History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 4

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

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2. Olson Mound and Camp Site (S. 1/2, N. W. 1/4, Sec. 18). A single oval mound is located in the farm of Thorsten Olson. It is 43 by 51 feet in size and about two feet high. It is said to have been originally six or seven feet high, its height having been greatly reduced by cultivation. It lay in the middle of a clover field at the time of our visit. The mound lies about 60 rods back from the east shore of Prairie lake from which it is separated by a strip of woodland. In the cultivated fields about the mound are the usual indica- tions of an Indian camp site. In one place, a short distance north of the mound, J. A. A. Johnson has collected numerous fragments of pottery vessels. Several grooved stone hammers, a number of chert implements and two rusty bayonets have also been collected in this field.

3. Pleasant Plain Group (N. 1/2, N. W. 1/4, Sec. 19). On the Christ Olson place, which adjoins the Thorten Olson farm on the north, is a fine group of twenty-seven conical and oval mounds. Fifteen of these are of conical and twelve of oval form. The largest of the conical mounds is 50 and the smallest 20 feet in diameter. The largest of the oval earth-works measures 94 by 46 and the smallest 20 by 15 feet. The lowest mound in the group is only 11/2 and the highest 10 feet high at its highest part. Thirteen of the mounds are from 5 to 10 feet high. One of the oval mounds is of the peculiar pear- shaped form, being slightly constricted near its nothern extremity. These mounds are quite compactly grouped, being separated from one another by only short distances. As may be seen by a minute examination, they appear to be arranged in four more or less irregular lines or series. They are located in a fine tract of pine woods. At the time of the investigation the southwest corner of the woods had recently been cleared, the brush heaps lying about among the nine mounds in the clearing. West and south of the mounds are cultivated fields and north of them a pretty wooded ravine. In this ravine, near its opening into Prairie Lake, is a fine spring. The portion of this wood-

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HISTORY OF BARRON COUNTY

land lying along the lake shore has recently been subdivided into summer resort lots and is now known as Pleasant Plain. Nearly all of the mounds in this group have been rifled by relic hunters. Deep and ugly holes have been dug into their tops and sides and as no effort has been made by the diggers to again return the earth thrown out in the course of their destructive opera- tions the mounds today resemble miniature volcanoes. As all of this digging has been done by persons having no archeological knowledge or experience and by methods generally disapproved it is hardly to be expected that any data of value to archeological science of the results of their operations could be obtained. Some of these destructive explorations are reported to have been conducted some years ago by a Chicago doctor, and W. M. Carter, a former Chetek collector, with the assistance of several men whom they employed. They secured a number of copper and stone implements. During the summer of 1911, Leroy Colbert of Chetek and others dug into one of the mounds and are said to have obtained a pottery vessel. This group of mounds despite its mutilation is still the finest of those remaining about the Chetek lakes. In none of the other groups are there earthworks which can be compared with these in size. By the expenditure of a small amount of money most of the injured mounds can be restored to their former beauty. Citizens of Chetek should see to it that these mounds are secured and preserved to posterity in a public park. Thus preserved they are certain to become one of the most interesting attractions of this favored region.

4. Museus Mound. J. A. H. Johnson reported the existence of a single oval mound on the Martin Bruson place, formerly owned by Charles Museus. This place is about one mile north of the Pleasant Point group. The mound is in a field and has been long under cultivation. It is about 20 by 30 feet in size and 3 feet high.

Lake Pokegema. 1. Meadows Island Camp Site. This island is located near the northern part of Lake Pokegema. It is only a few acres in extent and is thickly overgrown with trees and brush. On its southern side the lake bank is quite high and steep. The northern shore is low and marshy. This island was in the early days of the settlement of this region a favorite camp- ing place of the Chippewa Indians. The high bank on the southern shore of the island is now being rapidly worn away by the combined forces of the wind, rain and waves and thus evidences of aboriginal occupation are being everywhere exposed. When on August 9, 1912, investigators visited the island in company with Mr. J. A. H. Johnson and Mr. A. T. Newman we found the burned and broken stones of a number of Indian fireplaces scattered over the slope. With these were numerous pieces of charcoal, pottery fragments and pieces of human and animal bones. Other fireplaces were partly exposed at the top of the bank below the sod covering. In October, 1911, Mr. Johnson found at the foot of this lake bank a number of human bones which had apparently been washed out from a grave at the top. Locating this grave he proceeded to explore it and found a human skull over which a small copper trade kettle had been inverted, or which by some accident had been overturned on the skull. In this kettle were a number of thimbles, rings with stone sets, bangles, glass beads and a bone implement, these articles plainly indicating that the burial was a recent one. On the top of the island and at short dis- tances back from the edge of the bank we located a series of shallow circular excavations. Some of the largest of these were five and six feet in diameter and from six inches to a foot in depth, being filled in with leaves and soil. Some of these pits were investigated. They appear to have been originally from three to three and a half feet in depth. Mixed with the soil which we removed from them were numerous fireplace stones and quantities of charcoal. It is quite probable that they were provision caches, being used for the storage of food.

The Chippewa also formerly camped on the west shore of Lake Pokegema on a point just southwest of Meadows Island.

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2. Ellis Mound (E. 1/2, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 17). In a potato field on the Eliza- beth Ellis' property, on the east shore of Lake Pokegema, a single oval mound was located. This mound measured 16 by 25 feet in size. It was rather inconspicuous, its greatest elevation being only about 2 feet and it could only be detected a short distance away by the greater height of the potato plants growing on its top and sides over those on the level about it. It is about 400 feet distant from the bank of Lake Pokegema. Along the shore of the lake, on the Ellis place, a narrow strip of pine and other forest trees has been permitted to remain. The lake bank is quite steep, from 25 to 30 or more feet high in places. In the rear of this strip of woodland and between it and the potato field in which the mound is situated is a strip of recently cleared land upon which at the time of our visit furrows had been turned for the first time. Here a few quartzite flakes and fireplace stones were found. Doubtless another plowing will reveal more abundant indications of a camp and workshop site. In another potato patch, on higher ground several hundred feet south- east of the mound, and separated from it by a buckwheat field, are found indications of a camp and workshop site. On a small knoll, several hundred feet northeast of the mound and in the same potato field, were found scattered about on the surface of the ground numerous fragments of the dark brown sandstone which the aborigines of this region employed for the making of arrowshaft grinders, and grinding stones and which is even today occasionally sought by the Indians for similar or other uses. On this knoll this material lies close to the surface and is encountered and broken up by the plow in cultivating the land. If the cultivated fields on the Ellis place could be examined at a time after the removal of the crops further indications of camp and chipping sites would doubtless be found. In examining the lake bank in front of the Samuel Calhoun place, which adjoins the Ellis property on the south, we found an Indian fireplace, the stones on the outer edge of which were just beginning to slip down the eroding bank.

A large number of Indian rice threshing pits are located on Indian Point, on the A. D. Johnson place, on the east shore of Prairie lake on a slough connecting this lake with Mud lake. Mud lake was a favorite field for the gathering of wild rice.

Rice Lake. 1. Nelson Garden Beds (N. W. 1/4, Sec. 16, Rice Lake town- ship). On the H. C. Nelson place on the west shore of Rice lake, are a series of Indian garden beds. They are located in a pasture having in it a few scattered oak trees. The lake bank in front of this property is from 8 to 18 feet high and distance from the top to the water's edge from 20 to 22 feet. It is overgrown with young trees and shrubs. The garden beds lie from 7 to 10 feet back from the top of the bank. Mr. Nelson, who operates an extensive ginseng nursery at this place, accompanied the investigators and Rex Hamilton of Rice Lake in examination of this Indian planting ground on August 12, 1912. There appear to be two distinct plots of beds. One plot was found to measure about 114 feet in length and to contain 15 beds or rows, these being from 24 to 27 feet in length. A distance of about 50 feet separates this plot of beds from the second plot. The other plot measures about 200 feet in length. The beds are from 15 to 36 feet long. The investigators counted 38 beds, or rows, in this plot which extends to within about 80 feet of the north boundary fence of the pasture. The general direction of the beds is northwest. Although rather low they are quite distinct, much more so in some places than in others. They are from 3 to 31/2 feet wide and from 4 to 6 inches high. The paths separating them are from 1 foot to 14 inches wide. At the nothern end of the second plot there were three shallow circular depressions measuring from 5 to 6 inches across and from 6 to 8 inches in depth. A single similar pit was located at the southern extremity of the other plot. These pits were found to have been originally from 18 inches to 21/2 feet in depth. Nothing was found in any of them and the investigators reached the conclusion that they were probably threshing pits and employed by the Indians in the hulling of

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wild rice, once growing abundantly in the lake. This was accomplished by placing the rice on a blanket or deerskin spread across the hole and treading out the grain with the feet. G. C. Soper says that in the early days of settle- ment the Indians frequently secured pork barrels which they sunk in the ground and employed as threshing pits sometimes using sticks to beat out the grain instead of the feet. It is impossible to determine whether the garden beds and threshing pits were made and in use at the same time, but they probably were. In Mr. Nelson's ginseng nursery, which adjoins this pasture on the south, numerous fireplace stones and occasional quartzite chips were exposed on newly turned ground.

2. Howard Camp Site. The M. T. Howard place, also known as Howard's Point, was a camping ground of the Chippewa in 1879 and 1880. Here, accord- ing to G. C. Soper, they also had in early days a dancing ground where medicine and other dances were held and in which considerable numbers of Indians took part, the ground over a small area being cleared of brush and beaten down for this purpose. One hundred or more Indians sometimes camped here. This place fronts on Rice lake on the east and on a slough on the south.

3. Rice Lake Group (Section 16, Stanfold township). A description of this group of Indian mounds is given by Prof. Cyrus Thomas in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The explorations were made by J. D. Middleton, an employee of the survey, in about the year 1890. "This group, a plat of which has been published, is situated at Rice Lake city, on Sec. 16, T. 35 N., R. 11 W., about half a mile above Red Cedar river. The land at this point is somewhat broken, and the area occupied by the group is cut by a small ravine that runs northeast to the lake. Some of the mounds are on gravelly knolls, a few in the ravine, some on the slope up to the level which runs back to a ridge a quarter of a mile distant and some on this level. The location was well chosen for hunting, fishing, and procuring a supply of food, as game and fish are still abundant and wild rice formerly grew in the lake.

"The group consists of fifty-one mounds, chiefly of the ordinary conical form. There are no effigies or long slender embankments in it. The construc- tion varies so little that few only will be described as samples of the rest. No. 1, for instance, as representing Nos. 24, 26, 35, 39, 46, and 45. This stands in the bottom of a ravine about 10 feet above the water level and about 500 feet from the shore of the lake; diameter, 28 feet; height, 4 feet. The construc- tion, as shown by examination, was as follows, commencing at the top: First, a layer of dark vegetable mould 2 inches thick had formed since the mound was abandoned; next, a layer of sandy loam with a slight admixture of clay; third, the core forming the central and remaining portion of the structure and resting on the original surface of the gully. This consisted of clay mixed with sand and was very hard. It appeared to be composed of small rounded masses about 16 to 18 inches in diameter and 6 to 10 inches thick, doubtless represent- ing the loads deposited by the builders. Lying on the original surface of the ground underneath the core, were two skeletons bundled, as was the case with nearly all found in this group. The bundling was done by placing the long bones together as closely as possible around the ribs, the vertebral bones being placed together here and there so as to render the bundle as compact as possible. Close to these were the charred remains of another skeleton pressed into a layer scarcely exceeding an inch of thickness, but, as there were no signs of fire, ashes, or coals on the surface beneath, burning must have taken place before burial. As all the skeletons were under the core, and as the small masses heretofore mentioned showed no signs of disturbance they must have been buried at one time.

"Mound 24 measured but 22 feet in diameter and 3 in height. It differed from No. 1 only in containing four skeletons, none of them charred.

"Mound 26, but 25 feet in diameter and 4 feet high, contained four skele- tons of the original burial and three of intrusive burial, as did also No. 35.

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"In No. 46 there had been seven original burials, at the base of the core, as usual, one of a child-no intrusive burials.

"No. 8, oval in outline, 36 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 5 feet high, differed from the others, as it lacked the core and layer of sandy loam. With the exception of the top layer of vegetable mold it consisted of yellowish clay mixed with sand, probably taken from the immediately surrounding vicinity. Six skeletons were found in it; the first, 3 feet south of the apex and at a depth of 2 feet, No. 2 a foot and a half south of the first. These two appeared to have been buried at the same time, or nearly so, and most likely were intrusive burials. No. 3 was at the bottom, on the original surface, under No. 1; No. 4 a foot northeast of 3; No. 5 two feet east of the last; and No. 6 a foot north of No. 5. The last four skeletons were probably the first interments in the mound, and appear to have been buried about the same time from the fact that they were bundled, and the bones clean and white, although so soft as to fall to pieces when exposed to the atmosphere.

"Mound No. 11, standing east of No. 8, is also, oblong, 35 feet long and 23 feet wide. The construction the same as the preceding. There have been five original and five intrusive burials, the latter in the center at a depth of 3 feet, the others at the bottom of the mound, in the north end. All of the skeletons were bundled, those near the surface being in a better state of preservation than those in the bottom. A large pine stump was standing over the latter, the roots of which had broken them up to a considerable extent.

"Mound 42, standing in the ravine, measured 27 feet in diameter and four feet high. The construction was found to be similar to that of No. 1; first, the thin layer of vegetable mold; then sandy loam and the clay core; but here was a pit in the original soil, rectangular in form, 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, and one in depth, the sides and ends flaring. In this mound there had been three intrusive and two original burials. Two skeletons of the former were in the southwest part, at the depth of 2 feet; the third in the center at a depth of 4 feet, a cut having been made in the top of the core to receive it. The material of the layer over it had a disturbed appearance, indicating that these were intrusive burials.

"Two other skeletons were found at the bottom of the pit, bundled as usual. The bones of these two are larger than those of any other skeletons in the group. Mounds numbered 41, 47, and 48 were so similar in every respect to 42 as to need no further notice.

"Mound 49 stands on the lower margin of the gravelly ridge south of the gully, 20 or 25 feet above the water level of the lake; its diameter being 26 feet and height 5 feet. It was found to consist, except the top layer, of an unstratified mass of dark brown loam with a considerable mixture of sand and gravel, having the same appearance as the soil of the ridge on which it stands; an occasional lump of clay, similar to the load masses heretofore spoken of was observed. Under this main layer or body of the mound, near the center, was an oval pit, diameters 2 and 21/2 feet, and 1 foot in depth. This mound furnished evidence as usual of both intrusive and original burials. The original burials were two adults in the pit; these, as also the skeletons of the intrusive burials, being bundled, an indication that the two people buried here belonged to the same race. Mounds 28 and 36 were similar through- out to No. 49."

The extension of the northern limits of the city of Rice Lake since the time of Professor Thomas' survey has caused the destruction of a large number of the mounds in this group. Several others (Nos. 9 and 10) have been obliterated by the levelling of the fair grounds. On August 11 was made a survey of the portion of the group which is still in existence. It will be noted that one of the cluster of mounds in the M. T. Howard woods is of the rather unusual double conical or "dumb-bell" shape. Its length is 53 feet and the round extremities each 18 feet in diameter. The width at its middle is 15 feet.

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All but one of these mounds have been explored by the very unsatis- factory method of digging into their tops. In several instances the excavation has been continued through one side of the mound. The tops of two have been cut away leaving them now quite low and level. This was done to obtain soil for some purpose.

William Dietz of Rice Lake, who, with a Mr. Monteith, explored some of the mounds in this group in about the year 1887, states that in some as many as a dozen skeletons were found. These he believed had been interred in a sitting posture. He believed that the bundle burials were skeletons which had collapsed from a sitting position, a very natural conclusion. No implements accompanied these burials. Other mounds, we were informed, had been opened by a Dr. Farness of the results of whose digging nothing is known. K. E. Rasmussen of Rice Lake also dug into several of the mounds. He found not more than two burials in any of these. With them were a few chert arrowpoints.

G. C. Soper, who formerly owned the property now belonging to C. F. Stout, levelled several of the mounds which stood near the lake shore on this place. These may be the mounds which we were informed were once located just west of the Stout residence. He states that several others stood on the lake shore opposite what is now known as Soper's Island. These were destroyed by the raising of the waters of the lake by the construction of the dam at its foot. These mounds had disappeared at the time of the making of the Thomas survey and are not included in his plat.

A private road, an extension of main street, today divides the remaining mounds of this group. Five of them are on property belonging to C. F. Stout and the remaining eighteen in a tract of woods owned by M. T. Howard, on the east side of the road. One mound in this tract is the curious dumb-bell- shaped earthwork. It has a uniform height of about 41/2 feet.

As these are the last mounds now remaining on the west side of the lake, Rice Lake citizens should take advantage of the present opportunity to perma- nently preserve some of them. This place is a portion of what is known as Howard's Point. It is well located for use as a city park.

4. Middleton Mounds. Every trace of two groups linear mounds which J. D. Middleton reported as located south of the then village of Rice Lake, in Section 21, has now disappeared. These were located west of Main street on the city blocks now occupied by the public library and other buildings. The growth of the city caused their destruction. No one whom we could find appeared to know much, if anything, concerning these earhworks.

5. Red Cedar River Camp Site. In a patch of cultivated ground on the north bank of the Red Cedar, near the Omaha railroad bridge, evidences of an Indian camp and workshop site were found. This field is about 50 feet wide and extends about 120 feet along the river. In its rear is elevated ground which is being slowly cut away by the Rice Lake Stone Co., which is operating a gravel pit here. In this field, which at the time of the visit was being used for the growing of potatoes, were found numerous fireplace stones and scattered quartzite chips and flakes. Some chert and quartzite implements and a few pebble hammerstones have been found here by boys of the city. The field is rather level and is elevated about 5 or 6 feet above the river. This site formerly extended further east along the river as far as Main street or nearly as far over a tract now occupied by the back yards of a number of cottages.

5. Cyrus Thomas Group (Sec. 10). These mounds are also described by Professor Thomas. We were unable to visit the location. It is proper that the group should be named in his honor.

"These mounds, which are on the opposite side of the lake from the preceding, are all of the round or conical type and are located on a point of land some 25 feet above and overlooking the lake and the other village just described. No. 8, one of the largest of the group, measured 45 feet in

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diameter and 5 feet high. Commencing at the top, the first 3 feet was a layer of sandy 'loam; the remainder was a core of hard clay mixed with sand, made up of small masses, like those heretofore described. The latter rested on a layer, about an inch thick, of what seemed to be the decayed vegetable material of the original surface of the ground. A skeleton was discovered southeast of the center, only 3 inches below the surface, bundled. Fragments of a skull were found near the center at a depth of 2 feet. Here there were evidences that a grave had been dug in the mound after it had been completed, and a body buried in bark wrappings, but all save the fragments of the skull had completely decayed. A third was at the same depth. Four feet east of the center was another at the depth of 3 feet, but the skull in this case was wanting from the bundle. In the apex of the central core, in which a cut had been made for its reception, was a fifth at a depth of 31/2 feet from the top and 6 inches in the core. No skeletons were found in the lower part of the mound, though at two points the earth was similar in character to that which results from decayed bodies and probably marked burial places. At the bottom of the mound, south of the center, was the only relic obtained, a copper drill or spindle, similar to that shown in Fig. 34; this is 71/2 inches long, a little over one-fourth of an inch square, and pointed at each end. When found, it was upright.

"Mound 12, situated west of No. 8, in a thicket, measured 32 feet in diameter and 31/2 in height. The upper layer consisted of loose sandy loam, like the surrounding surface. The remainder, of sand and clay, very hard, rested on the original surface of the ground. Under this was a pit, length 7 feet, width at one end 4 feet, at the other 51/2, depth 2 feet, its walls perpen- dicular and bottom flat. Three bundled skeletons, the only ones found in the mound, were in this pit. With one were a few copper beads.

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History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 4

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

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