History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 13

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298

USA > Wisconsin > Richland County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 13
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 13

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The Book of Mormon, which has caused two civil wars, cost many lives and is now founding a new State, if not a new empire, among the mountains of California, is the first, the last and the only book ever published purporting to be a history of the people who in habited this country at the time when the tumuli and fortitica- tions were erected .* But as no one except the followers of the prophet give any credence whatever to the story, the world is not the whit the wiser for the information it contains, and we remain in the dark, and probably shall till the end of time, as to who were the people who did this work, where they came from, what be- came of them, or what was their design in erecting these mounds.

* * Aneient Mounds: or, Tumuli in Crawford County. " Read before the Wiseonsin Historieal Society, at its annual meeting, January, 1850, by Alfred Brunson, of Prairie du Chien,

* The late Prof. C. S. Rafinesque wrote the Ancient An- nals of Kentucky, prefixed to Marshall's History of Ken- tueky, published in 1824. These Ancient Annals profess to trace the Aboriginal history of Kentucky from the creation through six periods, down to a comparatively modern date. giving quite minute details of Noah's and Peleg's floods, and many conquests and re-conquests of the country by the op- posing Indian tribes. It is a grotesque production, and de- serves to be ranked, in point of historical authority, with the veritable Book of Mormon,

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

The fact that human bones have been found in some of them is no evidence that they were erected as tombs for the honored dead; because the Aborigines found here by the whites, have long been in the habit of burying their dead in them; and s many of these tumuli have been opened without finding either bones or anything else in them but soil, the presumption is very strong that the bones sometimes found in them are from the interments of the Indians who more recently occupied the country.

For anght that I know, or any one else knows, they may have been built for tombs; but I say the finding of bones in them at this time is no evidence of such a design; and one very strong, and to me unanswerable argument in favor of this position, is, what must be known by every one, that human bones could not have continued in them undecayed for the space of 400 years, the acknowledged age of these tumuli. In some instances, and in positions, or under circumstances peculiarly calculated to preserve them, as by embalming, or being in dry nitrous caves, bones have been preserved for a longer period; but no case can be found on record where such preservation has been had with bones exposed to the dampness of the soil, or mixed with the earth, as those found in these tumuli are.

In some few instances slabs of stone were placed around the bones; but the rude masonry found in such cases would be no protection from dampness, while surrounded with a damp soil; and it must be admitted that this rude masonry corresponds much better with the rude state of the modern Aborigines, than with the more improved state of the builders of these ancient mounds; and if we suppose, which is very probable, that the same race which built the an- ; cient works at Aztalan, also erected these mounds, we must suppose that their masonry would have been greatly in advance of any thing yet discovered of the kind; and further, the de- cay of the work at Aztalan, shows conclusively that their antiquity is such that hinman bones

would have long since mouldered back to their mother dust; for, if burnt bricks have so de- cayed as to render them scarcely distinguisha- ble from the earth with which they are inter- mixed, most certainly bones would have long sinee entirely disappeared; and this fact, to- gether with the known fact, that the recent In- dian inhabitants of the country were in the habit of interring their dead in these mounds, and in the mode and manner in which bones have been found, shows conclusively to my mind, that the bones thus discovered are of more recent burial than that of the builders of these tumuli.

And further, and in confirmation of this con- clusion, the fact that metallic substances have been found in these tumuli, which could not have been known to the natives previous to the discovery of the country by the whites, shows that the skeletons found with such substances must have been interred since the whites came to the country, which does not agree well with the antiquity of trees 400 years old, so fre- quently found on these mounds.

The mounds found in the county of Craw- ford, are of various forms and sizes. On Prairie du Chien, one of the largest and high- est of these tumuli, having a base of some 200 feet and about twenty feet high, of a circular form, was leveled for the present site of Fort Crawford. Another, of about the same dimen- sions and form, stood within the old or first fort built at this place by the Americans, on which now stands the splendid mansion of H. L. Dousman, Esq. A cellar, well, and ice- house vault, were dng in this last, and a well dug where the first stood, but in neither were any evidences found of the design of their erection; nothing was found but bones, ritles, etc., of re- cent interment.

The circular form is the most common for these tumuli, but many are of different forms. Some are from one to two hundred yards long, from ten to twenty feet wide, and from two to three feet high. These frequently have an

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

open space through them, as if intended for a gate, and they would have the appearance of breast works if they had angles, or a rear pro- tection, as of a fort.

Others, especially on the dividing ridge be- tween the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, in towns 8 and 9 north, of range 5 west, are in the form of birds with their wings and tails spread and of deer, rabbits and other animals, and one which I have seen resembles an elephant. The birds lie spread out on the ground, while the other animals lie on their sides, with limbs stretched as if on the jump. In this region, also, some few mounds resemble a man lying on his face. These mounds are from three to four feet high, at the highest points, tapering off to the ex- tremities, corresponding with what they were intended to represent.

On the margins of these two rivers, on the beach lands and the highest peaks of the bluffs, these tumuli are very numerous,and can often be seen from the boats passing on the river. In- deed there is no point yet discovered of any great extent, in the country, which is not hon- ored, to a greater or less extent, with these marks of ancient settlement, corresponding with the descriptions above given, and varying in form and size; some being not over ten feet on the base and two feet high, circular in form, while others, as above stated, have a base of 200 feet, and twenty feet elevation, and others are in forms of animals which generally are 100 feet long. And itis believed that at least 1,000 of them can be found in the county, which is, however, geo- graphically large. But in no case that has come to my knowledge, in thirteen years resi- dence, have bones, or other matter than earth, been found in them, except with evidence of recent Indian interment.

One rather singular circumstance is observable in the construction of some of the mounds on Prairie du Chien, and especially those near the fine dwelling of B. W. Brisbois, Esq. They stand on the margin of the Mississippi,

on the extreme west of the prairie, and about one and a half miles from the bluffs. The soil on the prairie is river sand intermixed with vegetable mould. But these tumuli are of a different soil, a loam, the like of which has not yet been discovered within several miles of its present location; so that, to appearance, the earth of which these mounds are composed must have been brought from a considerable distance.

It is also a singular feature of all the mounds and fortifications I have examined in the west- and they are quite numerous-that there is no appearance that the earth of which they are composed was dug up from the side of them or even near by them. The surface of the sur- rounding soil generally comes up to the base of the mound on a smooth level. In some in- stances the mound stands on a natural ele- vation, showing that the entire mass of which it is composed was carried from below, up to the place of deposit.

One such mound, which stands in a group of them, on the southwest angle of Prairie du Chien, has a base of some fifty feet, and is about ten feet high; but being on a natural elevation, it has the appearance, a short dis- tance from it, of being twenty feet high; yet there is no evidence that the earth of which this mound is composed, though of the common soil of the prairie, was taken from the neigh- borhood of its present location. From the top of this mound can be seen to advantage the ex- tensive low bottom lands and lakes which lie between the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers, and were it not for the timber on the margin of the two rivers, their flowing currents could also be seen for some distance. This eireum- stance induces the belief that it was built for a kind of watch-tower or looking-out place, to watch the approach of enemies. But the hand of civilization, the plow, the hoe, and the spade, are fast demolishing these monuments of antiquity. When they fall within an enclos- ure, and the plow breaks the sod, the action of

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

the water in time of rain, and of the wind in time of draught, together with continued culti- vation, contribute to level them rapidly with the surrounding earth; and but a few years will elapse before they will be lost in the ob- livion of their builders, and will be forgotten, except as their memory will be preserved by the hand of intelligence on the page of the historian.

In reflecting upon the destiny of this people -a people once so numerous and intelligent as those must have been, who laid up with skill and care, these evidences of their existence, taste and mental improvement-we can hardly avoid feelings of melancholy. It amounts to annihilation, so far as this world is concerned. We have no trace as to who they were, where from, or where they are gone; we only know that they lived and are dead.

If they reflected as we do on the future and contemplated that in a few centuries nothing but these mounds would be left of their whole race, that not a man, not a name, not a song, nor even a tradition of them would be left on earth, their feelings must have been gloomy in the extreme. The idea of annihilation is said to be even more painful than thoughts of a misera- ble existence. But we turn from such melancholy reflections with hopes blooming with immor- tality. The mental and moral culture which we enjoy with the blessings of the pen and the press, inspire in us the pleasing reflection that though our individual names may not be noted centuries to come, yet our race will be known on the page of history, and our institutions and the monuments we leave behind of our intelli- gence and wisdom, which we trust will continue to improve our raee as they descend the stream of time, will bless the world, and we shall not have lived in vain. One object, and the great object of this asssociation is to preserve from oblivion those seraps of history which are fast passing into forgetfulness, and by embodying them into a history, transmit to posterity not only our name, as a people, but also such facts,

snatched from the destructive hand of time, as will east some light, the best we have, on the past history of the State; and though we have not omniscience and cannot solve the historic problems of the past to our entire satisfaction, yet we can do much for the information of ourselves and of our fellow-men, and thus dis- charge a debt we owe to others for the benefits we have derived from histories of other countries and other times.

ANCIENT EARTHIWORKS IN THE BASIN OF THE WISCONSIN.

[From Lapham's " Antiquities of Wisconsin."]

The Wisconsin river is the largest stream within the State, having its source on the boundary line between Wisconsin and Michigan, in a small sheet of water known as "Lac Vieux Desert," and running into the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. Its general course is nearly south as far as the Winnebago portage, where it almost unites with the Nee- nah. At this point it is suddenly deflected to- wards the southwest and west. Its length eannot be less than 400 miles, and it bas an aggregate descent of about 900 feet, or two and a quarter feet per mile. It drains an area of about 1,100 square miles. The valley of this fine stream, from Winnebago portage to its junction with the Mississippi, may be deemed the great central seat of population at the time of the erection of the animal-shaped earthworks; at least we must so infer from their comparative abundance and importance along that valley.

The first published notice of the mounds in the valley of the Wisconsin, is in the narrative of Long's Second Expedition, in 1823. It is here stated that "one of the block-houses of the fort (at Prairie du Chien) is situated on a large mound, which appears to be artificial. It was excavated; but we have not heard that any bones or other remains were found in it."

Mr. Alfred Brunson, in a paper on the "Au- cient Mounds of Crawford county, Wisconsin,". read before the State Historical Society, re- marks that another similar one formerly ex-

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

isted on the prairie, now removed; but no evi- denees of the design of their ereetion were found-nothing was observed but bones, rifles, etc., of recent interment.

"One mound, standing in a group at the southwest angle of this prairie, has a base of some fifty foet, and is about ten feet high, on an eminence of about the same elevation. From its top can be seen to advantage the ex- tensive low bottom lands which lie between the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers; and were it not for the timber on the margin of the two rivers, their flowing currents could also be seen for some distance. This circumstance induces the belief that it was built for a kind of watch-tower, or look-out place, to watch the approach of enemies."

Trace of mounds were discovered by me (in 1852) along the whole extent of the prairie, apparently similar to others found in the vi- cinity; but from cultivation, and the light sandy nature of the materials, they are now almost entirely obliterated. The large round tumuli, situated along the island between the "slough" and the main channel of the Missis- sippi,are so near the level of the river that their bases are often washed by the floods. In 1826, at the highest known floods, (it being eight feet higher than the high water of 1832, and about twenty-six feet above the lowest stage,) the mounds were. all that could be seen of this island above the water. These were doubtless for burial, and of less age than the more elab- orate works in the interior of the country.

Below the town and fort, towards the month of the Wisconsin, are similar tumuli, equally subject to overflow ; and on the high bluffs south of that river are some look-out stations or mounds.

Advantage is taken of these elevations for the foundations of the better class of dwelling houses, above the reach of high water ; being, - perhaps, the only instance in which the ancient works are rendered nseful to the present inhab- itants. In general it is deemed necessary to

remove them, as incumbrances, rather than to preserve them as matters of convenience.

Some traces of a ditch and embankments ob- served on the island, evidently of a military character, proved, on inquiry, to be the remains of the original American fort that was taken by the British in the War of 1812.

It is quite clear that this interesting place has been a favorite one with all the different tribes or raees of inhabitants, from the days of the first mound builders to the present time ; and the construction of a railroad (soon to be completed) connecting this point with Lake Michigan, at Milwaukee, will doubtless render it one of the greatest importance.

Proceeding up the Wisconsin, the first local- ity requiring notice is called by the French the Petit Cap au Gres; which was visited by Messrs. Keating, Say and Seymour, of Long's exploring party, and of which the following account is given : "They found the bluff which borders on the Wisconsin, about four miles above its mouth, covered with mounds, para- pets, etc. ; but no plan or system could be ob- served among them, neither eould they trace any such thing as a regular inclosure. Among these works they saw an embankment about eighty-five yards long, divided towards its mid- dle by a sort of gateway about four yards wide. This parapet was elevated from three to four feet; it stood very near to the edge of the bluff, as did also almost all the other embank- ments which they saw. No connection what- over was observed between the parapets and the mounds, except in one case, where a parapet was cut off by a sort of gateway and a mound placed in front of it. In one instance the works, or parapet, seemed to form a eross, of which three parts could be distinctly traced ; but these were short ; this was upon a projeet- ing point of the highland. The mounds which the party observed were seattered without any apparent symmetry over the whole of the ridge of highland which borders upon the river. They were very numerous, and generally from

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

six to eight feet high, and from eight to twelve in diameter. In one case a number of them, amounting perhaps to twelve or fifteen, were seen all arranged in one line, parallel to the edge of the bluff, but at some distance from it.

Mr. Brunson, in a paper read before the Min- isterial Association of the Methodist Church, held at Viroqua, Sept. 7, 1858, says :

"History is among the most pleasing and en- tertaining of human studies. By it we converse and become familiar with men and things of ages long in the past, and live, as it were, from the beginning of time to the present hour; but we cannot extend our researches into the future. History relates to the past. Prophecy to the future.

"History embraces the biography of men and Nations; their ups and downs, rise and fall, detailing the incidents which have been, the changes which have occurred, the improvements which have been made, and when known, the reasons therefor, which is the philosophy of history.

"There are, however, many things of interest on the face of the earth of which we have no history, for the reason that none has reached us, if any was ever written; of such we ean only draw inferences of their causes from the effects which lie before us. Such is the case in refer- ence to the ancient tumuli which abound to an unknown extent in the western States, but in none of them more numerously than in our own.

"Their forms, and the materials of which they are made, clearly indicate the work of human hands, and intelligence and design on the part of the builders. The forts and fortifi- cations indicate the existence of wars among them, and that the combatants had more or less knowledge of military science. In some of them the existence of something like brick or pottery indicates some advances in the arts of civilization, much more so than anything found among the aborigines which the Anglo-Saxon race found in the country. But the present race of Indians have no traditions of the people

who made these mounds, nor of the design for which they were built.

"The age in which these builders lived, or the distance of time from the present, is inferred from the age of trees found growing in the mounds, some of which, from their annual rings, are supposed to be 400 years old. But who were the builders, whence they came, whither they went, or by what means they be- came extinct, lies in the impenetrable darkness of the past, and is not likely to be known in time. But there is an interest excited in the mind on seeing these ancient works, a written history of which would highly gratify, if it were authentic, or believed so to be. This interest in us shows the duty to the future, to record what we know of the past or present, for its edification, as we would that others should have done unto us, even so we should do to those who are to follow us.

"As the matter relative to these mounds now stands, conjecture alone can answer the inquiries of the antiquarian, which in most cases is as un- satisfactory as the total darkness in which the history of those times is now enveloped. Some have thought that these mounds were thrown up as monuments over the distinguished dead, and have inferred this from the fact that in some of them relics have been found. But as the most and the largest of them, on examina- tion, are found to contain no such remains, the inference is not well founded.

"That human bones and Indian relies have been found in some of them of late years is no proof that they were erected for places of in- terment; for since the whites have been in the country, our modern Indians have been in the habit, more or less, of burying their dead in them, and frequently guns, axes, kettles, etc., have been found with the bones-and some- times without them-which shows that the in- terment took place since the whites eame to the continent, and the fact that such metallic sub- stances have been found without the bones, shows that if men were buried there at first,

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

their bones could not have continued in a state of preservation until this time.

"It is worthy of remark that while in Ohio the most prominent of these tumuli were forts or fortifications in Wisconsin, but few of that description are found. I can now call to mind but one such, that at Aztalan, and in traveling extensively in the State for twenty-two years, I have noticed but few of these mounds south of a line drawn east from the mouth of the Wis- consin river to the lake, while north of this line and between the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers there are probably 1,000 of them. In Crawford county alone there are at least 500, 100 of which can be found in the towns of Prairie du Chien and Wauzeka.

"The evidences of ancient mining found in the Lake Superior copper region, with trees on them of 400 years' growth or more, indicating some degree of intelligence and skill, makes it probable that those mines were wrought by the same race of people who made the mounds, and at about the same time; and yet, there being no copper relies found in these mounds, makes it probable that either they had no commerce with each other, or that they were few in num- ber and emigrated from place to place, to avoid their pursuing enemies, and that those mines were their last retreat, from which they disappeared from this country, either by emi- gration or by being destroyed. The latter, I think, is the most probable."

OF THE INDIANS.

The earliest record we have of the occupa- tion of Crawford county and contiguous ter- ritory, by the Indians, is that given on the map of Samuel Champlain, dated in 1632. It is there seen that reports had reached the ears of the French upon the waters of the St. Lawrence, of a great river to the westward of Lake Huron and to the southward of Lake Superior, but which it was said flowed north into the lake last mentioned. This was a vague account of the Mississippi. Upon that river are located

savages, which, probably, were those afterward known as

TIIE SIOUX.

Bands of this Nation occupied the whole country immediately north of the Wisconsin and adjacent to the Mississippi. It is not known that they had any village within what is now Crawford county; but this region was, probably, their hunting grounds, if they did not actually ocenpy it with their wigwams.

It was known to the French, also, before any white man had ever set foot upon any part of Wisconsin or the northwest, that these Sioux were in the habit of going in their canoes to trade with the Winnebagoes, who were located at that time (before 1634) around Lake Winne- bago. Farther than this, no knowledge had been gained of these savages. Not many years afterward they must have withdrawn farther up the Mississippi, leaving the country upon and down this river for some distance from the mouth of the Wisconsin, without inhabitants. At this time, the nearest savages eastward, were the Kickapoos, Miamis and Mascoutins, who were located on Fox river above Lake Winnebago. Such was the case in 1634, when John Nicolet, the first man to explore the present State of Wisconsin, reached that river.

"The first inhabitants of this region," says the Rev. Alfred Brunson, "included in the original county of Crawford, of whom we have any knowledge, except from ancient tumuli, were the Dakota or Sioux Indians. The builders of those tumuli are so far lost in the past, that no pretence is made to a history of them, except in the pretended visions of Joe Smith, in his so called Golden Bible. When the French missionaries and traders from Canada first visited the country south of Lake Superior, east of the Mississippi, and north and west of the Wisconsin, the Sioux were the lords of the soil.

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History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 13

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1298

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298