36 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE. [ViOl. III. 



flat on which is located an old Indian camp site. Toward the east 

 the land is quite level for several hundred feet and it is on this 

 level upland that the major part of the Kratz Creek group is 

 located. 



The natural soil at the point where this mound is located shows 

 on the up hill side of the mound a top stratum of black loam about 

 0.8 feet in thickness on the average, below which is a layer of brown- 

 ish yellow sand about 2.5 feet in thickness. This rests upon a red 

 clay hardpan. On the down hill side of the mound the same natural 

 strata are found, but these are somewhat thinner, though they fol- 

 low the general slope of the hill throughout. The top stratum is 

 about 0.5 feet in thickness, while the dark yellow sandy layer is 

 only about 1.5 feet in thickness or about half as thick as is the same 

 layer on the up hill side. Thus it is only about two feet from the 

 surface of the black loam down to the clay subsoil on the down 

 hill side of the mound, whereas above, on the up hill side, it is 3.3 

 feet. This is probably due to the steepness of the slope and the 

 natural wash of the soil. 



The thicknesses and depths of these natural strata are of con- 

 siderable importance in considering the construction of this mound 

 which required careful excavation for its foundation. In fact, 

 measurements taken near the center and toward the up hill side of 

 the mound show that this original excavation must have had more 

 or less the shape of a saucer, extending, in the center, down to 

 the red clay hardpan and gradually elevating toward the rim. It 

 had a diameter of probably thirty feet, only the central ten feet 

 being dug down to the clay itself. The natural brownish, yellow 

 sand stratum shows a thickness of about thirty inches at the outer 

 edge of the excavation, gradually becoming less towards the center 

 where it eventually disappears altogether. 



Upon this clay base in the center of the saucer-shaped excavation, 

 was placed a layer of bright yellow sand, about a foot in thickness. 

 Over this was a layer of very fine red sand, about six inches in 

 thickness. The distinctive color of this stratum made it possible 

 to trace its extent somewhat more easily than that of the yellow 

 sand. It was found to cover an area about 17 feet east and west by 

 12 feet north and south. This stratum was in turn surmounted by 

 a second layer of yellow sand about a foot in thickness. All these 

 three layers were special sacrificial earths which had evidently 

 been brought from some considerable distance and purposely placed 



