holmes] 



ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 



269 



artificial, or whether or not they liad all been penetrated by the 

 ancient workers. Changes are constantly taking place in such ore 

 bodies, and percolating waters fill np or clear out ])assageways. 

 Generally, however, as the walls were broken down by the miners the 

 openings were found to counect with su[)crficiiil pittings, which were 

 the original openings of the mines, as indicated in figure 1-38. 



It appears certain that the larger tunnels or. galleries in which 

 the sledges were found had been opened up or en- 

 Methods of Mining larged by the ancient miners, and that in the search 

 for other bodies of the desired product they had fol- 

 lowed weak lines and partially filled passageways, removing the pro- 

 jecting masses of hard ore, where these interfered with the work, by 

 means of the sledges or otherwise tunneling around them. It is appar- 

 ent that the sledges could have had no other function than this, or that 

 of crushing and breaking up the 

 solid masses of ore preparatory to 

 the manufacture of implements. 

 It would seem that in the narrow 

 passages of the mine the use of 

 hafted implements would be in- 

 convenient if not entirely imprac- 

 ticable, and we are left to marvel 

 at the feat accomplished by the 

 ancient workmen in ]:)enctrating a 

 compact ore body in dark, sinuous 

 passages hardly roomy enough to 

 admit the body of a man, with the 

 aid of nothing better than the 

 rude hand implements of stone. 

 The character of these openings 



is indicated clearly in figure 137, which shows the face of the mine 

 as freshly exposed by the mining operations, and figure 138 indi- 

 cates somewhat imperfectly the manner in wdiich the tunnels or 

 borings penetiate the ore body, connecting wdth the superficial pits 

 and extending to unknown depths beneath the present floor of the 

 mine. 



That paints were in great demand among the tribes is common 

 knowledge, and it is not unlikely that the brilliant pigments obtained 

 from these mines were distributed by trade over a wide area. The 

 solid hematite was in much demand for implements and large num- 

 bers of axes, celts, plummets, cones, and other objects of use and 

 ceremony are found everyAvhere in the middle Mississippi Valley. 



A plaster of Paris group, intended to illustrate the remarkable op- 

 erations carried on by the early tribes in this mine, prepared under 

 the supervision of the writer, is shown in the section of American 



Fig. 138. Section indicating the general 

 character of the ancient tunneling. 

 (a, a, Surface traces of ancient pits, 

 b. Ore-body, c. Filling of excavations. 

 d. Borings of the ancient miiers. Cj 

 Floor of mine.) 



