History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

286

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

ends tipped with gold. A rough copper kettle of peculiar shape
and make, having been wrought into shape by hammering, without any seam, was also taken from one of these mounds, and is
now in the State capitol amongst Mr. Jennison's collections of
antiquities.
"The next mound was about half a mile up the river, and formerly stood in the center of Linn street, West Bay City, but has
been graded down many years since. I was not there at the time,
but was informed by others that it contained human bones and
stone implements. Charles E. Jennison, a pioneer of Bay City,
informs me that he dug up two skeletons many years ago, in the
side of this mound. Ile found with the skeletons two copper kettles, which he has still in his possession. I am inclined to think
these were not the remains of the original Mound-Builders, but a
race of a subsequent period.
"We now proceed a half-mile more up the river, to the rise of
ground in the rear of Frank Fitzhugh's grist-mill. This elevation, 45 years ago, when I first saw it, was the most picturesque
spot on the Saginaw river. Here was also a beautiful spring of
cold water, and was a favorite camping ground of the Indians.
It was also, according to the Indian tradition, the original site of
the Sauk village, and where the great battle was fought when the
Chippewas exterminated that nation. This I will call the Fitzhugh mound, as it is on the lands of Frank Fitzhugh. This elevation, comprising two or three acres, was always thought to be
natural; but I am satisfied from recent excavations, and a low
place to the southwest, that the earth has been taken from this
point to raise the mound higher than the surrounding land, and
that it is, therefore, mostly artificial. Then again, the land adjoining on the north is a yellow sand, while on the south the land
fell off abruptly, and is composed of the same kind of soil as the
mound, black sand and loam, from where the earth was taken.
I am now speaking of this mound as it appeared 45 years ago.
Since then the railroad company have excavated a part of it for
ballasting up their road, and many other excavations and alterations have taken place, so that it has not the same appearance it
had when I first saw it. Some years since Mr. Fitzhugh, or the
village authorities of Wenona, now West Bay City, excavated a
street through this mound, which brought to light many relics and
proved beyond a doubt that this eminence was a mound built in remote ages. A great many skeletons were exhumed, together with
a great many ornaments of silver, broken pottery, stone implements, etc., and, like the McCormick mound on the opposite side of
the river, was full of broken stone which had been through the action of fire.
"There are also four fortifications on the Rifle river, in township
22 north. They contain from three to six acres each, containing
several mnounds of large size. They are also situated on the
bluffs. The walls can yetbe traced, and are from 3 to 4 feet high
and from (S to 1(0 feet wide, with large trees growing upon them.