The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-03-12

/
| tory which was presented 10y Gen
| Frank Il. Lyon at the last regular
meeting of the Calumet Womaus club,
which MIR Lyon has courtcously al
lowed The News to present to it's
readers.
According to one writer when CO.
lumbus. on his fourth VOYAGE in i5OG.
landed on the island OF Guauaja, he
was visited 10y Indians from Yucatan,
who carried hatchets, bells, plates,
spears and many other articles fash
toned from native copper.
II Investigations since then have con
WINGED the scientists that since the
only native copper known is found
upon the shores of Lake Superior. ana
since there is no evidence that thes,
uncivilized people possessed sufficient
mctallurgical skill to reduce the cop.
per ores so abundant In the southwest.
! To refined copper. the material from
which these implements were found
came from the shores of Lake Super
ior.
Diaz, who accompanied Cortcz to
Mexico. says, that in addition to or
naments Of gold, the natives possessed
numerous battle-aNes which he
thought were made of an inferior sort
of gold. and that it was only after
an expenditure of much time and la.
Dor they discovered. after collecting
several hundred of them, that they
were maze of copper.
implements made of native copper
arc found in the earth scattered from
the shores OF Lake Superior to Cen
tral America toward the southwest
and as far as Florida toward the
southeast. And while noat-coppcr
carried, probably by the glaciers. is
found in all parts of our country. ii
is bot thought this supply would BE ,
sufficient for the demands I'm fact, ,
all evidence points TO the Lake SUI /
perior as the original source of supply. ,
The prehistoric miners who wrought |
in carly copper country days evident /
~ were of an intelligent and indus /
trious race. They must have had To .
produce considerable supply to hll !
the demands made upon them.
They seemed TO show an increasing
in their migration toward
the southwest and many of our au-
thorities believe to them should be
given the credit of the erection of the
massive structures, the remains of
which are found in the southwest.
The workings OF these miners of
''old copper country days appear to
vary i'm width from four To seven
miles and TO have extended from Iic-
weenaw point, I'm a souihwesterly iii
rection, for a distance of oven a hun
1rcu miles. On Isle Royalc. at the |
Minong mine, which | visited in 1879.
they apparently had mined an area
100 feet wide and two miles in length,
10 "A depth of twenty feet. Their inn
clements are found there literally bS
the thousands. Their methods were
necessarily crude. From the charred
,oal and the stone hammers found ia
heir workings, ii is believed they iirst
heated the copper bearing rock. which
'aused ii to expand, then threw cold
water upon it, causing Il sudden con
raction. which disintegrated the rock,
cINdSlHS the copper CbllciltS WITH did
If their stone hammers.
On the mainland near the mouth ol
he Ontonagon river. has been found
what evidently is the site of "a stone
iard Of manufactory where these
hammers were made. The clippings
md refuse are found in abundance.
DR.. \. Il. Simonson, who spent two
I
stone hammers were so numerous
here that hc mad known of wells be-
ng walled up with them lie also
stated that urnc Of the hammers
ound on Isle Royalc had the groove
around them as did the hammers
ound in the mainland. This groove
vas evidently used to attach Il ham
lie to the hammer. .
At the Minnesota mine some of ,
hcse hammers were found under u .
zine tree which had grown upon =
reap of rubbish. The annular rings ,
N this tree showed it TO be 3s5 years ,
Id ,
At Isle Royalc a similar tree was
eled and showed jSi annular rings
ipon its stump.
In our day we call their methods
rude But the gulf between their ,
ime and our own is not SO wide. All
,ur early miners used what they refer ,
o as Jack power" meaning a wind ,
ass. revolved by Cousin Jack" The ,
Idvent of the horse whim at the CHI ,
nine was an innovation, and mining
men gathered at the mine 10 see 1t IN I
operation. The installation of an ,
light horse power engine in the Gilt
tamp mill marked a new era in min ,
ng methods. SO the transition is not
10 great after all, from the methods
II the ancient TO the modern methods.
n fact. i'm your day and mine We ,
lso some of their customs. The Quin- ,
" and other mines-even our own
Calumet mine-used to roast the rock
,efore sending 1t to the stamp mills .
~ covering a large space with cord ,
wood, covering this with mine rock
md then setting fire to it, i
The product of the Calumet mine 4
yns hauled bV mule power over "A