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THE
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
'VOLUME 12 1913-14
PUBLISHED BY THK
WISCONSIN ARCHKOLOOICAL SOCIETY MILWAUKEE
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KNOBBED STONE GOUGE FALGE COLLECTION
Vol. 12
June, 1913
No.
THE
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
TURTLE CREEK MOUNDS AND VILLAGE SITES
KNOBBED STONE IMPLEMENTS
Entered as second class matter January 15, 1912, at the postoffice at Madison under the act of July 1C, 1804
Wisconsin Archeological Society
MILWAUKEE, WIS.
Incorporated March 23, 1903, for the purpose of advancing the study aud preservation of Wisconsin antiquities.
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT ELLIS B. USHER ,.' Milwaukee
VICE-PRESIDENTS
DR. S. A. BARRETT Milwaukee
DR. ORRIN THOMPSON Neenah
JOSEPH RINGEISEN, JR Milwaukee
E. N. WARNER Madison
T. L. MILLER Ripon
DIRECTORS
DR. E. J. W. NOTZ Milwaukee
DR. LEWIS SHERMAN Milwaukee
TREASURER LEE R. WHITNEY. ... '. Milwaukee
SECRETARY CHARLES E. BROWN . . . . Madison
COMMITTEES
STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY— Arthur Wenz, G. A. West, C. E. Brown, Dr. S. A. Barrett, H. L. Skavlem, L. R. Whitney, Dr. Louis Falge.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS— Dr. Geo. L. Collie, W. H. Ellsworth, Dr. R. G. Thwaites, Henry L. Ward, Prof. I. M. Buell, Prof. A. H. Sanford, Dr. W. H. Bailey, J. P. Schumacher, H. P. Hamilton, Prof. W. E. Leonard, Rudolph Kuehne, W. A. Titus.
MOUND PRESERVATION— Prof. A. S. Flint, Dr. H. C. Bumpus, Mrs. Jessie R. Skinner, Dr. J. 0. Kinnaman, Mrs. E. H. Van Ostrand, Charles Lapham, H. A. Smythe^Jr., Prof. C. D. Zdanowicz, P. V. Lawson, Emil Baensch, J. A. H. Jo*hnson, Miss Jennie Baker, Thomas Bardon.
MEMBERSHIP— C. L. Fortier, Paul Joers, H. A. Kirchner, Geo. R. Fox, Miss Minna M. Kunckell, Dr. B. H. Warren, C. E. Guenther, A. T. Newman, Mrs. Sophie Miller, Geo. R. Parker, E. Field Phillips, R. H. Becker, T. D. Brown, H. 0. Younger.
MAN MOUND— W. W. Warner, Mrs. E. C. Wiswall, W. W. Gilman.
PRESS— Miss Mary E. Stewart, H. E. Cole, A. O. Barton, Rev. J. E. Copus, R. H. Plumb, S. N. Hartwell.
SESSIONS
These are held in the Lecture Room in the Library-Museum Building, in Milwaukee, on the third Monday of each month, at
8 P. M.
During the months of July to October no meetings will he held
MEMBERSHIP FEES
Life Members, $25.00 Sustaining Members, $5.00
Annual Members, $2.00
All n.ininnnicntions in regard to the Wisconsin Archeological Society or to the Wisconsin Archeologist" should i.<- addressed to Charles E. Brown, Secretary and Curator, Office, State Historical Musnim. Mmlison. \Vis.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vol. 12, No. 1.
ARTICLES
Page
Turtle Creek Mounds and Village Sites, Robert H. Becker 7 A Wisconsin Cup Stone, Ira M. Buell 21 The Geographical Distribution of Certain Knobbed Stone Imple- ments, Geo. E. Laidlaw - - 23 The Exploration of Mounds in White's Group, in Vernon County,
Albert H. Sanford ------ 30
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Knobbed Gouge, Paige Collection Frontispiece
Plate Page
1. Adams Group 10
Facing Page
2. Conical Mound No. 1, Partridge Group 12 Conical Mound, McLenegan Group 12
3. Conical Mound, Reilly Group 14 Conical Mound, Reilly Group, Re-excavated - 14
4. Conical Mound, Pierce Group - - 16 Klingbeil Camp Site 16
5. Cup Stone, Logan Museum, Beloit - 21
6. Excavation of Burial Mound, White's Group - 30
Figure Page
1. Partridge Group - . 12
2. Pierce Group - • . - 15
3. Mound No. 1, White's Group - - - 32
4. Mound No. 2, White's Group - - - - 33
5. Mound No. 4, White's Group ----- 34
THE WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
Quarterly Bulletin Published by the Wisconsin Archeolotfical Society.
Vol. 12. MADISON. WIS.. JUNE. 1913. No. 1
TURTLE CREEK MOUNDS AND VILLAGE
SITES
ROBERT H. BECKER.
Turtle Creek is described in the "History of Bock County," as: — "A stream flowing out of Turtle lake in the northwestern corner of the town of Richmond in Walworth County, unites near the west line of the town of Delavan with the outlet of Delavan Lake, and the united streams form Turtle Creek, which, following a westerly course enters Rock County on Sec. 13 in the town of Bradford, flows west and southwest and empties into Rock River just below the State line at Beloit".
This description of Turtle Creek tells nothing of the beauty of this stream and the fertile valley through which it flows. Near Beloit, where the Creek is quite large, it is especially beautiful, cutting deep into the limestone hills or as it winds through broad rolling valleys, joined here and there by brooks of the clearest spring water. When these things are seen it is not difficult to understand why the Red man chose this region for his home and as a final resting place for his dead.
This region was occupied by Indians of the Winnebago tribe from earliest times and until after the arrival of the first white settlers. That these Indians are the authors of the numerous earthworks located along both Turtle Creek and the Rock Rm r
8 WISCONSIN ARCHBOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
to which it is tributary, is now accepted by Wisconsin inves- tigators.
It is known that the Winnebago had two permanent settle- ments along the Turtle, but investigations have proven that they roamed the Turtle valley extensively for this region must have been rich in game and the Creek teeming with fish. The mounds are scattered along the Creek from the old mill on the mill race in Beloit, to a point up the stream about three miles. No mounds were found farther up the Creek though evidences of aboriginal occupancy are richest there. As the references (inserted at the end of several group descriptions) show, Rev. Stephen D. Peet, a pioneer Wisconsin archaeologist, was familiar with the Turtle Creek region and platted several of the mound groups located there. The researches conducted by the writer were completed during the autumn of the year 1911. This work in- cluded re-surveys of the several groups of Indian earthworks mentioned by Peet.
MOUND GROUPS. Beloit Township.
JONES GROUP.
On the north side of Turtle Creek, on the bluff overlooking the old mill race, is an effigy mound of the turtle type. This mound is 65 feet long its body having an average width of 15 feet. It is about 2 feet high. This effigy differs in form from all others of the turtle type about Beloit, The mound is badly mutilated as several " gopher holes" have been made in it by unknown persons, and part of the mound (the tail) has been washed away by the erosion on the bluff. About 50 feet east of the effigy is a small conical mound which has been excavated. It measures 14 feet in diameter. A pit 2% feet deep has been sunk into it. According to Rev. Stephen D. Peet's plat of this group there were three mounds here originally. No trace of the third conical mound can now be seen. This mound group is on the C. Jones property in the SE. 14 of Section 36.
Reference : Prehistoric America, Vol. II, map opp. page 165.
Turtle Creek Mounds and Yilhi.uv Sites.
ADAMS GROUP. Plate 1.
This group, located on a high bluff, about % of a mile north of Beloit Junction, is the largest group along the Creek, number- ing 15 mounds. They lie in a cultivated field belonging to Mrs. Ella D. Adams in the SE. 14 of Section 25. All of the mounds have been ploughed over several times and are considerably re- duced in elevation. i Mound No. 1, the smallest of the group is 30 (length) x 20
(width) x y2 feet (height). 2, partly destroyed By road, measures 35 x 2. " " 3, is 40 x li/2. " " 4, is 115 x 38 x 2i/2. " " 5, is the highest mound, 80 x 45 x 3y2. " " 6, is 53 x 30 x iy2. " " 7, is 30 x 2. " " 8, is 50 x 2V2.
9, the largest conical mound, measures 55 x 2%. " " 10, is 70 x 30 x 3. " " 11, is 40 x33 x 21/2.
12, projects across the line fence on to the property of S. G. Larson and is partly destroyed. It measures 32 x 3.
" " 13, the largest linear in the group is 121 x 30 x 2i/2. This mound also extends into the S. G. Larson property. The end of the mound has been de- stroyed, but the outline of it can still be traced. " " 14, is 52 x li/o. " " 15, is 35 x 3. 31 feet of the mound is on the Larson
place.
Feet's map of mounds in the vicinity of Beloit shows this group to have formerly included a much larger number of mounds than now remain. Unfortunately his published map is on so small a : < ale that the exact character and dimensions can-
in
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0
14-
Etla Z> fldam-s
ADAMS GROUP Plate 1
0.
Turtle Creek Mounds and Village Sites. 11
not be determined. Presumably most of these were conical and linear earthworks.
Reference: Prehistoric America, Vol. II, map opp. page 165.
Turtle Tov/nship.
BELOIT JUNCTION GROUP.
The four mounds of this group are low and inconspicuous. They are located on a bluff 55 feet high overlooking the Creek at the Beloit Junction, in the S. W. 14 of Section 31. The C. M. & St. P. R, R. cuts through the bluff at this point. Mounds Nos. 1, 2, 3 are grouped on the nortlT side of the track and No. 4, a remnant of a mound, is on the other. Mound No. 1 is 26 x iy2. " " 2 is 28 x li/o.
3 in a cultivated field, has been ploughed up, but
the outline of it can still be seen. One skele- ton was disinterred, also one fine stone celt and several arrow points. This mound, which is on the R. G. Schulz property, is 28 x 8.
4 is 57 feet long tapering slightly from the "head"
which is 17 feet wide. This mound is one foot high. This may be the effigy figured by Rev. Stephen Peet in his plat of the group.
Reference: Prehistoric America, Vo\. II, page 252, and map opp. page 165.
PARTRIDGE GROUP
Plate 2 and Figure 1.
(W. P>. Strong Estate, N. W. V4 of Sec. 30.) This group of four mounds is located in a wooded pasture on the Partridge farm, on the gently sloping flood plain of the Creek. It is to be noticed that these mounds, which are about 400 feet from the stream, are the only ones along the Turtle which are placed
12
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
Vol. 12, No. 1
upon the creek bottom instead of upon the bluff. In this group is the largest and most perfect turtle effigy near Beloit. Mound No. 1 is 28 x 2.
2 doubtful — appears to be a fragment of a mound.
It is 2 feet wide, 6 inches high. " " 3 is 40 x 25 x 2. " " 4, the turtle effigy, is 154 feet long, and 2V2 feet
high at the center of the body. Reference : Prehistoric America, Vol. II, map opp. page 165.
if, \(l: >"/ Mi l!// J(l ll/y »"' '"' v
re nc e
Fig. 1
MC LENEGAN GROUP. Plate 2.
Three mounds and the remnants of others are all too widely scattered to be properly considered as one group. They are about one-quarter of a mile south of the McLenegan house. Two conical mounds in the N. E. 14 of Sec. 30 are located on the bluff
CONICAL MOUND NO. 1, PARTRIDGE GROUP
CONICAL MOUND, McLENEGAN GROUP Plate 2
Turtle Civck .Mounds ;iml Village Sites. 13
in a urassy pasture 400 feet from the Creek. Both, are irregular in outline. .Mound Xo. 1 is 74 x 50 x 2, and No. 2 is 62 x 2, Back and north in the cultivated field about 400 feet from these mounds are the remnants and traces of others, which have been destroyed by cultivation.
On the lawn of the H. H. McLenegan farm (S E. 1/4 of Sec. 19), a few feet from the house, is a large conical mound, measur- ing 57 x 44 x 5 feet. It is about 1/5 of a mile west and back from the Creek. Another conical earthwork was once located in the woods east of the house.
MURPHY GROUP.
One well preserved mound and the remnants of three others constitute this group, which is located on the M. D. Murphy farm in the S. E. 14 of Section 18. This group is about 1/4 of a mile north of the McLenegan mound 011 the west bank of Turtle ( Yeek, and lies in a wooded pasture. Mound No. 1, which is well preserved, is 42 x 2%.
2, 3, 4, have been excavated and nearly leveled. 2, completely leveled is 25 feet in width. " " 3, is 30 x 38 " " 4, is 28 x 18 x 6."
LATHERS MOUND.
In the extreme southwest corner of Section 17, on the C. Lai hers farm, is a conical mound. It is near the west end of the Lathers bridge, on the edge of the bluff, a few feet from Turtle Creek. The mound is badly mutilated. It measures 35 x 13 x 11/2 feet.
REILLY GROUP.
Plate 3.
About 1/5 of a mile north of the Lathers mound, . on the west side of the Creek, is the Reilly group of three mounds. T\vo of the mounds (Xos. 1 and 2) are in the N. E. 14 of Section 18,
14 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
on the Reilly farm. Mound No. 3 is in the S. W. % of Section 17, on the C. Lathers farm. Mound No. 1, is 49 x 13 x 2.
" " 2, is 45 x 33 x 2.
" " 3, is 30 x 8 x 2i/o.
No. 1 is in a cultivated field. No. 2 is on the lawn near thie) farm house. No. 3, now nearly destroyed, is on the edge of a gravel pit, about 400 feet from the Creek. Four years ago when this mound caved in, while men were working in the gravel pit5 four skeletons, 2 strings of blue trade beads, and a number of arrow points were obtained. The F. H. Pierce group is directly across the creek from this mound. The site of the old Council House, as located by the old settlers, is about 100 feet south of mound No. 3.
PIERCE GROUP. Plate 4 and Figure 2.
This group of earthworks is in the W. % of Section 17, on a piece of property belonging to F. H. Pierce. A bluff, twenty feet high overlooks the Creek at this point and the mounds, five in number, extend along the bluff for 350 feet. The group con- sists of one linear, one effigy and three conical mounds; but four years ago one conical mound was excavated by relic hunters and is practically destroyed, so but two of the orig- inal three remain. As far as could be learned nothing was se- cured from the mound excavated.
The two conical mounds which have not been dug into are very close together, almost overlapping, as their edges are but eighteen inches apart. Mound No. 3 measures thirty-two feet in diameter and is two and one-half feet high. It is badly pitted and defaced. Its base is oval in shape. Mound No. 4, the larger of the two conical mounds, is forty-two feet in diameter. It is also the highest of all the mounds being three feet in height. Its base is almost a perfect circle. Mound No. 5 is the one which has been excavated. It was origi- nally about thirty-six feet in diameter. Only the outline of
CONICAL MOUND. REILLY GROUP
CONICAL .\I<>! M). KKILLV (JKOI'P, RE-EXCAVATED Plate 3
Turtle Creek Mounds and Village Sites. * 15
this mound can now be distinguished as a pit has been sunk into it to a depth of five feet.
The single linear mound of the group is one hundred and thirty-four feet long. It is tapering in form. At the broadest extremity this mound measures about twenty-five feet and at the other about six feet in width. At the broadest extremity the height of the mound is about 2% a feet and at the other a few inches in height.
o" o"
0
Fig. 2
The widest part of the mound extends across one corner of the school yard adjoining. This part of the mound has been greatly damaged. A small building has been placed upon this broad end but in spite of the damage done the outline of the mound can still be traced.
The one effigy of the group is close to the broad end of the linear mound and like it is partly destroyed. It is a mammal effigy of the so-called panther type. The body is 38 feet in length. Twenty feet of the tail remains. The mound is about one and one-half feet high at one place, but for the niost part it is less than one foot in height. The tail is only a few inches high. The striking feature of this effigy is the position of the tail in relation to -the body. Instead of extending in a general line with the body, the tail is slightly elevated. These so-called "panther" effigies of this particular shape have been found to occur also near Lake Koshkonong. Con-
16 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
sidering the position of this mound (it is on the edge of the bluff, practically at the beginning of the slope), the effigy is rather well preserved, as erosion has not made much headway on that part of the bluff. The other mounds of the group are for the present secure, barring the work of relic hunters, and it is well because the mounds in the group across the creek are fast being destroyed, and the Pierce group will soon be the only monuments of the primitive Red Men who once occupied those bluffs.
VILLAGE AND CAMP SITES. Beloit Township.
KAU-RAY-MAU-NEE 's VILLAGE.
At the time of the coming of the first pioneers in this region, there was a Winnebago village located on Turtle Creek (prob- ably near the mouth of the stream), and where the City of Be- loit now stands. It was called Turtle by the early traders and pioneers. On page 29 of the "History of Rock County" is this passage regarding the village : —
"The other settlement of Winnebagoes within our County, called Turtle village, occupied the site of the present City of Beloit. The chief of this village was Kau-rau-maw-nee, or Walking Turtle. That chief, who delivered up Red Bird at the close of the Winnebago war."
This village had been abandoned in 1832, when the regulars and militia in pursuit of the Sauk chief, Black Hawk, and his band, reached the present site of Beloit. Kau-ray-mau-nee was in his day a principal chief of his tribe. He is said to have fought under the leadership of Tecumseh in the war of 1812-13,. He was a signer of the treaties of 1816, 1825, 1829 and 1832. In a report made to the Indian Office, in 1829, John R. Kinzie, the Indian agent stationed at Fort Winnebago, mentions the village at "Turtle River", as consisting of 35 lodges and having 600 inhabitants.
CONICAL MOTXn, PIKKCE GROUP
KLINGBKIL CAMP SITE Plate 4
Turtle ('reek Mounds ;iml Vilhi^c Sites. 17
BELOIT (i. \KDEN BEDS AND CORNFIELDS
(lardcn beds existed mar the site of| the old North Western depot, in Beloit. This location is near the mouth of Turtle Creek, in the SEi 14 of Section 35. Indian cornfields were lo- cated on the Turtle Creek bottom, near the present college ath- letic field, in the SE. ~y± of Section 36. No traces of these can he seen today.
References: Prehistoric America, Vol. II (1898), page 391.
Turtle Township.
SCHULZ CAM> SITE.
On the high bluff overlooking the Creek at Beloit Junction, on the property of K. G. Schulz, in the SW. % of Section 31, is a cr.mp site. Fireplace stones are in evidence. But few aborig- inal implements have been found here.
WHirFIELD CAMP SITE.
On the east side of the Creek and one-quarter of a mile north- east of Beloit Junction are evidences of a camp site. This is on the property of W. W. Whitfield, in the SW. y4 of Section 30. A small spring brook flows at the north edge of the bluff whciv this site is located, making this spot a desirable one. Many ar- row rud spearpoints have been secured from this site, which covers about one acre.
TURTLEVILLE VILLAGE SITE.
At the villages of Turtleville and Shopiere, Turtle Creek flows through a beautiful valley, banked by high bluffs. This must h:ive been a favorite camping place for the Winnebago. deuces of Indian occupation are numerous here. In the village of Turtleville, east of the bridge and on the gently sloping south hank of the Creek, are evidences of a small village site. This she is on the property of D. Holmes, in the NE. y4 of Section 9*.
18 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
Arrow and spearpoints, axes, perforators, rubbing stones, frag- ments of state gorgets, stone balls and other artifacts have been collected here. Burned fireplace stones are still to be seen in great numbers. Mr. Holmes has collected over 200 arrow and spearpoints from this site, which has also been a favorite collect ing ground for others. When the first settlers came a small band of Indians was living here. Indian cornfields were located just east of the site.
BALDEZAB CAMP SITE.
Across the creek from the above village site, on the A. Baldezar farm, in the SE. 14 of Section 4, is a well marked camp site. It extends along the creek bank for several hundred feet. Here are many burned hearth stones. Many chert arrow and spear- points have been obtained from this site.
PORTER CAMP SITE. (NE. %, Sec. 9)
East of the Turtleville village site, upon the high bluff over- looking the Creek valley, was a favorite Indian camp site, ac- cording to Mr. J. Hopkins and Mr. Barret Smith, who are among the earliest settlers near Shopiere. Mr. D. Holmes has obtained a large grooved stone axe from this site.
HOPKINS CAMP SITE.
On the J. Hopkins farm in the SW. l/4 of Section 3, and west of the Hopkins house, are evidences of a camp site. But few aboriginal materials have been found here. Mr. Hopkins states that in the early '40 's the Indians camped many times in the field west of his house.
KLINGBIEL CAMP SITES. Plate 4.
East of Shopiere the Creek valley widens and the stream has broad high banks which slope gently back to the bluffs. About one-half mile east of Shopiere there flows into the Turtle from
Turtle ('reck Mounds and Village Sites. 19
the southeast a small stream called the Spring brook, which winds through the densely wooded hills to join the Creek. This is 011 the C. Klingbiel farm (NE. %, Sec. 2). Along Spring brook in the rear of the Klingbiel house was an Indian camp ground. Mr. Barret Smith states that at one time the woods along this stream were full of tepee poles as large bands of Winnebago came here to trap. Along Turtle Creek in front of the farm house, where Spring brook flows into the creek is a well marked camp and workshop site extending over an acre Several caches of chert blades have been ploughed up here by Mr. Klingbiel, also many fine arrow and spearpoints. The burned stones of the fireplaces a*re still in evidence. This is a favorite hunting ground for collector.
SPRING BROOK BURIAL SITE.
Just back of the eamp site, in the bank along Spring brook, Indian burials have been found. In 1895 and 1896 several skel- etons were disinterred, also many fine stone artifacts, including several axes, arrow and spearpoints, etc., which had probably been interred with the dead.
SPICER CAMP SITE. (NW. %, Sec. 2).
*
About one-quarter of a mile up the creek from the Klingbiel sites, on the west bank of the stream, are evidences of a camp site. Mr. Barret Smith states that in 1848 a large band of Indians was encamped here. They traded with the farmers. A number of arrow and spearpoints have been collected here.
La Prairie Township.
SMITH CAMP AND WORKSHOP SITE.
On the Barret Smith farm, about three fourths of a mile east of Shopiere, in the SE. % of Section 36, are indications of a camp and workshop site. Mr. Smith has an interesting collection of aboriginal artifacts, most of which he picked up from this site.
120 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
He has found several caches of chert blanks here. Formerly there were heaps of chert and flint drippings where the Indians had engaged in the making of chert implements.
THE OLD COUNCIL HOUSE.
But little is known, regarding the old Indian Council House which stood near Turtle Creek, and which has never been defi- nitely located. Mr. Barret Smith locates it in the extreme SW. !/4 of Section 17, on the C. Lathers' farm, on the west bank of the Creek. Mr. Smith's authority for placing it here is in early settlers (who saw the remains of the Council House), namely— Mr. J. Swingle and Mr. Bostwich, who settled near in this region in 1837.
Eeference: Prehistoric America, Vol. II (1898), page 391.
cur STONE LO<;AN MTSET'.M. IJELOIT COLLEGE
Plate 5
A Wisconsin Cup Stone. 21
A WISCONSIN CUP STONE
IRA M. BUELL, Curator, Logan Museum.
This interesting artifact is one of the most valued ob- jects in the Beloit College museum. The. cut gives a fair idea of its appearance. The boulder is of the brown horn- blende schist commonly called a "nigger head". It is of pen- tangular outline, about 14 inches long, 11 inches wide and 8 inches thick. It shows the usual effects of glacial abrasion, the original angular outline being reduced to a subangular ellipsoid with few scratches on its smoothed surface. The cup is about 2 inches in diameter and 1% inches thick, while the outer groove has an outer diameter of about 5 inches, is 1 inch wide and 2% inches deep.
A very good cut of this stone is given in "The Stone Age in North America," and on page 314, Vol. 1, is the following brief description: "Fig. 316 is interesting in that it may, or may not be a natural formation. It was found on the site of an old Indian encampment and may have been considered by the In- dians a medicine stone." These three conjectures are unfortu- nately all wrong and destroy the value of the description. It is unquestionably an artifact. Both cup and groove show chisel marks on the sides and margins, and in the bottom of the undercut groove are very distinct furrows. It is also plain from the sharp bevelings on the edges of the cup and groove that the cuts were made after the bowlder surface was glaciated. The history of the recovery of the stone was given to Dr. Gr. L. Collie of Beloit by its finder. Mr. J. C. Birge of St. Louis, Mo., some years ago in the following statements, "This boulder was discovered by me in the year 1858 when it was plowed up by a heavy plow, used in grading the street in front of my home in Whitewater,. Wis. It had been imbedded in the drift about six feet below the surface.
2i> WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
Large oaks and other trees had covered the surface of the ridge where it laid. The moment it was exposed, my attention was attracted to the red material that surrounded and filled the cup and saucer even with the general surface of the bowlder. Roll- ing the stone into an adjacent yard, I found the red material to be something like hardened clay, which, being removed with a sharp instrument left the stone as it now appears, the cup being attached to the bottom of the saucer by a narrow support which is a portion of the bowlder. ' '
This account gives a very clear idea of the position of the bowlder when it was found and certainly suggests the idea of pre-glacial origin. Against this however is the fact that the edges of the cup and the surrounding groove bear sharp bevels and chisel marks that would certainly have been ground off had the stone been subjected to glacial action subsequent to the cut- ting. On the other hand It is very easy to conceive how the; stone may have been buried in this ridge in post-glacial time, either naturally or through human agency. Even if we reject the most familiar supposition of burial in the grave of its owner we may conceive of burial for concealment.
The cutting of the cup in this very refractory boulder is unique among our Mid- Continent artifacts and it is hard to explain why the artisan should have been led to undertake a task which was evidently beyond his power to accomplish, for the object appears to have been to obtain a small cup rather than to make a mortar of the stone itself.
But the cutting of stone vessels out of a rock mass is a com- mon method in California. The serpentine ledges on the west end of Catalina Island show bowl like pits out of which the soap- stone mortars and firepots in common use among the native In- dians were carved. Over twenty of these soapstone utensils were collected by Mr. H. N. Rust, in Southern California. Some of these were found as far north as Santa Barbara, 150 miles up the coast. These form part of the Rust collection in Logan Museum, Beloit College. It is barely possible that a local In- dian familiar with these native methods of fabrication tried his. hand on this greenstone bowlder and failed.
The Geographical Distribution of Certain Knobbed Stone Implements 23
THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF
CERTAIN KNOBBED STONE
IMPLEMENTS
GEORGE E. LAIDLAW.
These implements having dorsal protuberances known locally as "humps" or "knobs" are sparsely scattered over a wide territory, mainly in the St. Lawrence -basin and the Lake Cham- plain district, the northeastern seaboard of the United States, and Nova Scotia. They occur more frequently in the eastern sections than in the remaining territory.
Taking first the published accounts of these "knobbed" or * ' humped ' ' implements we find a series described in the American Anthropologist, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1907, with the dorsal knob in combination with lateral knobs, transverse grooves, and also transverse ridges. Mr. C. C. Willoughby, the author of the article which is called "The adze and ungrooved axe of the New Eng- land Indians" pp. 296—306, states that "nearly all blades with projections or transverse grooves for securing the lashings are surface finds", "nor does the writer know of an instance of the knobbed or transverse grooved forms having been found in shell heaps". In speaking of the rigidity of the blade in relation to the haft Mr. Willoughby remarks: "It is doubtful if the implements with knobs or transverse grooves were as rigid in relation to the haft as were the better class of wedge shaped implements" (p. 299). Illustrations are given of the single, double and triple knobs, also the combined groove and knobs. Mention is also made of a form having a double knob oc- curring among the Northwest Coast Indians. These knobbed implements figured in this article are adze and gouge forms. Dr. Win. Beauchamp in his bulletin on Polished Stone Articles,
24 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
N. Y. Museum, 1897, p. 12, states — "a large celt from Plattsburg has two knobs on the back, or rather projections. A large gouge from Oneida Co. has similar features. These may have been left for attaching a handle. The celt is quite angular and thick, is 9 inches 'long by 2*4 wide. This feature is rare", and on p. 23 "a curious gouge of black basalt from Oxford has several knoblike projections on the back." Dimensions 7^2 by 2% inches.
W. K. Moorehead (Stone Age, Vol. 1, p. 285, fig. 247) shows a seven knobbed gouge from Wakefield, Mass., in the collection of Chas. A. Perkins, but gives no details.
In the "Red Paint People of Maine" (Volume XV., No. 1, American Anthropologist, 1913) Prof. Moorehead figures (Fig. 13) an eight knobbed gouge somewhat similar to the eight knobbed axe of Mr. C. V. Fuller of Grand Lodge, Michigan. The Moorehead specimen is a slenderer implement and the two encircling rows of knobs are further apart.
In Harry Piers, "Stone Age in Nova Scotia" (Transactions of the Nova Scotia Institute of Sciences, Vol. IX; session 1894 — 95, pp. 26 — 58, figures 22, 47, 63) are two stone adzes with one knob each and one gouge with two knobs. No details are given.
Early in 1911, Mr. T. W. Sowter of Ottawa, Ont, forwarded to me a drawing of a knobbed adze-gouge, with a query as to what sort of implement it was. I then began a series of enquiries with regards to the frequency and distribution of these imple- ments with the following results.
No. 1. The drawing which Mr. Sowter sent to me, represents an adze-gouge found in 1910 at Lac au Saumon (Salmon Lake), R-imouski Co., Quebec, on the Intercolonial Ry., 40 miles from Matepedia. It was found by Aguilas Dube, owner of the farm, at a depth of about 18 inches. The material is a greenish gray diabase. Dimensions 3% inches wide. 11V2 inches long and 2~ys inches thick, weight 4 Ibs. 10 oz. The present owner is Dr. Rochon, Hull, Quebec. This implement has 3 knobs situated on a longitudinal dorsal ridge, the largest knob being at about the centre of the implement and the other two about midway from
Tin- (Ji'o^r.-ipliir.-il Dislrilmtion of Certain Knobbed Stone Implements 25
that to the poll. The cross section through the largest knob is somewhat triangular showing the ridge and knob to be very pronounced. The cutting edge, or lip, is almost semicircular and has a slight nick at one side. Dr. W. H. Holmes, head curator of the IT. S. National Museum, "Washington, D. C., on examining the drawings remarks in a letter, June 22, 1911:
That ' ' this is a very fine example of stone adze, and of course, very closely related to the stone gouge, of almost identical form, s.'ive that the front face is more or less distinctly hollowed out. Such knobs are common in New England, as well as in the North- west." The details of this specimen are taken from notes in the drawing and letter of Mr. Ja^cob Smith, Dept. Interior, Ottawa, April 4, 1913. Other similar implements are said to be found in this district.
No. 2. Mr. Harlan I. Smith, Dominion Archaeologist, Vic- toria Memorial Museum, Ottawa, sends outlines and information of a knobbed adze in the Hirschfelder collection, in the museum. from near Hamilton, Lake Medad, Wentworth Co., Ontario. This specimen is about 6y% inches long by 21/4 wide and I1; thick, triangular in cross section. Poll right angled with sides and cutting edge almost right angled, with sides. The knobs are four in number from the centre to the poll, the two outside ones being more pronounced than the centre ones. Mr. Smith remarks in referring to the hollows between the knobs: "Hollows were made after the tool had been necked and polished, appear to have been an after thought. 'T No data. as to finder, or when found. (Ilirschf elder No. 666 (305), "W. J. AVintemberg, Viet. Mom. Mus., Ottawa), information also April 7, 1912.
Xo. :>. Dr. Louis Falge, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, kindly sent to me a specimen of knobbed gouge for examination. This speci- men, which is a surface find from the town of Rockland, Mani- towoc County, Wisconsin, was plowed up in 1901. Dimensions, 7 2/5 inches long, 21/4 inches wide. 1:;N inches thick, weight 1 11). (5 ounces. It is of a dioritic material, pecked into shape and > lightly smoothed over. The specimen is in good condition ex-
26 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
cept a slight abrasion at the lip and fracture at the poll showing signs of use as a hammer. The four knobs though quite dis- tinct are not pronounced, and extend from the centre to the poll. There is no longitudinal dorsal ridge. The gouge or hol- lowed portion is quite pronounced and extends back 3 inches. The cross section is oblong. Dr. Falge in a letter of August 11, 1911, is of the opinion that the knobs were for securing the handle and not for ornamentation.
No. 4. Mr. N. E. Carter of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, in a letter April 6, 1912, gives outlines from memory of a knobbed gouge of brown hard stone, having one knob, from Connecticut. No further data, approximate size 5l/± inches long by !3/4 wide by % thick. Pronounced 'knob in middle of back and gouge portion extending half the length of the implement.
No. 5. Mr. Van Hyning, formerly Museum Director of the Historical Department of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, in letters of April 15, and 22, 1912, furnishes outlines of a one knobbed stone adze in the museum, probably found somewhere in the valley of the Des Moines river, between Des Moines and Keo- kuk, collected by Mr. S. Hamilton, now dead.
The knob is very pronounced and is quite close to the poll. The sketch, which is smaller than the actual size of the im- plement, gives the poll a rectangular outline, and the face slight- ly incurved (supposedly gouge shaped). Dimension not less than 31/2 inches long by 1% wide and 1% thick through knob.
No. 6. Mr. A. E. Marks of Yarmouth, Maine, (letter of July 4, 1912) has one celt in his collection that has a knob on its back in the centre, and had possibly two at one time. This celt is approximately 12 inches long, 2% wide and 1% thick through the knob and 1*4 through the celt by the knob. Lip or cutting edge, semicircular. Body of implement tapers clown to a narrow poll. The shape in width somewhat resembles speci- men No. 1. No data given.
. No. 7. Mr. H. R. Howland, S.upt. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sciences, Buffalo, N. Y., in a letter of May 3, 1912, states that "The only specimen of a stone axe with a protuberance on Its back comes
The (Icd-r.-ipliical Distribution of Certain Knobbed Stone Implements 27
from West Virginia, ' ' also that they ' ' have two interesting casts of these axes furnished by the U. S. National Museum, one be- ing of a specimen from Warrens County, Kentucky, and the other from British Columbia." An inquiry to the above state- ment, re-casts, elicited the following reply from Dr. W. H. Holmes (May 11, 1912). "I can report that we have two axes with knobs or protuberances on the back, both from Michigan. I cannot now recall any such specimens from Kentucky, and cer- tainly none from British Columbia. Those from British Col- umbia are all adzes, and so far as my experience goes no axe has ever been recovered from the Pacific coast. The knobbed gouges of the New" England states and Canada are, of course, numerous and grade into various forms of ridges and notches."
Mr. G. H. Perkins, State Geologist, Burlington, Vermont, in a letter of April 26, 1912, says "The implements which have humps on the back are found in the Champlain valley but they are very rare. I have seen a few amongst hundreds of the smoothbacks. ' '
Mr. Henry M. Whelpley of St. Louis, Mo., in a letter of May 14, 1912, to Mr. J. M. Pyott of Chicago states that "he has seen several specimens of this sort, and that they are described in some books. ' ' Per favor of Mr. Pyott.
Mr. C. V. Fuller, Grand Ledge, Michigan (letter of Feb. 5, 1*912), states that he has a variation of the above type, namely, a grooved stone axe found in Ionia County, Michigan, which has eight knobs, four on each side of the groove, or two on top of the axe, two on the bottom and two on each side, separated by the groove. It seems as if the groove had formerly a ridge on cndi side, and that these ridges had been worked down to four knobs in each ridge. The knobs occur in pairs, opposite each other.
Mr. Alanson Skinner, Assistant Curator, American Museum of Natural History New York (letter May 14, 1913), states that "There are no implements of the knobbed type from Canada in the Museum, but that they are quite common in New England,
•jx
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
Vol. 12, No. 1
and some are found in the vicinity of New York, and a few in New Jersey, although they are rarer as one goes further south along the Atlantic coast."
Letter of. April 24, 1911.
July 11, 1911. Feb. 19, 1912.
Oct. 4, 1911.
Jan. 29, 1912.
Feb. 19, 1912.
March 4, 1912.
March 21, 1912.
March 25, 1912.
April 6, 1912.
April 16, 1912.
Negative Evidence.
C. E. Brown, State Historical Museum. Madison, Wisconsin, does not know of any in Wisconsin except the Falge specimen, recollects seeing one with 2 knobs from Illinois.
Prof. G. L. Collie, Beloit, Wis. None in Beloit College Museum.
W. C. Mills, State Museum, Columbus, Ohio. None in Ohio.
Dr. N. H. Winchell, St. Paul, Minn. None in Minnesota Historical Museum.
Mr. A. B. Winans, Battle Creek, Mich. None.
Mr. J. M. Pyott, Chicago, 111., none, nor does not know of any.
Mr. Albert F. Scharf, Chicago. None.
Mr. W. J. Seever, St. Louis, Mo. None, or
never saw any.
Mr. A. F. Hunter, Barrie. Does not recollect seeing or hearing of any imple*- ment having knobs on the back for aiding the fastening of the haft. Thinks they are rare in this province, although it is perhaps not safe to speak negatively, be- cause we do not yet know really what the Province contains archaeologically.
Mr. F. J. Skiff, Director, Field Museum, Chi- cago, is of the opinion that there are no specimens to be found in the collection, though greater portion of the archaeolog- ogical material is stored.
The Geogr;ii>lik':il IMstrihutiou of Certain Knobbed Stone Implements
29
April 16, 1912.
April 19, 1912. April
21, 1912.
April 22, 1912. April 22, 1912. April 26, 1912.
May 2, 1012. May 7, 1912. March 11, 1913.
March 19, 1913.
Mr. F. D. Moore, K. C., Lindsay, Ont. well versed in the archaeology of Victoria and Peterborough counties, has never seen any, or never found any of this sort. Thinks they may be the results of the fancy of individual makers.
Mr. AYin. Mathison, Lucan, Ont. None.
Mr. W. L. Griffin, Somerset, Kenutcky. Has never seen any.
Mr. Jos. Feightner, Medina, Ont. None.
Mr. Chas. N. Mitchell, Lakeside, Ont. None.
Mr. Ed T r<l ley. Montreal, Quebec. None in the Redpath Museum, but the museum has an implement from the Queen Charlotte Islands, B. C., which is carved into two saddle like hollows near the head. Fig. 13, G. M. Dawson's Report on the Queen Charlotte Islands, Part 3, Geological Sur- vey Report, 1878—79.
Mr. J. W. Reeder, Calumet, Mich. None.
Mr. L. D. Brown, Oliver, Ont. None.
Mr. R. B. Orr, Director, Provincial Museum
Toronto. None in Museum. Mr. G. Allison, Waterdown, Ont. None.
All the above mentioned persons are interested in archaeology, some professionally, and others by virtue of having collections, some of the collections being large and locally representative.
From the foreu'oin<r evidence one might judge that in some lo- calities in the New England stales they are not uncommon, but occur very rarely in other localities at points widely distant.
30 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
THE EXPLORATION OF MOUNDS IN WHITE'S GROUP IN VERNON COUNTY
ALBERT H. SANFORD.
These mounds were investigated by a party of teachers and students from the State Normal School at LaCrosse, in October, 1912. They are situated on the north edge of the village of Stoddard, Vernon County (Sec. 28, T. 14, N., R. 7 W.). The five mounds opened are in a cornfield on the farm of Mr. Frank White that had been under cultivation for thirty or more years. Mr. White stated that about twenty-five years ago the Smith- sonian authorities opened some mounds that are located in the same general line with these, in adjacent lots; but that they were not allowed to open these because this field was then under cultivation.
A description of the results of the excavation of these mounds is given by Prof. Cyrus Thomas in the 12 Annual Report of the American Bureau of Ethnology (pp. 79-82). His plat shows that there were twenty-two conical and oval mounds in the group, .these being disposed in a rather straight line extending north and south. Of these his assistants examined ten of the most southerly mounds. Of the articles found with the burials in these he figures a copper plate, an obsidian blank and a pot- tery vessel. Other articles recovered included several chert spearpoints, fragments of pottery vessels, a brass ornament, glass and copper beads and a second copper plate. Some of the skeletons were buried in a folded position and others stretched out at full length.
The line of mounds examined by our party extends almost north and south upon land that slopes gently to the north and
32 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
in which individual skeletons could not be distinguished. In general, the bones were in a state of disintegration that render- ed them softer than the muck in which they were embedded. They were, in consequence difficult to remove. However, in some instances, large portions of skulls and of arm and leg bones were removed intact.
Fig. 3
In Mound I nothing was found except skeletons. These were ten in number and were placed approximately in the positions indicated in Fig. 3. The outer line represents the opening made by excavation. Skull A measured 7 1/2 inches from front
Tin- i:\pl.mitioii (.f Monmls in White's Group, in Gernon County. 33
to hack, while skull (1 measured 8 inches in the other direction. Skeleton l> \\;:s Ivinu' on its back, C on its face, and E on its side. About skull I) was a mass of bones, one being in an up- right position.
Mound II was comparatively low and small and contained only a bed of charcoal and fragments of bone partially burned. The charcoal bed sloped from a distance of eight inches below the surface to twenty inches.
Mound III was the largest of the group and yielded eleven burials besides other contents mentioned below. "The general location of skulls and articles is shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4
A. Sandstone spearpoint 5% inches x 3 inches.
B. Copper spearpoint 5% inches long.
C. Copper celt 4 indies long and about % inch wide.
I). I'ipe howl, 21/!' inches
34
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
Vol. 12, No. 1
Small fragments of pottery were also found scattered at the same level in this mound.
In Mound IY were found masses of bone, somewhat detached from each other, in which it was impossible to distinguish the original positions of the skeletons. Here also were found some ashes and a tooth that appears to be the canine of a bear. The number of burials was roughly estimated at twenty-five.
The contents of Mound .V are represented in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5
At A there was a confused pile of bones. At B limb bones were found in a confused mass. At C was found a flint leaf- shaped implement, piobably a knife, which is nicely flaked, 8 inches long and 3l/2 inches wide at the rounded base. The greater portion of both surfaces of this implement are coated with material of a reddish color, very probably paint
Tl»i' Kxploi-jttion of .Mounds in White's Group, iii Geruon County. 35
This coating is thicker in some places than in others, and except at a few points is from 2/5 to % of an inch distant from the edge 'of the implement. It is quite smooth. Mr. Charles E. Brown informs the writer that a few nint implements and cere- monial objects showing traces of treatment with red paint occur in Wisconsin collections.
Several bones and skulls taken from the mounds were submit- ted to Prof. G. H. Bretnall of the Biology Department of the Normal School, who comments upon them as follows:
"These bones showred some very interesting features. Prom the portions examined it was judged that the skeletons would average larger and that the bones were heavier than those usu- ally seen in the laboratory. This was seen well in the humerus and the femur, especially the latter. The additional weight was only partially accounted for in the increased diameter of the bone. In fact, the bones were very little larger than they would be in a large white skeleton. The weight was in the thickness of the compact bone. The medullary cavity was consequently smaller. This feature of the bones was quite marked.
' ' A like condition was found in a specimen of the axis verte- bra. While the bone was so worn by decay on the outside tha: it was not easy to see the thickness of the ring of bone, neural arch, yet it was of at least average thickness and probably more than average, comparing it with that of a white man. On the other hand the opening of the spinal canal, the spinal foramen, was much smaller. As in the loner bones, there was a much smaller central cavity compared with the thickness of the out- side bone.
"The bones of the skull were a little thicker than the average white skull. There were, however, some other peculiarities. In one specimen there was an extra bone at the junction of the parietals and the occipital bone. This interparietal bone meas- ured about an inch laterally and slightly less the other way. The occurrence of this bone, however, is not so rare ; but there was found in another of these skulls a bone which is very rare. This bone was at the junction of the frontals and parietals. The
WISCONSIN AUCIIEOLUGIST. Vol. 12, No. 1
occurrence of this frontal-parietal bone is not easily explained by morphoiogists. A good many of the extra bones for.nd in human skulls can be explained on the basis of comparative anatomy, but this does not seem to be of easy explanation. Thrs bone was of laree size, reaching two-thirds across the skull.
"The back of the head was somewhat flattened but this was. prqbably not conrenital. The probabilities are that it was pro- duced purposely or induced by laying the babe on a hard surface to rest."
"In the skulls examined the molar teeth were ground down to almost even with the gums and showed no signs of decay."
Besides the writer of this account, those who took part in the expedition were Professors L. P. Denoyer, W. A. Austin, and M. N. Thompson, Mr. E. C. Josten, and a company of twelve or more students.
Vol. 12
August, 1913
No, 2
THE
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN THE UPPER BARABOO VALLEY
THE OCCURRENCE OF MARINE SHELLS ON INDIAN SITES IN WISCONSIN
Entered as second class matter January 15, 1912, at the postofflce at Madison under the act of July 16, 1894
Wisconsin Archeological Society
MILWAUKEE, WIS.
Incorporated March 23, 1903, for the purpose of advancing the study and preservation of Wisconsin antiquities.
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT ELLIS B. USHER Milwaukee
VICE-PRESIDENTS
DR. S. A. BARRETT Milwaukee
DR. ORRIN THOMPSON Neenah
JOSEPH RINGEISEN, JR Milwaukee
E. N. WARNER Madison
T. L. MILLER. Ripon
DIRECTORS
DR. E. J. W. NOTZ . .Milwaukee
DR. LEWIS SHERMAN Milwaukee
TREASURER LEE R. WHITNEY Milwaukee
SECRETARY CHARLES E. BROWN.. ..Madison
COMMITTEES
STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY— Arthur Wenz, G. A. West, C. E. Brown, Dr. S. A. Barrett, H. L. Skavlem, L. R. Whitney, Dr. Louis Falge.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS— Dr. Geo. L. Collie, W. H. Ellsworth, Dr. R. G. Thwaites, Henry L. Ward, Prof. 1. M. Buell, Prof. A. H. Sanford, Dr. W. H. Bailey, J. P. Schumacher, H. P. Hamilton, Prof. W. E. Leonard, Rudolph Kuehne, W. A. Titus.
MOUND PRESERVATION— Prof. A. S. Flint, Dr. H. C. Bumpus, Mrs. Jessie R. Skinner, Dr. J. O. Kinnaman, Mrs. E. H. Van Ostrand, Charles Lapham, H. A. Smythe, Jr., Prof. C. D. Zdanowicz, P. V. Lawson, Emil Baensch, J. A. H. Johnson, Miss Jennie Baker, Thomas Bardon.
MEMBERSHIP— C. L. Fortier, Paul Joers, H. A. Kirchner, Geo. R. Fox, Miss Minna M. Kunckell, Dr. B. H. Warren, C. E. Guenther, A. T. Newman, Mrs. Sophie Miller, Geo. R. Parker, E. Field Phillips, R. H. Becker, T. D. Brown, H. O. Younger.
MAN MOUND— W. W. Warner, Mrs. E. C. Wiswall, W. W. Gilman.
PRESS — Miss Mary E. Stewart, H. E. Cole, A. O. Barton, Rev. J. E. Copus, R. H. Plumb, S. N. Hartwell.
SESSIONS
These are held in the Lecture Room in the Library-Museum Building, in Milwaukee, on the third Monday of each month, at
S P. M.
Daring the months or July to Octoher no meetings will he held
MEMBERSHIP FEES
Life Memhers, $25.00 Sustaining Memhers, $5.00
Annual Memhers, $2.00
All communications in regard to the Wisconsin Archeological Society or to the "Wisconsin Archeologist" should be addressed to Charles E. Brown, Secretary and Curator, Office, .State Historical Museum, Madison, Wis.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vol. 12, No. 2.
ARTICLES
Page Archaeological Researches in the Upper Baraboo Valley, H. E.
Cole and A. S. Flint 41
The Occurrence of Marine Shells on Indian Sites in Wisconsin,
Charles E. Brown 53
The West Collection of Aboriginal Pipes 64
Archeological Notes ---------- 6&
ILLUSTRATIONS. Shell Gorget, G.«M. Brugger Collection - - - Frontispiece
Plate Facing Page
1. Millard Prairie Mounds 46
2. Mound No. 12, Millard Prairie Group 47
3. Mound Prairie, West Group 50
4. Shell Vessel, Milwaukee Public Museum - ... 56
5. Shell Vessel, G. M. Brugger Collection 58
6. Conch Shells, G. M. Brugger and State Historical Museum
Collections 60
Figure Page
1. Grant Effigy 45
2. Mound Prairie, West Group ....... 49,
3. Mound Prairie, East Group 51
SHELL GORGET G. M. Brugger Collection
THE WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
Quarterly Bulletin Published by the Wisconsin Archeolotflcal Society.
Vol. 12. MADISON, WIS.. AUGUST. 1913. No. 2
ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN THE UPPER BARABOO VALLEY
H. E. COLE AND A. S. FLINT
This survey, undertaken by the authors in July, 1912, ex- tends from "Wonewoc to the upper waters of the Baraboo river and over the watershed to Sparta. The stream, (and valley in which the river flows) was followed on and 011 until it grew smaller and smaller and divided again and again and was at last lost in the highest hills. The whole region lies within the driftless area of the state. Here aeons ago the sand was brought down from the highest elevations and de- posited in the ancient sea. This formation is known as the Potsdam sandstone and its bold outcroppings were observed almost everywhere. In a more recent age there was built upon the sandstone great beds of Lower Magnesian limestone. This limestone has been nearly all eroded away by those forces which are everywhere trying to bring the hill-top to the level of the plain. Fringing the Baraboo valley on the south, portions of the limestone beds remain, but where the river and its tributaries have been at work the longest, naught remains but hard fragments known as flint or chert. These time-resist- ing fragments form the beds of the streams and repose along the hillsides. These hard pieces furnished the material for the ancient arrow-maker to ply his skill. Here and there on camp and village sites thin flakes were found, cast aside when
42 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No. 2
he made his knife or spearpoint. Being driftless, the region is devoid of hard boulders like those found along the lower course of the Baraboo. Material for the manufacture of pipes, hammers, axes, celts and other articles is not found in the re- gion and it is but rarely that a specimen is picked up in the territory covered by this survey. Occasionally one is found which must have been brought into the country by some of the primitive people when wandering from their accustomed haunts. Earthworks, too, are rare in the region. But one effigy and but a few groups of conical mounds were located. None of the linear type were noted. Evidently the region was not a favorite one with the mound-building Indians, at least the archeological evidence leads one to this conclusion.
Previous to setting out on our expedition letters were writ- ten to' friends in the several towns in the valley to ascertain to what extent their knowledge of local antiquities would jus- tify our making a search for evidences of early Indian resi- dence in their respective localities. The information obtained was such that after joining our forces at Baraboo we con- cluded to proceed at once to Wonewoc, in Juneau County, where our first work was undertaken. In addition to those mentioned in the descriptive text we are indebted to Dr. H. B. Miller and Mr. Elmer Menus of Norwalk and to Mr, Robert "White of Wonewoc for information and assistance.
The artefacts of this region do not differ in general char- acter from those of the surrounding counties. The best col- lection is that of Mr. J. J. Melcher of Sparta. Included in his collection are chert and quartzite arrow and spearpoints, knives and scrapers, grooved stone axes, celts and pipes and two copper implements. Most of these, however, were collected near Cat- aract, in Monroe County, north of the region covered by our survey.
Aroheoloyi<-:il llt-scan-hcs in tin' rpp.-r I-5:ir;ilm.> Valley. 43
JUNEAU COUNTY WONEWOC TOWNSHIP WONEWOC CAMP SITE
Indications of an Indian camp site formerly existed on the site of the Catholic church on Center street, and in the vacant lots in its rear. According to Mrs. Isaac Huff a large number of chert arrowpoints have been plowed up at this place in years past. Mr. Louis Hepp is the owner of a number of flint im- plements collected in this vicinity.
HENRY CAMP SITE
On the John Henry farm in the northwest quarter of Sec- tion 26 is another camp site. This is located in a cultivated field sloping gently from the house and Wonewoc road to a creek tributary to the Baraboo river which flows through the farm. C!i it implements and a grooved stone hammer have been re- covered from 'these fields by Mr. Lloyd A. Henry. The latter is of medium size and ordinary form. It is grooved on three sides, smooth but not polished and has a blunt edge. It is about ±y± inches in length. A short distance northwest of the farm house, where the creek is crossed by the road, is a rem- nant of a beaver dam. On the east side of the road is a line of picturesque rocky bluffs.
FISK CAMP SITE
Another camp site was located on the Theodore Fisk farm, on the "Wonewoc road, in the southeast quarter of Section 22. A small creek here flows into a bend of the Baraboo. Mr. Rob- ert White, the present tenant of the farm, has collected many flint implements from the cultivated fields. He stated that the Indians (Winnebago) last camped at this place about fifteen years ago. The old men then informed him that they had often camped her:1. Three low supposed Indian mounds on the
44 WISCONSIN. ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No 2
edge of the marsh on this farm, appear to be of natural origin. This is a very attractive spot, a line of wooded rocky cliffs tow- ering above the country road leading to Wonewoc and con- fronted by a very striking "island" known locally as "Lone Rock." On the other side of the stream is a prominent crag called "Castle Rock."
SUMMIT TOWNSHIP WIGWAM SITE
A few scattered chert chips and fragments were found on a sloping piece of land lying between the road and the bank of a small creek in the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 20.
This^ site does not appear to be one that would naturally be selected by aboriginal man for a permanent abode.
GRANT EFFIGY AND CAMP SITE (Figure 1)
Not much over a mile to the west of Union Center was once located the only effigy noted in this survey. A fragment re- mains under a fence which separates land owned by J. N. Grant and P. Lescoe in Section 8, Town of Wonewoc. The location is on the summit of a low hill a little less than half a mile from the north boundary of the town and just one-fourth of a mile west of the east boundary. The site is to the right of the main road from Union Center to Elroy and between the residences of Mr. Grant and Mr. Lescoe. A small stream flows east of the mound which has its origin in a spring near the town line and unites with the Baraboo not far away. Just across the river to the east is Kimball Bluff, one of those bold Potsdam remains frequently found in this region.
W. R. Grant of Elroy, who resided on the farm when a boy, says the animal was fully 50 feet long. Its head was where the fence is now located and the feet on the Grant property,
Archeologica] Krsran-lics in tin- rppi-r I '.:i r;i I HH> Yallt-y.
ir,
The diagram accompanying this report was drawn from a de- scription given by Mr. Grant. He well remembers the mound and says it was the only one of the kind in the whole region. To the south of the mound about a quarter of a mile and not far from the Grant homestead is a piece of land which slopes
Fijr. 1
to the east. This Avas probably a camp site for there have been found here a large number of chert arrowpoints and other Indian artifacts. The relics have been scattered and the long cultivation of the land has obliterated every trace of In- dian occupancy. Across the river and to the east of the village site an old Indian trail was found by the first settlers. The trail led around the base of Kimball Bluff.
46 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No. 2
HlLLSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP
X
MILLARD PRAIRIE MOUNDS. (Plates 1 and 2)
Thirteen conical mounds were located on Millard Prairie several miles! southwest of Elroy, in Hillsborough township, in the northeastern part of Vernon County. We were aided in the survey of this group by Mayor A. A. Telfer and Mr. P. F. Rossman of Elroy. The excursion through the fer- tile valleys and over the rugged hills was made without inci- dent, disclosing a country rich in resources. None of the mounds in the group remained as their builders had left them. The plowshare and spade had done their work and from what could be gleaned from the residents in the vicinity, nothing of value had been obtained. Some in the wooded land are in a fair state of preservation while of others in fields long cultivated scarcely a trace remains.
Mound No. 1 is about 25 or 30 rods east of the highway. The fence between the two properties had been removed and the mound almost leveled by plowing. It was about 30 feet in diameter and not over a foot high
Mound No. 2 measured about 27 feet east and west and about 30 feet north and south. It is located just at the edge of a wood lot and is overgrown with briers and other vegetation. Upon the mound is an oak stump about 12 inches in dia- meter. The mound had probably been four feet high but in digging this height had been reduced.
Mound No. 3 was farther back in the woods and had an iron- wood, a cherry and two oak trees of small diameter growing upon it. It measured 30 feet east and west and 27 feet north and south. Its original height had probably been about four feet.
Mound No. 4 measured about 30 feet in diameter, was but a few feet from No. 3, had been about four feet high but was less than three feet in elevation when visited. Two black oak trees and a cherry tree were growing upon it. This mound, too, at some time had been ravaged by the relic hunter.
MILLARD PRAIIMi: .MolNDS Plate 1
47 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 2
Mound No. 5 is about 33 feet from No. 4 and was of about the same height as the others in the wood.
Mounds No. 6 and 7 are in a cultivated field and fast being obliterated.
Mounds No. 8 and 9 are some distance to the west, across a stream and ravine. Only a trace of them remain.
Mounds No. 10 and 11, located on the side of a hill, are about five rods apart and some 30 rods west of the highway. They have been long under cultivation. The larger of the two, No. 11, measured about 59 by 81 feet.
Mound No. 12 is located on an eminence above a small stream. The ascent from the brook is very abrupt and not far from 100 feet. From the mound a fine view of all the coun- try about is obtained. The mound measures 37 by 36 feet. It is about 31/2 feet high and has been explored.
The last mound in the group, No. 13, is almost on the line be- tween Sections 1 and 2 and almost half a mile north of the southern corner post. It is on land owned by William Oldfield and measures 42 by 35 feet. Two oak trees stand on the mound. The mound is about three feet high.
The section is of irregular shape and as seen by the accompany- ing map, the mounds are scattered almost over the entire square mile or more of surface. It is known as Millards Prairie, being named from an early resident. Trees have been planted and only slight evidences of the former prairie character of the land are now evident. It is one of those places which was burned over by the Indians year after year to obtain grazing land. The country is rough and is well watered by a number of streams.
ELROY MOUNDS.
"W. C. Searles of Elroy states that there were mounds not far from a branch of the Baraboo River when the country was first settled. He believes they were oblong and that there were two or three. He recalls plowing over them. Nothing of any value was ever obtained from these earthworks.
Kcsr.-in-hrs in the rpprr P,:iraboo Valley. 48
MONROE COUNTY CLIFTON TOWNSHIP
s.\XE CORNFIELD
At • Wilton we interviewed Mr. Charles Todd, president of the State Bank, for thirty-nine years a resident of this locality, and familiar with the surrounding country. From him we learned of the former existence of an Indian cornfield on the J. G. Saxe farm, in the southeast quarter of Section 31, about ten miles northeast of Wilton. This was located on the southern part of the farm, 011 the west bank of a creek which flows through it. This field covered an area of about thirty by ten rods. Cornstalks were still to be seen on this field in 1872. A stone hatchet was found 011 this land by Mr. John Beerher.
Mr. Todd had never heard of the location of any Indian mounds at or near Wilton.
CLIFTON CORNFIELD
The railroad passes through the southwestern part of the town of Clifton, in Monroe county. Mr. Todd says that he was em- ployed by the Chicago & Northwestern when the road was built and resided for a time almost a quarter of a mile due east of a point where the railroad leaves the town. Here was located an Indian cornfield all traces of which are now gone.
He stated that Pauquette, long a resident of Portage, had a trading post in the S. E. % of the S. W. % of Section 20, in the town of Plymouth. A trail came from the south to the post and extended north and northeast. The writers have failed to find a record, however, that the trader ever lived in this section of Wisconsin.
SUGAR CAMP.
We were informed that an Indian maple sugar camp was formerly located near Wellington, in the Kinney Valley, near the junction of Morris Creek with the Kickapoo River. This place is four or five miles south of Wilton.
4'.'
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
Vol. 12, No. 2.
ANGELO TOWNSHIP MOUND PRAIRIE, WEST GROUP.
(Plate 3 and Fig. 2)
At Mound Prairie, ten miles northwest of Xorwalk and six miles east of Sparta, near Sias Corner, is a group of conical mounds. These are located on the farm of Mrs. Hannah Smith, in the southeast quarter of Section 23. They are in an
HANNIAM
SARAH
open sandy field, are overgrown with grass and weeds and are nearly all well preserved. A plat of this group is given in Plate 3. Of the fifteen mounds in this group three have been cut in two in the grading of the highway. One other, we were
Archeologieal Krs<>;ir.-lu's iii th.' rppor1 Bamboo Valley. 50
informed, was obliterated in constructing the road. One mound, designated as "A" in the plate, is the highest and largest in the group being 53 feet in diameter and 5 feet high.
The diameters of the remaining mounds are as follows : — B— 48 feet 1—45 feet
C— 48 " J— 42 "
D— 45 " K— 65x30 feet
E— 44 " L— 46 feet
G— 48 " M— 38 "
H— 46 "
The shape of the irregular mound (K) is probably due to the blending in the course of successive plowings of two con- ical mounds originally separated from each other by a dis- tance of a few feet.
Mound A and a few of its associates in this group deserve to be permanently preserved. Being close to the highway they present an impressive appearance. They are probably the finest earthworks in this section of the state. Mr. John Jones informed us that about fifty years ago Mound A was ten feet high, or twice its present elevation. All of the other mounds were formerly much higher than at present.
A small stream, Smith Creek, crosses the northeast corner of this quarter section. Along its. course are a considerable ex- tent of sand flats. An examination of these revealed numbers of chert chips and fragments and the burned and cracked stones of former Indian hearths.
Mr. E. McGary very kindly acted as our guide to this group,
ADRIAN TOWNSHIP MOUND PRAIRIE, EAST GROUP.
(Figure 3)
This group is located on the farm of Mr. John H. Roberts (SW. J/4 Sec. 19). Smith Creek passes a short distance east of the group. It consists of eight conical mounds all being situated close to and on both sides of the highway. Four ex-
r
Archeolojjic.-il Krsi-nn-hrs in tin- rpp«-r B;ir;ib<>o Valley. 51
tend in an east and west line between the roadway and the farm fence. One is located on the opposite side of the road. Earth has been removed from the tops of four of these mounds to obtain material for grading a cemetery situated about one-quarter of a mile west of the Roberts place; hence these are now only of slight elevation. Fragments of human bones were found on several of these. Procuring a spade from the
Fig. 3
farmhouse we examined the conical mound farthest from the house but found nothing. An examination of the mound near- est the house revealed a confused mass of human bones.
Two other conical mounds are located a short distance away, on the east side of a highway which here connects with that already mentioned.
Mr. John Jones, who conducted us to these mounds, in- formed us that in digging the basement of a farmhouse near this group human bones were disinterred.
52 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No. 2
SPARTA VILLAGE SITES.
Just south of the Chicago & Northwestern railway station at Sparta lies a treeless tract with a sandy soil. There is a square mile or more of what was once a village site. Flint chips were picked up in a number of places and where the wind was shifting the sand, pieces of rock were disclosed which evidently had been heated. These fragments were probably from the hearths. According to reports, but few artifacts had been found here.
The camp and village sites along the La Crosse Eiver at Sparta have been described by Mr. Charles E. Brown in the "Wis- consin Archeologist (Vol. 11, No. 3).
NOTE. The dimensions of the mounds in Mound Prairie, West Group, were procured by Mr. R. N. Hill, of Sparta.
Tin- < )<Turivn<-<- nf .Marine Shells <ui Indian Sites in Wisconsin. 53-
THE OCCURRENCE OF MARINE SHELLS ON INDIAN SITES IN WISCONSIN
CHARLES E. BROWN.
The intention of this paper is to register for the information of students of Wisconsin archaeological history the evidence now available on the subject of the recovery of marine shells from Indian village sites, in burial places, mounds and caches in this state. It is worthy of note that of the large sea shells at present preserved in public and private collections in Wisconsin the greater number as well as some of the most interesting specimens have come from Indian sites along the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago, in Fond du Lac County. Portage, Waupaca, Winnebago, Brown, Sheboygan, Milwau- kee, Jefferson and Rock and other counties have also produced specimens. In some localities in these counties these shells have biM'ii found secreted in the soil in caches of from three to five specimens. The condition of the some of the shells so hoarded appears to indicate that they have been thus buried for a long period of years. Of the shells which have been identified nearly all are specimens of the large conch known to cionchologists as Fulgur (Busycon) preversus. This species ap- pears to have been a favorite one among the Indian tribes for- merely inhabiting the states east of the Mississippi and was "most extensively used in aboriginal commerce and . was transported for great distances, being found in such widely separated localities as Tennessee, Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, Ill- inois and Iowa. ' ' Of the habitat of this species Dr. W. H. Holmes says: "It is obtained along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from
54 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 2
Massachusetts to Mexico, and within the United States is ar- tificially distributed over ;the greater part of the Atlantic slope. ' n Other large conch shells of the genera Strombus, Cas- sis, Pyrula, etc., and numerous marine univalves of smaller size were also distributed in the continual interchange of products between Indian tribes. Shell, obtained from both salt and fresh water sources, is known to have been a favorite material with the Indians in all parts of America for the manufacture of implements and ornaments.
"Shell was also a favorite material on account of being a product of the sea. Primitive man everywhere regarded the sea as a magnificent display of power of the chief diety, and so it was also quite natural for them to regard the shells rolled up from its depths as being a part of the mysterious power of this deity. The peculiar roaring sound made by sea shells when held to the ear was likewise a great mystery to them, and increased the reverence with which shells were regarded by most inland tribes."2
Marine shells may have reached Wisconsin tribes both through barter with neighboring or distant tribes, and through purchase from white traders. Radisson mentions that the Huron and Ottawa. (1659) came to Lake Winnebago to obtain "light earthen pots, girdles made of goat's hairs, and small shells that grow 'by the sea side, wth wc they trim their cloth made of skin."3
"Cameron says that the Chippewa informed him that they formerly carried copper to the south and east to exchange for such small articles as other Indians had in those directions for barter, going sometimes as far as the coast of Virginia. ' ' 4 Parties of Winnebago are said to have traveled as far south as Texas and New Mexico.
J. G. Kohl speaking of the Chippewa of Lake Superior calls attention to the trade in sea shells conducted by white traders. "If the traders brought a large handsome periwinkle and held it to the Indians ears, the latter were astonished, and said they could hear the sea beating in it, and would pay for such
The ( >i-<-uriviire dt' Marine Shells on Indian Sites in Wisconsin. 55
a miraculous shell, peltry to the value of forty or fifty dollars. There were varieties of shells which were held in special re- pute, thus there was a long shell the size of a finger, which in the Indian trade was worth its weight in silver."5
Rau says that "more than a hundred years ago, it was no- ticed by Carver that sea shells were much worn by the Indians of the interior parts — he refers chiefly to the Dakota of the Upper Mississippi — and reckoned very ornamental."6
Dr. David Boyle remarks that: "Ancient commerce with the south for large shells would seem to Have exceeded that with the northwest for catlinite and copper, if we judge from what is exhumed, and notwithstanding the immense value that a large southern shell must have possessed by the time it reached this country, we occasionally find one or more of them in graves, from the shores of Lake Erie to the Georgian Bay."7
"Wampum, of which the Wisconsin Indians made great use especially during the French regime, w^as largely obtained through trade with the whites; Some very probably came to them through tribes who were near the source of supply. This was manufactured from the valves of the clam known as the quahog (Venus mercenaries), whose habitat is along the New England and Atlantic sea board.
A large amount of literature on the subject of the use of shell by American tribes is now available to archaeological students (see Handbook of Am. Indians). One of the most in- structive of these papers, "The Use of Shells by Ontario In- dians," by W. J. Wintemberg, is published in the "Annual Ar- chaeological Report, 1907," of that province.
LOCAL DATA.
1. In a paper written by him but not published Dr. In- crease A, Lapham mentions "a shell (Biisycon pc-rv r*tnn ) found in grading the streets in the Sixth Ward, City of Mil- waukee. This specimen is 12^ inches long and 7 inches wide. A similar specimen was found many years ago near Fond du Lac".
56 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No. 2
2. In the 12 Annual Report of the Bureau of American Eth- nology the finding of a large sea shell in a burial mound in Sheboygan County is described: — "About 2 miles west of this, on a bluff overlooking the marsh, was another mound of simi- lar form and slightly larger, which had been previously open- ed by Mr. Hoissen of Sheboygan. It was found literally filled, to the depth of 2l/2 feet with skeletons, many of which were well preserved and evidently those of modern Indians as with them were the usual modern weapons and ornaments. Beneath these was a mass of rounded boulders aggregating several wagon loads, below which were some 40 or 50 skeletons in a sitting posture, in a circle, around and facing a large sea shell. This specimen, which with the other articles taken^from this mound is in Mr. Hoissen 's collection, measures 21 inches in length and 29 in circumference at its greatest girth (pp. 93 — 94). In the catalogue of the Hayssen collection the following additional information concerning the finding of this shell is given: — "In September, 1877,. Mr. H. H. Hayssen of New Hol- vstein, Calumet county, and others opened a large tumulus, one of a series of mounds located on the farm of Mr. H. Henschel, in the Town of Russell, Sheboygan County. In this mound they found the remains of 40 skeletons, together with stone imple- ments, trinkets, etc. The most remarkable object found was a very large sea shell a foot or more in length of which the lip had been cut away and which had evidently served as a drinking or cooking vessel." This specimen, illustrated in Plate 4, is now preserved in the Milwaukee Public Museum. The following information concerning it is furnished to the writer by Dr. S. A. Barrett, curator of the department of anthropology:— "This shell (No. 10668) is 19% inches in length and 91/4 inches in diameter. The whole inside of the shell has been cut away to within a short distance of the point thus making a very serviceable vessel for ceremonial or other purposes." Dr. S. Graenicher of the same institution has identified this shell as a specimen of Fasciolaria gigantea, Kie-
The Occurrence of Mnrinr S'.n-lls on Indian Sites in Wisconsin. ~>7
ner. This species occurs from South Carolina to Brazil and is tlir largest species of snail, ranging up to two feet in length.
3. In the Wisconsin Archeologist (V. 7, No. 2, p. 94) Messrs. A. B. Stout and II. L. Skavleni mention the finding of a cache of three large "conch shells" which were exposed in plowing by a Mr. Phillips, about forty years ago. On their "Archaeo- logic Map of Late Koshkonong" this cache is shown to have been recovered in the N. W. % of Section 16, Summer Town- ship, Jefferson County. Mr. Skavlem informs the writer that it was found on a hill north of the Busseyville road. This site is fibont. three fourths of a mile northwest of the lake shore.
4. The same authors note the finding in 1842 of a similar <?aehe of shells on the Ogden farm, south of the Rock River, near the west line of Section 7, Milton Township, Rock County. This site is just below the foot of Lake Koshkonong. No par- ticulars concerning the species, size or condition of these shells is now obtainable.
.Mr. Skavlem suggests that these shells may have been some of those once owned by Mrs. J. H. Kinzie of Fort Winnebago, and mentioned in "Wau-bun" (p. 104). He says (p. 95) : — "What became of Mrs. Kinzie 's cabinet of sea shells when she left Port Winnebago? Undoubtedly they were presented to her Indian friends, who probably cached some of them at White Crow's village and others at the foot of the lake, on the Ogden farm."
5. In the Walsh museum, in Lawrence University, at Apple- ton, is a large sea shell (Pyrula sp.) which was found "on Adam Boyd's farm on the eastern (Calumet County) shore of Lake Winnebago." It is cut along the lip.
6. The following information was imparted to the writer by Mr. Frank M. Benedict of Waupaca. A cache consisting of the columellas and whorls of two very much decomposed Busycon shells of the largest size was found at a depth of about 2 feet beneath the roots of a large oak stump located on the eastern side of the highway leading west and southwestward from the western margin of Shadow Lake, on the central south-
58 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLO<;iST. Vol. 12. No 2
ern side of the S. E. %, S. W. % of Section 30, Waupaca Town- ship, Waupaea County. The exact location was on the brow of a hill at the angle of the road and one-eighth mile west of the lake." (See note on page 64.)
7. Mr. Benedict also furnished information concerning the finding of other large sea shells in Portage County: — "Dur- ing July, 1903, while digging a basement for a barn on the F_ D. Turner farm, in Belmont Township, three Busycon shells were found beneath the sand and gravel at a depth of 3 feet below the surface of the ground. One was badly broken and decomposed. With them three skeletons, more or less complete were found. Five other shells of the same kind were found here by Mr. Turner in plowing over some mounds years ago.. Mr. W. W. Radley of Rural has in his collection the columella of another picked up on these fields in 1901. ' '
8. In the State Historical Museum, at Madison, is a shell which was found in December, 1868, by Mr. Theodore Enel, in a crev- ice in a limestone ledge about one mile east of Lake Winnebago, in Taycheedah Township, Fond du Lac County. (Plate 6) This shell was presented to the museum by Mr. John Peacock. A por- tion of the apex of its spire has been cut away, and near the ex- tremity of its canal a small liole has been drilled. A large hole has been broken through the side of the shell by its finder or others, since its recovery. The present length of this specimen is about 11% inches. Mr. Frank P. Baker, curator of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the well known conchologist, has identi-
'fied this shell as "a marine conch, known as Fuigur prevcrsus*
9. A shell vessel in the collection of Mr. G. M. Brugger of Fond du Lac was found during the month of August, 1909, by William Oalke while digging a basement for a house on the Ma- thew Michels farm, near Peebles, in Section 20, Taycheedah Township, Fond du Lac County. Mr. Brugger states that it was found in a gravel knoll at a depth of between three and four feet beneath the surface. Mr. Michels furnished to the writer (July 31, 1909) the following notes concerning its re- covery: "While removing with plow and scraper the earth
SHELL VESSEL
<5. -M. I'.ni.ii'.uvr < 'ollectiou
Pl.-Mr .1
The Orrnrren.-e of Marine Shells on Imlhin Sites in Wisronsin. ->«.)
from an excavation for the foundation of a building an Indian burial place was disturbed and about twelve skeletons re- moved. These were buried 2%, feet deep and laid in every direction, some face up, and others face down, and in one place there must have been at least four in one 'hole, and the skele- tons laid as if they must have been doubled up when buried. Only a large sea shell about 10 inches in diameter was found with these burials."
Measurements made by the writer show this shell to be 11% inches in length. Its width across its widest portion is 9 inches. A large portion of the side of this shell (nearest the lip ) and of the lip has been cut away. At its widest part the opening thus made measures 7% inches in width. The colum- ella has also been completely removed. At the time of the finding of this shell, or before it came into the possession of Mr. Brugger, a considerable portion of the top of the shell was broken away.
This specimen is figured in Plate 5.
10. Mr. Brugger is the possessor of another large shell (see Plate 6), a specimen of Fulgur pervorsus. This was found by Mr. Jacob Landolff, Jr., on his father's farm, in Section 20, about one-half mile southwest of the locality from which the shell vessel was recovered. This was in the spring of the year 1909. It was found on the surface of a boggy knoll from Avhich it was probably heaved out by the frost. Its length is twelve inches. An oval hole having diameters of about one-half by three-eighths of an inch has been cut through the side of the shell, near the top. It is within V/2 inches of the edge of the lip and within 3 inches of the apex of the spire. Its edges are wTorn, this and its position suggesting that it may have been employed in suspending the shell.
11. Mr. Brugger has furnished the information that another shell, similar to that just described, was found on land owned by a Mrs. Brush, in the southern part of Section 29, or on Sec- tion 32, Taycheedah Township. Mr. Mullen informed Mr. Brugger that this shell was found in a crevice in the limestone
€0 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No. 2
rock at a depth of about four feet beneath the surface of the soil. This shell has a hole in its side in about the same posi- tion as that in Mr. Brugger's specimen. A small hole has also been drilled into the apex. Some pieces have also been broken out of the top of this shell.
12. Mr. J. P. 'Schumacher states that a large sea shell was found by a Mr. Husin in a mound on his farm on the shore of Green Bay, at a distance of about one mile south of Red Banks, in Brown County.
13. Mr. C. T. Oleii of Oshkosh has a fragment of a shell which was found in a mound on the Lesly farm, on the east shore of Lake Winneconne, one and one-half miles north of Winneconne, Winnebago County.
14. Mr. S. D. Mitchell informs the author of the finding of four large marine shells on the Kohler place, in the S. E. corner of Section 3, Green Lake Township, Green Lake County. They were disturbed in plowing the prairie soil. Mr. Mitchell has in his collection several small shells and portions of larger shells which were recovered from Indian camp sites in Green Lake County.
15. Mr. Geo. R. Fox states that a sea shell was recovered from an Indian site at Shawano Lake, in Shawano County.
SHELL ORNAMENTS
Ornaments made of the sides or columns of marine shells, and portions of shells probably intended for such use, are occasion- ally found in Wisconsin. , In the collection of Mr. Frank J. Lee, at Milton is the columella of a marine shell which was found with the cache disinterred in Section 16, in Sumner Township. Jefferson County, on the west shore of Lake Kosh- konong. This measures about 11% inches in length. A pen- dant made from the columella of another shell found in the state park (former Robert Glenn place), at Wyalusing, Grant County, is irregularly cylindrical in form and measures about 9 inches in length. It is perforated at both extremities. In the collection of Mr. G. M. Brugger are two cylindrical shell
fl
*|S
0 X a
-: r
The Occurrence of .Marine Shells on Indian Sites in Wisconsin. <il
heads, one of which is about 4V& and the other about ol/± inches in length. These were found in about the year 1878 by Mr. Ezra Peebles and a Mr. Brush in digging a basement for a barn, on the Peebles farm, in the SE. y± of the NW. 14 of Sec- tion 32, Taycheedah Township, Fond du Lac County. This was an Indian burial place, human bones, several flint spearpoints and about one dozen shell beads of the character just described being disturbed at this time.
?.I p. Henry P. Hamilton has two similar specimens. The smaller measures about 3% inches long and is perforated at one extremity. The other is about 5% inches long.
Mr. S. D. Mitchell has several shell pendants found on Indian sites in Green Lake County.
Mr. P. V. Lawson has a pendant found by himself in a plowred field on Dr. Wood's place at Pipe Lake, Waupaca County. In- dications of a stone age camp or village site exist on this place. Mr. J. P. Schumacher reports the finding by Mr. Jerome North, some twenty years ago, on the Green Bay shore, two miles south of Point Au Sanble, in Section 23, Scott Township, Brown County, of two ear ornaments having circular disks and small stems, which were made of parts of a sea shell. A similar orna- ment was found at Red Banks.
A shell bead in the State Historical Museum collections was found in Coop's gravel pit in Menasha Township, "Winnebago County. This specimen is elliptical in form and is drilled through from end to end. Its length is 2% and its width near the middle about three-fourths of an inch.
Disk-shaped beads made from marine shells have frequently hem found in mounds and on Indian village sites in the state. .Many have been found on the site of the enclosure at Aztalan. In the exploration of a mound at Borcher's Beach, on the north shore of Lake Mendota a large number of specimens of a small sea shell (Manjim Ua apicina) were found with a skeleton. The apices of these had been ground or cut off to permit of their being strung in a necklace or girdle. Some of these are in the State Historical Museum. Mr. Horace Beach
02 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
has mentioned the finding of twelve large shell beads in a mound at Wyalusing, Grant County. (Sm. Rep. 187: . 429).
Perhaps the most interesting of these articles made from marine shells is an engraved gorget, now in the cabinet of Mr. Brugger. This unique specimen is the only one of Us r' known to have been recovered in this state. It was found about twelve years ago by school children while at play in a gravel pit near the schoolhouse in the NW. l/± of the NE. *4 of Section 20, Taycheedah Township, Fond du Lac County. This locality is near Peebles, on the lake shore road to Fond du Lac. Harrison Shaver, a school boy, took the specimen home with him.
This specimen comparison shows to have been made from a portion of the side of a specimen of Fulgur pcrversus. It is somewhat triangular in outline. The length is 21/4 inches and the greatest width 5^ inches. Near the upper edge of the gorget are two small perforations. These are 1% inches apart and within about % inch of the edge. An idea of the character of the ornamentation can be obtained from an ex- amination of the Frontispiece. The character of this engrav- ing indicates that this specimen was brought to Wisconsin from the South, probably from some district in the Middle Mississippi Valley.
In the' collection of Mr. C. T. Olen is another shell gorget which was obtained from the mound known as the "Hill of the Dead" on the west shore of Little Butte des Morts Lake, in Winnebago County. This specimen was ob- tained by one of the workmen when the C. & N. W. R. R. lev- eled this mound. This is made of a portion of a marine shell. It is pear-shaped in form, about iy± inches in length, its ex- treme width being about 4*4 inches. It has four perfora- tions, one at either extremity and two in a line between these.
Members of the Wisconsin Archeological Society are re- quested to call the writer's attention to the presence of other marine shells and shell ornaments found in the state in order
The Occurrence of .Marine Shells on Indian Siies in Wisconsin. ''«."•
that a future record of these may be published. The author is especially indebted to Mr. Geo. M. Brugger for assistance in providing information of a helpful nature.
REFERENCES
1. Holmes, "Art in Shell," B. E. 2.
2. Wintemberg, "The Use of Shell by the Ontario Indians,"
Ann Archaeo. Rep., 1907
3. YYis. Hist. Coll., IX, p. 69.
4. Armstrong, "Early Life Among the Indians," p. 15.
5. Kohl, "Kitchi Garni," p. 135
6. Rau, "Ancient Aboriginal Trade," p. 326
7. Boyle, "Notes on Primitive Man in Ontario," p. 65
NOTE. — A photograph, presented by Mr. Benedict, of the two shells found in the Shadow Lake cache is in the State Histor- ical Library. Of one shell the columella and a portion of the outer part was found. This shell measured 11% inches in length. The tip of the spire of the other shell had been cut or broken off. An irregular hole had been broken into its- side. The columella had been removed. This shell measuivd about !>'., inches in length, and was about 6 inches wide at its wiilt-t part.
64 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No 2
THE WEST COLLECTION OF ABORIGINAL
PIPES
Mr. George A. West has presented to the Milwaukee Public Museum his collection of Indian pipes. This collection con- sists, according to its late owner, of about 600 specimens, nearly 400 of which were obtained from aboriginal village sites, graves and mounds in Wisconsin. In it such well-known classes of pipes as the Siouan, monitor, Micmac, effigy, disk, tube, rectangular, handled, tomahawk and pebble are repre- sented by numerous examples. There are in the collection also many other specimens of rare and unusual forms.
The first Indian pipe ever owned by Mr. West came into his possession about forty years ago. At the time of the organi- zation of the Wisconsin Archeolgical Society in 1901, Mr. West undertook the assembling of a pipe collection, a task requiring an extensive knowledge of the subject and the expenditure of a large sum of money. At that time many spurious pipes were offered for sale to the collector by dealers and others, and re- jected by him.
In 1905 he published under the auspices of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, a monograph entitled "The Aboriginal Pipes of Wisconsin," which has had a very wide circulation and proved helpful to hundreds af students of American arch- aeology.
Mr. West recently refused an offer of $5,000.00 for this col- lection which is estimated to be worth about $8,000.00. This collection is now being mounted and labeled and will soon be placed on exhibition in the museum. The other pipes in the museum will be added to it, thus placing at the convenience of Wisconsin and other archaeologists one of the best collections
Thr \\Vst Collection of Aboriginal Pipes. 05
of aboriginal pipes in the United States. In the agreement made by its owner with the museum board it is stipulated that this collection shall remain on permanent exhibition and shall forever bear the title "The G. A. West Collection of Aboriginal Pipes." In thus generously presenting to the public during his life-time his valuable collection its late owner has fol- lowed the examples of Mr. W. P. Clarke, the late Mr. E. H. Stiles, and of other members of the Society who have in recent years presented their collections to educational institutions in this state.
The Society hopes soon to be able to announce the gift of other archaeological collections to Wisconsin museums.
THE STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM
The construction of about fifty additional wall and table cases for the State Historical Museum, at Madison, will enable that institution to place on public exhibition a large amount of archeological and historical material now in storage. The new wing of the State Historical Library building, now near- ing completion, will provide an office, storeroom and labora- tory, and another large exhibition hall. The latter will be used largely for the making of special historical exhibitions Many University classes and schools now receive instruction in the museum.
06 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 2>
ARCHEOLOG1CAL NOTES
Archaeological students everywhere will greatly regret to learn of the retirement because of continued ill health of Mr. Allen Jesse Reynolds, the very active secretary of the International Association of Archaeolo- gists. During his several years service with this association, Mr. Rey- nolds has by his intelligent labors as its secretary and as editor of "The Archaeological Bulletin," won the respect and deserved the gratitude of his fellow-workers in this field.
During the months of July and August the Society's field-workers have been busily engaged in several sections of the state. Mr. George H. Squier has been conducting researches in Pierce and Pepin counties; Mr. J. P. Schumacher and Mr. W. A. Titus in Portage, and along the Wisconsin River, in Marathon, Lincoln and Oneida counties, and Mr. A. O. Barton, Mr. R. W. Winterbotham and Mr. C. E. Brown in southern Grant County. Mr. George R. Fox and Mr. H. 0. Younger have been engaged in work in Winnebago, Outagamie and Waupaca counties. Prof. Ira M. Buell has found Juneau County a rich and much neglected field. W. W. Gilman has rendered good service in Rusk and Mr. G. A. West in Oneida County. Mr. J. P. Schumacher is now in the field in Door county. Mr. Geo. R. Fox and the Messrs. Frank and H. O. Younger are leaving to undertake necessary work along the Menomonee River in Marinette County. Mr. J. H. Glaser will be engaged in the valley of the Embarass River, in Outagamie County. Mr. H. E. Cole and Mr. H. A. Smythe will undertake researches in Adams County.
On July 5, an excursion of summer session students of the Univer- sity of Wisconsin was conducted under the direction of Charles E. Brown, chief of the State Historical Museum. For this pilgrimage a steamer was chartered by the University. Visits were made to the fipe groups of Indian effigy, linear and burial mounds, plots of Indian corn- hills and other archaeological and historical features at Mendota, Mor- ris Park and Merrill Springs, at which places short talks were given. Copies of an explanatory circular were also distributed among the par- ticipants, who represented about twenty different states. These ex- cursions, the first of which was conducted by the Madison members of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society in 1911, have now become a regu- lar feature of the University summer program. They have done very much to increase the interest of Madison people in the protection of the Indian earthworks about the local lakes. The numerous teachers who attend the summer session are thus also encouraged to promote the preservation of Indian monuments in their home states.
N. <VT
A visitor at Madison during the month of July was Dr. William H. Holmes, director of the U. S. National Museum, at Washington, D. C. While visiting with Mr. Charles E. Brown at the State Historical Mu- seum, Dr. Holmes highly complimented the Wisconsin Archaeological Society on its work in this state. From Madison Dr. Holmes went to Milwaukee where he visited the Public Museum. It is a matter of re- gret to Wisconsin archaeologists that the distinguished visitor could not make a longer stay in the state.
The Nebraska State Legislature has enacted a state law making the manufacture and sale of fraudulent archaeological objects an offense punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both. This law was adopted at the request of the noted American archaeologist, Mr. Robert F. Gilder of Omaha, and received the support of the archaeological students and educational institutions of that state. It is a copy of the model law of this character enacted by the State of Wisconsin in 1911. In an article published in the Omaha "Sunday World-Herald," of July 27, Mr. Gilder gives an account of the manufacture and traffic in forged archaeological objects during recent years in Minnesota, Virginia, Michigan, Missouri and other states. "Even in Wyoming, where millions of points can be found today, sheep herders and others are making and selling stone arrowpoints all over the country, but principally to tourists. I remem- ber seeing on one of my trips a rockery in a ranch yard made up en- tirely of "fake" stone axes and hammers, some grooved and others un- grooved. They were made of the Arikara sandstone common to the neighborhood." It is the hope of all students of American archaeology that laws similar to those now in force in Wisconsin an^d Nebraska wi,ll soon be enacted in other states and especially in Ohio, Tennessee, Vir- ginia, Indiana, Michigan and California where forgers of and dealers in archaeological objects have long been permitted to ply their trade without molestation, to the detriment of collectors and educational in- stitutions in these and other states.
In the July issue of the Wisconsin Alumni Magazine an account is given of "The Calumet Ceremony" as presented by the graduating class of the University of Wisconsin during this year's Commencement pro- gram. This ceremony, which revives a very old custom of the Wiscon- sin Indian tribes, was arranged and conducted under the personal super- vision of Secretary Charles E. Brown. Recognizing1 the "pipe of peace" function as given by previous classes to have been a more or less color- less and uninteresting affair an effort was made, by properly staging, costuming and adding to its features, to invest this ceremony with real dignity and historical interest. The result was greatly appreciated by the several thousand alumni and friends who witnessed its presen- tation.
The ceremony took place on Tuesday, June 17, at 11 p. ni. within an Indian dance circle, eighty feet in diameter, outlined with pine bcughs on the lower University campus. It consisted of two principal parts, the presentation of the calumet, or great pipe; and of the calumet dance and singing of the calumet song, or chant. The participants in this impressive ceremony were the members of the classes of 1913 and 1914, the principal addresses being delivered by the orators of these classes and by a prominent alumnus. The calumet dance was given and
68 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No. 2
the calumet song sung by thirty young ladies of the graduating class. The costumes of all of the participants were copied from those form- erly worn by the forest tribes of Wisconsin. These added very greatly to the attractiveness of the ceremony.
In the early days of our state's history no greater honor could be conferred upon a stranger than to have the calumet sung (presented) to him. Nicholas Perrot, the brave and resourceful commandant of the French in the West, and other men of prominence during the French regime, were thus honored by Wisconsin tribes.
The calumet ceremony now bids fair to become one of the most picturesque and impressive of the graduation festivities of the Uni- versity.
At the request of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Soc- iety the General Assembly of that State has enacted the following law to permit incorporated associations to acquire prehistoric monuments and sites.
Section 1. Any incorporated association or society maintained by and operating for and on behalf of the State of Ohio, having for its purpose the preservation of prehistoric monuments or the exploration or examination of such prehistoric monuments with a view of collect- ing and preserving relics or artifacts found in such monuments, for educational and scientific purposes and for the use and benefits of the public by being permanently placed in a state museum, may acquire and hold any real-estate in the state of Ohio which is the site of an prehistoric mound, earth or stone works or prehistoric village site. In the event that such incorporated association or society seeking to acquire such reSl-estate and any owner of such real-estate sought to be acquired are unable to agree upon the price to be paid for acquiring or holding of the real-estate desired, such asso€iation or society may acquire such real-estate by proceedings in a proper court in the manner provided by law for the appropriation of private property by a munici- pal corporation of the state.
During commencement week the members of the class of 1888 of the University of Wisconsin erected upon the grounds of that institution a stone monument bearing a bronze tablet to commemorate the retreat over them of the noted Indian chief, Black Hawk. The legend reads as follows :
Black Hawk, Sauk Chief Retreated Through These Grounds,
July 21, 1832 Pursued by Militia and U. S. Regulars.
Placed by The Class of 1888, U. W.
June 17, 1913.
This memorial was erected by the class at the suggestion of the Wis- consin Archeological Society. It is the desire of the Society to en- courage the placing of other markers along the trail which was fol- lowed by the misguided chief and his little band of warriors and their families in their memorable retreat from Illinois across the State of Wisconsin to the Mississippi River. Monuments should be erected on the battlefields of Wisconsin Heights and Bad Axe.
Xotrs.
New members of the Society are Dr. A. F. Heising, Menomonie; Mr. W. A. Zuelke, Mr. H. W. Abraham and Mr. Frank Younger, Appleton; Mr. Geo. L. Boundey, Camp Douglas; Mr. Charles G. Schoewe, Milwau- kee; Mr. Edwin C. Tagatz, Neshkoro. Miss Julia A. Lunn, Beloit ?nd Mr. E. R. Mclntyre and Mr. R. W. Winterbotham, Madison.
Dr. N. T. Winchell of St. Paul, Minn., is the author of a new book, "The Weathering of Stone Artifacts", "A Consideration of the Paleo- liths of Kansas." This work is worthy of the attention of students. It is published by the Minnesota Historical Society and is finely illus- trated with 20 figures and 19 halftone plates. In this book chapters are devoted to a consideration of the paleoliths of Kansas, cultural stages of stone chipping correlated with glacial stages, early man and his contemporary fauna in Kansas, critical working observations on .some Kansas specimens, early paleolithic and early neolithic chipping on the same specimen, and classification of Kansas artifacts by culture stages. The author deplores the small amount of attention which has been given by American archaeologists to studies of the relative ages of local artifacts.
A recent publication of the Bureau of American Ethnology, "Early Man in South America," contains interesting chapters by Hrdlicka, Holmes, Willis. Wright and Fenner. Members of the Society are urged -to secure copies for their libraries.
The New York State Museum has recently published, at Albany. "The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet," of which Mr. Arthur C. Parker, state archaeologist is the preparator. It purports to be "an exact exposition of the precepts he taught during a term of sixteen years, ending with his death in 1815.''
A recent publication of the Michigan Geological and Biological Survey contains "Memoranda Towards a Bibliography of the Archaeology of Michigan", assembled by Mr. Harlan I. Smith.
Vol. 12
October, 1913
No. 3
THE
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN
Entered as soroiK1 cl.-iss in:iltcr .Innuiiry 1-",. I'.HL', ;i| the postoflice fit Madison mill. -r tin- :n-t «il' .Inly HI. l.s'.U
Wisconsin Archeological Society
MILWAUKEE, WIS.
Incorporated March £5, 3903, for the purpose of advancing the study and preservation of Wisconsin antiquities.
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT ELLIS B. USHER Milwaukee
VICE-PRESIDENTS
DR. S. A. BARRETT Milwaukee
DR. ORRIN THOMPSON Neenah
JOSEPH RINGEISEN, JR Milwaukee
E. N. WARNER Madison
T. L. MILLER .Ripon
DIRECTORS
DR. E. J. W. NOTZ Milwaukee
DR. LEWIS SHERMAN Milwaukee
TREASURER LEE R. WHITNEY Milwaukee
SECRETARY CHARLES E. BROWN. . . .Madison
COMMITTEES
STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY— Arthur Wenz, G. A. West, C. E. Brown, Dr. S. A. Barrett, H. L. Skavlem, L. R. Whitney, Dr. Louis Falge.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS — Dr. Geo. L. Collie, Emil Baensch, Henry L. Ward, Prof. I. M. Buell, Prof. A. H. Sanford, Dr. W. H. Bailey, J. P. Schumacher, H. P. Hamilton, Prof. W. E. Leonard, Rudolph Kuehne, W. A. Titus.
MOUND PRESERVATION— Prof. A. S. Flint, Dr. H. C. Bumpus, Mrs. Jessie R. Skinner, Mrs. E. H. Van Os_trand, Charles Lapham, H. A. Smythe, Jr., Prof. C. D. Zdanowicz, P. V. Lawson, J. A. H. Johnson, Miss Jennie Baker, Thomas Bardon.
MEMBERSHIP— C. L. Fortier, Paul Joers, H. A. Kirchner, Geo. R. Fox, Miss Minna M. Kunckell, Dr. B. H. Warren, C. E. Guenther, A. T. Newman, Mrs. Sophie Miller, Geo. R. Parker, R. H. Becker, T. D. Brown, H. O. Younger, Paul Joers.
MAN MOUND— W. W. Warner, Mrs. E. C. Wiswall, W. W. Gilman.
PRESS — Miss Mary E. Stewart, H. E. Cole, A. O. Barton, Rev. J. E. Copus, R. H. Plumb, S. N. Hartwell.
SESSIONS
These are held in the Lecture Room in the Library-Museum Building, in Milwaukee, on the third Monday of each month, at
8 P. M.
During the months of July to October no meetings will be held
MEMBERSHIP FEES
Life Members, $25.00 Sustaining Members, $5.00*
Annual Members, $2.00
All communications in regard to the Wisconsin Archeological Society or to the "Wisconsin Archeologist" should be addressed to Charles E. Brown, Secretary and Curator, oilin>, Stale I listorical Museum, .Madison, Wis.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vol. 12. No. 3.
ARTICLES
Page Aboriginal Remains in the Upper Wisconsin Valley, J. P.
Schumacher and W. A. Titus 75 Survey of Some Antiquities in Portage County, J. P. Schu- macher and W. A. Titus 87 Reuben Gold Thwaites, C. E. Brown 93 Additional Knobbed Stone Implements, G. E. Laidlaw 96 Wisconsin Landmarks, C. E. Brown 98 Archeological Notes - 100
ILLUSTRATIONS
Flint Knife, Dr. A. R. Wittman Collection Frontispiece
Plate Facing Page
1. Pine River at its junction with the Wisconsin River 76
2. Mound Groups near Heafford Junction and Bradley 78
3. Oneida-Lincoln County Line Group 79
4. Conical Mound, Oneida-Lincoln County Line Group
Emblematic Mound, Oneida-Lincoln County Line
Group 80
5. Bradley Group, No. 2 84
6. Bradley Group, No. 3 85
7. Mounds at Lake Emily
8. Mound in Amherst Junction Group, at Lake Emily 89
9. Mounds at Lake Onneland 91 10. Mound at Lake Onneland 92
Figure Page
1. Diagram of Emblematic Mound in Oneida-Lincoln
County Line Group 79
2. Bradley Group, No. 1 82 ,3. Bradley Group, No. 4 85
FLINT KNIFE A. B. Wittman Collection
THE jViscoNSiN ARCHEOLOGIST
Quarterly Bulletin Published by I he Wisconsin Art hroluiiica! Society.
Vol. 12. MADISON. WIS.. OCTOBER. 1913. No. 3
ABORIGINAL REMAINS OF THE UPPER WISCONSIN VALLEY
J. P. SCHUMACHER AND W. A. TITUS
The Wisconsin River Valley in the northern half of the state is a region in which archaeological investigation has not been pro- secuted to any great extent up to this time. From Stevens Point to Wausau, aboriginal remains are only occasionally met with, and between Wausau 'and lieafford Junction, there exist only the remotest evidences of prehistoric occupation, but beginning- at II caffon! Junction and Bradley, and extending northward into Oneida County, mounds, village sites and garden beds are num- erous and fairly well preserved.
. In the following paragraphs, we shall briefly describe our work in Marathon, Lincoln and Oneida counties.
ROTHSCHILD PARK VILLAGE SITE AND GARDEN BEDS
We reached Wausau on Saturday morning, July 12th, and immediately called on Mr. <!. I). Jones of the Board of Univer- sity Regents, and were received with the cordiality peculiar to Mr. -Tones. Because of his long residence in Wausau and his acquaintance with timber cruisers he was in position to give us much valuable information, lie stated that on the low level lands below Rothschild Park, a few miles south of Wausau, there were formerly extensive garden beds, but that most of this site had been submerged when the Rothschild dam was constructed.
76 WISCONSIN AROHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, X
Believing that there might be some archaeological remains of terest in that vicinity, we returned to Rothschild Park where ' found some of the highest of the flat lands still above water. ( these slightly elevated areas next to the river where the water h eaten into the banks, we found numerous postherds. These a tempered with crushed rock. Rhyolite and quartz flakes, seve] perfect arrow points, and several roughly chipped disks w< also obtained. These disks are probably a portion of a; each They measure 3 by 21(> and 2% inches in size. Most of the ch] and flakes as well as the largest of the arrow points W( of rhyolite. "Where this material had been quarried, could not determine, but it is reasonably certain that i white quartz was quarried at Rib Hill, the so-called "su mit" of "Wisconsin which is across the river and only t or three miles distant, Rhyolite flakes and implements have r previously been reported from northern Wisconsin sites. ^ could find no remains of garden beds at Rothschild Park, these were probably on the lowest land, and if so, they are n< entirely under water.
WAUSAU CAMP SITE
On the west side of the Wisconsin river near the north limits Wausau, and almost opposite the hospital, we found evidence a camp and workshop site. A finely finished flint arrow point a numerous quartz and a few quartzite and chert flakes w( found on the high bank above the river. Some of the pottery fr* ments found bore the imprints of twisted cords of several thi< nesses. All were tempered with crushed stone. Although carefully examined both banks of the river for several mi north of Wausau, we failed to find other remains of interest.
PINE RIVER CAMP SITE
From Wausau, we went north to Pine River, a small station the confluence of the Wisconsin and Pine Rivers, where we foil evidence of an aboriginal camp site. A rude scraper made oi
fc I-
O «
Kciii.-iins "f ||H. I'ppcr Wisconsin Y:ill«>y.
fragment of whitish quartz chipped along one edge, a small -perforator or point of very dark brown opaque quartzite and the usual number of quartz flakes rewarded our search at this point. The scraper measures nearly 6 inches in length and 3*o inches in width at its widest part. The whole location is covered with a heavy grass sod which made it impossible to make a more exhaustive study of the locality.
MERRILL
We walked from. Pine River to Merrill, but found nothing of interest between these two points, and reached Merrill soon af- ter noon on Monday, July 14th. We could hear of no mounds or village sites in the vicinity of Merrill, but were advised to call on Dr. A. R. Wittman, who is an enthusiastic collector and who has resided in Merrill for many years. He showed us a very inter- esting lot of specimens, but in spite of his- diligent efforts for so many years, only about a dozen pieces of his collection were found in Lincoln County. Among these few specimens however, is the finest chipped flint knife or dagger that we have ever seen. (See Frontispiece.) It is between ten and eleven inches long. It was picked up on the farm of Carl Gropp in the Town of Corning, 8 miles west of Merrill. Dr. Wittman has several other very fine specimens of chipped liint implements from this lo- cality. It seems more than probable that these were brought into this section thru barter with tribes lying to the south in Wisconsin or Illinois. The few arrow points found in Lincoln County are generally crude and ill-shaped.
TOMAHAWK .
After leaving Merrill, our next stop was at Tomahawk. Near this city is the continence of three rivers, the Wisconsin, the Tomahawk and the Somo, and the location should be an ideal one for Indian village sites. However the dam just below has tiooded the most of the land near the forks of the rivers, and while we were told rather vaguely of "battlefields" and ceme-
78 WISCONSIN ABOHEOLOQIST. Vol. 12, So. 3
teries, they failed to materialize when we sought for them. We were finally informed that the "battlefield" is now under Water. The "cemetery" consisted of several rather modern Indian bur- ials two or three miles northward in the woods. These we were unable to find, although we walked from Tomahawk to Heafford for the purpose of locating them. On the whole, we found noth- ing at Tomahawk of archaeological interest. Such evidences no doubt, formerly existed in the vicinity, but if so, they have dis- appeared before the march of civilization.
HEAFFORD JUNCTION GROUP (Plate 2)
On our way to Heaft'ord Junction, we passed around the east shore of Clear Lake, a beautiful body of water with high banks, but saw no mounds in the vicinity and continued on and reached Heafford about noon of July 15th, where according to our inform- ant, there was a small group of mounds near the railroad station. This information we found to be correct. There are four cir- cular mounds in the group which is located only a few rods from the depot. One is a particularly fine example of a conical mound that has never been excavated or mutilated in any way other than by plowing too closely to its base. This group of mounds is on land owned by John Dereg. Mr. Dereg will not allow the mounds on his land to be excavated. He is the possessor of some very interesting relics which were taken from the mounds a mile further north, among which are a ' ' fish tail ' ' copper spear point, a flint spear point, and a very old type of iron halberd, evidently of European make.
ONETDA LINCOLN COUNTY LINE GROUP AND GARDEN BEDS
(Plates 3 and 4, Figure 1)
About one mile N. N. W. from Heafford Jet. is a very large group of mounds on both sides of the county line, eight of them being in the N. W. Vi of the N. E. % of Sec. 3, T. 35 N. R. 6 E.. in Lincoln County, and twenty-six of them in the S. % of Sec. 34, T. 36 N., R. 6 E., in Oneida County. This groap of mounds
MOUND GROUP AT HEAFFORD JUNCTION AM» I'.RADLEY Plate 2
• 20
5.V
ONEIDA-LINCOLN COUNTY LINE GROUP Plate 3
is located on a peninsula of high land almost surrounded by the !:o\v;;ge that is everywhere a feature in this locality above the dam. All those mounds are either of the circular or oval type except No. 21, herein designated as an "emblematic" mound, a diagram of which is given in Figure 1 . On the west side of this peninsula, and partly covered with the fiowage, we found' a large plot of garden beds. It is very probable that even larger beds and corn fields in this locality have disappeared under the water. The dimensions of the mounds of this group are here given :
Mound No. 1, 25 x 35 feet and 6 feet high.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
20x30 18x28 26x26 29x35 18x24 22x30 14x20 20x38 15x15
Fig. 1
WISCONSIN' ARCHEOLOOHST.
" 11, 10x18 " " 3
" 12, 15x36 " " 3 "
" 13, 18x28 " " 3 "
" 14, 35 x 35 " " 7 "
" 15, 12x15 " " 5 "
:* " 16, 14 x 16 " " 4 "
" 17, 20x28 " " 3 "
" 18, 10x16 " " 2 "
" 19, 15x24 " " 6 "
" 20, 15x20 " " 2y2 "
" 21, The "emblematic" mound. See figure.
" 22, 16x24 feet and 2y2 feet high.
" 23, 16 x 24 " " 3 feet high.
" 24, 16x24 " " 3 "
" 25, 16x24 " "3 "
" 26, 15x18 " " 8 "
All of the above mounds are in Oneida County except No. 1 which is exactly on the county line between Oneida and Lincoln counties.
Mound No. B, 20 x 30 feet and 4 feet high.
" C, 15x22 " " 4 "
" D, 18x33 " " 6 "
" E, 20x36 " " 5 "
" F, 12x16 " " 2 "
" G, 16x28 " " 3y2 "
" H, 32 x 32 " " 9 "
In a letter written to the Wisconsin Archeological Society, dated July 19, 1904, Mr. John F. Lament, then superintendent of schools in Marathon County, gives an account of a visit made to these mounds on July 18, 1904. "With him were Mr. James Allen, a surveyor and woodsman, of Wausau, and Mr. R. B. Johns, prin- cipal of the county school of agriculture. They found about twenty- five of the mounds. Three had been dug into. "We con- tinued the' excavation of those mounds and foimd that the people who did the excavating were content with digging a small hole into them from the top and that but little damage had been done. The first mound investigated yielded some pieces of broken pot- tery. Charcoal was found and chips of quartz. The bones were
CONICAL MOUND, LINCOL^-ONEIDA COUNTY LINK GROUP
EMBLEMATIC MOUND, LINCOLN <>.\KIDA COUNT V '-'M: Plate 4
Kciii.-iins of' tin- I'lipcr \Vis<-cm> in V;illcy.
so decayed that no pieces could be taken out and everything gave evidence that the mound was a very old one. There was on this mound the remains of a pine stump that must have been about three feet in diameter. A large root from this stump was found in the mound just above the bones. This mound was on the east side of the group."
-- A mound on the west side of this group had been opened sev- eral years ago. We continued the excavation here and found char- coal. but in less quantity than in the other mound. A few pieces of the same chipped quartz and many bones in a fairly good state of preservation were obtained. W^ secured and carried home with us many of the larger bones of the human body. The posi- tion of the bones and general conditions here would indicate that people of all ages had been buried together and that a very large number had been buried in one mound."
' ' The soil in this section, had been described as " sandy soil containing gravel and boulders." It is worth while noting that no gravel or stone other than the chipped quartz was found in the mounds. The soil hi the first mound was a rich black sand. In the other mound the soil was clean sand but not as dark nor as rich as in the first mound."
It is said that the excavations noted were made by Chippewa Indians some years ago. Many Indians live among the lakes to the north and we found one family of them camped within half a mile of the mounds. They claim to know nothing of the mounds or of the people who built them."
The original Indian inhabitants of this region were Sioux,.
The area of the garden beds; visible at the present time is about equal to a city block. As there are 16000 acres in this vicinity covered by the back water from the dam, it is more than probable that many Indian evidences have disappeared.
BRADLEY GROUPS
We next went to Bradley, two miles north of which we learned, that there were a number of groups, each containing many mounds. We traveled on foot enlirvly after leaving Toma-
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
Vol. 12, No. 3
hawk, and when we reached Bradley, heavy rains added to our difficulties, and we were drenched during our entire stay in this vicinity. Hero we found four distinct groups of mounds distri- buted in Sections 4 and 5 of the Town of Bradley, in Lincoln County, and Sections 32 and 33 of the Town of Cassian, in Oneida County.
BRADLEY GROUP NO. 1
(Figure 2)
Following the wagon road about l1^ miles northwest of Brad- ley, one crosses the long fill or causeway that carries the road across the backed-up waters of the Little Rice River. About one- half mile north of the bridge in this embankment, one can see the first group of six mounds in a cleared field just east of the highway. All these mounds have been mutilated in the usual way, — by sinking a hole several feet. deep in the center. The di- mensions of this group are as follows:
336
O i_ D ROAD
Fig. 2
Mound No. 1, 18 x 18 feet and 5 feet high.
2, 20x20
3, 24x24
4, 20x20
5, 15x15
6, 15x15
IN'iiuiiiis of the Upper Wisconsin Valley.
This group is very accessible and clearly seen from the high- way, as it is surrounded by pasture land cleared of trees and brush. The mounds are exceptionally fine types of the circular or conical mound, which with its slight variation to the oval mound, is so characteristic of the northern half of Wisconsin.
BRADLEY GROUP NO. 2 (Plate 5)
The next group consists of nine mounds, The county line passes through this group, five of the mounds being in Oneida County and four in Lincoln County. These mounds are also very near the corner stake of Sections 32 and 33, in Oneida County and Sections 4 and 5, in Lincoln County. This inter- section of four section corners was used as the starting point for all our measurements for this and the succeeding two groups. The dimensions of these nine mounds are as follows: —
Mound No. 1, 15x24 feet and 4 feet high. (In Oneida County)
" 2, 14x20 " " 3y2"
" 3, 12 x 12 " " 2y2 "
" 4, 15x15 " " 4 "
" 5, 14x18 " " 4 "
" 6,12x12 " " 2y2 " " (In Lincoln County)
" 7, 14x18 " " 3 "
" 8, 14x18 " " 3 "
" 9, 16x20 " " 3y2"
BRADLEY GROUP NO. 3 (Kate 6)
Continuing eastward on the county line for a distance of one- fourth. mile, we came to the next group, consisting of sixteen mounds, thirteen of them being in Oneida County and three in Lincoln County. Like the last, this group is on land thickly cov- ered with jack pines and bush which makes it somewhat diffi- cult to take measurements. The dimensions of these sixteen mounds are as follows : —
BRADLEY GROUP NO. 2 Plate 5
.-i I IJiMi.-iins (if i lie l'|>i>''i' Wisconsin V;illr.v.
|
Mound |
No. 1, |
12x12 |
feet and 3 feet high. |
|
" |
" 2, |
12 x 14 |
" "3 " |
|
M |
" 3, |
15x15 |
" '« 2ya" " |
|
M |
" 4, |
12x18 |
" " 3'/2«« " |
|
" |
" 5, |
20x25 |
" " 4 " |
|
" |
" 6, |
20x20 |
" " 3»/3" |
|
" |
" 7, |
18x20 |
" - 4 i/s" " |
|
" |
" 8, |
25x25 |
" " 6 " |
|
" |
" 9, |
15x15 |
" " 4 " |
|
" |
" 10, |
20x20 |
„ 5 „ |
|
" |
" 11, |
18x18 |
« « 3 « |
|
" |
" 12, |
22x22 |
M „ g^., « |
|
" |
" 13, |
30x30 |
" " 6 " |
All of the above mounds are in1 Oneida County.
Mound No. 14, 18x18 feet 'and 2y3 feet high. " 15, 16x16 " " 2y2 " " 16, 15 x 15 " " 2y2 "
Tlie last three are in Lincoln County.
BR.AUI.EY GROUP NO. 4 (Figure 3)
Following the county line eastward about twenty rods far- ther, we came to the fourth group consisting of seven mounds, all being in Lincoln County. The land on which this group is sit- uated is comparatively free frcm trees and brush, with the re- sult that a good view of these mounds collectively can be obtained. Because of the continuous rsin while we were in this locality, it was impossible to photograph any of the mounds. The dimen- sions of the mounds of this group are as follows: —
Mound No. 1, 16 x 18 feet and 3»/a feet high.
" 2, 15x16 " " 3y, "
" 3, 18x18 " " 3y2 "
" 4, 15x15 " " 3
" 5,, 20x20 " " 4
" 6, 22x22 " " 4
" 7, 16x16 " " 3»/3 "
BRADLEY GROUP NO. 3 Plate 6
il K<Mii;ii;is <>!' I In- I'ppcr "Wisconsin Vnllc.v.
We were unable to find .any garden beds or corn fields in this
vicinity, hut as tlit-so an1 usually found on low and level land,
and all such lower levels are now overflowed by the back water
from the dam, it is not singular that we failed to find any of these
cowry
•'. 7
66
x
- X
*•
'/ll%\
•72.
36
5 So
135
Fig. 3
agricultural remains. Having now located the numerous mounds of the Heafford -Bradley area, our work, for the time, was ended. In conclusion, we wish to express our thanks to Miss Frances Kverett, daughter of the Station Agent at Heafford Junction, who took some very fine views of the mounds north of Heafford when the larce eamera that we carried was not available.
PREVIOUS RECORDS
In about 1S90 Mr. J. D. Middleton reported to the Bureau of KtinK.louy the existence of a group of conical mounds on tlu» Clark farm, about seven miles below Wausau, in Section :i~> of Township, and of another on the north shore of Pike
w i s< •< >N SIN .\ i ; ( • n I-:OL< M; IST.
Lake, in Section 13, of Pike Lake Township, both in Marathon County.
In 1908 the Messrs. Herbert C. Fish and George H. Reynolds conducted researches for the Wisconsin Archeological Society in Cleveland, Day, Bergen and Eau Pleine townships. T,hese inves- tigators were successful in locating a considerable number of trails, village and camp sites, cemeteries, mounds and planting grounds. (See Wis. Archeologist, V. 5, Nos. 3 and 4, and V. 7, No. 1.) The only previous record for Oneida County is that of a mound excavated at Pelican Lake, in 1908, and from which ac- cording to the account then printed in the Milwaukee Free Press there was obtained stone implements, a copper knife, rings and the remains of a tooth necklace.
PORTAGE
There has been talk of the holding of a joint state field assem- bly of the Wisconsin Archeological Society and several county historical societies at Portage during the summer of the year 1914. This locality still presents many sights of interest to both students of Wisconsin archeology and history. The site of old Fort Winnebago, the fort cemetery, the Indian agency house, the locations of several early Indian villages and other landmarks about Portage are worthy of a visit. Doubtless the citizens of Portage will welcome and assist in the entertainment of the visitors.
Whether a meeting of this character is held at Portage or not will depend upon the interest manifested by members of the Society. Members are therefore requested to express their de- sires and suggestions to the Secretary.
Survey of Sonic An! i'j u il irs in I'nrl :!.::•«• ("oinily.
SURVEY OF SOME ANTIQUITIES IN PORTAGE COUNTY
J. P. SCHUMACHER AND W. A. TITUS
The above title indicates the ^incompleteness of our work in Portage County, for while we carefully examined limited areas, there still remains to be investigated, most of the lake region in eastern Portage County, which is rich in major antiquities such as village sites, mounds anti other earthworks.
We arrived at Amherst Junction on the morning of July 9th, accompanied by Miss Alberta Titus who was with us on all our long walks during the time we were in Portage County. Immed- i"tely upon arriving at Amherst Junction, we started for T •«!«•« Emily and examined the shores of that body of water with its two connected lakes, Marsh Lake and Mud Lake, for archaeolo- gical remains. No implements except a few broken arrow points and flakes were found about Lake Emily. We may here state that during our work in this region, we could not learn that any grooved stone axes, celts or gouges had ever been found, although we inquired diligently of every farmer we met. As a matter of fact all minor remains such as arrow points and potsherds are comparatively scarce.
LAKE EMILY
H Mates 7 and 8)
JUNCTION GROUP
\;>ar the northeast shore of Lake Emily, at the point nearest to Amherst Junction, we located a group of three mounds. One of
these mounds is nearly circular in form, eighteen feet in diame- ter and three IVet high. The other two are slightly oval, one he
Siirvi-y (>r Some Antiquities in Port.-mv ('minty. 88
ing 13x1.4 feet and 2V? feet high, and the other 17x19 feet and 3 feet liiu:!). About 400 feet distant in a westerly direction we found a number of pits, probably former provision caches, from 15 to 4 feet in diameter and depressed about one foot be- low the surface. We dug into several of these pits, but found nothing of importance.
LAKE EMILY GROUP
Almost due south 825 feet from the three mounds described above, there is a group of eleven mounds, located on both sides of the highway. Pour of these mounds are circular and seven oval in shape. They range in height from two to six feet. This is an exceptionally fine group of mounds, but nearly all of them have been mutilated by relic hunters. Both this and the preced- ing group are on land owned by the county and used in part as a "county farm," and it should be urged upon the county authori- ties to repair those which have been mutilated, and to prevent fur- ther desecration of the two groups by unauthorized and irrespon- sible persons.
Beginning at the northwest end of this group, Mound No. 1 is 15x20 feet and 3 feet high, No. 2 is 25x31 feet and 5 feet high, No. 3 is 20x33 feet and 4y2 feet high, No. 4 is 20x32 feet and 5 feet high, No. 5 is 19x37 feet and 5 feet high, No. 6 is circular, 25 feet in diameter and 6 feet high, No. 7 is 16x18 feet a,nd 2Vir feet high, No. 8 is 17x35 feet and 3% feet high, No. 9 is circu- lar. 23 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, No. 10 is circular, 21 feot in diameter and 41/£ feet high, and No. 11 is circular, 18 feet in diameter, and 2 feet high.
SEYMOUR MOUNDS
Near the G. B. & W, Ry. on the south side of the east end of the lake, and on property owned by Mr. F. B. Seymour, General Manager of the G. B. & W. Ry., are two mounds. One of these is; 1 1x21 feet and 2V2 feet high, and the other is circular, 15 feet in diameter, and 2Vo feet high. The first of these two mounds is 25 feet back from the brow of the bluff that rises from the lake,
WISCONSIN AltCHKOLOUIST. Vol. 12, No.
MARSH LAKE MOUND
After leaving these mounds, the south shore of Lake Emily showed no evidences of aboriginal occupation until we reached the high land between Marsh Lake and Mud Lake, where we found a solitary oval mound on which had grown a tree 18 inches in diameter. This mound measured 10x12 feet and 4 feet high.
MUD LAKE ENCLOSURE
On the highest level in that vicinity and about 400 feet div.^ west of Mud Lake, we came upon an earthwork suggesting by its shape a huge circus ring. It is slightly oval and measures 125x 160 feet. The circular ridge of earth is distinct in every part, and is from W% to 3 feet high, with trees as large as one foot in diameter growing on it. The mound and the large circular earthwork are on wooded land owned by Mr. John Lutz, who extended to us every courtesy, and gave valuable information concerning the locations of the local antiquities.
In regard to the large circular earthwork described, we were told while in Oneida County of an Indian dance witnessed there about three years ago that may throw some light on the motive for building this earthwork. Our informant was Mr. J. H. Ham- lin, Supt. of Schools for Lincoln County, who states that the dance lasted for three days and took place between Bear Skin and Birch lakes. He says that the Indians chose a level place on high ground and threw up around it a nearly circular ridge of earth several feet high, leaving only a small opening through which they always entered and retired, and never walked over the top of the ridge. He judged that the circle was about 100 feet in diameter. The younger members of the tribe would dance awhile and then be seated and listen to speeches by the old members and after each speech was ended they would resume the dance. In case the circle near Lake Emily was constructed for this or a simi- lar purpose, it was certainly many years ago, and would indicate that the same rites and customs still prevail, as did a century or more ago.
Survey of Some Ant iqu it ics in I'url.-i.u'f ('dimly. 'IU
NORTH SIKMtK <;ROlrP AND CAMP SITES
Continuing along the north shore of Lake Emily, we found a number of flakes and fragments and broken arrow points in the cultivated fields. The materials here employed in arrow-making were quartz, quartzite, chert and rhyolite. Quartz and quartzite chips were the most common of these. The small number of chert chips and flakes were of several distinct varieties. In one cultivated field in this vicinity, there was formerly another group of mounds, but they have been nearly leveled by cultivation, and there being a heavy crop of grain on the land at the time, it was impossible for us to locate them.
A report on these mounds was made to the "Wisconsin Archeo- logical Society by Mr. Schumacher, on November 4, 1906. No. 1 was injured by cultivation. It was probably originally 25 or 30 feet in diameter. There were faint indications near it of other mounds nearly obliterated by cultivation. No. 2 was 12x15 ; No. 3, 12x16, and No. 4, 15x18 feet in size. All had been under cultivation and were then about 2Vi> feet high. No. 5 was 15 feet in diameter and 3 feet high.
The mounds around Lake Emily are easily accessible to the traveling public, and are worthy of a special effort to preserve them
LAKE ONNELAND
(Plates 9 and 10)
i
LAKE ONNELAND VILLAGE SITE
We had heard of many interesting localities a few miles to the eastward, so we secured a team and drove to the township of New Hope. We first explored the shores of Lake Onneland in tl"> South y2 of Sec. 27, T. 24 N., K, 10 E., and found much of ;in-liaeological interest in this vicinity. We approached from the west, and in a potato field a short distance from the west end of the lake, were found m;niy quartz and chert tl.-ikcs. ;i small oval disk or blank of dark colored quartzite, several quartz
91 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
arrow points, and many potsherds. Some of the latter were of quite large size and ornamented with cord impressions or by treat- ment with a cord-wound paddle. They were specimens of a light colored ware and were tempered with crushed stone.
LAKE ONNELAND ENCLOSURE AND PITS
The south shore of Lake Onneland rises rather abruptly to a height of perhaps 40 feet and on this elevated level, there is a continuation of aboriginal remains extending for perhaps a quar- ter of a mile along the south bank of the lake. (See Plate 9.) We first came to a large ring or circular earthwork 110x150 feet, very similar to the one described in the Lake Emily region, ex- cept that the earthwork at Lake Onneland is enclosed for only three fourths of its circumference, there being no evidence of any ridge or enclosure around the other fourth. As noted on the ring at Lake Emily, we here found large trees growing on the ridge that encloses the area. In, both cases, it was noticeable that these "rings'' were located on the highest ground in the vicinity. A short distance further east, we noted a number of pits or caches each 4 feet in diameter and depressed about a foot below the sur- face.
LAKE ONNELAND GROUP NO. 1
Still further east, we came to a group of three oval mourn1' about 10x16 feet and 2% feet high all being of the same size and arranged in a straight line parallel to the lake shore. Between this and the next group of mounds, there is a deep wash or gully, and at the lower end of this, we found a number of potsherds.
LAKE ONNELAND GROUP NO. 2
On the east side of this gully, we came upon a large group of mounds consisting of twelve and possibly more, as some that are back a considerable distance from the lake are on land that has been tilled, and on this account, some of them are almost obliter- ated, Of the twelve mounds, six are jn a }ine approximately par*
WISCONSIN' AllCIlKOLOUIST.
allel to the lake shore, and are of about the same size as the three* mounds in the first group. The others are more distant from thel lake, more irregular in their arrangement, and larger, the two! largest being about 1 5x30 feet, and 3 feet high.
EAST SHORE MOUNDS
At the east end of the lake, we found two mounds almost ob- literated by cultivation. These are indicated on our map by 3 dotted outlines. The north shore of the lake showed no evidence] of aboriginal occupation.
BESTOW *S LAKE GROUP
We next proceeded to Bestow 's Lake, six miles distant, where we had been informed there was a very prominent "ring" of the] kind already described, but the growth of brush was very thick and we were unable to locate this if it really exists, which we' have some reason to doubt. We located two fine mounds on the, bluff above the west shore of this lake, one of which was 28x283 feet and 5 feet high, and the other 12x33 feet and 4y2 feet high.] Night overtook us at this point, and not being able to give any' more time to this locality, we returned to Amherst Junction.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In conclusion, we feel that we made only a beginning in eastern Portage County, and that this field will richly repay further arch- '< aeological research, as it abounds in small lakes, and we were told i by the farmers whom we consulted that mounds are located about almost all.
During the year 1 912 researches were conducted near Plover and Meehan in the Wisconsin River region, in Portage County, by Dr. George L. Collie and Mr. Robert H. Becker. An account of, their investigations was printed in the Wisconsin Archeologist (V. 11, No. 2.) Other earlier contributions to the archeological history of this county were made by Dr. I. A. Lapham, Prof. T. H. Lewis, J. D. Middleton, H. L. Reynolds, Jr., F. P. King, F. M. 'Benedict, W. W. Radley and J. P. Schumacher. The character of these is noted in "A Record of Wisconsin Antiqui- ties."
Reuben Gold Thwnitos. !•:;
— — — . . - - I
KEUBKN GOLD THWAITES
Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites one of the most widely known his- torians in the United States, for the past twenty-five years sec- retary and superintendent of the State Historical Society, died at Madison on Wednesday, October 22, 1913. Accounts of his services to his state and of his numerous contributions to American history have appeared and will appear, in many publi- cations. His connection with the Wisconsin Archeological So- ciety and its work remains to be recorded.
The records of the Society show that he was elected to mem- bership at a meeting of its Executive Board, held in Milwaukee, on April 12, 1905, two years after its re-organization as a state society. When the Society held its first state field assembly at Waukeslin, on May 26, 1906, Dr. Thwaites appeared on the pro- gram as one of the principal speakers. It will be remembered that at this meeting a prominent speaker criticized the very lim- ited extent of the local archaeological collections in the State His- torical museum, and that Dr. Thwaites in his reply appealed to the interest of all students of Wisconsin archaeolgical history to aid in increasing the number and value of these.
He was also one of the speakers at the Society's second state assembly, which was held at Menasha, on September 3 and 4 of the same year. The subject of his address on this occasion was ''The Fox Wars/' On November 30 of that year he was hon- ored by the Society by being appointed to act as its representa- tive at the Conference of State and Local Historical Societies, which was held at Providence, K. I., on December 28. His report of the work of the conference was read at the regular monthly session of the Society, on February 18, 1907; In 1908, Dr. Thwaites was appointed a member of its standing committee on "Public Collections," an appointment which he held contin-
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST.
uously to the time of his death, he being re-appointed by each suc- cessive Executive Board.
At the tenth anniversary dinner of the Society, held in Mil- waukee, on June 14, 1909, Dr. Thwaites was again a speaker, the title of his address being ''Greetings from the State Historical Society." The other speakers at this dinner were Dr. Freder- ick Starr of the University of Chicago and Dr. Louis Falge of Manitowoc.
In a letter addressed to the Society on March 18, 1910, Dr. Thwaites said :
"My dear Mr. Brown:
Will you kindly express my regret at not being able, on account of other engagements, to attend the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, on the 21st inst.?
Were I present, I should certainly wish to express to the Archeologi- cal Society the very cordial sentiments which obtain in the ranks of the Historical Society toward your organization; also to tender our profound thanks for the active and able assistance rendered by archaeol- ogists throughout the state, during the last session of the legislature, in behalf of the proposed appropriation for the better maintenance of the State Historical Museum. The appropriation bill failed, unfor- tunately, but the experience was fruitful and not without hope. Its pleasantest feature, however, was the assurance, so amply given, that archaeologists and historians are in one accord in the desire to further, in their respective fields, the educational and scientific interests of the commonwealth."
In this letter he extended an invitation to the Society to hold a state assembly at Madison. This meeting was held on July 23 and 30 of that year, Dr. Thwaites delivering the address of wel- come to the one hundred or more members and friends who par- ticipated. By the courtesy of its officers he also presided over its public meeting and reception, which was held in the lecture hall of the Historical Museum on the evening of June 29. On Dec- ember 19, 1910, he was again appointed to represent the Society at the Indianapolis Conference of State and Local Historical So- cieties, a duty which he accepted.
It is unnecessary to explain to members of the Wisconsin Ar- cheological Society, many of whom were personally acquainted
Th\v;i;t<>s. '•>•"'
with him, that in the death of Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites, the cause of local arehaelogy, in common with that of Wisconsin history, has lost an active and appreciative friend. No officer or member of the Society knew better than he great importance and value of its surveys and investigations. The present need of preserving representative examples of its prehistoric Indian earthworks and other antiquities he fully recognized, with both tongue and pen he frequently strongly urged the establishment of local public museums pnd collections. In tne recent yearly "Proceedings" of the State Historical Society reports of the pro- gress of the undertakings of the Wisconsin Archeological Society are also to be found. The chief claim of Dr. Thwaites to our r?m- brance is the present close cooperation between the two state societies, which he personally did so much to encourage.
At a special meeting of the directors of the Wisconsin Archeo- logical Society, called by President Ellis B. Usher, at Milwaukee, on October 25, appropriate resolutions on the death of Dr. Thwaites were adopted.
CHARLES E. BROWN
FAKE COPPER IMPLEMENTS
A number of fraudulent copper implements have recently been making their appearance in the vicinity of Almond, in Portage County, and have been offered for sale by parties residing there. Members of the Society are requested to be on the lookout for such specimens and to inform the Secretary of any evidence which they may possess concerning their maker.
WISCONSIN ARCUEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, No.
ADDITIONAL KNOBBED STONE IMPLEMENTS
Since the publication of my article on "The Geographical Dis- tribution of Certain Knobbed Stone Implements," in the June 1913 issue of the Wisconsin Archeologist, descriptions of several additional implements of this class have been obtained.
In a letter dated July 22 written from the camp of his archaeo- logical exploration party near Mt. Desert, Hancock County, Maine, Mr. Warren K. Moorehead states that they have obtained but one knobbed adze. This specimen is about 10 inches long and has the knob near the poll. It was found near Surry, in Han- cock County, on the land of Mr. Warren. One or two gouges with slightly raised elevations, (but not pronounced) on their backs were also obtained.
On August 9, 1913, he wrote of a knobbed gouge which was found at a place called Sullivan on the east side of Sullivan's Cove, an extension of Frenchmans Bay. This place is seven miles northeast of Bar Harbor, Maine.
This specimen is about 7y2 inches long, 2 inches wide and ll/z inches thick through the most prominent knob. The knob, Wi.j is a pronounced one, is located at about the middle of the back of the implement, and has in front of it another very slight protu- berance, or swelling. The cutting edge is broken.
Mr. W. J. Wintemberg of the Victoria Memorial Museum, wli ,> has been engaged in conducting archaeological investigai New Brunswick, in a letter written on July 13, 1913, informed the writer that he had observed a peculiar knobbed gougte in the museum of the Miramichi Natural History Society, at Chatham.
This specimen is about 6 inches long the knob occurring in com- bination with a groove at the poll. The poll is flat somewhat similar in shape to the tail end of some birdstone amulets, only
Additional Knobbed Stone Impli-im-n Is.
more abrupt. The excavated or gouge part extends nearly to the middle of the implement. This specimen comes from near Cha- tham, in Northumberland County, New Brunswick, and is the first of its type to come under the writer's notice. The knob is pronounced and somewhat pointed, the implement being rather short and thick. The rather broad groove is immediately be- tween the knob and poll, the knob being at a; distance of about one inch from the poll. Mr. Charles Willoughby does not figure this type in his article on ' * The Adze and Ungrooved Axe of the New England Indians."
GEORGE E. LAIDLAW
MISSOURI ARCHAEOLOGY
The Department of Archaeology of the Missouri Historical Society, at St. Louis, has just issued a bulletin entitled "Pre- historic Objects Classified and Described." The author is Mr. Gerard Fowke, the well-known investigator. The pamphlet is one of 32 pages and is well illustrated with 14 excellent plates and several figures. It is descriptive of the classes of aboriginal implements and ornaments in the extensive collections of the Missouri Historical Society.
These collections "contain practically every form of prehis- toric relic found within a radius of several hundred miles around Saint Louis. ' ' The cost of this pamphlet is 25 cents. Members of the Wisconsin Archeological Society will do well to add a copy of it to their libraries.
WISCOXSI X A WHK< >LOG 1 ST.
WISCONSIN LANDMAEKS
The last publication issued by Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites, sec- retary of the State Historical Society, before his death on Octo- ber 23, 1913. was a bulletin of eight pages entitled "A Record of Wisconsin Landmarks". This bulletin furnishes a convenient register, by years, of the landmarks in this state now marked with metal tablets. In the introduction the author says :
"As many as possible of the Indian mounds of the State as are still intact, should be preserved and made the centre of pub- lic parks, the sites of old Indian villages, cemeteries, implement workshops, and planting grounds, in the neighborhood of white settlements, should where practicable be preserved; tajblets should mark the positions of fur-trading posts or early military stations, the first permanent dwelling, schoolhouse or church built in each city, town or village, and other sites around which historic memories obviously cling ; new streets as well as school- houses, bridges and parks may appropriately be named after old settlers or other historical characters of the region; and both adults and schoolchildren may be encouraged in annually making historical pilgrimages to interesting objects selected as landmarks, such visitations being accompanied with popular lectures and other educational exercises. The public library should be in- duced to collect local history material and through the coopera- tion of other agencies to maintain a local archaeological, histori- cal and natural history museum. By a variety of such meth- ods the landmarks movement may, properly guided, be of much practical utility in increasing popular' interest in local history— and the fruitage of such interest is civic patriotism.'7
Of the Indian monuments upon which explanatory metal tab- lets or other markers have been erected the following are regis- tered in the Bulletin.
Wisconsin L;imliii:irks. '.»!>
LAND.MAKKS MARKERS ERECTED
1906
Miiy 2(5. Tablet on (hitler mounds, in Cutler Park, Waukesha. By \Y(miens Club, Wankesha.
1008
Stone shaft in Mound Cemetery, Racine, marking preservation of a group of fourteen burial mounds. By Louis F. Mohr, super- intendent of cemetery.
August 2. Tablet at man mound near Baraboo. By Wisconsin Archeological Society, Sauk County Historical Society, and Land- marks Committee, Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs.
1910
July 29. Tablet on bear mound, on public oval, West Washing- ton Street, Madison. By Wisconsin Archeological Society.
July 30 Tablet on eagle mound. State Hospital grounds, Men- dot a. By Wisconsin Archeological Society.
September 4. Tablet on burial mound, Lake Park, Milwaukee. By Milwaukee Board of Park Commissioners.
September 15. Tablet on burial mounds on State Fair grounds. West Allis. By Wisconsin Archeological Society.
1911
September 30. Tablet on effigy mound in Wisconsin-Mississippi River .State Park, at Wyalusing. By Wisconsin Archeological Society.
1913.
Aumist 13. Tablet on effigy mound, Clem Lake, Waupaca. By Monday Night Club, Waupaca.
No mention is made of the wooden markers placed upon the mounds in a group preserved in Elisha D. Smith Park, Mena- sha ; upon five groups of mounds on the grounds of the Univer- sity of Wisconsin at Madison (1909 and 1912,) and upon a group of burial mounds on the Lake Wingra pleasure drive at Edge- wood, Madison (1910.) These are finally to be replaced with more substantial markers.
CHARLES E. BROWN
100 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12, N<
ARCHEOLOGICAL NOTES
Mr. W. J. Kershaw, a prominent Milwaukee attorney, and a member of the Wisconsin Archeological society, was elected president of the Society of American Indians, at its recent Denver convention. Mem- bers of the state society will be pleased to learn of his having been thus honored.
The Sauk County Historical Society held its annual meeting at Bar- aboo, on Saturday evening, November 1. Mr. H. E. Cole was re- elected as its president. Mr. Charles E. Brown, of Madison, read a paper on "Prehistoric Commerce in Wisconsin". The society has had another very successful year. Its historical museum, located in the court house at Baraboo, is rapidly outgrowing its present quarters.
Members of the Society will greatly regret to learn of the death on October 25, of Mrs. Emma House of Reeseville, Wisconsin. Mrs. House has been a very helpful and interested member of the Society since the year 1905. During the year 1906 she made a report to the state organ- ization on the Indian earthworks and other remains in her home town- ship of Lowell, in Dodge county, and has since presented diagrams, sketches and additional notes of some of these. Previous to her death Mrs. House presented to the State Historical Museum her valuable archaeological collection. This consists of over 2000 stone and metal implements which were almost entirely collected from aboriginal vil- lage and other sites in Lowell Township. When exhibited in the mu- seum it will become a permanent memorial to her loyal interest in the progress of archaeological research in her native state. At the October 20 meeting of the directors of the society the deaths of Mr. Lewis S. Patrick of Marinette and of Dr. George Kleinschmidt of Milwaukee, members who have for years shown a keen interest in its work, were announced and appropriate action taken.
New members of the Society are Mr. Archibald Crozier, Barksdale, Mr. Henry Koyen, Washington Harbor, Mr. W. B. Martinus and Mr. Theodore M. Toll, Milwaukee, and Mr. W. E. Hazeltine, Ripon.
Dr. W. G. McLachlan, of McFarland, has placed in the hands of tlie Society his completed report on the Indian earthworks and other re- mains located about the shores of Waubesa, Mud and Kegonsa lakes, in Dane county. This work was undertaken by Dr. Mcl.achlan for the Society in 1903, ten years ago, and has been prosecuted by him during the leisure moments of a busy life. The territory covered by his inves- tigations is a large one and is exceptionally rich in groups of mounds of several classes. Of these he has made careful surveys. By his work he has preserved to the' state valuable records for which Wiscon- sin archaeologists of the future will have reason to be very grateful.
Archeological Notes. • l<n
Each year more of the land about these lakes is being broken up for cultivation and soon the greater number of the fine earthworks will have disappeared. Some have been destroyed since these surveys were begun and others mutilated beyond repair. Too great a tribute cannot be paid by Wisconsin archaeologists to Dr. McLachlan for his contribu- tion to Wisconsin's archaeological history. All of his researches have been conducted at his personal expense.
News is received that Mr. Robert H. Becker, a member of the Society, 'who entered the service of the Field Museum, at Chicago, during the autumn of 1912, and has since been engaged in collecting zoological rspecimens for that institution in Brazil, will remain in South America .for another year. He has traveled through all of the northern portion -of Brazil, commencing with Amazonas, where he worked principally In the Rio Banco region. He was for some time in British Guiana return- ing from there to the valley of the Rio Mar. Mr. Becker speaks enthu- siastically of the wonderful flora and fauna of this country. He has been very successful in his undertakings, his first consignment of 800 specimens reaching the museum during October. During the coming year he will be engaged in collecting in Peru, Chile and Argentina. An article descriptive of Mr. Becker's archaeological researches in the Turtle Creek valley, near his home at Beloit, Wisconsin, was published :in a recent issue of the Wisconsin Archeologist.
Bulletin 53 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, which recently made its appearance, is devoted to a further consideration of Chippewa music, by Prances Densmore. Some of the songs described were ob- tained on the Lac du Flambeau reservation in Wisconsin. This mono- graph is finely illustrated. Members of the Society should not fail to se- cure copies.
Mr. Charles Philip Hexom, of Decorah, Iowa, is the author of a new publication, entitled the "Indian History of Winnesheik County." It is descriptive of the history of the occupation of that Iowa County by the Winnebago Indians and is a very carefully written and interesting work of about seventy-five pages. Chapters are devoted to a descrip- tion of the early history of this once numerous Wisconsin tribe, its re- moval to Iowa, social organization, manners and customs, religion, the geneaology of the Decorah family, Chief Winneshiek, the mission schools at Yellow River and Turkpy River, Fort Atkinson, the removal of the Winnebago from Iowa, and to reminiscences of the Indians by early settlers. The publication is illustrated with a number of full- page plates and other illustrations.
It is with pleasure that we announce that the Twentieth Century Club of La Crosse has decided to undertake the restoration and marking of the grourc of Indian mounds in Myrick Park, in that city. The Wig- consin Archeological Society has for years urged that this be done.
Captain Robert M. Westcott, U. S. A., states that the Chippewa In- dians formerly secured birch bark for canoe making on the north shore of Spider Lake, in Iron County. At this place there was a fine stand of very large birch trees. When he camped at this lake in 1892 many of these trees showed signs of having been stripped of their
](i2 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGTtST, Vol. 12, No. :;
bark for this purpose. The trees did not appear to have been in- jured by the removal of the bark.
While in the vicinity of Mikana, in Barren County, during the sum- mer of 1913, Mr. Winfield W. Gilman, of Madison, was conducted by a guide to an Indian pipestone quarry located in Atlanta Township, in Rusk County. This locality lies about 1% miles southeast of Deer Path Lodge, on Hemlock Lake, Barren County. The quarry is about two-thirds of the way up the side of a high rocky quartzite ridge. The principal quarry is said tq be about 12 feet long and 6 feet deep. At different places on the rocky side of the ridge are smaller quarries and trial pits from some of which pipestone was. obtained by the Indians. Large pieces of pipestone lay on the surface of the ground near these workings, samples of which were secured by Mr. Gilman. The ridge side is thickly overgrown with brush with here and there a solitary pine tree. This brush makes the ascent to the pits and their discovery afterwards a matter of considerable difficulty. Other pipestone pits are said to exist on the ridge which parallels the east shore of Hem- lock and Red Cedar lakes. The pipestone obtained by Mr. Gilman is of the same dark red color as that recently obtained by Mr. G. A. West and by Mr. A. T. Newman from Barron County quarries.
The large sea shell described on page 57, Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 12, No. 2, as being preserved in the museum of Lawrence Univer- sity, at Appleton, is described in a letter recently received from Proi. R. M. Bagg. It is an unusually large specimen of Fulgur (Sycotopus) perversa,, Linn, closely resembling P. carica, Gmelin, but with the aperature on the left side (sinistraH. and so it is not the common Florida Coast type which is dextral. The entire upper whorls are worn away and also the protuberances on the whorls, but the body whorl is well preserved and is about 61-4 inches wide (maximum width). Its label states that it was found at a depth of 6 feet below the surface of the ground. The shell vessel in the Brugger collection described on page 58, and figured in Plate 5, has been recognized by Dr. Frank P. Baker as a helmet shell (Cassis sp.).
The Wisconsin Archeological Society wishes to secure additional members and patrons especially in the cities of Marinette, Green Bay, Oshkosh, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Waupun, Jefferson. Watertown, Waukesha, Monroe, Darlington, Platteville, Baraboo, Richland Center, Portage, Mauston, Stevens Point, Merrill, Hudson, and Superior. Ad- dresses of persons whom it may be possible to interest in supporting the important work in which the Society is engaged may be handed to the Secretary. Mr. Geo. R. Fox, Mr. Paul Joers, Mr. Joseph Ringeisen, Jr., and Mr. Towne L. Miller have recently assisted the society by se- curing applications. An application blank is being sent to each mem- ber with this issue of the bulletin.
The Tenth Annual Conference of Historical Societies was held at Charleston, South Carolina, on December 29-30, 1913. Owing to the distant location of this year's conference no delegates were sent to the meeting by the Wisconsin Archeological Society.
W. G. McLACHLAN
Vol. 12 January, 1914 No. 4
THE
WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
THE MOUNDS OF THE LAKE WAUBESA
REGION
Kntnvd ns second .lass matter .Inmiary I.",, I'.H'J, nt the postotlioe ;\\ under tiu> act of .Inly H>. ISJM
Wisconsin Archeological Society
MILWAUKEE, WIS.
Incorporated March '-.\, .15 to.",, for tin- inn-pose of advancing tlic study and preservation of Wisconsin antiquities.
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT ELLIS B. USHER Milwaukee
VICE-PRESIDENTS
DR. S. A. BARRETT. ... . .Milwaukee*
DR., ORRIN THOMPSON Neenah
JOSEPH RINGEISEN, JR Milwaukee
E. N. WARNER Madison
T. L. MILLER Ripon
DIRECTORS
DR. E. J. W. NOTZ . .Milwaukee
DR. LEWIS SHERMAN Milwaukee
TREASURER LEE R. WHITNEY Milwaukee
SECRETARY CHARLES E. BROWN. . . .Madison
COMMITTEES
STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY— Arthur Wenz, G. A. West, C. E. Brown, Dr. S. A. Barrett, H. L. Skavlem, L. R. Whitney, Dr. Louis Falge.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS— Dr. Geo. L.. Collie, Emil Baensch, Henry L. Ward, Prof. I. M. Buell, Prof. A. H. Sanford, Dr. W. H. Bailey, J. P. Schumacher, H. P. Hamilton, Rudolph Kuehne, W. A. Titus, G. H. Squier.
MOUND PRESERVATION— Prof. A. S. Flint, Dr. H. C. Bumpus, Mrs. Jessie R. Skinner, Mrs. E. H. Van Ostrand, Charles Lapham, H. A. Smythe, Jr., Prof. C. D. Zdanowicz, P. V/Lawson, J. A. H. Johnson, Miss Jennie Baker, Thomas Bardon.
MEMBERSHIP— C. L. Fortier, Paul Joers, H. A. Kirchner, Geo. R. Fox, Miss Minna M. Kunckell, Dr. B. H. Warren, C. E. Guenther, A. T. Newman, Mrs. Sophie Miller, Geo. R. Parker, R. H. Becker, T. D. Brown, H. 0. Younger.
MAN MOUND— W. W. Warner, Mrs. E. C. Wiswall, W. W. Gilman.
PRESS— Miss Mary E. Stewart, H. E. Cole, A. O. Barton, Rev. J. E. Copus, R. H. Plumb, E. R. Mclntyre.
SESSIONS
These are held in the Lecture Room in the Library-Museum Building, in Milwaukee, on the third Monday of each month, at
8 P. M.
During the months of July to Octoher no meetings will he held
MEMBERSHIP FEES
Life Members, $25.00 Sustaining Members, $5.00
Annual Memhers, $2.00
All communications in regard to the Wisconsin Archeological Society or to the "Wisconsin Archeologist" should he addressed to Charles E. Brown, Secretary and Curator, Office, State Historical Museum, Madison, Wis.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Vol. 12, No. 4
W. G. McLachlan, M. D.
Plate
A. Lake Waubesa -
1. Sure Johnson Group
2. Eli Johnson Group -
3. Lewis Group
4. Oval and Linear Mounds in the Lewis Group
5. Linear Mound in the Edwards Park Group -
6. Sherlock Group
7. McConnell Group -.
8. Pear-shaped Mound in the McConnell Group
9. Conical Mound in the Thompson-Timmerman Group
10. Pflaum-McWilliams Group
11. Nichols Group -
Frontispiece
Facing Page
- 107
- 115
- 12:
- 125
- 12J - - 12;
- 13?
- 14(
- 1'
: : II
- 16(
Figure
1. Olson Group
2. Henry Group
3. Edwards Park Group
4. Eighmy Group
5. Dale Group
6. Wa-che-et-cha Park Group
7. B. Larsen Group
8. Morris Park Group -
9. Bram Group
10. Effigy in McConnell Group
11. Effigy in McConnell Group
12. Williamson Group
13. Effigy in Williamson Group
14. Thompson-Timmerman Group
15. Nondahl Group
16. Voges Mound
17. Soiney Group 1.8. Ward Group
19. Halvorsen Group
20. Effigy in Pflaum-McWilliams Group
21. Tompkins-Brindler Group
22. Bryant Group
IK 11!
121
THE WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST
Quarterly Bulletin Published by the Wisconsin Archeolotfical Society.
Vol. 12. MADISON, WIS . JANUARY, 1914. No. 4
THE MOUNDS OF THE LAKE WAUBESA
REGION
W. G. MCLACHLAN, A. B., M. D.
INTRODUCTION
Of the prehistoric Indian earthworks and other remains about Lake Waubesa and its vicinity almost nothing has been written. The earthworks about the shores of the neighbor- ing Dane County lakes, Mendota, Moiiona and Wingra. have received the attention of Lapham, Peet, Thomas, Stout and other early and recent investigators, but the antiquities of the lands about Lake Waubesa have been almost entirely neg- lected. The group of mounds on the McConnell place on the west shore of this lake is mentioned by Rev. Stephen D. Peet in Prehistoric America (V. 2). His ligure of this group shown in his Diagram 5 is only partly correct. In it some mounds are omitted, some are introduced which do not exist and the positions of others are incorrect, dr reversed. He introduces the same figure in the American Antiquarian, V. 5, No. 1 (p. 60), and in V. 6, No. 3. On a map of Dane co\inty, which ap- pears in the first mentioned publication, he notes the presence of a gro'up of mounds on the east shore of the lake. It is un- certain which group this may be intended to represent.
* Tho historical roforoneos in thp Introduci ion and the Summary have boen ;id li'd by Secretary rharli's K. Brown.
108 WWOXSIN AUCIIKOLOUIST. Vol. 12. No. 4
Perhaps no other lake region in Wisconsin can furnish a greater amount of evidence of the activity of the mound- building Indians than that about Lake Waubesa. Yet in all probability nearly half of the original number of earthworks have now disappeared. The early settlers naturally took but little interest in the strange looking knolls and ridges about which they knew nothing, and did not let mere curiosity in them interfere with the clearing and leveling of their fields. Fortunately the position of many of the mounds, on steep or rough wooded hills, kept for the wood and pasture, had a great tendency to save them. Their successors however grad- ually encroached upon the mounds and now the yearly clear- ing up of the remaining unbroken land and the extended cul- tivation are so rapidly destroying them that soon no mounds will be found except those which the superior knowledge and intelligence of their owners has caused to be preserved. Be- cause of their rapidly increasing historical and general edu- cational importance the preservation of all that can be saved from destruction should now be the duty of their present own- ers and of the community. The author learns as this paper is being prepared for publication that in the subdividing of Wa-che-et-cha Park for summer resort purposes at least one of the effigy mounds located there has been permanently pre- served by its inclusion in a. public tract. It remains for other land owners about Lake Waubesa to follow this excellent ex- ample. The preservation and protection of some of the more interesting or remarkable earthworks upon many of the farms mentioned in this article would add greatly to their value since in many places in Wisconsin the presence on a piece of land of one or a number of prehistoric Indian earthworks is now regarded £s as much of a financial and scenic asset as a fine grove of trees or crystal spring. It is certain that of the lake lands many must ultimately become the sites of the homes of summer residents, hence the desirability of conserving both their natural beauties, and records of early aboriginal occu- pancy. The regretable obliteration of the many ancient
'I'd.' .M»iiP. !s of tin- l,al«- Wanbi'su K'r-ioii ln'i
earthworks already destroyed, however, adds greatly to the
value of these which remain.
THE srilVEY
The task of making careful surveys of the mound groups of the region about Lake Waubesa was undertaken by the au- thor with the purpose in view of endea voring to preserve to the people of the county and state as great a knowledge as possible of the early aboriginal life within its borders. The work, which has extended over a period of more than ten years, has been an undertaking of both pleasure and educa- tional benefit. Investigations have been pursued in the author's leisure moments. Often long intervals of time elapsed between the making of the surveys of the different groups described. Since these were begun one group of mounds and some isolated earthworks have been destroyed. It is regretted by the author that the exploration of a larger number of the conical mounds could not have been under- taken, also that more time could not have been devoted to the interviewing of more of the pioneer settlers, who wore still living when this work was begun.
The part of Dane county covered by these investigations is that draining into Liake Waubesa, the Mud lakes, and the connecting portions of the Yahara river. The area is one of about thirty square miles comprising part of the three most northerly ranges of sections of the town of Dunn and part of the three most southerly ranges of sections of the town of Blooming Grove.
Its surface consists of low hills and valleys and a broad ex- panse of low land. The higher parts of this low land form valuable and well cultivated farms while the remaining flats are marsh or partially reclaimed marsh. The great extent of this actual marsh lies about the Mud lakes and the south end of Lake Waubesa. These ''wide spread'' marsh expansions in many places, stretch out into long and irregular winding extensions. It is here that most of the reclaiming of the land
INDEX TO MAP.
1. Snro Johnson Group. 21.
2. Skare Group. 22. .'5. Ottum Group. 23.
4. Olson Group. 24.
5. Daley Group. 25
6. Henry Group. 26.
7. Allison Group. 27.
8. Evans Mound. 28. 0. E!i Johnson Groups and Cornfield. 20.
10. Holver Johnson Group. 30.
11. Lewis £roup. 31.
12. Bryngelson Mound-?. •">-.
13. Edwards Park Group. 33,
14. Larsons Park Group. 34. .1.5. Eisrhmy Group. 3f>.
16. Dale Group. 30
17. O. E. Evans and Nelson Mounds. 37.
18. Wa-che-et-cha Park Group. 38. 10. B. Larsen Group. 31). 20. Brown Mound. 40.
Mori-is Park Group.
Sherlock Group.
Sprague Mounds.
Brara Mounds.
McConnell Group.
Williamson Group and Cemetery
Thompson-Tlmracrman (Jroup.
Nondahl Group.
Voges Mounds.
Semey Group.
Ward Group.
Sigglekow Mounds.
Schimming Mound.
Pflaum Mound.
Halvei'son Group.
Pfaum-McWillinm^ Group.
Tompkins-Brindler Group.
Nichols Group.
Bryant Group.
Oilman Mound.
K E G O rsi S A
MAP OF TITK F.AKK WAI'P.ESA Ki:<;m\
110 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 12. No. 4
has been done, and doubtless in the not very distant future most of this now useless low land will be made into the* most productive and valuable land in the country. These flats are surrounded by hills and sloping rises of ground which at one time formed the shores of two large bodies of water now rep- resented by Waubesa and its two pond-like neighbors.
It is on the hills and high banks of the low land which once formed the shores of these old lakes, that the mounds are found. The builders of these earthworks appear to have fa- vored sites near the water, though in some places their works are now miles from the present Jake shores.
If the number of earthworks constructed by the in.ouin.l- building Indians of this regio'n could be considered an index of the prehistoric population of this region it must have been at one time great. There are at the present time 42 separate groups having a total of 188 mounds.
VILLAGE SITES
No attempt has been made by the author to locate by sur- face indications any of the village or camp sites which must have existed in the neighborhood of many of the mound groups here described. This task should be undertaken.
The Indians occupying this region at the time of the ar- rival of the earliest white settlers were the Winnebago, a people whose traditions and customs show them to have been at one time builders of earthen mounds. Of the Winnebago villages formerly located about Lake Waubesa but little is known. A report on the Winnebago villages in Wisconsin prepared for the Indian Office in Washington, D. C., by Indian agent John R. Kinzie, in 1829, mentions the existence of a village . on Lake Waubesa. This village contained 4 lodges and had 76 inhabitants. Its chief was Spotted Arm. Its ex- act location is not given. R. W. Chandler's map of 1829 shows the location of a village at the southeast co'rner of the lake on a trail leading from the lead mines in southwestern Wisconsin to Green Bay. On this map Spotted Arms villagers located
The Mounds ol' the I,H!«- \V;ni!>.>s;i K.^iun. Ill
OIL the Sugar river ten or more miles to the southwest of Lake Waubesa. (W. II. C., V. IX). The maps accompanying the 18 Report of the American Bureau of Ethnology show the lo- cation of Winnebago villages on both the northeast and west shores of the lake. The location of the trails as shown on the map accomanying this paper is only approximately cor- rect. These are shoAvn as indicated on the maps of territorial days.
IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
During much of his field work the author has been accom- panied by one or the other of his two sons, Donald and Fergus McLachlan, whose assistance has been very valuable. He de- sires to express his thanks to Mr. A. Doubleday who as- sisted him on several occasions and obtained photographs of some of the mounds. He feels under special obligations to Mr. J. E. Reed for the use of his launch. Mr. M. D. Larson and; Mr. E. Sprague took most of the photographs. The farm- ers of the region have at all times evinced a kindly interest in the survey and assisted the author with information and directions.
THE MOUNDS
MUD LAKE 1. Sure Johnson Group
PLATE I
Upon a low elevation, about one-fourth mile south of the village of McFarland, are the remains of what was once an extensive group of mounds which extended perhaps three - eighths of a mile to the shore of Mud lake. From an examin- ation of the locality and from what can be learned from the old settlers of the region it is certain that by far the smaller number and the less prominent of the mounds now remain. These lie near the east line of the late Sure Johnson's place.
SURE JOHNSON GROUP Tlato 1
Tho Munnils iif tli.. I. .ik,. \V-nii..-s»i l:<-ui..ti. 112
The upper or northern portion of the group is in a thinly wooded pasture, and covers an area of perhaps 2% acres. It consists of eight mounds, seven of which are linear, aiid one mutilated effigy. They are arranged in pairs in close prox- imity to cadi other extending north and south. Each pair consists of parallel mounds of different lengths. The maxi- mum and minimum distances of the parallels apart are 220 and 50 feet, being those respectively of the first and third pairs. The individual mounds point north and south except those of the second pair which extend in a northeast and southwest direction. The longest mound is 166 feet in length and is the east member of the first pair, while the two short- est are each 50 feet long, being the west members of the first and third pairs. The second pair are of about the same length, being about 75 and 78 feet long. They a-re 150 feet apart. The mutilated effigy is the west member of the lowest or fourth pair. It is 58 feet long.
These mounds are from 2 to 3 1/2 feet in height and from 16 to 20 feet wide. None of them have been injured except the first pair a portion of the northern extremity of which is evenly cut off by a farm road and cultivated field.
At a distance of 125 feet south and east of these earthworks is the beginning of a straggling line of mounds connecting the upper with the lower group. At the northern end of the line is a conical mound measuring 20 by 23 feet. This is suc- ceeded by three linear mounds lying close by and parallel with the section line. The last is about 00 feet west of the north- ern mound of the lower group.
The lower group of mounds lies north of the marshy shore of Mud lake, in the NW.1/!- of Section 11. It covers an aiea of about four acres. It is in an oak grove and consists of four lineal', three oval mounds and an enclosure.
Three linear mounds form the northern part of the group. They converge as they extend south thus giving an irregular radiation. The largest is 324 feet long and points north and south. It lies 200 feet cast of the section line. Between these
I1.'i Wlxmxsi.X .UM'HKOI/MIY. Vol. 12, No. 4
.are two linear mounds, one 287 feet long pointing N. N. W. and the other (142 feet long) pointing northwest. They were at one time of greater length extending into the cultivated land on the north and west.
South of the converging ends of these earthworks is a large oval mound. It lies 47 feet from the southeast extremity of the shortest linear.
About 160 feet south' and a little west of this is another, smaller oval mound. Between the two, extending east and west, is the fourth linear of the group. It is 140 feet long.
The enclosure is nearest the lake, being on a higher level only a few rods from the shore. It is the most easterly of the earthworks. It is somewhat in the form of an ellipse, having an east and west diameter of 150 and a north and south diam- eter of 137- feet. Its center is over 5 feet below the top of the enclosing wall. Though it has been for years a repository for refuse and the carcasses of cattle the center is still below the level of the surrounding surface of the ground. Its en- trance is about 12 feet wide. From the southern terminus of the enclosure a heap of earth extends to the west. At the junction of this earth heap writh the enclosure the elevation thus formed is broadened. Upon this widened foundation is a conical mound measuring 32 by 36 feet.
Viewed from north and east the form and limits of this com- bination are quite distinct; but from the west they cannot be made out and the earthwork from that point is merely a con- fused and shapeless mass of earth. This breaking up of the outline has been greatly aided by the dirt thrown out upon the surface on those sides by the numerous burrowing animals which infest the place.
In the fields to the west of the lower group and the woods connecting it with the upper is the site of the greater part of this mound system. In one place on the surface a knoll of considerable size is all that remains, I am informed, of an earthwork of once large dimensions.
Tilt- MulI!l<N nf tin- I.Ml«- W.'llllM'sa Kruinll. 111
2. Skare Group.
This is the only mound now remaining of what was less tluin iil'ty years ago, a large group of mounds which covered the swell, or rolling ground on the Anderson and Ilalverson plaees. Viewed from the north this rise of ground is a rather steep hill at the bottom of which stands the Ilalverson house. I'poii reaching the Anderson, or Skare place, the swell begins to slope down to a level with the marsh which is covered with water whenever Mud lake overflows. It then becomes many times its present size.
This linear mound extends north and south along the top of the swell for about 300 feet. The part on the Halverson place is 260 feet long. Originally it extended some distance farther north. The most of it is now barely traceable. An- other season's cultivation will destroy it. Other mounds, now gone, lay west of this one.
The part remaining on the Anderson farm is 240 feet long. It lies in the western part of a small wood thickly overgrown with brush . It is from 2 to 4 feet high and 10 feet wide. It is related that years ago, old settlers said that an old Win- nebago Indian, by* the name of White Rabbit, stated that in former times the Indians hid behind this mound to shoot the deer as they came in droves along the hollow to drink at the lake.
South and a little west of this were the other mounds of which not a trace now remains. I am told that a human skeleton was exhumed from among them.
3. Ottum Group
In a pasture along the river, north of the buildings on the Ottum farm, are the ends of two large linear mounds. They lie at a slight angle to the river and approach nearly to it. The cultivation of the adjoining field to the west has de- stroyed the larger portion of them and all the other mounds of the group formerly located hero.
11." WISCONSIN AHCllKOLOGV. Vol. 12, No. 4
All the hills to the west on the farm were at one time occu- pied by these earthworks. Particularly near the west line, these earthworks were > so numerous that the Norwegian pio- neers of the neighborhood gave the hill the name ''Indian Ryg". None are now to be seen.
Across the road, on the extreme southwest corner of the same farm, is an irregular mound doubtless at one time an effigy. It is on the brink of a steep hill. On it grows a white oak tree 1% feet in diameter.
A few rods above the iron bridge which here crosses the river are two tiny islands and opposite them is a deep cut in the west bank of the river which is now used to get down to the water. These islands are the remains, of the site of an old dam that stood there more than half a century ago, while the cut marks the road that led down to the mill. This seems to have been a point of considerable business activity among the very early settlers.
4. Olson Group
Figure 1
These mounds lie in the northeast part, of Section 11, on land owned by Tollef Olson. They are on a rising piece ot ground about 80 rods south of the Yahara river. They lie be- neath scattered trees, and in many places are almost hidden by a thick growth of hazel brush and briars. This wooded pasture is bounded on three sides by cultivated fields.
Near the southwest corner of this property is the end. of a linear mound which formerly extended further west, but the cultivation of the field in which it lay has destroyed it. Forty- two feet directly north along the fence, is a linear mound extending northeast fo^r a distance of 150 feet. From its northeast end 36 feet due north is the beginning of a short linear running N. N. E. for a distance of 75 feet and 64 feet directly south of it is a much defaced conical mound.
About 50 feet from the latter earthwork is a straight lin- ear 288 feet long. It is in line with the short linear mound.
Tin- .MmiiMls i»f Hi" l,akr
I Ki
About 75 feet west of the southerly cud of iliis lon^ linear mound is another small linear • mound nicasui-ing 70 feet in length.
Fit,'. 1
Down near the river, a few rods from the east line t'ener, is a low long narrow linear mound, one extremity of which curves a little to the west. It is 186 feet long.
These mounds are from 12 to 20 feet wide, except the last and from a few inches to 2 feet high.
On the upper mounds of the group stand a few large white oak trees. One in particular is over 2 feet in diameter.
117 WISCONSIN' .\K'-llj;oL< M;\ . Vol. 12, No. 4
5. Daley Group
On a ridge running north by a little east across the two Daley and adjoining farms, is the last representative of a large group of linear and conical mounds. It is on the T. Daley place and cuts the cooier of a wooded slope rising from the marsh. It lies near the north end of the ridge west of Mr. Daley's buildings. It is 60 feet long, extending for a few feet at each end into the cultivated fields. 'It is from 1^ to 2 feet high and 18 feet wide. Its direction is northeast and southwest.
Growing on this mound are two black cherry trees each over a foot in diameter, and a white oak two feet in diameter.
The group to which it belonged, followed the crest of the ridge to the southwest. This is clearly shown by inequalities on the surface of the fields.
On the line betwreen the T. Olsen and J. Daley .{'firms, where the ground is much higher, steeper and wooded, is a park- like space sloping to the east with here arid there a large white oak tree. This was a burying ground for t.lic early settlers. Fifty years ago, it not only censed to bo used ;us such but, I am told, the remains of those1 buried here wore exhumed and removed.
6. Henry Group
Figure 2
These mounds lie on a high rise of ground which hounds the east side of the extreme southern end of a branch of Mud Lake flats. They are somewhat scattered, and consist of three linear and one large conical mound. The two largest lie a few rods north and a little west of the farm buildings, in a pasture.
One mound lying north and south is 248 feet* long and 14 feet wide. It is much reduced in size being at its highest part now only 11/2 feet high, while for some distance from each
Tlie Mnu'nls of ilio L;iKc \Y:iubrs;i Region.
118
cud its outline is now almost obliterated. The other mound begins 55 feet east of a point 50 feet from the north end of the first mound. It extends southeast up the slope for 300 feet. It is 17 feet wide and about a foot high. It is worn almost to a level with the ground for some distance from the ends.
s
The other linear mound lies south of these in the front yard of the Henry house and only a few feet southwest from it. It is crank-shaped. Its two parallel portions are each 23 feet long and extend north and south. They are connected at obtuse angles by an intermediate portion 42 feet long lying northwest and southeast.
HO WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGY. Vol. 12, No. 4
A conical mound lies on the second rise of ground about sixty rods east of the premises along the road. It is 30 feet in diameter and 4 feet high. The north half is cut away by the road.
To the northwest of the linear mounds on the other side of the neck of the expansion flat, which now is low pasture land boggy in places with the marks of a creek bed running through the middle, is an old road. It can be traced by the track which in some places is a fooit deep for perhaps an eighth of a mile through the trees down the ridge and along the flat to the creek bed. Here was once a bridge. Seventy years ago this was the main traveled road leading to the mill on the river. The creek has dried up, the bridge is gone, and the mill and the road are forgotten like the people who made and used them.
7. Allison Group
When I first examined the site of this once extensive group of earthworks, only a partially destroyed mound of small size, on the hill along1 the road between the town house of the town of Dunn and Mr. Allison's residence, remained. Doubtless this also has now vanished. Mr. Allison says that before the mounds were disturbed, they extended along the whole length of the hill, over both the Miahoney farm and his own. They formed a single line of earthworks consisting of straight lin- ears interspersed with round and oval mounds.
8. Evans Mound
This mound and some faint and unreliable outlines of two smaller ones are on the top of a hill at the base of which, on the northwest side, is the Evans farm house. For years, the hill has been used as a hog run and calf pasture. As might be expected, the mound is much defaced. In a few years it will have become a meaningless heap of earth.
The mound now measures about 70 feet in length, and 30 feet in breadth. It is between S and 4 feet high. There are
Tlio Mounds of the Lake WaubeM Region. 120
faint indications of its having been once an effigy mound. It is now oif an elongated oval shape.
YAHARA RIVER 9. Eli Johnson Groups and Corn Field
Plate 2
East Group — These mounds are in the N. W. ^4 of Section 10. They are on a hill directly south of the Yahara river and overlooking it.
Beginning at an old house stajiding a few rods from the south bank of the river, the most northerly and lowest mound runs about W. S. W. up across the face of the hill for 280 feet. Two hundred feet farther up the hill two linear mounds cross each other. They run in a W. S. W. and E. S. B. direction. One is 300 feet and the latter 220 feet long, the intersection being respectively 100 feet and 60 feet fro'm their eastern ex- tremities. Cross-shaped earthworks of similar form exist in groups on the east shore of Hammersly pond, west of Madison and at Kennedy pond on the north shore of Lake Mendota.
A little east of south of their intersection, at a distance of 95 feet is an oval mound having diameters of 40 and 31 feet.
Forty feet from the extremity of one arm of the cross- shaped mound and separated from it by 25 feet is a linear mound extending 215 feet up the west slope of the hill. Eighty feet from its upper end and a little west is the upper end of another mound of the same kind running northwest foir 165 feet. There are. indications that this mound was or- iginally much longer.
Fifteen feet from the end of this last mound and in a line with it is an oval mound having diameters of 28 and 36 feet.
Thirty-four feet south of this last is another conical mound, so loKv as scarcely to be recognized as such. It is 20 feet in diameter, from it a few badly decomposed human bones were removed.
Directlv south of this low mound is another linear mound
El, I JOHNSON GROUP Plate 2
The Mounds of the Lake \Vnul.<-s;i U.-.^inn. 121
150 feet in length. West of it are two other linear mounds one being 200 feet long and extending southwest and the other 1f>0 feet long and extending S. S. W.
The present greatest height of the linear mounds of this group is about two feet. The conical mounds are slightly higher.
Indian Island — East of the hill on which these mounds are situated, on a rise of thinly wooded land which in high water is an island and in dry weather is separated from the main land by an almost impassable bog, is the site of an Indian corn field and garden. It is on the west end of the island and originally was about an acre in extent. In many places the hills are very distinct.
West Moiled — On the north slope of a rise of ground on which are Johnson's farm buildings is a bird effigy. It was called the /'loon" by some of the old settlers. It is now much mutilated. The neck and body have been dug into and part of the wings have been cut off. The stretch of wing of what now remains is 151 feet long. The right wing is 88 and the left 63 feet long. The distance from the center of the body to the end of the tail is. 14 feet and from the same point to the head 40 feet.
10. Holver Johnson Group
Linear and conical mounds formerly covered the whole sur- face of the hill west of the Yaliara river in the rear of Hol- ver Johnson's farm buildings. They were completely de- stroyed many years ago by cultivation, and but little is re- membered concerning them.
11. Lewis Group
About one-fourth mile west of the village of McFarland,
along the crest of a high wooded hill running north and south. is a line of nine mounds. They are on the T. Lewis place. The northern end of this line begins with a linear mound 130
122 WISCONSIN ARCI-IEOLOGI8T. Vol. 12. No. 4
feet long pointing a little east of north. At its north end is a deep cut made by the south road leading to Lake Waubesa. Thirty-two feet south of this is a series of three mounds about 22 feet apart. One is a linear 81 feet long, one a conical mound 22 feet in diameter and another a linear lOi feet in length.
From the conical mound part of a skeleton was exhumed. The bones were slender, the jaws small, and the teeth well worn down. No pelvic bones could be found. These were probably the bones of an old woman. The burial belonged to the class known as "bone burials."
At a distance of 185 feet south of the most southerly point of these, near the southern brow of the hill, is the nearer of two mounds. These are 50 feet apart. The first is 30 feet in diameter, and the second measures 25 by 35 feet.
In the first were found the remains of a human skeleton. It lay about on a level with the ground. The position of the bones indicated a sitting posture of the body, facing north. Much of the skull and of other flat bones had decayed and others had entirely disappeared. Those that remained were large and very brittle. The femur, or thigh bone, was over 18 inches, and the tibia, or shin bone, 15 inches long. The jaw was large and the teeth not much worn. What remains of the skull, the frontal, right and part of the left parietal, and a little of the temporal bones, showed that in its entirety, this skull would have been worth a careful examination.
All three burial mounds have been dug into. Their orig- inal contents seem not to have been found, or, at least, in no way to have been interfered with, so far as the two that we have explored, are concerned. It is said they were dug into to find treasure supposed to have been hidden in them, dur- ing the Black Hawk war.
About 290 feet down the slope is an effigy mound 74 feet in length. A line run 50 feet farther down the hill meets the midclk; of a mound 180 feet long running nearly east and west while the same distance farther south is a linear mound one ex-
I
123 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGY. Vol 12, No. 4
tremity of which is turned in the form, of a hook. The curved part of the mound lies toward the east and measures 54 feet across. The straight portion of the mound runs 272 feet southwest.
The mounds on the top of the hill are much the largest. They are from 3 to over 4 feet high. The linear mounds are about 16 feet wide. The two on the slope are about 14 wide and from 2 to 3 feet high, while the one near the bottom is 6 feet wide at its widest part and from 1 to 2 feet high, and in some parts almost obliterated. On these mounds grow trees a hundred years old.
12. Bryngelson Mounds
On the, western part of the short range of hills, on whose northern end is the Lewis group, was a group of mounds which is no longer to be seen. This was located on the Bryngleson farm north of the house, which stands on the shore of the Yahara river. Mr. Bryngleson and his son speak of one of the mounds as conical in form and exceptional ele- vation.
Several implement caches and stone implements of various kinds have been found in this immediate vicinity. Some of these were purchased from Mr. Bryngelson 's son and are now in the Elkey collection in the Logan museum at Beloit.
EAST SIDE OF LAKE WAUBESA 13, Edwards Park Group
Plate 5 and Figure 3
Edwards7 Park lies in the west center of Section 33, of Blooming Grove township. The mounds in this group consist of four linear, two effigy and three oval mounds. The three linear mounds lie on the western slope of the ridge running through the park. They run north and south parallel with the ridge. The largest and longest, which is on the crest, ex-
OVAL AND LINEAR MOUND IN LEWIS GROUP Plate 4
LINEAR MOUND IN EDWARDS PARK GROUP
Upper picture shows mound m use as a walk in front of cottages.
Plate 5
Th»- M our. ds of tho L:ike \Vaubes:i Ilegion.
121
tends back from the shore of the lake for a distance of 550 feet. Its width varies from 8 to 15' feet and its height from 1 to 4 feet. Its most prominent part now forms a walk from the so-called Pewaukee cottages to the lake.
The south end of the next mound lies 84. feet west of the upper mound and gradually approaches the latter until near its upper end they are 50 feet apart. It reaches to within 150 feet of the lake and is 467 feet long, from 8 to 12 feet wide and from 1 to 3 feet high.
The third and most westerly linear begins 130 feet from the lake and is 250 feet long. Its south end is 100 feet west of the mound just described and its north end is about 50 feet
JL>5 WTSCQXSIX ARCHEOLOGY. Vol 1.2, Xo. 4
from it. It is low and the least prominent of the three. As it lies in the street leading, from the hotel to the pier its out- line is now faint.
Old residents say that all three mounds at one time ex- tended as far north as the C. M. & St. P. R. R. track.
Seventy feet east along the lake shore from the terminus of the first or upper mound are the remains of an effigy mound formerly of large size. Its direction is northeast. Its present length is 154 feet, its width from 6 to 22 feet and its height from 1 to 2 feet. The encroachment of the lake lias left only a portion of this effigy. This mound was probably similar in form to the effigy in the Halverson group. It was probably of the common panther type.
Thirty-feet from the end of the middle linear, and between it and the shore, is another mutilated effigy. Its present length is 64 feet and its greatest width is 27 feet. Its upper end is hidden by the Moore cottage. This mound like the preceding has been injured by the encroachment of the waters of the lake.
Between this mutilated effigy and the upper linear is a small though prominent conical mound.
About 55 feet from the end of the lowest linear, on the front of Rev. F. Bell's lot, is a prominent oval mound with diameters of 21 and 32 feet.
All of these mounds become more prominent as they ap- proach the lake.
14. Larson's Park Group
A short distance east of Edwards Park, along the lake shore, in what is now called Larsons Park, are some prominent conical and oval mounds now much mutilated and defaced. Some are under the cottages. Owing to this they could not be measured. Back in the field upon the top of the hill, are said to have been several linear mounds. Sufficient indications remain to prove this. In places they can be traced.
The Moiii'ds »»!' the I.nUr \ViiiilM-sii Krs.sii.ij.
15. Eighmy Group
Figure 4
This group lies on the southern aspect of a wooded hill used as a pasture, and a short distance north of the Eighmy farm buildings. This liill is the highest part of a short range of high land and which forms the eastern boundary of a low cul- tivated flat perhaps three-fourths of a mile long. This nar- row flat is somewhat higher than the low land at each end of
I
I
it and is a sort of watershed between them, draining north into an expansion arm of Upper Mud lake, and south into a small narrow marsh, now drained and cultivated, whose out- let is Lake Waubesa.
The mounds lie a short distance from the upper end of this drained and cultivated marsh. There are in this group two linears, one conical and an effigy mound of the turtle type.
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On the highest part of the hill are the linear mounds. They lie end to end and point a little east of north. They are sep- arated by a distance of 20 feet. The one farthest north is 62 feet long, 18 feet wide, and about 2y2 feet high. The other is 64 feet long and of the same width and height.
Down the slope east of the latter is a nearly obliterated oval mound.
Directly south of the linear mounds and near the fence bounding the pasture is a mound of the turtle type. Its head is directed down the hill in a direction 30 degrees east of south. Its tail, which is 90 feet long and straight, is bent to the east at the body. Its body is 61 feet long. The hind legs are about 16 feet long and the fore about 7 feet long. They are about 14 feet across. The head is not prominent and the whole mound is very low. This is the only effigy ol this type in the- region covered by this survey.
16. Dale Group
Figure 5
This group is in the NW. 3/4 of Section 3, Dunn township. It is on the crest of a hill overlooking Lake Waubesa. The most northerly mound of the group is in a pasture adjoining the C. M. & St. P. R. R. It is linear in form and is directed