Stearns County – Prodigious Size
GIANTS LIVED THERE.
Evidence* of a Prehistoric Race’ at
Lake Koronis.
Special to the Globe.
NEW PAYNESVILLE, Minn., Aug. 11.—Homer Beckley, of this village, while plowing on his farm near Lake Koronis, found what, in the hands of a savant, would undoubtedly develop into a prehistoric chipped stone instrument. It is a stone that has, by someone and in some manner, been cut into the shape of a hatchet, having a flat head with a neck smoothly cut out below, slanting sides, and a sharpened lower end, and shows evidence of having been worked upon and used considerably. The instrument was turned up from a depth of from twelve to eighteen inches of virgin soil, this piece of Mr. Beckley’s farm never having been cultivated. The stone weighs about three pounds. Mr. Beckley has also found, at various times on his farm and near the place where this hatchet was unearthed, numerous stone arrowheads and other indications of previous occupancy.
These facts, in connection with the finding, two years ago, of the skeleton of a huge man in a mound not far from Mr. Beckley’s farm, would add strength to the belief among many of our citizens that the region about Lake Koronis was the home of a prehistoric race of prodigious size and strength. Legend tells that the valley of the Crow just east of Lake Koronis was the scene in ages gone by of a terrific battle between opposing tribes of this ancient people and that many of the slain in that battle were buried in what is known as the “Indian Mound.” Other indications of previous inhabitation in the shape of broken pottery and copper implements are said to have been found in and about this same locality.
A party of relic-loving gentlemen, headed by a well-known prelate, is talking of organizing a party to make a thorough investigation of the Indian mound and the farms adjoining.
- The Saint Paul globe., August 12, 1897, Page 4, Image 4