g ANTIQUITIES OF WISCOIv^ SIN. 



were discovered between this place and the State line. We were told that the row 

 of mounds found here was straight; but examination shows it to be otherwise. 

 Their serpentine arrangement is not, however, deemed a matter of much import- 

 ance ; for where no efforts were made to secure regularity, some such disposition of 

 the mounds would be quite natural. A few miles south of this place is the town of 

 Waukegan, which was formerly called Little Fort, in commemoration of the fact 

 that something once existed there supposed to be the remains of a small fort ; but 

 whether or not it was the work of the aborigines, is not knowd. 



At the city of Kenosha we found, on the ancient sandy beach upon which the 

 city is partly built, abundant evidence of a former manufactory of arrow-heads 

 and other articles of flint. Several entire specimens were collected after a little 

 search, besides numerous fragments that appear to have been spoiled in the process 

 of chipping them into form. It is not easy to conceive how such work could be 

 done at all with the scanty tools of the natives ; and we are not surprised to find 

 that there were many failures, The chips, or small fragments of flint, were very 

 abundant in numerous places along the sandy ridge, especially near the " Durkee 

 House," and in the vicinity of the burial-ground immediately south of the city. 

 Many different kinds of flint, or more properly of chert, appear to have been 

 wrought at this place, as is showm by the fragments. It is quite probable that 

 the pebbles or boulders along the lake shore furnished the material employed by 

 these early manufacturers ; for flint of the same kind may be seen there in abund- 

 ance. These pebbles are from the corniferous rock of Eaton, and here constitute 

 a portion of the drift, being associated with the tough blue clay that underlies 

 the sand, and is the basis of the whole country around. The clay is carried away 

 by the dashing waves, leaving a beach of clean pebbles, kept constantly smooth 

 and round by attrition. Numerous fragments of pottery, of the usual form and 

 composition, were also found on the same sandy places. 



No ancient works were noticed along the valley of the Des Plaines' River, which 

 here lies between Lake Michigan and the Pishtaka River. 



Proceeding northward from Kenosha, along the west shore of Lake Michigan, 

 the next evidences of ancient labor are found at Racine ; showing that, notwith- 

 standing the great difference between the moral, social, political, and other con- 

 ditions of the red and white man, they usually fix upon the same points as 

 favorite places of residence. The map (Plate II.) will convey to the reader a 

 correct idea of the interesting groups of works at this place. In the examination 

 of them, and in the preparation of this map, I have been materially assisted by 

 Dr. P. R. Hoy, of Racine. The works occupy the high ground bordering upon 

 Root River, from one to two miles from the margin of the lake, and immediately 

 back of the city limits. They consist mostly of circular burial-mounds, of no great 

 size or height, with one circular inclosure, and several tapering ridges. There are 

 also two semicircles opening on the edge of the bluff towards the river. The group 

 of very numerous and remarkable mounds represented at the lower part of Plate II. 



Usually called "Aux Plaiiies." 



