LAKE SUPERIOR COUNTRY page-3

Down to the end of the season of 1847, exploring and mining for copper had been the great absorbing pursuits engaging the attention of the pioneers. Explorations, as has been stated in my first paper, had been made in all the regions bordering the lake, but regular mining had been confined to Keweenaw Point, of which the famous ” Cliff” was the chief exponent. But in 1847-8 the Ontonagon District came to the front as a producer of mass copper, the foremost mine being the celebrated Minesota, This mine was discovered by Mr. Samuel 0. Knapp, who opened at a point where the so-called “Ancient Miners” had worked in pre-historic ages. One pit, opened by Mr. Knapp, is thus described by Professor Foster: ” When he had penetrated to the depth of eighteen feet he came to a mass of native copper, ten feet long, three feet wide, and nearly two feet thick, and weighing over six tons. On digging round the mass, it was found to rest on billets of oak, supported by sleepers of the same material. The wood, from its long exposure to moisture, was dark-colored and had lost its consistency. It opposed no more resistance to a knife blade than so much peat. The earth was so firmly packed as to support the mass of copper. The ancient miners had evidently raised it about five feet and then abandoned the work as too laborious. The number of ancient (stone) hammers he took from this and other excavations exceeded ten cart loads. XX I would imagin the Anthropologists of today would like to have those “10 cart loads of tools” XX

Tagged as: Ancient Miners, Keweenaw Point, Ontonagon District