The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-07-09
The Mound Builders.

There once lived over nearly the whole
of this country race of people of whom
we have not the slightest trace of history
that they were numerous and ingenious is
about all that is certainly known of them
Where they came from, how long they ex-
listed, what were their principles ofgovern-
ment, what became of them, and O thous-
and other queries that arise, can only be
answered by conjecture. Considerable
similarity is found between their relics and
! more modern works in Central America,
from which it is inferred that they disap-
peared in that direction, or else that the
last remaining portion became the origin
OF the present race of Central American and
Mexican Indians.
! No remains of them are found in the
| New England States, but all over the prai-
! RE lands of the West, and down the Mis-
sissippi Valley, from Pennsylvania to the
| Rocky Mountains, and from the Great Lakes
/ to the Gulf, their monuments are scattered.
1t was early noticed by European settlers
that certain large mounds or hills in the
dictrict mentioned were too symmetrical
in form to have been of natural origin
! The character and habits of the Indians
not then being we'll understood, the work
was at first attributed to them, and the
idea was strengthened by the finding of
Indian graves in the mounds, but near
their surface. Investigation has shown
conclusively that their builders were an
| other entirely distinct people. The hills
are perfectly conical in shape, and are COM
posed of alternate layers of loan and gray
ell. Trees many hundreds of years old
grow upon them, providing their extreme
age. By digging in directly perpendic-
ular line from the apex to the base, large
structure of stone resembling an altar, and
few tools, are always found, usually also
some small articles of strange shape and
unknown use, and in some instances human
remains are discovered. The tools are of
copper, and passes hardness and temper
much like that of steel, the art of produc-
ing which in soft metals is not known at
the present day. The human remains in
dictate that the men were of large size, with
we'll developed heads, entirely different in
shape from those Of the North American
Indians.
The town of Circleville, Ohio, takes its
name from an extensive system of ancient
earthworks upon which it stands. These
works comprise large ridges running at
right angles and forming great squares IN
tended for the foundations for builings.-
A very high and wide ridge surrounds the
whole, and from this wall to the Ohio Riv-
er near by, extends an immense roadway or
inclined plane.
AT the summit of several mountains, high
above surrounding peaks, and in places
very difficult of approach, are square cham
bers, cut down into the solid rock, and evil
IDENTITY intended for defense.
In the vicinity of Lake Superior, traces
of the Mound Builders are quite abundant.
There they obtained the copper for their
tools. Their manner of operating was to
break out the ore in masses. The effects
of the long action of time upon these re-
mains are very marked, and the same kind
of implements are found here which are
discovered in the mounds.
A systematic and thorough examination
of all the relics, it understood, is now be-
ing made, and it is to be hoped that more
light may be obtained upon subject so
interestingly s. Metcalf.