The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-09-17

great mound situated on Linyillo Creekg Not
the scattered survivors Of the slain most Ger
tainly; and rs little did their enemies delay 20
heap lc30 tons az earth over those whom they
had killed. Nothing that Is known concerning
savage cu-ta-ns aud charartJT leads tothe belief
that this WUgii have been done By alien tribes
Sd that the only alternatives which seem 90 all
samiss.b lc are either the assignment of this
extensive, aud with ihe means az thCiE disposal
t..is luost tedious and lab0rious work 90 re-
turning bands ugthgirown people 90. 81 appears
more probable, The superstition that this tuTnu
lus which presents little or no indications Of
being prehistoric, IS simply the
PERMANENT EUGYISG rLACE
or cssuary Of a tribe here seated. II the lat
ter. all dilicuitics dependent upon its size aud
tac time and iruubie ats construction necessa-
Fily Involves. disappear, since ~ must IN that
Csc have arisen gradually, and each body or
rlsCletou was covered mp when deposited there.
TGc latter hypothesis derives some support
irOm the fact that merely superficial CXami-
nation furnished the writer with uumistaka-
bic evidence that those who were inferred IN
this spot were Of different ages and Cf both
SEXES
il happens. also. that this opinion is cor
rohpratol by proof Of another kind. A short
distance south OF this mound. and upon the
same stream. IS found what can scarcely be
anything elso than place Of manufacture for
stone implements and weapons. But among
the various fragments OF rock belonging 20 the
locality which are here collected. there are
also several specimens foreign TO tine region
ob,idian. for examplC-which must have come
from distant source, and was passed onward
from the place where 10 originated by intertri-
bal barter.
Even IL the quantities OF stone arrow-heads,
srrapers axes, siukeTs, pgSials, etc, which
abound in the vicinity, did not prove this
beautiful park country. but recently well
stocked with buffalo, elk, deer aud other AMI
mails, 10 have been permanently inhabited, this
evidence OF ancient commerce would 90 far to-
ward establishing this fact
keTchcval tells a story about It's entire pOpu-
lalion having been recalled toward tho west
about 1914. The Shawnces Of the lower part
of the valley may indeed have rejoined their
brethren Of the west and north for some rea-
son, but that other Indians
FoEsooK THEIR HUNTING-GEOUSDs
and the graves Of their fathers to follow them,
aud that there WAS any authority either there
or elsewhere in the Northern States able %
compel such an act Of obedience is not to be
thought If.
Far more ancient however. than any mounds
here or IN CIFou Valley west OF the Allega-
MES are those remains Of mast OdOn in this
immediate neiEi5oTlOol which the writer was
sent TO cxhumc. They lie abcut three miles
nearly due west from Edom, aud are compare
lively close 60 the surface. Here We arc upon
the southern limit Of the drift and the foods
which burst from beneath the northern ice cap
during the glacial period had expended much
Of their force before reaching this latitude, 50
that the ai.paccmcnts Of the surface they
effected were relatively slight.
These relics nevertheless carry US backward
beyond the prasCist geological era into the
QuartpTnaTv epoch. aud 70 is in this that the
earliest well authenticated proofs Of mans eE-
istcUce on earth are found. Fiuts OF the Old
Stone Age have been already collected from %
States, including Virginia, aud in the excava-
tiOus soon 90 be made there Is TO reason why
others should not be discovered in tho same
connection with this great extinct animal as
those which have been brought 10 light in
western Europe had with tho
PRI-EvAL ELEPHANT
Of the Old World. When the creature persisted,
parts Of whose skeleton have been already re-
covered, this fair and fertile valley had the
climate OF Lehrador, aHi its vegetation was
suuaTCtiC. Gold changed the whole face oil
nature, and except ia the more salient cOutouTs
Of the country and tic COURSES Of its greater
streams. everything was unlike what 70 is now.
Compared With anything OF human origin, with
All the monuments 81 mans effort or device,
the Ohltcl5 ana events referred ID are very Oiu,
but yet they are Of yesterday when contrasted
with 'he rocky framugoT IN which they are set,
aud w3th the fossil forms It's limestone strata
contain. The limestone was uphoayed from the
bed 81 an ancient ocean, aud still preserves
some relies 81 those creatures out Of whose
shells Us eatire mas aa5 formed during periods
which are 90 as unImlgiuably great.
From unknown depth, these rocks have in
places bust through everything masses Of stone
aud earth, aud brought with them remains OF
creatures who lived in CrrtaceOu9 and EOceue
seas. Nothing here visible iu nature is older
than these alien creatures % au altered world,
exc Ptiug the mountains them-elves. These
were gray with the mist 81 years before the
llilalayas had been uphcayod. They were
formed when tire earth was larger than il is
now, aud appeared while its nucleus was
shrinking from is iHci0sug ernst, and the lat
ter contracting. as 10 cooled by IadistiHg its
heat into space. Then the bed OF the Atlantic
proved strong enough 90 resist tho immense
pressure brought 10 hear upon il, but its coast
line did not. and tho Appalachian Chain
wrinkles upon the surface Of new planet
came into existence.