The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-05-04
SOUTH WESTERN PRE-HISTORIC
WONDERS.

A correspondent of the St. Louis Re
publican, writing from ArkadeIphia,
Arkansas, under date of March 23d, gives
the following interesting account of ar
theological discoveries in that region !;
/ think / have struck a big bonanza
here, and, if / am not mistaken, this is
the field fo- the archaologist who revels
! in the relics of the prehistoric man.
When the old military road was opened
from Memphis in 1881 to the Mexican
| (now Texas) line, the route lay along
what appeared 10 have been well-Dulis.
and graded road about fifty feet in
width, and apparently so old that trees
of the largest and Oldest growth had
grown to maturity, decayed and their
places filled with others. In fact, all the
indications were that the road had been
built from eight hundred to one thou
sand years. The Indians then living
here had a tradition of another race
which had inhabited this country which
they called the LenG-Lenope, OF wise men,
and claimed that their domain extended
from the great American bottom cast of
st. Louis, far off to the southwest. They
also boasted that when the fiercer tribes
of red men came from the north they
drove these peaceful cultivaters of the
soil toward Mexico, and that remnants
of the tribes driven away still lived
away toward the great hills in the sunset
land. The pioneers who had charge of
opening the military road had learned
to look upon the dusky sons of the forest
as liars and frauds, and attached but |
little Importance to the traditions, but
when they reached the Ouachita, near
where this town is built, the Indians |
pointed out to them the mounds, and |
especially the one on the Caddo, which |
is over one hundred feet high, then they |
began to believe the story, and the Off |
GERS mentioned the mounds and the |
tradition in their report. But Arkansas
was far-of country then, especially the
western and southern part, and the ex-
istence of the mounds was soon forgotten,
if generally known, which was probably |
not the case.
When white settlements came the |
pioneer followed the Ouachita up to this
peint, near the Caddo, and, finding the
soil rich and everything as attractive as
nature could make it, did what the Lena
Lenape did, started town and began
cultivating soil which gave the most
extravagant returns for the labor ex-
pended upon it, and for years so M m
terested were they in raising corn and
cotton that they gave no thought to the
rich treasures which might be buried in
the mounds. About twenty years ago
it occurred to Col. H. w. Mcmillan.
then a young attorney of this place, that
it might be well to dig into one of these
artificial hills, and, if possible, discover
some relics of past and forgotten age.
Taking couple of negroes and supply
of picks and shovels, he began operation
en- the large mound on the Caddo. This
hill was covered with growth of large
trees, and had it not been for the fact
that it rose out of level plain, might
have been mistaken for natural mound.
The laborers, after digging a few feet.
struck rich lead which panned out a
number of earthen jugs, bowls and
dishes and few pipes, all OF them curl
ously carved, and evidently containing
inscriptions in hieroglyphics as difficult
to decipher as those found by Professor
Smith among the ancient Abyssinian
ruins. The crockery was made of clay.
and had been hardened by FIRE, and when I
found was in good state of preservation.
While making these examinations, an
old Spanish sword was found buried
nearly foot beneath the soil and under
it the remains OF a human skeleton.
About the skeleton was found some
pieces of iron, evidently portions of the
style of armor worn in the time of De
Soto, and similar to those found at the !
old salt springs below this place, while !
the sword WAS the counterpart of the
one found near Hot Springs about four
years ago.
The net result of Col. McMillsn's re-
searches was a barrel of jugs, bowls, |