Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1888-06-05
MISCELLANEOUS.
IFor the Spirit of Jeferson.I
Letter from Mississippi.
BoLrvAR. MISS. Nav 14, 1sss.

BOLIVAR, Miss, May Il, 1885,
Mr.. Editor:-Sfnce writing my last
letter i had occasion TO visit the city
of Greenville, the Birmingham of the
s'Delta" District. On my road there,
passed by perhaps the most cell
ebrated group of Indian mounds in
the country. There seems to have
been period in the history of the
world when great attention was
given TO the building of monumental
piles, reminders to posterity of the
great deeds done and accomplished
during the lives of those whose vir-
tues these monuments were intended
to commemorate. The pyramids of
Egypt, the histories of some of which
are well known to US, are lasting re-
minders of the great people that once
inhabited the now sandy, barren and
barbarious wastes that make up the
Valley of the Nile. In no less de-
gree, perhaps, were these so-called
Indian mounds intended to commem-
crate the achievements of departed
chiefs of a once semi-civilized race,
that held sway where the Goddess of
Justice now holds her scales. There
is but little doubt bat that these
mounds were huilt by race of peo-
pie that preceded the Aztecs and
American Indians. The presence of
Indian relics in them is accounted for
by the fact that the Indian found
these mounds a very suggestive and
convenient place in which to bury
their dead, even as many whites have
done, the mounds being too high to
be overlooked. = s~---z ...--.el
The mounds to which I have allud-
ed are situated on the plantation of
Maj. Hunt, about one mile from the
river, in Washington Co., Miss. At
the time of the De Soto expedition
these mounds were occupied by a race
of Indians, who were worshippers of
the sun. De Soto pitched his camp
at the mouth of the Arkansas river,
and finding that they would have no
intercourse with him, sent them pres
ents and word that he was "child
of the -" to which the chief an
swered that lie would visit him If he
would dry UP the river this ended
all attempts to make a treaty with
them. There are about Is motinds
in this group. The central one has a
base about 200 feet in diameter, and
is So feet high, and about 100 feet
across the top, it being truncatcd like
the frustrum of cone. It is sup
posed that it continued to an apex at
one time, but that the ravages of wind
and storms through long ages have
reduced it to its present height. 1t
contains about forty thousand cubic
yards of earth, and considering the
crude implements of the builders, it
is estimated that it would have en-
ployed 20 men three or four years to
have completed it. A horizontal sec
ton of the mound is elliptical, and
not circular as generally supposed.
Next in size to the central mound, and
distributed around it, are four mounds
about 80 feet high each; outside of
these there are two circles of smaller
mounds. The smallest ones have
been nearly obliterated by cultiva-
ton. The central mound would have
been about one hundred feet high If
it had continued to a point. There
is no evidence of any earth having
been removed from the ground ad:
joining the mounds 1t is supposed
that the almost annual overfows,
prior to the completion of the levee
system refilled and obliterated all ev-
licences of excavations having been
made.
The city OF Greenville is one of
the few southern cities that has re-
ceived the impetus of foreign capital,
and hence has biossomed out into a
commercial city of some Importance.
1t is beautifully laid out, the streets
straight, broad and well shaded. 1t
is situated on the sight of an old
plantation, the land being nearly
level. A tramway is operated, and
gas and electric light plants are be-
ing constructed. The city will be
the terminus of the Georgia Pacific
r. r. besides having two other roads.
Real estate is quoted at fictitious val
ues- The speculator, the evil genius
of all improvements, have nearly
throttled the spirit of progress. A
cotton compress and cotton seed oil
manufacture are among the principal
industries. The city is situated on
a convex side of horseshoe bend in
the river, a very bad place for city.
Already the older part of the city has
gone into the river. and nothing but
a revetment wall now stands between
the city and watery grave Several
hundred acres of elegant building
lots have become food for the merci-
less waves during the past year
While in greenville I was introduced
to great many gentlemen. or rather
military officers, Judging from their
titles. There were Generals, ,Colonels.
Captains and Majors, pronounced