INDIAN GRAVES IN IOWA. 



691 



high, dry ground, back to the north from a small creek which comes 

 in here from the east. 



Fig. 7. — Transverse section of Indian grave near Rockford, Iowa. 



These graves are apparently made like ordinary graves of the whites. 

 With one exception they all lie directed northeast and southwest, the 

 exceptional one lying due north and south. They all occur close to- 

 gether. Three of them are nearly 7 feet in length ; the fourth one is 

 that of a small chihl, and is only about 3i feet long. 



It is said by old settlers that these graves have been known here ever 

 since the country was first settled, over thirty years ago, and that "they 

 probably belong to Winnebagos." 



About one-fourth of a mile to the west-southwest from the above de- 

 scribed group an isolated grave might hava been seen a few 5 ears ago. 

 The history of the death of the one whose resting-place it was has been 

 furnished me bv some of the old pioneers of the section who were per- 

 sonally acquainted with the facts. The history, in brief, is this : In the 

 winter of 1849-'50 a band of Winnebago Indians came in here from the 

 east (?) on a hunting expedition ; among the number was the son of the 

 chief of the tribe, eighteen or twenty years of age. In chasing a bear 

 this young Indian became over-heated, took cold, a fever setting in, and 

 he soon died. His body was wrapped in his blanket and placed on the 

 ground in the timber on a level space back from the creek a short dis- 

 tance. He was laid at length, with head to the northeast and feet to 

 southwest. Slabs of green wood, 3 feet long, were then split out and 

 placed over the body in an inverted V'Shaped form, meeting at the top. 

 The ends of this inclosure were then closed up by other slabs. At the 

 head of this a post of green wood 6 inches in diameter was firmly driven 

 into the ground, after the bark had been ciirefully removed. This post 



