CHAPTER III. EVIDENCE OF THE MOUNDS. The First Human Inhabitants of Goodhue County — Indications that They Were Indians — Location and Shape of the Mounds — their Purpose — What Excavation Has Revealed — Fort Sweney — Stone Cairns — The Lowland Mounds — Reign of the Sioux — By Edward W. Schmidt. At what period of the earth's existence the eye of humankind first beheld the beauties of Goodhue county and surrounding territory is a problem which will probably never be absolutely solved. The theory that a prehistoric race, superior in intelli- gence to the Indians, once possessed this locality is not accepted by scholars in general, and it is doubtless true that the first human occupants of this county were the ancestors of the Sioux Indians; though from whence they came is one of the great unanswered questions. Evidences thus far discovered indicate that the Mound Builders, famous in song and romance, who left so many indications of their work in this locality, were prehis- toric Sioux, or at least a race of Indians (possibly the Iowas) closely resembling them, and not an entirely different people, as has sometimes been maintained by scholars of others days. The mounds! The mounds! Who does not love to spend a day among the silent monuments of a vanished race? Who is not charmed while strolling among these tombs, either when the green of spring covers them as with a carpet, while all around you the hills, lakes, rivers, ponds and woods contribute their beauty to complete the picture of a glorious day in June, or while the dreamy haze of an autumnal day tinges the gorgeous jianorama of the many-colored landscape with delicate tint of blue? To the charms of such a scene the lover of mounds is not a stranger, nor to the pleasant feeling of mystery that steals upon his mind as he gazes at the sepulchres that dot the terrace or stand out boldly on the promontory of a steep and rugged bluff. 18
