W. ('. HOLBROOK. — -AXTIQriTIES OF WHITESIDE CO., ILL. 69 



had been turned up by a plow. T at once proceeded to examine the 

 locality from whence it came. It was near the southeast corner of" 

 section twelve in the town of Clyde, near the center of a broad val- 

 ley, about forty rods east of Rock Creek. The surface of this part of 

 the field was very nearly level. Not the slightest trace of a mound 

 c-ould be observed. A gentlenT^.n, well acquainted with the field 

 long before it was cultivated, tells mo that there never was a mound 

 or embankment there. About a foot below the surface of the soil, 

 A\e found a circular stone floor, or table, six feet and three inches in 

 diameter and a little more than one foot in height. The materials of 

 this altar must have been carried from an outcropi)ing of Niagara 

 limestone, on the east bank of Rock Creek, about a mile below. 

 Some of the stones were as large as one man could wc^ll carrv, and 

 were fiat and thin. They were fitted together as well as unhewn 

 stones coidd be fitted. There were three layers, one resting upon 

 another. The rocks of the upper layer were reddened, and in the 

 center almost reduced to lime by the action of fire. 



The plow and the cultivator had, for years, passed just above this 

 structure, but the new ^ sub-soiler '* had grazed one stone and had 

 brought it to the surfaiv. The clay on toj) of the altar was filled 

 with fine pieces of charcoal. The crevices of the rocks were filled 

 with <^harcoal and clay. Where the three layers did not break joints, 

 and the crevices extended to the bottom of the altar, the charcoal 

 was found as low as the lower surface of the lower la\<M". The clav 

 in the crevices appeared to b^ nnngled with ashes, for it diftered in 

 (M^lor and texture from the surrounding clay. The heat had followed 

 the crevices and reddened the edges of the stones of the lower layers. 

 Cn removing the ])lack soil, we found charcoal mingled with the clav 

 twelve feet distant from the edge of the altar. Willow appears to 

 have been the wood from which the charcoal was bvu'ned. 



Having finished the examination of this structure, we began to 

 probe the soil with sharp ii-on rods, and, after a half dav's work, my 

 rod grated u]K)ii rock. On removing the soil, we found a second 

 .iltar, four rods and thiee fc(»t southeast of the first. It was six 

 feet and six inches in diameter, aJid in all respects like the first. No 

 bones or implements were found on or about these altars, A few 

 days ago, a finely-polished grooved stone ax, weighing six and one- 

 half pijunds, was found about two rods west f)f the first altai'. 



Burned rocks have frequently been plowed up in the northwest 

 quarter of the southwest quarter of section eighteen in the town of 



