The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1891-08-22
INDIAN MOUNDS.

tions of earth from five to ten, and
sometimes fifteen feet in height and
from fifty to a hundred feet OF o
in width at the base. They are found
mostly scattered along the valley Of
the Mississippi. from Ohio to Louisiana.
They ar called indian mounds F.: but
the present race of Indians say they
knox nothing abont them that they
tolnd them here wheI they first occu-
pied the country. Bat still they used
them AS burial places for their dead.
The indians of lower Terrebnnne
many wears ago used the mounds of
that part of the country for the same
purpose ; and it is probable that for
many ages they have been used as
places to bury their dead-on close eX-
animation stone beads, fragments of
earthen pottery. human teeth, and
sometimes human bones. But wfleth-
er they We're originally erected for
that purpose or not is now Il matter
of conjecture.
Sanders of Lower Lafourcht had a
large mound ON IL p ,rtion of his land.
which he caused t. be levelcd down
for the purpose Of forminga garden and
orchard. When the Workmen extend
ed their digging TO the centre of the
basement, they found burnt earth
which reSembled IA place where fire
had been used. This inclined Mr..
Sanders, according to what he report
ed to me, to believe that these mounds
We're first built us EIabitationS. There
were a great many human bones found.
while the workmen We're digging.
which he had gathered up and buried
to themselves. But it was noticed
that when left out and exposed to the
air they soon crubleG to dust except
the teeth which remained as sound as
they were the day they We're buried.
1t Is stated that i'll Mexico houses are
Frequently built OF sun dried bricks.
called adobeS, and is known that the
aztecS built huge editices Of the same
materials. When these kind Of habi-
tations are abandoned perhaps for
ages they will gradually crumble and
settle down into mere heaps of earth
overgrown with trees, an perhaps be
ready for some other race to bury
their dead in. These mour Dis are
very. numerous in the lower part of
Louisiana ; bat they are seldom found
over twenty miles from the sea shore.
except in the Western States. There
is "A very large one At Tigerville on
bayou Black also one | think much
larger above Berwick City.
Many years ago | visited both these
mounds, where | found the same evil
dences Of a extinct race, that are to
be seen in the others such as frag-
ments OF pottery, stone beads, and hu-
man teeth. On the lower part Of ba-
You TerrebOnne, in the sea marsh
about ten miles from the nearest
woods, is a large mound which the
ole inhabitants formally called the
temple. 1t is situated in a place where
1t would seem impossible for human
belngsto establish a place of residence:
indeed, it would seem now impossible
to obtain dirt to build another one
like 1t. 1t is at least fifteen or s xten
miles from any other mound. Terre-
bonnie is nothing but "a sea marsh for
miles around, which is covered with
water every high tide. This forces
upon our minds some strange conclu-
sions the first is, there must have
been. about the tine this mound was
built a ridge of dry land extending the
whole length of the bayou on each
side, that was covered with timber
and made fit for the habitation of these
people.
But since it has ceased to be an out
let of the Mississippi River, the land
has probably been devonred and sunk
by the millions of land arabs or tid-
dlers as they are commonly called. 1t
is known here that when these fiddlers
commence to work in a bevy they re-
duce it to a honey comb aud then it
soon settles down and sinks. 1t is re
membered that the first settlers of Ter
rebonne saw live oak trees extending
to the mouth of the bayou. There is
now not a single tree nor a shurb to
be seen. from bayon LaGraisse to the
mouth of bayou TelreboDue.
have been informed that there are
many mounds extending through Texas
resembling those of tie Misssippi
Valley. In digging under chose
mounds the remains and foundations
Of brick walls have been discovered.
The indians state that these were built
by a race OF white people, before they
occupied the country. In Livingstone
Parish there are many mounds extend
ing through the pine forest near the
Springfield road. The greater part of
them are found on the Bradford es-
tate, and ia the immediate neighbor-
hood. There are three very large
ones near the road, wiich are over
grown with pine trees as large and ap-
parently as old as those in the sur
rounding forest. When these mound