The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-04-12
WHO WE'RE THE MOUND BUID-
ERS7

The following article, which appeared
in the st. Paul Pioneer Press in 1885, IL
published at the request of the "Alcott
Reading Club" of South Main street:
Professor Denton, who delivered his
lecture upon "Ancient America, its
Mound Builders and Cooper Workers, s"
at the Opera House last night, assumes
First-That America is the eldest part
of the globe-the first land that appear
ed above the waters extended from
north of the st. Lawrence to Labrador
and thence northwestward toward the
Arctic Sea; this is proved by the discov-
cry of fossils in the cretaceous deposits
which contain evidences that the oak
the beech and other trees grew at that
period. while no such evidences are visI-
BILE in corresponding deposits In Europe :;
human skulls were also found in Cali
fornia. which proved that man flourish
ed in America long ages before he ap
peared on the eastern continent.
SecOnd-After America was discover
ed attention was directed to the work.
of the mound builders; these mounds
existed only west of the AIleghanies-
not one was ever found east of thest
mountains; the mounds existed by tens
of thousands, and covered the states
along the Ohio and Mississippi valleys
many are small, but others covered four
hundred acres. and were seventy feel
high. Some were trunicated, and show
ed they were sacriticial mounds; others
were for Notifications; and the smaller
ones indicated the location of towns
villages and cities; they all contain cop
per and stone implements pottery char
coal and other evidences of the advanced
condition of the inhabitants of the coun
try. These mounds extend from LAX,
Superior to Mexico. The antiquity OF
some mounds is not over four hundred
years, while others are much older.
Third-The mound builders were Mex
leans who were sent from Mexico to
work the copper mines of Lake Supe-
rior; the marks of their work are visible
in all these mines; this copper by pro-
dlgious labor was dug out and carried to
Mexico, and this is proved by the fact
that the copper implements found in thu
mounds, and the multltudinous articles
of copper found in Mexico by the Span
iards were Superior copper, which is
found mixed with silver, and no other
copper of the kind is found to exist else
where. After Cortes conquered Mexico
the mound builders began to disappear :;
the mines were abandoned, and the In
dians took possession of the country
Professor Denton laid great stress on the
fact that the Indians possessed no tradi-
tions as to who the mound builders
were, or when the mounds were con-
structed, and yet it is still more singular
that they possess mo tradition about
these multitudinous Aztecs that once
swarmed over the Mississippi valley, ana
who must have disappeared only about
four hundred years ago. This is the
more remarkable in view of the fact
that the mound builders were permanent
inhabitants and had hundreds of cities,
towns and villages, which must have
been settled and occupied for a thousand
years or more,
FOurth-The relations between the
mound builders and the Mexicans is
shown III the similarity of the shape be
tween the mounds of the west and Of
Mexico, and of evidence showing that
the sacrificial mounds were used for the
| same purpose; also in the fact that vol.
canic glass implements were found in
the northern mounds, while Superior
COppeI llupIeneulS were IOunu III Lne
Mexican mounds.
Flfth-The mound builders, or Mexi-
cans and Peruvians, are descendants of
the Egyptians, who came across from
Africa on the dry land that extended
from Africa to South America during
the tertiary period.
Sxth-The Indians were descendants
of the Tartars or Asiatics, who came
over when land connected North Amer
ica with northern Asia; the Esquimaux
are also related to an ancient race that
lived in France Exchange,