438 



COPPER VEINS IN THE ROCKS 



That portion of the soil of the islands fit for cultivation produces potatoes and 

 all manner of garden vegetables and roots in great luxuriance. In the flat, wet 

 parts, both the soil and the climate are favourable to grass ; and the crop is certain 

 and stout. Oats do well ; on good soil I have no doubt that wheat would be a 

 good and sure crop, if well cultivated. 



I did not see any fruit that appeared to be in perfection, except currants and 

 raspberries. Cherry trees and apple trees grow, but the fruit seems inferior in 

 character to those grown farther south. 



The above details, relating to the capacity of the islands for human subsistence, 

 are presented more at length, because, I am told, a proposition has been or will be 

 submitted to the Government, for colonizing them with Indians, whose territory 

 was ceded in 1842, and who are soon to be removed. 



In regard to health, no portion of this continent surpasses the Apostle Islands. 

 In the summer months, they present to residents of the South the most cool and 

 delightful resort that can be imagined ; and, for invalids, especially such as are 

 affected in the liver or lungs, the uniform bracing atmosphere of Lake Superior 

 produces the most surprising and beneficial effects. 



SECTION IV. 



COPPER VEINS. 



Within the District on which I am now reporting, I find no lands that I deem 

 worthy of reservation as mineral lands, under the terms of the act of 1847. The 

 iron-beds, which are fully noticed elsewhere, do not appear to come under the 

 provision of the act. In the years 1846 and 1847, many locations were made 

 for mining copper, upon lands west of the Montreal River. The judgment of 

 many of the explorers engaged in making those locations, is entitled to great 

 weight. They were good woodsmen, who fearlessly penetrated the most remote 

 and forbidding parts of the country, and were close observers, traversing the 

 region in all directions. To their acuteness, stimulated by the hope of speculation, 

 to their energy and intelligence, and to the capital invested by those for whom 

 they acted, the public owes the principal practical results that are now seen in 

 the mining region of Lake Superior. But in 1845 and 1846, the system or law 

 of the veins was not fully understood, for they were new, obscure, and complicated. 

 The mines of other countries did not furnish a certain guide. There existed here 

 in truth a different state of metallic diffusion, that may be termed the Lake 

 Superior System, which was to be understood only after long study and examination. 

 This examination was obstructed by many discouragements, such as those who have 

 not been in the country can scarcely imagine, so that the labours of hundreds of 

 explorers were necessary to the task of expounding the mineral veins of the country. 

 In 1845, it was generally believed that the spar veins of the conglomerate were the 

 most promising of any. In 1846, the parallel veins of the trap were not known, or 

 if so, were not generally relied upon by explorers. The perpendicular or cross veins 

 in the trap were then considered the only profitable sources of mineral. 



