THE WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
STATE FIELD
ASSEMBLY,
July 29-30, 1910.
REPORT BY CHARLES E. BROWN, CURATOR.
Several years ago the Wisconsin
Archaeological Society
adopted the plan of holding summer field
meetings of its mem-
bers in various sections of Wisconsin
which were known to be
rich in prehistoric Indian remains. The
purpose of these annual
gatherings was doubly that of extending
their acquaintance with
the features of the local archaeological
field, and of arousing an
increased popular interest in the
educational value and need of
the scientific exploration and the
preservation of its antiquities.
The first of these state assemblies was
held in the city of
Waukesha, in the year 1906, and was very
successful. In the
following years, similar gatherings of
persons interested in the
state's antiquities were held at
Menasha, at Beloit and at Bara-
boo, each in a different section of the
state, the attendance and
interest increasing from year to year.
The effect of these meet-
ings has been to create an intelligent
interest in Wisconsin's
Indian memorials in every quarter of the
state. It has been the
means of enlisting the cooperation of
the women's clubs, of
county historical societies and other
local associations, and of
cities and villages in protecting and
permanently preserving the
Indian evidences in their respective
neighborhoods. Through a
union of effort of these with the
society, local public museums
and collections have been established,
and archaeological collec-
tions of great value saved to the state.
At the annual meeting of the society
held in the city of
Milwaukee, in March, 1910, an invitation
was presented to
it by its Madison members and by the
State Historical Society,
to hold a two-days field assembly during
the summer in that
charming Wisconsin city. It was urged,
and rightfully, that no
(333)
334 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
more attractive place for a gathering of
persons interested in the
preservation of the state's
archaeological history could be selected.
The picturesque shorelands of the three
beautiful lakes, Men-
dota, Monona and Wingra, in the midst of
which the capital
city of Wisconsin is located abound in
sites of stone age and of
more recent Indian villages, camps and
workshops, and in splen-
did examples of the remarkable
emblematic and other aboriginal
earthworks for which the state is now so
widely known among
American archaeologists. There were
formerly about Lake Men-
dota 30 groups of mounds, about Lake
Monona 12, and about
Lake Wingra 10. Lakes Waubesa and
Kegonsa, which lie at
a short distance from the city also have
about their shores numer-
ous earthen monuments. The total number
of these conspicuous
records of the past existing about the
five lakes of the Madison
chain has been estimated by local
authorities at nearly one thou-
sand. Many of these are still in
existence, and a considerable
number owe their preservation to the
efforts of the local mem-
bers of the society. There are also
still remaining about these
lakes several plots of Indian cornhills,
remnants of trails and
the site of an early fur-trading post.
The courteous invitation thus extended
was accepted by the
Wisconsin Archaeological Society and
shortly thereafter a com-
mittee of Madison members and patrons
was organized to as-.
sume charge of the necessary arrangements
and program for
the meeting.
THE ASSEMBLY.
On Friday morning, July 29, the first
day of the assembly,
members of the society and their guests
arriving from many
Wisconsin cities gathered at the
historical museum, in the State
Historical Library building, and were
here received by members
of the Madison committee. Dr. Reuben
Gold Thwaites, superin-
tendent of the State Historical Society
of Wisconsin, delivered
to the visitors a warm address of
welcome. The remainder of
the morning was devoted to a tour of
inspection, under the guid-
ance of members of the State Historical
Society's staff, of the
library and museum, and of the map and
manuscript, illustra-
tion, newspaper and other important
departments of its labors.
The Wisconsin Archaeological Society. 335 At 2 P. M., the members and guests of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society to the number of about one hundred assembled at the State street entrance of the State Historical Library for the purpose of participating in a pilgrimage to Mer- rill Springs, for which carriages and 'busses had been provided. The long train of vehicles was lead by one in which were seated Mr. W. W. Warner, local vice-president of the society; Mr. Emilius O. Randall of Columbus, 0., the distinguished guest of the Assembly; Miss Pauline Buell of Madison, and Prof. H. |
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by Agricultural Hall. One of the effigies is that of a large bird with the wings outspread as if in the act of flying toward some distant tree or ridge-top. Its head points toward the south. The other effigy is considered to be intended to represent the turtle, an effigy type common to certain Wisconsin archaelogic areas. This mound is however peculiar among turtle-shaped mounds in possessing two caudal appendages. (See Fig. 1.) It measures about 95 feet in length from the end of its rounded head to the tip of its diverging tails, and about 43 feet in width across the widest portion of its body (across the limbs.) It is represented, |
336 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
in the act of crawling over the crest of the ridge. Neither of these curious earthworks is over one and a half feet in height at the highest portion of their bodies. These fine mounds, so favorably situated for permanent preservation have recently been marked at the society's request by neat wooden explanatory signs. They are visited each year by hundreds of University students and by visitors from many states. The carriages here left the University grounds and pro- ceeded southward across the city to the vicinity of Henry Vilas park, a picturesque public park on the shore of Lake Wingra. On a small public oval at the head of West Washington street, on the outskirts of this park, is situated a bear-shaped effigy |
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with the ceremony of unveiling upon the mound of a descrip- tive bronze tablet. Prof. H. B. Lathrop delivered the presentation address, at the conclusion of which Miss Pauline Buell, a daughter of Mrs. Charles E. Buell of Madison, president of the Wisconsin Feder- ation of Women's Clubs, very gracefully removed the silken flags, and exposed the tablet. It bears the following legend:
BEAR WAH-ZHE-DAH. Common Type of Ancient Indian Effigy Mound. Length 82 Feet. Marked by the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, July 29, 1910. |
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 337
PROFESSOR H. B. LATHROP'S ADDRESS.
The mound of earth at our feet is the
work of hands long quiet,
a memorial the meaning of which by the
time our race came to this
region had been forgotten by the very
aborigines themselves whose
ancestors, it is believed, here built
it. On some summer's day, how
many ages ago we know not, there labored
here a band of dark-skinned
men and women, bearing with them in
sacks and baskets the earth,
toilsomely scooped up with blade-bones,
shells, and bits of wood, of
which this figure is composed. It is not
difficult to imagine the scene
about them as it must have appeared on
that day. The soft homelike
contours of the hills enclosing the lake
below us cannot have greatly
changed; some then as now were darkly
hooded with a close growth of
trees, but on most of them the oaks
stood wide apart in the midst of
an undergrowth of brambles and other
rough bushes, or cast their
shadows in park-like groves on grassy
slopes. The brush was thick, no
doubt, and sheltered bears and deer. The
flocks of water birds on the
lakes in spring and autumn were vast and
noisy. There were no neatly
painted houses ranged in order along
straight white streets, and hollow
trails led from one group to another of
skin tepees near the lake shores,
with great solitudes between them.
In the level meadow below us, and a few
hundred yards to the
southeast, on what was then the edge of
the rushy lake, was one group
of such tents, the village of the
builders of this mound. The oaks still
standing in the park sheltered the
village in its later days. The ground
beneath is full of the signs of the life
of the inhabitants: flint imple-
ments and flakes and potsherds, the
homely and pitiful wealth of the
villagers. Between the two oaks at the
end of the little grove on the
west may yet be found the remnants of
ancient hearthstones, cracked by
fire. The lake near by provided the
inhabitants with the fish and turtles
which formed so large a part of their
food and were so important in
their agriculture. Their corn-field and
their burial ground have not
been discovered, but must have been not
distant. These people must
have led a tolerably settled life; the
region about them was rich in
all the elements of savage prosperity,
and vigorous enemies pressed at
no great distance upon their borders.
Why should they roam far from
so fair a home? On this earth, then grew
the holy sentiments possible
only where mankind have settled
habitations. Here were homes and
love, affection for the lake, the trees,
the hills, for the graves of
ancestors, devotion to the commonweal -
sacred feelings, however crudely
or dimly manifested, however mingled
with savage folly and savage
cruelty.
Dr. Samuel Johnson says, in words which
as Matthew Arnold de-
clares, should be written in letters of
gold over every schoolhouse
Vol. XIX. -22.
338 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
door, "Whatever causes the past,
the distant, or the future to predominate
in our minds over the present, advances
us in the dignity of thinking
beings." Such words will not sound
strange to the members of an
archaeological society. Its very
existence is a call to its members to
escape at times from the confusion and scattering of the spirit
which
come from the welter of daily business,
to turn back to the simple ele-
ments of human nature in this day of
many calling voices, and to
become conscious for a moment of the
long stream of life, unhasting,
unresting, in which our own passes on as
a drop on its way to the
ocean. But it is not the mere outer life
of the past which has an
interest for us. What is the meaning of
this heap of earth? With what
thoughts was it built? Were the minds of
those who made it alien to
ours, or is this mound a little signal
out of the past to let us know
that the thoughts of the past are still
in us? To these questions no
such easy and clear answers can be given
as to those concerned with
the mere externals of the past, and yet
they may be answered if not with
completeness with certainty and with
sufficiency.
Those who peopled the village and built
the mound were Indians
of the Winnebago tribe, members of the
great Siouxan family, and in the
western migration of these peoples from
Virginia a band of the Win-
nebago stopped here on their way near
their brethren, found the land
good, unpeopled or dispeopled as it was,
and here made their home.
Those who settled this village were
members of the Bear Clan; they
had an ideal unity of descent from the
Bear, had the bear spirit in
them, and were all conceived of as kindred.
In course of time, after
their life had become rooted in this
spot, some of them formed this
image of the protecting bear spirit. The
bear was their ancestor, their
guardian, at once the bond of their
community and the object of their
religious devotion. Here this image, endowed with a mystic life,
the
home of the spirits of many ancestors,
not a dead thing or a mere
inanimate figure, watched over their
village, removed from desecrating
companionship and the disturbances of
the village life, but near enough
to exercise a watchful guardianship over
it. To the west lay many
kindred villages of the Bear Clan, often
marked as this one by
effigies. Rude as the mounds are, the
artists who traced them were
not without imagination and delight in
the pictures they drew with so
broad a stroke. The bear effigy-the
black bear no doubt-is nearly
always long-bodied and heavy-footed, but
he is no mere conventional
figure. Sometimes his head is lifted and
he snuffs the air, sometimes it
is thrust forward and at gaze. More
often, as here, the great beast
is stolidly plodding his way through the
underbrush. Each effigy testifies
to the fact that the artist was drawing
sincerely and with delight what
he had seen and knew intimately.
This mound is not in time so ancient as
the Pyramids, but it is in
spirit more primitive and more noble. It
is more noble, since it is not
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 339
the work of drudging slaves, set to
glorify the vanity and selfishness of a
despot, but of a community symbolizing
its bond of communal life
and its religious devotion. It is more
primitive, for it comes from
that childhood of the race when men
believed that human souls
and magical intelligence dwelt in the
beasts. It is more mys-
terious than the Pyramids: we know not
the builders' names, or where
their dust has been laid, though of
their purpose we have some inkling.
Is this symbol of the sacred past and of
the community life alto-
gether strange to us? May we not find a
chord in our hearts to
respond to the sentiment which raised
it?
The tablet we dedicate is the gift to
the Society of a generous
donor who desires his name to be kept
private, and is accepted from
the Society by the City of Madison as a
pledge that this memorial of
a far and dim antiquity will be
preserved intact for the future. The
flag covering the tablet, which Miss
Pauline Buell is now to strip off,
is a symbol of a bond of union higher,
larger, and more ideal than
that of the Bear Clan, but no closer or
more holy than that to its
members. Under that flag should live a
union of spirit higher than a
merely political one. It should be
hospitable to the sacred associations
of all the many peoples in our composite
national life. We cannot
afford to lose a benediction from our
soil; our life will be the richer
for realizing that this was consecrated
ground ages before a white
foot was set upon it.
At the close of this impressive ceremony
the pilgrimage
returned northward again to Lake
Mendota, passing on its way
thither several small groups of
prehistoric mounds on Univer-
sity Heights, and on the State
University grounds, and pro-
ceeded for a distance of several miles
over the winding pleas-
ure drive which here skirts the south
shore of the lake until it
reaches the somewhat noted resort long
known from its clear
springs, as Merrill Springs. Here the party was taken in
charge by Mr. Ernest N. Warner, the
owner of this fine tract
of land.
There are here several extensive groups
of Indian earth-
works. The first to be inspected by the
pilgrims was an inter-
esting group of three bear-shaped
effigies located in a small
grassy enclosure on the lake side of the
driveway. In a wooded
pasture on the opposite side of the road
is an irregularly dis-
posed series of mounds consisting at
this time of three long
tapering linear earthworks, three
conical (burial) mounds of
small size, and two bird
effigies. Most attractive of these earth-
340 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
works is a remarkable effigy intended to represent a goose in flight. (See Fig. 3.) Its dimensions, according to a recent sur- vey are: length of body, 50 feet; length of head and neck, 108 feet. Its wings measure about 190 feet from tip to tip. It lies on the slope of a hill with its neck stretching toward to top. Its wings are twice bent, and there is no doubt in the minds of Wis- consin archaeologists concerning its identification. It is one of only a very few examples of its type occurring in the state and its preservation is therefore sought by the society. The largest of the tapering mounds is about 240 feet in length. Passing through this pasture is also a remnant of a well- |
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figy, and a line of small conical mounds. A large bird, a bear, and two linear mounds are grouped upon the side and crest of a neighboring hill. After viewing these numerous works of the ancient Indians, the pilgrims returned to Madison.
THE EVENING SESSION. The evening session of the Assembly was held in the lecture hall of the State Historical Museum. The meeting was formally opened at 8 o'clock about 200 persons being in attendance. Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites, the first speaker, delivered an address en- titled, "The Four Lakes Region in Aboriginal Days." He gave an interesting account of the Indian occupation of the region |
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 341
about Madison, describing the locations
of the camps, trail and
fur-trade stations, as described by
early travelers. He was fol-
lowed by Mr. Emilius O. Randall,
secretary of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
who protested that he
was not a professional archaeologist,
history being his bent, if
he had any bent at all, and regretted
that his place on the pro-
gram was not filled by Prof. W. C.
Mills, the successful and well-
known curator of the Ohio Society.
Nevertheless Mr. Randall
succeeded in greatly interesting his
audience with his scholarly
address, "The Preservation of
Prehistoric Remains in Ohio,"' in
which he described the work of the Ohio
Society in exploring
and preserving its archaeological
wealth. He told of the preserva-
tion in state park reservations of the
widely celebrated Great
Serpent Mound, and of Fort Ancient. He
also gave an account
of the recent productive explorations of
the Adena mound, the
Baum village site and of other noted
remains and sites, under
state auspices. A state archaeological
atlas is now in prepara-
tion. The archaeological collections in
the society's museum at
Columbus are very extensive and
valuable, and its publications
widely read.
Prof. William Ellery Leonard, Assistant
Professor of Eng-
lish in the University of Wisconsin,
followed with the reading
of a poem prepared especially for the
Assembly. This is printed
here with his kind permission.
PROFESSOR LEONARD'S POEM.
The white man came and builded in these
parts
His house for government, his hall for
arts,
His market-place, his chimneys, and his
roads,
And garden plots before his new abodes,
With fields of grain behind them planted
new,
Then, turned topographer, a map he drew;
And, turned historian, a book did frame;
And gave his high achievement unto fame.
Saying: "To these four ancient
lakes I came,
And saw, and conquered, and with me was
born,
Amid these prairies, and these woods
forlorn,
A corporate life, a commonweal, a place
By me first founded for the human
race."
342 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
We con
his map, his book; for they have worth
Not less than many a civic tale of earth
Of cities builded in the long ago
Where still forever other waters flow.
Yet, if we read the life of states
aright,
Man never yet has built upon a site
Unknown to man before him: ancient Rome,
Long ere 'twas founded, was for man a
home;
The Caesars, landing in the utmost isles
Of Briton, paved the long imperial miles
Between their military towns, among
An earlier folk whom time has left
unsung.
And in still earlier days the Grecian
stock,
(Their gods as yet uncarven in the rock,
Their lyres as yet dumb wood within the
trees
Among the mountains o'er AEgean seas),
Settled to southward in a land even then
Alive with hardihood of sons of men
The rude Pelasgians, rearers of the
stone-
In after eras to be overgrown
With weed and ivy-like at last the
throne
Of marble Zeus himself. Again, they say
That fathoms deep in Egypt's oldest
clay--
Fathoms beneath the sphinx and pyramid
Lie hid-or rather now no longer hid-
Proofs of man's home beside the reeds of
Nile,
Ere ever those Dynasties whose numbered
file
Of uncouth names we learn by rote had
come,
With Isis and Osiris. Hold the thumb
Upon the map of Egypt, and then trace
With the forefinger how another race,
Making its way between the rivers twain
-
Down the low Tigris and Euphrates plain-
Builds that Assyrian kingdom to the sea
Where the mysterious Sumerians be.
In short, wherever a mightier people go
To lands of promise, there's a Jericho
Before whose elder walls their trumpets
first must blow.
So here: our sires who felled the forest
trees
Received from dark-skinned aborigines
The lamp of life. And though we well may
say,
"That lamp burns brighter in our
hands today,"
We well may add, in reverence for the
great
Primordial law that binds all life to
fate,
"That lamp of life, though wild and
wan its flame,
Still burned in other hands before we
came."
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 343
Here was a desert only in the name-
And from the view-point of that narrow
pride
Which names a strange thing chiefly to
deride.
Here was no desert: every hill and vale,
Each lake and watercourse, each grove
and trail,
Was know to thousands who, like me and
you,
Watched the great cloud-drifts in the
central blue
And sun and moon and stars; like you and
me,
Laughed, wept and danced and planned the
thing to be.
The whole wide landscape, rock, and
spring, and plain,
Lay long since chartered in the human
brain,
And had its names, its legendary lore,
Which countless children from their
fathers bore
Down to their children's children.
So man's mind
Even then was more than nature, brute
and blind,
By virtue of that element of thought
Through which our own devices have been
wrought.
Here in the villages by wood and shore,
With infants toddling through the wigwam
door,
Were arts and crafts, in simpler form,
but still
The same we practice in the shop and
mill--
Here bowl and pitcher, moccasin and
belt,
Mattock and spade and club and pipe and
celt,
Fashioned not only for the work to do,
But often with many a tracery and hue,
To please that sense of something in the
eye
We now call beauty-though we know not
why.
And here was seed-time in the self-same
loam
We plow today; here too was harvest
home.
Here were assemblies of the counsellors;
Here unsung heroes led the hosts to wars.
Here gathered at seasons family and clan
To serve the god from whence its line
began,
Or bury its chieftains; for the Gods,
the dead,
Were unto them, as us, yet more than
bread,
Yet more than drink and raiment, as it
seems,
And they, as we do, lived in part by
dreams.
And the high places round these lakes
attest
The age-old mysteries of the human
breast.
Thus, if you'll fill the picture out
I've drawn,
Touch it with color and atmosphere of
dawn,
You'll see an immemorial world of man,
Perhaps but portion of a larger plan
344 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Of which we too may but a portion be
In that sum-total solidarity
Of human beings spread across the earth
In generations, birth succeeding birth-
The living who raise the citadels we
know,
The dead whose bones earth bosomed long
ago.
And this good company that meets today
Proves the large truth of what I've
sought to say;
For why should we, whose daily
tasks alone
So press upon us that we scarcely own
The present hour, still take on us to gaze
Back on the parted, the forgotten days;
Why should we leave the quest for daily
bread,
To quest for relics of the savage dead;
Why should we leave our figuring for
gold
To figure out a vanished world of old?-
Except that thus in human nature lurks,
Except that thus in human nature works
Some sense of common comradry and kin
With human life, wherever it has been,
And in the use of such a sense we find
Enlargement for our human heart and
mind.
Dr. Carl Russell Fish, professor of
American history in the
University of Wisconsin, furnished the
final number on the pro-
gram. His very instructive address
entitled, "The Relation of
Archaeology to History, is here
presented.
ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR FISH.
The derivation of the word archaeology
gives little idea of its
present use. "The study of
antiquity" is at once too broad in scope
and too limited in time, for the
followers of a dozen other "ologies" are
studying antiquity, while the
archaeologist does not confine himself to
that period. The definition of the word
in the new English dictionary
corrects the first of these errors, but
emphasizes the second, for it
describes it as: "The scientific
study of remains and monuments of the
prehistoric period." This obviously
will not bear examination, as the
bulk of archeological endeavor falls
within the period which is considered
historical, and I cannot conceive any
period prehistoric, about which
archeology, or any other science, can
give us information. Actually, time
has nothing whatever to do with the
limitations of archaeology, and to
think of it as leaving off where history
begins, is to misconceive them
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 345
both. The only proper limitation upon
archaeology lies in its subject
matter, and I conceive that it cannot be
further defined than as: "The
scientific study of human remains and
monuments."
In considering the relations of the
science to history, I do not
wish to enter into any war of words as
to claims of "sociology", and
"anthropology" and
"history" to be the inclusive word, covering the
totality of man's past, but simply to
use history as it is generally
understood at present and as its
professors act upon it. Certainly we
are no longer at the stage where history
could be defined as "Past
Politics," and it is equally
certain that there are fields of human activity
which are not actually treated in any
adequate way by the historian.
The relations of the two do not depend
on the definition of history,
but the more broadly it is interpreted,
the more intimate their relationship
becomes. The sources of history are
three-fold, written, spoken, and
that which is neither written nor
spoken.
To preserve and prepare the first, is
the business of the philologist,
the archivist, the paleographer, the
editor, and experts in a dozen sub-
sidiary sciences. The historian devotes
so much the larger part of
his time to this class of material, that
the period for which written
materials exists is sometimes spoken of
as the historical period, and
the erroneous ideas of archaeology which
I have quoted, become common.
Least important of the three, is the
spoken or traditional, though if
we include all the material that was
passed down for centuries by word
of mouth before being reduced to
writing, such as the Homeric poems or
the Norse sagas, it includes some of the
most interesting things we
know of the past. In American history,
such material deals chiefly
with the Indian civilizations, and its
collection is carried on chiefly
by the anthropologists. In addition,
nearly every family preserves a mass
of oral traditions running back for
about a hundred years; and there
is a small body of general information,
bounded by about the same
limit, which has never yet been put into
permanent form. The win-
nowing of this material to secure
occasional kernels of historic truth
that it yields is as yet a neglected
function.
The material that is neither written nor
oral falls to the geologist and
the archaeologist. Between these two
sciences there is striking simi-
larity, but their boundaries are clear;
the geologist deals with natural
phenomena, the archaeologist with that
which is human, and which may,
for convenience, be called monumental.
The first duty of the archaeolo-
gist is to discover such material and to
verify it, the next is to secure
its preservation, preferably its actual
tangible preservation, but if that
is not possible, by description. Then
comes the task of studying it,
classifying and arranging it, and making
it ready for use. At this point
the function of the archaeologist
ceases, and the duty of the historian
begins; to interpret it, and to bring it
into harmony with the recognized
body of information regarding the past.
It is not necessary that different
346 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
individuals in every case do these
different things. We must not press
specialization too far. Nearly every
historian should be something of an
archaeologist, and every archeologist
should be something of an his-
torian. When the archaeologist ceases
from the preparation of his
material, and begins the reconstruction
of the past, he commences to
act as an historian; he has to call up a
new range of equipment, a new
set of qualifications.
The fields in which the services of
archaeology are most appreciated
are those to which written and oral
records do not reach. Its con-
tributions in pressing back the
frontiers of knowledge are incalculable,
and are growing increasingly so with
every passing year. To say nothing
of what it has told us of the
civilizations of Egypt and Assyria, it has
given to history within the last few
years the whole great empire of the
Hittites. We have learned more of
Mycenaean civilization from archae-
ology than from Homer. Practically all
we know of the Romanization
of Britain is from such sources, and
that process, not long ago regarded
almost as a myth, is now a well
articulated bit of history. In America,
within the last thirty-five years, by
the joint work of the archaeologist and
the anthropologist, many of the points
long disputed concerning the
Indians have been set at rest, more
knowledge of them has been recovered
than was ever before supposed possible,
and new questions have been
raised which invite renewed activity.
From all over the world, moreover,
remains of the past, amount-
ing to many times those now known, call
for investigation. It is safe to
say that within the next fifty years
more sensational discoveries will
be made by following material, than
written, records.
It is not, however, only in the periods
void of written sources
that archaeology can perform its
services. It is in the period of classical
antiquity that we find the combination
happiest. There, indeed, it is
difficult to find an historian who does
not lay archaeology under tribute,
or an archaeologist who is not lively to
the historical bearing of his work.
When we come to the medieval period the
situation is less ideal, the his-
torian tends to pay less attention to
monuments, and the archaeologist to
become an antiquarian, intent upon
minutia, and losing sight of his
ultimate duty. In the modern period, the
historian, self-satisfied with the
richness of his written sources, ignores
all others, and the archaeologist,
always with a little love for the
unusual and for the rust of time,
considers himself absolved from further
work.
As one working in this last period, I
wish to call the attention
of American archaeologists to some
possibilities that it offers. Abundant
as are our resources they do not tell
the whole story of the last couple of
centuries even in America, and we have
monuments which are worthy
of preservation and which can add to our
knowledge of our American
ancestors, as well as of our Indian
predecessors. Even in Wisconsin
something may be obtained from such
sources.
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 347
The most interesting of our monumental
remains are, of course,
the architectural. Everybody is familiar
with the log cabin, though
something might yet be gathered as to
the sites selected for them, and
minor differences in construction. Less
familiar is the cropping out of
the porch in front, the spreading of the
ell behind, and the two lean-to
wings, then the sheathing with
clap-boards, the evolution of the porch
posts into Greek columns, and the clothing
of the whole with white paint,
all representing stages in the
prosperity of the occupants. In nearly every
older Wisconsin township may be found
buildings representing every
one of these stages, the older ones
indicating poor land or unthrifty
occupants and being generally remote
from the township center, or
else serving as minor farm buildings
behind more pretentious frame or
brick structures. In the same way the
stump fence, the snake fence and
the wire fence, denote advance or the
retardation of progress. Other
studies of economic value may be made
from the use of different kinds
of building materials. The early use of
local stone is one of the features
of Madison, its subsequent disuse was
due not so much to the diffi-
culty of quarrying as to the decreased
cost of transportation making other
materials cheaper, and was coincident
with the arrival of the railroads.
Very interesting material could be
obtained from the abandoned river
towns, still preserving the appearance
of fifty years ago, and furnishing
us with genuine American ruins.
On the whole the primitive log cabins
were necessarily much alike,
but when the log came to be superseded
by more flexible material,
the settler's first idea was to
reproduce the home or the ideal of his
childhood, and the house tends to reveal
the nationality of its builder.
Just about Madison there are farm houses
as unmistakably of New Eng-
land as if found in the "Old
Colony," and others as distinctly of Penn-
sylvania or the South. I am told of a
settlement of Cornishmen,
which they have made absolutely
characteristic, and even the automobilist
can often distinguish the first
Wisconsin home of the German, the
Englishman or the Dutchman. Where have
our carpenters, our masons
and finishers come from, and what tricks
of the trade have each
contributed ?
Such studies reveal something also of
the soul of the people. Not
so much in America, to be sure, as in
Europe, where national and
individual aspirations find as legitimate
expression in architecture, as
in poetry; and less here in the West,
which copied its fashions, than
in the East, which imported them. Still
we have a few of the Greek
porticoed buildings which were in part a
reflection of the influence of the
first French Republic and in part
represented the admiration of the
Jeffersonian democracy for the republics
of Greece; but that style
almost passed away before Wisconsin was
settled. We have a number of
the composite porticoed and domed
buildings which succeeded and
represented perhaps the kinship between
the cruder democracy of Jackson
348 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and that of Rome. We have many buildings both public and private,
some extremely beautiful, which reflect
the days in the middle of the
nineteenth century when the best minds
in America drew inspiration
from the Italy of the Renaissance, when
Story and Crawford, and
Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller lived and
worked in Rome. The
succeeding period when the French
mansard stands for the dominating
influence on things artistic, or rather
inartistic, of the Second Empire,
is everywhere illustrated; while the
revival of English influence, in
the Queen Anne; the beginning of general
interest in American history,
in the colonial; the influence of the war
with Spain; in the square
cement; and many other waves of thought
and interest, can be pointed out
in almost any town. A careful study of
its architecture will nearly
always reveal the approximate date of
foundation, the periods of pros-
perity and depression, the origin of the
inhabitants, and many other
facts of real importance.
I have spoken so far of the contribution
of archaeology to the
science of history. Fully as great are
its possibilities along the lines of
popularization and illustration. The
work of neither archaeology nor
history can go on without popular
support, and the local appeal is one of
the strongest that can be made. Not
every town has an interesting
history, but almost every one, however
ugly, can be made historically
interesting to its inhabitants, if its
streets can be made to tell its history,
and by reflection something of the
history of the country, which may
be done merely by opening their eyes to
their chirography. It should be
part of the hope of the local archaeologist
to make his neighbors and his
neighbor's children see history in
everything about them, and if this is
accomplished we may hope gradually to
arouse a deeper and more
scientific interest, and a willingness
to encourage that research into the
whole past, in which historian and
archaeologist are jointly interested.
On a recent visit to Lake Koshkonong I
found my interest very
much stimulated by the admirable map and
plates illustrating the Indian
life about its shores, and it has
occurred to me that one extremely
valuable way of arousing general
interest and of arranging our archae-
ological data, would be in a series of
such minute maps. For instance the
first in the series would give purely
the physical features, the next, on
the same scale, would add our Indian
data-mounds, village sites, culti-
vated fields, arrow factories and
battle-fields, trails and any other indi-
cations that might appear--then one on
the entrance of the white men,
with trading posts, garrisons, first
settlements and roads, the next
would begin with the school house and
end with the railroad, and one
or two more would complete the set. Such
studies of the material
changes of a locality, would not form an
embellishment, but the basis
of its history.
Another work might be undertaken through
the local high school.
The pupils might be encouraged to take
photographs of houses, fences,
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 349
bridges and other objects, interesting
for the reasons I have pointed out,
as well as all objects of aboriginal
interest. These should always be dated
and the place where they were taken
noted. In fact, a map should be
used, and by numbers or some such device
the pictures localized. These
photographs properly classified and
arranged would give such a picture
of the whole life of the community in
terms of tangible remains as
could not fail to interest its
inhabitants as well as serve the student.
In the newer portions of the state,
particularly in the north it would be
possible to take pictures of the first
clearing, and then file them away
and a few years later take another
picture of the farmstead with its
improvements and so on until it reached
a condition of stability. Thus
to project into the future the work of a
science whose name suggests
antiquity, may seem fantastic, but even
the future will ultimately become
antiquity. We have still in Wisconsin
some remnants of a frontier stage
of civilization which is passing and
cannot be reproduced, and to provide
materials to express it to the future
cannot be held superfluous. If we
imagine the joy that it would give to us
to find a photograph of the
site of Rome before that city was built,
of one of the great Indian villages
of Wisconsin before the coming of the
white man, we can form a con-
ception of the value of such an ordered
and scientific collection as I have
suggested to the future student of the
civilization of our own day.
At the conclusion of the program an
informal reception was
tendered the guests by the Madison
members of the Wisconsin
Archaeological Society, light
refreshments being served by the
ladies of the historical library staff.
The entire museum was
thrown open to the visitors, who spent
the remainder of the
evening in inspecting its historical and
anthropological collections.
The historical museum had its beginning
in 1854, and has main-
tained a persistent and progressive
growth since that date. It
occupies the entire upper floor of the
State Historical Library
building, and has eight exhibition
halls. Its chief aim is popular
education along the lines of Wisconsin
history. It takes promin-
ent rank as an educational institution,
and entertains from 60,000
to 80,000 visitors each year.
In addition to its regular collections
the museum had pre-
pared for the occasion of the Assembly a
series of special ex-
hibits. These included the original
surveys and maps, and corre-
spondence relating to Wisconsin
antiquities of Dr. Increase A.
Lapham, the state's distinguished
pioneer antiquarian, and of his
350 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
associates, Dr. P. R. Hoy, Moses Strong, Dr. S. P Lathrop, W. H. Canfield and others, these occupying several large cases; a screen exhibit illustrating the archaeological features of the Four Lakes region; a collection of Belgian "eoliths," loaned by Dr. Frederick Starr; a collection of photogravure reproductions of the E. S. Curtis photographs of North American Indians; a col- lection of chipped flint and pecked stone implements from Japan, |
|
and a number of smaller exhibits. All of these were greatly appreciated by the visitors.
THE SECOND DAY'S PILGRIMAGE. On the morning of July 30, the second day of the Assembly, a body of about 150 members and guests of the society gathered at the Wisconsin University boat-house for a pilgrimage to points of archaeological and historical interest on the north shore of Lake Mendota. They were conveyed across the lake to the State Hospital grounds at Mendota by a fleet of launches. Arriving on |
The Wisconsin Archaeological Society. 351
the grounds they were taken in charge by Dr. Charles Gorst, the superintendent, and Mrs. Gorst, and permitted to inspect the buildings of this model institution under their guidance. There are upon this beautiful tract of state property, many acres in extent, several particularly interesting groups of Indian earthworks, the most important of which is permanently pre- served upon the large and well-cared for lawn extending from the lake bank to the main hospital, a distance of about a quarter of a mile. Among the effigies in this series are three bird-shaped mounds, all of immense proportions, and others representing the deer, squirrel, bear and panther. Most interesting of these is the large so-called "eagle" effigy. (See Fig. 6.) This remarkable |
|
|
tion by the primitive inhabitants of this site must have cost an immense amount of labor. Comfortably seated upon the body of this huge mound be- neath the shade of the majestic elm and basswood trees which surround it, the archaeological pilgrims listened to a brief address by Mr. Arlow B. Stout, chairman of the society's Research Com- mittee, in which he explained what was being done to complete surveys and explorations of the Indian remains about Madison. Rev. Mr. F. A. Gilmore then delivered a very instructive address at the close of which he presented to the state, in the name of the society and of its donor, Mr. James M. Pyott, a prominent member, the fine metal tablet provided for the marking of this mound. Miss Genevieve Gorst, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Gorst, removed the national colors and exposed to view the tablet which had been mounted upon a small monument placed upon the body of the mound. It bears the following inscription: |
352 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
EAGLE EFFIGY.
Largest Indian mound of its type in
Wisconsin.
Body 131 feet. Wing spread 624 feet.
Marked by the Wisconsin Archaeological
Society,
July 30, 1910.
ADDRESS OF REV. F. A. GILMORE.
Archaeology and theology have sometimes
been grouped together,
since both are said to deal with
subjects of no interest to modern men.
As a theologian I should be glad to
refute this idea: but though I know
you are all eager to hear me discourse
on theology, you must bear with
me if I disappoint you. Suffice it to
say that theology or the attempt to
answer the ultimate questions which life
puts to us, can never become
obsolete.
Archaeology is by no means a useless
branch of learning. It is, to
be sure, the study of things that lie
far behind us, "in the dark back-
ward and abysm of time"; but these
things have to do with the life.
of humanity. These mounds are the
records and symbols of human
thought. Hence we think that every
cultivated man should know some-
thing about them. For what is culture?
It is the knowledge of what
the race has thought and done. Much is
claimed in these days for prac-
tical studies such as farming,
engineering and the like. But these can
never replace such subjects as language,
history, philosophy, art and
archaeology for it is these that give us
insight into our vast human
inheritance. By them we enter the life
of the race. Archaeological
studies may not butter anyone's bread
(unless it be Secretary Brown's)
they do give us the key to the evolution
of man.
Effigy mounds are found in several parts
of the United States-by
far the greater number are in Wisconsin.
Here was an epidemic of
mound building. In the early days they
were thought to have been built
by the ten "Lost Tribes of
Israel"; or by a prehistoric race far superior
to the Indians in civilization; or by
the Aztecs before they migrated
to Mexico. The "consensus of the
competent" now pronounces them
to have been the work of the Winnebago
Indians, probably a few cen-
turies before the landing of Columbus.
It is a curious fact that the French
missionaries and fur traders
who were in Wisconsin as early as
1634-only fourteen years after the
settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts-
make no mention of the mounds.
The Indians of that time did not make
effigy mounds and seem to have
lost all knowledge of them. They did not
reverence them for they built
their villages, planted their corn
fields and buried their dead in them.
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 353
These mounds belong to a class of
venerated objects called Totems.
Totem is a word of Wisconsin origin and
comes from the Chippewa
language. It has now passed into general
use in the terminology of sci-
ence. It means, "my protector"
or "my familiar patron". Totemism is
found among primitive people as far
apart as Australia and Africa,
India and aboriginal America. A Totem
may be a vegetable or an animal,
a war club or other object, and even the
elements like the rain or sun-
shine. These objects were tattooed or
burned on the body, scratched on
the walls of caves, painted on the
wigwam, the canoe or paddle, cut upon
poles and erected in front of the
dwelling. With certain Indian tribes
the Totem was formed in effigy, notably
by the Siouxan tribes. Some-
times they were formed of stones laid
out in the outline of a gigantic
animal or bird. Among the Winnebagoes, a
branch of the Siouxan stock,
it was the fashion to form them out of
the earth.
There are individual Totems, sex Totems,
and Clan Totems. These
mounds are of the latter class. A clan
Totem was some bird, animal or
fish or weapon regarded as the dwelling
place of a spirit or divinity.
This divinity was the ancestor of all
the members of the clan. The clan
members were thus bound together in a
common blood relationship.
They regarded each other as Brothers,
and looked to the deity repre-
sented by the Totem, for protection and
help. Marriage was generally
forbidden within the clan. Children in
some tribes were of the father's
Totem; more often of the mother's. When
a clan grew in numbers it
might divide, the new formed clan taking
a Totem allied to the original
one. Thus the turtle clan among the
Iroquois comprised the mud turtle
clan, the snapping turtle clan, the
yellow turtle clan, etc. This group of
clans is sometimes called a phratry. A
large Indian tribe would thus be
formed of several phratries and these of
several clans.
The clan was the unit of the tribal
life, on the march and in the
arrangement of the village. When the
Omahas marched a certain clan
order was observed, and when they camped
the twelve clans took pre-
scribed places in the circle like the
figures on a clock dial. We might
think of the Totem as the Stem and the
religious customs and the
social laws of the tribe, as the
branches growing out of it. Or using
another figure we may call the Totem
idea the tissue of the common
tie which made a unit of the clan or tribe.
Religious customs connected
with the Totem.
The Totem figured in the ceremonies at
the birth of children.
In the deer clan of the Omahas the
infant was painted with spots to
imitate a fawn. Young lads had their
hair cut out to imitate the horns of
a deer, the legs and tail of a turtle or
other Totem. At puberity there
was an important ceremony initiating the
youth into the clan membership.
Members of the clan dressed to imitate
the Totem, danced and mimicked
the actions and voice of the animal.
Sometimes the novice was clothed
Vol. XIX. -
23.
354 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
in the animal's skin and laid in a
grave; the name of the Totem was
then shouted aloud. At this name the
youth arose from the grave,
signifying his new life as a clan
member, the passing from youth to the
higher estate of manhood; or perhaps
that the Totem had power to
give him life beyond the grave. In some
tribes there seems to have
been a certain formula of words and
gestures as a part of this ceremony.
This may have been a secret sign by
means of which a person could
pass from clan to clan and find
entertainment and fellowship, even where
the language was different. In
Australia, by means of this Totem
formula, a man might travel for a
thousand miles and find friends of the
same Totem.
Death ceremonies. The buffalo clan of
the Omahas wrapped the
dying man in a buffalo robe and said,
"You are now going to your
ancestors the buffaloes. Be
strong." We find the burial mounds placed
close to the Totem effigies as if for
protection.
The custom of taboo spring out of
veneration for the Totem.
The red maize clan of the Omahas will
not eat of that grain. It would
give them sore mouths they say. Members
of the deer clan in the same
tribe will not use the skin of a deer
for robes or moccasins nor its oil
for the hair, but may eat the meat for
food. The Totem animal was
sometimes kept in captivity and
carefully fed. In Java the red dog clan
had a red dog in each family and no one
might strike it with impunity.
A dead Totem was properly buried. In
Samoa a man of the owl clan
finding a dead owl will mourn for it as
for a human being. This does
not mean that the Totem is dead; he
lives in all the other owls. This
is a characteristic of Totemism, to
reverence the species; whereas
reverence for a single animal or object
is a characteristic or Fetichism.
When the Totem was to be killed for food
apologies were made to it.
Or flattery would be used, as when the
fisherman before setting his lines
to catch the Totem fish would call to
them, "Ho! you fish, you are
all chiefs." The Totem helped in
hunting; also in sickness. The medi-
cine man imitated the motions and voice
of the Totem to drive out
the sickness.
Omens came from the Totem. An eagle
flying toward a war party
was a sign to go back; if it flew with
them it was a sign to go on.
A curious ceremony took place among the
Omahas. A turtle was deco-
rated with strips of red cloth tied to
its head, legs and tail, tobacco was
placed on its back and it was headed
toward the south. This ceremony
was intended to drive away the fog! The
logical connection between
cause and effect would puzzle a Whately
or Jevons to discover; but it was
doubtless there to the Indian mind.
When running foot races the Indians
often carried an image of the
Totem on the breast or back. In signing
treaties the Totem was affixed
as a signature,
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 355
Before drawing the conclusion from these
facts I wish to say a
word about the art of these mounds and
their date. The Indian builders
certainly had an artistic sense. We find
that land animals such as the
bear, deer, panther, etc., are always
formed with the legs on one side,
and with rare exceptions the legs are
never separated. Amphibious
creatures, the turtle, lizard, etc.,
have the legs spread out, two on each
side. Birds have the wings wide spread
or curving and the feet do
not appear. The attitudes of the animals
is not the same for all. There
is artistic variety. Sometimes they are
standing still, again they are
prowling. In several localities in this
state two panthers are built
close together and their attitudes shows
them in combat. In other
places they are guarding caches of food
or the village enclosure.
We have no clear light as to the date of
these works. They were
erected when the land features were
about the same as now. About the
same distribution of forest and prairie,
level of soil and depth of
streams and lakes. There were the same
animals. Neither extinct nor
domestic animals are represented in the
effigies. After the days of the
mastodon, and after the present
topographical features were established,
with the same fauna and flora as found
by the white men at the time
of their first contact with the Indians,
but before the white men came
these mounds were built.
Sometimes we find several similar
effigies in the same locality. This
may mark some favorite gathering place
of the aborigines, as at Lake
Koshkonong where several clans having
the same Totem gathered for
fishing. Again they are found in maple
groves where the Indians came
for the sugar. Madison and the region of
the four lakes, called
Tycoperah by the natives, was a favorite
locality. Here are five eagle
mounds, several bears, panthers,
squirrels, etc. We may imagine the
region to have been a sort of capitol in
prehistoric days--giving laws
and knowledge to those who stayed at
home as it does today.
The old Greek mathematician quite
confounded his contemporaries
when he measured the distance from the
shore to a ship in the offing
without leaving the land. In somewhat
similar wise we can pretty closely
approximate the distance from us of the
mound builders and get a fairly
correct idea of the folk themselves. By
the help which we get from
archaeology and the study of Indian life
since the advent of the whites,
and particularly the institution of
Totemism, we can reconstruct that
vanished life.
This region was occupied by a
homogeneous people, probably the
Winnebagoes, its various clans and clan
groups spread from the Wis-
consin, river to the Illinois line, and
from Lake Michigan to the Mis-
sissippi. They were not harried and
driven by their enemies, but
lived in comparative peace. The clans
moved about, in Spring settling
in some sugar grove, in Summer moving to
a fishing place, in Winter
remaining at the regular villages. At
all these places they made their
356 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Totems in the soil. Certain spots, as at
Aztalan and Lake Horicon
were the seats of large permanent
settlements with earth walls and
raised earth platforms for the council
house or medicine tent. They
had corn fields and garden beds but no
domestic animals. Their mode
of life, clothing, houses, implements,
their religious ideas were those
of the Indian at the time of Columbus.
They belonged to the stone
age but had passed out of the lowest
stage of barbarism to the some-
what settled life of communities with
agriculture. Quite certainly the
mounds where we now stand marked the
site of a community. Secretary
Brown with Mr. August Roden and myself
dug into a refuse heap a few
rods west of this spot, where we found
clam shells, bones and pieces of
pottery. These effigies, the buffalo,
deer, squirrel and eagle were the
clan Totems of that viilage. Here were
held the clan dances and cere-
monies; here the youth were initiated
into clan membership, and given
the secret words which assured him a
welcome in other clans with the
same Totem. Here the young
"eagle" wooed the maiden of the deer
clan, for he might not marry one of his
own Totem.
This eagle mound is a clan Totem of that
village. A populous clan
it must have been to erect so huge a
work. The eagle has always
been admired for its strength and
courage. Wheeling far aloft or
resting on motionless wing it is an
impressive sight. And when, seeing
the fish hawk rise with its prey it
pursues it, and falling like a thunderbolt
snatches the dropped fish ere it touches
the water, it suggests the
supernatural even to a modern mind.
The eagle has been widely used as an
emblem. It was perched on
the Roman standards. It is the national
emblem of Russia, Prussia,
Austria and the United States. When in
1782 Congress chose the eagle
to be our national emblem it did not
realize that it had been used in the
same way in this country centuries
before. Wisconsin had a celebrated
eagle carried to the front in the civil war
by one of its regiments,
and known to every school child as
"Old Abe, the war eagle of Wis-
consin". May we not believe that
"Old Abe, captured in the forests of
Wisconsin was a lineal descendant of
that majestic, pristine bird whose
image is outstretched here at our feet?
There are five eagle mounds in the
vicinity of Madison; others are
found in different places in the state.
One at Mauston has a wing
spread of 325 feet; one in Sauk county
spreads 400 feet; one at the
southeast end of Lake Monona reaches 450
feet. This one before us is the
mammoth of them all; its wings extend
624 feet from tip to tip and is the
largest in the state, as well, I
believe, as in the world.
John Fiske has reminded us that in the
American Indian as he
was at the coming of the Europeans, we
have the man of the stone
age. That period of human development
which preceded civilization
in Europe, and which is only known by
its scattered vestiges in caves
and river beds-was greatly prolonged on
this continent. Indian cul-
The Wisconsin Archaeological
Society. 357
ture, Indian social life, religion,
mythology, art, etc., reproduce and
preserve for us the features of that
savage state which lies so far back
in Europe-beyond all written history. It
was a culture like that of the
mound builders out of which arose the
civilization of Greece and Rome.
This is the great value of archaeology
and fully justifies the interest we
take in Indian remains and our efforts
to preserve them. A large lizard
mound which once stood on the capital
park has been destroyed. This
was an "unpardonable sin", and
could only happen because of the gen-
eral ignorance. It proves how,
"Evil is wrought by want of thought
As well as want of heart."
It is told of a teacher from another
state, that seeing the mounds
where we now stand he took them to be
bunkers on a golf course!
Doubtless he imagined them to be some of
the improvements to the
hospital made under the superintendency
of Dr. Gorst.
We take great satisfaction in unveiling
this tablet marking the
hugest mound of its type in existence.
This tablet is presented by Mr.
James M. Pyott of Chicago, who has been
a member of the Wisconsin
Archaeological Society for many years
and has always taken a deep
interest in its work.
At noon a fine picnic dinner was served
by a committee of
the Madison ladies upon tables placed
beneath the trees upon
the lawn. After its conclusion, Mr.
Stout conducted the visi-
tors to the various mounds upon the
grounds and giving in-
formation as to their character and
dimensions. At 1:30 P. M.,
the launches were again boarded and a
trip of several miles
across the water made to Morris Park, a
well-known beauty
spot upon the north shore of the lake.
At this place ample time
was given to view under the guidance of
the Messrs. A. B.
Stout and Prof. Albert S. Flint, a
considerable number of
burial, linear and effigy mounds. The
latter include a single
bird effigy and a number of large
effigies of the panther type.
The conical mounds located here include
some of the most
prominent and best preserved about the
Madison Lakes,
A plot of Indian cornhills located at
the southeast cor-
ner of the property greatly interested
the pilgrims. Morris Park
has recently been laid out in summer
resort lots by a Madison
real estate dealer. The Society is
making a determined effort
to save the mounds.
358 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
A return was then made to the launches and the pilgrims conveyed along the shore of the lake to West Point, situated at its northwest corner. Arriving at this attractive spot, they were welcomed by Hon. Henry M. Lewis, whose summer home is located here. His cottage stands in the midst of a series of earthworks which consists of four tapering linear mounds, a small burial mound and a bird effigy. Two of the tapering mounds extend beneath the cottage. Judge Lewis, in his informal address, |
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gave an interesting account of the Indian history of the region immediately surrounding his home, describing the early Winne- bago village, and a council held at the neighboring Fox Bluff with them by Maj. Henry Dodge, on May 25, 1832, for the purpose of urging them not to participate in the then impend- ing Black Hawk war. Miss Louise Kellogg entertained the guests with a history of the fur-trading post located in early days near West Point. President Arthur Wenz, being introduced by Secretary Charles |
The Wisconsin Archaeological Society. 359 E. Brown, briefly explained the aims and work of the Wis- consin Archaeological Society. He expressed the grateful ap- preciation of the organization to the committee of local archae- ologists and their ladies, and to all others who had contributed to the great success of the Madison meeting. At the request of the pilgrims, Dr. Frederick Starr of the University of Chicago, was then called upon and responded with a stirring address. He explained the educational and scientific value of |
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Wisconsin's ancient animal-shaped and other prehistoric Indian monuments, and deplored their destruction through the opera- tions of money-grabbing "land sharks" and other agencies. Wis- consin citizens had cause, he stated, to be justly proud of the work of the state archaeological society in creating a state-wide interest in their protection and preservation. He discussed at length the authorship and totemic significance of the emblematic mounds. |
THE WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
STATE FIELD
ASSEMBLY,
July 29-30, 1910.
REPORT BY CHARLES E. BROWN, CURATOR.
Several years ago the Wisconsin
Archaeological Society
adopted the plan of holding summer field
meetings of its mem-
bers in various sections of Wisconsin
which were known to be
rich in prehistoric Indian remains. The
purpose of these annual
gatherings was doubly that of extending
their acquaintance with
the features of the local archaeological
field, and of arousing an
increased popular interest in the
educational value and need of
the scientific exploration and the
preservation of its antiquities.
The first of these state assemblies was
held in the city of
Waukesha, in the year 1906, and was very
successful. In the
following years, similar gatherings of
persons interested in the
state's antiquities were held at
Menasha, at Beloit and at Bara-
boo, each in a different section of the
state, the attendance and
interest increasing from year to year.
The effect of these meet-
ings has been to create an intelligent
interest in Wisconsin's
Indian memorials in every quarter of the
state. It has been the
means of enlisting the cooperation of
the women's clubs, of
county historical societies and other
local associations, and of
cities and villages in protecting and
permanently preserving the
Indian evidences in their respective
neighborhoods. Through a
union of effort of these with the
society, local public museums
and collections have been established,
and archaeological collec-
tions of great value saved to the state.
At the annual meeting of the society
held in the city of
Milwaukee, in March, 1910, an invitation
was presented to
it by its Madison members and by the
State Historical Society,
to hold a two-days field assembly during
the summer in that
charming Wisconsin city. It was urged,
and rightfully, that no
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