Near Ontonagon, to the south-west of Portage Lake, a line of trenches was observed in 1863, and a shaft was sunk in a depression which was considered to be an old pit. At a depth of nine feet, one of the workmen drew out upon the point of his pickaxe, a small untanned leather bag in a good state of preservation. It was noticed that the mouth of the bag was traversed by a leather string, which was in its place and could be used for drawing the opening together. The bag was seven inches wide and eleven inches deep. Two years afterwards, some men exploring the same part of the forest, observed a small mound about six feet high. After digging through it down to the ground, they reached the surface of a pit, which was carefully excavated by them. At the top there was a deposit of sand; below that, were many closely pressed layers of decayed leaves. At the bottom of the pit they saw a birch bark basket, in all respects, similar to those that are made and used by the modern Chippewas. Near the basket they also found a bit of beaver or otter skin with the fur upon it, portions of the jaw of a bear, several pieces of charcoal, a beating block—fourteen inches square and three inches thick—made out of a lump of copper conglomerate, some lengths of knotted strips of buckskin, and a rough bit of wood about three feet long, which the miners call a digging stick. A collection of these things had been placed in an office at Houghton, where I saw them. I noticed that the digging stick was worn and frayed at the end where it had been used, and that the fur on the beaver skin was still in good condition. In the same forest country as that where the pits were dug, several copper spear heads have been picked up. Those examined by me were unquestionably made by persons skilled in the working of metal. Several of the members attached to the mission at Sault Ste. Marie,[12] in the early part of the eighteenth century, made crosses and ornaments from copper that was brought to them by Indians, who had found small lumps of the metal on the surface of the ground. The spear heads may have been made at the mission house. After the cession of the Canadas to Great Britain in 1763, an English Company was formed for the purpose of searching for metal in this region. The operations were conducted by Mr. Alexander Henry, and it has been ascertained that for several years he worked near Ontonagon, and at other places upon the Kee-wai-wona promontory. Judging from the method in which, at the ancient workings, the lodes of copper have been traced through dense forests, it is evident that fixed plans of operations must have been pursued, and I came to the conclusion that the surveyor who directed them, must have had a competent knowledge of the use of the compass. It is therefore not unreasonable to assume, that all the pits and trenches were excavated under the superintendence of Europeans, at some period later than the sixteenth century.