History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 3

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1922
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1767

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On the western side of the Laurentian island was thus deposited in thin layers a fine aluminous clay, impregnated with sufficient iron to give it a dark, rich, red color. As ages passed this clay was transformed into "cat- linite" or "pipestone", and its principal place of deposit in Wisconsin is in Barron county.

Geological research is still being conducted in this region, and the re- sults are from time to time being published under state auspices. In this article merely the briefest review of general conditions has been given.

An interesting soil survey of the county has already been completed.

CHAPTER III.

THE ABORIGINES.

The first residents of Barron county who have left definite evidence of their occupancy are the Mound Builders. The county contains about 250 mounds, more than the number occurring in any region of similar size in northwestern Wisconsin. The Lake Chetek region, especially, was a favorite resort of these Aborigines, as were the Prairie Lake and Rice Lake regions. The region around all these lakes was formerly covered with a dense forest of pine and other timber. Fish and game were abundant and large fields of wild rice grew in all of them.

At one time it was believed that the Mound Builders were a separate race of people living here before the Indians. Scholars now believe that they were Indians, differing in no important ways save in their mound building propensities from the Indians whom the whites found inhabiting portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Tradition would indicate that some time before the discovery of America by Columbus, the Siouan peoples, to which branch belong both the Winnebago and the Dakota, were inhabiting the region about the sources of the Ohio river. Pressed upon by neighboring Algonquin peoples they slowly progressed along the Ohio valley, leaving great earthworks as they advanced. In the course of several centuries they reached the Ohio's mouth, and there divided, one branch passing northward along the Mississippi and gradually separating into many tribes, that located chiefly west of the great river. One branch penetrated the Rock Valley in Wisconsin and gradually spread toward Green Bay, becoming the Winnebagoes. Another branch established itself at Mille Lacs in northern Minnesota, and became the Medewakaton branch of the Dakotas, or as they are commonly called, the Sioux.

Along their way they built mounds. There are many varieties of mounds, probably built at different periods. Some scholars believe that the Siouan peoples were in the upper Mississippi valley previous to their occupancy of the Ohio region, and that the migration from the Ohio region to the upper Mississippi region was merely a return to land formerly occupied. Thus far it has been impossible to separate the different type of mounds into different periods.

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HISTORY OF BARRON COUNTY

It is the generally accepted belief among scholars that the mounds of Barron county were built by the immediate ancestors of the Dakota (Sioux) found in the upper Mississippi region by the early explorers, but thus far there is no definite proof. Indian tradition indicates that the Dakota once occupied the region south of western Lake Superior.

The best known mounds in Barron county are those in the Chetek region, the Rice Lake region and the Red Cedar lake region.

The first scientific examination of the mounds of Barron county was made in 1890 for Prof. Cyrus Thomas' report in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethology. The portion of this survey in Barron county concerned the Rice Lake region.

The collection of archeological data in the Chetek region was begun by J. A. H. Johnson, former county sheriff, and now county surveyor, in 1912. In August, of that year, Charles E. Brown and Robert H. Becker, of the Wis- consin Archeological Society, accompanied by H. A. Kirchner of Milwaukee, visited Chetek, and with Mr. Johnson's assistance, undertook the making of plats and surveys of the mound groups located by him. A. T. Newman, of Bloomer, also a member of the society, later joined the party, and with him a visit was made to a pipestone quarry, located in section 3, Sumner town- ship.

On the shores of the Chetek lakes, thirteen mound locations have been reported to the Wisconsin Archeological Society, containing 152 mounds.

Of these, the greater number, 122, were situated on the shores of Lake Chetek. Twenty-nine were found on the shores of Prairie lake and a single mound on Lake Pokegema. In the two Chetek river groups there are 14 mounds.

The total number of such earthworks about Rice Lake (not including the two groups recorded by J. D. Middleton from section 21, and of which the Wisconsin Archeological Society has no count) is 67. The total number of mounds in the entire Chetek-Rice Lake region covered by the survey, 233, is probably greater than that of those occurring in any region of similar size in northwestern Wisconsin.

It will be noted that with few exceptions all of the Indian mounds of this region are conical or oval in form, the conical mounds being the most numerous. Of these the largest and most prominent are in the Pleasant Point group on the shore of Prairie lake. Two short linear mounds and a tapering oval mound occur in the Chetek river group and at least one mound which may be classed as a linear in the Pleasant Point group. Much interest is attached to a pear-shaped oval mound in the latter group and a double conical or dumb-bell shaped mound in the Rice lake group.

Of the conical and oval mounds which have been explored, most have been found to contain burials, most of these were bundled burials, or human remains which had been interred in temporary graves and afterwards buried in separate bundles or deposits in the mounds. Some of the burials disin- terred from mounds at Rice lake by J. D. Middleton, he decided were intrusive, that is, made long after the mounds were built. Of the mounds explored in the entire region but a small number appear to have contained implements or ornaments of any kind. The presence of charcoal and charred human bones in some of the mounds indicates that a fire ceremony accompanied the burials.

While it is very probable that the mounds of the Chetek and Rice lake region were constructed by the Dakota, who were the earliest known Indian occupants of the region, this contention yet lacks of proof. Elsewhere in northern Wisconsin there are burial mounds, which, although they were not a mound building tribe, the Chippewa appear to have erected. Some of the intrusive burials found in the Rice lake mounds are probably more or less recent Chippewa interments.

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HISTORY OF BARRON COUNTY

Indian garden beds in the county have attracted much attention. The arrangement of these Indian garden beds on the shore of Rice lake (on the Nelson farm) differ from any which have been found (up to the fall of 1917) among the many plots of such planting grounds found in Wisconsin. Other Indian garden beds are reported to exist near old Indian camp sites along the Red river between Cameron and Chetek.

The following report, based on the survey begun in 1912, was published in October, 1917 (The Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 16, No. 3). The edition was limited, and the salient features are here reproduced where they may be available to every citizen in the county:

Lake Chetek. 1. Chetek Village Site. The west shore of Lake Chetek, from the northern limits of Chetek to its outlet appears to have been in stone age times the site of one or a series of Indian camps. Evidences of Indian occupation occur in many of the gardens in the rear of the houses fronting on Main street, which runs parallel to the shore of the lake. On a vacant lot, recently under cultivation, adjoining the Yellow Lodge hotel property on the south, numerous flakes of light brown and white quartzite, a few chert flakes, potsherds and scattered, burned, and fractured stones from Indian fireplaces were found. In early days of settlement the Chippewa Indians fre- quently camped on this shore of the lake. A considerable number of arrow- points and other stone implements have been picked up on this site in past years. There are said to have formerly been a few scattered mounds here. Of these nothing is known except that they were burial mounds.

2. Chetek Mound Group. On several vacant lots fronting on a narrow street running parallel to the lake shore, and extending from the rear of Pokegema Inn and the city boat landing to opposite the bridge at the outlet is a group of seven conical mounds. These have been long under cultivation and are now only from one to about two feet high at their centers. Four of these lie wholly or partly in gardens, two have been cut in two by the street and one lies on a grass grown lot. One of the largest is said to have been at one time six or more feet high. It is not known whether any of these mounds had been excavated or whether the group formerly included additional mounds. In the gardens in which some of the mounds are located the usual evidences of Indian quartzite chipping are scattered about. This site is about one-half block south of the Yellow Lodge hotel grounds.

3. Young Mounds. On the lawn of what is known as the Young prop- erty at the junction of Main and Tainter streets, at the southern limits of Chetek, is a fine oval mound. This mound measures 30 by 40 feet in size and is about 41/2 feet high at its middle. Growing on its eastern edge is an oak tree having a diameter of one foot. Several other young oaks grow about the mound. Another mound was formerly located on the front of this lot. Its outline could still be plainly traced on the lot and in Tainter street, it having been destroyed in improving the street. It was conical in form with a base diameter of about 34 feet. No information concerning its contents could be obtained. This place is about two blocks southwest of the Chetek group of mounds.

4. Douglas Street Mound. According to J. A. H. Johnson, a conical mound was formerly located in front of the Catholic church property, in Chetek. It was destroyed in the grading of Douglas street. This locality is a short distance from the railway track. William Carey, an old settler of Chetek, says that he believes that there were at one time other mounds located in the village limits between this place and the Olson and Young mounds.

5. Bailey's Pond Camp Site. Mr. Johnson has reported the presence of an Indian camp site on the shore of Bailey's lake, a small lake, or pond, located a short distance west of the Chetek railway depot. A single conical mound located on the east side of the pond is nearly obliterated by the cul- tivation of the land. A plot of Indian garden beds is also located here. The

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HISTORY OF BARRON COUNTY

earthen ridges, he states, are about two feet wide and the distance between the rows, four feet.

6. Olson Mounds. In a potato patch on the Steve Olson place, several hundred feet southeast of the mounds on the Young lot and in line with Main street, is a single conical mound. It has been somewhat injured by cultivation and is now about 25 feet in diameter and about 2 feet high at its middle. In the field about it quartzite chips and fire-place stones are scat- tered about. The Chetek River dam lies a short distance east of this mound. A son of Mr. Olson has a small number of quartzite and chert arrowpoints found on his father's place. These are stemmed forms similar to those found commonly in southern Wisconsin.

7. Chetek River Group. In a wooded pasture belonging to Steve Olson is a group of four linear and oval mounds. A linear mound, the largest mound in the group, extended at the time of our visit into an oat field. All of these mounds have been dug into at their tops by persons of the relic hunting class but are only slightly mutilated. One has been somewhat damaged by the tracking across it of the cows pastured here. These mounds have the follow- ing dimensions: No. 1, 31x46 feet; 31/2 feet high. No. 2, 17x27x73 feet; 21/2 feet high at its highest part, at its northern extremity. No. 3, 21x551/2 feet; 1 foot high. No. 4, 24x88 feet; 3 feet high. East of the mounds the land slopes toward a small drain which leads to the Chetek river, a short distance away. Two of the mounds lie within a few feet of the C., St. P., M. & O. Ry. right- of-way fence and can be seen from the track in entering Chetek. In grading the right-of-way in 1881 several other mounds belonging to this group were destroyed. These are reported to have been conical in form. In the course of their destruction a large number of native copper implements were found with the Indian burials disturbed. A. T. Newman, of Bloomer, states that a Mr. Ebener, an Eau Claire civil engineer, informed him that he secured 1,788 of these from the men engaged in the grading operations. If this statement is correct, the number exceeds by far the number of such implements ever recovered from any single aboriginal site in Wisconsin. Unfortunately both the collector and these implements have been lost track of. Others were said to have been dumped into a railroad fill with the earth from the mounds.

8. South Shore Mounds and Camp Sites. Indian mounds were formerly scattered over the lands lying along the south shore of Lake Chetek from the Chetek river at the outlet to the Chautauqua Assembly grounds, a distance of two miles. There are said to have been a hundred or more of them located on what are now the F. W. Zeissner, J. C. Phillips and F. A. Southworth farms, land originally owned by the Knapp, Stout & Co., lumber firm, and still known as the Knapp, Stout & Co. farm. Doubtless these were arranged in several, or a number of distinct groups. In walking over portions of the cultivated lands of these farms with Mr. J. A. H. Johnson, the investigators were able to re- locate many of these earthworks. All were of conical or oval form. Some were formerly of quite large size. According to William Carey, an old settler, who assisted in their demolition, there was on the Zeissner place at the outlet of the lake a group of about seventy-five mounds. These earthworks were from a few feet to six or more feet high. This place was originally covered with a forest of pine trees. Some of the trees were from 18 to 20 inches in diameter. Stumps of this size were on some of the mounds when he assisted in the year 1866 in removing the mounds to obtain earth for the construction of the Chetek River dam, a few hundred feet below the outlet of Chetek lake. Only the tops of some of the mounds were removed and the remains of these mounds are still to be seen in the cultivated fields along the river. In the de- struction of the mounds a large quantity of human bones was disturbed and some native copper and stone implements obtained. Some of them had been previously excavated by Prof. T. H. Lewis, formerly of St. Paul. Others were explored by W. M. Carter, a former resident of Chetek. On the adjoining Phillips' place the number of mounds is said to have been much smaller.

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HISTORY OF BARRON COUNTY

Some of the mounds on the present Southworth place, adjoining the former place on the east, were destroyed in grading for the fair grounds which were once located here. Elsewhere in the fields and along the road at this place, mounds reduced by cultivation and road-making, are still to be seen.

Mound Park Group. On the Chatauqua Assembly grounds, now sub- divided into summer resort lots and known as Mound Park, is a fine group of twenty-eight mounds. Traces of two others, almost wholly removed, are on the same property and traces of five others in the road. Some others are in the Southworth field across the road. Of the mounds in Mound Park, four are oval and the remainder conical in form. The largest of the former meas- ures 55 by 30 feet, and the largest of the latter is 42 feet in diameter. The highest of these mounds is about 31/2 feet. A number of them have been excavated by the method common to relic hunters of digging into their tops. The mounds are located in a grove of oak trees and are quite closely grouped. A few are very near the bank of the lake which here is from 18 to 20 feet high. They occupy a triangle of land whose greatest length is about 600 feet and whose base measures about 500 feet. Of this group a survey was made. It is highly desirable that a number of the finest of these earthworks be preserved.

Camp Sites. In the early days of settlement, the Chippewa Indians often camped in large numbers about and near the outlet to Lake Chetek.

In the cultivated fields of the Zeissness farm. on the east side of the out- let and along the south shore of the lake, quartzite and a lesser number of chert and quartz flakes and fragments and fireplace stones are to be seen on the surface of the ground. These fields have been collected from for years and a large number of stone arrow and spear-points, perforators, scrapers, celts, hammer stones, arrow-shaft grinders and other materials, obtained. Camp and workshop sites are also indicated by scattered evidences on part of the Phillips and Southworth places. A country road leading from Chetek across the bridge at the outlet parallels the lake shore and passes along the front of the several farms mentioned, to Mound Park.

9. Leinenkugel Point Mounds and Camp Site. This point formerly ex- tended into Lake Chetek for a greater distance than it does today. The rais- ing of the lake by the construction of the dam at the outlet has submerged and caused the erosion of a considerable portion of it. On the extremity of this point were formerly located three conical mounds. A. T. Newman, of Bloomer, remembers seeing these mounds in the year 1889. At this time one was being slowly destroyed by the gradual erosion of the lake bank. Two others were then still in good condition. These mounds were 25 or 30 feet in diameter and 3 to 4 feet high. The point is now occupied by a summer resort cottage, known as the "Red Club House", and by several other cottages. William Carey states that in the late eighties the Chippewa Indians camped on Leinenkugel Point. At this time two hundred or more bark-covered wigwams were to be seen here. On the occasion of some special ceremony, or council, when Indians came from other localities to be present, he has seen from 500 to 600 Indians on the lake in birchbark canoes. On the point and from the adjoining cul- tivated fields many stone implements have been collected. W. H. Smith, who formerly resided here, had a considerable collection of these. Mr. Newman also has a number of chert spearpoints and potsherds obtained here. Accord- ing to information given to J. A. H. Johnson by Daniel Beagle, one of the earliest settlers on the site of Chetek, an Indian trading post was in the years 1830-40, located on this point not far from the site of the present club house. The trader was one Louis Montra, of whom nothing further is known. The trader's log cabin was still standing in 1865.

10. Johnson Mounds. On the property of H. M. Knudson on the north side of a small bay on the north shore of Lake Chetek, J. A. H. Johnson, in 1916, located a group of two conical and an oval or short linear mound. These are on Government lot 4, section 20, at a distance of about forty rods west of

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HISTORY OF BARRON COUNTY

the site of the old trading post. The oval mound, Mr. Johnson believes, may be a turtle effigy, this, however, is most unlikely as its location is far distant from the most northern range of such earthworks in Wisconsin.

11. Camp Roskinson Cemetery (S. W. 14, Sec. 20). An' Indian cemetery was formerly located on the east shore of Lake Chetek just south of its union with Lake Pokegema. The graves were in a dry marsh. J. A. H. Johnson re- members that there were some forty or fifty graves in the cemetery which have now been destroyed by the raising of the waters of the lake. At times of low water many stone and copper implements have been collected from a sand bar along this shore by W. M. Carter, J. C. Phillips, and others. The shore is now occupied by a number of cottages.

12. Flynn Camp Site. On the W. W. Flynn place, on the east side of Lake Chetek, indications of an Indian camp and workshop site exist. Some quartzite points and other stone implements have been collected on this place. Fused and fire-cracked stones and potsherds were found in several places on the lake bank.

Chetek River. 1. Omaha Crossing Camp Sites (E. 1/2, Sec. 31). On cul- tivated ground on the Kelley, W. G. Malcolm, and Bernard Moe farms, located on the east bank of the Chetek river, south of the Omaha Railway crossing, the usual scattered indications of former camp and chipping sites were found in a number of places. The land along the river bank is low and marshy and these sites are on the higher land beyond. As usual, the scattered flakes and chips were almost entirely of light-colored quartzite. Only a very few chert flakes were found. In a potato field on the Moe place, just at the edge of a farm road and within about 50 feet of the river bank, has been found indications of a small shell refuse heap. Numerous broken and partly decom- posed valves of river clams were scattered over the surface of a piece of ground about 15 feet long. Investigations made with a trowel revealed fur- ther clusters of closely-packed shells. All of them, however, were within a few inches of the surface and no traces of a refuse pit were revealed. The clam shell valves collected here were identified by Dr. Frank C. Baker, director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, as specimens of Lampsilis ligamentina, Lampsilis luteola, Lampsilis anodontoides and Lampsilis alata, all of which species of Unio occur here. J. A. H. Johnson, who has collected here, has a fine flint blank found on the Malcolm place. A few quartzite arrow-points, blanks and a sandstone arrow-shaft grinder have been found by others.

2. Chetek River Site No. 2 (S. W. 14, Sec. 31). On the west bank of the Chetek River, on the J. Walsal place, in a cultivated field above the country road, scattered indications of a camp site were found by the author and Mr. Kirchner. Several large quartzite blanks, an arrow-shaft grinder, a chert scraper and a number of arrow-points have been found here. From this place the investigators followed the course of the river southward for several miles but found no indications of camp or workshop sites in any of the numerous cultivated fields along its course.

3. Mortenson Mounds (N. E. 14, S. W. 1/4, Sec. 1, Dovre township). Mr. Johnson reported the presence of two conical mounds on the Chris Mortenson place, in woods near the west bank of the Chetek. These, because of the dense woods and underbrush, we were unable to find.

4. Junction Mounds (S. E. 14, Sec. 10, Dovre township). On the Nor- man Williamson (Ole Hanson) place, at the junction of the Chetek and Red Cedar rivers, are two groups of mounds. One consists of seven conical and oval mounds and is located in a tract of land bordering on the Red Cedar river and thickly overgrown with trees and brush. The largest of the oval mounds measures 21 by 45 feet. The single conical mound is 20 feet in diameter. All of these earthworks are low, the highest being only about 31/2 feet high at its middle. A few hundred feet northwest of these mounds on the river bank are two conical mounds. In a cultivated field adjoining this woodland on the east is a group of three conical mounds. These mounds are separated from

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HISTORY OF BARRON COUNTY

one another by short distances. They are 40, 43, and 60 feet in diameter, respectively, and from 3 to 31/2 feet high. They are said to have been originally from 5 to 6 feet high. Several hundred feet north of these mounds are scat- tered indications of an Indian camp and workshop site. J. A. H. Johnson states that a large number of stone and other implements have been col- lected from these fields. One collection of these was sent to Norway. On the bank of the Chetek river, at a distance of about 130 rods east of the second mound group, a Chippewa Indian camp was located in 1840-45. At this point the natives forded the river. Another camp was located at a distance of about 85 rods southeast of the mounds, at the junction of the two streams. On the Peter Knappen place, on the east bank of the Chetek river, are evidences of another camp and workshop site.

Prairie Lake. 1. Gregerson Cache (S. W. 1/4, Sec. 18, Chetek township). On the Thomas Gregerson farm, on the east shore of Prairie lake, a cache of 27 quartzite blades was recently found in a cultivated field. It was disturbed by the finder in digging a post-hole. The blades lay in a small heap at a depth of about 2 feet below the surface of the soil. They were made of light brown quartzite and were from 2 to 3 inches long. In this field are scattered indica- tions of an Indian camp and workshop site. Many stone and some copper implements have been found here by Mr. Gregerson and his boys. Between this field and the lake is a fine tract of pine woods in which is a winding Indian trail leading west to the water's edge. It is not very deep and was probably in use for only a short time. Where this trail reaches the shore was the Indian portage across Prairie lake. The camp site on this place extends over on to the Christ Bruson farm adjoining it on the south. On this site the Chippewa Indians frequently camped in numbers in the years after 1870. Fireplace stones were found in several places along the lake bank on the Gregerson place. According to Indian tradition several fights between the Chippewa and Dakota (Sioux) took place in an early day on the shores of Prairie lake.

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History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 3

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1767

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1922
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1767