1. _Stone Implements_. The stone articles found, no doubt form a very
small proportion of the implements used by the lost race. I am able to
show you three classes of implements.
(_a_.) _Scrapers_. (See C. Figure 1.) These were made after the same
manner and from the same material as the flint arrow heads, found so
commonly all over this continent. They are usually of an oval or
elongated diamond shape, of various thicknesses, but thin at the
edges. Their purpose seems to have been to assist in skinning the
game, the larger for larger game, the smaller for rabbits and the
smaller fur bearing animals. Probably these implements were also used
for scraping the hides or skins manufactured into useful articles.
(_b_.) _Stone Axes and Malls_. In the mound on Red River was found the
beautiful axe of crystalline limestone, which approaches marble. From
the absence of stone so far as we know of this kind in this
neighborhood, it is safe to conclude that it came from a distant
locality. There are also gray stone celts and hammers used for
crushing corn, for hammering wood and bark for the canoes, and other
such like purposes, in time of peace; and serving as formidable
weapons in time of war. In the mound on the Red River a skull was
discovered having a deep depression in the broken wall, as if crushed
in by one of these implements.
(_c_.) _Stone Tubes_. (See B Fig. 1.) These are among the most
difficult of all the mound-builders' remains to give an opinion upon.
They are chiefly made of a soft stone something like the pipestone
used by the present Indians which approaches soapstone. The hollow
tubes (see figure B.) vary from three to six inches in length, and are
about one-half an inch in diameter. They seem to have been bored out
by some sharp instrument. Schoolcraft, certainly a competent Indian
authority states that these tubes were employed for astronomical
purposes, that is to look at the stars. This is unlikely; for though
the race, with which I shall try to identify our mound builders are
said, in regions further south, to have left remains showing
astronomical knowledge, yet a more reasonable purpose is suggested for
the tubes. From the teeth marks around the rim, the tubes were plainly
used in the mouth, and it is becoming generally agreed that they were
conjuror's cupping instruments for sucking out as the medicine men
pretended to be able to do the disease from the body. The custom
survives in some of the present Indian tribes. A lady friend of mine
informs me that she has a bone whistle taken from a mound in the Red
River district.
2. _Horn Implements_. (See D. Figure 1.) The only implement of this
class that we have yet found is the fish spear head (Fig. D.). It was
probably made from the antlers of a deer killed in the chase. Its
barbed edge indicates that it was used for spearing fish. It is in a
fair state of preservation.
3. _Copper_. No discovery of the mounds so fills the mind of the
Archaeologist with joy as that of copper implements. Copper mining has
now by the discovery in the Lake Superior region, of mining shafts
long deserted, in which copper was quarried by stone hammers on a
large scale, been shown to have been pursued in very ancient times on
this continent. It is of intense interest for us to know that not only
are there mines found on the south side of Lake Superior, but also at
Isle Royale, on the north side just at the opening of Thunder Bay, and
immediately contiguous to the Grand Portage, where the canoe route to
Rainy River, so late as our own century, started from Lake Superior.
According to the American Geologists the traces for a mile are found
of an old copper mine on this Island. One of the pits opened showed
that the excavation had been made in the solid rock to the depth of
nine feet, the walls being perfectly smooth. A vein of native copper
eighteen inches thick was discovered at the bottom. Here is found
also, unless I am much mistaken, the mining location whence the
Takawgamis of Rainy River obtained their copper implements. Two copper
implements are in our possession, one found by Mr. E. McColl in the
grand mound, and the other by Mr. Alexander Baker in a small mound
adjoining this.
(_a_.) _Copper Needle or Drill_. (See A. Fig. 1.) This was plainly
used for some piercing or boring purpose. It is hard, yields with
difficulty to the knife, and is considered by some to have been
tempered. It may have been for drilling out soft stone implements, or
was probably used for piercing as a needle soft fabrics of bark and
the like, which were being sewed together.
(_b_.) _Copper Cutting Knife_. (See E. Fig. 1.) This, has evidently
been fastened into a wooden handle. It may have been used for cutting
leather, being in the shape of a saddler's knife, or was perhaps more
suited for scraping the hides and skins of animals being prepared for
use.
Some twenty miles above the mound on the Rainy River at Fort Frances a
copper chisel buried in the earth was found by Mr. Pither, then H. B.
Company agent, and was given by him to the late Governor McTavish. The
chisel was ten inches long, was well tempered, and was a good cutting
instrument. Another copper implement is in the possession of our
Society, which was found buried in the earth 100 miles west of Red
River.
All these, I take it, were made from copper obtained from Isle Royale
on Lake Superior.
4. _Shell Ornaments_. Traces are found in the mound, of the fact that
the decorative taste, no doubt developed in all ages, and in all
climes, was possessed by the Takawgamis.
(_a_.) _Sea Shells_. Important as pointing to the home and trading
centres of the mound builders is the presence among the debris of the
mound, of sea shells. We have three specimens found in the grand
mound. Two of them seem to belong to the genus Natica, the other to
Marginella. They have all been cut or ground down on the side of the
opening of the shell, so that two holes permit the passage of a
string, by which the beads thus made are strung together. The fact
that the genera to which the shells belong are found in the sea, as
well as their highly polished surface show these to be marine; and not
only so but from the tropical seas, either we suppose from the Gulf of
Mexico or from the Californian coast.
(_b_.) _Fresh Water Shells_. In all the mounds yet opened, examples of
the Unio, or River Mussel, commonly known as the clam have been found.
They are usually polished, cut into symmetrical shapes, and have holes
bored in them. We have one which was no doubt used as a breast
ornament, and was hung by a string around the neck. In the bottom of a
nearly complete pottery cup, found in the grand mound, which went to
pieces as we took it out, there was lying a polished clam shell. The
clam still abounds on Rainy River. Six miles above the mound, we saw
gathered together by an industrious housewife hundreds of the same
species of clam, whose shells she was in the habit of pulverizing for
the benefit of her poultry.
5. _Pottery_. (_a_.) _Broken_. It seems to be a feature of every mound
that has been opened that fragments of pottery have been unearthed.
The Society has in its possession remains of twenty or thirty pottery
vessels. They are shown to be portions of different pots, by their
variety of marking. The pottery is of a coarse sort, seemingly made by
hand and not upon a wheel, and then baked. The markings were made upon
the soft clay, evidently with a sharp instrument, or sometimes with
the finger nail. Some pieces are found hard and well preserved; others
are rapidly disintegrating. As stated already, in the grand mound, a
vessel some five inches in diameter was dug up by one of the workers,
filled with earth, which though we tried earnestly to save it, yet
went to pieces in our hands. The frequency with which fragments of
pottery are found in the mounds has given rise to the theory that
being used at the time of the funeral rites the vessel was dashed to
pieces as was done by some ancient nations in the burial of the dead.
This theory is made very doubtful indeed by the discovery of the
[Illustration: FIGURE 2.]
(_b_.) _Complete Pottery Cup_. So far as I know this is the only
complete cup now in existence in the region northwest of Lake
Superior, though several others are said to have been discovered and
been sent to distant friends of the finders. This cup, belonging now
to the Historical Society was found in the grand mound, in company
with charred bones, skulls, and other human bones, lumps of red ochre,
and the shells just described. The dimensions of the cup are as
follows:
Mean diameter at top of rim 2.09 inches.
Greatest mean diameter 3.03 "
Height 2.49 "
Thickness of material 0.092 "
Weight ---- oz.
Whether the cup was intended for use as a burial urn, or simply for
ordinary use it is difficult to say.
Now, in endeavoring to sum up the results a few points need some
discussion.
1. Who were the people who erected the mounds? Judging from the
following considerations, I should say they were