128 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



been frequently visited by traders, who may have endeavored to detach from their 

 beds some of the masses now bearing the marks of such efforts. As any tools 

 of iron that might be. left behind would be eagerly seized by the Indians, it is 

 hardly to be expected that such should be found in the vicinity. 



At any rate, at a later period, yet so long ago as 1771, an English company 

 under Alexander Henry, was employed for a time at the forks of the Onontagon 

 river; and it may not always be easy to distinguish the operations of the unassisted 

 Indian, anterior to the arrival of the whites, from those of later date, when the 

 labors of the two races may have been combined or contemporaneous. Still, it is 

 said that excavations bearing marks of extreme antiquity not to be mistaken, are 

 found in several localities ; and that great quantities of metal must have been 

 obtained from the surface alone ; fully warranting tbe opinion, strengthened by 

 native tradition, that, from periods of unknown remoteness, the aboriginal in- 

 habitants of a large extent of country obtained their copper ornaments and utensils 

 from that quarter. 



When first made known to the whites, "Wisconsin was occupied, in part, by two 

 tribes, the Winnebagoes and the Menomonies, not only distinct from one another, 

 but differing materially, in important circumstances, from others in their vicinity. 

 Carver tells us, that while with the Winnebagoes he employed himself in collecting 

 the most certain intelligence of their origin, language, and customs ; and, from the 

 information obtained, he came to the conclusion that they originally resided in some 

 of the provinces belonging to New Mexico. Mr. Schoolcraft, in his narrative of 

 Gov. Cass's expedition, describes them as a " savage and bloodthirsty tribe, who 

 came many years ago from the South, and are related to some of the Mexican 

 tribes." 



The supposed discovery of the remains of an ancient city in the valley of Rock 

 river, within the territory of the Winnebagoes, gave rise, at one period, to much 

 speculation, which, on the other hand, would make the Mexicans to have been 

 emigrants from Wisconsin. The name of Aztalan was given to the imaginary city, 

 in the belief that it must be the place referred to in the traditions of the Aztecs, 

 which represent their ancestors as coming from a country at the north, Hear large 

 bodies of water, and called Aztalan from that circumstance. Later investigations, 

 however, have not confirmed the original marvellous statements of the discoverers; 

 and the place is chiefly to be regarded as furnishing the only instance, among the 

 numerous works in Wisconsin, of an enclosure in some degree analogous to those 

 which in other States are supposed to be intended for religious purposes. 



The territory south of Lake Superior, which includes the State of Wisconsin 

 and a small portion of Michigan, certainly possesses no little archaeological interest. 

 Its striking physical features are associated with many early incidents of romantic 

 adventure ; it is the seat of mineral treasures towards which the desires of a whole 

 continent of barbarous tribes might converge, and may have been rendered sacred 

 by that circumstance ; and, moreover, its aboriginal monuments are anomalous 

 and strange, appearing not so much like structures for any sacred or civil purpose, 

 as like hieroglyphic or symbolic characters. If instead of being clustered on the 

 surface of the earth they had been drawn on rocks and stones, efforts would be 



