Feather stonhaugW^s Geological Report. 143 



above his winter establishment. In twenty-two days they got 

 out more than thirty tiiousand pounds of ore, of which four 

 thousand pounds were selected and sent to France. The 

 mine was at the foot of a mountain ten leagues long, that 

 seemed to be composed of the same substance. After remo- 

 ving a black burnt crust as hard as rock, the copper could be 

 scraped with a knife." A manuscript in the possession of the 

 American Philosophical Society, written by M. Benard de la 

 Harpe, is also cited :* " It appears from this manuscript that 

 Le Sueur's discoveries of blue earth were made in 1695, but 

 that all further operations were interrupted until 1700. We 

 find in the same manuscript, under the date of the 10th of Feb- 

 ruary, 1702, that Le Sueur arrived at the mouth of the Mis- 

 sissippi that day with two thousand quintals of blue and green 

 earth." The same manuscript is also said, in giving the 

 details of Le Sueur's progress up the Mississippi, to state : 

 "Finally, on the 19th of September, he left the Mississippi, 

 and entered the St. Peter's river, which comes in from the 

 west bank. By the 1st of October he had ascended this river 

 forty-four and a quarter leagues, when he entered the Blue 

 river, the name of which is derived from the blue earth found 

 on its banks." " On the 26th M. Le Sueur went to the mine 

 with three canoes, which he loaded with green and blue earth. 

 It was taken from mountains near which are very abundant 

 mines of copper, of which an assay was made in Paris by M. 

 L'Huillier, in the year 1696." 



I had, through my guide, (Milor,) neglected no opportunity 

 to inquire amongst the Nacotahs respecting these mines, but 

 I never could obtain any information, or even a traditional 

 report, of any thing like a copper mine in that region. Many 

 of the chiefs concurred in saying that there were some bluffs 

 a few miles beyond the mouth of the St. Peter's, to which the 

 Indians had, at all times, resorted to procure a blue earth with 

 which they were accustomed to paint themselves ; and one 

 old chief had described the locality with great precision. He 



* Keating, vol. 1, p. 319. 



