The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-08-24
Mound Runders.

mound BulldeSS.
John scrimger owns a good farm
near Charles City. in Floyd county.
Iowa, on the eastern part of which
is a long, low ridge, running directly
north and south, and dotted with
some fort mounds about three feet in
height, and from fifteen to twenty-five
feet in 'length. The regularity and
even appearance of this ridge had Of
ter been remarked about, and the
impression grew that it had been
made by human hands. But no one
could hazard a guess when. 1t was
there when the pioneer settlers went
to Iowa, and the Indian traditions,
which run back many hundreds of
years, were young compared with it.
Last week Prof. Webster got permIs-
sion from Mr.. Scrimger to open some
of the mounds, and up to date he has
dug into fourteen of them. His
find is thirty skeletons in various
stages of preservation, some solid and
others crumbling to dust. The ridge
was found to be considerably harder
than the surrounding prairie, as if il
had been built and pounded firm to
secure a solid foundation, The IN
ments had evidently been made on
the surface OF the ridge by covering
the surface of the bodies with earth
and packing it hard enough to shed
water. All the skeletons were in q
crouching position, the thighs being
drawn up close to the jaws, and the
heads all pointed toward the east.
Taking the forum bones as q guide,
Prot. Webster thinks that most Of the
skeletons are those OF people about
five feet seven inches in height, and
on the same basis he figures that four
of them are those of men who must
have been seven feet tall. The skulls,
most OF which have been very well pre-.
served, are those OF a very low order
of beings. The tops are abnormaily
thick and the frontal bones slope back
abruptly over the eyes,, while the low
err Jaws protrude so that the under
| teeth strike outside and in front of
| the upper ones. Thus far, in general
contour, the skulls resemble those of
the prehistoric mound builders in
Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin, but
there the similarity ceases, The skel-
etons found by Prof. Webster show
plainly marks of fire, as if the flesh
had been burned from the bones before
burial. Another strangs thing is the
! absence of anything like weapons of
the chase or even personal trinkets, in
the mounds. The bones of animals,
usually found about such places, indi-
! eating that the friends ot the deceSs-
ed bad celebrated their interment
with a funeral feast, are also missing.
The only thing found besides the skel-
etons thus far is a lot OF broken pot
terry of very crude design and make,
but one piece, a small vase or urn, be-
ing complete enough to give an idea
of what it is.
Northwestern Railroads.
Senator Sabin has reported three
house bills from the senate COMMITTEES
on Indian affairs, grantin ( Northwest
ern railroads right OF way through
Indian reservations. One OF these
was Delegate Chords bill granting
the Aberdeen. Bismarck & Northwest
ern railroad right OF way across the
great Sioux reservation in Dakota.
This bin passed the house July IL.
The road is TO enter the reservation
within ten miles OF the town OF Vino
Ina, Emmons county, and is to pursue
g. direct line across the reservation,
leaving it somewhere near the-Grand
river. The bill was reported as it
came from the house without amend
ment. Mr.. Sabin also reported without
| change Mr.. Nelson's house bill, grant
| Jug the Moorhead, Leech Lake a North
western Railway company the right OF
tion in Minnesota. According TO the
terms of the bill the road is to run
from the City of Moorhead in q
northerlv~ direction through Clay com
ty, THENCE easterly through Becker
county, thence into and through the
White Earth Indian reservation.
passing Flat Lake, and through
another portion Of Becker county;
thence through Hubbard, Cass, Ait.
kin and ST. Louis counties to Duluth.
Mr.. Nelson's house bill granting the
Duluth Il Winnipeg Railway company
right OF way through the Fond duLac
Indian reservation in Minnesota, was
also reported favorably by Senator
Sabin. This bill was amended so as
to define the route OF the road which
is to begin at Duluth and run by the
most practicable line to a point at OF
near Grand Rapids on the Mississippi
river.