By 1990, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation had used historic data and other information to narrow the study to three possible alternative routes for State Highway 29.
That summer, archaeologists walked the full 600-foot width of each route, combing them for such clues as broken stone tools or pieces of pottery that had been brought up by the plow from a buried Native American camp site; a rise in the terrain that seemed too regular in shape to be natural but could be a Native American burial mound; or, an old cellar-hole, a foundation, or maybe just a seemingly out-of-place lilac bush that would mark the site of an early homestead.
The archaeologists found that many cultivated areas had artifacts scattered across the disturbed surface. Wooded areas that had never been plowed, but that seemed like good spots for a camp site, were tested. Series of eighteen-inch wide holes (called "shovel tests") were dug by hand, and the soil was sifted for archaeological evidence.
This survey identified more than twenty new sites. Three were the remains of early homesteads. The rest were Native American camp sites. Most were located very close to the Chippewa River, and another overlooked Elk Creek, a tributary of the Chippewa.
Together with analysis of a number of sites recorded before 1990, the new evidence shows that people have lived along the Chippewa River valley for more than 8,000 years.