The first striking change in the mineral aspect of the country north of Lake Huron, is presented near the head of the Island of St. Joseph, in the River St. Mary, where the calcareous strata of secondary rocks are succeeded by a formation of red sandstone, which extends northward to the head of that river at Point Iroquois, producing the falls called the Sault de Ste. Marie, fifteen miles below; and thence stretching northwest, along the whole southern shore of Lake Superior, with the interruptions noted, to Fond du Lac.
This extensive stratum is perforated at various points by upheaved masses of sienitic granite and trap, which appear in elevated points on the margin of the lake at Dead River, Keweena Point, Presque Isle, and the Chegoimagon Mountains. It is overlaid, in other parts, by a stratum of gray or neutral-colored sandstone, of uncommon thickness, which appears in various promontories along the shore, and, at the distance of ninety miles from Point Iroquois, constitutes a lofty perpendicular and caverned wall, upon the water's edge, called the Pictured Rocks.
So obvious a change in the geological character of the rock strata, in passing from Lake Huron to Lake Superior, prepares the observer to expect a corresponding one in the imbedded minerals and other natural features—an expectation which is realized during the first eighty leagues, in the discovery of various minerals. The first appearances of copper are seen at Keweena Point, two hundred and seventy miles beyond the Sault de Ste. Marie, where the debris and pebbles along the shore of the lake contain native copper disseminated in particles varying in size from a grain of sand to a mass of two pounds' weight. Many of the detached stones of this Point are also colored green by the carbonate of copper, and the rock strata exhibit traces of the same ore. These indications continue to the River Ontonagon, which has long been noted for the large masses of native copper found upon its banks, and about the contiguous country.
This river is one of the largest of thirty tributaries, mostly small, which flow into the lake between Point Iroquois and Fond du Lac. It originates in a district of mountainous country intermediate between the Mississippi River and lakes Huron and Superior. After running in a northern direction for about one hundred and twenty miles, it enters the latter at the computed distance of fifty miles west of the portage of Keweena, in north latitude 46° 52´ 2´´, according to the observations of Capt. Douglass. It is connected, by portages, with the Monomonee River of Green Bay, and with the Chippewa River of the Mississippi. At its mouth there is a village of Chippewa Indians of sixteen families, who subsist chiefly on the fish taken in the river. Their location, independent of that circumstance, does not appear to unite the ordinary advantages of an Indian village of the region.
A strip of alluvial land of a sandy character extends from the lake up the river three or four leagues, where it is succeeded by hills of a broken, sterile aspect, covered, chiefly, with a growth of pine, hemlock, and spruce. Among these hills, which may be considered as lateral spurs of the Porcupine Mountains, the copper mines, so called, are situated, at the computed distance of thirty-two miles from the lake, and in the centre of a region characterized by its wild, rugged, and forbidding appearance. The large mass of native copper lies on the west bank of the river, at the water's edge, at the foot of an elevated bank, part of which appears to have slipped into the river, carrying with it the mass of copper, together with detached blocks of sienitic granite, trap-rock, and other species common to the soil at that place.
The copper, which is in a pure and malleable state, lies in connection with serpentine rock, one face of which it almost completely overlays. It is also disseminated in masses and grains throughout the substance of the rock. The surface of the metal, unlike most oxidable metals which have been long exposed to the atmosphere, presents a metallic brilliancy, which is probably attributable to the attrition of the semi-annual floods of the river.
The shape of the rock is very irregular; its greatest length is three feet eight inches; its greatest breadth, three feet four inches, with an average thickness of twelve inches. It may, altogether, contain eleven cubic feet.[ [207] It exceeds, in size, the great mass of native iron found some years ago on the banks of Red River, in Louisiana. I have computed the weight of metallic copper in the rock at twenty-two hundred pounds, which is about one-fifth of the lowest estimate made of it by former visitors. Henry, who visited it in 1766, estimated its weight at five tons. The quantity may, however, have been much diminished since its discovery, and the marks of chisels and axes upon it, with the discovery of broken tools, prove that portions have been cut off and carried away. Notwithstanding this reduction, it may still be considered one of the largest and most remarkable bodies of native copper on the globe, and is, so far as known, only exceeded in weight by a specimen found in a valley in Brazil, weighing twenty-six hundred and sixty-six Portuguese pounds. Viewed as a subject of scientific interest, it presents illustrative proofs of an important character. Its connection with a rock which is foreign to the immediate section of country where it lies,[ [208] indicates a removal from its original bed; while the intimate connection of the metal and matrix, and the complete envelopment of masses of the copper by the rock, point to a common and contemporaneous origin, whether that be referable to volcanic agency or water. This conclusion admits of an obvious application to the beds of serpentine and other magnesian rock found in other parts of the lake.
Several other large masses of native copper have been found, either on this river or within the basin of the lake, at various periods since the country has been known, and taken into different parts of the United States and of Europe. A recent analysis of one of these specimens, at the University of Leyden, proves it to be native copper in a state of uncommon purity, and uncombined with any notable portion of either gold or silver.
A mass of copper, weighing twenty-eight pounds, was discovered on an island in Lake Superior, eighty miles west of the Ontonagon. It was taken to Michilimackinac and disposed of. The War Department was formerly supplied with a specimen from this mass, and the analysis above alluded to is also understood to have been made from a portion of it. A piece weighing twelve pounds was found at Winnebago Lake. Other discoveries of this metal have been made, within the region, at various times and places.
The existence of copper in the region of Lake Superior appears to have been known to the earliest travellers and voyagers.