354 ETHNOLOGY. 



AXTIQUITIES OF WHITESIDE COFNTT, ILLINOIS. 



By W. H. Pratt, of Davenport, Iowa. 

 Corresponding Secretary DavenpoH Academy Natural Sciences, Davenport, loiva. 



On the eastern bank of the Mississippi Eiver, in Whiteside County, 

 Illinois, is situated the village of Albauj'. Over the bluffs in the neigh- 

 borhood is a growth of young oak trees, the largest of which are ten or 

 twelve inches in diameter. On the bluff and the slope toward the river, 

 about a mile south or southwest of the village, scattered irregularly over 

 an area of about one-fourth by three-fourths of a mile, are fifty-one an- 

 cient mounds, the positions and dimensions of which I have approxi- 

 mately determined, having spent several days in August of this year, 

 1873, in the exploration in the interest of the Davenport Academy of 

 Natural Sciences. 



A general view of the whole is represented in the accompanying plan, 

 (Fig. 1.) 



The land is owned by Mr. Samuel Rosenkranz, of Albany, who kindly 

 allows the exploration and excavation of the mounds without restriction, 

 except the reservation of a few of the most prominent. A few other 

 mounds are said to exist not far distant to the northeast, but I have not 

 seen them. It is also stated that two or three were removed some years 

 since in making the grade of the Western Union Eailroad, which passes 

 close by the mounds, between them and the river. Over the area above 

 mentioned ihe young timber has been mostly cut off, and on the higher 

 portions evidently very few trees have ever existed. The soil is almost 

 entirely sand. The high land or bluff terminates abruptly to the south- 

 ward in a bold, narrow jioiut. 



A position on one of the highest mounds, some of which are situated 

 on this point, commands one of the broadest views to be found in the 

 whole Mississippi Valley, with a sweep of more than half a circle, in- 

 cluding the river and valley, and islands to the north and west and south- 

 west; and to the south and southeast the " Dosia," as it is commonly 

 called, or " Maredosia Slough," or, as it was originally named, the " Ma- 

 rais cVOgee,''' an ancient channel of many miles in extent, connecting the 

 Eock River with the Mississippi. In this the current flows in either 

 direction from the higher toward the lower of the two rivers at different 

 times. The " slough" is a broad marsh, nearly dry during a dry season, 

 and is believed to have been once the channel of a part of the Missis- 

 sippi, which divided at this point, and re-united at the present mouth of 

 Rock Eiver, forty miles below. The location is one of rare beauty, and 

 has doubtless been for ages, as it is now, a favorite resort of hunters. 

 The high point above mentioned is a narrow and rather abrupt sand- 

 ridge, formed doubtless by the action of the current when the Father 

 of Waters occupied the entire breadth of the valley. 



There is nothing in the relative position of the tumuli, as will be 



