By Mark Piper, Bloomington, Illinois
One of our most interesting trips was taken on May 18th, 1913 to Petersburg and Kingfisher Hill in an auto owned by T. R. Good. The party, S. W. LeNeve, Gus. Blumke, Chas. Robinson and myself met at the Court House in Bloomington, Ill, where Mr. Good met us at 5 a. m. with his machine. At about 10 a. m. we arrived at Bonnett brothers on whose farm we were to look for relics. We then made our way to the tops of some hills where there were indications of Indian graves. There I for once was the lucky one and found part of a skeleton, while Mr. Good afterward found three more. Owing to the peculiar nature of the soil they were exceedingly well preserved, there did not appear to be any system of burial as the bones and skulls seemed to be in a heap. Some of the bones showed tooth marks as though some wild animal had gnawed them. One peculiar thing about their graves was that they were on the very top of the highest hills, except some which were on the side near the top. Nothing was found in the graves with the bones. Besides the skeleton we also found arrow heads, buffalo teeth and other relics.
Our next trip to the Bonnett farm was taken June 23. The party this time consisted of Charles H. Robinson, Gus. Blumke, Mr. Robinson's son and myself. We met at the Union Depot in the wee small hours of the night and took a train at about one o'clock for Petersburg where we had previously made arrangements for a team to meet us and take us to the Bonnett farm.
After breakfast Mr. Bonnett supplied us each with an old coat which would help to keep out the rain. We then took spades and started out. We crossed creeks and ponds as though they were dry and after digging on numerous hills without success we came back to dinner and more coffee. After dinner we had better success for we found some graves and also a camp site located on the banks of Cleary's Creek in which a great number of shells lay exposed, also quite a quantity of broken pottery of a special stamped and rouletted design. Pottery similar to this has been found at Naples Ill., and is described in government literature. We also found fragments of bone and flint articles but as that was in a field of growing wheat we could not excavate.
Cut furnished by Wm. B. Brigham
(Cuts one-half size.)
The six arrow heads of the upper row show a variety of shapes with a marked difference in the notches and base.
The long spear-heads was found in the Bloomington cemetery by J. W. Moran. This is a beautiful pink flint.
The specimen below in the center is no doubt a knife. The spear-head on either side show a notched and a stem-base.
Below is a notched scraper, and a drill. The two small game points are from the Cahokia mounds, Madison County. (This kind is characteristic of that region.)