“The surrounding country is underlain by a light-brownish red sandstone and gray slate clay in horizontal strata, cut here and there by dykes of greenstone.
“It is hardly possible to imagine two more similar sets of conditions in such widely separated localities, as in Copper mountains and on Keewena point (Lake Superior), the native copper occurring in both places associated with prehnite and epidote, chiefly in an amygdaloid, cut by dykes of greenstone.
Long Range of Copper-Bearing Rocks.
“The copper-bearing rocks would seem to extend along the Arctic coast, both east and west of Coppermine river, for about five hundred miles in all, and probably many of the smaller islands off the coast are also of the same rocks and the total area covered by these rocks undoubtedly amounts to many thousands of square miles.
“Comparing the early account of the occurrence of native copper on Lake Superior with the accounts which we now possess of the copper on Coppermine river, and considering the enormous extent of the northern deposit, we have reasonable grounds for hope that before many years the Coppermine area will produce as much copper as is now mined in northern Michigan. The amount mined there in 1896 was one hundred and forty-four million pounds, valued at between fifteen and sixteen million dollars, or about a sixth of the total amount of copper mined in the world that year.”
A Recent Visit to the Copper Country.
In the spring of 1902, having spent the winter with the Eskimos, Mr. David T. Hanbury made an examination of some of the places along the Arctic coast where the natives obtain copper for their implements. He was first informed that the copper deposits were to be found on Dease strait, but later ascertained that the islands in Bathurst inlet are the source of supply, and proceeded thither. Mr. Hanbury from the natives on Fitzgerald islands obtained a good many copper articles, such as snow-dags, ice-chisels, etc. They appeared to be rich in copper implements. They stated that some of their copper had been obtained in Victoria Land, and some from the islands to the north.
Shortly after landing on Barry island in Bathurst inlet, two small fragments of copper were picked up by one of his Eskimos. Mr. Hanbury proceeds, in his book, “Sport and Travel in the Northland of Canada”:—“The next day we devoted to examining the rock formation and searching for copper. We were successful in finding the copper, which appears to be abundant and widely distributed. Whether it would ever be worth working is another matter, and one on which I am not competent to give an opinion.
“The underlying basalt dips west at an angle of about twenty-five degrees, and it is in this rock that the native copper occurs. The copper is plentiful, for the quantity we obtained was found after but a brief search, and on a neighbouring island, Kun-nu-yuk, a mass of copper had just been found, so large that a man could hardly lift it. There also copper is found in the tide-way. The whole of the lower levels on Barry island are covered with debris from the basalt, and where the rock has been disintegrated by weathering,
Copper Has Fallen Out,