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THE ANTIQUITIES ON THE BANKS OF THE MIS

SISSIPPI RIVER AND LAKE PEPIN.

BY DR. L. C. ESTES.

FOR several years I have given these mounds attention, and therefore hope that the following remarks in regard to them may be of some interest.

The questions regarding certain fortifications or mounds alleged to exist on the banks of Lake Pepin and the Mississippi river was early discussed, and now, although it is true that these remains do exist, yet eighty or ninety years have made great changes in their appearance, or else the descriptions of them furnished to us by early travellers must in a great degree be visionary. We can very easily imagine that they were once used for fortifications, but they have now scarcely any resemblance to modern forts.

These mounds are found in great numbers in various parts of the State, mostly upon the west bank of the Mississippi river. The location of them about Lake Pepin is very marked. A portion of the village of Lake City is built upon and over these remains. Between my residence and the lake there seems to have been a regularly laid out town or city. The streets are regular and the mounds equidistant from each other. In the centre of this city there was a very large mound, much larger than any of the others, which was located in the centre of the widest street, and the only one out of line. It was very probably the "headquarters," the residence of the chief, or it might have been the town hall. Nine years ago I sketched and counted these mounds There were about one

hundred of them, occupying, perhaps, a space of thirty acres

My theory, which once differed from every other, as to the original design or use of these mounds, is now, I believe, indorsed by the State Historical Society, and by most persons who have investigated the subject. I am very well satisfied that the large and elongated mounds were designed and used for fortifications. Yet I have never been able to determine whether there were ever any ditches around them.

I am also as well satisfied that the very many round mounds found standing separate from each other were simply turf houses, in which once dwelt a people far above, in point of intelligence, the present race of savages. The common idea that these mounds were receptacles of the dead, or that each one is now or has been a sepulchre, is a theory which none have been able to maintain. I have dug into and seen many of them levelled, but never succeeded in finding human bones but in one, and those in the large mound standing in the centre of the city of mounds before described, and I am convinced that these were of more recent interment, and that they belonged to the existing race of Indians. It was a natural and convenient place in which to bury their dead. Every investigation proves beyond a doubt, in my mind, that these works were built of turf, and that they are always composed wholly of the upper strata of soil, and that there is no perceptible depression of the earth around their base. Again, the soil in the vicinity is not found as deep as in other places, proving that it had once been removed. If these mounds were originally sepulchral in their design, then in all we should find human bones.

Just in the rear of the city of mounds, near the residence of Colonel J. T. Averill, there was a large mound, which I believe to have been a pottery, or potter's shop. Inside this mound I found numerous remains of pottery, besides large, flat smooth stones which were probably used to grind the clay. For quite a distance around this mound I found large pieces of broken pottery.

The town seems to have been well fortified, for there is, about half a mile in the rear, a regular line of out-posts, each wing extending to the lake. About midway of this line, near the residence of H. K. Terrell, the mounds are very large, either elongated or built near together. There was, beyond a doubt, the stronghold or main fort.

Again, about three-quarters of a mile still back to the west, upon an elevation of the ground, there is a group of the largest mounds I have ever seen. They are built very near together and are perfect in their form. There are no ditches about thier base, and they are wanting in other appearance of fortifications. Yet I believe them to have been used as forts, and that they were placed here to guard the approaches to the town from this direction. A few years ago some large oak trees were standing on these mounds, but I failed to ascertain their ages at the time they were cut down.

There is still another group of mounds located to the south, just below A. Dwelle's farm and near Minnow Lake. These resemble those last describednot so large, but more in number. Here again was another fort, which guarded the approaches from the south.

A PHYSICAL ATLAS OF NORTH AMERICA.

A COMMUNICATION FROM GEO. Gibbs, ESQ.

WASHINGTON, May 4, 1865.

My DEAR SIR: The collection by the Institution of materials for the formation of a physical atlas of the United States was among the objects contemplated by yourself in the original programme of its organization, and it appears to me that the time has now arrived when its formation should be laid on a scale commensurate in magnitude and variety of subject with the scientific progress of America, embracing all the departments of natural, physical, and social science capable of being represented in such a form, and extended in its design to the entire continent, since the boundaries of the United States are accidental and governed by none of the laws which control the operations of nature.

The completion of such a work, and its ultimate publication in a collected shape, would, of course, require years, and the expense might render assistance from Congress necessary. This, however, is a matter for future consideration. The arrangement of the materials already on hand, and what may hereafter be collected, will require but a moderate outlay and should be entered upon at once. It reflects but little credit on our national enterprise that almost the only physical charts of America should be of foreign origin.

As a necessary preliminary it is essential that good skeleton maps be prepared. and these should, in my opinion, embrace the following:

1st. A series of maps of natural geographical regions, exhibiting the hydrography of the country with minuteness, but on which only the principal mountain systems should be given, and those in curves without hachures. These maps ought not to be on one scale, for the reason that, while one certain part of the continent is comparatively destitute of interest, over large tracts of country, others crowd into a small space a great variety and even confusion of details. They should, however, be upon multiples or fractions of a common unit. As a bare suggestion I would mention scales of 1200000 and 600000 for these respectively. It is even probable that particular sections would require still larger ones. The districts of country to be included in these regional maps will necessarily form a subject of particular consideration. Entire hydrographical basins, as a general rule, afford the most homogeneous features, and should therefore be adopted unless other reasons interfere. In the geological series, for instance, it may be necessary sometimes to exhibit both sides of a mountain range instead of vallies bounded by water-sheds. This class of maps will be particularly adapted to natural history and the exhibition of physical phenomena. 2d. A second series, in which the same scales and topography should be used, but in which the divisions should be political, will be needed for another class of subjects, such as population, education, agriculture, and generally all those growing out of the relations of man in society.

3d. Besides these there is requisite a map of the continent on a large scale, certainly not less than 3000000 It should include the entire arctic regions, with the eastern part of the continent of Asia and the intermediate islands, the islands of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea, and the northern skirt of South America. This, like the first, should consist chiefly of the hydrography, giving only the chief mountain chains, or, at most, just indicating the lower water sheds. Upon it the results of the former should be generalized. Sections and profiles should, of course, accompany the maps.

As these skeletons are wanted for immediate distribution to commence new collections, as well as for the assembling and reduction of information already obtained, they should at once be lithographed, the engraving of the originals being deferred for the present. As however, lithography does not possess the requisite qualities for finished work, I would not recommend the drawing itself to be made in the first place upon stone. Certain sections of the country where the topography is already sufficiently established, might, indeed, at once and with economy be engraved. The discussion of these questions, however, will be properly referred to the officer to whom the supervision of the work is committed. The maps designed to illustrate the natural and physical sciences, should not, at least in the first instance, exhibit political boundaries, roads, or a greater amount of nomenclature than is necessary to prevent error in location, and that should be chiefly confined to the names of rivers and natural landmarks; but the parallels and meridians should be displayed. No two subjects should, on any account, be included in any one map of either class.

It is needless here to specify all those subjects, and in fact many will doubtless hereafter suggest themselves, which would occur to no one at present. In their final shape, one set should, of course, give the topography of the continent with the utmost practicable accuracy, minutiæ being however confined to those of particular sections. The map of the country west of the Mississippi, accompanying the Pacific railroad surveys, is an instance of the disadvantage of multiplying details on a general map, the most important part of it being rendered practically useless through this error. A bold and simple style of topography should be adopted for all.

On the maps being ready for distribution, each department of the government should be supplied with copies to be issued to such officers as it may designate. Contributions should be sought from the Bureau of Engineers and the Medical Bureau of the army, from the Coast Survey, the Census Bureau, that of Agriculture, of Indian Affairs and others, as well as from the National Academy of Science and learned bodies generally through the country, from expeditions and surveys, and from individuals pursuing special scientific investigations.

As the atlas is to include the whole continent, with its adjuncts, it will of course be proper to solicit co-operation in its execution not only from our own countrymen, but from Russian and British America and from Mexico. Full credit should be given in each case on the maps themselves to the source whence their contents are derived, while the Institution, as originating the work, and bearing the expenses of its preparation, reserves to itself the title of "The Smithsonian Atlas." As soon as any map or series of maps in any branch or department is completed, it may at once be published and sold at a cost sufficient to defray the expense.

The maturing of the skeleton plan in the study of projections, scales, style of topography, and the districts of country to be embraced in the regional maps, should be submitted to a single person, familiar with the surveys that have been made of the country, and at least grounded in the different natural and physical sciences. The war, now drawing to a close, will undoubtedly detach from active service a number of officers of the Engineers, including of course those formerly engaged on the surveys west of the Mississippi. A connection with a work of this magnitude and importance would naturally be an object of ambition, and I believe that its supervision by one of them would readily be permitted by the Secretary of War and by the chief of that bureau. If the United States, as we all trust, is now to enter upon a new career of mental as well as physical advancement, it becomes us to anticipate the directions in which scientific inquiry can be pushed.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

Professor JOSEPH HENRY,

Secretary Smithsonian Institution.

GEORGE GIBBS.

ON ETHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH.

A COMMUNICATION FROM DR. E. H. DAVIS, OF NEW YORK.

NEW YORK, December 1, 1865.

DEAR SIR: In your last favor, (nearly a year since,) you suggested that in case my collection went to Europe, it would be highly important that casts be taken of the most interesting objects, and inquired the cost of the same. Hear ing nothing more from you on the subject, yet believing it so important to the interest of American ethnology that a suit of casts should remain here, I determined at once to complete the undertaking myself. I have accomplished it by the aid of two artists-one to mould, the other to color-completing two full sets at an expense of five hundred dollars. They have succeeded so well that it reconciles me much to the loss of the collection to this country. With these casts and contributions from the west, with Dr. Berendt's collection, which I have purchased, as well as others sent by my former students from Central and South America, I shall soon again fill up my cabinet with specimens illustrating the development of the arts on this continent.

Some years since I informed you that I was engaged in constructing an ethnological map of the United States, locating merely the mural remains. Since then I have changed my plan by locating the tribes instead of their remains. and for my own convenience have extended it to the whole continent. For instance, the great satisfaction it affords one to be able, on receiving relics from any part of the continent, to refer to a map showing the family or tribe of Indians now or formerly occupying that spot.

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It is by a careful study and comparison of this kind only that we may able to arrive at any reliable conclusions concerning the relative culture of the various tribes.

Formerly the sources for constructing such a chart were scarce and unreliable, But few travellers attempted to locate the tribes they visited, and none pretended to do so with any degree of accuracy. Adair, Carver, and some others accomplished something by accompanying their works with maps giving the names of tribes they visited, but without limits or boundaries.

Albert Gallatin was the first to construct anything like a comprehensive ethnological chart, locating, according to language, most of the tribes of North America. So far as he went, it was undoubtedly much in advance of anything down to his day. Since his time, by the philological studies of Hale and our late lamented Turner, we were able to correct some and add much to his labors. Yet the honor of completing the finest ethnological chart of America has been secured by a foreigner, the learned German anthropologist Waitz, (now dead. He, by the aid of Gallatin, Ludwig, Turner, and a host of other authorities, has almost exhausted the subject. Still, much remains to be accomplished by loca explorers, who may add new facts, or correct inevitable mistakes in a work covering so extensive a field as all America. In illustration of this remark comes the work of Manuel Orozco, "Geografia de los Lenguas, y Carta Em grafica de México," published last year under the auspices of Maximilian. This is a work of immense labor, continued through a long series of years, performed, too, under the disadvantage of working almost alone, cut off very much by th unsettled condition of the country from the results of co-laborers and societies

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