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

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTIES

walk. Two or three miles west of Franklin Mine a farmer turned
out with his plow, in two summers, over a ton of float copper.
One mass collected by this gentleman weighs four hundred and
eighty-four pounds; and upon one side its contour resembles the
profile of a human face (Figure 7); it is now among the exhibits
of the Museum of Mineralogy of the University.
There is a tradition, which is probably more fiction than fact,
that a bloody battle was fought between Iroquois and Chippewa
at Battle Island near the Portage entry about the year 1730.
See notes upon Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages ----------------------- 2
Mines, pits (copper).--very numerous

with the Grand River, near Michigan State College campus. Several Indian sites and cornfields are known to have been situated
along this line.
Two clusters of mounds are designated upon the map of this
county, one in Leslie township, the other in Aurelius.
Acknowledgment is made to Mr. E. C. Calkins, Department
of Public Utilities, Lansing, for assistance in tracing the trails of
this and adjoining counties.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages ------------7
Burying grounds -----4
Mounds ----------- 4
Circular inclosure __ 1
TOWNSHIPS

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

TOWNSHIPS
Calumet 8.
Hancock 9.
Osceola 10.
Schoolcraft 11.
Quincy 12.
Franklin 13.
Stanton 14.

Adams
Torch Lake
Chassell
Elm River
Portage
Laird
Duncan

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

Lansing
Meridian
Williamston
Locke
Delhi
Alaiedon
Wheatfield
Le Roy

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

Aurelius
Vevay
Ingham
White Oak
Onondaga
Leslie
Bunker Hill
Stockbridge

HURON COUNTY
(Map 10)
Huron County has a straight-line boundary upon the south
side, which is about forty-five miles long. Upon the shore line of
eighty-five miles were numerous villages and camps, as is attested
by the debris left by the dwellers. There is a village site every
few miles along the shore of Saginaw Bay. A few small islands
in the bay also have remains of villages and mounds. The remnants of mounds that have been mutilated by relic hunters are
visible within a mile east of Port Austin and upon New River,
near its mouth. A mound group was situated in the southeastern
part of Sheridan Township, near the southern boundary of the
county, but the section upon which it stood could not be ascertained.
Mr. Harlan I. Smith, of Victoria Memorial Museum, Ottawa,
Canada, who made a survey of the tThumb" district, reported in
1901 that a number of small mounds stood upon Katechay Island,
Fair Haven Township. There is an old record of a circular inclosure where the courthouse at Bad Axe stands. Traces of workshops and camps,Are still to be found along the Lake Huron shore.
A trail followed the shore from Oak Point, and a "ferry line"
crossed the bay for Point Lookout with a stopping-place at Charity
Island.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages -------------13
Burying grounds ----- 7
Mounds ------------- 7
Circular inclosure _. 1
TOWNSHIPS

IONIA COUNTY
(Map 8)
The banks and valleys of the Grand, Maple, Lookingglass, and
Flat rivers afforded subsistence and occupation for a numerous
Indian population. At least five villages were located in Danby
Township; one lay just across the north line in Portland. A group
of several mounds was situated on the Lookingglass, a mile east of
the village of Portland. There were three mounds in close proximity to each other upon the edge of the village of Muir. In
Section 34, Lyons Township, three mounds stood close together.
A half mile west of Muir is Arthurberg Hill. A line of embankments around the north and east sides of the hill inclosed several acres; the curved, steep banks of the Maple formed a barrier
on the other sides. The walls of earth were originally double for a
part, if not all, of the way. This eminence, overlooking the low
ground across and to the south of the river for a mile or more, was
a quite formidable defense. As mentioned in the notes upon St.
Joseph County, "hill-top forts" were not common in Michigan.
SITES IDENTIFIED.
Villages -----------12
Burying grounds 4
Mounds -----------11
Earthwork --------1
TOWNSHIPS

1. Port Austin

15. Winsor

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

Caseville
Lake
Hume
Dwight
Huron
Gore
McKinley
Chandler
Meade
Lincoln
Bloomfield
Rubicon
Fair Haven

16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.

Oliver
Colf ax
Verona
Sigel
Sand Beach
Sebewaing
Brookfield
Grant
Sheridan
Bingham
Paris
Sherman

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

Otisco
Orleans
Ronald
North Plains
Keene
Easton
lonia
Lyons

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

Boston
Berlin
Orange
Portland
Campbell
Odessa
Sebewa
Danby

INGHAM COUNTY
(Map 5)
The old Indian trail from the Detroit River to the mouth of
the Grand crossed the northern part of Ingham County and followed the Cedar River the greater part of the way to its confluence

IOSCO COUNTY
(Map 12)
The Lake Huron shore trail had a collateral that branched off
at the mouth of the Au Sable River. On the map it abruptly
terminates at Smith's Creek in southwestern Alcona County. No
doubt it went much farther into the forests of the middle reaches
of the Au Sable.
Villages were situated at Tawas Point and upon the Au Sable,
one of which was at the river's mouth. There was a mound at the

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