422 mounds on Gideon's farm, Minnesota. 



Passing over many small collections, we come to the great shell-heap 

 at the mouth of Bullfrog Creek, 10 miles southeast of* Tampa. This 

 mound is 30 feet high and 200 feet in length by the same in breadth. 



Next in order is the shell-heap at Indian Hill. This mound, with the 

 shell banks connected, is 700 or 800 feet in length and from 20 to 30 feet 

 high. The three highest pinnacles rise above the trees and may be seen 

 four or five miles at sea. 



The last of the great shell-heaps of Tampa Bay is the mound at Shaw's 

 Point, mouth of Manatee Eiver, which has been described at length in 

 this report. The ground-plan, Plate IV, gives all the dimensions of the 

 crest. Of course the base is much greater. 



MOUNDS ON GIDEON'S FARM, NEAR EXCELSIOR, HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINN. 



By Frajstk H. Nutter, of West Eoxbury, Mass. 



The accompanying plan shows one of the groups of Indian mounds 

 on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, in Excelsior Township, Hennepin 

 County, Minnesota. 



Excelsior is in the same county as Minneapolis, and is, by road, eight- 

 een miles west of that city. It lies in the edge of the " big woods," a belt 

 of hard- wood timber extending nearly across the State. The country is 

 very rolling, though the hills are not generally of much height, and, 

 except where cleared by the farmers, or in the sloughs around the 

 numerous lakes, are covered by a heavy growth of hard wood, mostly of 

 the following varieties: white, burr, red and black oak, rock and rarely 

 white inaple, white and slippery elm, basswood, and ironwood, or hop 

 hornbeam. Except on the shores of the lakes, rocks and stones, even 

 of small size, are very scarce. 



This lake was in former years the hunting-ground both of the Dakota 

 and Chippewa Indians, and as they were deadly enemies, has doubtless 

 been the scene of many battles. The last one was fought about twenty 

 years ago at Shakopee, on the Minnesota Biver, about eight miles south 

 of this point, in which several lives were lost. 



The group of mounds shown on the plan is located about one and a 

 half miles (byroad about a mile farther) northwest of Excelsior Villa ; ge, 

 at the head of a branch of the lake, known as Gideon's Bay. In the 

 map the location is marked by a cross. As shown on the plan, there 

 ran now be distinguished sixty-nine mounds (one was leveled to afford 

 a site for the house), and two lines of embankment, one running nearly 

 north, the other about west. The largest, together with the embank- 

 ments, are found mostly in the grove and the orchards overlooking the 

 lake, and on the height of ground, as shown by the figures on the plan, 

 giving approximate heights above the present level of the water. 



The trees of the grove are fine forest trees, left when the land was 



