378 Prehistoric Aborigines 



in rich moist places, and Vicia linearis (Nutt.) Greene, a western 

 species, lias been collected as far east as Ortonville. 



In conclusion it may be said that the prairie Legumes while be- 

 longing to but few species were rich in individuals, and probably con- 

 tributed much to the fertility of the prairies. 



PREHISTORIC ABORIGINES OF MINNESOTA AND THEIR 

 MIGRATIONS. 



N. H. Winchell. 



[Paper written for the Minnesota Historical Society, and read 

 Feb. 9, 1907.] 



(ABSTRACT.) 



Prof. Winchell based his dscussion on the latest results of the 

 study of the Glacial period, and the conclusions of the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology. He said that by the former the farthest back 

 that we hope to trace the human occupancy of Minnesota is not more 

 than five or six thousand years, that being the approximate date at 

 which the state became habitable after the retirement of the ice of 

 the last Glacial epoch. 



He called attention to the map of late major Powell showing the 

 distribution of the original linguistic stocks of the American aborig- 

 ines, which number between fifty and sixty; and to some of the re- 

 markable features of that distribution. He showed that after the 

 Glacial period the tribes resident along the Pacific and the Atlantic 

 coasts, and on the gulf coast began a slow migration into the coun- 

 try that had before been uninhabitable lying toward the north. The 

 vanguard of the tribes moving from the southwest was held by the 

 Athapascan and the Algonquian, and from the southeast by the Iro- 

 quois and the Sioux. Remnants of these tribes still reside in their 

 pristine seats, and their dialects, v/hich have been carefully studied, 

 are found to be more r^rchaic than the body of the same now known 

 further north, showing that these rjmnants were the parents of the 

 more northern dialects. 



The valley of the Ohio and much of the adjacent country were 

 occupied by the migrating Sioux and they became the celebrated 

 mound builders of the region. The Algonquian, moving from the 

 southwest, took possession of the timbered region of the northwest, 

 extending to Hudson's bay, the whole of Minnesota probably being 

 occupied by them. This constituted the first great migratory move- 

 ment. 



Then began a great war — the result of which was the disruption 

 and expulsioii. of the Ohio mound builders. This is confirmed by 

 traditions, and by some sub-historic facts. The Algonquians of the 

 northwest moved southeastwardly and crossed the Mississippi in a 

 hostile incursion near the southern boundary of Minnesota, and finally 

 drove the mound builders who have now been learned to have been 



