Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-07-23
along the banks of the mississippi, about

along the bank Of the Mississippi, about
Twelve hundred specime ems Of rocks,
quartz clippings, ETC., aarrying from the
size Of q finger, nail to three Or four
pounds in weight, nearly all. of which
she has labelled and sent to different ge,
illogical and scientific institutions in the
Eastern States She firmly believes that
/ the rocks and Clippings that she has
gathered aye all sof human origin, and
were shaped BY a very barbaroous race Of
people, who inhabited this country in
the inter-glacial period, a long time pre-
iyious to the time when the mound build
ers resided here. : Miss Babbitt explains,
or attempts at least to explain, the use
that was or could have been made of each
specimen she has gathered; and / jddg ge
from the communications she has re-
ceived from scientists, and from works by
different authors on the subject thatI
read, that the weight Of authority
yfayors her theory. but after, examining
the question as fully as T. think of any
use, Il am inclined to. the opinion that
this quartz rock was crushed and mixed
up with the earth along the banks Of the
river at this place by some other than
human 1pl agency Other rocks are free-
:qusntly found~eeush and mixed up
with the broken quartz rocks, which
s how no special design as to shape. If
Miss Babbitt's theory is the correct one,
Little Falls in those days was great
manufacturing peint, and the hardwar 6
merchants must, hive kept good supply
.of stoneware on hand. Arrow heads and
other stone implements are occasionally
found about this country, but I never
: saw one that was clearly. made by man
that was made of the same sort of white
quartz as those clippings which are Sc
abundant in this locality. During the
last year several small pieces of ancient
pottery, have been picked up in the
plowed field On the west bank of the
Mississippi, at the ferry; about a hall
mile above the falls, and nearly opposite
to the earth works on the east side Of the
river, before mentioned. About twenty
pieces have been found, mostly by my
{ self. The specimens show at least five
different styles Of vessels, the ware vary
ing much in color thickness and design.
! In thickness it varies from one-eighth to
three-eighths of an inch, and in color
from a light ash to dark brown. The
outside OF all the specimens show that
considerable pains. were taken to orna~
ment the dishes by indentatlons of varied
designs, the heavy dark brown showing
much more fancy work upon it. 1t has
bevome quite rotten, so that it now breaks
and crumbles easily. It appears to be
made of coarse sand and olay baked. , I
am informed that it was found IN con-
siderable: quantities some years ago at the
Rice lakes, about seven miles east!of Little
Falls, in the vicinity of the large mound
between the two lakes. While at St..
Paul recently examined the specimens
of ancient pottery that they had collected.
They had some that came from some
point on the st. Croix river, that was
found in mound, and some from the
western and the southern part cf the
State, all varying somewhat in style.
Some has been discovered at Red Lake,
which resembles very closely that found
here. DR.. J. O. Simmons, of this place,
brought number Of specimens from Bis
marck, which he found near that place.
It is much harder than that found here,
and was likely used to cook in.
From the fact that some Of this pottery
was found in mound, it is certain that
the mound builders are the race that
made and used this pottery.
ITO be continued.7