Hill Crest Mound located in Burlington, WI - Rediscovered by Mary Sutherland December 2010
Mound Builders of Wisconsin
A compilation of Reports and Newspaper Clippings
by Mary Sutherland @2010
Mound Builders of Wisconsin
A compilation of Reports and Newspaper Clippings
by Mary Sutherland @2010
Serpent Ridge and Sacred Sites of Burlington,
WI
Rediscovered by Mary Sutherland 2010
WI
Rediscovered by Mary Sutherland 2010
Wonders of the Lowlands by L.J. DuPre - Excerpt:
“About twenty years ago Elijah Cheek, who during the late war sought the Chief Magistracy of Arkansas at the hands of President Lincoln, was engaged in
constructing a plank road from Mound city, five miles above Memphis to Marion, the capital of Crittenden County, ten miles west of Memphis. In making
excavations and embankments Mr. Cheek discovered strangely shaped bricks of which specimens were sent to the writer of this memoir. They were made of
grayish clay nine by 12 inches in width and length and four inches thick. Mr Cheek supposed from the number of ruins which he found every fe rods along the
route of this old military road that Spaniards, when they held the country, built palaces every where and grew enormously rich by cultivating the lowlands. He
finally accepted the conclusion, after hearing a curious recitation of mound builder's history written by the late Cornelias Mathews of New York that the old
military road was not the product of modern but of ancient skill and toil. He then saw how the ridge it traverses is artificial, how it is wider where the richest
mound builder built his domicile and how it is true that these people lifted up in the lowlands not only countless canals and aguadas, but mounds and dug
count-absolutely created, by uplifting the earth that constituted them, broad farms of hundreds and even thousands of acres.
We of modern times are boastful of the triumphs of engineering skill the bridges rivers upheaves levees and builds railways. Thee mound builders achieved
mightier tasks and constructed road beds that stagger credulity and dug canals infinitely more serviceable than railways every where in the lowlands. Floods
ruinous to civilization and wealth were rendered by them wholly impossible. Canals were not only the cheapest agencies of commerce, but the area of water
service exposed to the action of the sun's rays was not materially lessened, as would occur if levees could effect their purpose and wail in the river. No such
changes in climatic or hygrometrical laws resulted as would reader, by producing wet and dry seasons, the successful cultivation of cotton impossible. These
mound builders were wiser than we. They cultivated the lowlands, first regulating the distribution of water, and making the country healthful by this useful
system of drainage; and then doubtless there were at Memphis, as at St. Louis and Loisville, and other points designated by remains of the mound builders
greatest works, magnificent cities.”
In estimating the period at which these people occupied the Mississippi Valley, Mr. Du Pre bases his calculations on the fact that the ruins of their work are not
found lower down the river than at a a distance of 325 miles from its mouth. As the Mississippi makes land at the rate of nearly a mile in eight years, it would
follow that a period of about 3000 years must have elapsed since the city was built at the (then) mouth of the river , the present site of Natchez, Miss. The
statement is made by Du Pre as follows: “The river has grown 325 miles in length since the mound builders ceased to follow its curse downward from the Lake
Superior copper mines to the Mexican Gulf and thus the conclusion is deduced that quite 3000 years have elapsed since the people known as mound builders
utterly disappeared.”
Blue Mounds, Wisconsin Blue Mounds
Blue Mound, a famous hill, at the western boundary of Dane County, is located twenty-four miles west of Madison, on the old Military Road built in 1835 from
Green Bay to Prairie du Chien. There are two of these mounds, the West Blue Mound in Iowa County, 1,716 ft. in elevation, and the East Blue Mound in Dane
County. Near the base of the former nestles the village of Blue Mounds, the earliest settled locality in Dane County (1826). The West Blue Mound is a
landmark which can be seen from a distance of fifty or more miles.
David Dale Owen, the geologist, wrote of the Blue Mounds in 1839 :
"These isolated and towering mounds, so conspicuous a feature of the landscape of Wisconsin, are evidence of the denuding action to which, under the
crumbling hand of time, the surface of our globe is continually subjected, and which the more durable siliceous masses of these hills of flint have been
enabled to partially resist."
These peaks, originally known as the "Smokey Mountains," take their name from the bluish or smoky haze which is often seen surrounding the summit of the
larger
mound.
The Winnebago Indians, who camped and hunted in the prairie and woodland region near these mounds in the twenties and thirties of the last century,
believed that the Blue Mound was a favorite retreat of Wakanda, the Earthmaker. Upon the top of this mound he often seated himself to ponder over his work
of creation and to view the activities of his children, the redmen. When thus engaged, he smoked his great pipe, the clouds of smoke rising from its bowl en
shrouded the top of the mound. When these smoke clouds spread out evenly over the crest of the peak, Earthmaker was in a peaceful humor, but when they
rose straight upward he was restless or angry.
Part way down the slope was Wakanda's spring, and near it were outcroppings of flinty rock from which Indian ar rows and axes were shaped. Here he often
sat throughout the years while the Indians were still inhabiting this region. Since they have left it, he no longer visits Blue Mound, but the smoke clouds may
yet be seen, a reminder of his former presence.
Boscobel, Wisconsin Mounds
Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan
Wednesday, June 28, 1961
Ancient Indian Cemetery Found
Prairie du Chien, WI (UPI) Wisconsin archeologists have unearthed an Indian cemetery whose age experts estimated at between 1,500 and 2,500 years.
Dr. Joan Freeman of Madison told a state historical society meeting Saturday the graveyard was found in Richland County about five miles northeast of
Boscobel, WI
Note by M.S.: This was on the farm that Brad Sutherland's (my husband) grandparents lived . Homer and Opal Merwin. Right on the Richland/Crawford line on
Crawford county side of the Wisconsin River. Approximately 200 yards off Hwy 60 right along Knapp's Creek. Nothing was mentioned to the locals as to what
was found...including the land owners..but locals say that artifacts were taken out.
Braxdon, Wisconsin Mounds
Weekly Wisconsin | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Saturday, July 03, 1886 | Page 6
BRAXDON, Wis., June 25.— Rev. Stephen Peet.of Clinton, Wis., the eminent antiquarian, recently surveyed the Indian mounds near Dtley. Mr. Peet has made a
special study of American antiquities and is employed by the government to investigate these mounds. Some of the Utley mounds are peculiar to that section
being in the form of a rattlesnake several hundred feet long with the rattles on the tails clearly denned. His theory of these mounds is that they were the burial
place of long since extinct tribes and that the different forms are to designate different clans.
Brookfield, Wisconsin Mounds
Waukesha Freeman – Waukesha Wisconsin
Thursday, May 31, 1906
Excerpt From 'Things from long Ago'
Brookfield- Important groups of mounds on Showrman place- sadly invaded- some of them dug into by frmer boys in a former day, bones and pottery taken
out. Village sites and Indian burial places located by Arch. Soc. At various points in this town
Burlington, Wisconsin Mounds
Racine Journal Times – Racine Wisconsin - Wednesday, May 23, 1951 - Mysterious Extinct Tribe Left 20,000 Mounds in Wisconsin
More than 20,000 Indian burial mounds exist in Wisconsin, including a number in Mound Cemetery in Racine.
There probably are more of the ancient burial mounds in Wisconsin than anywhere else in the country. Many have been excavated and their Indian effects
preserved in local museums. Some other mounds were used only for ceremonial or lookout purposes. The mounds vary in size. Many are more than 200 feet
in length.
Left Effigy Mounds - Effigy mounds, representing deer, buffalo, birds, turtles and other wild life, are found around nearly all the southern Wisconsin lakes.
Unusual specimens are found on the grounds of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. There are others at Lake View Bluff at Hudson, in Wyalusing State
Park, Beloit College Campus, Riverside park at Cassville, Delevan Lake Assembly Grounds, around Lake Koshkonong (Hoard's golf course uses mounds
for bunkers), Wild Rose, Webster and Aztalan Mound Park, three miles east of Lake Mills.
Little is known about the Mound Builders except that the central part of North America was inhabited at one time by a people who had emerged to some extent
from the darkness of savagery and had acquired certain domestic arts and practices some well defined lines of industry. Ohio roughly was the center of the
Mound Builders civilization and most of the mounds were conical in shape and when opened up contained human skeletons. Others were in the form of
truncated pyramids-square or rectangular at the base and flat on the top.
Opened Racine Mounds - Ethnologists divide Mound Builders in eight districts. The Wisconsin District's distinguishing features are the effigy mounds. Only
two or three effigy mounds in Ohio and two in Georgia are the only ones not in the Wisconsin District, which includes the northeast corner of Iowa, Minnesota
and the Dakotas as well as Wisconsin. Bird effigies are by far the most numerous.
Dr. P. R.Hoy of Race and a Dr. I A. Lapham did extensive research in the Racine area, including 14 in the Mound Cemetery groups. Most contained more than
one skeleton and one had seven. Bodies were regularly buried in a sitting or partly kneeling posture, facing the east, with the legs placed under them. They
were covered with a bark or log roofing, over which the mound was built. Dr. Hoy found no evidence of stratification or additions to the mounds.
Other mounds were found in the Town of Caledonia, Town of Raymond, Town of Norway on the west shore of Wind Lake and on the bank of the Fox River
near Burlington.
One of the finest collections of Mound Builders' relics known was that of Frederick S. Perkins of Burlington.. Part of this collection was sent to the National
Museum and part to the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
Racine Journal News – Racine Wisconsin - Wednesday, April 2, 1919 - Eighth Grade Pupils of the McMynn School Correspond with New York Scholars:
Excerpt:
My name is Lillian Morrow and I will tell you a little about the cemeteries of Racine. This may seem a queer subject to write about but our largest cemetery is
very interesting because it was formerly an Indian burying ground. We have three cemeteries of which Mound cemetery is the oldest and most interesting
because of the Indian mounds in it.
A man who made a study of Indian mounds opened one of these mounds and in it he found several skeletons in sitting posture, facing the east where the sun
rises. The skeletons were in quite good condition. The bodies had been buried in hollow basins with a bark roof over head.
There are mounds along the 'plank roads' to Burlington also. These were carefully excavated and they also contained skeletons and vases. In one was
burled an oak tree stump in which they counted two hundred rings, showing it was two hundred years old. We also have mound in Wisconsin shaped like
birds, foxes and other animals. There are only two other states that have these, Georgia and Ohio. The largest mound is near Fox River, it is 16 feet high and
twenty feet in diameter.
Delafield, Wisconsin Mounds
Waukesha Freeman – Waukesha Wisconsin - Thursday, May 31, 1906 - Excerpt From 'Things from long Ago'
Delafield – Village site near N.E. Side of Lake Nagowicka.
Ixonia, Wisconsin Mounds
Watertown Chronicle Watertown Wisconsin - Wednesday, August 11, 1847 - Mounds in Ixonia
We have heard and read much of the ancient mounds in Wisconsin; but never had an opportunity of examine any of them until one day last week. These are
situated upon the farm of r. Joseph C. (Rugs?), a few rods north of Rock River, in the town of Ixonia, in the county. We have never seen any mention made of
them in any publication on this subject, and know not how they will compare as to magnitude with the generality of those to be found in the territory; but to us
they proved full of interest.
These mounds are between thirty and forty in number, and are situated upon a hill some eighty rods long, that has every appearance of being partially artificial
- The hill rises about one hundred feet above the surrounding county; its sides are unusually smooth, being marked by some of the inequalities of surface
peculiar to all natural ridges; while its top is gently crowning, and of uniform height, except where it is dotted by the mounds.
These appearances go far to prove that the hill is part the work of art. But this idea is strengthened by another circumstance. - The predominating soil through
that region is a sandy loam, as well upon the highlands as the lowlands. But upon the hill in question, the soil to the depth of from two to four feet , is a coarse
gravel. Under this coat of gravel, as has been proved by examination, in a number of places, the same stratum of loom is found which prevails in every other
part of the neighborhood. A short distance north of the hill, is a low piece of ground, the peculiar make of which affords still farther evidence in support of this
supposition. It is the general opinion of all who have examined the two places, that the gravel upon the one was taken from the other.
The larger of these mounds are about forty feet in diameter at their base, and some ten feet high. There are a number of this class, though the most of them
are smaller. But one of them has been opened and that was done for the purpose of converting it into a potato hole! This was two or three years ago. After
digging eight or ten feet, a large number of human bones were found, in an excellent state of preservation. They were thrown out, without much are, to make
room for the potatoes, and most of them have remained there ever since. Those skulls, however, which had suffered the most from the ravages of time, have
been carried aways, as have also some of the other bones.
An examination of these bones, however superficial, must satisfy every one that they belonged to a race of beings of much larger stature than the present
generation. When covered with muscles, and flesh, and skin, their owners must have stood seven feet or more in their moccasins. We brought away the lower
jaw bone of one of these aborginal giants, for to a giant only could it have belonged, as all will concede upon an examination of it. It may be seen at this office.
The bottom of this mound was nearly as hard as solid rock. The earth of which it was made, had undergone some process of pounding or of baking, which
rendered it almost impervious to the pick ax. Upon this floor all the bones excepting those belonging to one person were found. The bones of this person
reposed upon a solid earthen seat, extending the whole width of the mound, about eighteen inches high and of the same width. This seat was composed of
the same material as the floor and was quite as hard. Who the individual was who occupied this evident seat of honor must of course be wholly left to
conjecture; he was probably, however, one of the leading men of the nation or trible. We did not learn that anything in the shape of war implements, beads or
other trinkets was found with the bones. And the only thing of the kind we saw in the vicinity were rude flint hatchets, a number of which, we were told, had been
found in the immediate neighborhood.
The size of some of these mounds, and the large number of them, certainly render them an object of curiosity, even in a country abounding with so vast a
number of antiquities as Wisconsin does, and would well repay a visit to them by any person living in this part of the country. - Watertown Chronicle
LaCrosse, Wisconsin Mounds
Daily Argus And Democrat | Madison, Wisconsin | Friday, July 20, 1860 | Page 2 A Past Generation.
In turning up some of the Indian mounds near La Crosse, it is found that the "giants in those clays" bad teeth two inches long, and thigh bones three feet
in length ; one of the skeletons showed that the original was killed with an arrow having a point five inches long, while another was struck in the head with tho
blade of a
copper hatchet, 1.} inches wide at the edge and 2 inches long.
Eau Claire Leader – Eau Claire, Wisconsin -Saturday, November 16, 1912 -Five Bodies of Ancient Race Near La Crosse -
La Crosse, WI – November 15- Fifty skeletons believed to be a part of mysterious tribesmen of a prehistoric race have been unearthed by a party of La Cross
state normal school graduates on the farm of Alois White, a few miles south of this city. The skeletons were taken from five mounds which were excavated.
Among the significant discoveries made by the students was the uncovering of a number of copper arrow heads and two or three copper knives. This, it is
claimed, must dispel the popular belief that the mound builders antedated the whites. Investigation shows there are three distinct types of mounds,
specimens of which are found in Wisconsin. The conical mound is most common, the pyramid shaped tumuli and the so-called effigy mounds, the latter
usually in the shape of some animal. The size of the skeletons, and the weight and thickness of the bones indicate this early race was composed of
giants. Most of the skeletons were more than six feet long and the bones are much heavier than those of the modern white men.
Manitowoc Pilot – Manitowoc Wisconsin - Friday August 31, 1860 - A Past Generation –
In turning up some of the Indian mounds near LaCrosse, it is found that the “giants in those days” had teeth two inches long, and thigh bones three feet in
length; one of the skeletons showed that the original was killed with an arrow having a point five inches long while another was struck in the head with the
blade of a copper hatchet 1 ½ inches wide at the edge and two inches long.
Lisbon, Wisconsin Mounds
Waukesha Freeman – Waukesha Wisconsin
Thursday, May 31, 1906
Excerpt From 'Things from long Ago'
Lisbon – Indications of a an aboriginal village site near Sussex. Stone and copper implements found.
Madison Wisconsin Mounds
Madison The Center of An Ancient Settlement - Elaborate System of Defensive Earthworks- Fort Covering Fifteen Acres- Burial Place of the Strange
People
Evidences of a Terrific Combat - Reference: The weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee Wisconsin - Saturday, August 15, 1891
Madison Wi -Aug 9, 1891 - The largest prehistoric work in this state heretofore described, and of which the Smithsonian Institute has published a complete
report, is Fort Aztalan, near Lake Mills, so named from the pyramidal mounds found there, which greatly resemble those found in Mexico. But without doubt the
most stupendous and elaborate system of defensive works in the state are found in the vicinity of this city.
The celebrated mounds of Ohio and Indiana can bear no comparison either in size, design or the skill displayed in their construction with these gigantic and
mysterious monuments of earth- erected we know not by whom, and for what purpose we can only conjecture. That the unknown race was semi-civilized is
certain and art of of a high type flourished among them. Carving in stone, especially was brought to a high degree of perfection. The art of weaving and dyeing
cloth was known and practiced, the color used being invariably red.
Madison was in ancient days the center of a teeming population, numbering not less than 200,000 souls. It is situated on the northern end of a chain of five
lakes, between Lakes Mendota and Monona and extending south to Lake Wingra. It is built on a chain of hills which slope gently down to the water's edge or
end in high bluffs. This was the mound builder's paradise in bygone ages, and the region has lot none of its natural beauty.
On the land of George Catterson, seven miles south of Madison is a prehistoric fort. It occupies the summit and southeast side of a huge hill overlooking Lake
Kegonsa. It is bounded on the east by a marsh and the cliffs of the lake on the south. It is undoubtedly a strong position for defense. The fort is square in
shape. Its four outer walls are each 400 feet in length and from the center of each side high walls, 300 feet long, stretch out. Inside the fort, about 10 feet from
the first line of breastworks, extends a second, parallel to the others. In this line gates were left in the corners and these were protected by round mounds, the
tops of which show evidences of fire, for a few inches below the surface are found quantities of charcoal. In the center are three mounds in a direct line,
connected with each other by a thick bank of earth. The tops of these mounds are sunken, showing that they served the purpose of “caches”.being hollow, but
in the lapse of ages the tops have caved in.
Scattered about inside the second line are six rows of earthworks about 20 feet long. A group of seventeen burial mounds occupied the northeast corner of the
fort, arranged in the shape of a turtle. Two of these were opened and interesting finds made. In the first mound opened a layer of forest mold six inches in
thickness was first removed; then seven feet of yellow clay was penetrated and a thick bed of ashes and charcoal, in which were scattered arrow heads of flint,
and pottery prettily ornamented in various patterns was brought to light. Below this was a foot of clay so hardened by the fire as to turn the edge of a spade.
Beneath this was a RUDELY MADE COFFIN of large flat stones probably brought from the lake. Upon being opened this coffin was found to contain a large
sized skeleton in a sitting posture, the earth within the coffin having held it in shape. The hardened clay above prevented the least moisture from entering, thus
preserving the bones in fairly good condition. At the side of the body was found a curiously carved pipe, in shape resembling a human head with peculiar
characters rudely cut on the sides. Near the right hand was an ax of banded slate in the form of an ancient double-edged battle ax, a number of arrow heads,
and a gorget of slate. Near the feet was a jar of pottery, which was filled with a black mold. This was unfortunately broken by one of the workmen while
handling a spade. Another mound a few feet away contained a number of arrow heads and two axes of the usual grooved form, but no bones. In a mound
opened in the western corner of the fort was found a square implement of slate, very highly polished, with a hole drilled through the center.
Altogether, the fort occupies about fifteen acres. It is now covered with a second growth of trees, but that there was an older growth is shown by the stumps of
former forest giants found here and there. Outside the fort the ground has been plowed, and it is shown that there stood the village under the shelter of its
walls. Pottery, arrow heads, broken axes and flint spades are found here in protrusion, as well as great numbers of iron ore. Indeed, the whole vicinity shows
the presence of iron ore in large quantities.
The burial place of the town was situated on the land now owed by William Colloday, where there are seventeen burial mounds within the defenses. A few feet,
below the surface of one of these mounds a round implement of stone, around which a slight groove was made, running completely around both ways, thus
dividing it into quarters, was found. Upon it are rude characters resembling bird tracks. A highly-polished, pear-shared instrument of iron ore, with a very small
groove at the lesser end, was also uncovered.
A short distance from the fort, to the northeast, on the farm of Erick Dierson are found STRANGE OVENS OR FIREPLACES. All over the field can be noticed
stones laid in circles, about three feet in diameter. These, upon being opened, show a cavity about 3 feet deep, in the shape of an inverted cone, and the sides
are carefully walled up with flat stones. Around the edge, on the top of the ground; a space of about 6 inches was left bare. This ran around the mouth, and
outside of it the circle of stones mentioned was placed. Inside of these fireplaces were large quantities of charcoal. The owner of the land also found
seventeen pounds of lead ore in one of these ovens, of which there are about fifty. On this piece of land, on the banks of the Yahara River, is a large mound in
the shape of a war club. This mound was partly opened and was found filled with particles of lead ore. The mud on the river banks was also covered with fine
particles of lead ore, which shine like diamonds in the sunlight. All the works described are associated with the people of the fort, as are undoubtedly the work
of the mound builders.
Following the Yahara River northward to its outlet to Lake Monona, the stream narrows down to a width of only a few yards. Breastworks were erected on each
side of the banks, thus making it impossible for a party to gain an entrance into that lake even should they escape the fort further down. Signal stations were
established on each hill of the range, so that word could be sent from Stoughton to Westport, a distance of thirty miles in twenty minutes. One of these stations
was situated on the high hill overlooking and separating Lake Wingra and Lake Monona. The ground is baked hard from the watch fires. Chipped flints, a few
arrow heads and pieces of pottery were found lying a few inches beneath the surface.
In opening a new road through the hill a landslide occurred, exposing a hollow place about six feet square, which contained the skeleton of a person who
must have been a giant in his day. Beneath the hand was an ax of syenite, finished with great skill and very nicely polished and grooved, which weighed five
pounds. Further along the hill are SIX BURIAL MOUNDS
This ends the line of prehistoric works on this side of the city, leaving an open space of over two miles.
Cross the Yahara on the northern limits of the city the line of fortifications again appears. The breastworks run parallel to the lake and are about 200 feet in
length. A large number of modern Indian graves are situated on the outside of the walls. Inside the fortifications rises a sacrificial mound to the height of 15
feet. Upon excavating this mound there was found an altar built of rough stones, on top of and around which were immense quantities of charcoal and ashes
and a pipe shaped object of slate. A short distance to the north and seemingly guarding the works, is the effigy of an elk over 100 feet in length, in front of which
small round mounds of sand were placed, but when opened they were found to contain nothing of any interest. One hundred yards from this spot was a pottery
manufactory, which, judging from the number of fragments lying around, must have supplied the great part of the country. The lake at this point throws up great
quantities of fresh water clams. The shells were ground to powder and mixed with sand and clay found on the banks, and this, when baked hard, was formed
into vases, jars and other utensils, many of which are of beautiful patterns and exhibit a high artistic taste on the part of the designer. The soil in this vicinity is
almost completely covered with fragments of pottery. The effigy of some animal bearing a very good resemblance to an elk is situated a few hundred yards
northward, in front of which are two small mounds a foot high and three feet across, made entirely of sand.
MADISON WISCONSIN - Horse Hill
Reference: 18 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST Vol. 18, No. 1
At Madison, on the south side of Lake Mendota, within the limits of the present village of Shorewood is Eagle
Heights, a wooded hill. The greater part of this hill is owned by the University of Wisconsin. On its top are three
prehistoric Indian mounds, one of conical and two of linear form.
In the early thirties this hill was known to the local Win nebago as Shohetaka, meaning "horse hill." This eminence
was a sacred place, or shrine, to which the local Indians went to fast and dream and to receive the "blessings" (magic power) of a spirit horse which on misty
days was to be seen in the hazy clouds rising above the hill. This horse did not always remain in a stationary position, but was some- times seen to move
and was heard to whinny.
MADISON WISCONSIN'S FOX BLUFF and THE THUNDERBIRDS
Fox's Bluff, an eminence on the north shore of the same beautiful lake, was in those days known by the Winnebago
to be a roosting place of the Thunderbirds, or Thunderers, on their long nights from their nesting places on the
high mountains on the shore of Lake Superior. Their presence on this hilltop was known to the Indians, living on the
other shores of the lake, by the bright flashes of lightning that could be seen in that direction. By counting these the
Indians knew about how many Thunderers there were in that particular flight. These lightning- flashes came and went as the birds opened and shut their
eyes. When the entire sky was lighted at the same time it was a sign that all of the Thunderers were awake. This hill was also a place of sanctity, and only a
few Indians dared to approach it
EAGLE MOUND
In an examination of the Wisconsin State Hospital grounds attention was first given to the so-called “Eagle Mound”. This mound resembles an eagle with
expanded wings, and is perfectly formed. The body measures 100 feet in length and the expanded wings 300 on each side of the body. The tail is 40 feet wide
and the beak is 15 feet in length. Three similar bird mounds are situated in the immediate vicinity. Near the left wing of the “Eagle Mound” is a gracefully
formed mound in the shape of a deer with branching horns and further to the north are bear, squirrel and turtle mounds and other in the shape of animals
now extinct.
Works of defense crown the summit of the hill 100 yards further on, and a large number of burial mounds are found there. There is evidence of its occupation
by two different and entirely separate races. While the one erected mounds over the dead and placed them in a sitting posture facing the east, the other buried
them a foot or two below the surface, where the caving in of the lake bank every year exposed them to view.
In the open field, on Lake Mendota's shore, between the Yahara River and ex-governor Farwell's house, was once the battlefield in olden time. To the north
extended an almost impassable marsh, while on the southern side a steep hill rises up from the lake shore 150 feet in height. On the topmost point stands a
lookout mound, from whose summit one can command a view of the country for miles around. Long lines of fortifications extend along the lake shore, rising
tier above tier, almost to the summit, one being over 1300 feet in length. Crowning the top are two altar mounds from when rose the smoke of sacrifices
offered to the gods. The ground is baked as hard as a rock from these fires.
SIGNS OF A BLOODY FIGHT
In bygone ages a terrific combat took place upon this open field. This place is strewn with the debris of the battle, a person living near by having picked up
hundreds of arrow heads and many axes. Every ax picked up is broken. After the fight an excavation was made near the sore about 10 feet square, which after
being lined with a peculiar substance, served the purpose of a huge coffin. In this mortuary chamber were deposited the dead. The ground near the pit is
covered with flint chips, showing that weapons were manufactured on the spot to deposit with the fallen, who until this year reposed in peace. Many skeletons
were found in the bank and wherever a cave-in occurred from the encroachment of the waves more were exposed to view. This spring the chamber was
reached and exposed, but the wind in a week's time had almost choked it with sand. A high mound 600 feet long was erected over the dead. A similar one,
horseshoe shaped, measures 1,100 feet in length. It is close beside the one described and probably contains other victims of the fight. Nearly every skull in
good enough preservation to be examined shows marks of violence, the cleft of the tomahawk or the fracture caused by an arrow, which in one or two
instances was found imbedded in the skull.
In the construction of mounds in this vicinity great care was taken to remove even the smallest stone from the material used except when placed there for a
purpose. A tumulus opened on the Wisconsin Hospital grounds showed stones placed in position to form a neat pattern running from the top to the bottom
and beneath this was placed the body. This vicinity gives evidence of a long occupation and a very large population. The fireplaces showed different strata of
cinders and ashes, and the lower the excavations are pushed the ruder the forms of the pottery disclosed. Calcined bones split to extract the marrow are
scattered through the mass.
In the construction of the mounds the earth was brought from long distances and differs entirely in character from the native soil. Stratification was universally
practiced in building. Two forms of burial were employed. Some were buried with their weapons in the ordinary manner, while others were cremated. In no
case were any weapons found with a cremated body, but only ornaments and pottery were placed within the tomb. Some were provided with rude effigies,
while others were buried without them, and the clay firmly placed about the body and burned into a mass nearly as hard as brick. A number of the peculiar
fishlike bones found in the boad of (linipinidonotus grunhilus (?)) a fish extinct, as far as these lakes are concerned, are frequently found in the mounds here.
MANY IMPLEMENTS OF COPPER
consisting of beads, disks, spears, arrows and axes are found. Some of these appear to have been cast, others are hammered into shape and contain
nuggets of silver, imbedded in the sides. All are tempered by some unknown process. Ornaments of shell are also common, but when dug out they invariably
crumble away. They have the appearance of having been ground, and small holes were drilled through them. Many rare and wonderful articles of chipped flints
are excavated, needles of stone one-half inch in length, with the base a quarter of an inch long, from which a point of chipped flint as fine as a needle extends.
They are very fragile. Articles for drilling holes in pipes and soft stones are found occasionally. There are flints worked as round as a lead pencil, some straight
and others with a variety of bases. A few double-borers were discovered, these having a place for the hand in the center, while each end was worked into a
sharp point.
Fifteen different types of arrow heads were found,among the most important being those used in war. They were made triangular in form and with serrated
edges, and were fitted loosely into a reed. When these projectiles entered the body the first effort would naturally be to attempt to draw them out, but the loosely
fitted head of flint would remain in the wound, the toothed edges working it further and further inward and would eventually cause death. Another form has the
edges beveled, which would give a rotary movement and was an instrument designed to GIVE A TERRIBLE WOUND.
They are in the same form as arrow heads, but have wide blunt tips. The bases are notched for inserting into a handle. All knives discovered are of fine
workmanship. Some are made of Jasper and other fine material. Some of these knives are over nine inches long.
Axes are in two styles; some, long and polished without grooves. Occasionally a unique and beautiful form is met with, some of them so delicate as to be unfit
for service. Pipes are discovered having bowls and are made of baked clay and stone. More rarely are found specimens in which Catlinite (sacred pipe stone)
is the material used. These are often worked into weird and fantastic shapes.
These mounds all belong to a continuous system extending for every fifty miles through the state and two distinct lines cross each other, forming a huge Saint
Andrew's cross, guarded by forts at each corner. While scientific men have long been aware of the existence of these wonderful works, nothing has been done
in the way of obtaining an accurate description or of obtaining a better knowledge of them. Every year the plow is laying them low, and persons ignorant of their
value to the eyes of science are destroying not only the mounds themselves, but also the relics in them, and in a few years they will have disappeared entirely.
Madison Wisconsin Mounds
Wisconsin Patriot – Madison Wisconsin January 7, 1860 pg.6 - Opening an Ancient Mound Near Madison, Wisconsin
(Report by I. A. Lapham, Esq. To the American Ethnological Society)
Travelers approaching the beautiful city of Madison, the capital of the young state of Wisconsin, by the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, from the East, are
conveyed across one of the lakes that give so much interest to this charming locality. Looking towards the South, they will find the lake hounded by a ridge of
considerable elevation, the crest of which is serrated by 'a series of ancient monuments of earthwork, the mysteries of whose origin and nature have not yet
been fully found out. Their sharp outline, projected against the sky for a background, with the scattered trees and shrubs, all reflect in the clear, still water of the
lake, render this spot quite conspicuous and beautiful.
On this remarkable ridge, which divides the water of Lake Monona (the third of the series) from Lake Wingra, with its ancient earthworks, a sketch (Fig 1) and a
plot (Fig 2) are given on plate 2. The slopes were steep, especially on the south side; the crest narrow, the soil a loose gravel, (drift of the geologists,) but
slightly compacted with clay or other material. At the highest point, where the two largest mounds are situated, it has an elevation quite abrupt, of seventy-five
feet, upon which the mounds make an addition of ten feet. In some parts, the ridge is covered with groves of small tress – at others it is naked.
By invitation of George P. Delaplaine, Esq., of Madison, I visited that place on the 1st of June 1859, in company with Prof. J.D. Whitney, the Geologist, for the
purpose of making a survey and exploration of the interesting group of mounds before they should become lost by the progress of 'improvement' in that
direction. Already some of them have been injured, by the opening of roads and by the idle curiosity of persons who have made slight excavations. It would be
fortunate if other landed proprietors would follow the good example of Mr. Delaplaine and preserve an accurate record of such ancient works as they are about
to destroy. Many very interest animal effigies (mounds in the forms of animals) have already been leveled by the plows, or otherwise injured or effaced.
The peculiar form of this ridge, the nature of the soil and its position between two valleys, exposing it to the drying effect of the winds, render it peculiarly fitted
for the preservation of anything that may have been buried under the mounds. The steep slopes fall away from the base of the mounds on either side, thus
carrying off immediately the falling rain. The earth composing the mound was of fine material, well compacted, and still further protected by a dense sod of
prairie grass and weed; so that very little water could penetrate it; and the depth was such as to exclude all the destroying effects of frost in the winter. We were
therefore convinced that if any of the original mound builders are any where preserved, we might look for them here; and in this we were not disappointed.
These mounds, as is usual in such groups in Wisconsin, present a variety of forms – among them the circular, oblong, attenuated and animal shaped. They
are situated on the northwest quarter of section twenty-six, in township seven and range none of the government surveys. From the top of these mounds there
is a very fine and extensive view of the country around, suggesting at once the idea that this may have been a sort of a look out station or sentry post from which
to watch the approach of the enemy.
The largest mound on this ridge, the base excavated by us has an oval form, the basal dimensions being seventy and fifty feet; the height ten feet. It was built
upon the convex surface of the ridge, so that the depth of the mound in the middle was a little less than appeared from the outside. The exploration was
commenced on the south-east side by running a horizontal drift from the base towards the centre. This brought us a little below the original surface.
Our first discovery was the remains of a human skeleton that had been buried about three feet below the top of the mound. The position of this skeleton was
horizontal, the head towards the west. The bones were very much decayed, the teeth and a few of the larger bones being all that were sufficiently strong to be
taken out. At the foot was the skull of a skunk and also a few teeth, and a portion of the jaw of another animal, apparently a fox. Whether these had been buried
with the human body, or had burrowed into the mound on their own account is not easily determined, though the latter supposition is rendered, probable by the
good state of preservation of the skull of the skunk.
As we descended into the mound, the extreme firmness and dryness of the loamy material became apparent, giving strength to our conjecture and hope that a
real mound builder was about to be brought to light; and we wished for some magic power by which he could be re-endowed with the faculty of speech; that he
might reveal the story of his strange and unknown history!
Our work was temporarily arrested by the high wind, which swept with full force over the ridge, and kept the opening we had made involved in a cloud of fine
dust, rendering it almost impracticable to breathe while making excavation. The earth thrown out was quite dry, and in much indurated masses or clods,
though the spring rains had hardly ceased – the material of the mound was mostly the dark colored soil of the prairie, showing that the surface only had been
taken to construct it. At one place, there was a slight layer of gravel, as if a small quantity of that material had been use when the work had reached that point.
At one place, there was a slight layer of gravel, as if a small quantity of that material had been used when the work had reached that point.
Under the middle of the mound we found the object of greatest interest. An excavation had been made in the original ground, the bottom of which was paved
with rounded stones, embedded in clay. Upon the pavement was placed the body of a man, in a horizontal position, the head towards the east, the legs and
arms folded back. The skeleton ws in a very good state of preservation, most of the bones being found including many of the smaller ones. The skull was
nearly entire, but had been crushed and distorted by the pressure of the superincumbent earth.
As this was clearly a skeleton of one of the honored dead, over whose remains, and for whose memory, the mound was erected, with so much care and labor,
all material facts in relation to it will be of interest, and accordingly I have endeavored to reconstruct the skull from the separate parts preserved, and have
made the drawing of plate 1, figure 1 – Upon a careful comparison with the numerous figures in Morton's Crania Americana, it will be found that it agrees, in
general contour and size, most nearly with that on plate 28 representing the Chippewa. Though it would be wrong, perhaps, to infer, upon such slight
evidence, that the ancient mound builders of Wisconsin were the ancestors of the Chippewas, yet we may regard it as further proof that they were one and the
same with the American race as clearly indicated by Dr. Morton. (Crania Am., pg 229)
About two feet above the skeleton, we found a few fragments of a human skull, but no traces of other bones. They had, doubtless, been casually thrown upon
the mound during the progress of its construction.
Very near the skull was found a gray flint arrow-head and a bone apparently of a bird, which had been wrought into an implement of some important use, no
doubt, to those who made it.
Occasionally fragments of bones and pieces of charcoal, were found at various depths, but no indication of the burning of human or other sacrifices. Roots of
trees or shrubs had penetrated to the very bottom of the mound. While the work was in progress we were visited by numerous citizens of the city of Madison
and the officers and students of the Wisconsin University, many of whom manifested a deep interest in the subject of American Antiquities.
Besides the mounds referred to in this paper there are numbers of others in the vicinity of the “Four Lakes,” many of them quite interesting on account of their
particular forms, etc. A few of them are described and figured in the 6th volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. It is hoped that provision will
be made by law, for the preservation of at least such as happen to be on the grounds selected for the site of the State Lunatic Asylum and other public
institutions.
Appleton Post-Crescent – Appleton, Wi - Monday, November 14, 1927 - Old Indian Mounds Put to Queer Uses -
A railroad construction crew used mounds now destroyed in Madison as storage cache for blasting powder. One early settler in the state reported to have
buried a box of money in a mound and when he lter forgot just where he had buried it, he was forced to dig up a number of mounds in the group near his
home before he recovered his treasure. Many mounds were rifled by early physicians to obtain skulls or skeletons for their offices.
Eau Claire Leader – Eau Claire, Wi - Thursday July 15th, 1915 Pg 3 - Indian Mounds are Visited by Students - Madison, WI July 14 –
A successful excursion by students of the University of Wisconsin summer session, was made last Saturday under the direction of Curator Charles E. Brown
of the State Historical Museum to the many Indian Mounds found about the Madison lakes. A number of these excursions are conducted by the University each
summer. The student of Indian remains finds many opportunites for observation near Madison, tributed to the Winnebago Indians. Wisconsin Indian Mounds
are at- There were about Lake Mendota thirty groups of earthworks, most of which age preserved. The bird effigy on the state hospital lawn at Mendota is the
largest mound of its type in Wisconsin. It has a wing spread of 624 feet. The conical burial mounds at Morris park include some of the largest and finest
mounds in this region. The plot of Indian corn hills located there is the only one now remaining on the shores of Lake Mendota.
McFarland and Madison Mounds
Capital Time, Madison Wisconsin
Friday, May 1, 1942
Brown Tells of Indian Mounds at McFarland
Nine Burial Places on Sanderson Site in “Procession” by Charles E. Brown Director, State Historical Museum
What is acknowledged by Wisconsin archaeologists to be one of the most interesting groups of prehistoric Indian mounds in Dane county is located on the
narrow crest of a high wooded ridge located about one fourth mile west of the village of McFarland and between it and the Edwards Park shore of Lake
Waubesa. The mounds, 9 in number, extend down the length of this north and south ridge in what mound experts refer to as a “procession.”
Series of Mounds
At the northern end of this line of ancient earthworks there is a linear mound 130 feet long and short distance beyond it another mound of the same form 81
feet long. Beyond this is a round mound 22 feet in diameter and another linear 104 feet long. Beyond these, in the center of the group, are a round and an oval
mound.
At the southern end of the ridge there is a bar effigy, the only animal shaped mound in the group, and a linear mound 180 feet long. The linear runs across the
ridge crest instead of in line with it. A short distance south of this mound is one of the most curious mounds found in any group in the Lake Waubesa region.
This large linear mound has a large hook at its northern end. Its total length is 326 feet, and its straight part is 272 feet long. Its unique form has long been a
puzzle to archaeologists. None of the linear mounds is ore than 16 feet wide.
This find mound group, then on the T. Lewis property was surveyed for te Wisconsin Archaeological society by the late Dr. W.G. McLachlan of McFarland in
1914 and was described in a Lake Waubesa report which the state socieity published. Several of the mounds in this group were dug into in previous years by
local relic hunters searching for Indian treasure supposed to have been hidden during the Black Hawk war. They found only Indian bone re-burials and a
flexed burial.
Will Erect Cabin
This ridge group was recently visited by the write and C.H. Sanderson of Madison, the present owner of the site and the land at its base. Sanderson intends to
erect a log cabin residence on the crest and will prserved the ancient mounds. From the crest of this ridge a fine view of Lakes Waubesa and Monona and the
state capital is to be seen to the northwest and of Lake Waubesa and Mud Lake to the south. Sanderson has planted several hundred pine, spruce and other
fir trees on the steep slopes of the ridge thus adding to the beauty of this location.
About a mile south of the ridge at Watcheetcha, on the old Indian trail once running over the site of McFarland and in a southweserly direction toward Lake
Kegonsa, was the locaton in 1829 of the village of the Winnebago Chief Spotted Arm, an Indian leader of considerable note.
A total of 188 mounds in 42 groups were found during the McLachian survey of the lake Waubesa region. A few others have been found since bringing the total
to nearly 200 earthworks. Sanderson is setting a good example in the preservation of Indian mortuary landmarks which it is hoped that other residents of this
part of Dane county will follow.
Mound Builders of Wisconsin Continued on Next Page
“About twenty years ago Elijah Cheek, who during the late war sought the Chief Magistracy of Arkansas at the hands of President Lincoln, was engaged in
constructing a plank road from Mound city, five miles above Memphis to Marion, the capital of Crittenden County, ten miles west of Memphis. In making
excavations and embankments Mr. Cheek discovered strangely shaped bricks of which specimens were sent to the writer of this memoir. They were made of
grayish clay nine by 12 inches in width and length and four inches thick. Mr Cheek supposed from the number of ruins which he found every fe rods along the
route of this old military road that Spaniards, when they held the country, built palaces every where and grew enormously rich by cultivating the lowlands. He
finally accepted the conclusion, after hearing a curious recitation of mound builder's history written by the late Cornelias Mathews of New York that the old
military road was not the product of modern but of ancient skill and toil. He then saw how the ridge it traverses is artificial, how it is wider where the richest
mound builder built his domicile and how it is true that these people lifted up in the lowlands not only countless canals and aguadas, but mounds and dug
count-absolutely created, by uplifting the earth that constituted them, broad farms of hundreds and even thousands of acres.
We of modern times are boastful of the triumphs of engineering skill the bridges rivers upheaves levees and builds railways. Thee mound builders achieved
mightier tasks and constructed road beds that stagger credulity and dug canals infinitely more serviceable than railways every where in the lowlands. Floods
ruinous to civilization and wealth were rendered by them wholly impossible. Canals were not only the cheapest agencies of commerce, but the area of water
service exposed to the action of the sun's rays was not materially lessened, as would occur if levees could effect their purpose and wail in the river. No such
changes in climatic or hygrometrical laws resulted as would reader, by producing wet and dry seasons, the successful cultivation of cotton impossible. These
mound builders were wiser than we. They cultivated the lowlands, first regulating the distribution of water, and making the country healthful by this useful
system of drainage; and then doubtless there were at Memphis, as at St. Louis and Loisville, and other points designated by remains of the mound builders
greatest works, magnificent cities.”
In estimating the period at which these people occupied the Mississippi Valley, Mr. Du Pre bases his calculations on the fact that the ruins of their work are not
found lower down the river than at a a distance of 325 miles from its mouth. As the Mississippi makes land at the rate of nearly a mile in eight years, it would
follow that a period of about 3000 years must have elapsed since the city was built at the (then) mouth of the river , the present site of Natchez, Miss. The
statement is made by Du Pre as follows: “The river has grown 325 miles in length since the mound builders ceased to follow its curse downward from the Lake
Superior copper mines to the Mexican Gulf and thus the conclusion is deduced that quite 3000 years have elapsed since the people known as mound builders
utterly disappeared.”
Blue Mounds, Wisconsin Blue Mounds
Blue Mound, a famous hill, at the western boundary of Dane County, is located twenty-four miles west of Madison, on the old Military Road built in 1835 from
Green Bay to Prairie du Chien. There are two of these mounds, the West Blue Mound in Iowa County, 1,716 ft. in elevation, and the East Blue Mound in Dane
County. Near the base of the former nestles the village of Blue Mounds, the earliest settled locality in Dane County (1826). The West Blue Mound is a
landmark which can be seen from a distance of fifty or more miles.
David Dale Owen, the geologist, wrote of the Blue Mounds in 1839 :
"These isolated and towering mounds, so conspicuous a feature of the landscape of Wisconsin, are evidence of the denuding action to which, under the
crumbling hand of time, the surface of our globe is continually subjected, and which the more durable siliceous masses of these hills of flint have been
enabled to partially resist."
These peaks, originally known as the "Smokey Mountains," take their name from the bluish or smoky haze which is often seen surrounding the summit of the
larger
mound.
The Winnebago Indians, who camped and hunted in the prairie and woodland region near these mounds in the twenties and thirties of the last century,
believed that the Blue Mound was a favorite retreat of Wakanda, the Earthmaker. Upon the top of this mound he often seated himself to ponder over his work
of creation and to view the activities of his children, the redmen. When thus engaged, he smoked his great pipe, the clouds of smoke rising from its bowl en
shrouded the top of the mound. When these smoke clouds spread out evenly over the crest of the peak, Earthmaker was in a peaceful humor, but when they
rose straight upward he was restless or angry.
Part way down the slope was Wakanda's spring, and near it were outcroppings of flinty rock from which Indian ar rows and axes were shaped. Here he often
sat throughout the years while the Indians were still inhabiting this region. Since they have left it, he no longer visits Blue Mound, but the smoke clouds may
yet be seen, a reminder of his former presence.
Boscobel, Wisconsin Mounds
Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan
Wednesday, June 28, 1961
Ancient Indian Cemetery Found
Prairie du Chien, WI (UPI) Wisconsin archeologists have unearthed an Indian cemetery whose age experts estimated at between 1,500 and 2,500 years.
Dr. Joan Freeman of Madison told a state historical society meeting Saturday the graveyard was found in Richland County about five miles northeast of
Boscobel, WI
Note by M.S.: This was on the farm that Brad Sutherland's (my husband) grandparents lived . Homer and Opal Merwin. Right on the Richland/Crawford line on
Crawford county side of the Wisconsin River. Approximately 200 yards off Hwy 60 right along Knapp's Creek. Nothing was mentioned to the locals as to what
was found...including the land owners..but locals say that artifacts were taken out.
Braxdon, Wisconsin Mounds
Weekly Wisconsin | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Saturday, July 03, 1886 | Page 6
BRAXDON, Wis., June 25.— Rev. Stephen Peet.of Clinton, Wis., the eminent antiquarian, recently surveyed the Indian mounds near Dtley. Mr. Peet has made a
special study of American antiquities and is employed by the government to investigate these mounds. Some of the Utley mounds are peculiar to that section
being in the form of a rattlesnake several hundred feet long with the rattles on the tails clearly denned. His theory of these mounds is that they were the burial
place of long since extinct tribes and that the different forms are to designate different clans.
Brookfield, Wisconsin Mounds
Waukesha Freeman – Waukesha Wisconsin
Thursday, May 31, 1906
Excerpt From 'Things from long Ago'
Brookfield- Important groups of mounds on Showrman place- sadly invaded- some of them dug into by frmer boys in a former day, bones and pottery taken
out. Village sites and Indian burial places located by Arch. Soc. At various points in this town
Burlington, Wisconsin Mounds
Racine Journal Times – Racine Wisconsin - Wednesday, May 23, 1951 - Mysterious Extinct Tribe Left 20,000 Mounds in Wisconsin
More than 20,000 Indian burial mounds exist in Wisconsin, including a number in Mound Cemetery in Racine.
There probably are more of the ancient burial mounds in Wisconsin than anywhere else in the country. Many have been excavated and their Indian effects
preserved in local museums. Some other mounds were used only for ceremonial or lookout purposes. The mounds vary in size. Many are more than 200 feet
in length.
Left Effigy Mounds - Effigy mounds, representing deer, buffalo, birds, turtles and other wild life, are found around nearly all the southern Wisconsin lakes.
Unusual specimens are found on the grounds of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. There are others at Lake View Bluff at Hudson, in Wyalusing State
Park, Beloit College Campus, Riverside park at Cassville, Delevan Lake Assembly Grounds, around Lake Koshkonong (Hoard's golf course uses mounds
for bunkers), Wild Rose, Webster and Aztalan Mound Park, three miles east of Lake Mills.
Little is known about the Mound Builders except that the central part of North America was inhabited at one time by a people who had emerged to some extent
from the darkness of savagery and had acquired certain domestic arts and practices some well defined lines of industry. Ohio roughly was the center of the
Mound Builders civilization and most of the mounds were conical in shape and when opened up contained human skeletons. Others were in the form of
truncated pyramids-square or rectangular at the base and flat on the top.
Opened Racine Mounds - Ethnologists divide Mound Builders in eight districts. The Wisconsin District's distinguishing features are the effigy mounds. Only
two or three effigy mounds in Ohio and two in Georgia are the only ones not in the Wisconsin District, which includes the northeast corner of Iowa, Minnesota
and the Dakotas as well as Wisconsin. Bird effigies are by far the most numerous.
Dr. P. R.Hoy of Race and a Dr. I A. Lapham did extensive research in the Racine area, including 14 in the Mound Cemetery groups. Most contained more than
one skeleton and one had seven. Bodies were regularly buried in a sitting or partly kneeling posture, facing the east, with the legs placed under them. They
were covered with a bark or log roofing, over which the mound was built. Dr. Hoy found no evidence of stratification or additions to the mounds.
Other mounds were found in the Town of Caledonia, Town of Raymond, Town of Norway on the west shore of Wind Lake and on the bank of the Fox River
near Burlington.
One of the finest collections of Mound Builders' relics known was that of Frederick S. Perkins of Burlington.. Part of this collection was sent to the National
Museum and part to the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
Racine Journal News – Racine Wisconsin - Wednesday, April 2, 1919 - Eighth Grade Pupils of the McMynn School Correspond with New York Scholars:
Excerpt:
My name is Lillian Morrow and I will tell you a little about the cemeteries of Racine. This may seem a queer subject to write about but our largest cemetery is
very interesting because it was formerly an Indian burying ground. We have three cemeteries of which Mound cemetery is the oldest and most interesting
because of the Indian mounds in it.
A man who made a study of Indian mounds opened one of these mounds and in it he found several skeletons in sitting posture, facing the east where the sun
rises. The skeletons were in quite good condition. The bodies had been buried in hollow basins with a bark roof over head.
There are mounds along the 'plank roads' to Burlington also. These were carefully excavated and they also contained skeletons and vases. In one was
burled an oak tree stump in which they counted two hundred rings, showing it was two hundred years old. We also have mound in Wisconsin shaped like
birds, foxes and other animals. There are only two other states that have these, Georgia and Ohio. The largest mound is near Fox River, it is 16 feet high and
twenty feet in diameter.
Delafield, Wisconsin Mounds
Waukesha Freeman – Waukesha Wisconsin - Thursday, May 31, 1906 - Excerpt From 'Things from long Ago'
Delafield – Village site near N.E. Side of Lake Nagowicka.
Ixonia, Wisconsin Mounds
Watertown Chronicle Watertown Wisconsin - Wednesday, August 11, 1847 - Mounds in Ixonia
We have heard and read much of the ancient mounds in Wisconsin; but never had an opportunity of examine any of them until one day last week. These are
situated upon the farm of r. Joseph C. (Rugs?), a few rods north of Rock River, in the town of Ixonia, in the county. We have never seen any mention made of
them in any publication on this subject, and know not how they will compare as to magnitude with the generality of those to be found in the territory; but to us
they proved full of interest.
These mounds are between thirty and forty in number, and are situated upon a hill some eighty rods long, that has every appearance of being partially artificial
- The hill rises about one hundred feet above the surrounding county; its sides are unusually smooth, being marked by some of the inequalities of surface
peculiar to all natural ridges; while its top is gently crowning, and of uniform height, except where it is dotted by the mounds.
These appearances go far to prove that the hill is part the work of art. But this idea is strengthened by another circumstance. - The predominating soil through
that region is a sandy loam, as well upon the highlands as the lowlands. But upon the hill in question, the soil to the depth of from two to four feet , is a coarse
gravel. Under this coat of gravel, as has been proved by examination, in a number of places, the same stratum of loom is found which prevails in every other
part of the neighborhood. A short distance north of the hill, is a low piece of ground, the peculiar make of which affords still farther evidence in support of this
supposition. It is the general opinion of all who have examined the two places, that the gravel upon the one was taken from the other.
The larger of these mounds are about forty feet in diameter at their base, and some ten feet high. There are a number of this class, though the most of them
are smaller. But one of them has been opened and that was done for the purpose of converting it into a potato hole! This was two or three years ago. After
digging eight or ten feet, a large number of human bones were found, in an excellent state of preservation. They were thrown out, without much are, to make
room for the potatoes, and most of them have remained there ever since. Those skulls, however, which had suffered the most from the ravages of time, have
been carried aways, as have also some of the other bones.
An examination of these bones, however superficial, must satisfy every one that they belonged to a race of beings of much larger stature than the present
generation. When covered with muscles, and flesh, and skin, their owners must have stood seven feet or more in their moccasins. We brought away the lower
jaw bone of one of these aborginal giants, for to a giant only could it have belonged, as all will concede upon an examination of it. It may be seen at this office.
The bottom of this mound was nearly as hard as solid rock. The earth of which it was made, had undergone some process of pounding or of baking, which
rendered it almost impervious to the pick ax. Upon this floor all the bones excepting those belonging to one person were found. The bones of this person
reposed upon a solid earthen seat, extending the whole width of the mound, about eighteen inches high and of the same width. This seat was composed of
the same material as the floor and was quite as hard. Who the individual was who occupied this evident seat of honor must of course be wholly left to
conjecture; he was probably, however, one of the leading men of the nation or trible. We did not learn that anything in the shape of war implements, beads or
other trinkets was found with the bones. And the only thing of the kind we saw in the vicinity were rude flint hatchets, a number of which, we were told, had been
found in the immediate neighborhood.
The size of some of these mounds, and the large number of them, certainly render them an object of curiosity, even in a country abounding with so vast a
number of antiquities as Wisconsin does, and would well repay a visit to them by any person living in this part of the country. - Watertown Chronicle
LaCrosse, Wisconsin Mounds
Daily Argus And Democrat | Madison, Wisconsin | Friday, July 20, 1860 | Page 2 A Past Generation.
In turning up some of the Indian mounds near La Crosse, it is found that the "giants in those clays" bad teeth two inches long, and thigh bones three feet
in length ; one of the skeletons showed that the original was killed with an arrow having a point five inches long, while another was struck in the head with tho
blade of a
copper hatchet, 1.} inches wide at the edge and 2 inches long.
Eau Claire Leader – Eau Claire, Wisconsin -Saturday, November 16, 1912 -Five Bodies of Ancient Race Near La Crosse -
La Crosse, WI – November 15- Fifty skeletons believed to be a part of mysterious tribesmen of a prehistoric race have been unearthed by a party of La Cross
state normal school graduates on the farm of Alois White, a few miles south of this city. The skeletons were taken from five mounds which were excavated.
Among the significant discoveries made by the students was the uncovering of a number of copper arrow heads and two or three copper knives. This, it is
claimed, must dispel the popular belief that the mound builders antedated the whites. Investigation shows there are three distinct types of mounds,
specimens of which are found in Wisconsin. The conical mound is most common, the pyramid shaped tumuli and the so-called effigy mounds, the latter
usually in the shape of some animal. The size of the skeletons, and the weight and thickness of the bones indicate this early race was composed of
giants. Most of the skeletons were more than six feet long and the bones are much heavier than those of the modern white men.
Manitowoc Pilot – Manitowoc Wisconsin - Friday August 31, 1860 - A Past Generation –
In turning up some of the Indian mounds near LaCrosse, it is found that the “giants in those days” had teeth two inches long, and thigh bones three feet in
length; one of the skeletons showed that the original was killed with an arrow having a point five inches long while another was struck in the head with the
blade of a copper hatchet 1 ½ inches wide at the edge and two inches long.
Lisbon, Wisconsin Mounds
Waukesha Freeman – Waukesha Wisconsin
Thursday, May 31, 1906
Excerpt From 'Things from long Ago'
Lisbon – Indications of a an aboriginal village site near Sussex. Stone and copper implements found.
Madison Wisconsin Mounds
Madison The Center of An Ancient Settlement - Elaborate System of Defensive Earthworks- Fort Covering Fifteen Acres- Burial Place of the Strange
People
Evidences of a Terrific Combat - Reference: The weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee Wisconsin - Saturday, August 15, 1891
Madison Wi -Aug 9, 1891 - The largest prehistoric work in this state heretofore described, and of which the Smithsonian Institute has published a complete
report, is Fort Aztalan, near Lake Mills, so named from the pyramidal mounds found there, which greatly resemble those found in Mexico. But without doubt the
most stupendous and elaborate system of defensive works in the state are found in the vicinity of this city.
The celebrated mounds of Ohio and Indiana can bear no comparison either in size, design or the skill displayed in their construction with these gigantic and
mysterious monuments of earth- erected we know not by whom, and for what purpose we can only conjecture. That the unknown race was semi-civilized is
certain and art of of a high type flourished among them. Carving in stone, especially was brought to a high degree of perfection. The art of weaving and dyeing
cloth was known and practiced, the color used being invariably red.
Madison was in ancient days the center of a teeming population, numbering not less than 200,000 souls. It is situated on the northern end of a chain of five
lakes, between Lakes Mendota and Monona and extending south to Lake Wingra. It is built on a chain of hills which slope gently down to the water's edge or
end in high bluffs. This was the mound builder's paradise in bygone ages, and the region has lot none of its natural beauty.
On the land of George Catterson, seven miles south of Madison is a prehistoric fort. It occupies the summit and southeast side of a huge hill overlooking Lake
Kegonsa. It is bounded on the east by a marsh and the cliffs of the lake on the south. It is undoubtedly a strong position for defense. The fort is square in
shape. Its four outer walls are each 400 feet in length and from the center of each side high walls, 300 feet long, stretch out. Inside the fort, about 10 feet from
the first line of breastworks, extends a second, parallel to the others. In this line gates were left in the corners and these were protected by round mounds, the
tops of which show evidences of fire, for a few inches below the surface are found quantities of charcoal. In the center are three mounds in a direct line,
connected with each other by a thick bank of earth. The tops of these mounds are sunken, showing that they served the purpose of “caches”.being hollow, but
in the lapse of ages the tops have caved in.
Scattered about inside the second line are six rows of earthworks about 20 feet long. A group of seventeen burial mounds occupied the northeast corner of the
fort, arranged in the shape of a turtle. Two of these were opened and interesting finds made. In the first mound opened a layer of forest mold six inches in
thickness was first removed; then seven feet of yellow clay was penetrated and a thick bed of ashes and charcoal, in which were scattered arrow heads of flint,
and pottery prettily ornamented in various patterns was brought to light. Below this was a foot of clay so hardened by the fire as to turn the edge of a spade.
Beneath this was a RUDELY MADE COFFIN of large flat stones probably brought from the lake. Upon being opened this coffin was found to contain a large
sized skeleton in a sitting posture, the earth within the coffin having held it in shape. The hardened clay above prevented the least moisture from entering, thus
preserving the bones in fairly good condition. At the side of the body was found a curiously carved pipe, in shape resembling a human head with peculiar
characters rudely cut on the sides. Near the right hand was an ax of banded slate in the form of an ancient double-edged battle ax, a number of arrow heads,
and a gorget of slate. Near the feet was a jar of pottery, which was filled with a black mold. This was unfortunately broken by one of the workmen while
handling a spade. Another mound a few feet away contained a number of arrow heads and two axes of the usual grooved form, but no bones. In a mound
opened in the western corner of the fort was found a square implement of slate, very highly polished, with a hole drilled through the center.
Altogether, the fort occupies about fifteen acres. It is now covered with a second growth of trees, but that there was an older growth is shown by the stumps of
former forest giants found here and there. Outside the fort the ground has been plowed, and it is shown that there stood the village under the shelter of its
walls. Pottery, arrow heads, broken axes and flint spades are found here in protrusion, as well as great numbers of iron ore. Indeed, the whole vicinity shows
the presence of iron ore in large quantities.
The burial place of the town was situated on the land now owed by William Colloday, where there are seventeen burial mounds within the defenses. A few feet,
below the surface of one of these mounds a round implement of stone, around which a slight groove was made, running completely around both ways, thus
dividing it into quarters, was found. Upon it are rude characters resembling bird tracks. A highly-polished, pear-shared instrument of iron ore, with a very small
groove at the lesser end, was also uncovered.
A short distance from the fort, to the northeast, on the farm of Erick Dierson are found STRANGE OVENS OR FIREPLACES. All over the field can be noticed
stones laid in circles, about three feet in diameter. These, upon being opened, show a cavity about 3 feet deep, in the shape of an inverted cone, and the sides
are carefully walled up with flat stones. Around the edge, on the top of the ground; a space of about 6 inches was left bare. This ran around the mouth, and
outside of it the circle of stones mentioned was placed. Inside of these fireplaces were large quantities of charcoal. The owner of the land also found
seventeen pounds of lead ore in one of these ovens, of which there are about fifty. On this piece of land, on the banks of the Yahara River, is a large mound in
the shape of a war club. This mound was partly opened and was found filled with particles of lead ore. The mud on the river banks was also covered with fine
particles of lead ore, which shine like diamonds in the sunlight. All the works described are associated with the people of the fort, as are undoubtedly the work
of the mound builders.
Following the Yahara River northward to its outlet to Lake Monona, the stream narrows down to a width of only a few yards. Breastworks were erected on each
side of the banks, thus making it impossible for a party to gain an entrance into that lake even should they escape the fort further down. Signal stations were
established on each hill of the range, so that word could be sent from Stoughton to Westport, a distance of thirty miles in twenty minutes. One of these stations
was situated on the high hill overlooking and separating Lake Wingra and Lake Monona. The ground is baked hard from the watch fires. Chipped flints, a few
arrow heads and pieces of pottery were found lying a few inches beneath the surface.
In opening a new road through the hill a landslide occurred, exposing a hollow place about six feet square, which contained the skeleton of a person who
must have been a giant in his day. Beneath the hand was an ax of syenite, finished with great skill and very nicely polished and grooved, which weighed five
pounds. Further along the hill are SIX BURIAL MOUNDS
This ends the line of prehistoric works on this side of the city, leaving an open space of over two miles.
Cross the Yahara on the northern limits of the city the line of fortifications again appears. The breastworks run parallel to the lake and are about 200 feet in
length. A large number of modern Indian graves are situated on the outside of the walls. Inside the fortifications rises a sacrificial mound to the height of 15
feet. Upon excavating this mound there was found an altar built of rough stones, on top of and around which were immense quantities of charcoal and ashes
and a pipe shaped object of slate. A short distance to the north and seemingly guarding the works, is the effigy of an elk over 100 feet in length, in front of which
small round mounds of sand were placed, but when opened they were found to contain nothing of any interest. One hundred yards from this spot was a pottery
manufactory, which, judging from the number of fragments lying around, must have supplied the great part of the country. The lake at this point throws up great
quantities of fresh water clams. The shells were ground to powder and mixed with sand and clay found on the banks, and this, when baked hard, was formed
into vases, jars and other utensils, many of which are of beautiful patterns and exhibit a high artistic taste on the part of the designer. The soil in this vicinity is
almost completely covered with fragments of pottery. The effigy of some animal bearing a very good resemblance to an elk is situated a few hundred yards
northward, in front of which are two small mounds a foot high and three feet across, made entirely of sand.
MADISON WISCONSIN - Horse Hill
Reference: 18 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST Vol. 18, No. 1
At Madison, on the south side of Lake Mendota, within the limits of the present village of Shorewood is Eagle
Heights, a wooded hill. The greater part of this hill is owned by the University of Wisconsin. On its top are three
prehistoric Indian mounds, one of conical and two of linear form.
In the early thirties this hill was known to the local Win nebago as Shohetaka, meaning "horse hill." This eminence
was a sacred place, or shrine, to which the local Indians went to fast and dream and to receive the "blessings" (magic power) of a spirit horse which on misty
days was to be seen in the hazy clouds rising above the hill. This horse did not always remain in a stationary position, but was some- times seen to move
and was heard to whinny.
MADISON WISCONSIN'S FOX BLUFF and THE THUNDERBIRDS
Fox's Bluff, an eminence on the north shore of the same beautiful lake, was in those days known by the Winnebago
to be a roosting place of the Thunderbirds, or Thunderers, on their long nights from their nesting places on the
high mountains on the shore of Lake Superior. Their presence on this hilltop was known to the Indians, living on the
other shores of the lake, by the bright flashes of lightning that could be seen in that direction. By counting these the
Indians knew about how many Thunderers there were in that particular flight. These lightning- flashes came and went as the birds opened and shut their
eyes. When the entire sky was lighted at the same time it was a sign that all of the Thunderers were awake. This hill was also a place of sanctity, and only a
few Indians dared to approach it
EAGLE MOUND
In an examination of the Wisconsin State Hospital grounds attention was first given to the so-called “Eagle Mound”. This mound resembles an eagle with
expanded wings, and is perfectly formed. The body measures 100 feet in length and the expanded wings 300 on each side of the body. The tail is 40 feet wide
and the beak is 15 feet in length. Three similar bird mounds are situated in the immediate vicinity. Near the left wing of the “Eagle Mound” is a gracefully
formed mound in the shape of a deer with branching horns and further to the north are bear, squirrel and turtle mounds and other in the shape of animals
now extinct.
Works of defense crown the summit of the hill 100 yards further on, and a large number of burial mounds are found there. There is evidence of its occupation
by two different and entirely separate races. While the one erected mounds over the dead and placed them in a sitting posture facing the east, the other buried
them a foot or two below the surface, where the caving in of the lake bank every year exposed them to view.
In the open field, on Lake Mendota's shore, between the Yahara River and ex-governor Farwell's house, was once the battlefield in olden time. To the north
extended an almost impassable marsh, while on the southern side a steep hill rises up from the lake shore 150 feet in height. On the topmost point stands a
lookout mound, from whose summit one can command a view of the country for miles around. Long lines of fortifications extend along the lake shore, rising
tier above tier, almost to the summit, one being over 1300 feet in length. Crowning the top are two altar mounds from when rose the smoke of sacrifices
offered to the gods. The ground is baked as hard as a rock from these fires.
SIGNS OF A BLOODY FIGHT
In bygone ages a terrific combat took place upon this open field. This place is strewn with the debris of the battle, a person living near by having picked up
hundreds of arrow heads and many axes. Every ax picked up is broken. After the fight an excavation was made near the sore about 10 feet square, which after
being lined with a peculiar substance, served the purpose of a huge coffin. In this mortuary chamber were deposited the dead. The ground near the pit is
covered with flint chips, showing that weapons were manufactured on the spot to deposit with the fallen, who until this year reposed in peace. Many skeletons
were found in the bank and wherever a cave-in occurred from the encroachment of the waves more were exposed to view. This spring the chamber was
reached and exposed, but the wind in a week's time had almost choked it with sand. A high mound 600 feet long was erected over the dead. A similar one,
horseshoe shaped, measures 1,100 feet in length. It is close beside the one described and probably contains other victims of the fight. Nearly every skull in
good enough preservation to be examined shows marks of violence, the cleft of the tomahawk or the fracture caused by an arrow, which in one or two
instances was found imbedded in the skull.
In the construction of mounds in this vicinity great care was taken to remove even the smallest stone from the material used except when placed there for a
purpose. A tumulus opened on the Wisconsin Hospital grounds showed stones placed in position to form a neat pattern running from the top to the bottom
and beneath this was placed the body. This vicinity gives evidence of a long occupation and a very large population. The fireplaces showed different strata of
cinders and ashes, and the lower the excavations are pushed the ruder the forms of the pottery disclosed. Calcined bones split to extract the marrow are
scattered through the mass.
In the construction of the mounds the earth was brought from long distances and differs entirely in character from the native soil. Stratification was universally
practiced in building. Two forms of burial were employed. Some were buried with their weapons in the ordinary manner, while others were cremated. In no
case were any weapons found with a cremated body, but only ornaments and pottery were placed within the tomb. Some were provided with rude effigies,
while others were buried without them, and the clay firmly placed about the body and burned into a mass nearly as hard as brick. A number of the peculiar
fishlike bones found in the boad of (linipinidonotus grunhilus (?)) a fish extinct, as far as these lakes are concerned, are frequently found in the mounds here.
MANY IMPLEMENTS OF COPPER
consisting of beads, disks, spears, arrows and axes are found. Some of these appear to have been cast, others are hammered into shape and contain
nuggets of silver, imbedded in the sides. All are tempered by some unknown process. Ornaments of shell are also common, but when dug out they invariably
crumble away. They have the appearance of having been ground, and small holes were drilled through them. Many rare and wonderful articles of chipped flints
are excavated, needles of stone one-half inch in length, with the base a quarter of an inch long, from which a point of chipped flint as fine as a needle extends.
They are very fragile. Articles for drilling holes in pipes and soft stones are found occasionally. There are flints worked as round as a lead pencil, some straight
and others with a variety of bases. A few double-borers were discovered, these having a place for the hand in the center, while each end was worked into a
sharp point.
Fifteen different types of arrow heads were found,among the most important being those used in war. They were made triangular in form and with serrated
edges, and were fitted loosely into a reed. When these projectiles entered the body the first effort would naturally be to attempt to draw them out, but the loosely
fitted head of flint would remain in the wound, the toothed edges working it further and further inward and would eventually cause death. Another form has the
edges beveled, which would give a rotary movement and was an instrument designed to GIVE A TERRIBLE WOUND.
They are in the same form as arrow heads, but have wide blunt tips. The bases are notched for inserting into a handle. All knives discovered are of fine
workmanship. Some are made of Jasper and other fine material. Some of these knives are over nine inches long.
Axes are in two styles; some, long and polished without grooves. Occasionally a unique and beautiful form is met with, some of them so delicate as to be unfit
for service. Pipes are discovered having bowls and are made of baked clay and stone. More rarely are found specimens in which Catlinite (sacred pipe stone)
is the material used. These are often worked into weird and fantastic shapes.
These mounds all belong to a continuous system extending for every fifty miles through the state and two distinct lines cross each other, forming a huge Saint
Andrew's cross, guarded by forts at each corner. While scientific men have long been aware of the existence of these wonderful works, nothing has been done
in the way of obtaining an accurate description or of obtaining a better knowledge of them. Every year the plow is laying them low, and persons ignorant of their
value to the eyes of science are destroying not only the mounds themselves, but also the relics in them, and in a few years they will have disappeared entirely.
Madison Wisconsin Mounds
Wisconsin Patriot – Madison Wisconsin January 7, 1860 pg.6 - Opening an Ancient Mound Near Madison, Wisconsin
(Report by I. A. Lapham, Esq. To the American Ethnological Society)
Travelers approaching the beautiful city of Madison, the capital of the young state of Wisconsin, by the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, from the East, are
conveyed across one of the lakes that give so much interest to this charming locality. Looking towards the South, they will find the lake hounded by a ridge of
considerable elevation, the crest of which is serrated by 'a series of ancient monuments of earthwork, the mysteries of whose origin and nature have not yet
been fully found out. Their sharp outline, projected against the sky for a background, with the scattered trees and shrubs, all reflect in the clear, still water of the
lake, render this spot quite conspicuous and beautiful.
On this remarkable ridge, which divides the water of Lake Monona (the third of the series) from Lake Wingra, with its ancient earthworks, a sketch (Fig 1) and a
plot (Fig 2) are given on plate 2. The slopes were steep, especially on the south side; the crest narrow, the soil a loose gravel, (drift of the geologists,) but
slightly compacted with clay or other material. At the highest point, where the two largest mounds are situated, it has an elevation quite abrupt, of seventy-five
feet, upon which the mounds make an addition of ten feet. In some parts, the ridge is covered with groves of small tress – at others it is naked.
By invitation of George P. Delaplaine, Esq., of Madison, I visited that place on the 1st of June 1859, in company with Prof. J.D. Whitney, the Geologist, for the
purpose of making a survey and exploration of the interesting group of mounds before they should become lost by the progress of 'improvement' in that
direction. Already some of them have been injured, by the opening of roads and by the idle curiosity of persons who have made slight excavations. It would be
fortunate if other landed proprietors would follow the good example of Mr. Delaplaine and preserve an accurate record of such ancient works as they are about
to destroy. Many very interest animal effigies (mounds in the forms of animals) have already been leveled by the plows, or otherwise injured or effaced.
The peculiar form of this ridge, the nature of the soil and its position between two valleys, exposing it to the drying effect of the winds, render it peculiarly fitted
for the preservation of anything that may have been buried under the mounds. The steep slopes fall away from the base of the mounds on either side, thus
carrying off immediately the falling rain. The earth composing the mound was of fine material, well compacted, and still further protected by a dense sod of
prairie grass and weed; so that very little water could penetrate it; and the depth was such as to exclude all the destroying effects of frost in the winter. We were
therefore convinced that if any of the original mound builders are any where preserved, we might look for them here; and in this we were not disappointed.
These mounds, as is usual in such groups in Wisconsin, present a variety of forms – among them the circular, oblong, attenuated and animal shaped. They
are situated on the northwest quarter of section twenty-six, in township seven and range none of the government surveys. From the top of these mounds there
is a very fine and extensive view of the country around, suggesting at once the idea that this may have been a sort of a look out station or sentry post from which
to watch the approach of the enemy.
The largest mound on this ridge, the base excavated by us has an oval form, the basal dimensions being seventy and fifty feet; the height ten feet. It was built
upon the convex surface of the ridge, so that the depth of the mound in the middle was a little less than appeared from the outside. The exploration was
commenced on the south-east side by running a horizontal drift from the base towards the centre. This brought us a little below the original surface.
Our first discovery was the remains of a human skeleton that had been buried about three feet below the top of the mound. The position of this skeleton was
horizontal, the head towards the west. The bones were very much decayed, the teeth and a few of the larger bones being all that were sufficiently strong to be
taken out. At the foot was the skull of a skunk and also a few teeth, and a portion of the jaw of another animal, apparently a fox. Whether these had been buried
with the human body, or had burrowed into the mound on their own account is not easily determined, though the latter supposition is rendered, probable by the
good state of preservation of the skull of the skunk.
As we descended into the mound, the extreme firmness and dryness of the loamy material became apparent, giving strength to our conjecture and hope that a
real mound builder was about to be brought to light; and we wished for some magic power by which he could be re-endowed with the faculty of speech; that he
might reveal the story of his strange and unknown history!
Our work was temporarily arrested by the high wind, which swept with full force over the ridge, and kept the opening we had made involved in a cloud of fine
dust, rendering it almost impracticable to breathe while making excavation. The earth thrown out was quite dry, and in much indurated masses or clods,
though the spring rains had hardly ceased – the material of the mound was mostly the dark colored soil of the prairie, showing that the surface only had been
taken to construct it. At one place, there was a slight layer of gravel, as if a small quantity of that material had been use when the work had reached that point.
At one place, there was a slight layer of gravel, as if a small quantity of that material had been used when the work had reached that point.
Under the middle of the mound we found the object of greatest interest. An excavation had been made in the original ground, the bottom of which was paved
with rounded stones, embedded in clay. Upon the pavement was placed the body of a man, in a horizontal position, the head towards the east, the legs and
arms folded back. The skeleton ws in a very good state of preservation, most of the bones being found including many of the smaller ones. The skull was
nearly entire, but had been crushed and distorted by the pressure of the superincumbent earth.
As this was clearly a skeleton of one of the honored dead, over whose remains, and for whose memory, the mound was erected, with so much care and labor,
all material facts in relation to it will be of interest, and accordingly I have endeavored to reconstruct the skull from the separate parts preserved, and have
made the drawing of plate 1, figure 1 – Upon a careful comparison with the numerous figures in Morton's Crania Americana, it will be found that it agrees, in
general contour and size, most nearly with that on plate 28 representing the Chippewa. Though it would be wrong, perhaps, to infer, upon such slight
evidence, that the ancient mound builders of Wisconsin were the ancestors of the Chippewas, yet we may regard it as further proof that they were one and the
same with the American race as clearly indicated by Dr. Morton. (Crania Am., pg 229)
About two feet above the skeleton, we found a few fragments of a human skull, but no traces of other bones. They had, doubtless, been casually thrown upon
the mound during the progress of its construction.
Very near the skull was found a gray flint arrow-head and a bone apparently of a bird, which had been wrought into an implement of some important use, no
doubt, to those who made it.
Occasionally fragments of bones and pieces of charcoal, were found at various depths, but no indication of the burning of human or other sacrifices. Roots of
trees or shrubs had penetrated to the very bottom of the mound. While the work was in progress we were visited by numerous citizens of the city of Madison
and the officers and students of the Wisconsin University, many of whom manifested a deep interest in the subject of American Antiquities.
Besides the mounds referred to in this paper there are numbers of others in the vicinity of the “Four Lakes,” many of them quite interesting on account of their
particular forms, etc. A few of them are described and figured in the 6th volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. It is hoped that provision will
be made by law, for the preservation of at least such as happen to be on the grounds selected for the site of the State Lunatic Asylum and other public
institutions.
Appleton Post-Crescent – Appleton, Wi - Monday, November 14, 1927 - Old Indian Mounds Put to Queer Uses -
A railroad construction crew used mounds now destroyed in Madison as storage cache for blasting powder. One early settler in the state reported to have
buried a box of money in a mound and when he lter forgot just where he had buried it, he was forced to dig up a number of mounds in the group near his
home before he recovered his treasure. Many mounds were rifled by early physicians to obtain skulls or skeletons for their offices.
Eau Claire Leader – Eau Claire, Wi - Thursday July 15th, 1915 Pg 3 - Indian Mounds are Visited by Students - Madison, WI July 14 –
A successful excursion by students of the University of Wisconsin summer session, was made last Saturday under the direction of Curator Charles E. Brown
of the State Historical Museum to the many Indian Mounds found about the Madison lakes. A number of these excursions are conducted by the University each
summer. The student of Indian remains finds many opportunites for observation near Madison, tributed to the Winnebago Indians. Wisconsin Indian Mounds
are at- There were about Lake Mendota thirty groups of earthworks, most of which age preserved. The bird effigy on the state hospital lawn at Mendota is the
largest mound of its type in Wisconsin. It has a wing spread of 624 feet. The conical burial mounds at Morris park include some of the largest and finest
mounds in this region. The plot of Indian corn hills located there is the only one now remaining on the shores of Lake Mendota.
McFarland and Madison Mounds
Capital Time, Madison Wisconsin
Friday, May 1, 1942
Brown Tells of Indian Mounds at McFarland
Nine Burial Places on Sanderson Site in “Procession” by Charles E. Brown Director, State Historical Museum
What is acknowledged by Wisconsin archaeologists to be one of the most interesting groups of prehistoric Indian mounds in Dane county is located on the
narrow crest of a high wooded ridge located about one fourth mile west of the village of McFarland and between it and the Edwards Park shore of Lake
Waubesa. The mounds, 9 in number, extend down the length of this north and south ridge in what mound experts refer to as a “procession.”
Series of Mounds
At the northern end of this line of ancient earthworks there is a linear mound 130 feet long and short distance beyond it another mound of the same form 81
feet long. Beyond this is a round mound 22 feet in diameter and another linear 104 feet long. Beyond these, in the center of the group, are a round and an oval
mound.
At the southern end of the ridge there is a bar effigy, the only animal shaped mound in the group, and a linear mound 180 feet long. The linear runs across the
ridge crest instead of in line with it. A short distance south of this mound is one of the most curious mounds found in any group in the Lake Waubesa region.
This large linear mound has a large hook at its northern end. Its total length is 326 feet, and its straight part is 272 feet long. Its unique form has long been a
puzzle to archaeologists. None of the linear mounds is ore than 16 feet wide.
This find mound group, then on the T. Lewis property was surveyed for te Wisconsin Archaeological society by the late Dr. W.G. McLachlan of McFarland in
1914 and was described in a Lake Waubesa report which the state socieity published. Several of the mounds in this group were dug into in previous years by
local relic hunters searching for Indian treasure supposed to have been hidden during the Black Hawk war. They found only Indian bone re-burials and a
flexed burial.
Will Erect Cabin
This ridge group was recently visited by the write and C.H. Sanderson of Madison, the present owner of the site and the land at its base. Sanderson intends to
erect a log cabin residence on the crest and will prserved the ancient mounds. From the crest of this ridge a fine view of Lakes Waubesa and Monona and the
state capital is to be seen to the northwest and of Lake Waubesa and Mud Lake to the south. Sanderson has planted several hundred pine, spruce and other
fir trees on the steep slopes of the ridge thus adding to the beauty of this location.
About a mile south of the ridge at Watcheetcha, on the old Indian trail once running over the site of McFarland and in a southweserly direction toward Lake
Kegonsa, was the locaton in 1829 of the village of the Winnebago Chief Spotted Arm, an Indian leader of considerable note.
A total of 188 mounds in 42 groups were found during the McLachian survey of the lake Waubesa region. A few others have been found since bringing the total
to nearly 200 earthworks. Sanderson is setting a good example in the preservation of Indian mortuary landmarks which it is hoped that other residents of this
part of Dane county will follow.
Mound Builders of Wisconsin Continued on Next Page
The Adena burial rites were a mixture of the old and the new; and
the bodies of the ruling class and other important people were
usually sprinkled with RED OCHRE and laid to rest with a variety
of artifacts such as flints, beads, pipes, and mica and copper
ornaments. The red ochre aspect of the burials was a practice that
extended back for generations through the Old Copper Culture
and all the way back to North Africa's Capsian period. As the
archaeologists have discovered, Adena marabouts were also
buried with varying amounts of grave goods -- the amount
indicating either the social inequities in their culture, or perhaps
varying degrees of baraka. Tomb goods included engraved stone
tablets (often with predatory bird designs); polished gorgets
(throat armor of stones and copper); pearl beads; ornaments of
sheet mica (also found in Maya graves); tubular stone pipes; and
bone masks. Animal masks are common in late Adena sites. In
addition to these grave goods the Adena people made a wide
range of stone, wood, bone and copper tools, as well as incised
or stamped pottery and cloth woven from vegetable fibers. *See
mounds of Wisconsin
For their "common folk," the Adenas cremated the dead bodies
and placed the remains in small log tombs on the surface of the
ground. Virtually all of these graves have been destroyed by nature
and later settlement. Therefore, the more substantial mounds of
the ruling class are our only physical records of Adena burials.
Those people were called Talligew (Tallegwi or Allegwi) and have
been described as red haired giants.
the bodies of the ruling class and other important people were
usually sprinkled with RED OCHRE and laid to rest with a variety
of artifacts such as flints, beads, pipes, and mica and copper
ornaments. The red ochre aspect of the burials was a practice that
extended back for generations through the Old Copper Culture
and all the way back to North Africa's Capsian period. As the
archaeologists have discovered, Adena marabouts were also
buried with varying amounts of grave goods -- the amount
indicating either the social inequities in their culture, or perhaps
varying degrees of baraka. Tomb goods included engraved stone
tablets (often with predatory bird designs); polished gorgets
(throat armor of stones and copper); pearl beads; ornaments of
sheet mica (also found in Maya graves); tubular stone pipes; and
bone masks. Animal masks are common in late Adena sites. In
addition to these grave goods the Adena people made a wide
range of stone, wood, bone and copper tools, as well as incised
or stamped pottery and cloth woven from vegetable fibers. *See
mounds of Wisconsin
For their "common folk," the Adenas cremated the dead bodies
and placed the remains in small log tombs on the surface of the
ground. Virtually all of these graves have been destroyed by nature
and later settlement. Therefore, the more substantial mounds of
the ruling class are our only physical records of Adena burials.
Those people were called Talligew (Tallegwi or Allegwi) and have
been described as red haired giants.
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| Wisconsin - Land of the Dead "Oh, Wisconsin. beneath your feet is an ocean of bones...." "They (railroad crews) knocked the top off of the small hill called Butte Des Morts. It was full of skeletons. Tracks were laid across the cut and The combined bones and rock became the track bed." - a diary description of the 19th century decapitation of a section of "the hill of the dead"(Butte Des Morts) on the shore of Little Lake Butte Des Morts in Neenah. The hill is reputed to hold the piled up corpses of Fox Indians killed during a battle against the French and their Indian Allies in the Fox/French Wars. More likely, the hill had been part of a long standing burial ground and contained the bones of the ancient mound builders. Mounds are everywhere, their remains may be beneath your feet right as you read this. In the mid to late 19th century countless mounds were plowed over by farmers. Road crews crushed bones into aggregate for road and railroad beds. It's safe to say that all of Wisconsin's primary roads contain shattered bits of the bones of the ancient dead. |
Ancient Indian Calendar Site found in Wisconsin Rapids
Wisconsin was a major center of ancient religion. It saw man's earliest attempts at metal making and, according to the following article, was the home of ancient
astronomers.
”Prof. James Scherz claims to have discovered an ancient Indian calendar site in a marshy region near Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Scherz was led to the site by
aerial photographs taken during a wetlands mapping program. Strange "islands" of higher land seen within the bog were found, upon terrestrial inspection, to be
unusually steep, possibly artificial. Some were round, some four-sided; others were shaped like a fish, a rabbit, and a snake. [Wisconsin has countless similar "effigy
mounds" elsewhere.] Causeways connect some of these so-called islands.
The most interesting features of the islands, however, are prominent rocks and rock cairns. Scherz and an assistant mapped the islands, cairns, and rocks to determine
if any astronomical alignments existed. Sure enough, the solstices and equinoxes were predictable from some of the alignments. Another alignment provided the site's
latitude.The exploration of this site is incomplete, and further information is expected. Quite possibly, the site is associated with the famous prehistoric copper mining
activities which were centered in Wisconsin roughly 3,000 to 7,000 years ago.” (Murn, Thomas J.; "Portage County Cairns: Wisconsin's Rockhenge," NEARA Journal, 18:
50, 1984.)
Another Calendar can be found on Franks Hill near Muscoda Wisconsin
Wisconsin was a major center of ancient religion. It saw man's earliest attempts at metal making and, according to the following article, was the home of ancient
astronomers.
”Prof. James Scherz claims to have discovered an ancient Indian calendar site in a marshy region near Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Scherz was led to the site by
aerial photographs taken during a wetlands mapping program. Strange "islands" of higher land seen within the bog were found, upon terrestrial inspection, to be
unusually steep, possibly artificial. Some were round, some four-sided; others were shaped like a fish, a rabbit, and a snake. [Wisconsin has countless similar "effigy
mounds" elsewhere.] Causeways connect some of these so-called islands.
The most interesting features of the islands, however, are prominent rocks and rock cairns. Scherz and an assistant mapped the islands, cairns, and rocks to determine
if any astronomical alignments existed. Sure enough, the solstices and equinoxes were predictable from some of the alignments. Another alignment provided the site's
latitude.The exploration of this site is incomplete, and further information is expected. Quite possibly, the site is associated with the famous prehistoric copper mining
activities which were centered in Wisconsin roughly 3,000 to 7,000 years ago.” (Murn, Thomas J.; "Portage County Cairns: Wisconsin's Rockhenge," NEARA Journal, 18:
50, 1984.)
Another Calendar can be found on Franks Hill near Muscoda Wisconsin
Cambridge - Double Set of Teeth
The eleventh skeleton that has been dug up in
this neighborhood in the last few years was
discovered by A.E.Morton while he was
escavating for his home on Lake Ripley. The
skeleton was entire and had “the double set of
teeth in the lower jaw”. It measured six feet
three inches from head to the base of the foot.
Eau Claire Leader, November 27, 1907
The eleventh skeleton that has been dug up in
this neighborhood in the last few years was
discovered by A.E.Morton while he was
escavating for his home on Lake Ripley. The
skeleton was entire and had “the double set of
teeth in the lower jaw”. It measured six feet
three inches from head to the base of the foot.
Eau Claire Leader, November 27, 1907
Imperial Rome in Crawford County, Wisconsin – Frank Joseph , ‘The Lost Colonies of Ancient America’.
For more information on the sacrificial mounds of the Kickapoo Valley please purchase my book, Revelations
Ceramic lamp was unearthed in 1969, in Crawford County, Freeman Township, on a hillside field overlooking the Mississippi River. A
farmer’s plow got hung up on a root and when the plow was cleared, the lamp was found face down in the furrow.
Lamp is 5 inches long, 3.5 inches across, and 1.25 inches thick
Its front, judging by its central hole for the flame, depicts what appears to be the body of a woman between two pairs of other human
figures, sitting and engaged in conversation.
The back features a central circle – its outer rim studded with 19 knobs – enclosing eight lines. This eight-line symbol recurs six times
in the circle around the fire hole, again just beneath it, an once more at the foot of the lamp, bringing its total repetition on the front to
eight.
On each side of a circle, found on the back of the lamp, is the depiction of a man chasing a four-legged animal. In one version, he bears
a knife in his right hand, while the animal looks forward. In the other, the animal looks back at him. Although the object’s deliberate
symbolism may be elusive, Roman astrologers have identified the number eight with Venus, both the planet and the goddess, who may
be the female figure portrayed in the oil lamp.
If the 19 knobs coming around the perimeter of the back side circle – a common sign for the sun- represent years, then the reference
here is to a solar eclipse, because ‘eclipses of the sun tend to recur in periods of nineteen years.’
Removing it entirely from any Native American Indian context, the female figure is shown with long, wavy hair, falling down her back;
wearing a diadem with cloth attachment, the most common feminine headdress of the Greco-Roman World.
For more information on the sacrificial mounds of the Kickapoo Valley please purchase my book, Revelations
Ceramic lamp was unearthed in 1969, in Crawford County, Freeman Township, on a hillside field overlooking the Mississippi River. A
farmer’s plow got hung up on a root and when the plow was cleared, the lamp was found face down in the furrow.
Lamp is 5 inches long, 3.5 inches across, and 1.25 inches thick
Its front, judging by its central hole for the flame, depicts what appears to be the body of a woman between two pairs of other human
figures, sitting and engaged in conversation.
The back features a central circle – its outer rim studded with 19 knobs – enclosing eight lines. This eight-line symbol recurs six times
in the circle around the fire hole, again just beneath it, an once more at the foot of the lamp, bringing its total repetition on the front to
eight.
On each side of a circle, found on the back of the lamp, is the depiction of a man chasing a four-legged animal. In one version, he bears
a knife in his right hand, while the animal looks forward. In the other, the animal looks back at him. Although the object’s deliberate
symbolism may be elusive, Roman astrologers have identified the number eight with Venus, both the planet and the goddess, who may
be the female figure portrayed in the oil lamp.
If the 19 knobs coming around the perimeter of the back side circle – a common sign for the sun- represent years, then the reference
here is to a solar eclipse, because ‘eclipses of the sun tend to recur in periods of nineteen years.’
Removing it entirely from any Native American Indian context, the female figure is shown with long, wavy hair, falling down her back;
wearing a diadem with cloth attachment, the most common feminine headdress of the Greco-Roman World.
| This artifact was found in the Wisconsin River, not far from Crawford County |
Artifacts found in Gays Mills,
Crawford County Wisconsin
Crawford County Wisconsin
There was a 100 year flood in
Burlington, WI which caused
the dam to break and waters of
Echo Lake to drain . What they
discovered was an ancient
burial site under Echo Lake.
Haunted Burlington Wisconsin
by Mary Sutherland can be
found on Amazon .
Burlington, WI which caused
the dam to break and waters of
Echo Lake to drain . What they
discovered was an ancient
burial site under Echo Lake.
Haunted Burlington Wisconsin
by Mary Sutherland can be
found on Amazon .
| Aztalan Mounds near Lake Mills, Wisconsin |
| Mounds at Eli Orchards outside of Rochester Wisconsin, a few miles from Burlington, WI |
| Mounds at the back side of the Haunted Woods outside of Burlington, WI. |
| Mounds at Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin |
| Panther Mound outside of Burlington Wisconsin - Some call them 'Water Spirits' and are usually found near water. |
| In Wisconsin, 1853, William Pidgeon was shown effigy mounds consisting of various kinds of earthworks, including geometrical constructions, animal, bird and human shapes. He noted that they extended in direct and continuous lines and were found in Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio. The characters of the symbols or effigies were ley line markers and found at points where principle lines intersected each other. Primary water was found under each of these marker sites, which were often found built on ridges overlooking a valley, with a stream flowing through. Not only did the effigy mounds bear a relationship to guides and spirits, but were designed to allow the earth energy to build or flow in some way, enhancing or guarding the people and were found to be portals or doorways, allowing the spirit to flow in and out of. The Wisconsin effigies bear a connection to the Serpent Mounds in Ohio and the Nazca Line Effigies, which in turn are connected to the Dragon Projects found in the Mayan and Egyptian Pyramids. In the days of Adam sacrifice was offered unto the Lord. It is written that as soon as the waters of the Flood receded, Noah built an altar, upon which to offer sacrifice unto the Lord. This being the first work of Noah in his advent from the Ark implies that the custom of mound building was of antediluvian origin. In the Holy Scriptures, we find the passage instructing the wandering Israelites to establish mounds, in order to guide them on their return to the land of their nativity. “Set thee up way-marks, make thee high heaps: set thy heart toward the high-way, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.” Jeremiah 31:21 The altar of earth was not only recognized as a holy place but was used as an abiding record. In the migrations of Lot and Abraham, by divine authority, an ‘altar of earth’ was to be built at each place of sojourning and wherever any circumstance of importance occurred. “An altar of earth shalt thou make unto me; and shall sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offering, and thy peace- offering, thy sheep and oxen. In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.” Exodus 24-26 The circular works of the Danes, Belgians and Saxons, so frequently found in England in connection with the pentagon or Doom ring of Denmark; stretch, in a continuous line from Brownsville, Pennsylvania through Wisconsin, Canada and Greenland and on to Iceland and Sweden. The Wisconsin highland of the Kickapoo has been found to have an identical Doom ring as that of Denmark. Each mound was a form of writing and provided information to the passerby. In knowing how to read the mounds, the passerby would know the tribes, their ancestry, guides, power ally and specific events such as wars, births, deaths, etc. The burials would be found at the ‘vital’ points of the effigy, such as the hips, head or heart area of the animal, bird or human forms they represented. These points were considered sacred because it was there where energy was collected, transferred or transformed. Sacred Sites stimulate our consciousness and enable perception of realms normally not visible to humans. Electromagnetic waves of earth energy occur at frequencies just below the range of human hearing. These waves are called the Shuman resonance factor. They occur between 3 and 6 hertz, which is in the range of the "delta" waves of the human brain. Biofeedback instruments and medical EEG tests demonstrate this frequency. This is amplified along "Ley lines," stimulating modifications of consciousness, enabling perception of realms usually invisible to humans, but altogether real. Many people go to the Earths Sacred Sites hoping that the energy will trigger a paranormal experience. These experiences include interdimensional communication with spirits, and contact with 'Star Visitors'. Alfred Watkins coined the term Ley lines, in an attempt to define a complex network of straight lines connecting ancient sacred sites and mountains. These lines can be found at the Mounds built by the Ancient Mound Builders. Sites such as Stonehenge, Easter Island, the North American Mounds and the Egyptian pyramids are all linked in a master convergence of a grand coincidence. Such places as mentioned collect and emit energy that can be used as an interdimensional portal by beings from either side |