Region Rich in Indian Mounds.

In primeval times the Baraboo region was rich in Indian mounds and, although the plow has been active since the 40's and 50's of the last century, many of the aboriginal earthworks still remain. They were erected by the savages on hillside and on plain, by lake, stream, and on the upland, in the deep forest and on the open prairie. They are the relics of a people now disappearing and are of ever increasing interest to the investigating archeologist.

The theory was at one time advanced that a pre-Indian race, the Mound Builders, constructed the earthworks, but modern archeologists have disproved the idea of the existence of any such a pre-historic people, holding the builders of the mounds were none other than the Indians. It is believed the Winnebago are the authors of the majority of the earthworks found in Wisconsin. The great number of these heaps of earth scattered over the country indicate a considerable Indian population extending over no small period of time.

Indian mounds or tumuli are of various forms and, with few exceptions, may be classed as round or conical, elongate or wall-like pyramidal, and effigy or emblematic mounds. The conical mounds in the United States vary in height from scarcely a perceptible swell to elevation of 80 and sometimes 100 feet. Ours are smaller the highest not over 25 feet. Those in the Baraboo region seldom exceed in height of 2, 3, or 4 feet. In the conical mounds the Indians often buried their dead and sometimes one, two, or three layers of charcoal are found above the remains, indicating that fires, probably of a ceremonial nature, had burned over the dead.

The long or wall-like mounds are earthworks of a usual length of 30 to 300 feet, in extreme cases the wall having a maximum extension of 800 or 900 feet. Linear mounds are found in the effigy mound region.

Pyramidal mounds are not found in the Baraboo country.

The effigy mounds represent animal forms, and, with few exceptions, are confined to Wisconsin and contiguous portions of neighboring states. The famous serpent mound and several other animal-shaped earthworks are located in Ohio and two bird mounds are in Georgia. Effigy mounds vary from 3 to 4 to 500 feet in length and in height from a few inches to 5 or 6 feet. Burials were rarely made in these mounds which have the outline of the deer, bear, lizard, turtle, eagle, swallow, frog, or other forms of animal life. Indians are divided into clans and most effigy mounds are believed by archeologists to be the emblems of these. In order to perpetuate the clan idea, the Indians constructed about their places of residence the mounds symbolic of their clans, thousands of these earthen elevations being scattered over southern Wisconsin.

The deer mound at the home of Mrs. Train is a clan emblem but archeologists believe the effigy in Man Mound Park an Indian deity.

Mounds of all types, in the eastern part of Sauk County, numbered over 600, according to a survey made by Dr. A. B. Stout about 1905. Many of the mounds have been leveled by the plow and cultivator.

[CHAPTER IX]
Stone Pillar of Chief Yellow Thunder and His Squaw, Situated a Few Miles North of Baraboo

Passing the Baraboo Cemetery and continuing for a distance of five miles north of Baraboo, Yellow Thunder's Pillar is situated where two roads cross. The stone monument stands but a short distance from where the old chief traversed an Indian trail and not far from where he died and was buried. On one side appears the following inscription:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*YELLOW THUNDER*
* Chief of the Winnebago*
*Born 1774—Died 1874*
*——*
*And His Squaw*
*Died 1868*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Yellow Thunder, a noted warrior and chief of the Winnebago, was "to the manor born." With his tribe he probably took part, on the side of the British, in the War of 1812.

He was buried three days after he had passed to the happy hunting grounds, his body laid in a box in a horizontal position with face to the west, and his pipe and various trinkets around. His squaw was interred in similar fashion except that the body was placed in a sitting position. The ceremonies in both instances were conducted by Indians, white neighbors assisting only in bearing the bodies to the graves.

Yellow Thunder is said to have been a "man of great respectability among his people, and an able councilor in all their public affairs. He was a zealous Catholic."

In an interview, (see Wisconsin Historical Collections) Moses Paquette said of him that he was a fine looking Indian, tall, straight, and stately, but had an overweening love for firewater. This was his only vice.