The Kelso Stone

On an exposed rock outcropping on a small island in the middle of a narrow river flowing through a boreal bog in the BWCA sits a large eggshaped boulder resting on top of three smaller rocks. Most people canoeing past it never even notice, and those that do probably think it is a glacial erratic–a natural phenomenon left by a retreating glacier thousands of years ago. However, a closer examination and comparison to similar megalithic stones around the world leads to a different conclusion. It is a dolmen.

The word dolmen means “stone table” and they are so named because they typically look like a table made of rocks. Stonehenge is one well-known example.

The Kelso River Stone has a large boulder forming the tabletop–approximately 6 feet by 5 feet by 3 feet, a fact that will become important later. It is shaped somewhat like an egg. There is a 5-inch space between the flat bottom of the capstone boulder and the ground. The large boulder is aligned north-south and there is a ridge running along the top of the rock that is perfectly aligned to magnetic north. The capstone sits on two basketball-size rocks under the large rounded end and a tiny pyramidshaped rock two-thirds of the way down the length. Looking under the capstone, one can see that the two larger support rocks are perfectly nestled in hollows in the underside of the top rock. On the east side of the capstone are etched two one-inchlong, almost parallel incisions.

Due west of the Kelso Stone is Kelso Mountain, one of the highest peaks in Minnesota at 2100 feet in elevation, rising 300 feet above the dolmen.

According to Harvard professor Barry Fell, who documented this stone as the first dolmen discovered in Minnesota, such monuments were Celtic, Iberian, or Phoenician in origin. Dolmens have been found all over the world with more than two hundred examples in New England alone and others as far away as California and West Virginia. Carbon dating of charcoal found near the Mystery Hill megalithic complex in New Hampshire indicates that it was established about 2,000 B.C. A complex of petroglyphs or rock etchings describing a Celtic Iberian trading voyage near Peterborough, Ontario has been dated to 1700 B.C. There is evidence of Celtic occupation in North America as late as 50 A.D.

There are several other explanations as to the origin of this rock structure on the Kelso River. One local fishing guide told me that he had seen rock piles created by Boy Scouts on several occasions and that this sounded like something they might do. Another guide said he had previously been a logger and that the old time loggers had the ability and creativity to move heavy loads and could have lifted a several-ton rock if they wanted to. Another explanation is that since the perched rock is near an old Forest Service fire tower on Kelso Mountain, it was placed there by bored Forest Service employees in their spare time. While these explanations are possible, there are all kinds of reasons why they don’t make sense. Why would Forest Service employees go two miles from their tower to an island in the middle of a river to build a rock pile? How could a group of Boy Scouts on a canoe trip lift a 90-cubic-foot boulder that weighs over 8 tons, much less get it to the island in the middle of the river by canoe? While loggers might have more time, manpower, and equipment with which to lift the heavy stone, why would they have been in the middle of a swamp instead of in the forest where the trees were located? The river is too narrow and too shallow for floating log to a landing, and there’s no apparent landing downstream.

As to the glacial erratic theory, many similar dolmens are found in countries that never underwent an ice age. In addition, it is not feasible that a glacier could erect several rocks of exactly the right height and then neatly deposit on top of them a giant capstone perfectly aligned to the cardinal points and various astronomical sight lines, not once but hundreds of times and almost always on a bare outcropping of ledge rock near water.

But there is an even better reason why none of these explanations are correct. There is an almost identical dolmen located in Greenwood Lake, New York, with an inscription to the Celtic Sun god Bel. The book The Search for Lost America by Salvatore Trento includes a picture of a similar egg-shaped boulder sitting atop three smaller rocks. The book describes it: “a 6-by-5-by-3-foot boulder rests upon rounded stones near the edge of an exposed ridge.” These are almost the exact measurements of the Kelso Lake dolmen. The picture of the Greenwood Lake dolmen shows a stone identical in shape to the Kelso Lake dolmen and even reveals a similar ridge running along the top. The support stones are placed similarly, too. Both dolmens sit on exposed rock outcroppings.

Charles Bailey, a researcher from Duluth who has studied many ancient sites in the upper Midwest, had this to say about the Kelso dolmen: “…it appears oriented to the sunrise at the Summer Solstice. A precise map of the site (using canoes) was made back in 1991. Since that date, repeated surveys of the site have resulted in discovery of several additional features. These include a cave north of the dolmen with an east-facing window; two strong magnetic anomalies; two, possibly three, very old petroglyphs, and a sonic feature which may explain the configuration of dolmens elsewhere. It appears the site was used as an observatory/worship area to mark changes in the seasons as well as planetary and star risings and settings.”

Dolmens are traditionally attributed ,to cultures existing around 2,000 B.C., all of which worshipped a sun god by the name of Bel, Bal, or Baal. There is substantial evidence that these explorers from these groups came to the North American continent before the time of Christ. Why did they come to America and more particularly to northeastern Minnesota? Probably for the same reason most later explorers and emigrants came. They were looking for valuable materials to ship home.

About a hundred miles east of the Kelso dolmen is Isle Royale in Lake Superior, famous for ancient copper mines that have been dated back to

7000 B.C. If people came to Isle Royale for copper, isn’t it likely that they would explore the region for other valuables or trade routes back to the homeland?

How did they come to America ?

According to Julius Caesar, the Celts had a navy of 220 ships all of which were bigger than and superior to the Roman fleet. Caesar noted that the Celtic ships were able to travel on the open ocean and were strong enough to withstand tempest and high waves. He destroyed the Celtic Navy in 55 B.C. thus ending their ability to engage in transatlantic travel. However, prior to that date the Celts apparently could go anywhere. Even before that time the Phoenicians had a huge merchant fleet of ships. Historical documents written between 480 B.C. and 440 A.D. refer to a land beyond the Atlantic Ocean.

How did these early voyagers live and what were they like? They may have been similar to the Native Americans except for the color of their skin. Julius Caesar reported that they lived in small huts made of interlocked boughs over which animal hides were stretched. They wore clothing made from the skins and fur of animals. The Celts from Gaul (France) were described by Caesar as “a fair-haired race, blue-eyed, very high spirited, boastful, quarrelsome, courageous in war, with a love of ornamentation.”

Like the later French voyageurs, it’s likely they intermarried with the Native Americans. The explorers of the early 1600’s reported finding blonde “eskimos” and some of the Mandan Tribe were reported to have white skin and blond hair.

How did these ancient people build the dolmens? According to Professor Fell, the construction of a dolmen involved immense labor. “The vertical peg stones would first be erected, then a great mound of earth piled over them to permit the capstone to be levered and dragged to the top. After the capstone was set in place, the earth would be removed, allowing the huge boulder to sink onto its supports.” In the north woods of Minnesota, perhaps the builders used snow and ice instead of earth.

Kelso is an unusual name. The name “Celt” or “Kelt” is derived from the Roman word “Kelto” which was their name for the barbarian tribe now known as the Celts. There are instances of Celtic words being assimilated into Native American language, especially Algonquin, the language group of the Ojibwe. Did the Indians name the river, lake, and mountain after the Keltoi people who once lived there? Nearby Lake Lujenida also has an unusual name. Could this lake have been named after the Fire Festival, Lughnasada, held on the Fall Holy Day of the Celts?

Astro-archeologists know that many ancient megalithic monuments have astronomical and astrological aspects. They typically are aligned to the cardinal points–North, South, East, West–such that on the Equinoxes and Solstices the sun will have a special relationship to the monument. The Kelso Dolmen is aligned in a NorthSouth line. Across the river from the stone lies a large rock that is due west of the Dolmen. On the equinoxes, the sun appears to set directly over that rock for an observer standing on the East side of the Dolmen.

Are there other dolmens in the Boundary Waters? Based upon the New England evidence, the answer is probably yes. Whoever built these structures apparently put them up quite profusely. In discussing the Kelso

Lake dolmen, I have been told about similar structures in the area. Table Rock on Crooked Lake may be one. An unusual rock on Wisini Lake known as Pig Rock is supported by three small rocks and looks much like the Kelso Stone. There is a large elongated boulder located on Burntside Lake near the Little Long Portage on a bald granite promontory that has the same shape as the capstone of the Kelso and Wisini megaliths. It is perfectly aligned to the west such that on the equinoxes the sun sets directly in front of the rock. Two hundred yards north of this rock is another sitting on a granite ledge, and it is perfectly aligned with the setting sun on the Summer Solstice.

Once a few New England sites were recognized as Celtic and researchers knew what to look for, many more locations were discovered. Stone circles, standing stones, cellars or temples made of stones, engraved stones (especially triangular), piles of boulders and cupules cut into boulders are all indicative of Celtic presence. New England boulders are very similar to those in Minnesota.

Few people get off the waterways in the BWCA to explore for temples or standing stones, but perhaps as we learn more about the possibilities of long-ago Celtic visitors, curiosity will lead to more exploration and the discovery of more dolmens and other archaeological sites.