Indian Mounds at Broken Kettle Creek. 93 



shell beads, because they were bright and beautiful, 

 and were compartively rare, being hard to manu- 

 facture. They are interesting because they are the be- 

 ginning of the beautiful work of gold and gems that now 

 adorn our ladies. The wearing of diamonds and other 

 precious stones as ornaments may be traced back to the 

 half wild white man in Europe. The Indian found the 

 shells in the creek and the Big Sioux River. They had 

 their drills and other tools, but the shell was brittle and 

 hard to work, hence its rarity and value. The beads 

 found in the mound are much different from those found 

 in any other portion of the state. Out of a string of 

 nearly 100 beads from the state museum sent by Mr. T. 

 Van Hyning, nothing like these are shown. Some of 

 the reports state that the same kind have been found in 

 Tennessee and Colorado and probably at places between 

 these states. They vary from one-fourth of an inch to 

 one and one-fourth inches in diameter, perforated in the 

 center. Some of them are perfectly flat on both sides, 

 some are concave and some are convo-convex and others 

 double convex. The circumference is smooth and round, 

 the circle being almost perfect. The perforations vary 

 slightly in size, according to the size of the bead. Some 

 of these beads have been painted and still retain some 

 of the traces of the paint, but most of them are the nat- 

 ural color. Some of them show evidences of having been 

 burned, but this juslj have been accidental. 



There are other shell articles that were evidently 

 used as ornaments, one of which is a peculiar shape, 

 being a trifle larger in circumference than an ordinary 

 match with a spiral groove running down, perforated at 

 one end, used to string as a pendant. Other portions of 

 the shell were perforated and strung. They were all 

 white except those that were painted. The small flat 

 beads were the ones used for wampum; the larger and 

 oblong and the pendants for decorative purposes. 



In the entire investigations of the mound at Broken 

 Kettle not one article of iron or steel, not one glass bead 

 or copper trinket, sold and traded to the Indian in the 

 early history of America, has been found. This is im- 

 portant, for it tells us that these people Avere living and 



