132 



THE ANCIENT MINERS OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 



[1853. 



the Amevican Nautical Almanac, may be noticed here. It has 

 reduced the price of the British Almanac by one-half^ that is from 

 OS. to 2s. 6d. 



The Counter eiTect of a restoration of the British montipoly in 

 the Americ;m market will probably be a return to the foimer 

 price. 



10. Is it e.rpecied that any errors of former astronomers 

 or observers, are to he corrected, or ang new means suggested 

 hy which more precision is to be given to astronomical science? 



This inquiry is, for the most part, ans\Yered in the reply to the 

 preceding question. 



11. After the first Nautical Almanac is published, will the 

 succeeding numbers probably cost as much, or more than the 

 first ? 



After the firet volume of the Nautical Almanac is published, it 

 is estimated that the sum of §19,4:00 will be the probable cost of 

 the succeediuo- volumes ; and this sum is not more than sufficient 

 to allow the first class computors, who must be gentlemen of lib- 

 eral education and of special attainments in the science of astro- 

 nomv, the lowest salary paid for similar services in other offices 

 of the Goveinment. The annual estimate for the British Alma- 

 nac is between sixteen and seventeen thousand dollars ; but, gen- 

 erally speaking, intellectual labor commands a higher compensa- 

 tion in this country than in Great Britain. 



A portion of the approjsriation will be returned into the trea- 

 sury every year when the sale of the book commences. The cost 

 of the fiKt number includes the expense of the yai'ious works of 

 preparation already detailed. These preparatory productions are 

 permanently useful ; they are the instruments to be emjiloyed in 

 the computation of all future numbers. If the American Alma- 

 nac should be continued uninterruptedly for as long a period as 

 the British has existed, the cost of preparation, thus distributed, 

 would amount to about two hundred and twenty-two dollars a 

 number. 



12. Will the same time be necessary for the second and sub- 

 sequent numbers, respectively as for the first? 



The succeeding numbers of the Almanac will appear annually, 

 three yea:s in ad\'auce of the year for which the}" are computed, 

 according to the custom in England, France and Germany. The 

 time spent in tlie computation of each number will be one year. 



Finally, in reply to this resolution in general, let it be said that 

 the JVauticcd Almanac and Astronomical JEphemeris is not a 

 work of insignificant value, or of trifling labour. It has been 

 viewed by the Department, and is considered by American 

 astrononrei-s and mathematicians as a woi'k of consummate utility 

 and of real national importance, resembling in this i-espect the 

 Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris of Gieat Bri- 

 tiiin, the Connaissance des Tcmpis of France, and the Astrono- 

 mical Annual of Prussia. 



On one hand, it is the text-book of the navigator. It informs 

 him of his place on the ocean, whei'e there are no other guides 

 than the sun and stars. It is his intellectual rudder and conipass; 

 without it no ship-master leavi-s the shores of the United States. 

 When he loses sight of the last light-house or head-land, ho tui'ns 

 to that for his further directions. 



On the other hand, it is the vade meciim of the astronomer, 

 whether stationary or tiavelling. He learns from in the fixed 

 obser\atory how liis instruments must be set that he may see any 

 particular ijody, and what is the precise moment for obser\ation': 

 and in the moveable oliservatory he turns to its pages to ascer- 

 tain how, on any given dav, lie can best determine his In'inide 



and longitude, the astronomical bearings of his stations, and ths 

 rate and erroi- of his chronometer. Thus, as the tables of the 

 Almanac owe their origin to the labouis of then- observations, so, 

 they repay the obligation bj- r.tibrding the most ready and com- 

 jilete facilities by which those l;jboui-s are, at the present time 

 safely and expeditiously conducted. 



The Ar.cient Miners cfLabs Supeiior ; by C. Wliittlcsy.* 



( Concluded.) 

 If copper utensils had been common am.ong the Indians, they 

 would liav e been preserved, and handed down to our times, or at 

 least to the times of the Jesuits ; for, before then, they had no 

 iron or steel, and no metal but copper. If they had the ingenu- 

 it}' and skill, which has been claimed for them in providing 

 themselves with implements, they would have manufactured 

 something like an axe, as the Aztecs did, and would never have 

 lost the use of it. As the Jesuits mention only stone axes, and 

 say, that the Indians had neither hatchets or kettles, I conclude 

 that " Loons Foot" is mistaken, when he asserts that they had 

 copper axes. I will now give some reasons for ascribing the work- 

 ing of these ancient mines to the Aztecs or " mound buildei's." . 



The character of the mining works, is that of a people, having 

 about the same advaucement and intelligence as is exhibiied ia 

 the construction of the earth-woiks and foitifications that ai'e vis- 

 ible throughout the west. There is in neither, any evidence that 

 they had iron or steel, or the art of hardening copper, as the 

 Egyptians had. In the mounds, and in contact with the skele- 

 tons that were interred at their base, are found copper ornaments, 

 axes, and tools, of great variety and in great numbers. They ai'e 

 all fully described in the work of Sqiiier and Davis, to which I 

 have referred. 



The copper is apparently cold wroiigJit, and does not show 

 that it has been melted. It must, therefore, have been found by 

 the mound-buildere in its native state, and there are no mines in 

 North America, known at this time, from which native metal can 

 be had, except those of Lake Sujjerior. 



There is a peculiarity about this copper, not known in any 

 other mines, which serves still farther to identify the localit}' fi'om 

 whence the Aztecs procured thoii'S. The silver which it contains, 

 is also in its native state, in particles, blotches and masses of pure 

 white, studding the surface of the native copper. 



Copper has been found in the mounds, in which specks of 

 silver aie plainly visible. Dr. Locke, of Cincinnati, has a rough 

 sheet of it, taken from an ancient work at Colerain, Hamilton 

 Co., O., where there is a spot of native silver, of the size of a 

 small pea. This shows conclusively, not only that it came from 

 Lake Superior, but that it has not been melted. 



In the old works of the " Minnesotah " location, near the forks 

 of the Ontonogon River, here was found, at the depth of 18 feet, 

 a mass of copper, weighing 11,.588 pounds, which had been 

 taken out of the vein by the ancients. It had been I'aised a few 

 feet irlong the slope of the vein by means of wedges and of cob- 

 xoorl; made of log's, laid up in the foi'm of the body of a small 

 log house. I had a piece of one of these logs, which was cut 

 from a black oak tree about six inches in diameter, showing dis- 

 tinctly, the marks of a narrow axe. If inch wide, and very- sharp. 

 The character of the cut or stroke, made b)" the axe, struck me 

 at once, as such as the copper axes w"ould make, that I had seen 

 in Ohio, which were fcdien from the mounds. 



Although, the timber beneath the mass of copper, in the old 

 Minnesotiih works, was very soft and tender, by reason of its age, 



• .-iiinals of ^■cienc•e — Cleveland. 



