d it is generally
possible to trace in its neighborhood the depression whence the mound
material has been taken. The mounds are as a rule found in the midst
of a fertile section of country, and it is pretty certain from this
that the mound builders were agriculturists, and chose their dwelling
places with their occupation in view, where the mounds are found. The
mounds are found accordingly on the banks of the Rainy River and Red
River, and their affluents in the Northwest, in other words upon our
best land stretches, but not so far as observed around the Lake of the
Woods, or in barren regions. Near fishing grounds they greatly abound.
What seem to have been strategic points upon the river were selected
for their sites. The promontory giving a view and so commanding a
considerable stretch of river, the point at the junction of two
rivers, or the debouchure of a river into a lake or vice versa is a
favorite spot. At the Long Sault on Rainy River there are three or
four mounds grouped together along a ridge. Here some persons of
strong imagination profess to see remains of an ancient fortification,
but to my mind this is mere fancy. Mounds in our region vary from 6 to
50 feet in height, and from 60 to 130 feet in diameter. Some are
circular at the base, others are elliptical.

MOUND REGIONS.

The mounds have long been known as occurring in Central America, in
Mexico, and along the whole extent of the Mississippi valley from the
Gulf of Mexico to the great lakes. Our Northwest has, however, been
neglected in the accounts of the mound-bearing region. Along our Red
River I can count some six or eight mounds that have been noted in
late years, and from the banks having been peopled and cultivated I
have little doubt that others have been obliterated. One formerly
stood on the site of the new unfinished Canadian Pacific Hotel in this
city. The larger number of those known are in the neighborhood of the
rapids, 16 or 18 miles below Winnipeg where the fishing is good. In
1879 the Historical Society opened one of these, and obtained a
considerable quantity of remains. It is reported that there are mounds
also on Nettley Creek, a tributary of the lower Red River, also on
Lake Manitoba and some of its affluents. During the past summer it was
my good fortune to visit the Rainy River, which lies some half way of
the distance from Winnipeg to Lake Superior. In that delightful
stretch of country, extending for 90 miles along the riv