44 Schoolcraft on the Copper of Lake Superior. 



of copper ore, upon the shore of lake Superior. I have 

 taken some pains and been at some expence to investigate 

 this subject, and to procure specimens of the ore. From 

 all I can learn, the vein is a very large and rich one, run- 

 ning horizontally into the shore, and the ore is very easily 

 detached. And I am disposed to think, from the specimens 

 received, it will yield as great a per centum of metal, as 

 similar ores (it is a Malachite) produce at the best European 

 mines. 



I am making up a small box of specimens for you, taken 

 from this vicinity. In it you vv^iil receive pieces of the ore 

 referred to. Unfortunately (for cabinets) it is a very crum- 

 bling vein, and the person I employed to visit it, not having 

 any taste for such pursuits, handled the specimens without 

 proper care, so that the richest pieces are reduced to frag- 

 ments. 



r annex a few localities of minerals, in the region of the 

 lakes, more particularly of Michigan Territory, which have 

 not, I believe, been heretofore noticed. 



HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. 



Professor Silliman, Kew-Haveii. 



[Copy.] 



(Communicated for this Journal by permission of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, 

 Secretary of War.) 



Sault Ste. Marie, July ^Sth 1823. 



Sir. — Having on a former occasion been requested to 

 communicate such information as I possessed respecting the 

 existence of copper upon the shores of lake Superior, I now 

 take the liberty of transmitting to you, through the inter- 

 vention of Governor Cass, specimens of an ore of that met- 

 al, which were taken from a vein recently discovered in the 

 region referred to. 



The precise locality of this ore, is, the extremity of the 

 great peninsula of Keewiiweenon, which stretches from the 

 southern shore of the lake towards La Bale Noire, and is 

 distant about two hundred and twenty five miles from this post. 

 A deep bay v^^ashes the eastern side of this peninsula, which re- 

 ceives a river that has its source near the banks of the lake, and 

 running at right angles with the point, nearly insulates it 



