Indian Mounds and Earthwoiks. 95 



All along the borders of the beautiful Wisconsin river, extend- 

 ing from its mouth to the Winnebago Portage, similar monuments 

 are traceable on the high and dry lands. Occasionally they occur 

 in groups and chains, and not solitarily, and are of various fashions. 

 On the shores of Lac de Boeuf and Lac Apucaway, wherever the 

 land is dry and sufficiently elevated, one may observe, even from 

 the water, a vast number of tumuli. Upon the summits of some of 

 these may from time to time be recognized the modern grave of 

 some Winnebago or Menominie chief, strongly protected by 

 pickets. The margins of the Fox river are remarkable for the 

 numerous Indian remains of this description. Colonel Petitval, of 

 the U. S. Topographical department, who was engaged during 

 the last summer in a survey of this river, had the kindness, at my 

 request, to give some attention to these mounds. He describes an 

 immense assemblage of them, at a point on the river, called the 

 Red Bank, extending far into the interior, both north and south, 

 for an undetermined distance. Twelve of the mounds at this 

 place were opened under his direction, among which was an 

 animal mound one hundred and fifty feet long. All of them 

 contained human bones in a very decomposed state. 



One of the most extensive and interesting collections of these 

 monumental structures, exists near the eastern shore of Winne- 

 bago lake, within the reservation made to the Stockbridge and 

 Brotherton, commonly called the New York Indians. I am in- 

 debted to Dr. Lyman Foote, of Fort Winnebago, for information 

 on this and some other localities of Indian monuments. 



At a place named Crawfordsville, on the Fox river, a group of 

 ancient mounds has recently been announced in the western pa- 

 pers. These structures are described as being from three to sev- 

 enteen rods (two hundred and eighty feet) in length ; generally 

 about four feet high, and they are stated to resemble " lizards, 

 alligators, and flying dragons." They here all point in the same 

 general direction, but are not precisely parallel. Among them 

 there is one very large mound, which overlooks all the rest. 



A writer in the United States Gazette, during a late visit to 

 Wisconsin, observed numerous mounds and large embankments, 

 spread over a space of thirty miles around the site of " the ancient 

 city." Some of them were designed, he states, to resemble "liz- 

 ards, turtles, buifalos, and even human forms." The present 

 wandering tribes of Indians are " entirely unable to give any ac- 



