Native Copper of Lake Superior, Sfc. 209 



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

 visions, 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 ar- 

 rival of the thaw, the clay on which, on account of its stiffness, 

 they had relied, and neglected to secure it by supporters, 

 had fallen in ; — that from the detached masses of metal, 

 which to the last had daily presented themselves, they sup- 

 posed 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 without sinking 

 an air shaft ; and lastly, — that the work would require the 

 hands of more men than could be fed in the actual situa- 

 tion of the country. Here our operations in this quarter 

 ended. The metal was probably within our reach, but if 

 we had found it, the expence of carrying it to Montreal 

 must have exceeded its marketable value. It was never 

 for the exportation of copper that our company was form- 

 ed, but always with a view to the silver, which it was hoped 

 the ores, whether of copper or lead, might in sufficient 

 fjuantity contain." 



Eighteen years after the failure of this attempt (1789) 

 Mc Kenzie passed through lake Superior on his first voyage 

 of discovery into the northwest, and in his description of lake, 

 Superior says, — " On the same side, (the south) at the riv- 

 er Tennagon, is found a quantity of virgin~-eopper. The 

 Americans, soon after they got possession of that country, 

 sent an agent thither ; and I should not be surprised to hear 

 of their employing people to work the mine. Indeed, it 

 might be well v/orthy the attention of the British subjects 

 to work the mines on the north coast, though they are not 

 supposed to be so rich as those on the south." (1) 



The attention of the United States government appears 

 first to have been turned toward the subject during the ad- 

 ministration of President Adams, when the sudden augmen- 

 tation of the navy rendered the employment of domestic 

 copper in the equipment of ships, an object of political as 

 well as pecuniary moment; and a mission was author- 

 ized to proceed to lake Superior. Of the isuccess of tiiis 



(1) McKenzie's Voyages, p, 29. 



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