ANIMAL MOUNDS FOUND IN WISCONSIN. 665 
immediately before it. The elevation was slight, but the outlines were clearly- 
traceable. The body of the animal was forty-four feet long, and the tail sixty- 
three feet. Near by was the more graceful figure of an otter, whose head and 
neck were twenty-six feet long, body fifty feet, and tail seventy feet. 
In the same vicinity was another, shaped like a bird, whose body was thirty- 
four feet long, and half-folded wings, sixty feet. But it will not do to dwell too 
long upon this region, where so many of the works have been destroyed by the 
growth of the city. In a distance of twenty miles up and down the Milwaukee 
River these strange forms occur by the score, if not by the hundred. 
Passing to the valley of the Pishtaka, there are, if not destroyed, two turtle 
mounds and several of conical form on the northeast shore of Lake Geneva. 
At Big Bend, about twenty miles south of Waukesha, a large space is covered 
with mounds resembling lizards, alligators, and flying dragons. Their heads 
point up hill and toward the southwest. The largest of the three dragons lead- 
ing the host measures 200 feet from tip to tip of his wings. Simple oblong figures 
follow for nearly half a mile. The largest of the train, shaped somewhat like a 
lizard, is 286 feet in length. 
Waukesha is another interesting center of animal mounds. Here stood 
what was called the turtle mound, the body of which was fifty-six feet in length, 
and the tail 250 feet, and the height six feet. This, however, was obliterated 
many years ago by the advance of civilization. But other forms no less remark- 
able on the grounds of Carroll College and on Bird Hill still remain. 
A mile and a half southeast of Pewaukee, in this same lake region, occurs a 
remarkable collection of seven lizards, two turtles and four oblong mounds. One 
of the turtle mounds whose head has been injured by the road, is 450 feet long. 
Three of them have curled tails, and the tail of one of them is turned clear back. 
It will be observed that here, as in Ohio, the mound-builders chose for the scene 
of their operations the places that are still most frequented by civilized man. 
This whole region is now one vast summer resort. 
Passing westward to the valley of Rock River, the mounds on the shores of 
Lake Koshkonong are worthy of note. At one place a series of mounds extends 
along the high lands for two miles. The most prominent figures are turtles with 
short tails. One of the turtles is fifty feet wide at the point of greatest expansion 
and seventy feet long and from five to six feet high. 
At Aztalan, twenty miles above Lake Koshkonong, occurs the only ancient 
inclosure found in the State, and one which resembles in many respects several 
of the inclosures described in Ohio. This at Aztalan is rectangular, and con- 
tains about eighteen acres. The embankment is about five feet high, with 
twenty -five feet base. The total length is 2,750 feet, making about 10,000 cubic 
yards. Within are several truncated mounds of moderate size. The earth within 
the inclosure is found to have been burned, making it somewhat resemble brick • 
but there is no evidence of brick having been shaped by molding. The bricks 
VII-42 
