Mining operations were carried on in different parts of the continent, but in a primitive, limited way. Some of the most extensive was the mining for flint with which to make stone implements, mentioned before. The mining was done by means of fire and cold water alternately applied, and this was the method used in all mining operations on the continent, so far as is now known, except in the steatite or soapstone mining. But, even in Europe, until the invention of gunpowder, the fire method was employed, and in one or two localities where fuel is plenty it is said to be still considered an economical manner of extracting ore. In the Far West, where the rocks and ledges were more exposed, veins were discovered where the calcedony, or jasper, or other stone desired for stone implements could be easily knocked out. It was then carried away to some comfortable site and wrought into shapes. Along Western rivers one occasionally comes upon a spot where the ground is littered with “chips,” rejects, broken arrow-heads, and also perfect ones, the latter probably having been dropped and lost; or possibly in some way not being satisfactory to the arrow-makers. In working out soapstone vessels of the larger kind, the mining and rough shaping were frequently, if not always, accomplished at one and the same time.[253] Holmes describes the methods employed as follows: “When a sufficient area of the solid stone had been uncovered, the workmen proceeded with pick and chisel to detach such portions as were desired. If this surface happened to be uneven, the projections or convexities were utilized, and the cutting was not difficult; if the rock was massive and the surface flat, a circular groove was cut, outlining the mass to be removed, and the cutting was continued until a depth was reached corresponding to the height of the utensil to be made; then, by undercutting, the nucleus was detached or so far severed that it could be broken off by means of sledges or levers. If the stone happened to be laminated, a circular groove was cut through at right angles to the bedding, and the discoid mass was removed without the need of undercutting.... A notable feature of the cutting out of these masses of stone is the attendant shaping of the mass which was rudely sculptured as the work went on, the contour of the vessel being approximately developed. Although I have seen no good examples of this class, it is confidently stated by others that rude nodes were carved at opposite ends of the mass as incipient handles, and that excavation of the bowl was begun, so that when severed from the stem the vessel was already well under way.”[254] These vessels were usually, in their largest size, about two feet long, one foot or more in width, and about seven or eight inches deep. Some are nearly circular. The tools used were of stone, wood, bone, and horn, but chiefly of stone in the form of chisels and picks. Some of the trenches formed in cutting out this