Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-02-11
MAnK oF a LOST RICE.
A Monument of the Mound Builders in
Danger of Destruction.

Danger of Destruction.
The great Indian mound of antiquity
in the Ohio valley at Moundsville, Mar
shall county, w. Va, and within few
hundred yards of the Ohio river, is in
danger Of being destroyed, and the West
Virginia Historical and Antiquarian
Society has sent out an appeal for aid to
save it, says the Washington Star. The
call is distributed among the schools of
the state and asks for penny contribu-
ton, to be given at intervals by the
school children.
The society has an option for its pur-
chase from the owner, but the option
will expire on the first day of May next,
and from the present outlook there will
be a considerable sum lacking with
which TO make the purchase. The
mound is the most remarkable in that part
of the country, and ever since the COM
ing of the white race it has been to the
antiquarian, the historian and the
archeologist great object of interest
in the Ohio valley and ii has been visited
by many learned men beyond the seas.
The mound is GAG feet in diameter at
the base, being hemispherical in form,
10 feet high, with a plateau or flat top,
81 feet in diameter at its top, on which
many years ago there was built dane
ing pavilion, where the young lads and
lassies Of the dead old town have whiled
away many moonlight hour in tripping
through the merry waltz OF engaged in
love making. At one time the mound
was covered from base to apex with
large oaks, but of late years a great
many of the noble monarchs of the
forest trees have succumbed to the
march of progress and the storms of
winter. The age of the trees is like that
of the mound hard TO compute. The
mound contains 100000 cubic yards of
earth, which is of different appearance
from that in its immediate vicinity, and
it is evident that it was carried over a
quarter of mile from some sacred spot
in the lowlands. How this immense
body of earth was transferred such o
distance without the aid of mechanical
means is matter Of conjecture.
Shortly after the close Of the war the
mound was examined by permission of
the owner, and shaft was sunk from
its top 70 feet down TO the level with
the adjoining territory. AS the shaft
was sunk it was curbed with brick.
Nothing worthy of note was discovered
until large fiat stone was struck, and
when the stone was removed it was
found to cover crypt, which was en-
closed on all sides with stone wall
built with mechanical knowledge un-
known to the American Indian who
circulated in that section and made it SC
uncomfortable to the advance guard OF
civilization.
Two skeletons were found in the
crypt, with many utensils and .nstru.
ments of war and the chase. One Of
the skeletons was that of a male, whose
height, was evidently our own, but the
other that of woman.
BY the side of the skeletons was found
many peculiar instruments, weapons
articles of adornment and of ordinary
use, and were composed of bronze
copper in its natural state, stone and flint
Many beads of bone and shells, the
latter resembling those found along the
seashore of the southern coasts, were
also found The skeletons were doubt
less those of one of the great men of his
day-a king, or leader, and his queen
but they were of a race of people un
known even to the Indians. The relics
were similar to some of those found al
J that time in Arizona.
Upon the bronze tablets found by th,
SIDE OF the male skeleton were
hieroglyphics or inscriptions, showing
} that the people who erected this i'm
mense monument had written Ian
guage, and were of race superior t.
: the aborigines known to the earliest set
tiers.
. These relics are owned by the pro
prietor of the mound and will, if thu
, Antiquarian Society can raise money t.
purchase the property, turn the trinket
, over to the society.
1t is noted fact that all the persons
who had anything to do with the open
ing of this mound have died or hav,
: been unsuccessful in business. 1t i,
said by the older people of Moundsvill,
that curse was placed upon those who
opened the mound, and their children
after them.