CHAPTER V. 



ANCIENT WORKS IN THE BASIN OF THE WISCONSIN RIVER. 



The Wisconsin river is the largest stream within the State, having its source 

 on the boundary line between Wisconsin and Michigan, in a small sheet of water 

 known as " Lac Vieux Desert," and running into the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. 

 Its general course is nearly south as far as the Winnebago portage, where it almost 

 unites with the Neenah. At this point it is suddenly deflected towards the south- 

 west and west. Its length cannot be less than four hundred miles, and it has an 

 aggregate descent of about nine hundred feet, or two and a quarter feet per mile. 

 It drains an area of about eleven hundred square miles. 



The valley of this fine stream, from the Winnebago Portage to its junction with 

 the Mississippi, may be deemed the great central seat of population at the time of 

 the erection of the animal-shaped earthworks ; at least we must so infer from their 

 comparative abundance and importance along that valley. 



The first published notice of the mounds in the valley of the Wisconsin, is in 

 the narrative of Long's Second Expedition, in 1823. It is there stated that " one 

 of the block-houses of the fort (at Prairie du Chien) is situated on a large mound, 

 which appears to be artificial. It was excavated; but we have not heard that any 

 bones or other remains were found in it." 



Mr. Alfred Bronson, in a paper on the ancient mounds of Crawford county, 

 Wisconsin, read before the State Historical Society, remarks that another similar 

 one formerly existed on the prairie, now removed ; but no evidences of the design 

 of their erection were found — nothing was observed but bones, rifles, &c., of recent 

 interment. 



" One mound, standing in a group at the southwest angle of this prairie, has a 

 base of some fifty feet, and is about ten feet high, on an eminence of about the 

 same elevation. From its top can be seen to advantage the extensive low bottom- 

 lands which lie between the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers ; and were it not for 

 the timber on the margin of the two i-ivei's, their flowing currents could also be 

 seen for some distance. This circumstance induces the belief that it was built for 

 a kind of watch-tower, or look-out place, to watch the approach of enemies." 



Traces of mounds were discovered by me (in 1852) along the whole extent of the 

 prairie, apparently similar to others found in the vicinity; but from cultivation, 

 and the light sandy nature of the materials, they are now almost entirely oblite- 

 rated. The large round tumuli, situated along the island between the " slough" 

 and the main channel of the Mississippi, are so near the level of the river that 

 their bases are often Avashed by the floods. In 1826, at the highest known floods. 



