Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter 2: Early Mention of Lake Superior Copper, 1882

A. D. 16M, on Copper Mine*. - Boucher, A. D. 1640, D«cnb<» Lake Supe rior Copper. - Jesuit Belations, JL D. 1866-67. - Copper on We Borala. - Half- Breed Yoyaceur Qom to France with Talon. - Jolhet end Pern* Search for Copper. - St. Loeeon Plant* the French Anns at Seutt St. Marie. - Copper at Ontanegon and Head of Lake Superior.

Before white men had explored the shores of Lake Superior, Indians had brought to the trading posts of the St. Lawrence River, specimens of copper from that region. Sagard, in his History of Canada, published in 1636, at Paris, writes : " There are mines of copper which might be made profitable, if there were inhabitants and workmen who would labor faithfully . That would be done if colonies were established. About eighty or one hundred leagues from the Hurons, there is a mine of copper, from which Tnichemont Brusle showed me an ingot, on his return from a voyage which he made to the neighboring nation."

Pierre Boucher, grandfather of Sieur de la Verendrye, the explorer of the lakes of the northern boundary of Minnesota, in a volume published A. D. 1640, also at Paris, writes : " In Lakfc Superior there is a great island, fifty or one hundred leagues in circumference, in which there is a very beautiful mine of copper. There are other places in those quarters, where there are similar mines ; so I learned from four or five Frenchmen, who lately returned. They were gone three years, without finding an opportunity to return; they told me that they had seen an ingot of copper all refined which was on the coast, and weighed more than eight hundred pounds, according to their estimate. They said that the savages, on passing it, made a fire on it, after which they cut off pieces with their axes."

In the Jesuit Relations of 1666-67, there is this description of Isle Royale : " Advancing to a place called the Grand Anse, we meet with an island, three leagues from land, which is celebrated for the metal which is found there, and for the thunder which takes place there; for they say it always thunders there.

" But farther towards the west on the same north shore, is the island most famous for copper, Minong (Isle Royale). This island is twenty-five leagues in length ; it is seven from the mainland, and sixty from the head of the lake. Nearly all around the island, on the water's edge, pieces of copper are found mixed with pebbles, but especially on the side which is opposite the south, and principally in a certain bay, which is near the northeast exposure to the great lake. * * *

" Advancing to the head of the lake (Fon du Lac) and returning one day's journey by the south coast, "there is seen on the edge of the water, a rock of copper weighing seven or eight hundred pounds, and is so hard that steel can hardly cut it, but when it is heated it cuts as easily as lead. Near Point Chagouamigong [Sha - gah - wah - mikong, near Bayfield] where a mission was established rocks of copper and plates of the same metal were found. * * * Returning still toward the mouth of the lake, following the coast on the south as twenty leagues from the place last mentioned, we enter the river called Nantaouagan [Ontonagon] on which is a hill where stones and copper fall into the water or upon the earth. They are readily found.

" Three years since we received a piece which was brought from this place, which weighed a hundred pounds, and we sent it to Quebec to Mr. Talon. It is not certain exactly where this was broken from. We think it was from the forks of the river ; others, that it was from near the lake, and dug up."

Talon, Intendent of Justice in Canada, visited France, taking a half-breed voyageur with him, and while in Paris, wrote on the 26th of February, 1669, to Colbert, the Minister of the Marine Department, "that this voyageur had penetrated among the western nations farther than any other Frenchman, and had seen the copper mine on Lake Huron. [Superior?] The man offers to go to that mine, and explore, either by sea, or by lake and river, the communication supposed to exist between Canada and the South Sea, or to the regions of Hudson's Bay."

As soon as Talon returned to Canada he commissioned Jolliet and Pere [Perrot] to search for the mines of copper on the upper Lakes. Jolliet received an outfit of four hundred livres, and four canoes, and Perrot one thousand livres. Minisister Colbert wrote from Paris to Talon, in February, 1671, approving of the search for copper, in these words : " The resolution you have taken to send Sieur de La Salle toward the south, and Sieur de St. Lusson to the north, to discover the South Sea passage, is very good, but the principal thing you ought to apply yourself in discoveries of this nature, is to look for the copper mine.

On the 14th of June, 1671, Saint Lusson at^Sault St. Marie, planted the arms of France, in the presence of Nicholas Perrot, who acted as interpreter on the occasion ; the Sieur Jolliet ; Pierre Moreau or Sieur de la Taupine ; a soldier of the garrison of Quebec, and several other Frenchmen.

Talon, in announcing Saint Lusson 's explorations to Colbert, on the 2d of November, 1671, wrote from Quebec : " The copper which I send from Lake Superior and the river Nantaouagan [Ontonagon] proves that there is a mine on the border of some stream, which produces this material as pure as one could wish. More than twenty Frenchmen have seen one lump at the lake, which they estimate weighs more than eight hundred pounds. The Jesuit Fathers among the Outaouas [Ou-taw-waws] use an anvil of this material, which weighs about one hundred pounds. There will be no rest until the source from whence these detached lumps come is discovered. " The river Nantaouagan [Ontonagon] appears between two high hills, the plain above which feeds the lakes, and receives a great deal of snow, which, in melting, forms torrents which wash the borders of this river, composed of solid gravel, which is rolled down by it.

" The gravel at the bottom of this, hardens itself, and assumes different shapes, such as those pebbles which I send to Mr. Bellinzany. My opinion is that these pebbles, rounded and carried off by the rapid waters, then have a tendency to become copper, by the influence of the sun's rays which they absorb, and to form other nuggets of metal similar to those which I send to Sieur de Bellinzany, found by the Sieur de Saint Lusron, about four hundred leagues, at some distance from the mouth of the river.

" He hoped by the frequent journeys of the savages, and French who are beginning to travel by these routes, to discern the source of Droduction."

Governor Denonville, of Canada, sixteen years after the above circumstances, wrote : " The copper, a sample of which I sent^M. Arnou, is found at the head of Lake Superior. The body of the mine has not yet been discovered. I have seen one of our voyageurs who assures me that, some fifteen months ago he saw a lump of two hundred weight, as yellow as gold, in a river which falls into Jjake Superior. When heated, it could be cut with an axe ; but the superstitious Indians, regarding this boulder as a good spirit, would never permit him to take any of it away. His opinion is that the frost undermined this piece, and that the mine is in that river. He has promised to search for it on his way back."

In the year 1730, there was some correspondence with the authorities in France relative to the discovery of copper at La Pointe, but, practically, little was done by the French, in developing the mineral wealth of Lake Superior.