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

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTIES

district, was depopulated by smallpox, according to the story of
Mackawdebenessy, or "Blackbird," a continuous village some fifteen or sixteen miles long extended from what is now Cross Village to Seven Mile Point. "The trees were entirely cut away from
this long village," a veritable Alba Longa. This may have been
the place referred to by Father Dablon, who said in the Relation of
1670-72, describing the mission of Outaouaces: "Some of them
still living declare that they constituted thirty villages, and that
they had entrenched themselves in a fort a league and a half in
circumference."
Leach says that the Mascoutens had villages at Seven Mile
Point and Harbor Springs. Much of the subsistence for this unusual population was derived from the lake, which afforded abundance of fish during the season, and corn was so extensively cultivated that the garrisons in later times at Fort Mackinac depended
upon the Ottawas from L'Arbre Croche for this commodity.
Cross Village and Good Heart are still occupied by numerous
Ottawa families. Old villages were probably deserted for the
winter, after the corn was harvested and cached, for the hunting
grounds upon the inland streams and the sugar making of early
spring. There was a trail upon the bluff following the lake shore.
See notes on Mecosta County.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages ---------- 9
Burying grounds -- 5
Mounds -----------2

termines population. The rural white population of the county
is today only sixteen per square mile.
At Edenville, Midland County, at the coming together of the
Tobacco and Tittabawassee rivers, the main trail through the central part of the state branched. One branch passed through Tobacco, Buckeye, Sage, and Sherman townships, and went on to
the Grand Traverse region. The other trail passed through Billings, Hay, Secord, and Clement townships and led to Cheboygan.
This latter trail, as the broken lines upon the map indicate, cannot be traced as accurately as the Grand Traverse path.

TOWNSHIPS
1. Sherman 9.
2. Butman 10.
3. Clement 11.
4. Bourrett 12.
5. Sage 13.
6. Gladwin 14.
7. Secord 15.
8. Sheridan

Grout
Buckeye
Hay
Beaverton
Tobacco
Billings
Bentley

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

To
Wawatam
Bliss
Carp Lake
Cross Village
Readmond
Center
McKinley
Friendship

WNSHIP
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

s
Pleasant View
Maple River
West Traverse
Little Traverse
Little Field
Resort
Bear Creek
Springvale

GENESEE COUNTY
(Map 9)
Like the other counties of the Saginaw valley, Genesee was
well adapted to Indian life. The Flint River and the adjacent
lands were favorite rendezvous. There was a group of eight
mounds upon the river bank in the southern part of the corporation limits of the city of Flint. Another group of twenty was situated upon the west bank of the Flint, a mile above Flushing.
The trail from Detroit to Saginaw cut the county diagonally
from southeast to northwest, and a branch trail led from the Flint
Reservation west to Shiawassee Town. Montrose Township contained a number of mounds and two villages; it was the southern
limit of a region thickly dotted with sites extending into Taymouth Township, Saginaw County.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages -----------7
Burying grounds -_ 2
Mounds ----------48

GOGEBIC COUNTY
(Map 15)
Unusual and varied earth constructions stood at one time upon
an island in Lac Vieux Desert, through which passes the boundary
line between Michigan and Wisconsin. Figure 6, which is taken
from Schoolcraft, enables one to visualize...
the situation better 7/^ ^'/
than words can de-:.
scribe i t. Mounds,, /%:-l..,
embankments, in- t! ODWELL *6
closures, "deep exca-,,,", "...t.
vations," and a large 'SF VI LAGE
village at one time oc- j. "s--(%IS8O 1 NO
cupied the island. It.. | q1,m. 't pM
has been mentioned in i -
the notes upon Me- <f MOUN N,,
nominee County that:-., O3 135 Its.
t h e mound-building. z. '.O..NDt ^
culture of Wisconson i>
encroached slI i g h t I y
upon what is now,DEEP EXGAVAT!ONS
M i c h i g a n territory.
The situation at Lac
Vieux Desert is another illustration of
this. A village stood
at the mouth of Mon- FIG. 6. Diagram of earthworks on an island
attrea Ri anda- in Lac Vieux Desert, Schoolcraft, Indian
treal River and an- Tribes of the United States, 1847, Part II
other at Little Girl's
Point. A mound is situated at the mouth of Trout Creek, east
side of Lake Gogebic.
The surveyors' notes occasionally mention crossing old trails,
but they are too fragmentary to justify attempts at retracings. A
trail connected Lake Gogebic with the headwaters of the Wisconsin River.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages------- 3
Mounds --------4
Inclosure ------- 1
Embankment 2

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

TOWNSHIPS
Montrose 10. Flint
Vienna 11. Burton
Thetford 12. Davison
Forest 13. Gaines
Flushing 14. Mundy
Mt. Morris 15. Grand Blanc
Genesee 16. Atlas
Richfield 17. Argentine
Clayton 18. Fenton

TOWNSHIPS
1. Ironwood 5. Marenisco
2. Wakefield 6. Watersmeet
3. Erwin 7. Carlson
4. Bessemer

GLADWIN COUNTY
(Map 12)
Gladwin County does not seem to have been conducive to permanent Indian occupancy; at least nothing has been reported to,
or discovered by, the Museum staff to warrant mapping any sites.
It must always be kept in mind that the means of subsistence de
GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY
(Map 11)
Within or very near the present limits of Traverse City there
were seven isolated mounds, a group of three upon Boardman
Lake, a group the number of which is undetermined, a village, and

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