lowing extract is from a Quebec newspaper, bearing date 25th
June, 1848:

"THE COPPER REGION: SINGULAR DISCOVERY.--A correspondent of the Buffalo
Express, writing under date June 14, from Ontonagon, Lake Superior,
says:

"'Mr. Knapp, of the Vulcan Mining Company, has lately made some very
singular discoveries here in working one of the veins which he lately
found. He worked into an old cave which has been excavated centuries
ago. This led them to look for other works of the same sort, and they
have found a number of sinks in the earth which they have traced a long
distance. By digging into those sinks they find them to have been made
by the hand of man. It appears that the ancient miners went on a
different principle from what they do at the present time. The greatest
depth yet found in these holes is thirty feet: after getting down to a
certain depth, they drifted along the vein, making an open cut. These
cuts have been filled nearly to a level by the accumulation of soil; and
we find trees of the largest growth standing in this gutter, and also
find that trees of a very large growth have grown up and died, and
decayed many years since; in the same places there are now standing
trees of over three hundred years' growth. Last week they dug down into
a new place, and about twelve feet below the surface found a mass of
copper that will weigh from eight to ten tons. This mass was buried in
ashes, and it appears they could not handle it, and had no means of
cutting it, and probably built fire to melt or separate the rock from
it, which might be done by heating, and then dashing on cold water. This
piece of copper is as pure and clean as a new cent; the upper surface
has been pounded clear and smooth. It appears that this mass of copper
was taken from the bottom of a shaft, at the depth of about thirty feet.
In sinking this shaft from where the mass now lies, they followed the
course of the vein, which pitches considerably: this enabled them to
raise it as far as the hole came up with a slant. At the bottom of a
shaft they found skids of black oak, from eight to twelve inches in
diameter: these sticks were charred through, as if burned: they found
large wooden wedges in the same situation. In this shaft they found a
miner's gad and a narrow chisel made of copper. I do not know whether
these copper tools are tempered or not, but their make displays good
workmanship. They have taken out more than a ton of cobble-stones, which