The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-01-09
Curious Discoveries in Minnesota.
n the New York Herald

Curious Discoveries IN Minnesota.
From the New York Herald
ST.. ANTHONY, MINI, Dec. s. 1866.
The monotony Of our quiet little town has
been considerably disturbed of late, by discov
cries Of most curious and remarkable nature,
which have been made within few days past
in our midst. They are of so singular a char
acter as to be beyond the pale of credence in
the minds of almost every one who has not
been a witness to the facts in the case; but they
are vouched for by citizens of such known re-
spectabity and veracty, that the genuneneSs
of the statements in regard to them is placed
beyond doubt.
A Mr.. Reuben Nesmith, who lives in small
house near the German Catholic church. had
occasion to 60 down in the cellar on the even
ing of the first instant, to arrange place for
his winter stock Of potatoes, which he had
been hauling that day from his farm, about
two miles beyond Manomin. While engaged
in putting together temporary bin, and
while digging to make room for the timber
used in constructing it, bis shovel came in
contact with plate Of iron, which after being
cleared of earth proved TO be trap door,
which Was secured by curiously wrought
lock, with heavy bolts running into stone
beneath. 1t was SO much corroded by rust
that a little pressure with a crowbar caused a
plate to give way, and upon taking 1t up an
opening was discovered beneath which a spiral
stone staircase led down into the earth. Be-
fore venturing down this staircase Mr.. Ne
smith communicated the fact of its discovery
to his brother-n-law, MrLutherCbamberlain,
and having procured a lantern the two pro-
ceeded to descend and after going down one
hundred and twentythree steps, they found
themselves in narrow, horizontal passage,
dug in the white sand, which as every one
familiar with the geological formation of the
banks of the Upper Mississippi knows, under
lies strata of limestone. Proceeding along
the passage distance of seventy five feet,
they emerged into spacious artificial cave,
also excavated in this white sand. This cave
was Of an oblong form, and leading out of it
were several smaller ante-chambers, all Of
which gave signs of having been at some for
mer day occupied as repositories of some kind.
Iron and copper implements, of a rough kind
of workmanship, were found scattered about,
some Of them evidently having been used for
excavating purposes, others for cooking uten-
sis, the marks Of fire being observable on the
chambers, a number of rude seats were found,
and upon one side of the room an elevated
platform, upon which stood roughly hewn
stone, something like the reading desk of an
E iscopaI church. On the wall behind this
desk, on either side of colossal human figure,
in bas relief, very curious hierog yphics were
found traced in the white sand, and an orna-
mental tracery of peculiar design covered the
other three sides of the chamber. In the next
apartment a sort of stone sarcophagus was
found, upon the top of which was laid an i'm
mense rock, firmly cemened to the burial
case, and which required the united exertions
of four men to remove. This being done,
human skeleton was found underneath, the
bones Of which crumbled to powder immed
aely on exposure to the air. Several copper
and iron rings were found in the sarcophagus,
as also curious silver ornament, octagonal in
shape, and carved in uninteigible characters,
some of which corresponded with those upon
the wall of the apartment above referred TO.
A third chamber was much larger in extent
than the others, and the ceiling was very much
like an inverted funnel in shape, directly under
the apex of which was large cube-shaped
stone, which was stained with marks of fire
and some other dark substance, and deposit
of hardened ashes lay around it upon the
ground. 1t was evidently used as sacri6cial
altar, and this theory seems to be confirmed
by the fact that an aperture large enough to
admit the body of a man opens from this
apartment to smaller one, the floor Of which
is below that Of the other rooms and which is
covered with limy powder, apparently the
ashes of bones; whether human or otherwise,
cannot be ascertained. On continuing their
explorations, the party found an iron plate
door, which easily gave way upon little pres
sure, and passage way of about three feet in
hight, and large enough for one person TO pass
in a STOPPING posture, was discovered. Mr..
Ncsnlth and his brother-inlaw followed the
passage way, which led in a somewhat circu-
itous direction to the vicinity of the river.
This is proved by the sound Of water washing
upon the shore, which may be distinctly heard
at The end Of this passage way, the outer open
ing Of which has apparently been filed up
from the inside with broken rocks, and through
The intersticos of which fresher air than that |
of the cave can be felt blowing at times
The whole affair is mystery; the relics
found are not at all aboriginal in character,
and may have been the work of people ex-
sting long before even these praires were the
hunting grounds of the Indian. Copies of the
hlerogtyphlcs have been carefully transcribed |
and forwarded to some of the most learned |
of the Eastern States, and it is |
hoped that they may be able to obtain some
clue to the origin and use of these remarkable |
,elics. We understand that the State Horti-
cultural Society has made Mr. Nesmith very
liberal offer for them. In The meantime our
little town is all agog as to the discoveries, and
hundreds OF persons have visited the house of
Mr.. ResmIth to see these remarkable antiqui-
les We trust the Historical Society may be
bie 10 secure them as a most interesting adj
liGon to their small but valuable collection.
4 census has recently been taken of the
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