The Mound Builders  - The Ancient Ones- The Giants - The Men of Old - The Mound Builders -  Mound Builders Mounds of Wisconsin - Mound
Builders of Wisconsin - Effigy Mounds - Conical Mounds-
Rochester Wisconsin Mounds
and The Old Indian Trail
Mary Sutherland copyright 2005
Interviewing Rochester's local historian  Peter Laughran.

Mr. Laughran has lived in Rochester for 58 years.In 2002 he worked to help get Main St. designated as a local historic district.

This day, Brad Sutherland, Sophia and I, Mary Sutherland,  are visiting Peter to record and document  the 'old stories' in hopes of preserving them
for generations to come.   -  Stories of the Mounds and the American Indians that made their homes in the mound area.

In the above photo you see Sophia and Mr. Laughran going over maps. He is trying to show us  where the old Indian trails were located that ran
from Tichigan , Wisconsin, (known to the Indians as 'Healing Waters') , through this area of Burlington into Illinois.  As he remembers, the old trail
ran through the mound area.  We will be providing you with photos taken of this trail and the mounds we discover as we research them.

According to Mr. Laughran, the trail ran through a sector of Mr and Mrs. Edwin Ela's property. The photos you see on the left will provide you with our
first trip to the  Elas' property, located outside of Rochester, Wisconsin.

Laughran remembers as a child the visits of the Potawamoni Indians to his grandparents home. They would bring fresh caught fish for trade with
the family for  some other goods.

The local Indians,   Potawatamis, called the mound builders  the Hu-Kadesh.

To give you an idea of how many of mound builders populated this area when the Indians migrated , the Indians described them to be "thicker than
the leaves on a tree".

It is believed that the Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Potawatami formed an alliance to exterminate them.
According to their legend, their ancestors had conquered and ousted an ancient  civilization which had dug for copper and built mounds

Most are very uneducated as to who these mound builders were and think of them as some primitive culture. This is very far from the real truth.
Below is a photo found in a Michigan mound that shows that they were so advanced that they seem to have been performing 'brain surgery' well
before the 'time of Christ'. .
Click the photo for larger picture




















COPPER ARROW AND SPEAR HEADS
have been found in the mounds area of Rochester. Mr. Laughran told us that he found a copper spear head when he was younger. We also know
that others in the area have found copper arrow heads. Thus it does prove that metals were being used during this period -
Archaeologists have found Michian copper in artifacts around the  world.
Scientists agree that they date back thousands of years before Christ.

The Potawatomi Indians later came into this area. They started out as hunters and gatherers, eating  wild game, fish, wild rice, red oak acorns, and
maple syrup.
After being pushed out of the hunting ground of Michigan and into Wisconsin, they learned farming from neighboring tribes. They grew corn, beans
and squash. The women took care of the field while the men did the hunting. Their modes of travel was the birch bark canoes and later the horse
as their tribes moved into different regions. They used the horses to hunt buffalo in the roaming grassland.
THE ELA MOUNDS
INVESTIGATING THE ROCHESTER WI MOUNDS LOCATED ON
THE FARM AND ORCHARD OF  EDWIN AND WENDY ELA
It was determined that the trees growing here were Maple, White Poplar, Cherry, Hickory, White Oak - all
wonderful sources in providing a food and herbal medicine supply.
Standing on at a higher point of the mound area, you can
look down at the more marshy area that the most of the
mounds are found next to.
The marsh supplied water, abundant food source,
navigation, material for baskets etc.
The mound builders built their sacred sites where the ley lines cross. (Christian cross) .

The Earth Energy Grid is the earths electromagnetic field that envelops our planet with a geometric pattern of magnetic lines of force.  It is an
invisible web of energy that crisscrosses the planet very similar to the acupuncture meridians of our own body. The major energy pathways of
which the energy travels are commonly referred to as ley lines.  Where these ley lines intersect, an energy eddy or vortex occurs. These are the
earth chakra or˜power points

The power points are similar to electrical switches or energy transducers spreading around the planet in the precise geometry of an
icosadecahedron. Sacred sites of the Ancient Ones built their structures from pyramids to stone circles to mounds. These structures worked much
like that of the old radio with a crystal transmitter or receiver..and they were all tuned to particular electromagnetic frequencies.


















At the Ela site we believe we found a magic circle, at the base of the mound area, facing east, overlooking the swampy area.
Upper Photo
These circles are many times used to protect the site from energies outside, and it can also keep the energy inside. Lower Photo
Even today such magic circles can be found around the altar of cathedrals and churches.


For More Photos of the ELA MOUNDS Click Here.
The research of the ELA Mounds is Ongoing and
this site will be continuously updated with our discoveries and more photos.
The Mound Builders of North America Part 12
Mounds of Rochester and Burlington WI
Exploring the Unknown   with
Brad and Mary Sutherland
Brad and Mary Sutherland
248 Carver Street
Winslow, Illinois 61089
815 367 1006
Allow me to Introduce Myself .... Click Here
Get Your Book Autographed by Mary Sutherland by
ordering directly off my website !  
CLICK HERE
After reading the following pages on this Amazing Race
of Mound Builders-   your life and perception of the past will never be the same!
Mary Sutherland
CLICK HERE
BURIAL SITE PROTECTION LAW OF 1985

"Thanks to the introduction of new state and Federal laws, Wisconsin's
remaining mounds have now been protected.
According to the Burial Site Protection Law of 1985, Wisconsin progressively
defined all Native American mounds as human burial places. The law protects
them from disturbance and destruction, as it does for all cemeteries and family
plots.