TH..MAS. MOUNDS OF VERNON COUNTY, WISCONSIN. 77 



In this (;oluiiiii, at the depth of o feet from the to]), lay a mass of 

 huiiian boues about - feet thick which spread over the entire circuit 

 of the pit. Although but slightly decayed, they were mostly broken 

 into pieces; even the skulls were in fragments, and all were heaped 

 together in such confusion that it was impossible to determine the 

 number of individuals represented, but there could not have been less 

 than 10 or 12. 



Immediately below them a small copper spindle was discovered simi- 

 lar to those already mentioned, and some split bear teeth with holes 

 through them. At the bottom of the mound was a complete skeleton, 

 lying at full lengtli on the original surface, face up, head east, and 

 arras by its side. Near the left hand lay a fine copper ax, weighing 1 

 pound 9 ounces, a little over 9 inches in length. By the side of this 

 was a large round implement of chipped obsidian, and near the right 

 hand were 67 small copper beads, a bear tooth, and the jaw bone and 

 some teeth of a small quadruped. 



The respecti\e distances of the mounds of this group from one another, 

 measuring from center to center, are as follows: From 1 to 2, 365 feet; 

 from 2 to 3, 88 feet; from 3 to 5, 88 feet; from 5 to 4, 210 feet; from 5 

 to 6, 55 feet; from 6 to 7, 238 feet; from 7 to 8, 105 feet; from 8 to 9, 

 108 feet; from 9 to 10, 112 feet; from 7 to 12, 200 feet; from 12 to 11, 

 180 feet; from 12 to 13, 90 feet; from 13 to 15, 95 feet; from 15 to 14, 

 65 feet; from 15 to 16, 101 feet; from 16 to 17, 80 feet; and from 17 to 

 18, 85 feet. 



During the grading of a street that runs by Old Fort Crawford in 

 Prairie du Chien, in a rise near the fort, a number of skeletons were 

 unearthed. One of these had been buried in a small canoe about 9 

 feet long. Most of the skeletons lay with the head to the southeast; 

 with some were brass or copper kettles with iron bails ; on the arm 

 Ixnie of some were bracelets made of thick copper wire. Among the 

 articles found was a tine catlinite pipe and one or two other stone 

 pipes. 



VEBNON COUNTY. 



There are several mounds on the foot hills or lower benches of the 

 bluffs in Sec. 15, T. 11 N., R. 7 W., in the extreme southwest corner of 

 the county. The bluffs are very high and steep with a narrow strip 

 of land between them and the Mississippi river, sloping, but not too 

 steep to cultivate, the soil being very productive. A diagram shomng 

 the relative positions of those examined is given in Fig. 35. 



No. 1,40 feet in diameter and 5 feet high ', unstratifled. Nearthe cen- 

 ter, a foot and a half below the surface of the mound, was an irregular 

 layer of burned sandstones, some Hat and others irregular in form. 

 Immediately beneath these lay some partially t|urned human bones, 



' Wlien nil re li'reiuM' irt iiiaiU* to the form it is to lin imilcratooil tliiit tlie mounds ;iro of the simple 

 eoiiioal type. 



