Reznjun

george mary me steve bob

got home from visiting mounds in the state of illinois. i am fortunate in that i know a couple of guys that are archaeologists. they know where alot of the mounds are located from their work. i have known dave and steve awhile now. i consider them friends. i went on the mound tour last year in quincy. dave said he knew a place where a potawatomi chief named senajwen was buried. i commented that i would like to see it someday. and forgot about it. a month or so ago steve asked me to come back to quincy for another mound tour. i said yeah. then i found out dave made arrangements  to visit where senajwen was buried.

i left the rez last thursday. had to miss work friday. since i am a contract worker that meant no pay. the trip i took was worth more to me than money. i had a great time and met alot of great people. money cant buy that.

friday mary and i rode with steve and dave on a three and a half hour drive north of quincy. we drove along the illinois river. all along the way they would point out where the mounds were located. if i had been driving i would have totally missed them. i got like a crash course as they described the sites, who built them, how old they were etc. i am always open to learning something new. on the way we past the general area where komo’s village was located.

we arrived at the farm where senajwens village was located. the farm had been in the same family since the 1890s. they took good care of it and the site where senajwen was buried. he is buried on top of a hill that has a series of mounds on it. they predate potawatomi occupation of the site. long ago potawatomis marked the spot where they laid senajwen to rest. it overlooks the valley where his village was. i stood on the hill and was amazed that i was where some of my people came from. i was also aware that senajwen and some of his braves were buried there. senajwen is the grandfather of my misho nagmo. i felt a connection to the place. the owner of the land and the archaeologists left me to spend time on the hill. i had brought my pipe along for the occasion. i smoke with our ancestors on the hill. i felt at peace in doing that. i hope they did too. i left them some sema.

after i came down from the hill i was allowed to see the museum on the grounds. it housed many artifacts that were found over the years. i enjoyed looking at them. i took many pictures of them. many of the items dated back hundreds and even thousands of years. i thanked george and his brother bob for allowing me to spend time there. i really did appreciate that. they said to come back if i am ever in the area. i said i would.

on the way back we stopped at a site where they said was ground zero for the hopewell civilization. it started there and spread out. there was a big mound there. the museum was closed. in the old days some used to exploit the sites. a family that called the land theirs lay open the graves and charged admission for the curious to come look at the skeletal remains. that practice was stopped. the artifacts are still there though. i didnt get to see them or the sites that housed where the remnants of ceremonial lodges were.

the next day, saturday, i went back to visit the mounds located in quincy. they are cleaning the sites up. they had become overgrown with trees and vegetation. some have been cleared of them. more will also be cleared in the future.  the bluff where the mounds were built has a great view overlooking the river. plans are to restore the site to closely look like it did originally.

i met and talked with most of the ones on the tour. i met some of them previously. they were all good people. i was asked to say a prayer in my language. i did. they were all were respectful of it. we had a meal when we were done. i didnt want the day to end. i had a great time.

now it is back to the grind…..