Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-11-25

FINDING SKELETON Of GIANT.
The work has been thoroughly done,
and leaves no room for doubt as to the
accuracy of its results. 1t has utterly
exploded old theories as to more an
cient race of superior civilization which
was imagined to have been responsible
for the creation of the monuments in
question. 1t has been demonstrated
that the objects yielded by the tumuli,
which are not of Enthusiastically Indian
manufacture. were obtained from the
whites.
Maj. Powell, who was for many years
in charge of the geological survey. has
said that this investigation was as much
OF blind study as the original efforts
to decipher the inscriptions upon the
stone wonders of ancient Egypt.
One of the quiet students of the sur
vey says: The most interesting works
OF the mound builders are the so-called
effigy mounds, representing birds and
many kinds of mammals, which are
confined almost wholly to Wisconsin
and small part of Iowa. The whole
OF the valley of Prairie du Chen town
ship is dotted with these ancient ami
mails in droves. all beading to the south
west like the river. They are enduring
evidences of dense population and
long occupancy in past time. Some of
the birds have spread of $50 feet from
wing tip to wing tip
1t is matter of official record that
in digging through a mound in Iowa
the scientists found the skeleton of a
giant, who. judging from actual meas
urement, must have stood seven feet
six inches tall when alive. The bones
crum bled to dust when exposed to the
air. Around the neck was a collar of
bears teeth, and across the thighs were
dozens of small copper beads, which
may have once adorned a hunting skirt.
The latter were formed by rolling slen-
der wire-like strips of metal into little
rings. One skull obtained from mound
in Alabama was completely filed with
snail shells.
In another mound in Iowa was found
central chamber containing l. skele-
tons, which were arranged in a circle
with their backs against the walls. In
their midst was great sea SHE'LL which
had been converted into drinking-cup
Smaller cavities in the same tumulus
were filled with a fine copper-colored
dust, which. when first uncovered, gave
out such a sickening odor that opera
tions had to be suspended for awhile
The dust was supposed to be the ashes
from burned fiesh-perhaps that of the
individuals in the central chamber
Many tribes of Indians in ancient times
made practice of removing the flesh
from the bones of the dead
But all of these studies and discov-
cries have not given rs anything really
historical concerning the people who
did these things. The officials of the
geological survey, of the Smith sonian
Institution, the National museum, and
other centers of science and philosophy
at the national capital. all agree
that the question as to whence
the Indians originally came is still
in dispute, and likely to re-
main so. There is no truth in the at.
tractive notion that once a mighty ma
ton occupied the valley of the Mis-
sissippi, with its frontier settlements
resting on the lake shores and gulf
coast, nesting in the valleys of the
Appalachian range and skirting the
broad plains of the west-a nation
with its system of government and re-
Ggion, which has disappeared. leaving
behind it no evidence of its glory. pow
er or extent, save the mounds and what
they contain.
One thing is certain, and that IS that
the mound builders continued their
work for some time after the European
discoveries and adventures came to the
shores of this continent and penetrated
its terra incognita. IT is officially re-
corded that agents of the bureau of
ethnology have explored and made ex-
cavations in more than 1000 of these
mounds. Among the objects found in
them were pearls in great numbers and
some Of very large size. engraved shells,
bracelets of drawn wire. silver brooches.
pins, needles, a silver plate with the
coat of arms of Spain. gun barrel, a
Roman Catholic medal, copper kettle
and uncovered. brass-nailed trunk.
OF course, many of these articles were
obtained from the whites They DEM
onstrate that mound building and burial
in mounds went on for some time after
the whites landed on the shores of
America In fact, agents have seen
such mounds in process of construe-
ton by Indians.