The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 2

A2 THE PANTAGRAPH, Wednesday. July 20, 1988 Dig seeking proof of old Indian fort The battle is significant because it defeated a major French adversary the Fox. "If this is the Fox site, it has major historic significance to the entire region," Steele said. In 1730, the Fox were at war with the French and about 900 left their home in central Wisconsin, beginning a trek around the southern end of Lake Michigan to join the Iroquois. But their passage was blocked by tribes allied with the French.

The Fox moved southwest and paused near Starved Rock, where they captured and burned the son of an Illinl chief. Infuriated, the Illini and their allies forced the Fox to flee southeast. When the Fox reached a remote grove near the Sangamon River, they stopped and sent runners to Indiana to try to get help from another tribe (possibly the Ouyatanons near present-day Lafayette), and began to build a fort. The Illini caught up to them and held them while their runners got help from the French at Fort Chartres, Fort St. Joseph near Niles, and Fort Miami near Fort Wayne, Ind.

On Aug. 10, about 1,400 French and Indian allies converged on the fort and put it under siege for 23 days. Worn and starving, the Fox (330 warriors and 550 women, children and non-combatants) tried to escape the night of Sept. 8 during a storm. According to legend, French sentries heard the cries of the Fox children.

The next day, the French attacked and killed about 850 Fox, and burned them and their fort, Steele said. "Well over half the Fox nation died that day," he said. In 1841, the Arrowsmith site was settled by Jacob Smith, an ancestor to Wayne Smith. When he began plowing it, he found musket balls and other relics, Wycoff said. In the 1890s, Captain J.H.

Burnham (a founder of the McLean County Historial Society), and Judge H.W. Beckwith (the first head of the Illinois State Historical Society) did site excavations, as did William Brigham, county schools superintendent, in the 1930s. They found musket balls, arrowheads, charcoal and ashes, animal bones, French knife blades and gun parts. By PAUL SWIECH Pantagraph stall ARROWSMITH There's an important part of American history apparently buried In Wayne Smith's alfalfa field southeast of here. Several Parkland College archaeology students and interested historians have been digging, brushing, analyzing and identifying in the eastern McLean County field the last few weeks, trying to find that history.

They're searching for remains of an Indian fort that is historically significant because It marked a major French Indian battle In 1730. Although they've found artifacts that indicate the fort was there, they've yet to discover any structural remains. But what they have found "makes it a deadlock cinch for being the place we think it is," Len Stelle, the Parkland teacher who is conducting the archaeological dig, said yesterday. What they've found includes musket balls, stone and brass arrowheads, glass Indian trade beads, pieces of Indian pottery, a stone scraper and animal bones most apparently from the battle period. But the most time-specific find has been a brass button from a French military uniform consistent with buttons worn by troops at Fort Chartres, near the Kaskaskia and Mississippi rivers, who were Involved in the battle.

Historians have known for years of a major battle between the Fox Indians and the French and their Indian allies, but have disagreed where that battle took place. Last fall, an Indiana professor argued that the battle could have happened in a number of places, but probably took place near a river that flows into the Wabash near the Indiana border. McLean County residents have known that some sort of battle took place at the Arrowsmith site, but there has never been enough proof it was the Fox French battle, said Stelle and Martin Wycoff, McLean County Historical Society curator. The goal of the study is to demonstrate, once and for all and using modern archaeological techniques, that the Fox fort was built and the much of the battle took place at what is now Smith's field. 4 lot PanlagraphLORI ANN COOK Above, Craig McClellan of Mahomet combed the surfaces of a new area being dug at what is believed to be the site of the Arrowsmith battleground.

At left are a number of the artifacts found at the dig site, including musket balls, arrowheads, a brass button from a French military uniform and glass beads. I 3 plead guilty in prison What's it like having HBO? sun 4 ft i Last year, Steele impatient with the continuing debate and looking for an archeological site within his college district contacted acquaintance Wycoff, who had been researching the site on and off for 10 years. They met with Wayne Smith in December and got permission to investigate the site, examined the ground with students in March, and began digging June 6. Mary K. Porter, a University of Illinois anthropology student from Sidney, said the dig is her third with Steele "and this is far and away the most interesting, because it's 1730, a long time ago.

There was little contact between the white man and Indian then and the fact that we can find some evidence now in the middle of the rolling prairie is exciting." "To find a real fort in this part of Illinois is really amazing," said Kate Henry of Champaign, a Northwest Territory Alliance member and American revolution re-enactor, who was at the site yesterday. Everything found at the site will be donated to the historical society. Steele said the class ends next week. "But, depending on what we find, we may ask Mr. Smith if we can return." drug case Chavez after he was charged April 4 with delivery of cocaine.

The ledger allegedly details drug transactions made by Chavez, 34. Further indictments of Pontiac employees and others in the area are expected, prosecutors said. Prison employees have said numerous Pontiac prison workers and at least four Dwight Correctional Center employees have been subpoenaed to appear before the federal grand jury. Charges against the 15 prison employees center on activities outside the prison. None has been charged with supplying drugs to inmates.

drug probe State police cooperated with the McLean County Sheriff's Department in the investigation, which spanned the last half of 1987. A McLean County grand jury returned indictments against the six at the end of last month, prosecutors have said. Drugs and alcohol abuse in LeRoy made news in April when 250 people, about 10 percent of the town's population, attended a City Council meeting to press for more action to halt substance abuse there. Cushing said he believes the six arrests in a town of LeRoy's size is bound to be hurting drug trafficking. "But you can rest assured we're not under any illusion that we've stopped it 100 percent," Cushing said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The Pantagraph Published dally and Sunday by Evergreen Communications 30) W. Washington Bloomington, IL 61701. Second-class postage paid at Bloomington, IL (USPS 144760) TELEPHONE (309) IW-M11 Home delivery Classified ads 127-732 NEWSROOM Jan Dennis, assl. man. edNews Metro A Business Features Night Sports Farm Copy Preview Photo ADVERTISING Display CIRCULATION PRODUCTION Mark Pickering, ed.

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Mike O'Connor, mgr. CARRIERI WKS Daily A uimj ft it Sunday firm Call Circulation for mailmotor route rates Hgnworid Stem: Ik Oltvl Ntwton-Jotm I Iff Hri'5 IfflCT 1 By TONY PARKER Pantagraph staff SPRINGFIELD Three of 15 Pontiac Correctional Center employees indicted on federal drug charges pleaded guilty yesterday. Charges against the other 12 employees, all of whom have been suspended, are still pending. Pleading guilty in U.S. District Court yesterday were: Gerald K.

Causer, 34, Pontiac; Robert W. Heath 37, Lincoln; and Michael J. Laughlin, 37, Pontiac. Causer and Heath pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to And when you add Cinemax? Sixth charged in LeRoy Spacabills 4 Drtyitt X2i 12l i TlierPTOlow) Ik Lnre: Tlw MortrMt I II TlflfllliU'" I possess marijuana. Laughlin pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of marijuana.

Sentencings for the three, who agreed to resign from their jobs at the maximum-security prison, will be set at a later date. The three were among security personnel arrested May 27 at the prison on cocaine and marijuana charges stemming from an undercover probe dubbed "Operation Whiteshirt." The ongoing investigation stems from a purported drug ledger found at the Odell home of Pontiac Correctional Center Lt. Cesar was delayed until Piatt County officials notified McLean County authorities this week that they had arrested Hamlin on the McLean County charges, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office said. Hamlin, who posted $1,000 and was released, is the final person to face charges from the probe of LeRoy drug trafficking, said Lt. George Cushing, who supervises Illinois state police detectives based in Bloomington.

The other five face a variety of charges involving cocaine and marijuana trafficking, and one faces an additional weapons charge. They are scheduled for court hearings later this week, officials said. killed in crash went across the center line, colliding with the semi, police said. Fred Fox, 28, Granite City, was driving the semi. He was taken to St.

Francis Medical Center in Peoria with back injuries and was listed in fair condition last night. Carol Reynolds, 25, Rutland, was traveling behind the semi. Her car struck the back of the semi but she was not injured. Health cost session planned for seniors The McLean County Action Council will sponsor a public meeting today to discuss problems senior citizens face in paying out-of-pocket medical costs. The session, set for 2 p.m.

at Phoenix Towers, 202 W. Locust Bloomington, will focus on solutions to high health-care costs. By SCOTT RICHARDSON Pantagraph staff A sixth person has been charged in a probe of LeRoy drug traffick ing, authorities revealed yesterday. Nathan Hamlin, 23, will appear in McLean County Circuit Court Aug. 8 on charges relating to the distribution of cocaine and mari juana in LeRoy.

Hamlin, formerly of LeRoy and now of rural Mansfield, is accused of selling seven grams of cocaine, orth about $700, to an undercover agent on Jan. 7, according to grand jury indictments made public yesterday. He also is accused of selling a small quantity of marijuana Dec. 22. Announcement of the charges Man in stolen van WENONA A man driving a stolen vehicle was killed yesterday when the van he was in and a semitrailer truck collided head-on, Illinois state police said.

The name of the man killed was not known late last night because he carried no identification with Germantown Hills, who said a third vehicle also was involved in the 5:40 a.m. accident. The accident occurred on U.S. 51 one mile south of Illinois 17, police said. The driver of the van was headed south on U.S.

51 and attempted to pass a fourth car that was not involved in the accident. Police said the van driver saw oncoming traffic and attempted to pull back into his own lane, but went off the right-hand side of the road. He drove back onto the road but lost control of the van and HBO brings you the best in entertainment. Blockbuster movies, sizzling concerts, hilarious comedy and exclusive sporting events. Add Cinemax and the best gets even better.

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