DAWN OF A METALLURGIC ERA—PRIMITIVE COPPER-WORKING—COPPER REGION OF LAKE SUPERIOR—THE PICTURED ROCKS—JACKSON IRON MOUNTAIN—THE CLIFF MINE—COPPER TOOLS—ANCIENT MINING TRENCHES—GREAT EXTENT OF WORKS—MINES OF ISLE ROYALE—THEIR ESTIMATED AGE—ANCIENT MINING IMPLEMENTS—STONE MAULS AND AXES—ONTONAGON MINING RELICS —SITES OF COPPER MANUFACTORIES—NATIVE COPPER AND SILVER— BROCKVILLE COPPER IMPLEMENTS—LOST METALLURGIC ARTS—CHEMICAL ANALYSES—NATIVE TERRA-COTTAS—ANCIENT BRITISH MINING-TOOLS—THE RACE OF THE COPPER MINES—CHIPPEWA SUPERSTITIONS—EARLIEST NOTICES OF THE COPPER REGION—ONTONAGON MASS OF COPPER—ANCIENT NATIVE TRAFFIC—NATIVE USE OF METALS—CONDITION OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS—MINERAL RESOURCES—ANTIQUITY OF COPPER WORKINGS —DESERTION OF THE MINES. The same rational instinct which prompted man in his first efforts at tool-making, guided him in a discriminating choice of materials; and to this the discovery of metals, and the consequent first steps in metallurgy and the arts, may be traced. The Bronze Age of Europe derives its name from the predominance of relics illustrative of a period which, though old compared with that of definite history, belongs to a comparatively late era, characterised by many traces of artistic skill, and of mastery in the difficult processes of smelting ores and alloying metals. But the dawn of the metallurgic era in the New World is marked by phases which derive their distinctive character from two widely separated regions; and of which one supplies an important link in the history of human progress, at best but partially indicated in the disclosures of European archæology.