Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/64

 34 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY mound that lias in evidence 250 concentric rings, indicating that it "was 250 years ago when the acorn which grew into the tree was planted in the mound. How long had the mound been built ? The prevailing opinion of writers of recent date, who have made Indian mounds of this region a study, is that the ancestors of the Indians found inhabiting these parts at the time it was first vis- ited by Europeans, were the creators of these earthworks. From time immemorial this locality has been known as Hem-minne-cha (Hill, water, wood). Franqueline published in Paris, in 166-4, a map of this country, and located an Indian village at what is now known as Cannon Junction, and called it by the name of "Remnica." Franqueline received his information probably from Hennepin, as that explorer had returned to France and published his book about that time. "While I have not been asked to con- tribute an article on archaeology, yet it may not be out of place for me to add a few words on the very interesting subject. My father, some years ago, writing on the subject, stated that the builders of the mounds, or the people who inhabited this country before the Dakotas. must have been a more civilized and peaceful race than the Sioux, as no warlike implements were found. Since the above was written by my father I have found in this im- mediate vicinity thousands of flint and stone arrows and spear heads, stone axes, and clubs, without number. The general opin- ion, I think, prevails, that the art of chipping flint and stone im- plements is a lost one; but as there are a number of descriptions in print, written by persons who have witnessed the operation, I will give a description or two. Catlin's description of Apache mode of making flint arrow points: "This operation is very curious, both the holder and the striker singing, and the strokes of the mallet, given exactly in time with the music, and with a short and rebounding blow, in which, the Indians tell us, is the great medicine of the operation." Admiral L. E. Belcher gives an account of flint arrow head making by western Eskimo tribes. Schoolcraft describes the mode of making flint arrow heads by North American Indians. John Smith describes the making of arrow points by Virginia Indians. "His arrow head he quickly maketh with a little bone, which he ever weareth at his brace, of a splint of a stone or glass, in the form of a heart and these they glue to the end of their arrows." I have made the statement at the beginning of this article that it could never be known how many ages the Indians had flourished in this country, and now add the opinions of others. Many writers in the past, and a few at the present time, speak of the Mound Builders as a vanished race and declare that the skeletons found buried in the mounds denote that they were giants in stature. Marquis De Nadaillac, in "Prehistoric Amer-