New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-03
VINE Wore tho bleund. Buildcr,e

Professor Denton, who delivered his leo
ture on Ancient America, its Mound
builders and Copper. workers." at tho Opera
House last night, assumes:
l. That America 10 the oldest part of the
globe-the first land that appeared above
the waters extended from north OF the st.
Lawrence to Labrador, and thence north
westward toward the Arctic sea; this is
proved by the discovery Of fossils in the
cretaceLus deposits which contain evidences
that the oak, the beech and other trees
grew at that period, while NO such evi
deIces are visible in corresponding deposits
in Europe; human skulls were also found
in California, which proved that man
flOurished in America long ages before he
appeared on the Eastern continents.
9 After America was discovered attention
was directed to the works of the mound
builders; these mounds existed only west of
the Alleghanies-DOt one was ever found
east of these mountains; the mounds ex-
listed by tens of thousands, and covered the
States aiCng the OHIO and Mississippi val
leys; many we're small, but others covered
400 acres, and were seventy feet high.
Some we're truncated, and showed they
were sacrificial mounds; others we're for
Notifications; and the smaller ones indi-
eating the locations Of towns, villages and
cities; they all contain copper and stone i'm
plements, pottery, charcoal and other evil
dences of the advanced condition of the
inhabitants of the country. These mounds
extend from Lake Superior to Mexico. The
antiquity Of some mounds is not over 400
years while others are much older.
3. The mound builders were Mexicans,
who were sent from Mexico to work the
copper mines Of Lake Superior; the marks
of their work are visible in all these mines:
this copper, by prodigious labor, was dug
out ana carried to Mexico, and this is
proved by the fact that the copper imple
ments found in the mounds and the multi
tudinous articles of copper found in Mexico
by the Spaniards was Superior copper,
which is found mixed with silver, and no
other copper of the kind is known to exist
elsewhere. After COrtes conquered Mexico
these mound builders began to disappear,
the mines we're abandoned, and the Indians
took possession OF the country. Professor
Denton laid great stress on the fact that the
Indians possessed no traditions as to who
the mound builders were, or when the
mounds were constructed, and yet it is still
more singular that they possess no tradi-
tions about these multitudinous Aztecs that
once swarmed over the Mississippi valley,
and who must have disappeared only about
400 years ago. This 10 the more remarkable
IN view of the fact that the mound builders
were permanent inhabit ants, and had hun
dredS OF cities, towns ana Vlilagoe, which
must have been settled end occupied for q
thousand years or more.
4. The relation bet ween the mound build
ers and the Mexicans is shown in the simi
lsrity of the shape between the mounds of
the West end of Mexico, and of evidences
showing that tho sacriieial mounds were
used for the same purpose; also in the fact
that volcanic glass implemen's we're found
in the northern mounds. while Superior cop
per implements were found in the Mexican
mounds.
5. The mound builders, or Mexicans and
Peruvians, are descendants of the Egyr
tiane, who came across from Africa on the
dry land that extended from Africa to South
America during the tertiary period.
g. The Indians are descendants of the
Tartars or Asiatice, who came over when
land connected North America with
Northern ASIA the Esquimaux are also
related to an ancient race that lived in
France.-& Paul (MinnesotoJ Press.