A Pre-Columbian Mine. 235 



of the mineral were exposed to view ; but of late 

 years every one of the depressions on the hill-top 

 has become the receptacle for refuse stone gathered 

 from the surrounding fields, and these most inter- 

 esting archseological features of the country are 

 well-nigh obliterated. The shafts, pits, or what 

 you will, are remembered to have been from four 

 to six feet in depth and from ten to twenty feet 

 in diameter, and near by were mound-like eleva- 

 tions made up of the vast amount of refuse 

 material. It is evident that the greatly varying 

 depths of these excavations were due to the 

 superior or inferior quality of the exposed ledges. 

 But how do we know that the Indians had to do 

 with these pits at all? Have we found their 

 autographs packed in the rock, or found their 

 bones in graves of their own digging ? Not yet ; 

 but of equal significance is the immense quantity 

 of chips and slender flakes, besides hammers, 

 large and small, and a goodly range of stone im- 

 plements no white man, since he became white, 

 has used. We can follow the trail of the aborigine 

 here without being thrown off the scent. We can 

 see, in the mind's eye, — and we need no clearer 



