Park project hits

archeological snag

Artifacts could date back to 10,000 B.C.

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The Brown County Park Department was surprised recently to learn it had a historical find on its hands.

The discovery is an intact Native American habitation site in Treml County Park with artifacts that could possibly date as far back as 10,000 B.C.

Because of the age of the artifacts and their intact character, the site could be eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. And unlike some other historical sites in the county, it has remained virtually untouched by farm plows.

However, the site's pristine condition came under threat from a plan to run a power line to the park's picnic shelter. Commissioners were scheduled to award the bid at Tuesday's meeting, but action was delayed when the information about the site's historical significance came to light. The board tabled the project for two weeks.

Park Department Director Jane Starz told the board she was unaware that there were Native American artifacts in the park.

Brown County Administrator Charles Enter was also unaware of the artifacts. Enter previously served as the chairperson of the Brown County Park Board during the late 1980s and early 1990s -- about the time Treml was designated a county park.

"I don't recall any discussion about it," he said. ... "There just wasn't any information on it."

Starz and Enter found out about the artifacts last week from college student Tom Kolbe, a Sleepy Eye resident and Minnesota State University at Mankato student who came to county offices to voice concerns about the site.

Starz then contacted the Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA), which then sent her a letter on Monday. Kolbe could not be reached for comment.

The letter, sent by Minnesota State Archeologist Mark Dudzik, explained what may lie beneath the surface at Treml County Park.

Native American artifacts from the Paleoindian, Archaic and Woodland periods are located in the area where the proposed power line would go. The letter said the "intact, multi-component character of the site suggests that it may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places."

"It's interesting and unique because an undisturbed, intact site provides the best information about our early heritage in Minnesota," Dudzik said after the meeting.

Dudzik said OSA field site databases aren't currently available to counties, even though his office recently released a list of Native American burial mounds to county governments. Dudzik said there are thousands of archaeological sites around the state and the issues posed by development occur quite frequently.

"We like to get involved at the front end because it ends up being cheaper," Dudzik said. "It's an issue so everyone knows what they're dealing with."

Starz said the OSA wants to test the site for relics before construction of the power line begins. She said it wants Brown County to pinpoint the service line's location. The OSA must conduct an archaeological dig before any construction can take place.

According to the Minnesota Field Archaeology Act of 1963, the state has exclusive rights to archaeological finds. The Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979 establishes criminal and civil penalties for disturbing archaeological sites on federal and Native American lands.

Enter said the OSA's requests aren't a major setback. Starz will study the issue, Enter said, adding that neither he nor Starz know how long the power line project will be delayed.

"We would like to have electricity to the shelter, but it's not a major setback," Enter said.

Brown County has worked with OSA before the dredging of Lake Hanska started.

The property was first reported as an archaeological site during a statewide survey in 1978. The Paleoindian artifacts, at their oldest, date from 10,000 to 600 B.C. They represent the earliest days in which glaciers receded from the Upper Midwest and the first groups of humans settled. The artifacts from the Archaic period -- 600 to 800 B.C. -- represent a diversification of regional cultures and identities as well as some of the first uses of technology. The Woodland-period artifacts date from in between 800 B.C. to the first days of contact with Western Europeans -- the era in which ceramics were first developed.

Treml County Park has raised historical questions before. Enter said the park was a originally farm willed to a church in Leavenworth by the Treml brothers. Early on in the park's history, there was some question about an old barn that once stood on the property. It had older cattle stanchions-- restraining devices that would hold a cow's neck while it was being milked. Enter said the Park Board consulted the Brown County Historical Society, which said the stanchions were not historically significant enough to warrant saving the Treml brothers' old barn. Enter said he does not remember any discussion from the Historical Society about concerns over the Treml property.