Mr. T. H. Lewis (_b_) gives a description of Fig. 51.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Petroglyphs in Brown’s valley, Minnesota.]
This bowlder is in the edge of the public park, on the north end of the plateau at Brown’s valley, Minnesota. The bowlder has a flat surface with a western exposure, is irregular in outline, and is about 5 feet 8 inches in diameter, and firmly imbedded in the terrace.
The central figure, _a_, undoubtedly represents a man, although the form is somewhat conventional; _b_ represents a bird; _c_ represents a tortoise; _d_ is a cross and circle combined, but the circle has a groove extending from it; _e_, _f_, and _g_, although somewhat in the shape of crosses, probably represent bird tracks; _h_ and _i_ are nondescript in character, although there must be some meaning attached to them; _k_ and _l_ are small dots or cups cut into the bowlder.
The figures as illustrated are one-eighth of their natural size, and are also correct in their relative positions one to the other. The work is neatly done although the depth of the incisions is very slight.
Mr. Charles Hallock, of Washington, D. C., reports the occurrence of pictured rocks near Fort Assiniboin, Montana, but does not mention whether they are colored or incised, and also fails to describe the general type of the characters found.
The following (condensed) description of petroglyphs found in Dakota county, Nebraska, is furnished by Mr. J. H. Quick, of Sioux City, Iowa:
The petroglyphs are found upon the face of a sandstone cliff in a deep ravine at a point where two watercourses (dry for the most part), meet about 20 miles south of Sioux City, Iowa, but in Dakota county, in the State of Nebraska. At this point the range of bluffs which bounds the Missouri river bottom is deeply cut through by the above-mentioned ravine, which runs in a northerly direction towards the Missouri. Another ravine coming from the southwest leaves this narrow point of land between the two ravines, rising to a height of 50 to 75 feet above the bottom of the ravines. For some distance from the point this cape, if I may so term it, shows ledges of sandstone cropping out on both sides. And exactly at the point and for some rods back on the east side are found the pictographs under consideration.