416 



ETHNOLOGY. 



THE BIG ELEPHANT MOUNB U GKANT COUNTY, WISCONSIN. 



By Jared Warner, of Patch Grove, Wisconsin. 



Stale ?ii fee', to the inch. . 



This mound has been known here for the last twenty-five years as the 

 " Elephant Mound." It is situated on the high sandy bottom-lands of 

 the Mississippi, on the east side, about eight miles below the mouth of 

 the Wisconsin Eiver. There are on each side of the mound, some fifteen 

 to twenty rods distant, sandy, grassy ridges, some 15 feet higher than 

 the land about the mound ; the mound is, therefore, in a shallow valley, 

 sloping gently to the Mississippi Eiver, and only about 8 feet above 

 high water. Its total length is 135 feet ; from hind feet to back, 60 

 feet ; from fore feet to back, 66 feet ; width across fore legs, 21 feet ; 

 across hind legs, 24 feet ; from end of proboscis or snout to neck or 

 throat, 31 feet ; space between fore and hind legs, 51 feet ; from end of 

 l)roboscis to fore legs, 39 feet ; across the body, 36 feet ; general height 

 of body above surrounding ground, 5 feet. The head is large, and the 

 proportions of the whole so symmetrical that the mound well deserves 

 the name of the " Big Elephant Mound." 



The figure is from a drawing taken on the ground, in company with 

 Alex. Paul, J. C. Orr, and J. 0. Scott, in October, 1872. 



Is not the existence of such a mound good evidence of the contempora- 

 neous existence of the mastodon and the mound-builders, and also of 

 the very small change, if any, of the i)resent bed of the Mississippi 

 River °? 



There are many mounds in the form of animals in this section of coun- 

 try which 1 have seen within the last thirty-five years ; namely, in the 

 shape of birds, bears, deer, foxes, and men, the latter with legs only to 

 the knees. 



