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

SAN I LAC-WAYNE

streams are several miles long, the items are too vague to justify
charting. The county contains village, mound, and burying
ground sites, distributed in several townships, as the map indicates. It is regrettable that the data upon the archaeology of this
part of the state were not sufficiently exact to render it possible to
delineate more fully the situations described.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages --------- 9
Burying grounds ---- 6
Mounds -----------17
Circular inclosure --- 1
TOWNSHIPS

A mile northeast of this site a low mound sixty feet in diameter yielded several skeletons of adults and children, pottery, firestones, and many kinds of implements.
By the Saline River, near the village of Saline, there were salt
springs and evidences of salt-making. A pot that held eight gallons, a very remarkable size, is reported to have been found at
these "works."
In the early pioneer times there could be seen a row of stepping-stones across the Huron River eighty rods below the outlet
of Portage Lake, about on the line between Dexter and Webster
townships, a mile south of the county boundary. The stones were
so placed that one could cross the river dry-shod except during
very high water. The location of Washtenaw sites, so far as determined, can readily be perceived on the map. Important trails
traversed the county. At one time the Wyandots had a village
at Ypsilanti.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages ----------- 8
Burying grounds 2
Mounds ------------5
TOWNSHIPS

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Wisner
Akron
Columbia
Elmwood
Elkland
Gilford
Fair Grove
Almer
Ellington
Novesta
Denmark

13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.

Indianfield
Wells
Kingston
Tuscola
Vassar
Fremont
Dayton
Koylton
Arbela
Millington
Watertown

12. Juniata

VAN BUREN COUNTY
(Map 4)
The lakes of Lawrence and Paw Paw townships were attractive to the Indians, probably on account of the fishing and excellent hunting grounds. Not less than fourteen mound sites have
been located in Paw Paw Township. Many of the mounds were
arranged in groups. There was also a group of seven mounds in
the southeast corner of Decatur Township, Section 36, upon the
east side of Swift's Lake. Just south of this group in the SE. 4
of the SE. y of the section, an ancient village stood, and across
the lake to the west an old ossuary has been identified.
Mr. Dana P. Smith, of Paw Paw, has given valuable assistance in tracing trails and locating sites in the southwestern
counties of the state. Acknowledgment is also made to Mr. W. L.
Marshall, Science Department, South Lake High School, St. Clair
Shores, for field surveys of several townships.
SITES IDENTIFIED
Villages -----------14
Burying grounds 4
Mounds -----------37
Garden beds------- 3
TOWNSHIPS

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Lyndon
Dexter
Webster
Northfield
Salem
Sylvan
Lima
Scio
Ann Arbor
Superior

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

Sharon
Freedom
Lodi
Pittsfield
Ypsilanti
Manchester
Bridgewater
Saline
York
Augusta

WAYNE COUNTY
(Map 6)
Upon the Detroit River, within the present limits of Detroit,
there was a cluster of not less than four Indian villages. Four
other villages were situated below the mouth of River Rouge, upon
or near the Detroit River shore. Several settlements lay across
the river upon the Canadian side. Most of these sites upon both
sides were occupied in historic times by Ottawa, Potawatomi,
and Wyandots. A group of Wyandot villages was located upon a
reservation of 4,996 acres in the eastern part of Huron Township. The Potawatomi Trail, which followed the Huron River
from its mouth through Wayne and Washtenaw counties and on
to the northwest, passed the reservation.

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

South Haven
Geneva
Columbia
Bloomingdale
Pine Grove
Covert
Bangor
Arlington
Waverly

10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

Almena
Hartford
Lawrence
Paw Paw
Antwerp
Keeler
Hamilton
Decatur
Porter

WASHTENAW COUNTY
(Map 6)
In the southwest quarter of Section 23, Ann Arbor Township,
three mounds upon a high bank overlooked the Huron River.
From one of these there were exhumed the entire skeleton of an
adult male, two pieces of pottery of the Algonquian type, and
numerous artifacts, some of which were of copper. The capacity of each pot was six quarts. One contained hundreds of
shells which conchologists identified as coming from the Gulf of
Mexico. The other vessel had in it the skeleton of a beaver.

-, '-...
~i^^ , .---^' --v,^T,,",,',w.
FIG. 21. The "Great Springwells Mound" which
mouth of River Rouge

stood at Del Rey,

Judge Alpheus Felch located one of the villages of the diplomatic Wyandot chief, Walk-in-the-Water, "near the bank of the
Detroit River a short distance below the present village of Trenton." Monguagon village was at about the southern limits of the

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