[Illustration: FIGURE 3.]
I believe our grand mound to be the earliest in the region of the
Takawgamis. It is the largest in the region. It will be seen by
reference to figure 3 that I arrive at its age in the following way.
Where it now stands, so striking an object, it is about one-third of a
mile above the point where the Bowstring River enters the Rainy River.
If however from the top of the mound you look southward through the
trees a view may be got of the silver stream of the Bowstring, coming
as if directly toward the mound. Originally no doubt this tributary
flowed close by the mound, for the mound would undoubtedly be built on
the extreme point. But as from year to year the Bowstring River
deposited the detritus carried down by it, it formed a bank or bar,
and was gradually diverted from its course, until now, the peninsula
some hundreds of yards across its base, has become upwards of a third
of a mile long. I infer that this peninsula, which I should say
contains some seventy acres has been formed since the mound--which
from its position seems for observation as well as for sepulture--was
begun. Some 200 yards down the point from the grand mound occurs
another small mound. This is some eight or ten feet high, and fifty or
sixty feet across. Along the point and close past this small mound
runs an old water course, now a treeless hay meadow. At high water in
spring, as I ascertained, the river still sends its surplus water by
this old channel. My position is that the 200 yards of earth between
the site of the grand mound and that of the small mound was deposited
after the grand mound was begun, and before the commencement of the
small mound. Undoubtedly this small mound as well as a similar one not
far up the river from the grand mound, were begun on account of the
laborious work of carrying bones and earth to such a height, and on
account of the numerous interments which have left the surface of the
grand mound a bone pile. This is shown by the small mound being on a
site more recent than that of the large mound. Suppose a hundred years
to have sufficed to raise the small mound to its height when the
devastating ruin of the Sioux slaughtered the last mound builder and
checked the mound. From our previous position this would represent a
point some 500 years ago. But during this 500 years according to our
hypothesis all of the point of land below the small mound, that is to
say, about 300 yards in length, has been formed. The question then is,
how long at the same rate must it have taken the 200 yards between the
two mounds to form. This brings us then to a point say 300 years
before the time of beginning of the small mound. We thus arrive at
about 800 years ago as the time when the grand mound was begun. It
will thus be seen that we have reached back to the eleventh century,
the time previously deduced from historic date for the arrival of the
Toltecans on the Rainy River.