The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1872-11-12

parts of the balustrades, and the ruins of stone
buildings on top, are to be seen to this day.
The Northerners probably used wood for these
elevated buildings, as no traces of them are
found.
These people are supposed to have been sun
worshippers, and it may have been fancy of
theirs to get as near their god as possible
Works of different character are found
made of stone and dirt, designed as enclosures.
Some encircle only few acres others include
in their regular sweep hundred and forty
acres or more. Some of these are in circles,
large and small, combined with the square,
One in Adams county, Ohio, is in the form of
serpent, one thousand feet long, with the
jaws distended as if in the act of swallowing
an oval mound while it's tail lies in a triple
COIL A fanciful people, truly. That the
mound-builders were almost miners, and
worked the copper mines of the northwest, is
quite probable, for most of the mines, if not
all which have been opened by the miners of
the present generation, show that they had
been worked before.
Mr.. Baldwin tells us that ''near Lake SUI
perior, in new mine, huge mass of copper,
weighing nearly six tons, was found raised
upon logs of cedar, the ends of the logs show
ing plainly that an axe had been used These
logs crumbled down on being exposed to the
air. Near by lay stone hammer, weighing
thirty-six pounds, and another of "copper"
weighing twenty-five pounds On the debris
thrown from the mine, were trees showing
three hundred and ninety-five years growth,
while the decayed trees of a former formation
were seen lying across the pits"
This certainly points back to great antiquity,
and must have been coeval with the mound
buildings. The area of ground supposed to
have been worked by these ancient miners is
greater than that occupied by the present gen.
Grafton, and it is to be hoped that further light
may yet be thrown upon this ancient people
from these dark, underground places.
There are many theories in regard to this
race, and one limited at in some ancient books
is, that an intelligent people came from the
east in ships more than a thousand years be-
fore the Christian era, and settled in Central
America and Mexico, where they remained
peaceably till they We're strong enough, when
they conquered the country, established their
civilization, built their mounds, and finally
spread themselves up the Mississippi, carrying
their mound-building propensities with them.
That they remained till a barbarous people
from the north who are supposed to have come
over Behring strait, poured down upon them
and after terrible struggle of thirteen years,
drove them back to their southern country.
Here we have the first introduction to our In
dams.
There are evidences that, ages ago, some of
the States of South America were civilized,
and it is surmised that the enlightened people
who "came in ships and settled in Central
America and Mexico, were from that land
However this may be, there is good authority
for the belief that both North and South Ameri-
ca were once in the far past inhabited by in
telligent, civilized people, and that we are not
so far superior to them as we may have i'm
agined.
The glimpses of light that we catch through
the crevices of time are enough to show us our
ignorance of the past, but not enough to satisfy
our longing curiosity. Christian Weekly