Ancient Works at Isle Royale, Michigan [pp. 173-175]

1873.] ANCIENT WORKS AT ISLE B 0 YALE, ]ItICHIGAN 173
moment in tumultuous manifestations, either
of censure or applause. The public becomes
at the theatre a real actor. Its voice, and if
not its voice its accent, its murmur, accompanies the performers as the blue waves of
the Pireaus accompanied the choir of Grecian
tragedy. When they are pleased, the applause reaches delirium, and the expression
of disapprobation is absolutely pitiless. An
actress would think herself despised and
neglected if her ears were not saluted with a
tempest of approval, or if she was not nearly
buried under showers of bouquets. During
the entire performance the excitement and
curiosity of the people are extreme. They
are never indifferent. They are a people who
love or hate. The dawn of criticism rather
spoils their frank, artistic nature. They feel
acutely, and sing with taste and expressionputting their whole hearts into a romance of
Bellini, a melody of Cimarosa, an air of Passiello. There is in their accent some echo
of the Greek songs which the mariners chant
in the isle of Capri, at the cape of Sorrento,
at the foot of Vesuvius. As in the serenades
of Schubert and of Mozart there is something
of the music of Andalusia, so in the Andalusian song there is something of the sublime
accent of the Moorish cadence, accompanied
by the breeze of the desert.
But, notwithstanding this, in my observations of the city which the Greeks call
Siren, there is something which disgusts me;
the excess of noisy gayety min conversation, the
excess of movement in their gestures, the
excess of giddiness in their dances, the excess
of accompaniments of the most discordant
instruments in their songs and their tarantellas. And often, wearied of so much commotion, I ascended the hill of the Carthusians
to look upon the heavens and the Mediterranean, and to reflect that the varieties of peoples and of races are lost in the immensity
of the Infinite.
ANCIENT WORKS AT ISLE
ROYALE, MICHIGAN.
HE remarkable discoveries which have re cently been made at Isle Royale, Michigan, of the mining and other works of an ancient people, are entitled to a more general
recognition than, for various reasons, they
have as yet received. Owing to a visit lately
made the island, and through the kindness of
a gentleman well known in mining interests,
who is at present engaged in developing the
mineral resources of the place, the writer has
become acquainted with something of the
wonderful extent and character of the works
referred to.
Though it is probable that not one-tenth
of those ancient excavations have, so far, been
revealed, some idea of their extent may be
arrived at from the statement of the gentleman mentioned, who has calculated that, at
one point alone, on three sections of land
toward the north side of the island, the
amount of labor performed by those ancient
men far exceeds that of one of our oldest
copper-mines on the south shore of Lake Superior, a mine which has now been constantly
worked with a large force for over twenty
years. This may well appear almost incredible when we take into account all the disadvantages under which those primitive miners
must have labored, and all the advantages
comprehended by our present civilization, including the various improvements in mining
appliances, and the vast resources of modern
science.
Isle Royale is situated about fifty miles
from the south shore of Lake Superior, and
from fifteen to twenty miles from its north
shore, and lies off Ontario, Canada, to which,
geographically, it would seemingly belong;
or one might suppose that, belonging to the
United States, it pertained to Minnesota rather
than to Michigan. Consequently, the mistake
of supposing it to belong to Canada is frequently made. The island is nearly fifty miles
in length, varying from five to about nine
miles in breadth, having, in most parts of the
coast-line, an exceedingly ragged, rocky shore,
abounding in deep inlets and small harbors,
or coves. A large number of islands and
rocky islets lie off the main island, particularly in a northeast and southwest directionthe line of its greater axis-to which direction
the rocky elevations of the island, in some
places rising more than seven hundred feet
above the level of Lake Superior, correspond
in a remarkable degree. Nearly the entire
of the island is covered with a growth of timber, more or less dense, consisting of the
species usually composing our northern forest. The works, generally pits of from ten to
thirty feet in diameter, and from twenty to
sixty feet in depth, are found scattered
throughout the island, wherever examined,
being sunk through the few feet of superincumbent drift, where it exists, into the amygdaloid copper-bearing rock. They invariably
are on the richest veins; and the intelligence
displayed in the tracing and following of the
veins when interrupted, etc., has elicited the
astonishment of all who have witnessed itno mistakes having apparently been made in
this respect. These excavations are connected underground, drains being cut in the
rock to carry off the water. Stopes one
hundred feet in length are found. A drain
sixty feet long presented some interesting
features-having been cut through the surface-drift into the rock, it had evidently been
covered for its entire length by timbers felled
and laid across. When opened, the timbers
had mostly decayed, and the centre portions
had sunk into the cavity, filling it for nearly
its entire length with the rotted wood.
At a deep inlet known as McCargoe's'
Cove, on the north side of the island, excavations such as are described extend in almost
a continuous line for more than two miles, in
most instances the pits being so close together as barely to permit their convenient
working. Even the rocky islets off the coast
have not escaped the observation of those ancient miners, and where bearing veins of copper are generally worked. The stone hammers, weighing from ten to even thirty pounds,
the chief tool with which the labor was performed, have been found by cart-loads. They
are either perfect, or are broken from use;
and the.fragments of large numbers of them
are found intermingled with the debris on the
edge of the pits, or at their bottom. These
hammers are occasionally found grooved for
the affixture of the handle, but are oftener
without this adaptation. Tools made of copper, and consisting principally of chisels and
knives, have also been taken from such of
the pits as have been explored. Arrowheads
of copper have also been picked up, both in
the vicinity of the pits and scattered over the
island, at the surface, as if lost in the chase.
The tools, though injured from oxidation, appear to have been of fair workmanship, and
were evidently hardened, apparently through
the action of fire. With the exception of the
stone hammers, no other tools formed of stone
have been observed. A large portion of a
wooden utensil, shaped like a bowl, was taken
from among the debris, charcoal, etc., at the
bottom of a pit. This vessel had possibly
been used in bailing water from the excavation.
It must originally have been about three feet
in diameter, and something of the rude character of the tool employed in shaping it could
be gathered from its appearance. It was not
of uniform thickness throughout, the wood
having been more easily removed when working in certain directions; e. g., when cutting
with the grain, the vessel was thinner in those
portions.
The pits which haveen examined, by
being cleaned out, invariabI had at top a
large deposit, mostly of vegetable remains,
the accumulations of many a fall-of-the-leaf,
beneath which lay a thick bed of charcoal
and mud mingled with fragments of copperbearing rock. Besides this, they were partly
filled with water. The removal of the contents was consequently very dirty work. The
method of mining pursued by those people
was evidently, on turning back the overlying
drift, to heat the rock through the aid of
fire; then, when by the application of water
the rock was sufficiently disintegrated, to at-
tack and separate it with their great ham-,(
mers. What a slow, wearisome pro-bess
Even with a large force constantly engaged
in this labor, it must have taken a long series
of years to accomplish the work exhibited;
and, if those people withdrew during the
lengthy winter season, as has been supposed,
it would more than double the period re quired.'An experienced mining captain com puted that two of those men, with their rude 2
methods, could barely be equivalent to two *
hundred of our skilled miners. Though no
exact estimate can now be made as to the
length of time occupied in the prosecution
of those extensive works, more or less inter rupted as they undoubtedly must have been,
yet it does not seem too much to estimate
hundreds of years for their accomplishment.
As to the time which has elapsed since
the mines have ceased to be worked by this
by-gone race, a more definite approximation 6)
can be reached. Various careful estimates (
have placed this period at from seven hun- a
dred to eight hundred years. I cannot but
conclude that, since the last work was done
in those pits, the original forest has disap peared, having been succeeded by the oldest
of our present timber, which is now in pro cess of supplanting by what is known as our
"second growth." The late General Harrison
(President of the United States), acknowl edged to have been skilled in woodcraft,
has made some valuable and suggestive re
ANCIENT WORKS AT ISLE O YA.LE, XICffIGAX.
173
1873.]