Washington County, Minnesota - Chapter 2: Early Mention Oy Lake 8upkri011 Copper, 1881

A. D. ISM, on Ootp»t Mine*. - Bonrher, A. D. 16*0, Describe* L»k«Sup» Hot Copper. - Jnnil Reltt&oni, A. D. 1666-67. - Copper on III* Rojr»l», - IUlf- Breed Tojegeur Qoee to Fran ee with Til on. - Jolliet end Ferret Search for Copper. - St Lnnon riant* the French Aran at Benlt 8t- Marie. - Copper at Ontanmfon and Bead of Lake Boperior.

Before white men had explored the shores of Lake Superior, Indians had brought to the tra¬ ding posts of the St. Lawrence River, specimens of copper from that region. Sagard, in his History of Canada, published in 1630, at Paris, writes : " There are mines of copper which might bo made profitable, if there were inhabitants and work¬ men who would labor faithfully. That would bo done if colonies were established. Alxmt eighty or one hundred leagues from the Ilurons, there is a mine of copper, from which Truchemont Brusle showed me an ingot, on his return from a voyage which he made to the neighboring nation."

Pierre Boucher, grandfather of Sieurde 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 Lake Su¬ perior 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 es¬ timate. They said that the savages, on passing it, made a fire on it, after which they cut off pie¬ ces 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 cele¬ brated 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 espe¬ cially on the side which is opposite the south, and principally in a certain bay, which is near tho northeast exposure to the great lake. * * *

"Advancing to the head of the lake (Foil 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 - mikoug, near Bayfield] where a mission was establish¬ ed 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 [Ontona¬ gon] 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 Cauada, visited France, taking a half-breed voyageur with him, and while in Paris, wrote on the 26th of Febru¬ ary, 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 l»y 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 com¬ missioned Jolliet and l*ere [l'errot] 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. Minis¬ ister Colbert wrote from Paris to Talon, in Feliruary, 1071, 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 do 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 copj>er mine.

On the 14th of June, 1071 , Saint Lusson at Sault St. Marie, planted the arms of France, in the pres¬ ence 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 explora¬ tions to Colbert, on the 2d of Novemlier, 1071, 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 ma¬ terial 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 ma¬ terial, which weighs about one hundred pounds. There will be no rest until the source from whence these detached lumps come is discovered.

between two high hills, the plain aliove 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 it¬ self, and assumes different shapes, such as those lobbies which I send to Mr. Bellinzany. My opinion is that these lobbies, rounded and carried off by the rapid waters, then have a tendency to become copper, by the inlluence 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 Lusson, about four hundred leagues, at some distance from the mouth of the river.

"lie hoped by the frequent journeys of the savages, and French who are beginning to travel by these routes, to discern the source of produc¬ tion."

Governor Denonville, of Canada, sixteen years after the above circumstances, wrote : " The cop¬ per, a sample of which I sent M. Amou, 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 iifteen months ago he saw a lump of two hundred weight, as yellow as gold, in a river which falls into Lake Superior. When heated, it could lie 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. Ilis opinion is that the frost undermined this piece, and that the mine is in that river. He has prom¬ ised to search for it on his way back."

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