THE

Mound Builders.

(Cup found in Mound at Rainy River, Aug 22nd, 1884.)

BY

GEORGE BRYCE, M.A., L.L.D.

Professor in Manitoba College and President of the
Historical Society, Winnipeg.

PRICE, 25 CENTS.

(Season 1884-85, Transaction 18.)

(HISTORICAL SOCIETY.)

Manitoba Free Press Print, Winnipeg.

[Pg 1]

The Mound Builders.

A Lost Race Described by Dr. Bryce, President of the Historical Society.

SEASON 1884-85

Ours are the only mounds making up a distinct mound-region
on Canadian soil. This comes to us as a part of the large inheritance
which we who have migrated to Manitoba receive. No
longer cribbed, cabined, and confined, we have in this our “greater
Canada” a far wider range of study than in the fringe along
the Canadian lakes. Think of a thousand miles of prairie! The
enthusiastic Scotsman was wont to despise our level Ontario, because
it had no Grampians, but the mountains of Scotland all
piled together would reach but to the foot hills of our Rockies.
The Ontario geologist can only study the rocks in garden plots,
while the Nor’wester revels in the age of reptiles in his hundreds
of miles of Cretaceous rocks, with the largest coal and iron area
on the continent. As with our topography so with history.
The career of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which is in fact the
history of Rupert’s Land, began 120 years before the history of
Ontario, and there were forts of the two rival Fur Companies on
the Saskatchewan and throughout the country, before the first
U. E. Loyalist felled a forest tree in Upper Canada. We are especially
fortunate in being the possessors also of a field for archaeological
study in the portion of the area occupied by the mound
builders—the lost race, whose fate has a strange fascination for
all who enquire into the condition of Ancient America.

The Indian guide points out these mounds to the student of
history with a feeling of awe; he says he knows nothing of them;
his fathers have told him that the builders of the mounds were
of a different race from them—that the mounds are memorials of a
vanished people—the “Ke-te-anish-i-na-be,” or “very ancient
men.” The oldest Hudson’s Bay officer, and the most intelligent
of the native people, born in the country, can only give some
vague story of their connection with a race who perished with
small-pox, but who, or whence, or of what degree of civilization
they were, no clue is left.[Pg 2]

It must be said moreover that a perusal of the works written
about the mounds, especially of the very large contributions to the
subject found in the Smithsonian Institution publications, leaves
the mind of the reader in a state of thorough confusion and uncertainty.
Indeed, the facts relating to the Mound Builders are
as perplexing a problem as the purpose of the Pyramids, or the
story of King Arthur.

Is it any wonder that we hover about the dark mystery,
and find in our researches room for absorbing study, even though
we cannot reach absolute certainty? Could you have seen the
excitement which prevailed among the half-dozen settlers, I had
employed in digging the mound on Rainy River, in August last,
when the perfect pottery cup figured below was found, and the
wild enthusiasm with which they prosecuted their further work,
you would have said it requires no previous training, but simply
a successful discovery or two to make any one a zealous mound
explorer.

A MOUND DESCRIBED.

A mound of the kind found in our region is a very much
flattened cone, or round-topped hillock of earth. It is built usually,
if not invariably where the soil is soft and easily dug, and it
is generally possible to trace in its neighborhood the depression
whence the mound material has been taken. The mounds are as
a rule found in the midst of a fertile section of country, and it is
pretty certain from this that the mound builders were agriculturists,
and chose their dwelling places with their occupation in
view, where the mounds are found. The mounds are found
accordingly on the banks of the Rainy River and Red River, and
their affluents in the Northwest, in other words upon our best
land stretches, but not so far as observed around the Lake of the
Woods, or in barren regions. Near fishing grounds they greatly
abound. What seem to have been strategic points upon the river
were selected for their sites. The promontory giving a view and
so commanding a considerable stretch of river, the point at the
junction of two rivers, or the debouchure of a river into a lake or
vice versa is a favorite spot. At the Long Sault on Rainy River
there are three or four mounds grouped together along a ridge.
Here some persons of strong imagination profess to see remains
of an ancient fortification, but to my mind this is mere fancy.
Mounds in our region vary from 6 to 50 feet in height, and from
60 to 130 feet in diameter. Some are circular at the base, others
are elliptical.[Pg 3]

MOUND REGIONS.

The mounds have long been known as occurring in Central
America, in Mexico, and along the whole extent of the Mississippi
valley from the Gulf of Mexico to the great lakes. Our Northwest
has, however, been neglected in the accounts of the mound-bearing
region. Along our Red River I can count some six or eight
mounds that have been noted in late years, and from the banks having
been peopled and cultivated I have little doubt that others
have been obliterated. One formerly stood on the site of the new
unfinished Canadian Pacific Hotel in this city. The larger number
of those known are in the neighborhood of the rapids, 16 or
18 miles below Winnipeg where the fishing is good. In 1879 the
Historical Society opened one of these, and obtained a considerable
quantity of remains. It is reported that there are mounds
also on Nettley Creek, a tributary of the lower Red River, also on
Lake Manitoba and some of its affluents. During the past summer
it was my good fortune to visit the Rainy River, which lies
some half way of the distance from Winnipeg to Lake Superior.
In that delightful stretch of country, extending for 90 miles
along the river there are no less than 21 mounds. These I
identify with the mounds of Red River. The communication between
Red and Rainy River is effected by ascending the Red
Lake River, and coming by portage to a river running from the
south into Rainy River. Both Red and Rainy River easily connect
with the head waters of the Mississippi. Our region then
may be regarded as a self-contained district including the most
northerly settlements of the strange race who built the mounds.
I shall try to connect them with other branches of the same stock,
lying further to the east and south. For convenience I shall speak
of the extinct people who inhabited our special region as the
Takawgamis, or farthest north mound builders.

MOUND VARIETIES.

The thirty or forty mounds discovered up to this time in
this region of the Takawgamis have, so far as examined, a uniform
structure. Where stone could be obtained there is found below
the surface of the ground a triple layer of flat limestone blocks,
placed in an imbricated manner over the remains interred. In
one mound, at the point where the Rainy Lake enters the Rainy
River, there is a mound situated on the property of Mr. Pither,
Indian agent, in which there was found on excavation, a structure
of logs some 10 feet square, and from six to eight feet high.
In all the others yet opened the structure has been simply of earth[Pg 4]
of various kinds heaped together. It is possible that the mound
containing the log erection may have been for sacrifice, for the
logs are found to have been charred. One purpose of all the
mounds of the Takawgamis was evidently sepulture; and in them
all, charcoal lumps, calcined bones and other evidences of fire are
found. It would seem from their position that all the mounds of
this region were for the purpose of observation as well as sepulture.
The two purposes in no way antagonize. For the better
understanding of the whole I have selected the largest mound of
the Takawgamis yet discovered, and will describe it more minutely.

THE GRAND MOUND.

It is situated on the Rainy River, about 20 miles from the
head of Rainy River. It stands on a point of land where the
Missachappa or Bowstring River and the Rainy River join.
There is a dense forest covering the river bank where the mound
is found. The owner of the land has made a small clearing,
which now shows the mound to some extent to one standing on
the deck of a steamer passing on the river. The distance back
from the water’s edge is about 50 yards. The mound strikes you
with great surprise as your eye first catches it. Its crest is
covered with lofty trees, which overtop the surrounding forest.
These thriving trees, elm, soft maple, basswood and poplar, 60
or 70 feet high now thrust their root tendrils deep into the aforetime
softened mould. A foot or more of a mass of decayed leaves
and other vegetable matter encases the mound. The brushy surface
of the mound has been cleared by the owner, and the thicket
formerly upon it removed. The circumference of one fine poplar
was found to be 4 feet 10 inches; of another tree, 5 feet 6 inches,
but the largest had lately fallen. Around the stump the
last measured seven feet. The mound is eliptical at the
base. The longest diameter, that is from east to west, the
same direction as the course of the river, is 117 feet. The corresponding
shorter diameter from north to south is 90 feet. The
circumference of the mound is consequently 325 feet. The
highest point of the mound is 45 feet above the surrounding level
of the earth. As to height the mound does not compare unfavorably
with the celebrated mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, known
as one of the class of “observation mounds,” which is 68 feet
high and 852 feet around the base. In addition to its purpose of
sepulture, everything goes to show that the “Grand Mound” of
Rainy River was for observation as well.[Pg 5]

THE EXCAVATION.

Two former attempts had been made to open this mound.
One of these had been made in the top, and the large skull before
you was then obtained. A more extensive effort was that
made in 1883, by Mr. E. McColl, Indian agent, Mr. Crowe, H. B.
Co. officer of Fort Frances, and a party of men. Their plan was
to run a tunnel from north to south through the base of the
mound. They had penetrated some ten or fifteen feet, found
some articles of interest, and had then given up the undertaking.
Having employed a number of men, settlers in the neighborhood,
I determined to continue the tunnel for a certain distance through
the mound, all the way if indications were favorable, and then to
pierce the mound from the top. The men in two parties went
industriously to work on the opposite sides, working toward each
other, making a tunnel about eight feet in diameter. The earth
though originally soft soil had become so hard that it was necessary
to use a pick axe to loosen it for the spade. A number of
skeletons were found on the south side, but all I should say within
ten feet from the original surface of the mound. As we penetrated
the interior fewer remains were continually found. The
earth gave many indications of having been burnt. At one point
the pick-axe sank ten inches into the hard wall. This was about
fifteen feet from the outside. The excavator then dug out with
his hand from a horizontal pocket in the earth eight or ten inches
wide and eighteen or twenty inches deep, a quantity of soft brown
dust, and a piece of bone some four inches long, a part of a human
forearm bone. This pocket was plainly the original resting place
of a skeleton, probably in a sitting posture. As deeper penetration
was made brown earthy spots without a trace of bone remaining
were come upon. The excavation on the south side was
continued for thirty feet into the mound, but at this stage it was
evident that bones, pottery, etc., had been so long interred that
they were reduced to dust. No hope seemed to remain now of
finding objects of interest in this direction, and so with about
forty feet yet wanting to complete, the tunnel, the search was
transferred to the top of the mound.

THE UPPER CUT.

Beginning on the crest of the mound, the mould was removed
over a considerable space, and though some trouble was
found from the presence of the roots of the growing trees, yet
three or four feet from the surface human bones and skeletons
began to occur. In some cases a complete skeleton was found,[Pg 6]
in other cases what seemed to be a circle of skulls, buried alongside
charred bones, fragments of pottery and other articles.
Several different excavations were made on the mound surface,
and it was found that every part from the base to the crest contained
bones and skeletons, to the depth of from six to ten feet
as already said; bones and articles of interest were found thus far;
deeper than this nothing. I shall now describe the articles found
in this mound, and refer in some cases to what has been found
in the other mounds of the Takawgamis.

NATURAL PRODUCTS.

1. Bones. Of the bones found, the skulls were the most
interesting. In some cases it would seem as if they alone of the
bones had been carried from a distance, perhaps from a distant
part of the mound builders’ territory, from a battle field or some
other spot. In some cases this was proved, by the presence in the
eye-sockets and cavities of clay of a different kind from that of
the mound, showing a previous interment. The mound was
plainly a sacred spot of the family or sept. Before you are pieces
of charred bone. Of the bones unburnt some were of large size.
There are before us two skulls, one from the grand mound, the
other from the Red River mound opened by the Society in 1879.
The following are the measurements of the two skulls which I
have made carefully; and alongside the average measurements of
the Brachycephalic type given by Dr. Daniel Wilson, as well as of
the Dolichocephalic:

From this it will be seen that the Red River mound skulls
agree with the Toltecan Brachycephalic type; and the Rainy
River skull while not so distinctly Brachycephalic yet is considerably
above the average of the Dolichocephalic type.

2. Wood. As already stated it is only in some of the mounds
that charred wood is found. This specimen is from the mound[Pg 7]
at Contcheteheng, at the head of Rainy River. It stands beside
the Rapids. This mound has supplied many interesting remains.
From this fact as well as from its situation, I would hazard the
opinion that here, as at the great Rainy River Falls, three miles
farther down, there were villages in the old mound building days.
It is a fact worthy of notice that the site of the first French Fort
on Rainy River, St. Pierre built by Verandrye in 1731, was a few
hundred yards from this mound.

3. Bark. Specimens of birch bark were found near by the
bones. It was no doubt originally used for swathing or wrapping
the corpses buried. That a soft decayable substance such as
bark, should have lasted while a number of bones had decayed
may seem strange. No doubt this may be explained in the same
way as the presence among the remains in Hochelaga, on the
Island of Montreal, of preserved fragments of maize, viz., by its
having been scorched. The pieces of bark seem to have been
hardened by scorching.

4. Earth. The main earth of the mound is plainly the same
as that of the soil surrounding it. By what means the earth was
piled up, is a question for speculation. It seems a matter of
small moment. Possibly that the earth was carried in baskets, or
vessels of considerable size is sufficient to account for it. My
theory is that the mound was not erected by a vast company of
busy workers as were the pyramids, but that it was begun at
first for purposes of observation, that as interments were from time
to time made in it sufficient earth was carried up to effect the
purpose, until in centuries the enormous aggregate of earth was
formed. Among the earth of the mound are also found in spots,
quantities of red and yellow ochre. The fact that the skulls and
bones seem often to have a reddish tinge, goes to show that the
ochre was used for the purpose of ornamentation. Sometimes a
skull is drawn out of the firm cast made by it in the earth, and
the cast is seen to be reddened by the ochre which was probably
smeared over the face of the slain warrior. The ochre is entirely
foreign to the earth of which the mound is made, but being earthy
remains long after even pottery has gone to decay.

5. Ore. Lying near this skull as if they had been placed in
the hands of the corpse were two pieces of metallic ore, one of
which is before you. A fresh section of it shows it to be
Arsenical Iron Pyrites, each piece weighing four or five ounces.
No doubt the shining ore and its heavy weight attracted notice,[Pg 8]
although it is of no commercial value. The probabilities are that
this ore was regarded as sacred, and possibly having been considered
valuable was placed beside the corpse as the ancient
obolus was laid beside the departed Greek to pay his fare to
crusty Charon.

Figure 1. Mound Builders’ Implements.

[Pg 9]

MANUFACTURED ARTICLES.

1. Stone Implements. The stone articles found, no doubt form
a very small proportion of the implements used by the lost race.
I am able to show you three classes of implements.

(a.) Scrapers. (See c. Figure 1.) These were made after the
same manner and from the same material as the flint arrow heads,
found so commonly all over this continent. They are usually of
an oval or elongated diamond shape, of various thicknesses, but
thin at the edges. Their purpose seems to have been to assist in
skinning the game, the larger for larger game, the smaller for
rabbits and the smaller fur bearing animals. Probably these implements
were also used for scraping the hides or skins manufactured
into useful articles.

(b.) Stone Axes and Malls. In the mound on Red River
was found the beautiful axe of crystalline limestone, which approaches
marble. From the absence of stone so far as we know
of this kind in this neighborhood, it is safe to conclude that it
came from a distant locality. There are also gray stone celts and
hammers used for crushing corn, for hammering wood and bark
for the canoes, and other such like purposes, in time of peace; and
serving as formidable weapons in time of war. In the mound on
the Red River a skull was discovered having a deep depression
in the broken wall, as if crushed in by one of these implements.

(c.) Stone Tubes. (See b Fig. 1.) These are among the
most difficult of all the mound-builders’ remains to give
an opinion upon. They are chiefly made of a soft stone
something like the pipestone used by the present Indians which
approaches soapstone. The hollow tubes (see figure B.) vary
from three to six inches in length, and are about one-half an inch
in diameter. They seem to have been bored out by some sharp
instrument. Schoolcraft, certainly a competent Indian authority
states that these tubes were employed for astronomical purposes,
that is to look at the stars. This is unlikely; for though the
race, with which I shall try to identify our mound builders are
said, in regions further south, to have left remains showing astronomical
knowledge, yet a more reasonable purpose is suggested
for the tubes. From the teeth marks around the rim, the tubes
were plainly used in the mouth, and it is becoming generally
agreed that they were conjuror’s cupping instruments for sucking
out as the medicine men pretended to be able to do the disease
from the body. The custom survives in some of the present [Pg 10]Indian
tribes. A lady friend of mine informs me that she has a
bone whistle taken from a mound in the Red River district.

2. Horn Implements. (See d. Figure 1.) The only implement
of this class that we have yet found is the fish spear head
(Fig. D.). It was probably made from the antlers of a deer
killed in the chase. Its barbed edge indicates that it was used
for spearing fish. It is in a fair state of preservation.

3. Copper. No discovery of the mounds so fills the mind of
the Archaeologist with joy as that of copper implements. Copper
mining has now by the discovery in the Lake Superior region, of
mining shafts long deserted, in which copper was quarried by
stone hammers on a large scale, been shown to have been pursued
in very ancient times on this continent. It is of intense interest
for us to know that not only are there mines found on the south
side of Lake Superior, but also at Isle Royale, on the north
side just at the opening of Thunder Bay, and immediately contiguous
to the Grand Portage, where the canoe route to Rainy
River, so late as our own century, started from Lake Superior.
According to the American Geologists the traces for a mile are
found of an old copper mine on this Island. One of the pits
opened showed that the excavation had been made in the solid
rock to the depth of nine feet, the walls being perfectly smooth.
A vein of native copper eighteen inches thick was discovered at
the bottom. Here is found also, unless I am much mistaken, the
mining location whence the Takawgamis of Rainy River obtained
their copper implements. Two copper implements are in our
possession, one found by Mr. E. McColl in the grand mound, and
the other by Mr. Alexander Baker in a small mound adjoining
this.

(a.) Copper Needle or Drill. (See a. Fig. 1.) This was
plainly used for some piercing or boring purpose. It is hard,
yields with difficulty to the knife, and is considered by some to
have been tempered. It may have been for drilling out soft
stone implements, or was probably used for piercing as a needle
soft fabrics of bark and the like, which were being sewed
together.

(b.) Copper Cutting Knife. (See e. Fig. 1.) This, has evidently
been fastened into a wooden handle. It may have been
used for cutting leather, being in the shape of a saddler’s knife,
or was perhaps more suited for scraping the hides and skins of
animals being prepared for use.[Pg 11]

Some twenty miles above the mound on the Rainy River at
Fort Frances a copper chisel buried in the earth was found by
Mr. Pither, then H. B. Company agent, and was given by him to
the late Governor McTavish. The chisel was ten inches long, was
well tempered, and was a good cutting instrument. Another
copper implement is in the possession of our Society, which was
found buried in the earth 100 miles west of Red River.

All these, I take it, were made from copper obtained from
Isle Royale on Lake Superior.

4. Shell Ornaments. Traces are found in the mound, of the
fact that the decorative taste, no doubt developed in all ages, and
in all climes, was possessed by the Takawgamis.

(a.) Sea Shells. Important as pointing to the home and
trading centres of the mound builders is the presence among the
debris of the mound, of sea shells. We have three specimens
found in the grand mound. Two of them seem to belong to the
genus Natica, the other to Marginella. They have all been cut
or ground down on the side of the opening of the shell, so that
two holes permit the passage of a string, by which the beads thus
made are strung together. The fact that the genera to which
the shells belong are found in the sea, as well as their highly
polished surface show these to be marine; and not only so but
from the tropical seas, either we suppose from the Gulf of Mexico
or from the Californian coast.

(b.) Fresh Water Shells. In all the mounds yet opened, examples
of the Unio, or River Mussel, commonly known as the
clam have been found. They are usually polished, cut into
symmetrical shapes, and have holes bored in them. We have one
which was no doubt used as a breast ornament, and was hung by
a string around the neck. In the bottom of a nearly complete
pottery cup, found in the grand mound, which went to pieces as
we took it out, there was lying a polished clam shell. The clam
still abounds on Rainy River. Six miles above the mound, we saw
gathered together by an industrious housewife hundreds of the
same species of clam, whose shells she was in the habit of pulverizing
for the benefit of her poultry.

5. Pottery. (a.) Broken. It seems to be a feature of every
mound that has been opened that fragments of pottery have been
unearthed. The Society has in its possession remains of twenty
or thirty pottery vessels. They are shown to be portions of [Pg 12]different
pots, by their variety of marking. The pottery is of a
coarse sort, seemingly made by hand and not upon a wheel, and
then baked. The markings were made upon the soft clay, evidently
with a sharp instrument, or sometimes with the finger
nail. Some pieces are found hard and well preserved; others are
rapidly disintegrating. As stated already, in the grand mound,
a vessel some five inches in diameter was dug up by one of the
workers, filled with earth, which though we tried earnestly to
save it, yet went to pieces in our hands. The frequency with
which fragments of pottery are found in the mounds has given
rise to the theory that being used at the time of the funeral
rites the vessel was dashed to pieces as was done by some ancient
nations in the burial of the dead. This theory is made very
doubtful indeed by the discovery of the

Figure 2.

(b.) Complete Pottery Cup. So far as I know this is the
only complete cup now in existence in the region northwest of
Lake Superior, though several others are said to have been discovered
and been sent to distant friends of the finders. This cup,
belonging now to the Historical Society was found in the grand
mound, in company with charred bones, skulls, and other human
bones, lumps of red ochre, and the shells just described. The
dimensions of the cup are as follows:[Pg 13]

Whether the cup was intended for use as a burial urn, or
simply for ordinary use it is difficult to say.

Now, in endeavoring to sum up the results a few points need
some discussion.

1. Who were the people who erected the mounds? Judging
from the following considerations, I should say they were

NOT AN INDIAN RACE.

Whoever built the mounds had a faculty not possessed by
modern Indians. Building instincts seem hereditary. The
beaver and the musk rat build a house. Other creatures to whom
a dwelling might be serviceable, such as the squirrel, obtain
shelter in another way. And races have their distinctive tendencies
likewise. It never occurs to an Indian to build a mound.
From what has been already said as to the fertile localities in
which the mounds are found we are justified in believing that
their builders were agriculturists. Dr. Dawson in Montreal by
the use of the microscope detected grains of charred corn in the
remains of Hochelaga. I have examined a small quantity of the
dust taken from one of the shells found in the grand mound,
with the microscope, and though I am not perfectly certain, yet
I believe there are traces of some farinaceous substance to be
seen. On skirting the shores of the Lake of the Woods into
which Rainy River runs, at the present time, you are struck by
the fact that there are no Canadian farmers there, and likewise
that there are no mounds to be seen, while along the banks of
Rainy River both the agriculturist is found cultivating the soil
and the mounds abound. It would seem to justify us in concluding
that the farmer and the mound builder avoided the one
locality because of its barren rocky character, and took to the
other because of its fertility. Moreover the continual occurrence
of pottery in the mounds shows that the mound builders were
potters as well, while none of the tribes inhabiting the district
have any knowledge of the art of pottery. The making of
pottery is the occupation peculiarly of a sedentary race, and hence[Pg 14]
of a race likely to be agriculturists. As it requires the building
faculty to originate the mounds, so it requires the constructive
faculty to make pottery. In constructive ability our Indians are
singularly deficient, just as it is with greatest difficulty that they
can be induced even on a small scale to practice agriculture. It
has been objected to this conclusion that the Indians can make
a canoe, which is a marvel in its way. But there is a great difference
in the two cases. In the canoe all the materials remain
the same. The approximation to a chemical process makes the
pottery manufacture a much more complicated matter. Indeed
the Indian in token of his surprise at his success in being even
able to construct a canoe, states in his tradition that it is the
gift of the Manitou. Furthermore the mound builder used
metal tools, and was probably a metal worker. It is true the
copper implements mentioned, as having been found were brought
to Rainy and Red Rivers. I have, however, pointed out the intimate
connection judging by the line of transport subsisting between
Rainy River and Lake Superior, the mining locality for copper.
To sink a mine in the unyielding Huronian rock of Lake Superior,
with mallet and hammer and wedge and fire, take out the native
copper, work it into the desired tools, and then temper these
requires skill and adaptation unpossessed by the Indians. For
centuries we know that the Lake Superior mine in which are
found tools and timber constructions, have been buried, filled in
for ten feet with debris, and have rank vegetation and trees
growing upon them. It is certain that the Indian races, even
when shown the example, cannot when left alone follow the
mining pursuit. Not only then by the ethnological, and other
data cited do we conclude that the mound builders belong to a
different race from the present Indians, but the tradition of the
Indians is to the same effect. Then

WHO WERE THE MOUND BUILDERS?

I would lead you back now to what little we know from the
different sources, of the early history of our continent. When
the Spaniards came to Mexico in the early years of the 16th
century, Montezuma, an Aztec prince was on the throne. The
Aztecs gave themselves out as intruders in Mexico. They were
a bloody and warlike race, and though they gave the Spaniards
an easy victory it was rather a reception, for they were overawed
by superstition as to the invaders. They stated that a few centuries
before, they had been a wild tribe on the high country of
the Rio Grande and Colorado, in New Mexico. The access from[Pg 15]
the Pacific up the Colorado would agree well with the hypothesis
that the chief sources of the aboriginal inhabitants of America
were Mongolian, and that from parties of Mongols landing from
the Pacific Isles on the American coast, the population was derived.
At any rate the Aztecs stated that before they invaded
Mexico from their original home, they were preceded by a civilized
race, well acquainted with the arts and science, knowing
more art and astronomy in particular than they. They stated
that they had exterminated this race known as

THE TOLTECS.

The main features of the story seem correct. The Toltecs
seem to have been allied to the Peruvians. Their skulls seem of
the Brachycephalic type. The Toltecs were agriculturists,
were mechanical, industrial, and constructive. In Mexico, and further
south in Nicaragua, as well as northward, large mounds remain
which are traced to them. According to the Aztec story
the Toltecans spread in Mexico from the seventh to the twelfth
century at which latter day they were swept away. My theory
is that it was this race—which must have been very numerous—which
either came from Peru in South America, capturing Mexico
and then flowing northward; or perhaps came from New
Mexico, the American Scythia of that day, and sending one
branch down into Mexico, sent another down the Rio Grande,
which then spread up the Mississippi and its tributaries The
mounds mark the course of this race migration. They are found
on the Mississippi. One part of the race seems to have ascended
the Ohio to the great lakes and the St. Lawrence, another went
up the Missouri, while another ascended the Mississippi proper
and gained communication from its head waters with the Rainy
and Red Rivers. When then did the crest of this wave of migration
reach its furthest northward point? Taking the seventh
century as the date of the first movement of the Toltecs toward
conquest in Mexico, I have set three or four centuries as
the probable time taken for multiplication and the displacement
of former tribes, until they reached and possessed this northern
region of “The Takagamies,” or far north mound builders. This
would place their occupation of Rainy River in the eleventh century.
Other considerations to which I shall refer seem to sustain
this as the probable date. The grand mound is by far the

LARGEST MOUND

on Rainy River. It is likewise at the mouth of the Bowstring[Pg 16]
River, which is its largest tributary and affords the readiest means
of access from the Mississippi up which the Toltecan flood of emigration
was surging. My theory is that here in their new homes,
for three centuries they multiplied, cultivated the soil, and built
the mounds which are still a monument to their industry. Here
they became less warlike because more industrious, and hence
less able to defend themselves. I have already stated that the

AZTEC WHIRLWIND OF CONQUEST

swept into Mexico from the Northwest about the twelfth century.
The sanguinary horde partly destroyed and partly
seized for its own use the civilization of the Toltecans. We have
specially to do with an Aztec wave that seems to have surged
up the valley of the Mississippi. As the great conquering people
captured one region, they would settle upon it, and send off a new
hive of marauders. Indian tribes, numerous but of the same
savage type, are marked by the old Geographers as occupying the
Mississippi valley. It was when one part of the northern horde
came up the valley of the Ohio, as the Savage Iroquois, and another
up the head waters of the Mississippi as the Sioux, the
tigers of the plains, that we became familiar in the sixteenth
century with this race. The French recognized the Sioux as the
same race as the Iroquois and called them “Iroquets” or little
Iroquois. The two nations were confederate in their form of
government; they had all the fury of Aztecs, and resemblances
of a sufficiently marked kind are found between Sioux or Dakota
and the Iroquois dialect, while their skulls follow the Dolichocephalic
type of cranium. With fire and sword the invaders
swept away the Toltecs; their mines were deserted and filled
up with debris; their arts of agriculture, metal working and
pottery making were lost; and up to the extreme limits of our
country of the Takawgamis, only the mounds and their contents
were left.

OUR HISTORIC ERA

saw the expiring blaze of this tremendous conflagration just as
the French arrived in Canada. Cartier saw a race in 1535 in
Hochelaga, who are believed to have had Brachycephalic crania,
who were agriculturists, used at least implements of metal, dwelt
in large houses, made pottery and were constructive in tendency.
In 1608 when Champlain visited the same spot, there were none
of the Hochelagans remaining. This remnant of the Toltecans[Pg 17]
had been swept out of existence between the Algonquin wave
from the east and the Iroquois from the southwest. The French
heard of a similar race called the Eries and of another the Neutrals,
who had the same habits and customs as the vanished
Hochelagans, but who had been visited by the scourge of the
Iroquois on the Ohio as they ascended it, and had perished. Thus
from the twelfth century, the time set for the irruption of the
savage tribes from New Mexico, two or three centuries would
probably suffice to sweep away the last even of the farthest north
Takawgamis. This, say the fifteenth century, would agree very
well, not only with time estimated by the early French explorers,
but also with the tradition of the Crees who claim that for three
or four centuries they have lived sole possessors upon the borders
of Lake Superior, Lake of the Woods, and Lake Winnipeg. Our
theory then is that the mound builders occupied the region of
Rainy and Red Rivers from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries.
Their works remain.

HOW OLD

then are the mounds? If our conclusions are correct the oldest
mound in our region cannot exceed 800 years, and the most recent
must have been completed upwards of 400 years ago. Look
at further considerations, which lead to these conclusions. We
learn, that 200 years ago, viz.: in 1683, the “Clistinos” and
“Assinipouals” (Crees and Assiniboines) were in their present
country. The Crees were at that time in the habit of visiting
both Lake Superior and Hudson’s Bay for the purpose of trade.
They were then extensive nations and no trace of a nation which
preceded them was got from them. The fallen tree on the top
of the grand mound, judging by the concentric rings of its trunk
is 150 or 200 years old, and yet its stump stands in a foot or more
of mould that must have taken longer than that time to form.
Even among savage nations it would take upwards of half a
dozen generations of men, to lose the memory of so great a catastrophe
as the destruction of a former populous race. Then some
400 years ago would agree with the time of extermination of the
Hochelagans, or with the destruction of the Eries, who according
to Labontan were blotted out before the French came to the continent.
The Hochelagans, Eries, and Takawgamis being northern
in their habitat, I take it were among the last of the Toltecans
who survived. The white man but arrived upon the scene to
succeed the farmer, the metal worker and the potter, who had
passed away so disastrously, and to be the avenger of the lost
race, in driving before him the savage red man.[Pg 18]

THE EARLIEST MOUND.

Figure 3.

I believe our grand mound to be the earliest in the region
of the Takawgamis. It is the largest in the region. It will be
seen by reference to figure 3 that I arrive at its age in the
following way. Where it now stands, so striking an object, it is
about one-third of a mile above the point where the Bowstring River
enters the Rainy River. If however from the top of the mound
you look southward through the trees a view may be got of the
silver stream of the Bowstring, coming as if directly toward the
mound. Originally no doubt this tributary flowed close by the
mound, for the mound would undoubtedly be built on the extreme point.
But as from year to year the Bowstring River deposited
the detritus carried down by it, it formed a bank or bar,
and was gradually diverted from its course, until now, the
peninsula some hundreds of yards across its base, has become up[Pg 19]wards
of a third of a mile long. I infer that this peninsula,
which I should say contains some seventy acres has been formed
since the mound—which from its position seems for observation
as well as for sepulture—was begun. Some 200 yards down the
point from the grand mound occurs another small mound. This
is some eight or ten feet high, and fifty or sixty feet across.
Along the point and close past this small mound runs an old
water course, now a treeless hay meadow. At high water in
spring, as I ascertained, the river still sends its surplus water by
this old channel. My position is that the 200 yards of earth
between the site of the grand mound and that of the small
mound was deposited after the grand mound was begun, and before
the commencement of the small mound. Undoubtedly this
small mound as well as a similar one not far up the river from
the grand mound, were begun on account of the laborious work
of carrying bones and earth to such a height, and on account of
the numerous interments which have left the surface of the grand
mound a bone pile. This is shown by the small mound being on
a site more recent than that of the large mound. Suppose a
hundred years to have sufficed to raise the small mound to its
height when the devastating ruin of the Sioux slaughtered the
last mound builder and checked the mound. From our previous
position this would represent a point some 500 years ago. But
during this 500 years according to our hypothesis all of the point
of land below the small mound, that is to say, about 300 yards in
length, has been formed. The question then is, how long at the same
rate must it have taken the 200 yards between the two mounds
to form. This brings us then to a point say 300 years before the
time of beginning of the small mound. We thus arrive at about
800 years ago as the time when the grand mound was begun. It
will thus be seen that we have reached back to the eleventh century,
the time previously deduced from historic date for the arrival
of the Toltecans on the Rainy River.

CONCLUSION.

Our investigation has now come to an end. I have led you
to examine the few fragments of a civilization which it would be
absurd to declare to have been of the very highest type, but yet
of a character much above that of the wandering tribes, which,
with their well-known thirst for blood, destroyed the very arts
and useful habits which might have bettered their condition.
The whirlwind of barbarian fury is ever one which fills peaceful
nations with terror. We may remember how near in the[Pg 20]
“Agony of Canada,” the French power was to being swept out
of existence by the fierce fury of the Iroquois—up to that time
always victorious. We may remember how civilization in Minnesota
was thrown back by the Sioux massacre of 1861. It is only
now by persistent and unwearied efforts that we can hope to
conquer the Indians by the arts of peace, and by inducing him to
take the hoe in place of the tomahawk, to meet nature’s obstacles.
Who can fail to heave a sigh for our northern mound builders,
and to lament the destruction of so vast and civilized a race as
the peaceful Toltecans of Mexico, of the Mississippi, and of the
Ohio, to which our Takawgamis belonged? After all, their life
must in the main, ever remain a mystery.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Page 9 (b): The following changes have been made from the original text:

come changed to came (it came from a distant locality);

impliments changed to implements (crushed in by one of these implements.)

Some paragraphs appear to end mid-sentence; however no text is missing
from the source document. The author chose to turn the end of those
sentences into paragraph headings.