Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-03-31
INDIAN MOUNDS.
sneculations Concerning Those Found
Wisconsin.

S~eculat1OnS Concerning Those Found La
Wisconsin.
One authority speaks of an Indian
mound as common grave, such as one
meets with in any cemetery. The
average farmer, driving his city guests
over country roads, points with his
whip into an adjacent field at circular
hillock, with the base like charcoal
pit and rising more gradually to
point near the top, saying: That's an
Indian mound. AS the guest shows
his interest in the subject and strains
his eyes to catch sight of the object,
the accommodating farmer keeps
pointing out the mounds every little
way. In truth, half the mounds pointed
ont are not genuine, Or if they are no
one knows about it, as they have never
been opened. It is scarcely plausible
to assert that the Indians passed all
their time building mounds. If they
did they might have been in better
business.
A Wisconsin reporter who has ridden
fast and far in company with inventive
drivers had an interview with an emf
nent searcher after mounds on the sub
ject. He said that he was convinced,
as far as any one could be convinced
when tangible proofs were wanting, OF
the Asiatic origin of the people who
mined copper on the south shore of
Lake Superior, and earlier still on Isle
Royale, and who built what is known
as Aztalan. F'There are a great variety
of mounds in the State" he said, ''but
all divisions that have been made yet
are not to be depended on. The earliest
that were built were the sacrificial
mounds and the mounds of alteration.
The latter were built so that the rising
and setting sun could be seen from
them. They were invariably built
round. The sacrificial mounds were
square, as their remains indicate. The
size of the mounds depended on the
ease with which the soil could be
moved. There are also round mounds
in which great many skeletons are
found when they are opened. The
sacrifcial mounds are not very plenty
in this part of the State, nor, in fact, in
any part. The remains of one are
situated on the east bank of the Chip
pewa river, near Beef slough, and
another on the point of land at the
confluence of the Red Cedar and
Chetek rivers, in Northern Wisconsin.
A path of effigy mounds has been traced
from Chetek lake to Cedar lake, in Bar
ron County. In swamp west of Lake
Chetek, flooded by water now, is the
old road the early caravans used to
travel. These traces are all that re-
main of the race that once worked the
early copper mines on Lake Superior.
In Wisconsin by far the larger proper
ton are effigy mounds, while in Ohio
the animal mounds do not probably
number half dozen, and the largest
of them is entirely separated from the
Enclosures. Two bird mounds occur
in Putnam County, Ga. With these
exceptions the effigy mounds belong
to one locality and to people who had
not the characteristics of contempor-
airy nations. 1t is also probable that
the people who built these mounds were
not the same who constructed the
the effigy mounds that we want the
State to appropriate money to pur-
chase"
Glow much land would it take?'
about three hundred acres in DIFF
ferent parts of the State. 1t is the
square mounds that are most signif-
cant, as their relative position shows
the way the people travelled"
Abiding to the magnitude of the
work done by this strange people, he
said that the excavation on Isle Royale,
Lake Superior, showed that thousands
of men had worked there at time
'Whole carloads of hammers were
found there. In Ontonag0n County
and at Kewaunee Point, on the south
shore Of the lake, the excavation ex-
tends for fifty miles. The Indians of
the present day are a different race,
for the work of the copper mines was
abandoned several hundred years ago
In fact, it is my theory that the con
quest of Mexico by Cortez and the
shutting down of work in the copper
mines was at the same tirse."
1t is probable that some measure
will be considered to appropriate
sum Of money to buy the land on which
the mounds are situated -Milo0aaskee