The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-03-13
AMERICAS PONIPEII.-
INTERESTING DISCOVERIES MADE sY
AN ALASKAN TRAVELLER.

Relies of I'm Unknown Race Revealed by
an ADMINISTRATIVE Walls OF Whnt May
lie IL Prehistoric City Laid p.rc-So.nc
Beautiful Specimens of pottcrv
One OF the most interesting theories
III regard to the ancient colonization Of
America is that relating to its Asia!ic
origin. These theories were supported
by tribal traditions, chiefly among the
highly civilized races of Mexico as thcy
were discovered by the Spaniards, from
an analysis of which it would appcur
that tho first settlements of this CONT
ncnt wero Asiatic-for tho time of il
high degree of cultivation, in time over
run and subjugatcd by more warlike and
powerful invaders, who, like themselves,
came from the north
Archaeological discoveries in New
Mexico, Arizona and California have
tended to confirm these obscure legends.
and now correspondent of The Globe
Democrat of st. Louis presents the lat
est claims i'll the evidence of n Professor
Alfred Eldrige of Montreal as to recent
discoveries made by him III Alaska.
Professor Eldrige's statements to the
correspondent were, in brief, as follows:
AT the mouth of the Kuwalili river,
OH the shore of Kotzebuo sound. | en-
countercd small settlement of Indians,
who were much surprised at my desire
to proceed up the stream.
The chief did all III his mower to
persuade me to abandon my project. ex-
planning unbcarable pcrils galore which
| WOnI u IN pp1st. fn
savages seemed to think the district
cursed by the Great Spirit, and nothing
could tempt them to set foot Oh it.
L did not feel uneasy, however, I'M
til arrived ut the mouth of the Ku-
Walk AS entered the mouth Of this
frozen river it seemed rs though could
read Abandon hope, all yo who enter
here, written across its horizon, and
the vision of a possible Dantcan Infer
no beyond amazed me-
On the border of little lake whore
L stopped my attention was drawn to n
spot half way up Il steep peak which
had evidently suffered some recent dis
turbance. On arriving at the situation
L saw that great body of earth had
broken away and rolled down the monn-
tain.
The first thing to attract me was
the discovery Of Il small piece of broken
earthenwarc, light brown i'll color, with
an artistically worked trimming of
Greek design worked i'll black pigment.
1t was just such piece us those l had
found i'll New Mexico some years be-
fore, and any one can imagine my
amaZemcnt ut its discovery in that
quarter.
II turned quickly to scan the sides of
the earth where the avalanche had torn
1T apart, and i'll the midst of the crcvicc,
not 300 yards away from where l stood,
saw the protrusion of wall of dull
gray masonry, crumbling and broken,
but showing beyond all doubt, even at
that distance. that the builder was hui
man. On making further Investigations
l found evidences of numerous other
walls ut distance of 80 or more feet
apart, and some of them revealed cor
ners of masonry.
1t soon became evident TO me that
had discovered an American Pompcii
through the work of the avalanche The
remains of houses saw were undoubt-
cdly those of a prehistoric city, covered
with Garth and debris, which had hid
den it through some volcanic action,
possibly during, but most likely long
after, its dcsertion, centuries OH centu-
rics ago.
"All OF the masonry was of beautiful
symmetry, constructed of hewn sand
stone blocks OF an approximately even
size, laid i'll strong mortar beds and
with the joints broken There were
many pieces of broken pottery and other
articles of domestic use lying around the
ruins
But 1 sought higher game, and after
preparing Il wooden handle to n copper
spade which I picked up on the scene
went to digging most industriously.
Almost Immediately my antiquatcd
spade unearthed Il few more fragments
of pottery, which seemed an ominous
sigh AS l reached about six feet be-
meath the surface pots, vases, cups,
plates, jugs, pipes and numerous articles
OF doubtful use and too heavy TO bring
away with me We're uncovered with al
most every thrust of the spade. The last
articles my spade revealed were mixed
sizes OF arrows, spears of odd design,
scIapcrs, hatchets and drills.
aug INTO Il square room which had
no windows i'll the walls. Here I found
some of the finest specimens of pottery
| have ever seen. They We're beautiful
ly decorated and finished i'll way
that Is Il lost art to modern potters
There were many exquisitcly shaped jars,
about 3 feet tall and as perfectly pre-
served as the china just delivered from
the hands of our nineteenth century
pottcrs-if anything, more artistically
proportional.
1t does not require much thought OF
study to SOC IN undnninLln oonnnntia,,