Porter County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1912

Aboriginal Iniiabitan'J'S

Before the white man the Indian ; before the Indian the Mound Builder. Who were the Mound Buiklers? Whence came they and . wither did they go? These questions have enlisted the atcution ol' etlmologists for many years, but they have never been definitely nor satisfactorilyt answered, and probably never will be. The earthworks and implements left by the Mound Builders show tliat they practiced agriculture, and that in some respects they were more civilized than the Indians found here by the white men.

The glacial drift has revealed human bones near the skeletons of mastodons, and this fact has led some of the eavl.v wriler.s - notablj' Fostei', Squier & Davis, Baldwin, Conant and Bancroft - to advance the . . . theory that the ]\Iound Builders constituted a race of gi'cat antiquity - a *i i, I' race that has been extinct foV thousands of ycai-s. Later investigations .,\. . have caused other ethnologists to arrive at the conclusion Dial thcMound Builders were ^e ancestors, and not so very remote eithc-, of tlie Indians ' r;-.\:i' who inhabited North America at the time tlie cnntinent was discovered by Columbus. Among the representatives of tliis later school are J^ishop Madison, Schoolcraft, Sir John Lubbock, Prof. Lucieu Carr, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cja-us Thomas of the United States r>iireiiu of EthDolo<;y. ,

All over that portion of the United States east of the Rocky mountains are scattered the mounds erected by this peculiar people. JMr. Thomas, in the Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, divides the country into eight districts, as follows: 1. Wisconsin including the state of that name; 2. Illinois and Upper Mississippi, emljracing eastern Iowa, northeastern Missouri and northern and central Illinois; 3. Ohio, which includes the State of Ohio, the western part of -West Virginia and eastern Indiana ; 4. New York and the lake region of the cenlral portion; 5. The Apjialachian district, embracing western NOrth Carolina, eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia and southeastern Kentucky ; 6. -The Middle Mississippi district, which includes southeastern Missouri, northern Arkansas, middle and western Tennessee, western Kentucky-, southern Illinois and the Wabash Valley in Indiana ; 7. The Lower Mississippi district, including the southern half of Arkansas, Louisiana and Jlississippi ; 8. The Gulf district which embraces all the Gulf states east of ]\Iississipi3i. "While the mounds in general bear a striking resemblance to each other in structure, etc., those of each district possess cert^n characteristics peculiar to the locality, indicating that the Mound Builders were divided into tribes or families, each of which followed certain cu.stoms not known or practiced bj' the otliers. Frequently the mounds take the form of birds, serpents or animals. This is especially true of the mounds of Wisconsin, in which the outlines of the deer, fox, lynx and eagle have been distinctly ti-aced. Some writers tJiink these effigy mounds were totems, worshipped by the people as guardians of the villages, but* no inscriptions nor traditions have been found to tell how or what the Mound Builders worshipped, and tlie mounds themselves tell a meager story. , is itself serpentine in form, overlooking Brush creek, and is 1,348 feet in length. Tlie month of the serpent is open and directly in front of it is a low artificial mound, while in the vicinity are several hui-ial mounds. From the fact that the serpent appears to have heeu a favorite form of effigy, Peet thinks that the serpent worship prevailed to some extent among the Mound Builders, hut this, like other theories, is largely a matter of conjecture and sjieculation. About all that is definitely settled regarding the mounds is that some were erected for sacrificial purposes; some for signal stations or lookout towers, lint hy far the greater numher niSrk the burial places of priests, warriors or rulers. In the Tennessee district, graves were often formed by slabs of sto)ie set on edge and confained one or more skeletons. One mound, not far from Nashville, about forty-five in diameter, when opened was found to contain about 100 skeletons.

A large part of the Twelfth Annual Report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology is devoted to the Jlound Builders and their works. On page 526 of this report Jlr. Thomas, who had charge of the work, says: "Examining the maps of Indiana and Illinois, M'hicli are given together, we sec that the works are confined principally to the eastern ])ortion of the former and the western porton of the latter. In the eastern part of Indiana the rule of following tlie streams seems to have been to a laR'ge extent abaailoned; especially is this the case with the jlusler in the extreme northeastern corner and the belt connnencing a little north of the middle of the state and extending down the eastern border to the Ohio river. This belt, which pertains to the group in -jiputhwestern Ohio, seems to' be connected with the Wabash series by lines of works along the east and west forks of White river. The gi-oup along the Wabash is confined chiefly to the middle and lower portions of the valley."

From this quotation one would naturally infer that there are no iijouuds of conseiiuence in the lake region of northern Indiana. This is true, in the main, but in tbe counties of Laporte, Porter and Lake there ai-e abundant evidences tljat tlie Jlonnd Buildei's once inhabited tliis region. A few yeare ago Dr. Iligday exj)kirod a group of some twenty mounds ou a small tributary of the Kniikakee .sonic twelve miles from the eit^- of Laporte. Among other things he found lliree skeletons - two adults and one child - one skull, two copper hiiteliets, a bear-sluiped pipe, two copper needles, an earthen vessel tilled with mould and pieces of tortoise shell, a few flint knives and pieces of galena and mica.

In Lake county there ai'e several mounds aloiis the shores of Cedar lake, from which several skeletons, pieces of lead ore, arrow ])oints, etc., have been taken. About a mile south of llobavt are the reiuiuns of four mounds M'hich have been almost leveled by cnl1i\-atioii. Tliey have never been explored, biit a stone hatchet and se\rral small Hints have been found ill the immediate vicinity. From two ii^)unds smith of Orchard Grove have been taken portions of human Nkeli;toii.s, arrow heads and pottery, and-on a "sand i.'5iand" near by is the so-called "Indian Battle Ground," showing a low breastwork or artilicJal ridge of earth enclosing two sides of an area of some three acres of gioand. Withi)i the enclosure were about 200 holes resembling the rifle pits of modern Avai-fare. Numerous skeletons have been found in this immediate locality.

Although Porter county has not been found so rich in prehistoric remains as some of hei'^ister counties, one of the finest groups of mounds in northern Indiana lies within her borders. The original field notes of the United States land survej^ in 1834, mention the fact that the north and south line between sections 33 and 34, township 34 north, range 6 west, "passes over a large artificial mound surrounded bj' a number of smaller ones." A copy of the original plat now on fil*in the state auditor's office at Indianapolis shows this larger mound on the section line, with a group of nine smaller mounds surrounding it in a circle. This is the group of mounds located about a mile and a half east of the village of Boone Grove, on the south side of Wolf creek. ' At the present time there are eight mounds visible on an area of some thirty acres. The plat of the original survey above mentioned shows ten mounds, but it is possible that two of them have been obliterated by the plow. Seven of the mounds are situated on Iho high wooded ground close to Wolf creek. The eighth, and largest, is in an open field near the northeast corner of section 33, townsliip 34 north, range 6 west. Tt is ahoiit TOO feet in diameter and Iwdvc feet in heigth. In the fall of 1897 the owner of the farm, John AVark, ga\c tlie state geologist tlie privilege of investigating the mound, and (he result is thus told by Mr. Blatchley in his official report for lliat year. "A ditch was dug three feet wide, 82 feet long, and, at the center of the mound, 14 feet in depth. The mound was found to be composed of a compact, yellowish clay, iu which were a few scattered iiehliles of small size. In the exact center and ten feet from the crest, the earth liccame darker, harder ayd more compact. Six inches lower was a layer of lilack organic matter, in which were the remains of a very badl\ decayed liiniian skeleton. It lay in a reclining position with its head to llie soulli. Only a few pieces of bone and 14 teeth were removed, the remainder crumbling to dust. The crowns of the teeth were hard and solid, but the fangs for the most part crumbled like the bone. No implements of any kind were found, though the excavations were extended four fei't lower and over an area 5x7 feet in. the center of the mound."

Of the mound in the woods, the largest is the one near the creek. It is about seventy feet in diameter and ten feet high. On this mound are several IJaek oak trees, one of which is abotit eighteen inches in diameter. The other six mounds vary from thirty to sixty feet in diameter and from six to«eight feet in height. Four of the mounds were explored in the fall of 1897, but no skeletons or implements of an}^ kind were found, charcoal and ashes being the only evidence that the mounds had been constructed by human hands.

Some years ago Hon. George C. Oregg excavated a mound near Cornell creek, about fSur miles east of Ilebi'on, and found several skeletons. This mound was composed entirely of black earth which had been carried from the banks of the creek some 170 feet distant. Prom a mound south of Hebron was taken some pottery in a fair state of preservation. A little north of Woodvale, near the western boundary of the county and not far from Deep river, is a niDinid rcs(iiil)liiig a tlat-iron in sliape,

190 feet long, 75 feet in its greatest width, and rising to a lieigbf of 22 feet about the surrounding lowlands. Battey's History of Porter and Lake Counties (1882), says that near the apex of this mound "there is a well, whieh was forniei-ly of enormous de])tli. The exca\ation is circular, and has a diameter of eight or nine feet. Inlo this well, the early settlers threw tlie dehris of their clearings, with the intention of tilling it up; but the c.apaeity has been so great that it remains yet unfilled. Numerous small excavations in the adjacent soil and rorks have led to the conclusion that this was once a 'water-cure" establishment, and resorted to in ancient times for its baths. ' '

Later geologists have expressed the belief that this mound is a natural formation, cut off at some period from the adjacent highhmds liy an overflow of Deep river. This opinion is liased on oliservatiuns lliat all the mounds in this region are composed of clay, while matter thrown oijt of this elevation by woodchucks for a depth of frtnn eight to fifteen feet below the crest shows that it is composed of sand, whieh is tlie same as the highlands in the immediate neighborhood.

Several interesting collections of Mound Builders' relics have been made at times from those found in Porter county. Tlie Valparaiso high school has a number of arrow points, spear heads, stones, axes, etc., but in many instances the specimens are unaceompained Ijy data as to w^jen, where or by whom they were found. Dr. J. K. Blackstoue of Hebron at one time had a large collection gathered in tlie southern part of the county, but this collection has become scattjyed. A numlier of fine specimens have been found in the vicinity of Boone Crove; near the southeast corner of the county waS found some years ago a celt formed of diorite about ten inches long and finely polished; and near by was discovered 'a cache containing over a peek of flint arrow heads.

At the beginning of the Nineteenth century the region now included within the limits of Porter county was inhabited by the Potlauatoraie tribe of Indians. The Pottawatomies belonged to tlie Algomjuiau group, and were first met by the white men about the head and on the islands of Green bay, Wisconsin. It is known, however, that as early as 1 Gl G they were one of the four tribes whose habitat was along the westera shore of Lake Huron. The Jesuit Relation for 1671, in i-ef erring to the west coast of Lake Huron, says: "Four nations made their abode here, namely: those who bear the name Piians (i. e. Winnebago), who have always lived here as their own country, .nid who have been reduced to nothing from lieing a very flourisliiiig and popiilous people, having been exterminated by the Illinois, their enemies; the Pottawatomi, the Sauk and the Nation of the Fork (la Fourclie) also live here, but as strangers, or foreigners, driven by fear of the Iroquois (the Neuters and the Ottawa) from their own lands which are between the lake of the Hurons and that of the Illinois."

Bottineau saj's the Pottawatoniies were kno\\'n as the "Peojile of the place of fire." Other authorities say that the Pottawatoniies and Sauk together were called the "Nation of tire;" that after the former tribe became separated, that portion known as the IMascoutins or Maskotens - the prairie band - took the name "Nation of fire," and that it was never afterward applied to the remainder of the tribe. They were "The most docile and atfectionate toward the French of all the savages," were naturally polite, resisted the encroachments of "fire Avater," were kindly disposed toward Christianity and manifested a willingness to adopt the customs of civilization. Polygamy was common among them and in their religion they believed in two spirits which governed the world - Kitchemonedo, the' Great Spirit, and Matchemonedo, the Evil Spirit. The great ceremonial observance among them was the "Feast ">«f Dreams," at which dog meat was the principal article of food, and during which a special or individual IManitou was selected.

Chauvignerie, wrote in 173G, says the chief totems of the Pottawatomies were the golden carp, tfie frog, the tortoise, the crab and the crane. Morgan divides the tribe into fifteen gcntes, as follows: 1st, Moah (wolf) ; 2nd, Mko (bear) ; 3d, Muk (beaver) ; 4th, Mishawa (elk) ; 5th, Maak (loon) ; 6th, Knou (eagle) ; 7th, Nma (sturgeon) ; 8th, Nmapena (cai-p) ; 9th, Mgezewa (bald eagle) ; 10th, Chekwa (thunder) ; 11th, Wabozo (rabbit); 12th. Kakaghe (crow); IStli, Wakeshi (fox);

14th, Penna (turkey); 15th, Jlketashshekakah (black hawk). lu the Wahozo gens cremation was practiced to some extent, but as a rule the dead were buried in the earth. In the early '50s a sawmill was set up near the mouth of Sandy IJook creek in Boone township, and soon after it was started a number of old Indians visited the neighborhood to pay their respects to the graves of some of their ancestors. This led to the discovery of an old Indian burying gi-ound some seven or eight acres in extent, located in section 21, township 33 north, range 6 west, a short dstance north of the Kankakee river. After the departure oH the Indian visitors, excavations were made and a number of, implements, weapons, ornaments, images, etc., w-ere found.

Prior to 1763 the PottaM'atomies were loyal to the French, but after the peace of that yeai' they became allies of the British. They took part in Poutiac's conspiracy and fought on the side of Great Britain in the Revolutionary war. They participated in the defeat of General St. Clair near the headwaters of the Wabash river on November 4, 1791, and when Major Hamtramek tried to make a treaty of peace with the tribe the next year the head chief declined, claiming that he was threatened by other Indians. Twenty-five Pottawatomie chiefs took part in the negotiation of the treaty of Greeneville, August 3, 1895. Soon after that treaty was made they moved westward and took possession of lands along the Wabash river, notwithstanding the oppositon and objections of the Miamis, and by the beginning of the Nineteenth centuiy they were in possession of the country about the head of Lake Michigan, extending from ]\Iilwaukee to the Grand river in Michigan, southward to the Wabash river, southwcstward over a large part of Indiana, and Illinois, and eastward across Michigan to Lake Erie. It was estimated that at that time the tribe had fifty populous villages in the above mentioned territory.

In the War of 1812 some of the Potlawatoinies again took sides with the British. At a great Indian council held on the Mississinewa river in May, 1812, most of the tribal chiefs favored peace with the United States and the neighboring Indian tribes. Dillon, in his History of

Indiana (p. 484), reports a speech of one of the Pottawatoioit chiefs in which the orator said: "We arc glad that it should please the Great Spirit for us to meet today, and incline all our hearts for peace. Some of the foolish young men of our triljc, tluit \\n\v, for some winters past, ceased to listen to the voice of their chict's, and followed the council of tlie Shawnee that pretended to he a prophet, have killed some of our white brothers this spring at different places. "We have believed that they were encouraged in this u:ischief by this pretended prophet, who, we know, has taken great pains to detach them from their owti chiefs and attach them to himself. We have no control over those few vagabonds and consider them not belonging to our nation; and we will be thankful to any people who will put them to death wherever found."

In reply to this, Tecumseh insisjted that ho had been misrepresented "to our white brothers by pretended chiefs of the Pottawatomie and others who have been in the habit of selling land that did not belong to them. ' '

The Pottawatomies were among the first Indians to enter into treaties of peace with the representatives of the United States at the close of the war in 1815. Not long after these treaties were made a few adventurous white men began to encroach upon the Pottawatomie lands and a clamor arose that these lands be ojiened to white settlement. A few small tracts were reluctantly ceded to the United States by the tribe, but is was not until 1832 that all their lands in the State of Indiana were relinquished to the government. The first treaty of cession that included a part of what is now I'orter county was concluded on the Wabash river, near the mouth of the Mississinewa, October 16, 1826. Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton acted as commissioners on the part of the United States, and the treaty was signed Ijy sixty-two of the chiefs and head men of the Pottawatomie tribe. That portion of the cession within the present limits of Porter county is thus described; "Begining at a point xipon Lake Michigan, ten milrs due north of the southern extreme thereof; running thence, due onst, to the land ceded by the Indians to the Thiitod States by the trcnty of Chicago

(August 29, ]820) ; thence soutli, with tlie Ijoiiiidary thereof, ten miles; tlience west, to the southern extreme of Lake .Mieliigan ; thence with the shore thereof to the place of heginning."

At the same time and place the tribe codcil to tlie United States "a strip of land, commencing at Lake MichigtOi and running thence to the Wabash river, one hundred feet wide, for a road, and also, one section of good land contiguous to the said I'oad, for each mile of the same, and also for each mile of a road from the termination thereof, through Indianapolis to the Ohio river, for tlie purpose of making a road aforesaid from Lake jMichigan, by the way of Indianapolis, to some convenient point on the Ohio river."

The remaining portion of Porter count.y was ceded to the United States by tlie treaty of October 26, 1S32, which was concluded on the Tippecanoe river "lictween Jonathan Jennings, -Tohn W. Davis and Mark Crume, Commissioners outhe part of the United States, and the Chiefs, Headman and Warriors of the Pottawatomie Indians." The lands ceded by the tribe at this time are thus described in Article I of the treaty: "Beginning at a point on Lake Michigan, where the line dividing the States of Indiana and Illinois intersects the same; thence with the margin of said lake, to the intersection of the southern boundary of a cession made by the Pottawatomies, at the treaty of the AVabash, of eighteen hundred and twenty-six ; thence east, to the northwest corner of the cession made by the treaty of St. Joseph's in eighteen hundred and twenty-eight; thence south teu miles; thence with the Indian boundary line to the Michigan road; thence south with said road to the northern boundary line, as designated in the treaty of eighteen hundred and twenty-six with the Pottawatomies; thence west with the Indian boundary line to the river Tippecanoe; thence with tlie Indian boundary line, as established by the treaty of eighteen hiuidied and eighteen at St; JIary's, to the line dividing the States of liidiana and Illinois; and thence north; with the line dividing said states to the place of beginning."

States paid the Indiaus an annuity of $20,000 for twentj- yeai's, gave llioni goods to the value of $130,000, aud assumed au indehtodncss of oeilain members of the tril)e amountinji to $62,412. The next day (October 27, 1832,) the Pottawatomies couckided a treaty wilh I lie sniue commissioners, relinquishing title to all their lands in Iiidiaiui Illinois and IMichigan, south of the tJrand river, and a few years later a reservation was set apart for them in what is now the State ol Kansas. When the time came for their removal to the new rcservalion, some of lliem refused to leave the old hunting grounds and had to Ik- expelled by soldiers. A portion of the tribe escaped into Canada and later sctllcd upon "Walpole island in Lake St. Clair.

A number of Indian trails passed, through Porter couhIn'. The most noted of these aboriginal thoroughfares was probably llie old Sauk trail, which' ran from St. Joseph river via Laporte, Valpai-ai.so and Crown Point to the Kankakee river in Illinois. Anothej- important trail crossed the eastern boundary of the county near the line between townships 36 and 37, north, and pursued a course a little north of west until it crossed the Calumet river about a mile west of the piescnt town of Chesterton. After crossing the Calumet it followed ap)>roximately the ridge to which Leverett has given the name of "Calumet Beach" and crossed tke west line of the county about a mile south of tlie shore of Lake Michigan. The original survey, made in 1834 aud 1835, shows in some portions of the county local trails, but as they weie not carefully traced by the surveyors it is impossible at this late day to determine tkeir sources or the exact direction they pursued. They w( le genei'allj' "short cuts" between Indian villages or from one wat^^r inurse to another. The Wabash railroad follows closely one of the^i' trails from Clear Lake to Morris in Jackson township; another local trail ran almost parallel to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago r:iilr()ad a little north of Wheeler, and a third left the old Lafayette & Mielii^au City road a little north of Tas.sinong and rail in a .southwesterly dii'cctiou to Sandy Hook creek, where the survej'ors ceased to trace its courst'. There was also an Indian trail from Johu lake in Jackson to\» i!s;lii]i to Long lake in Liberty township. But, in the three-ciuarters of u century that have eh'ipsed since the Indians gave up their hinds, the trails liave been obliterated, and mthin another generation or two l)otli tlic trails ami the men who made them will have been forgotten.

"The Old Sac Trail, trod first by Indians, later l)y the explorers, and in early days the patliway of important military expeditions, followed the narrow .strip of land between Lake Michigan anA the swamj) of the Kankakee, now covered by a network of railway lines, Ihe greatest highway of commerce in the world. - Editor."

My course I take by marge of lake or river gentle flowing, Where footsteps light in rapid flight may find their surest going. I hold my way through forests gray, beneath their mstling arches, And on I pass through prairie grafes, to guide the silent marches.

In single file, through mile on mile, the braves their chieftains follow, I By night or day ihe,y keep their way, they wind round hill and hollow. From sun to sun I guide them on, the men of bow and quive)-, And on I pass through prairie grass, as flows the living river.

Where waters gleam, I ford the stream; and where the land is broken, ]\Iy way I grope down rocky slope, by many a friendly token. The shrubs and vines, the oaks and pines, the lonely firs and larches I leave, and pa.ss through prairie grass, to guide the silent marches.

To charts unknown, in books un.shown, I am no lane or byway. Complete with me from seat to sea the continental highway! I guide the quest from East to West - Prom West to East deliver. For on I pass through prairie grass, as flows the living rh-er.

History Op Poktkij Col Xt V 29

The bivouac leaves embers black amid the fern ^UK^ '-lover, And prints of feet the searchers greet, to tell of joiii-aeys over. The sun beats hot. I reckon not how sear its s])len(lor parches, I onward pass through prairie grass, to guide ihe silent inarches.

The Red Man's God jji'epared tlie sod, ;md to his rliildfi'ii gavc^ it. His wrath is shown in every zone against the men ^vJlo brave it. The righteous be, who follow me, and praise flu Heavenly Oiver, While on I pass through jirairie gi'ass, as Hows the living livei-.

There is an old tribal tradition to the effect th;it at some period in the remote past the Pottawatomies, the Chippewas and the Ottawas ' were one people. In the earl.y '40s, after the three tribes were T-emoved to reservations west of the Mississippi, they mnde a request to be reunited, but fhe government declined to grant the rcrjuest, prolmbly because the combined strength of the three tribes would be so great as to render them a formidable foe in case of an Indian outbreak. In 1910 there were about 2,600 Pottawatomies still living. Al^out two-thirds of them occupied a reservation in Oklahoma; the prairie band, numbering over 600, lived in Kansas; about 75 were in Calhoun county, ]\Iiclugan, and some 220 lived in Canada.

Such, in bHef, is the historj' of the onee powei-ful Indian tribe that inhabited Porter county. With the relinquishment of their lands in 1832, the power of the Pottawatomies began to \\'nne. After their removal to their reservation west of the Mississijijn they seemed to lose energy and ambition, becoming satisfied to live upon the slender annuities doled out to them by the Hnitcd States goveinment, and "The pale face rears his wigwam where the Indian huntei'S roved; His hatchet fells the forest fair the Indian maidens loved,"