The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-07-21
A LOST RACE.

ImperIshabIe Records of its Genius and Civil
zattOn.
A OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES statement has since
been Notwithstanding from one OF the min.
ing settlements on the shore OF Lake Superior
SAYS that the remains OF a considerable mum.
Der of ancient copper mines have been lately
discovered on Isle Royal, in Thunder Bay,
on the northern border of the lake, which
exhibit pndou6ted 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 be.
ing brought to view.
Shafts of considerable depth, filed and
choked with accumulated debris OF ages,
have been opened, and in penetrating to q
depth of sixty feet tools of wonderful work.
manship have been discovered, together with
charcoal remains, which mark The spot where
skilled artisans formed, from copper tools,
whose temper and durability would astonish
the ingenious makers of the present day
Hammers and chisels seem to have been the
principle implements for working the mine,
which, together with fire, reduced the ore to
a condition which rendered its removal IN
detail easily accomplished. Finely tempered
kniveblades have been picked ont of the pit,
and granite hammers of such size as to require
the strength Of no ordinary man to WELD sue.
cessfully.
These discoveries, wonderful as they are,
do not stand alone, nor do they present any
new facts IN relation to the people who form
erly inhabited this continent. They simply
go 70 strengthen the evidence that, centuries
before the written history of America, power.
full and civilized communities occupied every
portion of its domain, who, disappearing
lett behind them proofs of their progress in
the arts and sciences and their indubitabe
skill in architecture. For three thousand
miles along the valleys of our great Western
rivers, traces of towns and cities occur at in
tervals, together with the remains of large
fortified encampments, which Show from
their position and arrangement, that their
builders were no mean adopts in the art of
warfare. Vast tumuli with the dead buried
IN a sitting posture and at their feet shells un.
known 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
solidlty of construction, massivencss of ma.
terials, general design and execution, the an
Client remains of the old Egyptian dynas,!es.
Yet neither in Western America nct 10
Yucatan exists the falntest tradition rs 10
that mysterious race which has lciN behind it
The imperishabe record Of its genius and
civilization. We can do nothing but copjec-
ture. Pursue our Investigation as we may, we
are still led back to the starting point, with
no more definite Knowledge than when we set
out. The thread IS lost, never TO be recovered
1t is a singular fact that thus far there has
never been discovered upon any of the ruins,
or Ia connection with the tools and war i'm.
plemcnr mentioned, any mark, letter, or
trace, whereby any clue, either to its origin,
customs or language Of this mysterious race
might be caught or gathered up. In Europe
re gradual process OF development from q
nalf savage state to the high culture of the
present day can be traced, stage by stage, and
every distinct era marked by u definite date.
But here the links that bound one generation
TO another have been abruptly severed, and
the moundbuilGers of the Ohio, the architects
Of Copen and Polenque, and the copperwork-
crs on the shores of Lake Superior, alike lie
beyond the reach of the historian and the
speculations of the arciErOlogIst
The relics they have left behind them only
serve TO excite the cOnjec,ures of the curious
and the investigations of the scientific Posi-
bly,, in some yet undiscovered ruin or tomb,
the key may be found to the problem which
now puzzles the world, but then IL is only Il
possibility. There is little doubt that the
mystery will remain mystery, until the
great day when the sea shall give up It's dead
and the past be stretched before US like a
scroll.