Box 27, Folder 1: Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin, 1844

23.

Rivers

The Mississippi- The Great river of rivers- forms as before [said] remarked the western boundary of Wisconsin. It is augmented in this Territory by the waters of the Wisconsin, Black river, Chippewa, St. Croix, and Leaf rivers, which alone would be sufficient to form a very respectable Father of Waters, but which [hardly] do not perceptibly swell the mighty flood of the Mississippi; these with Rock river which empties into the Misssissippi in Illinois, and the St. Louis, Bois Brule, Mauvanie, and Montreal rivers tributaries of Lake Superior, and the Menomonee, Fox & Neenah, Wolf, and Milwaukee rivers, are the principal rivers in Wisconsin.

Innumerable smaller streams and branches run through the whole extent of the Territory, so that no portion of it is without an abundant supply of good and generally pure water. The Mississippi is navigable for steamboats as far up as the Falls of St. Anthony,

14

Rivers

The Wisconsin is navigated as far as the Portage by small steamboats at certain seasons of the year; and they have been up Rock river as far as Aztalan in Jefferson County, but these streams are comparatively of little value for the purposes of navigation. All the principal rivers are, however, navigable for canoes.

Their waters usually originate in springs and lakes of pure and cold water. Many of them, especially in the northern or primitive region are precipitated over rocky barriers forming beautiful cascades or rapids and affording valuable sites for mills and manufactories of all kinds. The Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi seven miles above the mouth of the St. Peters are only surpassed by the great Niagara, in Picturesque beauty and granduir, and are now becoming a place of fashionable resort for summer tourists. The rivers

Rivers 25

running into the Mississippi take their [rise?] in the vicinity of the sources of those running into the Lakes, and they often do originate on the same lake or swamp, so that the communication from the Mississippi to the Lakes is rendered comparatively easy at various points. The greatest depression in the dividing ridge in the Territory is [undoubtedly] supposed to be at Fort Winnebago where the Wisconsin river approaches within half a mile of the Neenah, and where at times of high water canoes have actually passed across from one stream to the other. Some of the rivers are supplied from the Tamarack swamps from which the water takes a dark color.

13

27

Antiquities

Wisconsin does not fall behind the other portions of the western country in the monuments it affords of the existence of an ancient people who once inhabited North America, but of whom nothing is now known except what can be gathered from some of the results of their labors. The works at Aztalan in Jefferson county are most known and united, but there are many other localities which are said to equal them in interest and importance. The substance called brick at this place is evidently burned clay showing marks of [straw] having been mixed with straw [it]; but they were not moulded into regular forms. There is a class of ancient earth works in Wisconsin not before found in any other country, being made to represent quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and even the human form. These representations are rather rude and it is often difficult to decide [as to] for what species of animal they are intended; but the effects of time may have modified their appearance very much since they were originally formed. Some have a resembleance to the Buffalo, the Eagle, or Crane, or to the turtle or lizard. One representing the

Antiquities

human form near the Blue Mounds, is according to R.C. Taylor Esq. one hundred twenty feet in length; it lies in an east and west direction the head towards the west, with the arms and legs extended. The body or trunk is thirty feet in breadth, the head twenty five, and its elevation above the general surface of the prairie is about six feet. Its configuration is so distinct that there can be no possibility of mistake in assigning it to the human figure.*

A mound at Prairieville representing a turtle is about five feet high, the body is fifty six feet in length; it represents the animal with its legs extended, and its feet turned backwards. It is to be regretted that this interesting mound is now nearly destroyed. These ancient works are found all over the Territory, but are most abundant at Aztalan on Rock river, near the Blue Mounds, along the Wisconsin, Neenah, & the Pishtaka rivers, and near Lake Winnebago.

*The reader is referred to the "Notice of Indian Mounds &c. in Wisconsin, in Silliman's Journal vol 34 p. 88 by R.C. Taylor- and to the "Descriptions of Ancient remains in Wisconsin by S. Taylor, vol 44 p. 21 of the same work for more detailed descriptions and drawings of these interesting "animal mounds".