The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 50

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050

USA > Wisconsin > Waukesha County > The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc > Part 50

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0.723

Iron. a trace.

Mr. Spence ships water to Canada, and to various cities in several States.

Minnewoc Springs .- These delightfully situated springs are on property owned by the heirs of the late Dr. Increase A. Lapham, near Gifford's Summer Resort, on Pewaukee Lake. The analysis was made by Gustavus Bode, of Milwaukee, and is as follows :

Chloride of sodium

6.129 grains. 0.627

Sulphate of soda.

Bicarbonate of soda 1.041

Bicarbonate of lime. 9.638

6.138

Bicarbonate of iron.

0.129

Alumina

0.067

Silica

0.876

Total grains in a gallon. 18.648

It will be seen, by comparing this analysis with all others here given, that Minnewoc Springs are wholly unlike in their medicinal properties, and are specifics for different diseases than the others.

Other Springs .- There are numerous other mineral springs in Waukesha County, but no complete analysis of them has been obtained. Martin T. Draper, of Draper Hall, Oconomo- woc, has several springs near his hotel, all with mineral properties. One is quite remarkable,

Chloride of sodinm.

Bicarbonate of lime ..

Bicarbonate of magnesia

0.0431

0.2519 grains.

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

having three separate pipes leading into the ground within the space of a square yard, from which three streams, icy-cold, but with wholly different mineral properties, keep a constant flow. One of these streams is strongly impregnated with iron ; another is notable for magnesia, and the third for other mineral properties. All of these discharge into one basin, and make a decoction fatal to fish. No business is made of shipping water from Draper's Magnesia Springs.

There are also at Oconomowoc, Hitchcock's Medicinal Springs, La Belle Springs and others ; at Pewaukee, the Oakton ; at Waukesha, Samuel A. Barstow's Superior ; at Delafield, the Nemahbin, and at Muskego,, perhaps the largest springs of all. These require no elabo- rate description, as their owners generally do not make a business of selling the water, although nearly all have some customers.

PRE-HISTORIC RELICS.

There is probably nothing, natural or artificial, which is so sure to attract the attention and excite the curiosity of all, learned and unlearned, as the pre historic relics with which Wauke- sha County so richly abounds.

Of the many Indian mounds in the shapes of beasts and birds, which were found along the valley of the Pishtaka (Fox River), by the early settlers, but few how remain in their entirety, and the best-preserved specimens about the village of Waukesha are on the grounds of Carroll College and of M. D. Cutler, respectively. In relation to the Waukesha mounds, it is proper to quote extensively from "The Antiquities of Wisconsin," by Dr. I. A. Lapham, who gave years of attention to this interesting subject. After mentioning the various collections of mounds along the Pishtaka, from the Illinois line northward, he says :

" Waukesha is the next place which seems to have been occupied by the ancient inhabit- ants. It was formerly known as Prairie Village, or Prairieville, and, being on the main road west from Milwaukee, its mounds were early brought into notice. They occupy three different levels-those in the lower part of the village, mostly conical, are on the lowest ground, while those in the upper part are on what may be called the second bank, and the others are on the highlands, and south of the village. A group of these works was surveyed in 1836, with the assistance of Mr. William T. Cully. At that time, the log house near these mounds was the only evidence of civilization in the place; and the works were uninjured by. the white man, except that the large mound was made use of for a root-house, or potato-hole. The turtle- mound [see plate ' a'] was then a conspicuous object, and such was its resemblance to that animal that it was pronounced a good representation by all who saw it.

" On this mound was, at that time, a recent grave [see plate 'b'], protected by pickets driven on opposite sides, so as to cross at the top. The Indians had but recently left the place, and the trail leading from the river to their wigwams ran directly over two of the mounds. This turtle was then a very fine specimen of the ancient art of mound-building, with its grace- ful curves, the feet projecting back and forward, and the tail, with its gradual slope, so acutely pointed that it was impossible to ascertain precisely where it terminated. The body was 56 feet in length, and the tail 250; the height, 6 feet. The ground occupied by this group of works is now covered with buildings. A dwelling-house stands upon the body of the turtle, and a Catholic church is built upon the tail.

" Another turtle was found on the college grounds, and differs from the other in being con- cave on the back. It is also less symmetrical.

" A group of structures occupying the very high ground on a little hill east of the town consists of two round, four oblong, one turtle and one bird-shaped mound. The position of the last is peculiar, on a steep hillside, with its head downward. The general outline of the figure [see No. 5, plate "d "], and the shape of the head and beak, leave no doubt that a bird was intended to be represented; but whether an eagle, a hawk, or any particular bird, must be left entirely to conjecture.

338

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

" The very fine group, half a mile south of the town, fortunately is upon the grounds of Carroll College, and we may, therefore, hope it will be forever preserved as a record of the past. These mounds form a quasi-inclosure, and hence, like many other groups of works, have been, by casual observers, called a fort. [See plate "c."] If we were not well acquainted with works of defense, in Ohio and elsewhere, which show that the Mound-Builders were con- siderably advanced in military arts, we might suppose that this was intended for a rude fortifica- tion ; but we can only regard it as an accidental arrangement, and not designed for any such purpose.

" Much of the ground about Waukesha was, in 1836, covered with "Indian corn-hills,' or remains of their recent culture of maize. In this locality, as at numerous others, mounds occupy the highest grounds, and the points of hills, and other places, whence the most extensive view, above and below, can be obtained. The town of Waukesha stands on a slightly undulat- ing plain, surrounded by hills, forming a fine amphitheater, which, in ancient times, was doubt- less crowded, as it is now, with a numerous population.

"The mound on the grounds near Mr. Cutler's present residence was selected for examina- tion ; much of the earth having been removed by the town authorities, so as materially to lessen the labor. At about two feet above the original surface of the ground, the top of a circular wall or pile of stones, about nine feet in diameter, was discovered. It was composed of loose fragments of white limestone, which exhibited evidence of long contact with the earth, by their decayed and softened exterior. The wall was interrupted on the west side.

" We commenced the exploration by opening a trench three feet wide, beginning on the east side of the original mound, deep enough to reach through the black and mottled earth of which the mound was composed, and to the surface of the yellowish clay. subsoil. Continuing the trench toward the center, we passed the loose stone wall, and found the black earth sud- denly extending down about two feet below the natural surface of the ground, and reaching the gravel below the yellow clay. Upon this gravel, two feet below the original surface, directly under the center of the mound, and surrounded by the circular heap of .stones, was found a human skeleton, lying on its back, with the head toward the west. Stones had also been placed at the sides and over the body, forming a rude sort of coffin. The bones were very much decayed, and only fragments could be obtained. The plates of the skull were too far gone to be restored.

" In the left hand was a pipe of baked clay or pottery, ornamented with holes around the bowl, and also a quantity of red paint. In the right hand was a smaller pipe, cut from a soft kind of stone. They are both very small, and appear to have been articles of fancy rather than use. At the head were found many fragments of pottery which had been crushed by the weight of earth ; these fragments were originally portions of two vessels. They are of the same coarse and rude materials as the fragments so frequently found on and near the surface in many localities throughout the State. The earth immediately over the skeleton was hard and black, indicating the action of fire, though no other evidence of this was discovered. Frag- ments of fresh water shells (of the genus Unio) were found with the fragments of pottery. No wood was found, nor where any vacant places noticed where it might have decayed.

" Another mound was opened a short distance west of the first, by sinking a shaft in the center five feet in diameter. We soon reached burnt clay, of a yellow or reddish-yellow color, with stones almost calcined into quicklime by the intensity of the heat. Much charcoal was obtained, showing still the original pores and concentric circles of the wood, which appeared to be oak. The bones of a portion of the leg of a human being were found, but the remainder of the skeleton had evidently been consumed at the time of the interment. There had been no excavation below the natural surface of the ground in this case.

The materials composing these mounds were taken from the surface, so that no perceptible excavations are left in their vicinity ; and the whole body of the tumulus consists of black mold, with occasional spots of yellowish clay. The difference between the artificial and natural soil . was quite apparent. No articles of ornament or use, indicating any commerce with the white

339

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

race, were discovered, and we are led to the conclusion that the mound was erected before the discovery of the country. The position of the skeleton, and other indications, show conclu- sively that no disturbance had taken place since the interment, and that the articles obtained were the original deposits. The skeleton was, without doubt, that of the personage for whom the mound was erected.

"In one of the vases at the head of the skeleton were the remains of a shell, apparently the Unio siliquoides, a very common species in the rivers and lakes of Wisconsin. Those shells are often used for spoons ; and this vase probably contained a supply of food for the departed while on the journey to the spirit land.

* X

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" A mile and a half above Waukesha, on a very high and commanding position, are three mounds in front of four 'lizard-mounds.' They are at the crossing of the old ' Madison road,' in the southwest quarter of Section 26. A sentinel stationed on them could give warning to the inhabitants of the approach of any hostile force, long before they could reach the village. The ' lizards,' as in most cases, have their heads toward the south.

" On the northwest quarter of the same section are also some small mounds, and one of the lizard shape. They are at the foot of the hill that borders the outlet of Pewaukee Lake. Still farther on the road (southeast quarter of Section 22, Town 7, Range 19), were found the remains of another lizard mound, now nearly destroyed.

" But the most remarkable collection of lizards and turtles yet discovered, is on the school section [see Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, plate . d,' for specimens], about a mile and a half southeast from the village of Pewaukee. This consists of seven turtles, two lizards, four oblong mounds, and one of those remarkable excavations alluded to. One of the turtle mounds, partially oblit- erated by the road, has a length of 450 feet, being nearly double the usual dimensions. Three of them are remarkable for their curved tails, a feature here first observed. One of the smallest has the tail turned back by the side of the body. These curved figures have another peculi- arity in the obtuseness of the extremity, the end being round and flat, instead of a sharp point as in most other similar mounds. While these have a width of about four feet at the end, others so gradually diminish in height and breadth that it is almost impossible, as before observed, to determine the precise point of termination. One has a rectangular bend at the extremity of the tail, and in each there is a change of direction in passing from the body to the tail. This inter- esting group occupies a secure position, being on a ridge flanked by marshy grounds on "either side. At the remote period when these mounds were built, the marshes may have been lakes, since filled up or dried away to their present condition. A diligent scarch did not reveal any evidence of breastworks or other means of defense, across the ridge at either end of the mounds. About half a mile off, in a northwest direction, is a very high hill (probably two hundred feet above the level of the marshes), on which are one lizard and three circular mounds. From these there is a fine view, extending over much of the adjacent country."

In the town of Vernon is a remarkable group of mounds [see plate "e" ], which was sur- veyed by Dr. I. A. Lapham, who described them as follows : "By invitation we took up our quarters at the house of Isaac Bailey, where it was once proposed to build a city [Section 29, Vernon], to be called Crawfordsville. The city was never built, and the same is only remembered by a few of the oldest inhabitants. This is the place mentioned by R. C. Tayler, as stated in the Western papers, to contain mounds resembling lizards, alligators and flying dragons. They occupy ground sloping gently toward the river [the Fox] at the north and northwest, their heads pointing up hill, and their general course southwesterly. The winged mounds or dragons, three in number, appear to lead the flight or march of the other animals, and to be heralded by a host of simple oblong figures, extending nearly half a mile in the same direction. The main figure of the group is 286 feet in length. This and the figure immedi- ately preceding it are good representatives of the kind called lizards ; while the two exterior figures, having four projections or feet, are always called turtles by the most casual observer.

340

€

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

They are from two to six feet in height. A little north of the group represented on plate "e," is a very large mound ten feet in height and eighty feet in diameter, It had been opened prior to our visit, but without important results. It has an appendage consisting of a slight ridge of earth, sixty feet long, extending in a northerly direction. Immediately north of it is an exca- vation from one to two feet in depth. The earth taken from this excavation, however, would make but a small portion of the mound."

None of the ancient works along the Pishtaka (Fox) River, or in the vicinity of the lakes of Waukesha County, have been built of brick, or in such a way as to indicate that they were intended as fortifications ; and in this respect they differ from relics somewhat similar, farther south. Even in Wisconsin, in the adjoining county of Jefferson, there was found at Aztalan a very complete ruin of a pre-historic fortification, and it is probable that the forts were built by the same people as the mounds. Who were the builders of all these works has long been, and still continues to be, a puzzle ; and it is very doubtful whether students will ever be more enlightened on the subject than they are at present, however desirable such enlightenment may be, and however diligently they may study the materials left behind by a race shrouded in absorbing mystery.

There are some things, however, which may be accepted as proven. In the first place, the Mound-Builders, so called, certainly did not belong to the known Indian nations of the Northern States of this Union. The nature of the latter as to disinclination for manual labor renders impossible any supposition including the idea of their having toiled for months and years in erecting structures of any kind, and especially structures which could have been in no way necessary to their physical well-being, for protection from hunger, the elements, or from ene- mies.

In the second place, it is reasonably certain that the builders of these mounds did belong to a race whose approach towards civilization was far beyond that of the lake Indian tribes. The researches of the past few years have proved beyond a question that the valleys of Wiscon- sin were once inhabited by people who made tools of copper, and a collection of chisels, axes, arrow and spear heads, bits for drilling holes in wood, adzes, and many other implements, have recently been added to the valuable collection of the State Historical Society, all of the articles having been found beneath the surface of lands in Wisconsin.

The ability to work in copper shows a long stride forward from that state of barbarism where no utensils or weapons are used except of wood and stone. So far we have facts, and from these facts may be deduced certain theories, and for which no more respect is claimed than from their own consistency they may seem to deserve.

For reasons that are derived from a long series of ethnological researches, it is thought that the progenitors of the so-called native races of America were driven from Northeastern Asia by the lack of sufficient food to support the population ; and thence, along the Alaskan coasts, in various directions, toward the interior and to the southward, extended in succes- sive migrations over the continent. What these people may have been on their arrival in America, is, of course, only a matter for conjecture ; but it is very safe, judging from the gen- eral character of their descendants, to assume that they were little, if any, removed from the lowest depths of barbarism. Ages upon ages must have elapsed before the particular descend- ants, who made the ancient pottery and copper utensils of Wisconsin, and constructed its mounds, had reached a degree of social elevation sufficient to enable them to devote themselves to such labor. For the potters, coppersmiths and earth-bearers must have been supported by the labor of others in the tilling of the soil and in the procuring and drying of meat and fish. In the lower grades of barbarism, each individual provides for himself or herself and children only, and that but from day to day. Division of labor is unknown to them. They have not sufficient fore- thought to perceive the advantage of supplying food to those who are engaged in useful labor of a different kind, even, and still less would they submit to feed those who were performing a work not of direct and visible importance.

341

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

While the ancient inhabitants of this region were advancing to the degree that has been stated, cultivating tobacco, beans, potatoes, Indian corn and other agricultural products, living peaceful lives, and only disputing the possession of the soil with the ferocious beasts that had an abiding-place here, their savage relatives in the North remained in a state of barbarism but little better than their condition of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of years before. At last, they, too, increasing slowly in numbers, because of their ignorance and comparative care- lessness in the treatment of their young, found their population too great for subsistence, and the strongest and boldest of them set out for fresh fields, in which to secure the wherewithal to live.

Slowly they came on toward the South, fighting with each other for the sole occupancy of some fishing or hunting ground, and thus dividing into tribes and nations, till at last a portion of them passed around Lake Superior and found the peaceful citizens of this country enjoying the blessings of productive industry, but unable to defend themselves against the arrows of the barbarous invader. It needs no great stretch of the imagination to conceive of the frightened agriculturists taking the canoes with which they were wont to navigate the lakelets and rivers, and once more seeking a home far enough to the south to feel safe from the persecutions of the hardy northern races. They may have left their fields of beans, corn, potatoes and tobacco in full or partial maturity ; but, at any rate, the new-comers seem to have gathered some hints in regard to the production of those articles, and to have employed their women to some extent in their cultivation. So also, the old canoes. left by the departing natives very probably taught the invaders the fact that it is easy to construct of birch bark, a vessel which floats upon the water, even when freighted with considerable weight. This knowledge was so much gained to the barbarians, but they never improved upon it to any appreciable degree. It required less exertion on their part, when the productions of any one region became more or less exhausted, to remove by bands into some more desirable place, than to devise methods for improving their opportunities at home. So the Mound-Builders, so-called, were gradually driven down its numerous northern and eastern branches, to the Mississippi ; and their works are found as far to the south as Vicksburg. In Arkansas and Tennessee, there are even evidences of former roadways, and of burnt brick, which show that these people improved with time-and, we may say, with travel.

When they were forced away from their last abiding-place on the Mississippi, they probably turned to the Southwest and grew into that splendid half-civilized nation which constructed mag- nificent works for religion and luxury about the lakes of Central Mexico, which even had books of hieroglyphics written upon a sort of natural paper, but which was brushed away three hun- dred and fifty years ago by Cortez and his handful of followers as a colony of industrious spiders is brushed away by the broom of an housemaid.

Having thus given a very brief sketch of the probable history* of our early predecessors at Waukesha, the question recurs-" What were these mounds intended for ?" There appears to be little doubt that they were built as propitiatory offerings to imaginary gods, who were supposed by the simple-minded inhabitants to dwell in the forms of the various animals found in the regions where they lived.

The ancient Egyptians had similar ideas of the gods even after they were much farther advanced in the arts of civilization than our Mound-Builders could have been ; and the suppo- sition that these works of earth were for religious purposes seems to be the only hypothesis against which no valid reason can be brought. At every place where the mounds existed there appears to have been also a more or less populous settlement, and it seems that the lizard, the turtle, or the fox, the exaggerated image of which was built up out of the soil, was chosen as the guardian and protector of that settlement, and worshiped in accordance with the power of which such guardian was supposed to be possessed. The earth of which these basso relievos are composed was scraped from the surface of the soil for acres in extent-no excavations corresponding to the

* No author or scientist has been trespassed upon for these theories.

342

HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

mounds are generally found near them-and the labor entailed by this performance was doubt- less considered to have been well bestowed. Possibly it may have been thought by the grangers of those days that the more of their land was used to make gods of, the more the underlying soil would be blessed. There are mounds or tumuli in almost every town in the county, but those represented in the following plates are the principal ones. Figure "f" represents the form in miniature of a vessel of not very hard pottery, found by Truman Wheeler (killed at Fond du Lac in 1848 by the fall of a tree), in a small mound a short distance down the Fox River from Waukesha. That mound has long since been razed by the plow and harrow.

There might have been represented the outlines of a skull found in a circular mound on Morris D. Cutler's land in Waukesha Village. Others were found in circular mounds ; but none were found except those known to have been recently buried, the graves of which are represented on plate " b," in the turtle or lizard mounds. The significance of this fact may possibly suggest some theory to the reader. Most of the mounds contained no bones, and those which did con- tain human remains were made long before the burials took place. The vessel mentioned above, represented'in Figure "f," had small, round holes on either side of its top, which were supposed to have been used as fastening-places for a string by which to transport it. The capacity of the vessel was about two quarts.

The plate of the skull might be inserted, not because of any historic fact that it transmits or. illustrates, but simply as a shadow rescued from the limitless domain of oblivion ; the outline of a being whose name was never written, whose face no civilized man ever saw, and whose his- tory, further than that he lived and died, will never be known. These outlines can lead the gen- erations of the mysterious future into the pathless desert of the past, curiosity-laden, but they will return as barren of knowledge as ourselves concerning his history.

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The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 50

Author: Western Historical Co., pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050