The Ancient Machine Found in a Domed Room Under Lake Superior in 1874 — The Ojibwe Knew Why

In the autumn of 1874, on Isle Royale in the middle of Lake Superior, a crew from the Minong Mining Company cleared an ancient copper pit down to a floor of fitted stone slabs. Under one slab, eleven steps led into a corridor one hundred forty-two feet long, and the corridor ended in a dry, domed chamber eighteen feet below the surface of the lake. At its center stood a machine on four studded legs, its drum held higher than a man could reach. Three days later the slab was put back, and the report sent to Detroit contained a single line. The Ojibwe had already given the island a name, Minong. The old boatman who carried the crew across from Grand Portage would not go near the pit. That night he spoke of a round house under the island, and of five that once stood in it. This film sets six records side by side: a mine captain’s notebook, a surveyor’s object file, the boatman’s words and a song Frances Densmore heard at Grand Portage in 1905, a stone ring found in a bog in 1953, the Ojibwe keeper of the copper from Michipicoten to Agawa Rock, and a company file that went into the drawer of a county that no longer existed. The ordinary explanation is given its full weight. Which record would you find hardest to set aside? This documentary examines historical records, archaeological research, and Indigenous oral traditions. It presents documented findings alongside long-standing questions that remain open. Where accounts differ, both are presented. Nothing here is offered as a settled conclusion. #Ojibwe #LostHistory #LakeSuperior