The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-06-14
A LOST RACE.

A Observation-Disclosures statement has
since been withdrawing from one of
the mining settlements on the shores Of
Lake Superior, says that the remains of
considerable number of ancient copper
mines have been lately discovered on Isle
Royal, in Thunder Bay, on the northern
border of the lake, which exhibit undoubt.
ed evidence Of having been worked by a
race of men long since extinct, and of
whom we possess no knowledge save that
left behind by such traces as are now being
brought to view. Shafts of considerable
depth, filled and choked with the accumu-
lated debris Of ages, have been opened,
and in penetrating to a depth of sixty feet
tools of wonderful workmanship have been
discovered, together with charcoal remains,
which mark the point where skilled artisans
formed, from copper, tools whose temper
and durability would astonish the ingeni-
Gus makers Of the present day. Hammers
and chisels seem to have been the principal
implements for working this mine, which,
together with fire, reduced the ore to
condition which rendered its removal in
detail easily accomplished, Finely-tem-
pered knife blades have been picked out
of the pit, the granite hammers of such
size as to require the strength of no ordi-
nary man to WELD successfully.
These discoveries, wonderful as they are,
do not stand alone, nor do they present
any new facts in relation to the people who
formerly inhabited this continent. They
simply go to strengthen the evidence that,
centuries before the written history of
America, powerful and civilized communi-
ties occupied every portion of its domain,
who, disappearing, left behind them proofs
of their progress in the arts and sciences
and their indubitable skill in architecture.
For three thousand miles along the valleys
OF our great western rivers traces of towns
and cities occur at intervals together with
the remains of large fortified encampments
which show, from their position and ar
rangement, that the builders were no mean
adopts in the arts of warfare. Vast tumuli
with the dead buried in sitting posture
and at their feet shells unknown to this
continent, exist by the hundred in the Ohio
and Mississippi valleys. In the dense
Yucatan forests there are ruins of temples
and palaces, resembling in solidity of con-
struction, massireness of materials, gener-
al design and execution, the ancient re-
mains of the old Egyptian dynasties.-
Yet neither in Western America nor in
Yucatan exist the faintest tradition as to
that mysterious race which has left behind
it the imperishable record of its genius
and civilization. We can do nothing but
conjecture. Pursue our Investigations as
we may, we are still led back to the start
ing point with no more definite knowledge
than when we set out. The thread is lost,
never to be recovered.
1t is singular fact that, thus far, there
las never been discovered upon any of the
rims, or in connection with the tools and
war implements mentioned, any mark, let
ter or trace, whereby any clue, either to
the origin, customs or language of this
mysterious race, might be caught or gath
cred up. In Europe the gradual course Of
development from half savage state to
the high culture of the present day can be
traced, stage By stage, and every distinct
era marked by definite date. But here
the links that bound one generation to
another have been abruptly severed, and
the mound builders of the Ohio, the archi-
tects of Copan and Palenque, and the
copper-workers on the shores of Lake
Superior alike lie beyond the reach of the
historion and the speculations of the arch
biologists. The relics they have left behind
them only serve to excite the conjectures of
the curious and the investigations OF the
scientific. Possibly, in some yet undis-
covered ruin or tomb, the key may be found
to the problem which now puzzles the
world; but then it is only a possibility
| Thers is little doubt that the mystery will
re1nain mystery until the great day when
the sea shall give up its dead and the past
be stretched before us like scroll.
Boston Globe.