40 



ANTIQUITIES OF WISCONSIN. 



A mean of seven good observations with the barometer, gave for the elevation of 

 this peak above Lake Michigan .... 824 feet. 

 Add height of that lake .... 578 " 



Total height above the ocean . .- . 1402 " 



The height above the surrounding grounds is about 275 feet.^ 

 In the vicinity of the Four Lakes, where Madison, the capital of the State, is 

 situated, the mound-builders have left unusually numerous traces of their former 

 occupancy and industry. The lakes are united by a stream called the Catfish, 

 through which the waters are conveyed to Kock river at Fulton. The mounds 

 situated six and twelve miles west of the Four Lakes were among the first of the 

 animal-shaped mounds of which an account was published f and as I have no 

 additional facts to communicate in regard to them, a reference to the places where 

 they are noticed and very fully described, is all that is now required. 



A figure on the third lake, within the limits of the town, was fortunately rescued 

 from oblivion by Mr. F. Hudson, whose very accurate drawing I was permitted to 

 copy from the papers belonging to the Wisconsin State Historical Society. (See 

 Plate XXXII, No. 1.) It will be seen that it differs from any mound heretofore 

 described, in having a neck and a proportionately smaller body. Like most mounds 

 of this general character, it has its head directed towards the water. It occupies 

 high ground, having a gentle slope towards the lake, and is very near the steep 

 broken cliflf.^ 



Along the road to Munroe (on section twenty-two, township seven, range nine), 

 north of the small lake called Lake Wingra, is one of the rows of mounds so often 

 alluded to, and which is represented on Plate XXXII, No. 2. The difference in 

 their relative size may indicate the different degrees of dignity of the persons in 

 whose honor they were erected. The row is irregular, being accommodated to the 

 shape of the ground. It occupies one of the highest places about the lakes. Two 

 quadrupeds, one bird, one mound with lateral projections, five oblong, aud twenty- 

 seven circular tumuli, make up this group. 



Plate XXXIII represents what still remain of the works near the south angle 



^ In consideration of the interest manifested by Mr. Lapliam in this prominent feature of this part of 

 the State, by measuring its altitude, and opening its artificial mounds, it has been proposed to name it 

 Lapham's Peak. — Secretary S. I. 



= R. C. Taylor, Silliman's Am. Journal, XXXIV, 92, Plate i. Pig. 1, Plate ii, Pigs. 2, 3, and 4. 

 John Locke's Report, pp. 136, 139-42, Plate, iii, It. Squier and Davis, Smithsonian Contributions, 

 p. 125, Plates xl, xli, and xlii. 



^ The following are the dimensions as given by Mr. Hudson ; 

 Total length . 

 Length of head 



Length to first pair of legs 

 Length to second pair of legs 

 Breadth of head 

 Breadth of neck 

 Breadth of body 

 Diameter of the mounds 



318 feet. 



33 



63 

 105 



2T 



21 



40 



42 



