5© 6 
AMERICAN ANTHR0P0L 0GIST 
[n. s., 5, 1903 
interfered with the work, by means of the sledges. Sketches of 
these rude implements are shown in figure 31. It is apparent that 
the sledges could have had no other function than that of crushing 
and breaking up the solid masses of ore to be used in the manufac¬ 
ture of implements, or in opening new passage-ways through the 
ore-body. Although these sledges were made in the main of com¬ 
pact bits of the ore and of the flinty masses associated with it, they 
correspond very closely in general characteristics with the bowlder 
sledges used in such great numbers in the copper mines of Lake 
Superior. Nearly all appear to have been hafted for use, and the 
majority show the rude grooving or notching necessary for the at¬ 
tachment of the withe haft. It would seem that in the narrow pas¬ 
sages of the mine the use of hafted implements would be incon¬ 
venient if not entirely impracticable, and we are left to marvel at the 
feat accomplished of penetrating a compact ore-body in dark, sin¬ 
uous passages hardly roomy enough to admit the body of a man, 
with the aid of rude bits of stone held in the hand. The character 
of these openings is indicated clearly in plate l, which shows the 
face of the mine as freshly exposed by the mining operations; and 
figure 30 indicates somewhat imperfectly the manner in which the 
tunnels or borings penetrate the ore body connecting with the su- 
