News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-12-09
A PREHISTORIC PEOPLE
THE RACE WHO WORKED MICHI.
CAMS MINES.
indications of Civilized Glass Who
Reached America Ages Before

CAMS MINES.
indications of Civilized Glass Who
Reached America Ages Before
the Time of Columbus.
The recent wonderful discoveries of
| iron, "copper" and silver ores in Northern
Wisconsin, Michi an, and Minnesota call
| attention to fact not generally known
that wise old DR.. Franklin, while ar
ranging the treaty hetween this country
and England, alter the evolution, %
drew the boundry lines between the last
hostile powers as to include in the
United States the great mining regions
| on the southern shore of Lake Superior
In these days, when cry week gives
fresh information concerning the bound
less wealth in iron, copper, and silver of
this wonderful world the remark is often
heard that the treasures here entombed
are scarcely yet unlocked--so it would
seem upon cursory examination of the
copper and silver mines which fringe the
bleak shores of the great inland fresh
water sea. Such is, however, not the
fact. There is indubitabe evidence that
long before the first rcd man hunted III
the gloomy forests that grdle these
NAid duu lOucly SLOl tS--lOilR years
before the first jesuit launched his boat
upon the waves of the Getchee Cameo,
perhaps before "Adam delvcd and Eve
span" race of men, in numbers as the
sands on the shores, toiled and hammered
and beat the copper-pare native cop
per-not only into implements of war
fare, but without doubt for transpor-
tat:on to other lands. A civilization
must then have existed far superior to
any since known among the native tribes
north of Mexico. Thousands of years
ago a race of people worked the copper
MINIS in the R9per peninsula. They
worked the native. copper and were so
far advanced in the mechanical arts as 10
be able to handle masses of ore weighing
many tons. Their implements were fash
ished to do skillful work. In working
the copper mines of to-day these impe.
ments are found at great depth, show
ing that ages have elapsed since this pre-
historic race existed. The geological
formations bear evidence that thousands
of years have passed since these people
disappeared. Who were theyl Whence
came they, and where did they co.
Their untini he'd work has been laid be-
fore scientists, their tools and imple-
ments of stone and copper are to be seen
in museums and collections in Milwaukee
and other cities and yet no one can give
any reliable data of the existence or ex-
tinction of these people of the long ago.
The southern shores of Superior were
first explored in 1641 by two Jesuit
priests. Small bands continued to ex-
plore the region until l7G0. In that year
Alexander Henry visited the region. He
soon became familiar with the fact that
copper existed in the country. He pub
lished a book on the sub ect and de-
scribed his explorations. That prehis-
tOric race had worked these mines was
not discovered until the middle of the
present century. The aucie t excava-
tians are found in all parts of the PENN
sula. Their i scarcely vein of copper
in the whole district that does not show
evidence of ancient workings. In places
they even extend in the rock from three
to sixty feet The method of mining
was to heat the rock with fire and then
by pouring on water and pounding with
their stone hammers to disintegrate and
separate the ore. A careful search of all
the old records shows thai the Indians
who were found in the country were ig-
norant of the mines and the uses of the
metal.
In 1S47 S. o. Knapp was prospecting
on the range near Rockland, small
town in Ontonagon county, Michigan.
He opened test pit, the surface outcrop-
ping of copper bearing rock giving evil
dence of hidden treasure, and when
eighteen feet from the surface he discov-
cred a mas of nearly pure copper weigh
ing more than six tons. This is regarded
as the most wonderful mineral discovery
ever known, from the fact that the cop
per was almost pure and showed conclu-
sively that it had been worked and
abandoned by prehistoric race.
This mrss had been raised several feet
had decayed and tn mass remained in
its place Supported by the soil. 1t had
been hammered all over, until its surface
was perfectly smooth. In this pit, as in
many others, there were found great
numbers of stone hammers, bits of
burned wood, and copper chisel. Over
this mass, drawing its life from the soil,
stood n hemlock tree which showed 325
distinct annual rings of growth this was
standing by the stump of a much larger
tree which had grown. died and decayed
since this pit had been dug, and this
mass had been raised from its bed and
the brands beneath it had been burned
and the soil gathered above it in the long
lapse of ages.