The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-04-01

luuOS. I1e Is d uul6J, IoJlIluS lldn, uO-
mestic in his habits, and the head of a
household which is said to be model in
its simplicity of life.
UNKNOWN MEN DELVED FOR COPPER
ON LAKE sUPERIOR's SHORE.
The first mining engineer who set
foot i'll the Lake Superior region found
that somebody had preceded him. He
saw the shafts and the tunnels. He
picked up the pieces of copper metal.
Under many feet of debris he unearthed
the tools of those who had been there,
and these tools were of stone. Who
were the original copper miners on the
American continent? "a prehistoric
race" says DR.. Thomas Eggleston of
Columbia college. This scientist has
made study of the ancient copper
mines in the United States. He has
gathered up not only the tools used in
mining, but the household utensils, the
remnants of the former homes and any
thing which might give the slightest in
dication of what manner OF people these
original American copper miners were.
He has gone into the ancient workings
and measured the stroke of the imple-
ments. In this way he has arrived at a
conclusion in regard to the stature and
strength of these prehistoric miners.
They were asmaller race than the Amer
leans of to-day, DR.. Eggleston says.
Lake Superior was not the only region
where the copper mining was carried on
many centuries ago. The same kind
of men mined in the mountains of North
Carolina. The same tools, the same
household articles, the same methods of
mining and living, the same kind of
OF, 4l,n 90 ,nY,fc
found in North Carolina workings that
have been discovered in the Lake Su-
periOr country.
81 have concluded" DR.. Eggleston
said, "that the men who mined copper
in the Lake Superior region migrated
when cold weather came on to North
Carolina, and carried on their work
there until it became warm again, when
they went back to the Lake Superior
mines. | believe they mined at Lake
Superior until about September, and
then moved South"
"Whom do you think they were, doc
tor-Aztecs?
The scientist said "Nom decidedly.
"When l was in Alaska" he continued,
81 found the natives of the Aleutian Is
land setting out in their boats to go a
distance of 200 milee. That was no I'M
usual distance for them. l knew that
these natives were said to resemble the
Japanese somewhat; but when l studied
them saw that the characteristics were
much closer than | had been led by
reading to suppose. Forty-eight hours
after leaving these people at sea
in their boats | came upon the Japanese
in their boats"
"YOu conclude that the Japanese
came to this country centuries ago by
way of Alaska and worked the Lake
Superior copper minesP"
mo, l don't offer it as a conclusion.
The facts have mentioned are merely
suggested. We know that the Japanese
as metal-workers are in advance of us in
some respects. Only those who have
visited Japan know how far this is true.
We never see in the Japanese work ex-
hibited in this country for sale what is
really good work. They have way in
their country of expressing their con-
domination of piece of work by saying
it will do for export. When l was over
there picked up, in heap of work
thrown aside as rejected, something
that had been made by boys under ten
years of age. 1t was silver inlaid in
other metal. They didn't want to let
me have it, because they thought il
wasn't good enough to sell. l have
since shown the condemned article along
with fine specimen of approved Jap
anese workmanship. am sorry to say
that many Americans consider the con
demned article the best"
did these prehistoric miners get out
other metals-gold and silver-as well
as cOpper?'
''No; they only mined copper. be-
ieve there were five historic races or
this continent. Two of them were high
ly civilized. The others were barbarou'
or semi-barbarous."
"Were they here altogether or did one
follow the Other2'
81 can't say as to that. Probably thu
two civilized races were here at dilferen
times. Preceding the Indians founC
here when our people came to this
country there was barbarous or semi
barbarOus race, and just before that
perhaps, 500 years before this country
was discovered by Columbus, there was
the civilized race which mined the cop
per. | have been all over the Western
plains, and l believe they were once
wooded and well watered. A civilized
people lived there and carried the ar
of irrigation to high degree of success
You can find the locations of lakes anC
reservoirs where great quantities of waite
were stored by means of dams and dis
tributed over large tracts of country
You can see where there were springs fec
by underground courses from these ar
tificial lakes and reservoirs. That who'll
country was altogether different from
what tits now. 1t was reclaimed once ant
it can be again, every foot of it. In tn
Snake River Valley, in Idaho, there ar
100000 acres for which the water
already provided. In many places tn
water must be stored, but the natura
reservoir sites are ready, and by ittl
work can be turned to account as the
were by the race which once utilize
them. 1 have watered my horse many
time from the relics of this system Q
irrigation which extended all over tn
West.-SL. Louis Globe Democrat.
A CATSKILL, v, PHYSICIAN.
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