ABOEIGINAL OPERATIONS IN AN IRON MINP:. 



725 



however, as the walls were broken down by our miners the open- 

 ing's were found to connect with the superticial pittings, as indicated 

 in plate v. 



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

 sledges were found had been opened up or enlarged by the ancient 

 miners and that, in the search for other bodies of the desired product, 

 thej^ had followed weak lines and partially filled passageways, removing 

 the projecting masses of hard ore, where these interfered with the 

 work, l)y means of the sledges. Sketches of these rude implements 

 are sliown in fig. 1, and the specimens appear on plate vi. It is appar- 

 ent that the sledges could have had no other function than that of 

 crushing and breaking up the solid masses of ore to be used in the 

 manufacture of implements or in opening new passageways through 

 the ore body. Although these sledges were made in the main of com 



Fig. 1. — Sketches of the rudely shaped mining implements. 



pact bits of the ore and of the flinty masses associated with it, they 

 correspond very closely in general characteristics with the bowlder 

 sledges used in such great numbers in the copper mines of Lake Supe- 

 rior. Nearly all appear to have been hafted for use, and the majority 

 show the rude grooving or notching necessaiy for the attachment of 

 the withe haft. It would seem that in the narrow passages of the 

 mine the use of hafted implements would bo inconvenient if not 

 entirely impracticable, and wo are left to marvel at the feat accom- 

 plishi^l by the ancient workmen of penetrating a compact ore body in 

 dark, sinuous passages hardly roomy enough to admit the body of a 

 man, with the aid of rude bits of stone held in the hand. The char- 

 acter of these openings is indicated clearly in plate iii, which shows 

 the face of the mine as freshly exposed by the mining operations; and 

 plate V indicates somewhat imperfectly the manner in which the tun- 

 nels or borings penetrate the ore body connecting with the superficial 



