Archaeological atlas of Michigan [by] Wilbert B. Hinsdale...

ALCONA-BARAGA

The territory was crossed by numerous trails. Fuller, in his
Economic Beginnings of Michigan, speaks of important trails
meeting and crossing where the city of Allegan now stands, but
his citations do not justify placing the trails upon the map, because their courses through the county are vaguely described.
Even the field notes of the government surveyors in 1831 and
1837 fail to mention all the trail crossings.
Attention has been called (p. 6) to the Kalamazoo River,
which passes through the county diagonally from southeast to
northwest, as a waterway of great importance in Indian travel.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages -------------11
Burying grounds -----4
Mounds-----------14
Circular inclosures _ 7
TOWNSHIPS

1
1
1

1. Laketown 13. Ganges
2. Fillmore 14. Clyde
3. Overisel 15. Valley
4. Salem 16. Allegan
5. Dorr 17. Watson
6. Leighton 18. Martin
7. Saugatuck 19. Casco
8. Manlius 20. Lee
9. Heath 21. Cheshire
[0. Monterey 22. Trowbridge
1i. Hopkins 23. Otsego
12. Wayland 24. Gun Plains

usual archaeological interest. There are a few mutilated mounds
still standing upon the west side of Devil Lake. According to the
report of Mr. Gillman just cited, a trephined skull (Figure 4) was
taken from one of the mounds at Devil River by the Rev. Dr.
Pilcher. The hole in the vertex is very symmetrical and was bored
while the person was still living. So far as known, this is the
farthest north that any trephined skull has been found. The
Thunder Bay Islands have considerable mythology connected with
them.
Three villages have been definitely located in the county: one
upon what was formerly Flat Rock Point, now called North
Point; one at the mouth of Devil River; and one at Alpena. There
were, of course, many other sites, but the facts at hand do not
warrant putting them upon the map.
The Museum staff has made a quite thorough survey of this
interesting county with the foregoing items to record.
An unusual number of copper implements has been collected
upon the village site in the northwest part of the city of Alpena by
Mr. Gerald Haltiner.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages ---------3
Burying grounds- 2
Mounds --------14
TOWNSHIPS
1. Wellington 5. Green
2. Long Rapids 6. Wilson
3. Maple Ridge 7. Ossineke
4. Alpena 8. Sanborn
ANTRIM COUNTY
(Map 13)
Sites are numerous in the lake district of the southwestern
part of the county. There was a circular inclosure at Elk Rapids
and one upon each side of Torch Lake. Several mound, village,
and burial sites have been located, but none very far from bodies
of water.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages -----------7
Burying grounds ----- 3
Mounds -----------14
Circular inclosures __ 3
TOWNSHIPS

ALPENA COUNTY
(Map 14)
Cyrus Thomas, Catalogue of Prehistoric Works East of the
Rocky Mountains (1891), quotes Mr. Gerard Fowke as saying:
"There were long, flat, circular mounds on almost every section
along the east side of Devil's Lake and along Thunder Bay River
for 10 miles from its mouth." Mr. Henry Gillman, Smithsonian

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Banks
Central Lake
Echo
Jordan
Warner
Torch Lake
Forest Home
Kearney

9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Chestonia
Star
Elk Rapids
Milton
Helena
Custer
Mancelona

ARENAC COUNTY
(Map 12)
Along or in the vicinity of the Bay shore there were a few
settlements. It is not impossible that the fort-builders, who were
very active in Ogemaw County, also had sites upon the Rifle River
toward its mouth, but no evidences of them have been found.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages ----------- 5
Burying grounds -- 7
Mounds -----------2
TOWNSHIPS
1. Moffitt 7. Deep River
2. Clayton 8. Arenac
3. Mason 9. Au Gres
4. Turner 10. Sims
5. Whitney 11. Lincoln
6. Adams 12. Standish
BARAGA COUNTY
(Map 16)
The indentations made by two deep bays give Baraga County
an unusual length of shore line. The inlets and coves sheltered
the fishermen from the turbulence of the waves and storms that

FIG. 4. Trephined skull from Devil River mound, Alpena County
Report (1875), also reports explorations of mounds below the
mouth of Devil River. It is possible at this time to locate correctly
but very few of these sites.
Along the Huron shore, from two miles below Ossineke to
Alpena and from there up the Thunder Bay River to Long Rapids, there are unmistakable proofs of a numerous population of
Indian fisher folk who built mounds some of which were of un
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