Chippewa Indians Legend of a White Race of Copper Miners
Cherokee Indian legends of a white race of mound builders in the Ohio Valley
Prehistoric Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region, 1923
Indian Legends make no mention of these mining operations which were of a magnificence and magnitude worthy of being included in the history of any race.
The legends do mention that a white race was driven out far back in the Indians history. The fact that Indian legends indicate that pieces of copper were reserved as Manitous, or Gods would seem to prove that they were not the people who mined and used copper "industrially"
These prehistoric miners left no records that we can translate to tell who they were. Apparently, they did not winter in the region and apparently, too, none but the hardy and strong made the trip. No graves have been found which can be definitely ascribed to them. They made no drawings, no carvings, and left nothing in the way of mounds, ceremonials or otherwise, to indicate their lineage. The pits and the tools are all and they are not enough.
Father Allouez said that the Indian legends contained no reference to mining or the miners. In fact, the Indians did not know where the mines were. A report of a Chippewa legend says that the old one states that their forefathers, drove out a white race who might have been the miners.
