13 



It must be said moreover that a perusal of the works written 

 about the mounds, especially of the very large contributions to 

 the subject found in the Smithsonian Institution publications, 

 leaves the mind of the reader in a state of thorough confusion 

 and uncertainty. Indeed, the facts relating to the Mound 

 Builders are as perplexing a problem as the purpose of the 

 Pyramids, or the story of King Arthur. 



Is it any wonder that we hover about the dark mystery, 

 and find in our researches room for absorbing study, even 

 though we cannot reach absolute certainty? Could you have 

 seen the excitement which prevailed among the half-dozen 

 settlers, I had employed in diggino- the mound on Rainy River, 

 in August last, when the perfect pottery cup figured below was 

 found, and the wild enthusiasm with which they prosecuted 

 their further work, you would have said it requires no pre- 

 vious training, but simply a successful discovery or two to 

 make any one a zealous mound explorer. 



A MOUND DESCRIBED. 



A mound of the kind found in our region is a very much 

 flattened cone, or round-topped hillock of earth. It is built 

 usually, if not invariably where the soil is soft and easily dug, 

 and it is generally Dossible to trace in its neighborhood the 

 depression whence the mound material has been taken. The 

 mounds are as a rule found in the midst of a fertile section of 

 country, and it is pretty certain from this that the Mound 

 Builders were agriculturists, and chose their dwelling places 

 with their occupation in view, where the mounds are found. 

 The mounds are found accordingly on the banks of the Rainy 

 River and Red River, and their affluents in the Northwest, in 

 other words upon our best land stretches, but not so far as 

 observed around the Lake of the Woods, or in barren regions. 

 Nearing fishing grounds they greatly abound. What seem to 

 have been strategic points upon the river were selected for 

 their sites. The promontory giving a view and so commanding 

 a considerable stretch of river, the point at the junction of two 

 rivers, or the debouchure of a river into a lake or vice versa is 

 a favorite spot. At the Long Sault on Rainy River there are 

 three or four mounds grouped together along a ridge. Here 

 some persons of strong imagination profess to see remains of 

 an ancient fortification, but to my mind this is mere fancy. 

 Mounds in our region vary from 6 to 50 feet in height, and 

 from 60 to 130 feet in diameter. Some are circular at the 

 base, others are elliptical. 



