4 
REVIEWS. 
This is less surprising than it at first; appears, if we remember that 
round Lake Superior, and in some other still more northern localities, 
copper is found native in large quantities, and the Indians had there¬ 
fore nothing to do but to break ofi* pieces and hammer them into the 
required shape. Hearne’s celebrated Journey to the mouth of the 
Coppermine River was undertaken in order to examine the locality 
whence the natives of that district obtained the metal. In this case 
it occurred in lumps actually on the surface, and the Indians seem 
to have picked up what they could, without attempting anything that 
could be called mining. Round Lake Superior, however, the case is 
very different. A short account of the ancient coppermines is given 
by Messrs. Squier and Davis in the work already so often cited, by 
Mr. Squier in “ The Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New 
York,” and by Mr. Lapham, # while the same subject is treated at 
considerable length by Prof. Wilson. The works appear to have 
been first discovered in 1847 by the agent of the Minnesota Mining 
Company. 
“ Poliowing up the indications of a continuous depression in the 
“ soil, he came at length to a cavern where he found several porcupines 
“ had fixed their quarters for hybernation; but detecting evidences 
“ of artificial excavation, he proceeded to clear out the accumulated 
“ soil, and not only exposed to view a vein of copper, but found in the 
“ rubbish numerous stone mauls and hammers of the ancient work- 
“ men. Subsequent observations brought to light ancient excavations 
“ of great extent, frequently from twenty-five to thirty feet deep, and 
“ scattered over an area of several miles. The rubbish taken from 
“ these is piled up in mounds alongside; while the trenches have 
“ been gradually refilled with the soil and decaying vegetable-matter 
“ gathered through the long centuries since their desertion; and over 
“ all, the giants of the forest have grown, and withered, and fallen to 
“ decay. Mr. Knapp, the agent of the Minnesota Mining Company, 
“ counted 395 annular rings on a hemlock-tree, which grew on one 
“ of the mounds of earth thrown out of an ancient mine. Mr. Poster 
“ also notes the great size and age of a pine stump, which must have 
“ grown, flourished and died since the works were deserted; and 
“ Mr. C. Whittlesley not only refers to living trees now flourishing 
“ in the gathered soil of the abandoned trenches, upwards of three 
“ hundred years old, but he adds, ‘ On the same spot there are the 
“ decayed trunks of a preceding generation or generations of trees 
“ that have arrived at maturity, and fallen down from old age.’ 
“ According to the same writer, in a communication made to the 
“ American Association, at the Montreal meeting in 1857, these 
“ ancient works extend over a track from 100 to 150 miles in length, 
“ along the southern shore of the lake.” 
In another excavation was found a detached mass of native copper, 
weighing upwards of six tons. It rested on an artificial cradle of 
* Loc. cit. p. 74. 
