1919] BARRETT AND HAWKES, KRATZ CREEK MOUNDS. 9 



each step in the work progressed. Careful notes and plats were 

 made showing forms, and stratifications of mounds, as well as exact 

 locations of burials, altars, etc. 



This survey was greatly facilitated by the fact that the United 

 States government engineers of this district were at the time en- 

 gaged in a detailed survey of the Fox river and had recently placed 

 one of their concrete monuments (U.S.P.B.M. 172) in the edge of 

 this mound group. With this as a base from which to reckon, our 

 survey was made much easier. We are indebted to the district en- 

 gineer, Mr. J. A. B. Tompkins of Milwaukee, for the following in- 

 formation, under date of Oct. 20, 1917, concerning this monument 

 and the lake : 



Latitude, 43°-46'-32.3" N. 

 Longitude, 89°-23'-7.2" W. 



Elevation, 776.52' above M. T. at New York City. 

 The extreme high, extreme low, and mean, stages of Buffalo 

 lake are as follows : 



Extreme high, June 24, 1888, was 775.7' above M. T. at New 

 York City. 



Extreme low, August 25, 1894, was 769.3' above M. T. at New 

 York City. 



Mean for the last 41 years is 771.2' above M. T. at New York 

 City. 



The excavating of the skeletal remains was attended with much 

 difficulty, owing largely to their extreme age and decomposition. In 

 practically every case they had the consistency of soft cheese. They 

 were in fact usually softer than the surrounding earth or sand. 

 This necessitated the utmost care and the use of such delicate in- 

 struments as the painter's dust brush, and the palate knife, in addi- 

 tion to the usual trowel and whisk broom. 



Such was the condition of these bones that it was usually nec- 

 essary to treat them with an infusion of a hardening liquid before 

 their removal, or at least to leave them exposed to the air for some 

 hours. In a few cases they were so far gone that a plaster cast was 

 necessary to save them at all. 



In spite of this extreme care in their removal the bones were 

 recovered in a very fragmentary condition. This, combined with 



