The antiquities of Wisconsin : as surveyed and described . innickinnicCreek, near the place known as the Indian Fields, to a point six miles above thecity. It will be observed that they occupy the high grounds along the margin ofthe river and streams, but not on the immediate shore of the lake. Although themound-builders often occupied the margin of the smaller lakes in the interior, theyseldom or never selected the immediate shore of Lake Michigan for the site oftheir works. representations of the Massasauga rattle-snake. My attention was first called to them by Mr. , who detected the
The antiquities of Wisconsin : as surveyed and described . innickinnicCreek, near the place known as the Indian Fields, to a point six miles above thecity. It will be observed that they occupy the high grounds along the margin ofthe river and streams, but not on the immediate shore of the lake. Although themound-builders often occupied the margin of the smaller lakes in the interior, theyseldom or never selected the immediate shore of Lake Michigan for the site oftheir works. representations of the Massasauga rattle-snake. My attention was first called to them by Mr. , who detected them. They vary from a few inches to two feet in height, above the otherwiseuniformly level surface of the marshy ground ; and in length they vary from ten or fifteen to onehundred and forty feet. Many of them are obtuse at one end, and tapering and acute at the other,as if intended to represent the head and tail of a snake ; others are acute at both extremities. (SeeFig. 4.) The accompanying figures show their appearance and relative situation. Some are so. \!£ ~ ~%n— Pi ktioM. arranged that, were they larger and differently situated, we might suppose them portions of a fort, witha guarded entrance. They are composed of the same black mucky earth that constitutes the surfacesoil of the marsh. They have all the same general direction, being parallel, or nearly so, with thatof the marsh. There are great numbers of these ridges, not less, perhaps, than one hundred on thismarsh. To understand how these ridges were probably formed, we must take into account the soft nature ofthe surface soil; and the fact that, except in the driest portion of the year, it is completely saturatedor covered with water. The ice formed on the surface in winter must therefore include a considerableportion of the soil. During very cold weather, this covering of ice contracts, leaving in the middle ofthe marsh numerous irregular cracks, probably assuming the arrangement and directions of these t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpublisherwashingtonsmithson
