National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-06-11
INTERNAL LAPR0HEAENTS IN
= PRE.OOLUMBLAE TINES ~

a WIlsSG IN Vuo vi ouL Suuo uinSn1iuCSb
in an article entitled Archaeological As
poets Of the Lovlands Of the Mississippi"
states that there are traces Of ancient canals
in the Mississippi valley, which he assigna
to the mound builders. Just below Cape
Girardeau. he says on the western bank Of
the river there Is deep fosse one hundred
feet wide. extending Westward from one
hundred to one hundred and hfty miles, to
the headwasersof the White and ST. Francis
rivers. He states that he has traced these
ancient canals many miles. and that the
tow-paths, for long distances lifted above
the banks, are plainly discernabre. while
not faS from Osceola, Arkansas, the brick
abutmensa. for a bridge have been un-
earthed. W. are to infer that the cry of
Bridget" resoundsd along the artificial
waterways Of the Mississippi valley, ss one
writer informs uA before the days Of
Cyrus, or Solomon, or David"
This is rather incredible story, as none
other than stone or copper (it may be Id
one or two instances bronze) implements
have ever been discovered in the great
mounds of the Mississippi and Ohio yaleys.
1t is true. however. thai the same race in
Mexico constructed canals for the purposes
Of irrigation. and Prescott tells US that water
wsseonveJed by the Peruvians through
sterile regions by means Of canals and sub
terraneous aQueducts, executed on noble
scale. 1t may, therefore, be a fact That the
remarkable people Who cultivated this con-
tinspt and constructed the enormous
mouads and extensive fortihcstions de-
scribed by Squier and Davis, and more re-
Gently by the late DR.. Foster, Of Chicago,
and Col C. C. Jones in his Antiquities Of
the Southern Indians" utilized the waters
of the Mississippi for the purposes of irriga-
ton, if not of transportation.
Grand roads were constructed by the
Incas for the purposes Of internal commu-
nication, not only along the lowlsnds on the
borders of the ocean, but over the great
plateau, through the precipitous mountain
rsnges of the Andes. One of these roads,
from Cuzco, extended in southern direc-
ton towards Chilli for fifteen hundred or
two thousand miles. 1t was conducted over
pothless sierras, says the historian, buried
in snow; galleries were cut for leagues
through the living rock rivers were crossed
by bridges hung suspended in the air pre-
cipices were sailed by stairways hewn out
Of the native bel; ravines of hideous depths
were filled up wth solid masonry; in short,
all the difficulties, that beset a wild and
mountainous region, and which might ap-
pail the most courageous engineer of mod
ern times, were encotutered and success
fully overcome. The TOAD was built of
heavy flags of freestone, and in some parts
covered with bituminorh cement, which
time has made harder than the stone itself
Another great road OF the Incas ran near
the sesshore, and was constructed in diff
ferent manner, the causewsy being raised
on high embankmsnt of earth, and de
Tended on each side by parapet or wall o.
clay; and trees planted along the margin to
refresh the traveller in those torrid wastes.
The mcst astonishing feature about these
! immense public works is the fact that thu
race which constructed them were unac,
quainted with iron. Like the early Egyp
tians, they worked with tools of bronze.
We merely recur to these historic paral
lels to remind our American Congress wha
has been done in this part of the world be
fore the Puritan or the cavalier set foot OIL
these shores We boast of our civilization
and our progress. anG our great nationa
works, but, considering the means EN-
4 ployed, what is the Pacific railroad to tn,
great highways that diverged from the esp
ital Of the Incas to the remotest parts Of tn'
Our people are clamoring for channels o
communication from the valley of the Mis-
sissippi 70 the Atlantic cities, and il involves
sharp struggle to secure small appropria
ton 20 make survey. The mound build
ers would have run up the WashingtoI
: Monument in few years, and if they hst
possessed the modern appliances, the In
bdians who irrigated the plains Of Soutl
America and threw their suspension bridge
across the gorges of the Andes, would hav
executed without discussion the Who'll
scheme contemplated by the Senate Com
mittee on Transportation.
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