History of Goodhue County Minnesota

ce 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 intelligence 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 prehistoric Sioux, or at least a race of Indians (possibly the lowas) 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? AVho 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 panorama 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 sep...