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Some writers and collections we were about to say. thinkers. have asserted that the "copper" of the indians. was made by melting the copper and running it into moulds [sic]. Such could not be the method. the "coppers" were forged cold or hot as we think we can show.. In 1864, "Pierre Boucher." a Canadian. published a work. in Paris. in which he in describing Lake Superior and the surrounding country says. "that the french men who returned to Montreal, being the remnants of the Jesuits expedition under Father Menard says, "They told me they had seen a nugget of copper. at the end of a hill, which weighed more than eight hundred pounds. and this the indians as they pass it. make fires on top of it. and then hew pieces out of it. with their axes." (Minnesota Historical Collections. Vol V. 404.) this is doubtless the truth. and has no doubt given rise to the story that the "coppers" were melted and run into [?molds?] These fragments of copper were beaten into the desired forms and adapted for use. When we are seeking for facts it is hardly Just to Jump at conclusions. or. advance theories that are in reality only theories. Copper melts. at 2500º degrees and such a degree of heat cannot be attained in an open fire. it can be attained only by a blast. and that we are certain the indians never had. we find no indication of such a apparatus. in any mound. or picture nor in the descriptions of any early writer on the subject. it is strange that if any thing like the complicated devices necessary to smelt copper were in use by the indians at any time. they had failed to attract the notice of the early writers.. and that the indians should have no traditions of any thing of the kind. It is very possible for the indian to make a fire and soften the nugget of copper but he never melted it. In fact we think it shows superior skill to be able to forge from the cold copper, upon a stone anvil, and with a rock hammer the beautiful specimens. of "copper" that are found. throughout that region of country.