The Range We Ascended Was On The West Side Of The River Extending
West-North-West And East-South-East.
The mountains varied in height from
twelve to fifteen hundred feet.
The uniformity of the mountains is
interrupted by narrow valleys traversed by small streams. The best
specimens of metal we procured were among the stones in these valleys,
and it was in such situations that our guides desired us to search most
carefully. It would appear that, when the Indians see any sparry
substance projecting above the surface, they dig there, but they have no
other rule to direct them, and have never found the metal in its original
repository. Our guides reported that they had found copper in large
pieces in every part of this range for two days' walk to the north-west,
and that the Esquimaux come hither to search for it. The annual visits
which the Copper Indians were accustomed to make to these mountains, when
most of their weapons and utensils were made of copper, have been
discontinued since they have been enabled to obtain a supply of ice
chisels and other instruments of iron by the establishment of trading
posts near their hunting grounds. That none of those who accompanied us
had visited them for many years was evident from their ignorance of the
spots most abundant in metal.
The impracticability of navigating the river upwards from the sea, and
the want of wood for forming an establishment, would prove insuperable
objections to rendering the collection of copper at this part worthy of
mercantile speculation.
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