CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 MOORE, CLARENCE BLOOMFIELD, 1852-1936. 
 
 As to copper i'rom the mounds of the St. 
 John's River, Florida. Reprinted from 
 pt. II "Certain sand mounds of the St. 
 John's River, Florida". By Clarence B. 
 
 Moore. 
 1894. 
 
 Philadelphia, The Levytype co, 
 
 E78 
 
 M82S 
 
April 1895] BOOK NOTICES 1S7 
 
 " 2. That the workmanship on the copper of the mounds of 
 the St. Johns is aboriginal. 
 
 " 3. That the copper itself is of aboriginal production, the 
 proof being mechanical, archeological, and chemical. 
 
 " 4. That such being the case, if copper plates cannot be pro- 
 duced without recourse to annealing, then we must concede to 
 the aborigines a knowledge of that art. 
 
 "5. That the copper of the mounds of the St. Johns is native 
 copper, as shown hy its high percentage of copper, a percentage 
 not obtainable by early smelting processes, and by its freedom 
 from arsenic and antimony in some instances, and the very small 
 percentage in others of these impurities, which are found to a 
 much greater extent in the early copper from the sulphide ores of 
 Europe. In addition, lead, used in smelting processes of Europe 
 and not eliminated from many of the ores, is present in earlier 
 sheet copper, and is, without exception, absent from native cop- 
 per and from the copper of the mounds. 
 
 " 6. That the Florida copper may have been derived from 
 various sources, possibly in part from Mexico, New Mexico, or 
 Arizona, and probably to a certain extent from Cuba* but that 
 the main supply was obtained from the Lake Superior region, 
 most of whose copper is non-arsenical. 
 
 " 7. That copper in which silver is visibly present has, so far 
 as is known, for its only source of supply on this continent the 
 Lake Superior region. 
 
 " 8. Incidentally, that mound copper from other localities, 
 including the copper of the famous Etowah plates of Georgia 
 and of the no less well known Hopewell mounds of Ohio, is, like 
 the Florida copper, aboriginal, having nothing in common with 
 the products of the impure European sulphides and imperfect 
 smeiting processes of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth 
 centuries." 
 
 It would be advantageous, I think, to take this work of Mr. 
 
 *This discovery of Cuban copper in the Floridian mounds is of great importance, as 
 bearing also on possible trade relations of the aboriginal inhabitants of Florida and the 
 Mississippi valley, not only with the inhabitants of Cuba, but also, though perhaps in- 
 directly, with those of Yucatan, for I am now inclined to believe (from evidence which 
 has come to hand since my paper on " Primitive Copper Working" was published in 
 the Anthbopologist of January, 1894) that such far-reaching trade relations did exist, 
 and that to some slight extent they influenced the arts of both these metal-working 
 peoples. 
 
AS TO COPPER FROM THE MOUNDS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ST. JOHN'S RIVER/FLORIDA. 
 
 REPRINTED FROM PART II "CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF THE 
 ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA." 
 
 By CLARENCE B. MOORE. 
 
 Journal of Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, '"Vol. X. 
 
 1894. 
 
MVSEVMoftheA/AERJCAN INDIAN! 
 
 i^U^j^U I I „L 
 
 MARSHALL. H. SAVILLE COLLECTION 
 
 Huntington Free Library 
 
 Native American 
 Collection 
 
 •**■«»*-««« ... i . 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 LIBRARY 
 
186 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [Vol. VIII 
 
 which I find would be impossible with brass of any grade or with 
 the ordinary copper of commerce. This applies also and espe- 
 cially to the remarkable rivet-patched plates of large size figured 
 and described by Mr. Moore. They are so obviously made up 
 from small natural masses of copper beaten out, and thus, with 
 minimum waste, as nearly as possible welded together by over 
 and underlapping and the riveting to form solid plates of larger 
 size than could have been shaped from any single piece the 
 makers of them possessed, that one must needs infer, first, the 
 purely aboriginal nature of the work as being that of artisans 
 unacquainted with fusing or soldering; second, the very ancient 
 character of this aboriginal work itself as having originated 
 probably in the effort to use small nodules or bowlders of drift 
 copper such only as was at first accessible to the mound-building 
 Indians before they became acquainted with and worked in the 
 great copper leads of the Lake Superior region, and such as they 
 continued to use for a long time afterward, as indicated by the 
 finds of Powell, Putnam, and other competent observers, even in 
 far southern mounds and graves; and, finally, one must also 
 infer the native origin of the extremely ductile and pure material 
 used in such working, else piecing so perfect as to be unrevealed 
 save by the most careful examination could not have been accom- 
 plished by such methods as are above mentioned. 
 
 Leaving other points which might, were space available, be 
 noticed with equal propriety, it will suffice if 1 simply quote 
 the general conclusions reached by Mr. Moore and compre- 
 hensively summarized at the close of his essay, and merely add 
 that each claim made in this brief summary is satisfactorily 
 supported by his more detailed studies bearing on or leading up 
 to it, as set forth in the body of the work. These claims (and 
 others less generally, but equally significant, might safely have 
 been adduced by Mr. Moore) are, as stated by him, " after a 
 careful survey of the field," as follows : 
 
 " 1. That the so-called copper found with objects of European 
 make along the St. Johns and, we may add, in other portions 
 of the United States, is almost universally not copper, but brass; 
 and, conversely, that.&rass does not occur with original deposits 
 of copper in mounds otherwise containing only objects of un- 
 questioned aboriginal origin. 
 
JOURN. ACAD. NAT. SCI PHILAD. AND SER ViJL. ". 
 
 PL. XVI. 
 
 MOORE: FLORIDA SAND MOUNDS 
 
 LOWER PLATE, COPPER BREAST-PIECE, MT ROYAL, FLA, 
 
 PARTIAL RESTORATION, --TWO-THIRDS NATURAL SIZE. 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924104075100 
 
AS TO COPPER FROM THE MOUNDS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 REPRINTED FROM PART II "CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF THE 
 ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA." 
 
 By CLARENCE B7 MOORE. 
 
 Journal of Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Jol. X. 
 
 1— i 
 
 1894. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA, 213 
 
 As to Copper from the Mounds of the St. John's. 1 
 
 Note. — The chemists, who made analyses given on pages 34 and jp of Part I, 
 now state that lead was present in the sulphuric acid used by them. These analyses 
 are therefore valueless, and are withdrawn, as are remarks on copper on page J5 of 
 Part I. 
 
 Before proceeding to discuss the copper found in various mounds of the St. 
 John's, we wish clearly to define certain terms as they will be used by us during the 
 course of this inquiry. 
 
 Native Copper. — Native copper is metallic copper found in nature, often con- 
 taining other elements such as silver, iron, etc. 
 
 Copper Ores. — When copper is found in chemical combination with other ele- 
 ments it forms an ore, as for instance, the oxide, the carbonate, the sulphide, etc. 
 
 Melting and smelting. — To melt is to reduce to a liquid state through the 
 agency of heat. 
 
 To smelt is to recover the metal from the ore by the aid of heat, at times the 
 employment of certain fluxes and the use of carbon in the case of copper. Thus, 
 it is clear that to aborigines conversant with the melting of copper, the art of 
 smelting might be unknown. 
 
 For the sake of clearness, we shall take up, under different headings, the cop- 
 per of the river mounds, its workmanship, its composition, and its origin. 
 
 COPPER OBJECTS OF EUROPEAN DESIGN. 
 
 With one possible exception, a hawk-bell, a favorite gift and medium of barter 
 from the time of Columbus, found with iron and glass near the surface of the mound 
 
 1 Sincere thanks for valuable assistance are returned to Alexander Agassiz, Esq. ; to James R. Cooper, 
 Esq., Superintendent of the Lake Superior Smelting Company ; to Professor Frank Hamilton Cushing ; 
 to J.'b. Eckfeldt, Esq., Chief Assayer U. S. Mint, Philadelphia ; to Dr. Persifor Frazer ; to Dr. Harry F. 
 Keller; to A. R. Ledoux, M.S., Ph.D. ; to G. W. Lehmann, Ph.D. ; to Dr. Edward D. Peters, Jr.; to 
 Professor J. W. Spencer, State Geologist of Georgia; to A. L. Walker, Esq., Consulting Engineer, Old 
 Dominion Copper Co., Baltimore. 
 
 To Professor James Douglas, President of the Copper Queen Mining Company, of Arizona, we are 
 especially indebted for continuous advice and assistance in the preparation of this paper, and for the loan 
 of many books and pamphlets otherwise inaccessible. 
 
 It is only fair to state that no one of the above-named gentlemen is responsible for all our statements 
 and conclusions as to copper. 
 
214 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 at Dunn's Creek, no article of copper distinctly of European workmanship has been 
 met with by us in the mounds of the St. John's. Articles of brass, of whose origin 
 no doubt can exist, are of course not under consideration. 
 
 COPPER OBJECTS OF ABORIGINAL DESIGN. 
 
 Before proceeding to discuss objects of copper discovered by us in the mounds 
 of the St. John's, which, it is strongly our belief, are of aboriginal design, we wish 
 earnestly to call the reader's attention to the admirable paper 1 by Professor Cush- 
 ing, which we regret our space forbids us to quote at length. 
 
 In this paper it is clearly shown how the most complicated designs in sheet 
 copper hitherto brought to the attention of archaeologists can be reproduced with 
 purely aboriginal tools, and how the sheets can be beaten from native copper with 
 the aid of annealing. As to annealing we shall speak in another portion of this 
 paper. 
 
 The reader of the two parts of our report will recall that from five mounds 2 of 
 the St. John's, whose contents gave no evidence of necessity connecting them with 
 a period subsequent to the Conquest, numerous objects of copper were taken by us, 
 including ornaments of sheet copper with various repotisst designs, beads of sheet 
 copper and beads of wood, shell and limestone copper-coated, jaws of mammals 
 encased in sheet copper, copper effigies of the serpent and of the turtle, and piercing 
 implements of hammered sheet copper. These piercing implements, of which the 
 longest measured 19 inches, seemed upon superficial examination to be wrought of 
 solid copper. A careful inspection, however, showed them to be made in at least 
 two different ways ; some from strips of thick sheet-copper hammered over on itself 
 and rounded by hammering, others of many thicknesses of copper in thin encircling 
 sheets beaten into very close contact. 
 
 Now this class of objects, deriving its material from sheet copper of various 
 thicknesses, represents about all the work in copper so far met with on the St. 
 John's. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to it, and not include in this inquiry 
 articles found in other sections, wrought from masses of solid copper, such as "celts," 
 bracelets, heavy breast-pieces, and the like, whose material and manufacture by 
 cold hammering, so far as we know, is believed by none to be other than aboriginal. 
 In fact, Professor Putnam informs us that such implements and ornaments have 
 been reproduced under his direction without the intervention of heat. 
 
 The copper work of the St. John's is characterized by the following features : — 
 
 1. The invariable lack of uniformity in size. If the reader will examine the 
 representations of objects from Mt. Royal and other mounds, it will become appa- 
 rent that no two articles coincide exactly as to dimensions. 
 
 2. The great diversity of shape and ornamentation. In all our mound work 
 we have discovered no two objects exactly alike. It is quite evident that had a 
 
 1 Primitive Copper Working, American Anthropologist, January, 1894. 
 
 2 Grant Mound, Mound on St. Augustine Road, Mound on Tick Island, Mt. Royal, and Mound in 
 pine woods west of Duval's. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 141 
 
 Fig. 10. Ornament of sheet copper, 
 Mt. Royal. (Full size.) 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 Ornament of sheet copper, Mt. Royal. (Full size. 
 
 Fig. 11. Ornament of sheet cop- 
 per, Mt. Royal. (Full size.) 
 
 FlG . 12. Bead of sheet copper, Mt. Royal. 
 (Full size.) 
 
 Fie. 13. Bead of sheet copper, Mt. Royal. 
 (Full size.) 
 
 Fig. 14. Ornament of sheet cop- 
 per, Mt. Royal. (Full size.) 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 215 
 
 J 
 
 .LJLAJJJLi 
 
 Fig. 75. Ornament of sheet copper, repousse decoration, 
 Mt. Royal. (Full size.) 
 
 II 
 
 fa 
 
 111 
 111 
 
 Fig. 76. Piercing implement show- 
 ing manufacture from sheet cop- 
 per, Mt. Royal. (Full size.) 
 
 Fig. 74. Piercing implement of cop- 
 per, Mt. Royal. (Full size.) 
 27 JOUEN. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. X. 
 
216 , CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 supply of staple sizes for commercial purposes been stamped from sheet metal by 
 the Whites, exact duplicates must necessarity occur in the mounds. 
 
 3. Striae in depressed surfaces, giving evidence of the conferring of the design 
 by pressure and motion as shown in the paper of Professor Cushing. 
 
 We are, therefore, of the opinion that aboriginal workmanship on the copper 
 of the river mounds may be conceded. 
 
 SHEET COPPER OF ABORIGINAL PRODUCTION. 
 
 But here we are brought face to face with another question. It has been 
 alleged by some that, granting aboriginal work on copper, the sheets of metal may 
 have been obtained through White contact, a suggestion too plausible to be dismissed 
 without serious consideration. 
 
 We shall first consider the mechanical evidence of aboriginal work. 
 
 The sheet-copper ornaments do not present a uniform thickness, as would be 
 the case had the metal been rolled or hammered by European artisans and stamped, 
 the same specimen sometimes decreasing in thickness to almost a cutting edge on 
 one side. Moreover, a number of plates give evidence of a species of patchwork 
 where smaller sheets are joined together to furnish one of the requisite size. 
 While present in a number of cases, this curious aboriginal custom is especially 
 emphasized in the case of the copper breast-plate found by us at Mt. Royal. 
 
 This breast-plate, it will be recalled, was exhumed from the great Mt. Royal 
 mound at a depth to guarantee original deposit. 
 
 We have requested Dr. M. G. Miller, who was present at the discovery of 
 all the copper met with by us, carefully to examine and to describe the two copper 
 plates constituting the breast-piece, one of which was figured as frontispiece of 
 Part I, while the representation of the other occupies a similar position in this 
 volume. 
 
 "The two plates of copper composing the chest -piece were each about 105 
 inches square, and when found were separated by a woven vegetable fabric. 
 
 " The anterior plate, restored in the frontispiece of Part I, unfortunately, is 
 now in such a fragmentary condition that a complete description of its structure is 
 impossible. Moreover, a thick coating of carbonate upon the surface of the frag- 
 ments adds to the difficulty. On certain pieces this coating presents a delicate hair- 
 like structure, suggesting the idea that the surface had been in contact with the 
 skin of some animal, but inspection under the microscope shows it at present to 
 consist of capilliform crystals. 
 
 " The decoration is impressed and is regular and well defined. It consists of 
 seven concentric circles surrounding a central perforation, and a conventional 
 aboriginal bird's head occupying the space between the circumference of the outer 
 circle and each corner. Between each head and its neighbor is a diagonally placed 
 elliptical figure. The edges of the decoration are slightly rounded and not sharply 
 cut as represented in the frontispiece. The impression varies somewhat in depth, 
 its maximum being about 2 mm. 
 
140 
 
 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 Jiir Nfe 
 
 SIS 
 
 HnsR 
 
 Sate ■! , . its^-— ■ ; .' ii| , ■'■ j |j 
 
 E^ : Ij "'''liil 
 
 si? i ; , iiii^^gsii 
 
 : 1 
 
 as»f-l 
 
 Fig. 5. Ornament of sheet copper with vegetable fabric adhering, Mt. Royal. 
 (About one and one-quarter size.) 
 
 Fig. 6. Ornament of sheet copper, Mt. Royal. 
 (Full size.) 
 
 Fig. 7. Ornament of sheet copper, Mt. Royal. 
 (Full size.) 
 
 *% 
 
 
 f II M% 
 
 l# 
 
 Fig. S. Copper effigy of serpent, Mt. Royal. (Full size 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 217 
 
 " Owing to chemical changes, it is impossible to state the original thickness of 
 the plate, but it is decidedly thinner than its companion. Variations in thickness 
 are evident in different fragments, but taken as a whole they represent a sheet of 
 remarkable uniformity. 
 
 " At certain points, during the process of working, the plate had been beaten 
 or ground through, and here an interesting feature presents itself. To render the 
 plate fit for use it was necessary of course thoroughly to repair such a defect. 
 Accordingly the margin of the opening was worked to a fine edge, against the sur- 
 face of the plate was then applied a thin sheet of copper of size sufficient to cover 
 the hole, and copper rivets were driven through from -25 to '5 of an inch apart to 
 hold it firmly in place. The rivets were placed not only along the margin of the 
 patch but through the body also to fix solidly the superimposed portion of the plate. 
 The task was finished by pressing the margin of the hole as closely as possible 
 against the patch beneath, and by working off the rivet ends projecting on that 
 surface. The delicacy of the work may be judged by the fact that even at the 
 present day, after long exposure to the action of the elements, it requires the 
 closest scrutiny, after cleaning the surface with acid, to determine the location of 
 the rivets and the line of repair. This of course refers to the exposed surface of 
 the plate, the rivets and patch being clearly evident on the opposite side. The 
 patch was not cut to fit closely the part repaired but extends well beyond, and 
 presents a rough, irregular, unworked margin as though the piece had been ham- 
 mered from a small lump of metal. 
 
 " That this work was done before the completion of the plate, and not to repair 
 holes made during subsequent use, is shown by the way in which the patches par- 
 ticipate in the decoration. 
 
 " But this process was resorted to not only for the repair of such defects, but 
 for the extension of the sheet as well. Along one side of the plate a strip over an 
 inch wide and several inches long has been attached by riveting along the inner 
 edge while the marginal portion has been turned upon itself and closely pressed 
 against the other surface. 
 
 "The posterior plate, about twice as thick as its companion, is from 1 to l - 5 
 mm. in thickness ; weighs 15 ounces avoirdupois, and, thanks to its greater strength, 
 is comparatively well preserved. 
 
 " The decoration, shown in the frontispiece of this report, is remarkable for 
 the symmetry of the work. It consists of a central perforation 1 surrounded by 
 seven concentric circles, while the space between the outermost circle and each 
 corner is occupied by an hour-glass arrangement of bars with five parallel bars upon 
 one side (Fig. 77). 
 
 "Certain irregularities, however, are evident. The central elevation (M) of the 
 figure in the lower right hand corner is oblong, while the corresponding portion of 
 the other figures is square in outline. The first bar to the left of M is much nar- 
 rower than the others. The inner half of the hour-glass in the upper figures is 
 
 1 Omitted in the illustration. 
 
218 
 
 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 composed of seven bars, while in the lower figures there are eight in the correspond- 
 ing space. 
 
 " On this plate also the carbonate forms a thick coating, and interferes with a 
 thorough examination. However, a close scrutiny shows the plate to be made of 
 two sheets overlapping along the margin. The larger sheet had been split to the 
 depth of about half an inch near the middle of one edge, and into this slit had been 
 inserted the edge of the smaller sheet, so that one-half of the margin of each sheet 
 
 Fig. 77. Lower plate, copper breast-piece, showing use of rivets, Mt. Royal. (Half size.) 
 
 overlapped on one surface and the other half on the opposite surface. In this 
 position they were riveted together. 
 
 " The arrangement is indicated on Fig. 77, in which the line A, B, represents 
 the margin of the smaller sheet inserted into the split edge of the larger sheet at C. 
 The heavy portion of the line, A, C indicates the free margin of the smaller sheet 
 on the presenting surface of the plate, while the dotted portion, B, C, is the con- 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 219 
 
 tinuation of the same margin on the opposite surface. The line, D, C, represents 
 the margin of the larger sheet in the same plane as A, C, while E, C, is the con- 
 tinuation of the edge on the other surface. At X are the rivets which have been 
 driven through to hold the sheets together. Those represented are such as could 
 be detected by a close inspection of the surface, and were subsequently determined 
 positively by the use of acid. Undoubtedly a thorough cleaning of the surface 
 would bring others to light. 
 
 " Here we have an excellent illustration of the production of a plate of desired 
 size by the process of joining by rivets two smaller sheets, the larger of which con- 
 stitutes about two-thirds of the finished plate. The same procedure has been fol- 
 lowed in the production of several of the smaller ornaments in the collection, while 
 in no instance is there evidence of either soldering or brazing, methods which one 
 would certainly expect to note were the articles of European origin. 
 
 " At several points on the surface, H, K, L, where a tendency to exfoliation was 
 evident, rivets were used to hold the loosened edges in place. This is especially 
 marked near the margins and in the corners. The letters indicate only the most 
 evident of the rivets, many others undoubtedly being hidden under the coating of 
 carbonate. 
 
 " The exfoliation, it will be observed, arose not after long exposure in the 
 mound, but during the process of construction of the sheet as evidenced by the 
 rivets. This condition is frequently observed in hammered masses of copper, and 
 in copper ornaments and implements obtained from mounds, and may aid in deter- 
 mining such articles as of aboriginal origin. 
 
 " At several points on the depressed surface of the ornamentation may be seen 
 stride, which have probably come from the rubbing of some implement used to force 
 the copper into corresponding depressions of a mold. 
 
 " In finish, this plate does not equal its companion, though both surfaces had 
 received a certain amount of attention. The line of union of the two sheets can 
 be readily followed throughout the greater part of its course ; the conjoined edges 
 are irregular, and were not so carefully pressed into the underlying sheet." 
 
 From this description we are of the opinion that these plates, with their 
 ingenious system of repair and extension 1 by the aid of rivets, may not under any 
 circumstances be attributed to the handiwork of artisans of Europe. 
 
 MOUND COPPER ARCHiEOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 In estimating the epoch of construction of mounds, the mounds themselves 
 are the most reliable witnesses, and any class of objects found therein is best known 
 by the company it keeps. By consulting the detailed descriptions of the copper- 
 bearing mounds of the St. John's given in this report, it will be seen that the objects 
 of copper were from the base and the body of the mound, associated with products 
 distinctly of aboriginal art, such as polished hatchets of stone, vessels of earthen- 
 
 1 Professor Putnam has referred to the use of rivets for repair, and recently has discovered the ex- 
 tremities of a bracelet joined by rivets. See, also, Fifth Annual Report, Bur. Eth., page 99. 
 
220 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 ware, and ornaments of shell, but never with articles indicating a knowledge of 
 Europeans as exemplified by implements of iron, beads of glass, brass, pewter, and 
 glazed pottery. It is, indeed, a"Tiypothesis not to be entertained that later Indians 
 in possession of these products of the Whites, through gift, barter, or plunder, in 
 these mounds interred European copper alone, and sedulously refrained from placing 
 with the dead, iron axes, glass beads, or the paint of commerce, and many kindred 
 articles, all of which they so highly prized, and all of which are found on the St. 
 John's with the superficial burials. 
 
 As we have pointed out in our note on the probable comparative age of the 
 river mounds, archgeologists are agreed that when in a class of mounds no article 
 of European manufacture is met with other than superficially, these mounds may 
 be classed as of a period antedating the coming of the Whites, and Professor Put- 
 nam has so clearly expressed this view that we quote here a portion of a personal 
 letter from him. 
 
 " Just after I wrote my little paper on copper in the Museum as the beginning 
 of a series of papers on the use of metals, copper began to come in from our Ohio 
 explorations in a wonderful manner, until we now have copper in such abundance 
 that a paper on the subject would be a volume. We have it hammered and cut into 
 all manner of shapes — implements and ornaments — and with it have come several 
 lots of ornaments made of meteoric iron — implements and ornaments — and also 
 considerable silver (ornaments) and a little of gold. All these metals are ham- 
 mered and cut, and we have the copper in all stages from the rough nuggets, through 
 those partly hammered to the sheets and the objects cut from them. To consider 
 this the work of Europeans is an absurd perversion of the facts before us ; and yet 
 just because the facts do not agree with the theories of some who would have all 
 facts drop into their theories, or else throw them out of consideration, these objects 
 are spoken of as unquestionably of European origin, traded to our old mound 
 building people of the Ohio valley by Whites since the settlement of the country. 
 
 " I am confident that you are right in your conclusion, when, after the careful 
 examination you made at Mt. Royal, you did not find anything derived from the 
 white man, such as glass beads, brass, etc., that all the work was native, the copper 
 plates included. 
 
 " I have explored several sites (villages and burial) which were known histori- 
 cally, and I have always found glass beads, brass kettles, pewter mugs and plates, 
 brass buttons and iron knives and axes, etc., etc., in the graves or in the refuse piles 
 and hearths of the wigwams, mixed with native objects, and when, after a thorough 
 and extensive exploration of any place such objects of European origin are not found, 
 we have no right to doubt as native what we do find, no matter what peculiar things 
 may occur." 
 
 THE COPPER FROM A CHEMICAL STANDPOINT. 
 
 We are, however, not compelled to base our conclusions as to the origin of the 
 copper solely upon the testimony we have adduced. In the investigation of copper 
 
Portion of jaw of mammal, copper-coated side, 
 Tick Island Mound. (Full size.) 
 
 Portion of jaw of mammal, side showing bone, 
 Tick Island Mound. (Full size.) 
 
 lf\ 
 
 Copper disc, Tick Island Mound. (Full size.) 
 
 Copper effigy of turtle-shell, Tick Island Mound. 
 (Full size.) 
 
 Ear-plug of limestone, copper-coated, Mt. Royal. 
 (Full size.) 
 
 Ornament of sheet copper, Mt, 
 Royal. (Full size.) 
 
 Ornament of sheet copper, Mt. Royal. 
 (Full size.) 
 
 Ornament of sheet copper, Mt. Royal. 
 (Full size.) 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 221 
 
 found within the limits of the United States, for some reason, analysis has been 
 hitherto entirely overlooked, and we shall now endeavor to throw some light upon 
 copper from a chemical point of view. 
 
 Comparative Purity of Copper. — Before proceeding to discuss the copper of 
 the mounds, early post-Columbian copper and native copper, it will be necessary 
 for the reader to have a clear idea of the percentage of pure copper usually found 
 in these commodities, that he may definitely draw his conclusions. 
 
 Unfortunately, so far as the presentation of a striking case is concerned, the 
 difference between the purest of smelted copper and the most impure is relatively 
 small, its range not greatly exceeding two per cent., thus each tenth of one per cent, 
 is of marked importance. 
 
 At the present time, with the most approved methods of smelting, a copper 99 
 per cent, pure 1 is considered of inferior grade, good commercial copper averaging, 
 let us say, 99"5 per cent. pure. 
 
 On the other hand, opinions of many experts, backed by results of analysis, 
 lead us to conclude that in early post-Columbian times commercial copper of a 
 much higher degree of purity than 99 per cent, was not produced in Europe. As 
 we shall see, lead was at that period intentionally introduced during treatment, 
 while arsenic and silver, loath to part company with copper, were not successfully 
 treated by the processes of those days. In fact, it is asserted that in recent years 
 old German copper coins have been profitably remelted for their silver, and yet it 
 was in Germany that smelting processes were best understood during early times. 
 
 It is evident, then, that a copper purer than the average of that produced under 
 modem methods of smelting cannot have been derived from Europe during the six- 
 teenth or seventeenth centuries. 
 
 The reader must bear in mind that analyses of copper from native metal, as 
 given in works on metallurgy and the like, are not results obtained from specimens 
 of mass copper prior to melting, but analyses made from ingots of cast metal which 
 may have lost proportions of certain elements during treatment, or received others 
 through accidental or intentional introduction. We have been unable in any work 
 to find the result of a single analysis of native copper made prior to the ingot 
 state, and have therefore submitted to various chemists a considerable number of 
 authentic specimens from different sections. 2 The percentage of pure copper in the 
 native state previous to treatment is from pp'6^ to ppyp4- 
 
 The Copper of the Mounds. — So great a period of time has elapsed since 
 the deposit of copper in the mounds that many of the sheets are carbonated and 
 oxidized through and through, rendering absolute determination as to purity impos- 
 sible. Where, however, a part of the metal remained we have been able to arrive 
 at definite results. 
 
 1 At the present time " India sheets " and "brazier sheets,'' of a very low grade of copper, are shipped 
 from England to India and China. 
 
 2 Since writing, our attention has been called to a statement by Rammelsberg (Mineralchemie, page 
 5) as to the impurities in Lake Superior copper. He reports iron 0-31 per cent, and silver entirely absent ! 
 
222 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 A portion of a piercing implement of hammered sheet copper from Mt. Royal, 
 Florida, was submitted for analysis to Booth, Garrett and Blair, with the following 
 result : — 
 
 "Copper . . . . 99-897 per cent. 
 
 Lead ..... None. 
 
 Bismuth 
 Iron 
 
 Gold 
 Silver 
 
 None. 
 0057 
 None. 
 0-0012 
 
 99-9039 " " 
 
 They state that the sample was much corroded and although cleared with acid 
 
 before analysis there was probably a little oxide remaining which they did not 
 
 attempt to determine. 
 
 A second and smaller fragment of the same implement was submitted to A. R. 
 
 Ledoux, M. S., Ph. D., whose determination was as follows: — 
 
 " This sample consisted of a pure copper core coated with a film of oxide and 
 
 carbonate. We removed the film by dissolving in dilute acid until only the unoxi- 
 
 dized core remained. This was analyzed and showed : — 
 
 "Copper . . . 99-85 per cent. 
 
 Silver .... Trace. 
 
 Iron ..... Trace. 
 
 " No arsenic, antimony, lead, tin, zinc, nickel or cobalt is present. This is a 
 very pure copper indeed." 
 
 The reader's attention is especially called to the great purity of this copper 
 and to the absence of arsenic and antimony ; and in this connection We introduce a 
 portion of a letter from Dr. A. R. Ledoux, who has had the widest experience in 
 such matters: "I now authorize you, if you wish, to quote me for publication to 
 the effect that in my opinion the smelting processes of two or more centuries ago 
 could not have turned out as pure an article as this from copper ores, and that in 
 my opinion the piercing instrument was made from native copper of exceptional 
 purity as is found in some of the Lake Superior mines and at a few other points." 
 
 A number of fragments of various ornaments of sheet copper from all parts of 
 Mt. Royal mound were analyzed as a whole by Ledoux and Company,- with the 
 following result : — 
 
 "Arsenic ..... 0-038 
 
 Iron ...... 0-170 
 
 Nickel and cobalt .... 0-030 
 
 Silver ...... Trace. 
 
 " Note : The sample contains very little metallic copper — not sufficient to make 
 a satisfactory determination — consisting practically of a crust of carbonate and 
 oxides of copper. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 223 
 
 " The sample was specially examined for antimony, tin, lead, bismuth, and 
 zinc, none of which was found present. 
 
 " The above figures are on the basis of the sample as received." 
 
 The metal used in this analysis was so altered that we must not regard the 
 result as quantitative in relation to the copper as it originally existed. It is sub- 
 mitted as a qualitative analysis to show presence or absence of certain elements. 
 
 We have referred in another portion of this report to the discovery of articles 
 of copper in the great Grant Mound, near Mill Cove, Duval Co., Florida. These 
 objects, all in good state of preservation, we were unwilling to sacrifice for purposes 
 of analysis, and are, therefore, doubly grateful to Mrs. Martha A. Millspaugh, 
 whose residence is near the foot of the mound, for a piercing implement of copper, 
 8 - 25 inches long and - 12 of an inch in thickness, apparently made from a strip of 
 thick sheet copper, and a fragment of another piercing implement 4 inches in 
 length, with a thickness of - 2 of an inch, made, as the reader will recall, from 
 numerous thin sheets of copper closely hammered together. These objects were 
 taken from the mound by a relative of Mrs. Millspaugh. 
 
 According to the analyses of Ledoux and Company the metal of these objects 
 had the following composition : — 
 
 " Fragment of piercing implement of sheet copper, Grant Mound, Florida. 
 [The larger specimen.] 
 
 "Copper ..... 99-730 per cent. 
 Iron . . . 034 " 
 Silver 0023 " 
 
 " Note : The sample was examined for lead, bismuth, arsenic, antimony, nickel, 
 cobalt, none of which was present. 
 
 " The sample also contains some oxygen, as it was impossible to entirely re- 
 move the oxide of copper from the surface of the sample. This oxygen is due to 
 superficial oxidation, and is not an essential ingredient of the metal." 
 
 " Fragment of smaller piercing implement from Grant Mound, Florida. „ 
 
 "Copper ..... 99-720 per cent. 
 
 Iron 0044 
 
 Silver ..... 0-015 
 
 u 
 
 " Note : The sample was examined for lead, bismuth, arsenic, antimony, nickel, 
 cobalt, none of which was present. 
 
 " The sample also contained some oxygen, as it was impossible to entirely re- 
 move the oxide of copper from the surface of the sample. This oxygen is due to 
 superficial oxidation, and is not an essential ingredient of the metal." 
 
 We have thought it well to include with these analyses, for comparison, results 
 obtained from copper from mounds other than of Florida, 
 
 We are indebted to Thomas Wilson, Esq., of the National Museum, for a num- 
 ber of fragments of sheet copper " from grave A, Little Etowah Mound, Georgia." 
 
 28 JOUEN. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. X. 
 
224 
 
 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 These fragments, submitted to Booth, Garrett and Blair, were reported as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 "Gold ..... None. 
 
 Silver 
 Lead 
 Copper 
 Silicious matter 
 
 0-013 per cent. 
 None. 
 75-050 per cent. 
 0-480 
 
 75-543 
 
 " This sample contained but a very little amount of copper in the form of 
 metal, the great mass being either oxide or carbonate. 
 
 " Since we found no other metal present in the sample than those given above, 
 we feel justified in saying that the original metal was nearly pure copper, over 99 
 per cent." 
 
 To those who have examined or have read of the wonderful deposit of copper 
 ornaments, etc., in the Hopewell Mound, Ohio, the results of thorough analysis will 
 be of peculiar interest. We are indebted to Professor Putnam for " a fragment of 
 a 'breast-plate' hammered and cut, a fair representative of the copper of the 
 mound." 
 
 This specimen was exhaustively examined by Ledoux and Company, who 
 write as follows : — 
 
 " The piece of ornament from mound in Ohio submitted to us for analysis con- 
 tains : — 
 
 " Copper .... 96-3100 per cent. 
 
 Antimony . . . 0'0070 
 
 Silver ..... 0-0450 
 Nickel and cobalt . . 0-0060 
 
 " Note : The sample was carefully examined for arsenic, tin, lead, bismuth, 
 and zinc, none of which is present. This analysis was made by removing adhering 
 oxides and carbonates as far as possible, but the sample contained sand adhering to 
 it and penetrating it to such an extent that it was impossible to remove it all. 
 This accounts for the low percentage of copper ; the metal would have undoubtedly 
 run over pp per cent? if freed from mechanical impurities and oxygen." 
 
 Warren K. Moorehead, Esq., has kindly furnished us with an implement of 
 copper from an Ohio mound which yielded to a partial analysis by Booth, Garrett 
 and Blair : — 
 
 " Gold 
 Silver 
 Lead 
 Bismuth 
 Copper 
 
 In this case no search was made for other elements. 
 
 None. 
 
 0011 per cent. 
 None. 
 None. 
 99-678 per cent." 
 
 1 The italics are ours. 
 ' 2 The italics are ours. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 225 
 
 During the present summer (1894) Gerard Fowke, Esq., has obligingly con- 
 ducted for us investigations in a " double mound " on the farm of Mr. J. M. Van 
 Meter, three miles south of Piketon, Pike County, Ohio. 
 
 With human remains, below the base, in a central position in the mound, were 
 five sheets of copper averaging in size about 3-5 by 2-5 inches. One of these 
 sheets, forwarded to Ledoux and Company, was reported upon as follows : — 
 
 Copper 
 
 Silver 
 Arsenic 
 
 99-9130 per cent. 
 0-0198 
 0-0026 
 
 Antimony . 
 
 Iron 
 
 Nickel and cobalt . 
 
 Trace. 
 0-0233 
 0-0080 
 
 " Note : The above analysis was made after removing the superimposed film 
 of oxides and carbonate from the sample. Special examination for lead, bismuth 
 and zinc shows that none of these is present." 
 
 From these analyses of copper from the mounds we note the very high percent- 
 age of copper, the constant occurrence of silver and of iron, the totat absence of lead, 
 the occasional presence in minute quantities of arsenic, of antimony, aud of nickel 
 and cobalt. In no case, however, does the amount of any impurity present, with the 
 exception of silver and of iron, greatly exceed a trace. 
 
 Copper after White Contact. — It is a noteworthy fact that in a great majority 
 of cases where the discovery of copper with articles giving evidence of White con- 
 tact is reported, the metal is in reality brass. 
 
 During all our researches on the St. John's in but one case have we found cop- 
 per (and this was possibly bronze) in association with glass, iron and other products 
 of Europe. 
 
 In the mound at Bayard Point, where alone on the river we have found, other 
 than superficially, articles distinctly European, brass was met with, but no copper. 
 
 Professor Putnam, with the collections of the Peabody Museum to draw upon 
 and with the warmest desire to aid us, has been able to furnish us brass alone from 
 post-Columbian Indian village sites and graves. 
 
 From a post-Columbian Onondaga village site, Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, the 
 well-known authority, kindly forwarded us a number of ornaments, etc., all of 
 which were likewise of brass. We have it from this gentleman and from other 
 sources that the copper arrow heads, so called, are of the same material, as also 
 are the kettles usually spoken of as copper. 
 
 "Wood, in his 'New England Prospect,' published in 1634 (page 90), distinctly 
 states that the Indians obtained brass from the English for their ornaments and 
 arrow heads." 1 We see, then, that much that has heretofore been considered cop- 
 per is in reality brass, and that brass and not copper was as a rule furnished the 
 Indians by the Whites, the natives being quick to take advantage of the superior 
 character of the alloyed metal. 
 
 1 Squier, Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York, page 183, et seq. 
 
226 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 There is little doubt that we must look to Europe as the source of supply of 
 such copper as came to this country during the possible post-Columbian mound 
 building period. 
 
 Now the sulphide ores of copper are universally distributed throughout the 
 world, supplying more than four-fifths of the copper in demand, while Europe has 
 no great available district of wholly native copper as is found in the Lake Superior 
 region of this country. 
 
 Of the ores of copper, the sulphide most stubbornly resists treatment, and in 
 association with it are almost invariably certain elements, arsenic, antimony, and 
 sometimes bismuth, whose absolute elimination even at this day it is impossible to 
 accomplish by any process of smelting. In fact, the comparatively recent electro- 
 lytic process does not appear to entirely eliminate these elements when present. 1 
 
 Even in the more amenable oxide ores from certain districts, a trace of arsenic, 
 after refining, still remains, not sufficient, it is true, to interfere with the drawing, 
 the rolling and the stamping of the metal, but nevertheless distinctly recognizable, 
 and this we mention to disabuse the reader of the idea, prevalent in certain 
 quarters, that oxide ores are necessarily non-arsenical. It is evident then that 
 early European copper for commercial purposes must have contained ponderable 
 quantities of arsenic or antimony or of both, with occasional presence of bismuth, if 
 at the present day, with improved methods, these elements are to a certain extent 
 present in the metal. 
 
 At the time of the discovery of America, the extraction of copper in Europe 
 was practised by the Germans and the Italians, whose supplies were almost exclu- 
 sively sulphide ores. Later the German processes were established in Wales. 
 
 Professor James Douglas, of New York, whose unceasing kind offices have so 
 materially aided us in this paper, has placed in our hands a work 2 containing much 
 original and curious information relative to the introduction of smelting processes 
 in Great Britain. 
 
 From this work we learn that the smelting of copper in the Swansea district 
 (where fully nine-tenths of the copper of Great Britain is said to be reduced from 
 the ore) was begun at Neath, in the year 1584 ; at Swanseaj 1717-1720 ; at Taibach, 
 1727, etc. 
 
 On page 25 et sea. of the same work Ave find a curious communication regard- 
 ing the earliest English smelting, containing references to the presence of sulphur, 
 showing the ores to be sulphide, and allusions to the roasting of ore, which is not 
 practised in the case of oxides. 
 
 As to antimony and arsenic we shall quote the quaint wording of the original: 
 " And that water doth not onely drawe the vitriall and coppris from the ure, but also 
 divers other hurtfull humors, being by nature enemyes to the Copper; as arsenick, 
 
 1 "On the Analysis of American Refined Copper," by Harry F. Keller, Ph. D., Journal of the 
 Franklin Institute, July 1894, page 54. 
 
 2 The Smelting of Copper in the Swansea District of South Wales, from the Time of Elizabeth to 
 the Present Day; by Col. Grant-Francis, F. S. A. Second edition, London and Manchester, 1881. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 227 
 
 sulpher, antimony, allome, and ironn." And again, " The ij corrupt humor is 
 Arsineque, by nature a kinde of poyson, being in like manner a minerall substance, 
 wilbe consumed w'th fire in to Smoke, w'ch is a vere daungerous ayer or savor, and 
 by his force maketh the copper white and brether then the sulpher doeth. This 
 Arsenieque is not onely in great quantitie in our copper ures, but is by nature so 
 forceable of it self, that it is Lorde and Ruller over all the rest, and consumes both 
 ye sulpher, and antimony, so y't thei ar not to be seene." 
 
 We have devoted considerable time during the preparation of this paper to the 
 investigation of the range of impurities in the German and English copper of com- 
 paratively recent times, since it is evident that all impurities found in this copper 
 at the present time must have existed to a greater extent at an earlier period. 
 
 Of many recent analyses of German copper we give three representative ex- 
 amples 
 
 
 
 
 I. 
 
 
 II. 
 
 
 III. 
 
 
 
 Copper .... 99'325 per cent 
 
 99-357 per cent. 
 
 99-6125 
 
 pei 
 
 " cent. 
 
 Silver 
 
 
 
 0-072 
 
 a 
 
 0-072 
 
 a 
 
 0-0292 
 
 
 a 
 
 Gold 
 
 
 
 o-oooi 
 
 " 
 
 0-0001 
 
 a 
 
 None. 
 
 
 
 Arsenic 
 
 
 
 0-130 
 
 .. 
 
 0-104 
 
 .. 
 
 0-0172 
 
 per cent. 
 
 Antimony 
 
 
 
 0-095 
 
 .. 
 
 0067 
 
 a 
 
 0-0023 
 
 
 a 
 
 Bismuth . 
 
 
 
 0-052 
 
 a 
 
 0-051 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 Lead 
 
 
 
 . 0061 
 
 a 
 
 0-062 
 
 a 
 
 0-0200 
 
 
 a 
 
 Iron 
 
 
 
 0-063 
 
 a 
 
 0-065 
 
 a 
 
 0-0039 
 
 
 a 
 
 Cobalt 
 
 
 
 0012 
 
 .. 
 
 o-oio 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 Nickel 
 
 
 . 0-064 
 
 a 
 
 0-079 
 
 a 
 
 0-2112 
 
 
 a 
 
 Sulphur . 
 
 o-ooi 
 
 a 
 
 0-001 
 
 a 
 
 0-0024 
 
 
 a 
 
 Oxygen 
 
 0-1166 
 
 a 
 
 0-1574 
 
 a 
 
 0-0752 
 99-9739 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 99-9917 
 
 100-0255 
 
 
 I. and II. Copper from Oker. Analyses by W. Hampe, and given in his 
 " Beitrdge zur Metallurgie des Kupfers," Zeitschrift filr Berg-, Hiltten- und Sa- 
 linenwesen, Vol. 21, page 252. 
 
 III. Mansfeld copper (from the Saigerhiitte at Hettstedt). Analysis made 
 under Hampe's direction. Loc. cit., p. 255. 
 
 In Percy's Metallurgy 1 we have various analyses of modern copper of commerce. 
 
 In twenty-nine specimens of English tile, best selected, sheet copper, etc., all 
 but two, in which traces are present, contain ponderable quantities of arsenic. 
 Antimony is included in traces in eleven instances and in eight by weight. We 
 find bismuth in twenty-five of these analyses in quantities sufficient for exact de- 
 termination, and traces in the remaining four. 
 
 Copper ores, mainly sulphides, are found in various parts of Italy, though most 
 of the copper used by the Romans was obtained from the Island of Cyprus. 
 
 According to G. Jervis (/ tessori sotteranei deW Italia, Turin, 1874, Vol. II, 
 pao-e 439), the mines of Monte Catini in the Province of Pisa were worked about 
 
 1 French translation, Vol. V., pages 383, 384. 
 
228 
 
 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 the middle of the fifteenth century. Toward the close of the century, in 1494, 
 they were abandoned, but reopened early in the sixteenth century and operated 
 intermittently. According to Jervis these are among the richest copper mines of 
 Europe. The ores are sulphides. 
 
 Another copper mine of importance is that of Ravamonte, near Agordo, in the 
 Venetian Alps, which was operated, according to Jervis (op. cit., Vol. I, page 332), 
 so far back as the fifteenth century. The process employed there for the extraction 
 of copper is described by Haton, Percy, and Rivot. 
 
 Percy (Metallurgy, Vol. I, page 439) says : " The process appears to be of 
 comparatively ancient date ; but I have not been able to trace its history with cer- 
 tainty. At the present time (1861) it appears to be carried on with great skill at 
 Agordo, where it is stated to have been first introduced in 1692 by a Prussian of 
 the name of Weyberg." 
 
 The copper, according to Schnabel's Metallhiittenkunde, contains : — 
 
 " Arsenic 
 
 . - 64 per cent 
 
 Antimony 
 
 . 0.04 
 
 Lead 
 
 . 0-20 
 
 Silver 
 
 . o-io 
 
 Sulphur . 
 
 . 0-04 
 
 We shall not occupy space with farther analyses of Italian copper, the impuri- 
 ties of which, as a product of sulphide ores, the reader is by this time in a position 
 to divine. 
 
 Now let us consider results of analyses of copper used by Indians after contact 
 with the Whites. 
 
 We are indebted to David Boyle, Esq., of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, for 
 a fragment of copper taken by him from a grave of the Tobacco Hurons, near that 
 place. In these graves are articles unquestionably of European origin. 
 
 This fragment submitted to Dr. A. R. Ledoux, was analyzed and reported upon 
 as follows : — 
 
 "Copper 
 Silver 
 
 . 98-970 per cent 
 0-084 
 
 Iron . 
 
 . 0-057 
 
 Arsenic 
 
 . 0-160 
 
 Antimony 
 Nickel and cobalt 
 
 . 0-130 
 . 0-070 
 
 Lead .... 
 
 . 0-300 
 
 "The sample contains no bismuth, tin or zinc. The low percentage of copper is 
 partially due to oxygen which it was impossible to remove entirely from such thin 
 samples. This copper is, as you will note, of inferior grade." 
 
 The considerable collections of post-Columbian Indian relics of Mr. W. W. 
 Adams, of Cayuga Co., N. Y., largely made on the spot by him, contained no 
 specimens of early post-Columbian copper other than ears of copper on two kettles 
 of brass, and in one instance copper rivets joining together two sheets of brass 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S. RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 229 
 
 which had probably formed part of one of those kettles which archasologists usually 
 incorrectly describe as of copper. 
 
 The copper ears of a kettle from a Cayuga Iroquois grave, Venice, N. Y., found 
 in association with glass beads and other articles of European manufacture, yielded 
 to the analysis of Ledoux and Company the subjoined result: — 
 
 ' Copper 
 Lead . 
 Silver 
 Antimbny 
 Arsenic 
 Iron . 
 
 Nickel and cobalt 
 Bismuth 
 
 98-520 per cent. 
 0-362 
 0-026 
 0-136 
 0-127 
 0016 
 0-211 
 Trace." 
 
 The copper rivets from Iroquois brass kettle, Fleming, N. Y., afforded too small 
 a quantity of material to permit a complete quantitative analysis. Ledoux and 
 Company report upon them as follows : — 
 
 . 97 - 03 per cent. 
 Present. 
 Present. 
 
 " Copper 
 Lead . 
 Silver 
 Iron 
 Cobalt 
 Nickel 
 Arsenic 
 Antimony 
 Bismuth 
 
 Present. 
 Present. 
 Present. 
 Present. 
 Present. 
 None. 
 
 " Note : This is an exceedingly impure copper. The above elements, while de- 
 termined only qualitatively, are present in very considerable quantities, apparently 
 greater than in any of the samples we have hitherto examined for you. The lead 
 is especially high." 
 
 We regret that, after many months of earnest endeavor, including extended 
 correspondence with those in all parts of the country likely to have it in their 
 power to aid us, we have been unable to secure other specimens of European copper 
 which had seen service with American aborigines, though abundance of brass was 
 obtainable. * 
 
 We shall now take up the important question of the presence of lead in 
 European copper. The introduction of lead during treatment was included in the 
 German method of smelting and with this method was adopted in England. Es- 
 pecially was lead a feature in sheet and drawn copper. 
 
 The translators of Percy's Metallurgy, 1 in summing up the results of many 
 analyses, inform us that lead constituted an almost invariable element in wire and 
 sheet copper, basing their conclusion on the results of a considerable number of 
 analyses of English sheet and drawn copper, all of which show the presence of 
 lead and we may add here that all similar works consulted by us, which cover the 
 
 1 Loo. cit. 
 
230 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 ground to a period, say thirty years back, refer to the union of lead with copper 
 used for the production of sheet copper and wire. Moreover, various experts con- 
 sulted by us, consider that, while the introduction of lead was not invariable, its 
 absence from any considerable number of specimens is good negative evidence 
 against a European origin in early times. Even at the present day, many analyses 
 of copper show the presence of lead, though sheet copper from certain sections or 
 where the material has been obtained by electrolytic deposit, may give no evidence 
 of it. But such recent copper, of course, is not germane to our subject. 
 
 Lead has never been discovered in copper from the mounds nor is it ever present 
 in native copper. 
 
 We shall now examine results of partial analyses made for us, bearing strongly 
 upon this point. 
 
 A number of fragments of sheet copper from various parts of Mt. Koyal, sub- 
 mitted to Booth, Garrett and Blair, furnished the following result : — 
 
 "Silver . . . 0-0315 per cent. 
 
 Gold ..... None. 
 Lead . . . None. 
 
 " The remainder is chiefly red oxide of copper. 
 
 " Assuming that all the copper is in the form of red oxide, the percentage of 
 silver would be 0-0372 in the copper in the melted state." 
 
 Several fragments of thin sheet copper from the mound west of Duval's, 
 Lake County, Florida, were submitted to Dr. Ledoux with a view to determination 
 as to lead. The result was negative. 
 
 General Gates P. Thruston has kindly forwarded us several small fragments 
 of sheet copper from the stone graves of Tennessee, in 15,000 of which, we are in- 
 formed, no European object has ever been brought to light. Copper is far from 
 abundant in these graves, and we are especially indebted to General Thruston for 
 the sacrifice of his specimens. Unfortunately, the thin sheet copper was com- 
 pletely oxidized ; lead could not be detected by analysis. 
 
 Professor Putnam, for whose deep interest in this investigation we must again 
 express our gratitude, has placed at our disposal " a fragment of a copper breasts 
 plate from a Tennessee stone grave." A partial analysis showed the presence of 
 silver, the absence of lead. 
 
 We are indebted to Professor Putnam also for a number of specimens of cop- 
 per from Ohio, which are reported upon by Booth, Garrett and Blair as follows : — 
 
 " B. Piece broken from nugget of copper found with several others in a 
 mound in Ohio : " — 
 
 "Silver .... Present. 
 
 Lead .... None." 
 
 " C. Fragment of a copper ornament from a mound in Ohio : " — 
 
 : Silver .... Present. 
 
 Lead .... None." 
 
 U I 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 231 
 
 " D. Fragment of a copper plate (breast-ornament) from a mound in Ohio :" — 
 
 "Silver .... Present. 
 
 Lead .... None." 
 
 " E. Fragment of a copper ear-ornament from a mound in Ohio : " — 
 
 "Copper . . 99'77 per cent. 
 
 Silver . Present. 
 
 Lead . ... None." 
 
 " F. Fragment of copper ear-ornament from mound in Ohio:" — 
 
 "Silver .... Large quantity. 
 
 Lead . . None." 
 
 " G. Ear-ornament of copper covered with meteoric iron, from mound in 
 Ohio : "— 
 
 " Gold 
 Lead 
 Silver 
 Nickel 
 Iron 
 Copper 
 
 None. 
 
 None. 
 
 Traces. 
 
 Considerable amount. 
 
 Large amount. 
 
 Large amount. 
 
 " This sample being oxidized through and through, no attempt was made to 
 separate the two layers. The nickel, of course, was present in the iron." 
 
 In contrasting the analyses of post-Columbian copper with those of the copper 
 from the mounds we note : (1) The greater percentage of pure copper in the mound 
 specimens. (2) That certain specimens of copper from the mounds have as impurities 
 silver and iron only, while the elements present in European copper are never so 
 restricted in number. (3) That in no case do the impurities present in a specimen 
 of mound copper equal the extended list found in any sample of the early copper 
 of Europe. (4) That when antimony or arsenic is present in mound copper the 
 quantity is minute and at least nineteen and forty-five times less respectively than 
 that in the early post-Columbian copper. (5) The presence of lead in European 
 copper and its invariable absence from the copper of the mounds. (6) That it is 
 evident that we need not look to Europe as a source of supply of the copper from 
 the mounds. 
 
 Probable Source of Supply of the Copper of the Mounds. 
 
 The reader who has carefully followed the course of this inquiry to the present 
 point has doubtless arrived at the conclusion that native copper alone possesses all 
 the characteristics met with in the copper of the mounds, and we may add that no 
 evidence as to aboriginal smelting- within the limits of the United States has yet 
 been adduced. 
 
 Before proceeding to consider the probable source of supply of mound copper, 
 it may be well to say a few words as to native copper in general. 
 
 29 JOURN. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. X. 
 
232 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 Native copper is entirely free from combined oxygen, which is always found in 
 copper which has been in a state of fusion. Unfortunately, the thin sheets of 
 hammered native copper usually met with in the mounds are so greatly oxidized 
 exteriorly that total elimination of extraneous oxygen previous to analysis is a 
 matter of great difficulty, hence percentages of oxygen are frequently reported. 
 Therefore, except in the case of pieces of copper cut from solid implements, the 
 presence or absence of oxygen is not a final test. 
 
 All native copper, so far as we have been able to learn, contains a percentage 
 of silver. The metal is finely distributed, and except in the case of occasional 
 masses of copper from Lake Superior, to which reference will be made later, its 
 presence is not visible in copper from North America so far reported. 
 
 Crystallized native copper from Lake Superior, 1 which James R. Cooper, Esq., 
 Superintendent of the Lake Superior Smelting Company, kindly has had analyzed, 
 yielded 2-74 ounces of silver per ton (O0093 per cent.), while the average amount 
 of silver in ordinary " Lake " copper is reported by the same high authority to be 
 about 6 ounces to the ton (O0206 per cent.). 
 
 Unfortunately for exact determination the presence of silver in copper does 
 not of necessity indicate native copper, unless the silver is visibly present in 
 streaks, seams, or flakes, since silver is very frequently found in the ores of copper, 
 and its elimination, as we have stated elsewhere, is difficult. 2 
 
 Lead, we believe, has never been discovered in native copper. 3 It is true that 
 its presence has occasionally been reported in ingot copper from Lake Superior, but 
 this result is in every case due to the gangue or to impurities in the furnaces. The 
 intentional introduction of lead into drawn copper from the " Lake " was discon- 
 tinued thirty years ago. As to the absence of lead from "Lake" copper previous 
 to treatment, all experts are absolutely unanimous. 
 
 Native copper, owing to absence of oxygen, is of a lighter color than copper 
 when melted and cast or smelted from the ore. 
 
 We are indebted to James R. Cooper, Esq., for another method to distinguish 
 native copper from copper which has undergone treatment. 
 
 "You can readily determine," he writes, "the fact whether the 'mound' cop- 
 per is a native metal, or whether it has been smelted. 
 
 " Take a piece of the mound copper and hammer it thoroughly to harden it, 
 then bend it double and hammer it down flat. If it is native copper it will stand 
 the test without a show of cracking, but if it is smelted copper it will break short 
 in bending double. * * * * The fracture is entirely different. The fracture 
 of native copper is more like that of lead when it is bent back and forth and finally 
 broken." 
 
 1 Practically all " Lake " copper is native. 
 
 2 Silver i8 not volatile, as are some other elements, hence the tenacity of its union with copper. 
 
 3 A certain writer has reported the discovery of lead in South American native copper. This report 
 lacks confirmation. Moreover, this assertion was made at a time when the chemistry of copper was in 
 its infancy. There is, against the discovery of lead in native copper, the fact that native lead, if found at 
 at all, is of extreme rarity. Lead ore may exist in the gangue. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 233 
 
 We shall now consider the probable source of supply of the copper of the St. 
 John's. 
 
 Mexico. — Of Mexico but little can be said. Native copper is found in various 
 parts of the country, and it is probable that the natives had learned to smelt'Q, from 
 superficial carbonates of exceptional purity, the wood of the fire furnishing the 
 carbon. 1 
 
 We are aware that possible ineans of communication between Mexico and 
 Florida existed before and at the time of the Discovery. We are told by Herrera 2 
 that Columbus found on the Island of Pine Trees, in the Gulf of Honduras, " an 
 Indian Canoe, as long as a Galley, and eight Foot in Breadth, laden with Western 
 Commodities, which it is likely belong'd to the Province of Yucatan." On board, 
 among various commodities, were " small Hatchets made of Copper to hew Wood, 
 small Bells, and Plates, Crucibles to melt the Copper." 
 
 And again we read that the natives of Yucatan made long sea trips, 3 while 
 Bernal Diaz describes, 4 at the discovery of that province (1517), the approach of 
 canoes with paddles and sails, large enough to hold forty or fifty Indians. 
 
 No copper is found on the peninsula of Yucatan, the most probable point of 
 departure, though we read of copper implements met with on the coast to the west 
 not far distant, 5 and trinkets, half gold and half copper, on the Island of Cozumel 
 but twelve miles away. 6 
 
 It is not likely, however, that the sea offered a method of regular communica- 
 tion between Mexico and Florida, a much more feasible journey being afforded by 
 the overland route taken by Cabeca de Vaca on his escape from northwestern 
 Florida to the Spanish settlements in Mexico. 7 It is interesting to note, moreover, 
 that on this journey he twice saw articles of copper. 
 
 We are of the opinion that a careful investigation of the mounds of Louisiana,. 
 Alabama and Georgia will yield other objects such as the copper plates from the 
 famous Etowah mound, whose decoration surely points to Mexico. 
 
 We are indebted to Dr. Joseph H. Hunt for a specimen of native copper 
 obtained at El Paso, said to have been brought in by Mexican miners. A partial 
 analysis showed this to contain 0-0621 per cent, of silver, but no lead. 
 
 Howard S. Graham, Esq., has kindly presented us with a specimen of crys- 
 
 1 For details as to Mexican copper implements see " Mexican Copper Tools," by Philip J. J. Valentini, 
 Ph.D., Proceedings American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, 1879. 
 
 Also, by the same author, " Semilunar and Orescent-shaped Tools," Proceedings American Antiqua- 
 rian Society, Worcester, 1885. 
 
 Also " Notes on the Copper Objects from North and South America Contained in the Collection of the 
 Peabody Museum," by Professor Putnam, in the XV Annual Report of the Museum. 
 
 2 Herrera, Stevens' Translation, Vol. I, page 259 et seq. 
 
 3 Ibid., Vol. IV, page 135. 
 
 * " Memoirs of the Conquistador Barnal Diaz del Castillo," translated by Lockhart, London, 1844, 
 
 Vol. I, Chap. II, page 4. 
 
 5 Bernal Diaz, Vol. I, page 36. 
 
 6 Ibid, Vol. I, pages 56 and 57. 
 
 ' " Narrative of Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca," translated by Buckingham Smith, Washington, 1851. 
 
234 
 
 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 tallized native copper, found at a considerable depth in his mine in the State of 
 Coahuila, Mexico. An analysis by Dr. Harry F. Keller showed : — 
 
 ' Copper 
 Silver 
 
 . 99-9521 per cent. 
 . Trace. 
 
 Antimony 
 Arsenic 
 
 . 0-0054 
 . 00149 
 
 Iron 
 
 . 0-0168 
 
 Bismuth 
 
 . Doubtful reaction. 
 
 99-9892 per cent. 
 
 "Gold, lead, tin, nickel, cobalt, selenium and tellurium were tested for with 
 negative result. 
 
 "The gangue amounted to 0-0462 per cent, and was deducted before the above 
 percentages were calculated." 
 
 A quantitative analysis of this copper by Ledoux and Company yielded con- 
 firmatory results. 
 
 Cuba. — Pre-Columbian intercourse between Cuba and the mainland has never 
 yet been conclusively shown by results of mound investigation, owing, perhaps, to 
 our unfamiliarity with prehistoric art-products of the island and to the scanty- 
 archaeological work hitherto done on the Peninsula, which has kept within narrow 
 limits the supply of objects on which to base conclusions. 
 
 Records as to intercourse before the Discovery are, however, explicit enough. 
 
 "It is certain," writes Herrera, 1 "that John Ponce de Leon, besides the main 
 Design of making new Discoveries, as all the Spaniards then aspir d to do, was in- 
 tent upon finding out the Spring of Bimmi, and a River in Florida, the Indians of 
 Cuba and Hispaniola affirming that old people bathing themselves in them, became 
 young again, and it was certain that many Indians of Cuba, firmly believing that 
 there was such a River, had, not long before the Spaniards discover'd that Island, 
 pass'd over into Florida in Quest of that River, and there built a Town, where the 
 Race of them continues to this Day." 
 
 And again we are told that Ponce de Leon, at the discovery of Florida, found 
 there an Indian familiar with the Spanish tongue, 2 conclusive proof of previous in- 
 tercourse with the islands. 
 
 The reader of Part II will recall that in the great mound at Tick Island, 
 Volusia County, totally levelled by us, a disc of copper was found about 6 inches 
 below the surface. This disc, about 3 inches in diameter, was covered with a 
 beautiful coat of polished patina, a sure guarantee of antiquity. In the Tick Island 
 mound, neither superficially nor otherwise, were any objects discovered hinting at 
 White contact, and it is well to bear in mind that while intrusive burials are always 
 superficial, the converse is far from being the case and that many objects of un- 
 doubted antiquity are discovered on or near the surface. This disc, which a mar- 
 
 1 Op. ait., Vol. II, pages 37-38. 
 
 2 Ibid, Vol. II, page 36. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 235 
 
 ginal row of indentations showed to be of aboriginal workmanship, while not of 
 necessity contemporary with the mound, we believe to be of considerable antiquity 
 from what we have stated, and from what we shall proceed to show. 
 
 We are indebted to Dr. Pulaski F. Hyatt, United States Consul at Santiago de 
 Cuba, for specimens of native copper obtained by him especially for us by means 
 of a messenger sent to the Cobre (copper) mountains, at that point about ten miles 
 distant from Santiago de Cuba and from the sea. The specimens, boxed by Dr. 
 Hyatt, in Cuba, were delivered by that gentleman to us in person. 
 
 A portion of this copper was submitted to Dr. A. K. Ledoux for analysis, to 
 whom was also entrusted a section of the copper disc from Tick Island. The 
 reader may draw his own conclusions from the striking results as given below : — 
 
 Copper Disc, Tick Island. Native Copper, Cuba. 
 
 Copper 
 
 99*835 per cent. 
 
 99-880 per cent. 
 
 Silver 
 
 Trace. 
 
 0-0056 " 
 
 Arsenic 
 
 . 0-0089 per cent. 
 
 0-0087 " 
 
 Antimony . 
 
 Trace. 
 
 Trace. 
 
 Iron 
 
 . 0'072 per cent. 
 
 0-019 per cent." 
 
 The samples were especially tested for bismuth, lead, tin, zinc, nickel, and 
 cobalt with negative result. In each case a certain amount of oxygen was present, 
 doubtless due in the case of the Cuban copper to oxidation extending into irregu- 
 larities of the metal, which, in fact, was visible under the microscope. In the case 
 of the disc, deep oxidation on either side was doubtless found impossible to eliminate. 
 
 Qualitative analyses of another portion of the disc and of the Cobre native 
 copper were made by Professor F. A. Genth, Jr., with confirmatory results, while a 
 qualitative analysis of the Cobre copper by Dr. Harry F. Keller was likewise cor- 
 roborative 
 
 In view of all this testimony we consider it probable that the Tick Island disc, 
 whose high percentage of purity shows the copper to be native, was derived from 
 Cuba, and shall look with interest for reports of farther analyses of copper from 
 the mounds of other sections of Florida. 
 
 Southern, Middle, and Eastern States. — The geology of Florida precludes the 
 idea of any deposit of copper within its limits. 
 
 The late Colonel C. C. Jone^, authority on the archseology of the Southern 
 Indians, tells us 1 " Native copper exists in portions of Cherokee Georgia, Tennessee, 
 North Carolina, and Alabama, but it is generally found in combination with sulphur 
 and not in a malleable form." In this instance, however, this able writer is in 
 error. Copper in union with sulphur becomes the sulphide, an ore and beyond the 
 reach of aboriginal endeavor. 
 
 Professor Spencer, State Geologist of Georgia, informs us that native copper, 
 if any, in his State, is too limited in quantity to justify the theory of an aboriginal 
 source of supply. 
 
 1 "Antiquities of the Southern Indians," page 228. 
 
236 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 While the occurrence of native copper is noted in our Southern, Eastern, and 
 Middle States the quantity is comparatively small, and, as a rule, the metal is not 
 superficial, and it is hardly probable that this scanty supply to any extent filled 
 the needs of the peoples inhabiting these districts, though doubtless a native nugget, 
 when found, was utilized. 
 
 New Mexico and Arizona.— -It is probable that products of Arizona and New 
 Mexico, to a certain extent at least, reached some of the Southern States, and pos- 
 sibly Florida. 
 
 Small quantities of native copper are found superficially in portions of these 
 districts, but the well-known native copper mines of the Santa Rita Mountains, 
 New Mexico, contain the metal beneath oxides and carbonates at a depth too great 
 to have supplied aboriginal demand. 
 
 According to Cushing, to whose interesting paper we have already alluded, the 
 melting out of nodules of native copper included in rock was practised by the 
 aborigines of Arizona ; though in no part of our country, it must be remembered, 
 have objects of copper cast in molds been discovered. 
 
 If in any portion of the territory of the United States reduction from the ore 
 was practised in prehistoric times, it will be found to have occurred in New Mexico 
 and Arizona, where familiarity with the civilization of Mexico 1 may have enabled 
 the natives, with the aid of wood fires, to obtain the metal from very pure carbon- 
 ate ores. 
 
 We are under obligation to James Colquhoun, Esq., General Superintendent 
 of the Arizona Copper Company, of Clifton, Arizona, for much valuable informa- 
 tion relative to the mines of Clifton. Native copper occurs but rarely. Samples 
 have been obtained in small bunches from the sheet porphyry which covers the 
 bulk of the surface of the Metcalf mine. At this mine, which is 9,000 feet north 
 of the famous Longfellow mine, there were, thirteen or fourteen years ago, the 
 remains of Indian workings, inconsiderable in extent and, in the opinion of Mr. 
 Colquhoun, made for the purpose of extracting a beautiful green ore — oxidized 
 copper-glance — to be used as a paint. 
 
 On the Longfellow, so far as known, only one stone hammer was found. 
 
 We are indebted to Professor James Douglas for a specimen of a native copper 
 from the Copper Queen Mine, of Bisbee, Arizona, which, submitted to Dr. Harry F. 
 Keller, was reported on as follows : — 
 
 " The specimen furnished consisted essentially of metallic copper, thickly 
 coated with cuprite (partly in fine crystals) and oxide of iron. This outer crust 
 was carefully removed, and the greater part of the mass reduced to small chips on 
 the 'planer,' a solid piece being reserved for the estimation of iron. The chips 
 were further freed from oxidized material by careful picking under a strong lens, 
 and subsequent stirring with water. A sample weighing over 100 grms. was thus 
 
 1 While melting was doubtless practised, we have no positive evidence that smelting was understood 
 in Mexico, though there are good grounds for believing it, as given by Professor Putnam, XV Annual 
 Report, Peabody Museum, page 128. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 237 
 
 obtained ; it exhibited a pure copper-red color, metallic lustre, and gave a specific 
 gravity of 8-896. 
 
 " All the elements likely to occur in the metal were carefully tested for : gold, 
 lead, bismuth, arsenic, tin, tellurium, selenium, cobalt, and nickel were found to be 
 absent ; the analysis yielded : — 
 
 I. 
 " Copper 
 Silver 
 
 Antimony . 0-0020 
 
 Iron . . . 0-0491 
 
 0-1220 
 Trace. 
 0-0144 
 
 Oxygen . 
 Sulphur . 
 Gangue (silica) 
 
 99-7587 per cent. 
 0-0039 
 
 
 II. 
 
 99-7620 per cent. 
 
 0-0037 
 Not determined. 
 
 0-0503 per cent. 
 
 0-1094 
 
 0-0110 
 
 99-9501 
 
 " The oxygen is present partly as oxide of iron, and partly as cuprous oxide. 
 If we deduct these admixtures, as well as the silica, it is seen that the metal itself 
 contains 99 - 994 per cent, of pure copper." 
 
 The reader must bear in mind that the oxygen referred to was not present 
 throughout the entire mass of copper as combined oxygen, which does not occur in 
 native copper, but locally, as explained above. We think it well to make this ex- 
 planation, as possibly all our readers are not fully informed as to the difference, and 
 a misconception might arise. 
 
 James Colquhoun, Esq., has kindly forwarded to us samples of native copper 
 from the Fry mine, Clifton, Arizona. This copper, submitted to Ledoux and Com- 
 pany, yielded the following results : — 
 
 " Copper 
 Silver 
 Iron 
 Lead 
 
 99-210 per cent. 
 
 0-003 
 
 0-045 
 None. 
 
 " Note : The sample was examined for bismuth, arsenic, antimony, nickel, 
 cobalt, none of which was present. 
 
 " The sample also contains some silicious matter not combined with the cop- 
 per, but held mechanically in the interstices. As this could not be considered an 
 impurity in the metal, the amount was not determined." 
 
 As this silicious matter was included in the preliminary weighing, its absence 
 from the result accounts for the apparently low percentage of copper in the speci- 
 
 men. 
 
 The Lake Superior District. — As we have stated, the copper of the Lake 
 Superior district, where abundant evidence of prehistoric mining exists, is native, and 
 argentiferous to the extent of about six ounces to the ton. When this percentage is 
 exceeded the silver is visibly present in flakes, seams and streaks, from which at 
 times quantities of native silver can be cut. In fact, " Lake " copper with almost 
 
238 
 
 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 one-half native silver in mechanical combination has been reported. During all 
 our investigations we have been unable to learn of native copper from any other 
 locality on this continent, which is visibly argentiferous, and as the researches of 
 others have had a like result, we are strongly of the opinion that implements or 
 sheets of copper from the mounds, in which silver can be seen, may be considered 
 as surely having derived their material from Lake Superior. 
 
 We are informed by Professor Cushing that an object of copper containing 
 visible silver was found in northern Florida. 
 
 Mining was unsuccessfully attempted by the English at Lake Superior in 
 1771-1772, and it was not until 1844, after the admission of Michigan to statehood, 
 that a steady output was furnished from the district. 1 
 
 From this it is evident that no "Lake" copper can have been furnished by 
 Europeans during any possible mound building period. 
 
 So many evidences of prehistoric intercourse with regions to the south have 
 been found in the mounds of our Western States that it is safe to assume that the 
 Lake Superior district furnished the greater part of the copper in use by Southern 
 Indians, which was doubtless traded for shell implements and ornaments, or for the 
 raw material obtainable only on the seaboard or on the Gulf coast. Moreover, as 
 aboriginal copper with visible admixture of silver has been found in the Southern 
 States, it is virtually safe to assume that with such metal went other "Lake" cop- 
 per in which silver is not perceptible. 
 
 Dr. Harry F. Keller, whose residence in Michigan as Professor of Chemistry 
 in the Michigan Mining School at Houghton, gave him exceptional advantages in 
 respect to analysis of " Lake " copper, has furnished us with the following unpub- 
 lished analyses made by himself: — 
 
 " Native copper from the Tamarack mine, 2 Lake Superior. 
 
 Copper 
 
 Silver 
 
 Iron 
 
 Silica 
 
 99-8049 per cent. 
 0-0151 
 0-0240 
 0-0193 
 
 99-8633 
 
 " Native copper from Kearsarge mine, Lake Superior 
 
 " Copper 
 Silver 
 Iron 
 
 Arsenic 
 Silica 
 
 "Sp.gr. 8-912." 
 
 99-7627 percent. 
 0-0183 
 0-0223 
 Trace. 
 0-0210 percent. 
 
 99-8243 
 
 1 Copper Resources of the United States," by James Douglas, New York. Author's edition, 1891. 
 
 2 The vein in the Tamarack mine is conglomerate. Dr. Keller informs us, however, that the analysis 
 was made from a good sized nugget. Such specimens are occasionally found in conglomerate mines. 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 
 
 239 
 
 These analyses are complete. Dr. Keller informs us that the shortage was 
 due to the oxygen present as oxide of copper or of iron resulting from superficial 
 oxidation. 
 
 Some of our readers will recall that extensive aboriginal mining operations 
 were carried on at Isle Royale, in Lake Superior. We are indebted to Professor 
 Edgar Kidwell, of the Michigan Mining School, for a specimen of copper from this 
 island, which, submitted to Dr. Keller, was reported upon by him as follows : — 
 
 " The material was very carefully separated from the rock through which it 
 was disseminated. It retained 0-2561 per cent, of insoluble matter. An exhaustive 
 examination of the metallic portion yielded the following values : — 
 
 " Copper 
 Silver 
 Iron 
 Nickel 
 
 Arsenic 
 
 99-9314 per cent. 
 
 0-0271 
 
 0-0068 
 
 0-0037 
 Trace. 
 
 99-9690 
 
 " Gold, lead, tin, bismuth, antimony, cobalt, manganese, oxygen, sulphur were 
 tested for with negative result. The absence of other metallic impurities was indi- 
 rectly ascertained in the course of analysis adopted. 
 
 "The specific gravity is 8'883." 
 
 Dr. Keller has made for us a partial analysis of copper in his possession, from 
 the Phoenix mine. Of this he writes : — 
 
 " The specimen from this celebrated locality was beautifully crystallized. It 
 contained 0962 per cent, of quartz, and after deducting this yielded : — 
 
 " Copper .... 
 Nickel .... 
 Arsenic .... 
 
 99-9462 per cent. 
 
 None. 
 
 Trace. 
 
 "This copper contains iron but scarcely a trace of silver." 
 We are indebted also to Dr. Keller for copper from the Quincy mine, Hancock, 
 Mich. We append the result of a partial analysis made by him. 
 
 " Copper 
 Nickel 
 Arsenic . 
 
 99-9765 per cent. 
 
 None. 
 
 None. 
 
 " Silver and iron are the only impurities, a strong reaction was obtained for 
 the former, while the latter is present merely as a trace." 
 
 Professor James Douglas, who has so greatly aided us in this paper, has pre- 
 sented us with specimens of copper from the Quincy, Atlantic and Central mines of 
 the Lake Superior District. These have been submitted to Ledoux and Company 
 for partial analysis, who report : — 
 
 "Quincy Mine, Lake Superior: — 
 
 Copper . 
 Nickel and cobalt 
 
 99 '93 per cent. 
 None." 
 
 31 JOTJEN. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. X. 
 
240 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 
 
 Another partial analysis of the same copper yielded : — 
 
 "Arsenic .... 0-0010 per cent. 
 Silver . . . 0-0253 
 
 Antimony . . . None." 
 
 A partial analysis of the "Atlantic" copper showed : — 
 
 " Arsenic .... 0-0028 per cent. 
 Antimony . . . None. 
 
 Silver .... 0-0012 per cent." 
 
 A partial analysis of the " Central" copper gave : — 
 
 "Arsenic .... 0-0016 per cent. 
 Antimony . . None. 
 
 Silver .... 0-0145 per cent." 
 
 We are indebted to Thomas Nelson, Esq., Secretary and Treasurer of the 
 Osceola Consolidated Mining Company, for very beautiful specimens of copper from 
 the Osceola mine, as to which Ledoux and Company make the following report : — 
 
 "Copper .... 99-9500 per cent. 
 
 Silver .... 00111 
 
 Iron .... 0-0290 " 
 
 Arsenic .... Trace. 
 
 " Note : The sample was examined also for lead, bismuth, antimony, nickel, 
 cobalt and zinc, none of which was found." 
 
 James B. Cooper, Esq., Superintendent of the Calumet and Hecla Smelting 
 Works, in addition to much valuable information, has furnished us with a number 
 of fine specimens from various mines from the " Lake " district, and we wish here 
 to return thanks for his courtesy and promptness. A specimen of copper from the 
 Franklin mine, furnished by Mr. Cooper, was analyzed by Ledoux and Company, 
 with the following result : — 
 
 " Copper .... 9990 per cent. 
 
 Silver .... Trace. 
 
 Iron. .... 0018 " 
 
 " Note : The sample was examined also for arsenic, antimony, lead, bismuth, 
 zinc, nickel and cobalt, none of which was found." 
 
 The presence of nuggets of native copper has been noted in " the drift," and 
 it is likely that aboriginal wants were to a certain extent supplied from that source. 
 
 We have obtained from Dr. A. E. Foote a nugget of native copper said to be 
 from "the drift," Illinois, and its derivation from "the drift" at least is unmis- 
 takably evidenced by its rounded and water-worn appearance. 
 
 This copper, analyzed by Ledoux and Company, gave the following result : 
 
 "Copper .... 99-930 per cent. 
 
 Silver .... 0-007 
 
 Iron . . . 0-014 " 
 
 Nickel and cobalt . . . 0-006 " 
 
THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 241 
 
 " Note : The sample contains no lead, bismuth, arsenic, antimony, or zinc." 
 As a result of these analyses, we see that in " Lake " copper, silver and iron 
 are constant, and sometimes the only impurities ; while arsenic, nickel and cobalt 
 are occasionally present in minute quantities. Lead and bismuth are invariably 
 absent. 
 
 All these characteristics Lake Superior copper has in common with the copper 
 of the mounds. 
 
 We have found no antimony in " Lake " copper, but are of the opinion that a 
 more extended range of analyses would occasionally show its presence in minute 
 quantities. 
 
 CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 After a careful survey of the field, we have arrived at the following conclu- 
 sions, based upon facts as set forth in this paper : — 
 
 1. That the so-called copper found with objects of European make along the 
 St. John's and, we may add, in other portions of the United States, is almost 
 universally not copper but brass ; and, conversely, that brass does not occur with 
 original deposits of copper in mounds otherwise containing only objects of unques- 
 tioned aboriginal origin. 
 
 2. That the workmanship on the copper of the mounds of the St. John's is 
 aboriginal. 
 
 3. That the copper itself is of aboriginal production, the proof being mechani- 
 cal, archaeological, and chemical. 
 
 4. That such being the case, if copper plates, cannot be produced without re- 
 course to annealing, then we must concede to the aborigines a knowledge of that art. 
 
 5. That the copper of the mounds of the St. John's is native copper, as shown 
 by its high percentage of copper, a percentage not obtainable by early smelting 
 processes, and by its freedom from arsenic and antimony in some instances, and the 
 very small percentage in others of these impurities which are found to a much 
 greater extent in the early copper from the sulphide ores of Europe. In addition, 
 lead, used in smelting processes of Europe and not eliminated from many of the 
 ores, is present in earlier sheet copper, and is without exception absent from native 
 copper and from the copper of the mounds. 
 
 6. That the Florida copper may have been derived from various sources, pos- 
 sibly in part from Mexico, New Mexico or Arizona, and probably to a certain ex- 
 tent from Cuba ; but that the main supply was obtained from the Lake Superior 
 region, most of whose copper is non-arsenical. 
 
 7. That copper in which silver is visibly present, has, so far as is known, for 
 its only source of supply on this continent, the Lake Superior region. 
 
 8. Incidentally, that mound copper from other localities, including the copper 
 of the famous Etowah plates of Georgia, and of the no less well-known Hopewell 
 mounds of Ohio, is, like the Florida copper, aboriginal, having nothing in common 
 with the products of the impure European sulphides and imperfect smelting pro- 
 cesses of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.