Year: 1872

ImperishabIe Records of its Ge


MUS and Civilization.


A, correspondent-whose statement
has since been verified-writing from
one of the mining settlements on the
shores of Lake Superior, says that the
remains of considerable number o1
ancient copper mines have been lately
discovered on Isle Royal, in Thunder
Bay, on the northern border of the lake,
which exhibit undoubted evidence oi
having been worked by a race Of men
long since extinct, and of whom we pos
sess 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 accumulated
debris of ages, have been opened, and
in penetrating to depth of sixty feet
tools of wonderful workmanship have
been discovered, together with char
coal remains, which mark the spot
where skilled artisans formed, from cop
per, tools whose temper and durability
would astonish the ingenious makers of
the present day. Hammers and chisels
seem to have been the principal imple-
ments for working this mine, which,
together with fire, reduced the ore to
condition which rendered its removal
in detail easily accomplished. Finely
tempered knife-blades have been pick
ed out of the pit, and granite hammers
of such size as to require the strength of
no ordinary 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 strength
en- the evidence that, centuries before
the written history of America, power
full and civilized communities occupied
every portion of its domain, who, dis
appearing, left behind them proofs OF
their progress in the arts and sciences
and their indubitable skill in architect
ure. 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 arrange
ment, that their builders were no mean
adepts in the art of warfare. Vast tu-
null, with the dead buried in a sitting
posture. and at their feet shell unknown
to this continent, exist by the hundred
in the Ohio and Mississippi valley.


In the dense Yucatan forests there
are ruins of temples and palaces resem-
bling in solidity of construction, mas
siveness of materials, general design
and execution, the ancient remains OF
the old Egyptian dynasties. Yet neith-
er in Western America nor in Yucatan
exists 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 coniescture. Pursue our investiga-
tions as we may, we are still led back
to the starting point, with no more de-
finite knowledge than when we set out.
The thred is lost, never to be recovered.


tits a singular fact that thus far there
has never been discovered upon any of
the ruins, or in connection with the
tools and war implements mentioned
any mark, letter. or trace, whereby any
clue, either to the origin, customs, or
language of this mysterious race might
be caught or gathered up. In Europe
the gradual process of development
from halfsavage state to the high cult
ureofthe present. day canbc traced stage
bv 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 Copen and Palenque, and the
copper-workers on the shores of Lake
Superior, alike lie beyond the reach of
the historian and the speculations ofthe
arch@ologist.


The relics they have left behind
them only serve to excite the. conject-
ures OF the curious and the investiga-
tions of the scientific. Possibly, in
some vet undiscovered ruin or tomb,
the key may be found to the problem
which now puzzles the world; but then
it is only possibility. There is little
doubt that the mystery will remain
mystery until the great day when the
sea shall give up its dead aad the past be
stretched before US like a scroll.


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