 

 gether with particles of copper. From the appearance 

 of this piece of rock, weighing many tons, he was con- 

 vinced it was near its original position. He knew some- 

 thing of the formation of the country, and concluded 

 he was close to a stratum of copper-bearing rock. After 

 removing several dozen barrels of verdigris from the pit, 

 he was surprised to find no further traces of copper. It 

 was not till he had blasted a few feet below its bed that 

 he uncovered a lode of copper-bearing red conglomer- 

 ate, similar to the great piece of rock to the south- 

 west. By the merest coincidence the pit happened to 

 he just over what later proved to be a great lode 

 of copper rock, afterwards known as the Calumet con- 

 glomerate. Improbable as this seems, Mr. Hulbert was 

 always very definite in his statements that he did not 

 discover the conglomerate until he had blasted below the 

 bottom of the hole. 



Hulbert was unable to get possession of the land on 

 which the pit was situated, but he gained control of the 

 land to the north. Assuming that the boulder was near 

 the lode, and a line from it to the pit would give the 



