Date in History: 1908
In 1906 a young teacher from Albion named Arlow Stout set out to make a comprehensive survey of the Indian mounds and village sites around Lake Koshkonong. To assist him, he enlisted the help of Halvor Skavlem, an older man who had lived his whole life on the lake at Carcajou Point and was considered the local expert on Native American artifacts. Stout did the mound surveys and the drawings, while Skavlem documented the village sites, campsites and trails. In 1908 they published The Archeology of the Lake Koshkonong Region, a work that is today considered a unique and invaluable contribution to the early history of this area.
Stout when on to become the Director of Laboratories at The New York Botanical Garden, becoming famous for creating new breeds of daylilies. Skavlem stayed on the shore of the lake he loved, dying in 1938 at the age of 93.
This historic document aired on the radio as an Historic Minute on 01/19/2004.