Iroquois Fish Weir on the Eel River, Wabash County, Indiana

Iroquois Fish Weir on the Eel River, Wabash County, Indiana

Large stone V - shaped Eel weir located in Wabash county, on the Eel River

View of the fish weir from the bridge.

The end of the fish weir has this chute where the Eel clkuld have been scooped up in baskets.

Contact-era accounts attest to the use of weirs by the various nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Beauchamp (1900:133) mentions that the Onondagas and Oneidas employed eel weirs (of an indeterminate type) on the Onondaga River at Caughdenoy. He claims that "(e)arly travelers described these," although he provides no references. He may be referring to the account of Dablon, a Jesuit missionary to the Oneida, who wrote in 1670: "Our savages construct their dams and sluices so well, that they catch at the same time the Eels, that descend, and the Salmon, that always ascends" .

Beauchamp, William M., 1900: Aboriginal Occupation of New York

 Again, a description of this weir is lacking. An 1894 Bureau of American Ethnology report noted at the time that "(s)tone fish weirs yet remain in some New York streams, though many have been destroyed." That report specifically mentioned a stone weir in the Seneca River, and also refers to an account dating nearly 100 years earlier attesting to the existence of stone weirs in the Seneca River. This earlier account noted that they were "V"-shaped, being "well made of field stones of considerable size" (Thomas 1894:549). In 1900, Beauchamp described one of the Seneca River weirs (reported to be near Baldwinsville) as having "three bays of unequal length reaching up to the river as it tended to the north shore. It was built of fieldstone and was about 1,200 feet long." He claimed that the remains of a second weir existed nearby, and that "others are found elsewhere" (Bradley 1987:210).

Fish Weir in Wabash County, Indiana Constructed by the Meadowood Iroquois

Ancient Fish Weir in Wabash County Dates as Early as 1,200 B.C.

The Eel weir at Laketon reveals the only clue as to who built the stone works in Wabash County. In 1986, R. Ferguson wrote a paper called “Archaeological Sites In the Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia. Ms.,” in which he identified what he called the “Eel Weir complex,” a group of triangular-shaped, stone fish weirs along the Mersey River that included Meadowood (Iroquois) type points. These weirs were constructed to catch eels in the fall and gaspergeau in the spring. The weir and stone bowl may date as early 1,200 B.C. which is the earliest known date of the Meadowood Iroquois.

From North Manchester, go south three miles on State Road 13 to County Road 900 North, go west a couple of miles to Laketon Road, and then north to the bridge at Laketon where the weir is visible. Or, from Roann, take State Road 16 east four miles to the Laketon Road and then north to Laketon.

Iroquois Indian Sweat Lodge Discovered in Wabash County Indiana

Iroquois Sweat Lodge Discovered in Wabash County, Indiana

Looking towards the rectangular stone wall that surrounds a subterranean area of about 4 feet deep.  Some of the stones  of the outer wall look as if they have been subjected to heat.  While I have championed the theory that most of the burial mounds and earthworks in Northern Indiana were constructed by the early Iroquois, this site has remained a mystery until now.

A closer view of the stone outer wall.  A series of boulders flank one side of the work.  One of the boulders has a bowl carved in to its top.  Another such stone can be found a short distance from this site that has a natural spring that runs in to it. Springs are usually associated with the worship of the Earth Mother, as is the sweat lodge ceremonies.

A stone with a bowl carved in in the top is a short distance down river from the Iroquois sweat lodge site. A sacred spring's waters run in to the bowl.  Another spring is between the stone bowl and the sweat lodge where an immense amount of water runs.


Exactly what the purpose of the stone subterranean enclosure located in the Mississenewa River in Wabash County has been a mystery.  A recent find in Northern New York and Ontario may shed some light on the origins of this work in Wabash County. According to Wikepedia , The Moatfield Ossuary was accidentally discovered during the expansion of a soccer field located in Northern New York and Ontario in the summer of 1997. Upon identifying both Iroquois  artifacts and human remains, a team of archaeologists was contracted by the province to conduct an archaeological investigation and recover the human remains. The Six Nations Council of Oshweken, provided consent to analyze the human remains, however the time to do so was limited as the remains were to be reburied December 12 the same year.
   It is believed the ossuary tradition developed in response to an increased need for integration of members of different families for the purpose of agricultural production. At the same time, we begin to see evidence of semi-subterranean sweat lodges appear in the archaeological record, and thought to have functioned to integrate men from different families within the community.
  The city of Marion is not to far from the site of the stone enclosure.  There are many mounds in this area where many skeletons were found in one mound and could be thus considered ossuaries.

This photo is of an Ojibwa Indian sweat lodge made of whole stones . The sweat lodge in Wabash County is larger and the stone surround a large pit. I thought the similarities were worth noting and also to see what the Wabash sweat lodge may have looked like when it was constructed a thousand years ago.

Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Grant County, “Lest We Forget”, pg 22

   About 1850 some surveyors who were digging for the Kirkwood gravel road, southeast of Fairmount, uncovered an Indian burying ground. The peculiar thing about this was that they were buried in a sitting posture, the heads being uncovered first. The bones were yellow with age, but the teeth were well preserved.

    Also, when Marion was first laid out, several Indian mounds were found. One was situated just back of the Buchanan’s old marble shop on Third Street, and the first court house was build on a mound. This one was the largest in Grant County being sixteen feet in height and sixty feet in diameter. These mounds contained many human bones, and an expert from Chicago said that the people must have been seven feet tall.

Two burial mounds of the three that still exists in the cemetery in the city limits of Marion.  Many of the mounds in northern Indiana where described as having numerous skeletal remains within.

    The sweat lodge is a ceremonial sauna used by North American First Nations or Native American peoples. There are several styles of sweat lodge, including a domed or oblong hut, teepee, or even a simple hole dug into the ground and covered with planks or tree trunks. In the northern part of North America, the sweat lodge is a low dome-like structure built on dirt (as opposed to grass or forest brush). Traditionally it is built with a frame of willow branches, which are long, thin and very flexible. They range from three to five feet in height, as the participants sit or lay down during the ceremony.

The willow structure is then covered with either blankets or animal skins. Sometimes permanent walls of clay are built over the willow frame. The walls must be thick enough for the lodge to be completely dark inside and to keep in as much heat as possible. A shallow hole is dug in the dirt in the center of the lodge where the stones from the fire pit will be placed. Stones are heated in the exterior fire pit and then placed in the hole in the floor of the structure.

During the ceremony, the participants encircle the stone pit inside the lodge. The leader or of the ceremony receives the glowing hot stones from the fire keeper and places them in the pit. When enough stones have been placed in the lodge, the leader closes the door and pours water on top of the stones to fill the lodge with steam. This is then repeated three or four times to keep the lodge hot and filled with steam. Participants stay in the lodge for varying lengths of time, up to an hour.

from wikipedia.com

Red Haired Giant Skeletons Reported Near Native American Fish Weir in Wabash County, Indiana

Did A Giant Race Once Roam Wabash County, Indiana?


    This was reported by a someone on "Ask," who believed the Fish Weir on the Eel River in Wabash County was removed.  Several Native American burial mounds have been investigated near the fish weir.

Fish weir in the Eel River in Wabash County, Indiana is still visible.

"The Wabash, Indiana paper ran an article several years ago about a mound near the Laketon "fish trap". It had to be removed for the covered bridge to be built (now gone). A giant was discovered over 8' tall, the bones were dust an could not be saved. Another mound had to be removed where the Wabash courthouse sets. It contained a giant over 9' tall, I believe one of these giants had red hair."

          85 Native American Indian Burial Mound and Earthwork Sites Photographed in Indiana

Ancient Native American Sacred Stone Sites in Wabash County, Indiana

Ancient Native American Sacred Stone Sites in Wabash County, Indiana

“Tales of the Old Days” by W.E. Billings

      At some point, about a half mile southwest of Round Lake, this trail was joined by another from the wets, and together they continued in a northeastern direction to the south edge of the tamarack swamp north of Laketon. Here the trail apparently swung west around the swamp and continued northeast along the ridge that can be seen about a half mile east of the Ogdon Road. Near the edge of the tamarack swamp, at 2668 feet north of the Eel River, there were two mounds visible. The near one, about 100 feet northwest of this point, was described as “five or six feet high, unfinished.” The upland in this area, north of Laketon, was described as “level 2nd rate”. The timber was white and black oak with the undergrowth of sassafras and vines. This was the first mention of sassafras.

Ancient fish weir constructed by the mound builder culture to catch eels.  The date of construction could be as early as 1500 B.C. and as late as 1200 A.D.  Burial mounds that once existed near this site give the probability of an early origin of this Indiana treasure. For more photos of this fish weir in Wabash County. https://adenahopewellmoundbuildersohiovalley.blogspot.com/2014/11/iroquois-fish-weir-on-eel-river-wabash.html

Geology and Natural Resources 17th Annual Report,1891

       A few small mounds are said to exist in the southern part of the county. One mile west of Roann near the north bank of the Eel River, on the farm at Mr. Silas E. Shoemaker, is an extensive burial place of the Miami Indians, and bones are frequently exposed in plowing the land. On the farm of Mr. R.G. Arnold in Pleasant Township, Section 12, TGP. 29, Range 5 East, there is a mound having an elevation of sixty feet above Silver Creek, which the Indians used as a burial place. The mound consists of gray gravel to the bed of the stream. Mr. Arnold says that in cultivating the burial place soon after it was cleared the plow turned out pipes, arrowheads, peelers, and parts of human bones, but they were carried away years ago by relic hunters.

NOTE: Nothing remains of this mound.

A series of sacred stone bowls also existed on the Wabash and Mississenewa Rivers.  One bowl was described as being within the city of Wabash.  Another bowl can still be seen on the Wabash River.

Sacred stone bowls were not for function, but part of a sacred ceremony that was related to the Earth Mother.

Another sacred stone bowl, where the nature of this site is revealed because of the adjacent spring that flows into the bowl. The proximity of burial mounds to the other sacred or spirit stones is evidence that all of these works were constructed by the mound building culture.

Close to the previous stone bowl is this stone enclosure that surrounds a 4-foot depression. Its construction is a mystery.  For more information on this work in Wabash County, that may have been a Iroquois sweat lodge. https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6511713745154512165#editor/target=post;postID=3712456832836255362;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=10;src=link

Along the stone wall of the enclosure is a series of sacred stones, indicated by the white stone that has a bowl carved in the top.  There is no other site  like this, but the stone bowl indicates that it too, was constructed by the mound builders culture.

Get the directions to all of these sacred sites.  85 burial mounds and earthworks from the enigmatic mound builder culture, photographed and directions provided in Indiana. 222 burial mound and earthwork sites in Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Michigan.  America's best travel guide to the Indian mounds and earthworks in the Ohio Valley.