APPENDIX. 297 



masses of copper formerly mentioned, we saw much of the same 

 metal imbedded in stone. 



"Proposing to ourselves to make a trial on tlie hill, till we were 

 better able to go to work upon the solid rock, we built a house, and 

 sent to the Sault de Ste. Marie for provisions. At the spot pitched 

 upon for the commencement of our operations, a green-colored 

 water, which tinges iron of a copper color, issued from the hill, 

 and this the miners called a leader. In digging, they found fre- 

 quent masses of copper, some of which were of three pounds' 

 weight. Having arranged everything for the accommodation of 

 the miners during the winter, we returned to the Sault. 



"Early in the spring of 1772, we sent a boat-load of provisions, 

 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 neg- 

 lected 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 pursued with- 

 out sinking an air shaft. And, lastly, that the work would re- 

 quire 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 exportation of copper that our com- 

 pany 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." — Travels and Adventures of Alexander Henry. 



[In the summer of 1832, being detained by head winds at the 

 mouth of Miner's River, on Lake Superior, I observed the names 

 of several persons engraved on the sand rock, but much oblite- 

 rated by the water's dashing over the rock. Tradition represents 

 that Henry's miners were detained there, and that they made ex- 

 plorations of the river, Avhich is named from the circumstance. 



