The Desplaines Indian village was in Sec 16 town Maine and is to be found in three seperate places with a fourth one a mile further up the river. On the Garland property about the center of the Section, east of the river there was a minor Indian village showing pottery and soforth.
Imediately north of the west end of the Rand road bridge there was an Indian camp. Again east of the river and north of the same bridge, where the road running north leaves the river, there was also an Indian camp and between these two camps there was a river ford, showing one of the deer trail crossings; the other one being in Sec. 19 town Northfield. Between these two crossings there were trails one on each side of the river.
The trail on the east side runs north to within three hundred feet of the town line road, where about seventy five feet east of the public road, the first settlers arriving found an Indian cabin, built of loggs, occupied by an old Indian Chieff -- This cabin was razed about 1850, but a mound of solid clay still marks the spot.
About half way between the Indian cabin and the Desplaines river there was an Indian camp where an Indian signal fire-place was discovered, consisting of an excavation five or six feet in diameter containing several wheel-barrows full of ashes. The stone implements found in the pit are now in the collection of Mrs. Kaiser in Desplaines.
We must now turn back to "The Grove portage of the Indians," mentioned under the head of Glen View, the Western end of which was this signal fire-place and portage camp. The gound north and west of here is very low and boggy where a log or ice jam in the Desplaines would overflow whole sections, thus weakening the ground for the very large forest trees which were layed low by the storm winds as shown by the numerous mounds thrown up by their roots.