The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-02
A TEXAS WONDER.
An Important Discovery Recently
Made "a Wise County.
A Prehistoric Pavement of Pctrisea Wood
Supposed TO Have Been Cons. rnc,cd
by Mound Builders OF an TX
tinct Rae.

oy Mound 5susiders OF an TX
I tinct Rae.
a discovery OF probably great e.
/ Chronological value, a. regards the pre-
historic people of the United States.
was recently made on the farm Of H.
Richwails. twenty-five miles southwest
of Decatur, in Wise county, Tex. Il
consists of pavement os petrifed
wood covering the summit of mound
/ one and half acres in area. Samples
of the pavement were brought 10 the
Dallas News oy n. NJ Garvin. OF Clcve-
land. O., who made the following
statement regarding the discovery:
The mound is siNty feet high. square,
shaped and with sloping sides. 1t was
looked upon as an ordinary clay struc-
ture until u short time ago. when. in
digging the soil on the summit. which
is level and measures an acre and a
/ half, c petrifeed pavement was struck
under what appeared TO he shallow
deposit of drift. Further explorations
showed that the entire summit Of the
mound was paved. The petrificd blocks
were laid on ends as compacslv as a
Nicholson pavement In places the
pavement is perfectly smooth, while in
other places, owing 70 the depression
that the soil has undergone during th.
ages. IL is irregular The mound.
which was constructed with msthesuas-
ical precision. also contains som.
blocks of stone that seem TO have been
used in a building" The samples OF
the pavement are four inches long. and
undoubtedly are petrifed wood. Three
inches of their length is silica and the
remaining inch. measuring to the
wearing surface, is carbonate OF lime.
This combination. which is not uncom-
mon IN petrifcations. shows that the
pavement WAS probably set in silicious
sand and that the upper part was sub
jected to the action OF water ooutain-
ing lime in solution. The blocks givs
evidence of having been split by a
sharp instrument and sawed at the up
per surface. While thousands OF
mounds have bsen discovered on this
continent this Is the only one ia which,
through the agency OF petrifica.ion,
nature has embalmed an evidence of q
place in civilization occupied bv the
mound builders far in advance of what
had been accorded taeu by anti
quarians.
That this mysterious race rracticed =
the arts of agriculture is proved by the
fact that mounds are so close together
in some districts as 20 have rendered IL
impossible for their occupants 10 have
subsisted by fishing and hunting: and
that those inhabitants engaged in min
ing aud commerce is proved By the dis
covery in Peruvian mounds Of Lake
Superior copper Bat although copper
chisels. runners and indented knives
THAT might have been used as saws
have been found in mounds. there
never was any proof that the mound
builders were wood workers until this
discovery In Wise county. Wood being
an article that time destroys. all its ev-
licences of the home life of the mound
builders must necessarily have long
since been obliterated except where
preserved by the agency of petrihca-
ton. While this agency in the Wise
county mosad has only preserved "a
beautiful pavement, it may be inferred
that people sufficiently advanced to
execute work that ia recent wars
has immortalized Nicholson In the an
mails of street engineering were cana
bic of raising handsome wooden tenn
pies and other structures. That they
were not OF the same race as the inst-
ans appears from the fzct-th that the lat
ter have no tradition concerning tho
origin of mounds, and were they IN.
original mound builders, though their
civilization subsequently persisted.
they could not have lost track OF such
an important part Of the history OF
their race.
Certain ID Is now that the mound
builders who once thickly inhabited
this country were sericulturixta. the
cbanics and traders. but "a find vhenc.
came they and whittier thev went one
gropes in the darkness OF the past
Did their occupation extend back 20
that period between the dawn of mana
creation and the Noachan deluge7 Re
mains of ma have been found In this
country that point 10 sptediluviau an
tiquity. a piece OF basket mating
was found IA an island in Vsrrniiiion
bay Louisiana. below the remains OF
an elephant; the remains of a rsa@sto-
don. partly wasted, were found Ia Mia
SOUR. and IN excavstinR Cor gas works
in New Orleans human skeleton
was found below the rsmsins of four
cypress forests. the accumulation. IL
the opinion of scientists. requiring
fourteen Thousand years u form. The
geological age IN which the pavement
on the mound in Wise eowptT p-trihed
b q live subject Of inquiry and doubt
less Will be disputed. Was i, durisa
The period ia which a great chain Oh
axes extended from the Calf OF Mex
co northwsrd. or when uas it2 II
vas Horace Gresley VINO undertook 20
write up a mound for his p&pcr. bu.
after all ne could tell about st va con-
aimed IN the words Il; i here" lie
ssd not seen the Wise county usoana
YER Fo~-xf