USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 4
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*Wis. Geol., Vol. I., 281.
AMERICAN MASTODONS-RESTORED BY OWEN.
4I
QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE.
irregularities of the drift material, and the action of the ice upon the drift.
DEPOSIT OF DEBRIS .- We are indebted to the glaciers for the large amount of different kinds of rock promiscuously deposited over northern and eastern Wisconsin. The range sediment, as well as the scattered debris, was in part derived from adjacent formations, while some were brought from hundreds of miles northward.
OUTLET OF THE GREAT LAKES .- During the Quaternary age, Lake Michigan's waters were discharged southwesterly into the Mississippi, through the Illinois valley, while Lake Erie poured its waters into the Mississippi, through the Maumee-Wabash valley. Later on, through agencies now unknown, the great lakes poured their waters into the northern Atlantic.
LIFE HISTORY .- The formation of peat deposits and other indica- tions of verdure during this inter-glacial period is well established. The great lakes and rivers which formed at the time of the glacial retreat, are supposed to have buried these vegetable deposits .* Upon the close of the second Glacial period, elephants and gigantic mastodons, } roamed over the whole territory, from Canada to Texas. The relics of these great mammals have been exhumed from our swamps, and from the crevices in the lead region.
MAN .- In the Post-Glacial period, we find the first remains of man- the great king of mammals. In the mussel-beds at Cagliari, in Sardinia, which must have emerged from the ocean 20, 000 years ago, was found a flat ball of baked earthenware, with a hole through its axis. Count De La Marmora conjectures that it was used for weighting a fishing net. The celebrated Agassiz estimated that it took the coral reefs of the southern half of peninsular Florida 135,000 years to form. In one of these coral banks, human jaws, teeth, and bones of the feet were found, which, according to estimates of that noted authority, must have been 10,000 years old.
*Upon the borders of Green Lake, petrified corn-cobs have been exhumed, from beneath six feet of glacial debris.
+The most complete skeleton ever found in America was discovered, in 1845, at Newburg, Orange County, N. Y., in a swamp usually covered with water. This skele- ton is now mounted, and is in Boston. The skeleton stands eleven feet in height, and is seventeen feet long. The circumference around the ribs is sixteen feet five inches, and the tusks are eleven feet long. Similar species belong to the European extinct type.
42
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
AREA AND POPULATION OF WISCONSIN COUNTIES.
ELEVENTH CENSUS.
AREA IN SQUARE MILES.
CENSUS, 1890, POPULATION.
EST. POPULATION, SEPT. 1892.
Adams
690
6,889
7,333
Ashland
1,648
20,063.
21,066
Barron
900
15,416
16,187
Bayfield
1,406
7,390
8,129
Brown
530
39, 164
41,122
Buffalo
657
15,997
17,597
Burnett
891
4,393
4,613
Calumet
340
16,639
17,47I
Chippewa
1,980
25, 143
26,400
Clark
1,224
17,708
18,593
Columbia
780.
28,350
29,767
Crawford
535.
15,987
16,786
Dane
1,200
59,578
62,557
Dodge
900.
44,984
47,233
Door
450
15,682
16,466
Douglas
1,336.
13,468
14,14I
Dunn.
86
22,664
23,797
Eau Claire
648.
30,673 .
32,522
Florence
498.
2,604 .
2,784
Fond du Lac
720
44,088.
46,292
Forest
1,276
1,012 ..
1,113
Grant
1,130.
36,651
38,484
Green
576.
22,732.
23,869
Green Lake
360
15,163.
15,92I
Iowa
740.
22, 117 .
23,223
Jackson
992
15,797
16,587
Jefferson
570.
33,530
35,207
Juneau
800
17,12I
17,977
Kenosha
280
15,58I
16,360
Kewaunee
336.
16,153
16,961
Lafayette.
630
20,265
21,278
Langlade
876.
9,465
10,412
Lincoln .
700
12,008
13,209
Manitowoc
587
37,831
39,723
Marathon
1,584
30,693
32,228
Marinette
1,118
20,304 .
21,319
Marquette
481
9,676
10, 160
Milwaukee
232
. 236, 10I
259,7II
43
LIST OF ELEVATIONS.
AREA IN SQUARE MILES.
CENSUS, 1890, POPULATION.
EST. POPULATION, SEPT. 1892.
Monroe
900
23,21I
24,372
Oconto
1,127 .
15,009.
15,795
Oneida
2,036
5,010.
5,611
Outagamie
640.
38,690
40,625
Ozaukee
232.
14,943.
15,690
Pepin
244.
6,932
7,625
Pierce
570.
20, 385
21,404
Polk.
955
12,968
13,616
Portage
792.
24,798
26,038
Price
1,160
5,258.
5,521
Racine
340.
36,268.
38,099
Richland
570
19,12I
20,077
Rock
720.
43,220
45,381
St. Croix
730
23, 139
24,296
Sauk
837
30,575
32, 104
Sawyer
1,368.
1,977
2,076
Shawano
1,152.
19,236.
20, 198
Sheboygan
515.
42,489
46,738
Taylor .
990
6,731
7,068
Trempealeau
732
18,920
20,812
Vernon
800.
25, III
26,367
Walworth
570
27,860
29,253
Washburn
864
2,926
3,219
Washington
432
22,75I
23,889
Waukesha
576.
33,270.
34,934
Waupaca
757
26,794
28, 134
Waushara
645 .
13,507
14,182
Winnebago
460
50,097 .
52,602
Wood
828
18,127
19,033
Total
. 54,450
1,686,880
LIST OF ELEVATIONS.
ABOVE LAKE MICHIGAN. Feet.
HIGHEST POINT ABOVE OCEAN.
ABOVE LAKE MICHIGAN. Feet'
HIGHEST POINT ABOVE OCEAN.
Feet.
Feet.
Ashford
516
1,094
Cedarburg
352
930
Auburn
490.
1,068
Center
400
978
Azleton .
297 .
875
Chilton
669
1,247
Beaver Dam
340
918
Clinton
373
951
Beloit
314
892
Delavan
571 . 1,149
Black Earth
232.
810
De Pere
245 . 823
Burnett
299 .
877
Eagle
370.
948
Calumet
410.
988
Eden
515. 1,093
+ !
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
ABOVE LAKE MICHIGAN. Feet.
HIGHEST POINT ABOVE OCEAN.
ABOVE LAKE MICHIGAN,
HIGHEST POINT ABOVE OCEAN.
Elba
277
855
Oak Grove
363.
941
Empire
399 .
977
Oakland
363
941
Farmington
439
1,017
Osceola.
566
1,144
Forest .
515.
1,093
Pewaukee
308.
886
Fox Lake.
412.
990
Pierce .
Pleasant Prairie ..
160
738
Geneva
445.
1,023
Plymouth.
412.
990
Genesee
350.
328.
906
Portland.
340
918
Granville.
212.
790
Prairie du Chien.
41
619
Green Bay
238
816
Randall.
340.
918
Greenbush
417.
995
Red River
285.
863
Greenfield
255
833
Rhine
426.
1,004
Hartford.
740
1,318
Richfield.
542.
I,IIO
Holland
307
885
Ripon
400
978
Jackson
440
1,018
Rock
306.
884
Janesville.
295
873
Rockland
320
898
Jefferson
442.
1,020
Rosendale
440
1,018
Kewaskum
528
1,106
Saukville
249
827
Kewaunee
I45
723
Sheboygan
149
727
Koshkonong.
298
876
Sheboygan Falls.
190
768
Lafayette
443
I,O2I
Sherman
473.
1,05I
Lake
190
768
Spring Prairie. ..
401 .
979
Lake Mills
398
976
Spring Valley ..
423.
1,001
Lincoln.
232
810
Stockbridge
399
977
Lynn
368
946
Sturgeon Bay
460
1,038
Lowell
305
883
Taycheedah.
451
1,029
Lyndon
492 1,070
Trenton
345
923
Magnolia
450
1,028
Tray
217
895
Manitowoc
213
791
Turtle .
330.
908
Maple Grove. . . 329
907
Union
442
1,020
Marshfield Fond ja Lac Co.)
450 1,028
Washington.
226. .
804
Menasha
I77.
755
Waterford.
330
908
Menominee
334
912
Waterloo
40I .. 979
Metomen
421
999
Waukesha
305.
883
Milton
375
953
Waupun
314
892
Milwaukee
158
736
Wauwatosa
228
806
Mount Pleasure ..
203
781
West Bend
564
1,142
Newark
379
957 Westford
412 990
New Berlin ..
336
914
Whitewater.
317 895
New Denmark. 328 906
Woodville
318 896
New Holstein.
484 1,062
Wrightstown
332 910
Norway
224
802
Yorkville
207
785
Oak Creek.
161
739
179
757
Franklin
335
913
928
Polk.
594
1,172
Germantown
Feet.
Feet.
Feet.
CHAPTER XIV.
PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN.
Early Asiatic Emigration .- Southward Emigration to Mexico .- Appeasing the Gods .- Architecture of the Mysterious People .- Mummification of the Dead .- Ancient Unknown Fortifications .- Antiquities .- Mound Builders.
WISCONSIN, and in fact, most of the territory bordering upon the great waterways in North America, has been for diverse periods in the remote centuries, peopled by various waves of Mongoloid* emigration from the continent of Asia.
The relics of the great hairy mammoth, on both sides of the Straits of Behring, is most convincing evidence of a land connection between Asia and North America, and is strong evidence in support of the theories that North America was peopled from Asiatic waves of emi- gration.
However, if no land connection ever existed, the distance across the straits is not so great as to preclude the possibility of their having crossed in open boats, as the Eskimo boatmen frequently pass in sum_ mer from one side to the other, for commercial purposes.
The islands in the straits are peopled by Eskimo, who traffic between the Asiatic and American shores, the distance being less than fifty statute miles across the Straits of Behring, besides, the straits are always frozen over and passable in winter.
It is strongly manifest from the accumulation of trustworthy evidence, that a considerable portion of North America was once inhabited by the Eskimo race, t who were driven out by the hunting Indians.
There is also evidence extant of Eskimo emigration northward, which was probably the receding of that tide of emigration.
According to Icelandic annals, Lief and Djorn, about A. D. 1000, established a colony on the Atlantic coast, at or in the vicinity of Rhode Island, where they discovered natives, whom they described as dwarfish.
Some modern writers suggest that the ancient "Tower" at Newport, R. I., which shows considerable architectural science, may be the remains of Icelandic civilization, during that period.
There appear to have been two general streams of Asiatic emigra- tion: one east of the Rocky mountains, and southward through the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico; thence around its border to the table- lands of Mexico-the other and broader route, lay west of the Rocky mountains and southward through the great plateau regions, and as far south as Rio Gila; thence to Chapala lake.
*Brown Race.
+It is well settled that the Eskimo is in no manner related or allied to the Ameri- can Indian.
1
2
3
4
5
6
10
12
7
8
J3
4
COPPER IMPLEMENTS IN HISTORICAL ROOMS AT MADISON.
47
PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN.
The great center of population on the South American coast diffused beyond the Isthmus and over North America. Almost simultaneously we find waves of emigration southward from the Straits of Behring, then in time we find a partial receding of the tide.
Polygenists have argued, and been most ably defended by L. Agas- siz and J. C. Nott in their advocacy of the erroneous theory, that the American Indian tribes were the original inhabitants of the soil.
Extraordinary views have been held by such able men as Dr. Rudolph Folb,* Elias Baudinot,; Dr. Deminick M. Causlandį and others, while Alex. von Humboldt, Alex. Winchell and a score of able scientists, record their based convictions, that ancient intercourse existed between America and eastern Asıa.
From the weight of authorities, we are justifiable in asserting that the American Indian tribes are of one race, and differ only from their Asiatic ancestors through severance, associations and habits. The striking facial resemblance of the Asiatic stock to our American Indians is remarkably pronounced, especially so with the Chinese and Japanese types of Mongoloids. The obliquely-set eyes and general facial expressions all indicate one common origin.
General Cesnola says that stone instruments, found by him in the ancient graves in California, are strikingly similar to some obtained from the tombs of Cyprus. Even the pottery of the Pueblos, and that of the Santa Barbara Indians of California, are similar to the Egyptian and Grecian pottery.
M. Charney, the great French traveler, while exploring eastern and western Java, discovered a close resemblance between the remains of the Hindu, Buddhist civilization, and that of ancient Mexico.
In the grim Canon de Tsay-ee, in the Navajo country, is a cata- comb of genuine mummies. These were the ancient cliff-builders.
In the San Juan country, in the extreme northwest corner of New Mexico, are situated cliff-built ruins, wherein are embalmed the bodies of their ancestors. This is suggestive of Egyptian origin. The discov- ery of well-preserved mummies, from New Mexico and southern Pata- gonia, leads us to believe that the mummification of the dead was caused by a controlling motive which was inherited from ancestors, who dwelt in a more propitious climate.
The history of ancient Mexico exhibits two distinct periods. The former that of the Toltecs, which is thought to have begun in the sev- enth, and to have ended in the twelfth century, while that of the Aztecs
*Dr. Folb discovered the relation of the Quinchua and Aymara language to the Aryan and Semite tongue, consequently his opinion was based on the theory that the primitive seat of the human species was in Peru or Bolivia.
+Baudinot maintains that the American Indians are the posterity of the "Lost Tribes of Israel."
#Dr Causland maintains that the Hykess, or "Shepherds," driven from Egypt, found their way to America, and he thus accounts for the American Indians. See Causland's Adam and Adamites, pp. 226-227. Also same author's work, The Builders of Babel, pp. 84-10I.
MEXICAN PYRAMID. - BUILT BY THE AZTECS,
49
PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN.
began in the year 1200, and closed by the conquest of Cortes in 1519. The primitive seats of the Toltecs will ever be shrouded in mystery, although tradition says that they came from the north, from some undefined locality which they call Tuoalan,* whence they brought to Mexico the first elements of civilization.
They cultivated the land, made roads, erected monuments, and built pyramids, ¡ greater in dimensions than those of Egypt.
They built magnificent temples and beautiful cities, whose ruins in various parts of Mexico and Central America still bear evidence of their architectural skill. They were well versed in many of the arts and sciences; they knew how to fuse metals, cut and polish stones, make earthenware and weave various fabrics, and were also acquainted with the movements of the heavenly bodies; they measured time by a solar year, composed of eighteen months of twenty days each, adding five days to make up the three hundred and sixty-five days.
Nothing is known of the time, manner, or the cause of the departure of the Toltecs from Mexico; but it is believed that they went southward, and built the cities of Palenque, Uxmal, and Mitla, in Central America.
The Aztecs succeeded the Toltecs, but they appear to be have been in disposition the reverse of the Toltecs, as their somber cruelty astonished even the Spaniards by its terrible ferocity. The Aztecs, like their predecessors, also came from some unknown place northeast- ward, and, after wandering from place to place, founded the city of Quenochitlan, or Mexico, in 1325. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards the Aztec empire extended from ocean to ocean.
The traditions of the Mexican nations show a pronounced southern movement of emigration from a distant country called Atzlan.
*Frequently called Atzlan.
¿The architecture of the ancient Aztecs is very similar to the remains of ancient Egypt, India and Greece. The pyramids have even a larger base and are otherwise scarcely inferior to those of Egypt. The most important edifices were devoted to the purposes of religion. These are called Teocallis, and are similar to the Egyptian temples which contain apartments for the priests They contain also sepulchral chambers with descending galleries, leading some into cavernous recesses, which it is conject- ured, were used for religious mysteries. These buildings were generally in pyramidical form, rising in successive stories one above the other, each successive one being smaller. The Holy place or temple in built upon the summit. The sides of the pyramids face the cardinal points, differing a little from the Egyptian pyramids. This style of architecture is displayed at Palenque, in Mexico. The city of Palenque exhibits various buildings, temples, etc. The palaces of the kings are based on pyramidal structure.
¿The Aztecs believed in a supreme being, named Tatol. This supreme being was assisted by thirteen chiefs and two hundred inferior divinities, each of whom had his sacred days and festivals. The temples of the gods, which were annually drenched in the blood of 20,000 captives, were the most splendid and imposing edifices in the empire. Cortes and his companion, Diaz, were permitted by Montezuma to enter the sacred temple, in the city of Mexico, and to behold the god. "He had a broad face, wide mouth and terrible eyes. He was covered with gold and precious stones, and was girt about with golden serpents. On his neck, as fitting ornaments, were the faces of men, wrought in silver, and their hearts in gold; close by braziers with incense, and on the braziers three real hearts of men who had that day been sacrificed."
According to Help's Spanish Conquests in America, in the years immediately pre- ceding the conquests of that country by the Spanish, not less then 20,000 victims were annually given up to the gods
50
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
Von Humboldt thought the mysterious and unknown Atzlan was located in the vast prairie regions, and Von Hellwald thought it located as far north as the basin of the Great Lakes; while others, for well- grounded reasons, locate it in the region of Lake Pepin and western Wisconsin.
The Aztecs, according to the Aztec annals, left their mysterious Atzlan in 1090; more than one hundred years later they had only arrived at Anahuac, on the beautiful tablelands of Mexico, where they founded a civilization which excited the wonder of the civilized world .*
Jonathan Carver, the celebrated English traveler, while on the upper Mississippi, in 1766, discovered an ancient fortification which he described in this manner:
"One day, having landed on the shore of the Mississippi, some miles below Lake Pepin, whilst my attendants were preparing my din- ner, I walked out to take a view at the adjacent country. I had not proceeded far before I came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I per- ceived, at a little distance, a partial elevation that had the appearance of an intrenchment. On a nearer inspection, I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this, many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly discern that it had once been a breastwork of about four feet in height, extend- ing the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the river. Though much defaced by time, every angle was distin- guishable, and appeared regular, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible, but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there cer- tainly had been one. From its situation also, I am convinced that it must have been designed for this purpose. It fronted the country and the rear was covered by the river; nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way that commanded it; a few straggling oaks were alone to be seen near it. In many places, small tracks were worn across it by the feet of the elk and deer, and from the depth of the bed of earth by which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great antiquity. I examined all the angles, and every part with great atten- tion, and have often blamed myself since for not encamping on the spot, and drawing an exact plan of it.
"To show that this description is not the offspring of a heated imagination, nor the chimerical tale of a mistaken traveler, I find on inquiry, since my return, that Monsieur St. Pierre, and several traders, have at different times, taken notice of similar appearences, on which they have formed the same conjectures, but without examining them so minutely as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in a country
*Col. J. W. Foster, after much careful study, concluded that the people who developed the ancient civilization of Mexico and Central America, were expelled from the Mississippi valley by a fierce and barbarous race.
51
PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN.
that has hitherto (according to the generally-received opinion) been the seat of war of untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of military knowledge has only till within two centuries, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose only breastwork even at present is the thicket, I know not. I have given as exact an account as possible of this singular appearance, and leave to future explorers of these distant regions to discover whether it is the production of nature or art. Perhaps the hints I have here given might lead to a more perfect investigation of it, and give us very different views of the ancient state of realms, that we at present believe to have been, from the earliest period, only the habi- tation of savages."
George W. Featherstonhaugh, who was sent out by the war depart- ment of the United States, to make a geological exploration of the upper Mississippi, in 1835, reported to that department that this ancient forti- fication then was in about the same condition as described by Carver, in 1766.
The ruins of another ancient and pre-historic fortification are near the city of Jefferson, on the west branch of the Rock river, in the county of Jefferson. Judge Nathaniel Hyer, who resided at Jefferson in the early days, called these ancient ruins the "City of Aztalan." This was upon the hypothesis that the Aztecs of Mexico once inhabited this country. Judge Hyer, in 1840, after an examination of this noted spot, described the ruins in this graphic manner:
"The citadel consisted of a brick wall, which at the base is from twenty to twenty-five feet wide, at the present time, and, as I should judge, about five feet in height; the projections of the walls' have cer- tainly the appearance of buttresses, as constructed upon military works at this day; they are constructed also of brick, regularly built, at intervals of from two to five rods, and extending beyond the wall about seventeen feet, of the same height as the main wall. The eastern wall, and parallel with, and immediately upon, the bank of the river, is, at this time, but slightly visible, nor are there any appearances of but- tresses, as upon the other portions of the wall. In proceeding upon the supposition that these are the ruins of an ancient fortification, we may conclude that, inasmuch as the eastern side was defended from ingress by a deep and rapid stream, a wall and buttress similar to the one I have attempted to describe as bounding the western side, would have been unnecessary. The whole area within the wall comprises about twenty acres; within the inclosure are a number of square mounds, or elevated plains of the height of fifteen or twenty feet, as I should judge, and perhaps forty or fifty feet square, upon the top, while others are of a more conical shape, and from their situation appear as what might now be termed block-houses, or places of look-out; that such was the object of their construction I am not prepared to say. There is also a distinct ridge, running east and west, connecting two of the towers or
52
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
mounds, as well as two parallel ridges, running north and south, and extending nearly the whole length of the inclosure. There is also a stairway, I am informed, yet visible descending within the mound at the northwest angle of the ruins; this, in my hurried examination, escaped my notice; I can therefore say nothing respecting it. The same remarks must also apply to the termination of a sewer, which is said yet to be perceived at a bend, or angle about midway in the eastern wall; this sewer is said to about three feet below the surface, and arched with stone. Whether through this sewer water was supplied from the river, or not, others can judge. Without the inclosure, and at those points where this work is not protected by the river, are numerous mounds, varying from three to twenty-five feet in height, and from twenty to a hundred feet in circumference; and particularly at the south- west angle, there is an embankment forming the arc of a circle with projections resembling the buttresses represented in the main wall, which require but little stretch of the imagination to suppose was intended as an outwork for the defense of that particular point.
"In examining one of these mounds, I found the remains of a human skeleton, which had been previously exhumed, although, by the action of fire, the bones had been so completely charred, that they readily crumbled to pieces in the hand.
"One word as to the brick wall: Let me not be understood to say, that there is in the brick here found any regular appearance of brick- laying, as at present practiced. The walls which I examined and from which at many different points, with a mattock I broke off specimens, present now the appearance of a mass of burned clay. In what manner at first constructed, there is nothing to indicate; but that the walls and parapets consist of brick, rudely burned and prepared with straw, after the ancient mode, the different specimens I gathered bear sufficient witness."
Mark R. Harrison, the famous Fond du Lac artist, while excavat- ing the foundation for his summer residence, on the east shore of Green Lake, a few years ago, at the depth of five or six feet, through loam, clay and stone, discovered several carbonized corn-cobs .* About this time he also discovered in an adjacent piece of forest a granite stone or detached boulder, upon which was rudely drawn the history of an ancient event. On the margin or edges are cut stars, moons, can oe, half-moons and other figures. At one side, near the center, is an apparent group of warriors sitting on the ground, one of which appears to have feathers in his head-dress or hair. A short distance from this group stands a figure with bow and arrow upraised and pointed at a
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