commercial people, who carried vast quantities of copper, tin, and
bronze (unalloyed by the lead of the south of Europe) to Denmark,
Norway, Sweden, Ireland, England, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy?
Where can we find them save in that people of Atlantis, whose ships,
docks, canals, and commerce provoked the astonishment of the ancient
Egyptians, as recorded by Plato. The Toltec root for water is Atl; the
Peruvian word for copper is Anti (from which, probably, the Andes
derived their name, as there was a province of Anti on their slopes):
may it not be that the name of Atlantis is derived from these originals,
and signified the copper island, or the copper mountains in the sea? And
from these came the thousands of tons of copper and tin that must,
during the Bronze Age, have been introduced into Europe? There are no
ancient works to indicate that the tin mines of Cornwall were worked for
any length of time in the early days (see "Prehistoric Times," p. 74).
Morlot has pointed out that the bronze implements of Hallstadt, in
Austria, were of foreign origin, because they contain no lead or silver.

Or, if we are to seek for the source of the vast amount of copper
brought into Europe somewhere else than in Atlantis, may it not be that
these supplies were drawn in large part from the shores of Lake Superior
in America? The mining operations of some ancient people were there
carried on upon a gigantic scale, not only along the shores of the lake
but even far out upon its islands. At Isle Royale vast works were found,
reaching to a depth of sixty feet; great intelligence was shown in
following up the richest veins even when interrupted; the excavations
were drained by underground drains. On three sections of land on this
island the amount of mining exceeded that mined in twenty years in one
of our largest mines, with a numerous force constantly employed. In one
place the excavations extended in a nearly continuous line for two
miles. No remains of the dead and no mounds are found near these mines: