History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 19

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.. > Part 19

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Within the last twenty years, great advances have been made toward the discovery of antiquities, whether pertaining to remains of organic or inorganic nature. Together with many telling relics of the aboriginal inhabitants, the fossils of pre-historic animals have been unearthed from end to end of the county, and in districts, too. long pronounced by geologists of some repute to be without even a vestige of vertebrate fossils. Among the collected sonve- nirs of an age, about which so very little is known, are single and ossified vertebrae. supposed to belong to the cretaceous period, when the dinosaur roamed over the country from East to West, desolating the villages of the people. This animal is said to have been sixty feet long, and when feeding in the pine forests was capable of extending himself eighty-five feet, so that he might devour the budding tops of those great trees.

Other efforts of our antiquarians may lead to great results, and culminate probably in the discovery of a tablet, engraven by some learned Tower or Mound Builder, describing, in char- acters hieroglyphical, all those men and beasts whose history excites so much interest, and trans- forms the speculative into certainty. The identity of the Mound Builders with the Mongolians, and the closer tie which bound the latter to the Egyptians, might lead us to hope for such a consummation- might possibly result in proving that the Egyptian originally migrated from Central America. branched ont toward China, and became the Mongolian, and in turn continued the travel eastward until the descendants of the first Americans returned to the cradle of their race, as set forth in an extract given in this work from the writer's special paper on the Mound Builders.

Regarding the mounds and garden beds of St. Clair County, little has been written-com- paratively nothing done toward their exploration. From a paper prepared by Henry Gillman, and read before the Detroit Scientific Association. May 6, 1874, the following extract is made. In it occurs a direct reference to the mounds in the neighborhood of Fort Gratiot and Port Huron. He states : "Throughout the region of the great lakes, abundant evidence, often of the most interesting character. of the presence in by-gone ages of that peculiar race known as the Mound Builders, is constantly being brought to light. And our own State of Michigan, from the low. monotonous shores of Lake Erie, to the rocky cliffs of Lake Superior, has con- tributed, in many directions, some of the most remarkable relics and monuments of a people whose cranial affinities and evidently advanced civilization totally separate them from the North American Indian, and ally them to the ancient race of men who inhabited Brazil and the re- mote past. Along the Detroit and Ronge Rivers, those monuments, in the shape of the well- known mounds, were at one time not infrequent; but in numerous instances, and even within our prosent city limits, they have been destroyed, often without their true character being recog- nized; and thus large amounts of valuable relics have fallen into ignorant hands, and have finally been forever lost. Even those works which remain are fast disappearing before the march

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of modern improvement. Indian tradition says that these mounds along our river were built in ancient times by a people of whom they (the Indians) know nothing, and for whom they have no name; that the mounds were occupied by the Tuethe Indians, and subsequently by the Wyan - dots, but were constructed long before their time. These facts were ascertained by me in the course of some investigations which I made several years ago, and at that time I further learned that the Tuetle Indians had been absorbed by the Six Nations, and if any survive, it is there they must be looked for. In this connection, it is proper to state that I have lately been in- formed, through the instrumentality of Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, of the ro- sult of some inquiries made at my suggestion in regard to the name Tuethe The corelusion arrived at is that the word Tuotte is probably a corruption of Tutelo, a tribe 'admitted as a younger member of a confederacy of the Six Nations, about the middle of the last century;' and that the Tuteloes . are believed to have migrated from Virginia northward, to lands assigned them on the Susquehanna by the Six Nations; but very little is known of their early history and migrations.' An interesting paper on the Tuteloes was read by the Rev. J. Anderson. be- fore the American Philological Association. in July, 1871. Reporting Mr. H. Hale's discover- ies, he assigus the Tuteloes to the Dakotan and not the Iroquois stock, and gives an account of Mr. Hale's visit to Nikungha, the last survivor of the tribe of the Tuteloes, and who has since died at the age of one hundred and six years. The establishment of the identity of the Tuetles with the Tuteloes, and their residence on these mounds and along the Detroit River is not only an interesting addition to local history, but is of special value in view of its tending to sustain Mr. Hale's opinion (opposed to the conclusions of others regarding the Da- kotan migration) that 'in former times the whole of what is now the central portion of the United States, from the Mississippi nearly to the Atlantic, was occupied by Dakotan tribes, who have been cut up and gradually exterminated by the intrusive and more energetic Algonquins and Iroquois.'

" The relies exhumed from the mounds consist of stone implements, such as axes, chisels. serapers, arrow-heads, spear points and knives, fragments of pottery of a great variety of pattern. inelnding the favorite cord pattern so frequently seen in such connection. from the northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico; and the bones of man. generally much deeaved, and exhibiting other indications of antiquity. From the fragments of burned bones and charcoal found, it would appear that in the earlier interments cremation was practiced. The tibim present. in an extreme degree, the peculiar flattening or compression pertaining to platyenemie men. In the fourth annual report of the Peabody Museum of Archaology and Ethnology, attention is called to this, some of the relies which I collected here having been donated to the museum by the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, to whom I had presented them. The enrator, Prof. Wyman. says : ' Of the tibia of forty individuals from the mounds of Kentucky, one-third presented this flattening to the extent that the transverse did not exceed 0,60 of the fore and aft diameter. The most extreme case was from the mound on the River Ronge, in Michigan, in which the trans- verse was only 0. 18. In the most marked ease mentioned by Broca, viz. : In the old man from the Cro-Magnon ( France), it was, as dedneed from his figures, 0.60." Prof. Wyman draws at- tention to certain resemblances in this bone to the same bone in the ape, adding : .In some of the tibia the amount of flattening surpasses that of the gorilla and chimpanzee. in each of which we found the short 0.67 of the long diameter, while in the tibia from Michigan. it was only 0. [8.' " Subsequent to this (in 1870), I discovered in adjacent mounds several instances in which the compression of the tibi: was developed to even a greater extreme. Two remarkable cases of this peculiarity were afforded by tibiæe taken by me from a mound on the Detroit River. In one of those nnique specimens the transverse diameter of the shaft is 0. 12. and in the other 0. 10 of the antero-posterior diameter, exceeding. Ibelieve, any platyenemism which has been observed before or since in any part of the world. In communicating these facts to the American Nat- uralist, not long afterward. I claimed that the last mentioned case ' may be considered as the Hattest tibia on record.' (See American Naturalist. October. 1571.) Both of these bones are strongly marked with the saber-like curvature, also a characteristic of the chimpanzee, as are likewise many others of the tibile from the vicinity. The majority of the tibile present the flat. tening, which is an exception to the facts as noted in other sections of the United States where

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it is supposed to pertain to 'only about one-third of all the individuals observed.' In fact, it is an exception to find a tibia from our mounds along the Detroit destitute of this peculiarity; and where one is found it is generally of later burial, and consequently of less ancient origin. " A few years ago the greater part of this large circular mound in the vicinity of Fort Wayne was removed, and most important results were obtained. Eleven human skeletons were exhumed; a large number of burial vases, stone implements in great variety and of superior workmanship, consisting chiefly of axes, fleshers. spear-points, arrow-heads, chisels, drillers and sinkers; pipes, a peculiar implement of unknown use, formed of an antler, with duplicate perforations at its thickest end; and two articles manufactured from copper, one the remains of a necklace, formed of a number of beads strung on a two-stranded cord, a few fragments of which remained suffi- ciently preserved to satisfy me that it was made from vegetable fiber, probably from the bass- wood (Tilia Americana, L.). The other article of copper consisted of a needle, or borer, sev- eral inches in length, quadrangular at the base, and well wrought. One of the skulls is re- markable for its diminutive size, though adult, its capacity being only 56 cubic inches. or less than 76 per cent of that of the average Indian cranium, which is given as 84 cubic inches by Morton and Megis, the minimum observed by them being 69 cubic inches. The measurement by Morton of 155 Peruvian crania gives 75 cubic inches, for the average bulk of the brain (no greater than that of the Hottentot or New Hollander), the maximum being 101 cubic inches. while the maximum sinks to 58. the smallest in a series of 641 measured crania; and yet you will perceive this is exceeded in diminutiveness by this cranium from the Detroit River. The average volume of the brain in the Mexicans is 79 cubic inches, while in a series of measure- ments of 24 crania from the Kentucky mounds it is found to be 84. The Teutonic crania gives the average of 92 cubic inches. Thus it is seen that while the great volume of the brain is in- dicative of power of some sort. the opposite is not always to be regarded as proof of a degrad- ed condition. In short, quality may bere, as in other instances, compensate for deficiency in quantity. So we find the cranium of the Peruvian, who possesses a high degree of civilization and refinement, equaled in capacity by that of the New Hollander or Hottentot, while it is ex ceeded by that of the degraded. brutal North American Indian to the extent of nine cubic inch- es. Still the crania of the Mound Builders, it must be acknowledged, present characteristics. which, in the language of Foster, 'indicate a low intellectual organization, little removed from that of the idiot.' And this skull from the Detroit River mound must be placed in the same category. Prof. Wyman, in his sixth annual report of the Peabody Museum, in referring to this skull, goes on to say : . In ordinary skulls. the ridges of the temporal muscles on the two sides of the head are separated by a space of from three to four inches, seldom less than two, while in the Detroit mound skull this space measures only three-quarters of an inch; and in this respect it presents the same conditions as the skull of a chimpanzee.' It is interesting to re- member that the 'flattest tibia on record,' already referred to, were taken by me from this mound; and all the tibia had more or less saber-like curvature associated with the platycnemism. It remains for me in this connection to call attention to the fact that the perforation of the humor- nis is another remarkable characteristic which I have observed to pertain to those platycuemic men of our region. I refer to the communication of the two fossa situated at the lower end of the humerus. This is of great interest, as this peculiarity is most frequently met with in the negro race; it has also been observed in the Indian, and though not always present, is quite general in the apes, while it is very seldom seen in the white races.

MOUNDS OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

One of the most remarkable and extensive series of tumuli which are known to exist in this part of the lake region, it was my good fortune to discover in the year 1872. I refer to the mounds situated at the head of the St. Clair River, and at the foot of Lake Huron. They extend in continuous succession for about one mile and one-half northward, as I have satisfac- torily determined. Strange to say, those who lived in their immediate vicinity knew nothing of their character. A paper which I wrote on the subject, embodying the principal facts, sub- sequently formed a part of the sixth annual report of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and was afterward copied into several of the leading periodicals of the country, in-

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cluding the American Journal of Science. The general publicity thus given the discoveries precludes the necessity of more than a passing notice here. The numerous mounds, with fow exceptions, are of similar character, having been largely used for burial purposes. One of them presented some features distinctive of the 'refuse heaps' of our Atlantic Coast, and of the north of Europe, a wide area at one end being covered with a solid crust of black ashes from eighteen inches to two feet thick, containing the bones of various animals used for food, broken pottery and stone implements. The relies from the burial mounds. in addition to those usually found, consisted of an extraordinarily large number of broken stone hammers of the rudest kind; a plate of mica tive by four inches, and two necklaces, one made of small bones. mostly cervical vertebra, stained a beautiful green color, resembling enamel, the other composed of the teeth of the moose, finely perforated at the roots, alternating with well wrought beads of copper, and the bones of birds stained green as in the first instance. In the mound containing the last mentioned ornaments, soverat interments had been made, and the decayed stump of a scarlet oak ( Quereus coccinea, Wang.), two feet in diameter, surmounted the summit. the roots spreading above the contents in all directions. All the tibia noticed by me exhibited the com pression characterizing platyenemie men. In dwelling on this circumstance, in connection with my previous discoveries in the same direction, I make the remark. 'I cannot but believe. from what I have seen. that future investigation will extend the area in which this type of bone is predominant to the entire region of the great lakes, if not of the great West; or, in other words, that at least our northern Mound Builders be found to have possessed this trait in the degree and to the extent denoted; which prediction recent discoveries in Wisconsin and Iowa would seem in a fair way of fulfilling.

"On the west bank of the Black River, a tributary of the St. Clair, is a burial mound. which contributed some unusual features. A road having been out through the easterly slope of this monnd. the consequent excavation revealed a large number of human bones, pottery. stone implements and other relies. Stone lance or spear heads of great length were taken out, two of them being each over a foot long, and one sixteen inches in length. But the most inter esting feature of this repository of relies was a grave, the interior of which was described to me as being lined with pottery similar to that of which the vases, pots, etc., are formed. This was so peculiar a circumstance. no other instance of the kind having come to my knowledge, that, at first, I considered the statement highly improbable. But I availed myself of an oppor tunity of visiting the locality not long after to make a special examination. Though the con- struction of the road through the mound had destroyed most of the original features, and scattered a multitude of valuable remains, further excavation revealed a considerable quantity of fragments of the pottery above referred to as having been said to have lined the grave. This certainly appeared to confirm the statement. I found this pottery to be of rather a coarser description than usual, and marked abundantly with the cord pattern, known to be of such frequent employment. but in this instance made with a large cord or small ropo. The side so ornamented was invariably concave. while the other side was convex and nusmoothed, different from any other specimens I have seen elsewhere. So rough and unfinished was the unornamented sido that it had every appearance of having been pressed upon the ground while yet plastic, and sand, and even gravel, adhering to it, confirmed this impression. After having viewed the evidences. I had no longer any great difficulty in receiving the statements previously made. My chief informant was perfectly uneducated in such matters, and even attributed the peculiar formation lining the sides of the grave to the coagulation and final hardening of blood, accounting for its presence in such large quantity by presuming a battle to have been fought in the vicinity. The few fragments of human bones, which on this occasion were exhumed with the pottery, were in the last stages of decay. A remarkable series of those works occurs at Beaver Harbor, on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan. A very limited and hurried examination which I made of the group in 1871 sufficiently satisfied me as to their ancient origin. They appear to be of the same character as the mounds on the Detroit River, and those at the foot of Lako Huron. They were probably largely used for purposes of sepulture. From the success attending my brief labors it woukt appear that the more valued relies of the Mound Builders have been here deposited in unusual abundance. Highly-wrought stone implements, many of

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them being of uncommonly skillful workmanship, are frequently encountered. They are formed of a great variety of stone, such as diorite, or greenstone, sienite, shale and chert, many of them being finely polished. One of the handsomest stone axes I ever saw was taken out at this place: it is made from sienite, a favorite material for this implement, and the hand- icraft displayed in its construction is of the highest order."

At intervals, residents along the rivers and lake discover relies of the aborigines. June 29, 1870, a boy named Daniel Tyrell went up the lake shore in June, 1870, to pick strawberries, and upon returning homeward, while wading in the lake, he lifted something which he thought was a very curious looking stone. Upon examining it, he saw it was the tooth of some enor- mous animal, and brought it home. It created mich curiosity. The weight of the tooth is three pounds and eleven ounces, and seems to have been the back tooth of the lower jaw. It is seven and a half inches in length, and five inches in depth, but the animal seems to have been an old one, as the tubereular points are much worn by attrition, similar to the molars of an old person.

Daniel Cottrell, in digging a hole for a fence post, in June, 1875, at a depth of three feet below the surface, exhumed a tomahawk, the skull of an Indian, and a large number of silver ornaments and trinkets, the aggregate weight of which was about two pounds. The ornaments found comprise buckles. earrings, bracelets, brooches. and other rude designs, such as were worn a century ago by chiefs. The silver is rolled very thin, made as showy as possible; the workmanship is that of a white man; the bracelets are two inches in width, and bear the stamp of the early American confederation of ten States-the eagle with outspread wings, and ten stars in the shape of a crescent overhead.

In August, 1875, Mathew Kemp, living on the southwest corner lot at St. Clair, dug down in the earth a few feet to get some sand for building purposes, and a day or two afterward his little daughter discovered something of a sparkling nature in the earth that had been excavated, and brought it into the house to find out what it was. Upon cleaning it up Mr. Kemp found it to be a lump of quartz and copper mixed with stone, in the proportion of two of each of the former to one of the latter. The specimen is a very fine one. How it came there is merely a matter of conjecture. It may have been dropped accidentally by some person-Indian or white man-years ago, or it may have been transported thither during the drift period.

In closing this chapter, it is well to speak a word to those who cannot comprehend fully the eccentrieities of geology. Recently a foreign author adopted the theory that the days in Genesis first are long periods of time, and endeavors to show that the faets of geology corre- spond in a wonderful manner with the panoramic description of Moses in a great number of particulars. To those who are satisfied with his interpretations of Scripture the argument will seem elear and convineing. There will, however, be others, great numbers, to whom it will not appear probable that Moses should have had a seien itic revelation of the process of the world's ereation which could not be understood by a single reader, until, thousands of years after his death. the true meaning was developed by modern geology. It will also be regarded as quite incredible that the explicit references to six mornings and evenings point to immeasurable periods of light and darkness, contrary to the established uses of these words in all languages. The work, in a scientific point of view, is highly interesting and instructive. But its exegetical side seems exceedingly defective. The whole subject of the " days," "even- ings and mornings," in Genesis, first demands a renewed examination in the light, not of science. but of philology and exegesis. As the matter now stands, it may be well questioned whether Hebrew scholars have not too far given up the true principles of exposition for the purpose of seeming to reconcile Genesis and geology. It is high time this question should be carefully reviewed. Skeptics will never accept unnatural and forced interpretations of the Scripture as affording sufficient answers to their objections. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan may be taken as a subject lesson by them. That land of iron and copper was fashioned by God in a moment to provide for the present time; millions of years could not have formed these iron hills, even as time, previous to 1846, never suggested a development of their mineral resources.

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

CLIMATOLOGY AND METEOROLOGY.

The varied climatological changes resulting from settlement are many and serions. There are many theories afloat concerning the effect of reclaiming the soil and the destruction of its forests. To ns. a new people and a new State, the question is one of great moment, the more so that it is still in our power not only to watch the effects of such changes but still more so to control them in a measure for our good. As to the effect upon animat and vegetable life, it would appear that so far as relatos to the clearing away of forests, the whole change of condi- tions is limited to the surface, and dependent for the most part on the retention and slow evap- oration in the forests, in contrast with the rapid drainage and evaporation in the open space. The springs diminishing in number and volume in our more settled parts of the State, do not indicate a lossening rainfall. It is a well-ascertained fact that in other places so domided. which have been allowed to cover themselves again with forests, the springs re-appear. and the springs are as full as before denudation. With us, happily, while the destruction of forests is going on in various parts of the State, the second growth is also going on, both in the pinories, where now varieties of hard wood take the place of the pine, and in the more cultivated parts of the State, enttivation forbidding, as it does, the practice so much in vogue some years ago. of running fires through the undergrowth. Thus, though the renewal of forests may not be keeping pace with their destruction, it would seem clear that as time advances the springs and streams in the more cultivated parts of the State will fill and flow again, increasing in proportion as the second growth increases and expands. The change. however. from denndation, though strictly limited to the surface, affects the surface in other ways than simply in the retention and ovap When the winter winds are blowing. the want of sheltering protection of belts oration of rain.

of trees is bitterly felt, both by man and beast. And so. too, in the almost tropical heats of summer, both languish and suffer from the want of shade. Nor is the offeet of denudation less sensibly felt by vegetable life. The growing of our more delicate fruits. like the peach, tho plum. ho pear. the better varieties of the cherry and gooseberry, with the beautiful half-hardy flow. ering shrubs, all of which flourishet so well in a number of our older counties some twenty years ago, are as a rule no longer to be found in those localities, having died out, as is believed. from exposure to cold winds, to the southwest winds in particular, and for want of the protect- ing influence of the woods. In fruits, however, we have this compensation, that. while the more tender varieties, especially of apples, have been increasing. while the grape (than which nothing speaks better for climatology), of which we grow some 150 varieties. the strawberry, the rasp berry, blackberry and currant, ote., hold their ground. Nor aro the eatthe suffering as much as formerly, or as much as is perhaps popularly believed, from this want of forest or tree shelter. With the better breeds which our farmers have been able of late years to purchase, with better blood and better food, and better care, our stock, instead of dwindling in condition, or in mum- ber, from the effect of cold. has progressed in quality and quantity, and competes with the best in the Chicago and New York markets. There ean, however, be no doubt that the planting of groves and bolts of trees in exposed localities would be serviceable in many ways. in tempering the air and imparting to it an agreeable moisture in the summer, in modifying the severity of the cold in winter, in moderating the extreme changes to which our climate is subject, and thus in a measure preventing those discomforts and diseases which ocour from sudden changes of temperature. Besides, these plantings, when made between homes or villages and malarial marshes, serve (by the aid of the prevailing southwest winds) to break up-to send over, and above and beyond the malarial substratum of air to which we are otherwise injuriously exposed. The effects of reclaiming the soit, or " breaking," as it is called in the West. have years ago. when the State first began to be settled, been disastrous to health and life. The moist sod be ing turned over in hot weather, and left to undergo. through the summer, a putrifying. foment- ative process, gave rise to the worst kind of malarial, typhoid (bilious) and dysenterie disease. Not, however, that the virulence or mortality altogether depended upon the soil emanations. This was undoubtedly aggravated by the condition of the early settlers, who were wanting in many things, such as in proper homes, proper food and proper medical attendance, medicines and nursing. These fovers have swept the district years ago, particularly in the autumns of 1544 and 1815, but are now only observed from time to time in limited localities, following in

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 19

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814