Arizona republican., 1899-06-29
CITY OF THE ANClENTS
Supposed 10 Have a Population Of
 Eleven Millions.

statement has attracted so much at
 tenuon I realize that it is my duty to add further particulars and details of
 the discovery. With the experience of fifty years as an explorer to aid me in
 my researches. I visited the counties of
 Ashley. DeSha and Drew in the south eastern section of Arkansas, where 1
 found a vast area covered by the
 ''tumu!l" of the mound builders. There could be no doubt at all in any mind.
 with the evidence as it was before me. that this was the grand
 metropolis of that prehistoric race
 known as the mound builders.
 surveyed an area of thirtE-fve
 miles west and twenty-tive miles north
 embracing a territory of not less than
 56O.000 square acres. and. be it under
 stood, this did not cover the whole of
 the ground on which the city had been built. for the tunlull reached far be i ynnd the region traversed by me i On each acre there were about four
 mounds and q close examination of
 these disclosed to my great delight. the remains of fireplaces and the shattered
 crockery used in cooking. In some
 an even closer examination revealed the charr,d demains of the bones of
 deer bear. turkeys squirrel and fish. So immense was the prehistoric city through which I travelled that I am satisfied New York. Chicago. London
 and Paris could be placed inside its area. Making an estimate on the
 basis that each dwelling of the great
 city contained five inhabitants I com
 puted that at least 11CG0 eco peop,e
 must have lived in this prehistoric place.
 It w2s &xe-insp:r.ng, thrilling, to
 reflect. standing there amid the ruins
 Of the dwelling place of the countless
 millions of the prehistoric race that
 dveIt in the Yazoo valley, that here lived the mysterious people who ante dated any inhabitants known to have lived on our continent This valley of the Yazoo was their field. The entire del;a was in a high state of cultivation. Every acre was utilized for agricultu- ral purposes Thousands of canals were dug and used for irrigation and navigation and the pottery discovered shows that they manufactured suPe rior articles of earthenware for domes- tic purposes.
 I found nothing in the course of my explora tions to throw any light on the reason why the prehistoric builders erected their colossal structures ill mound fashion. Perhaps they were in tended for q ferse. and it is certain th1,: the mounds were built in military i nation ani were provided with c;s terms for water The erections sur veycd by ne were of tha usual height. l ranging from five to thirty feet. while | the areas inclosed were of from twenty-five to forty acres in extent, : and few much larger.
 Ii will be interesting in connection i with the discovery of this metropolis | of the mound builders to review brief | ly the known facts of the work of | these ancient people.
 To begin from the north. That DOT ton of the United States which lies be, ween the Applachians and the ! Rocky mounains presents in three groups at once the oldest and rudest monuments of bygone times. The first group extending from the sources Of the Allegheny to the waters Of &he Ssfssippi-AIiSsouri the second 0c cupying the Mississippi valley. vague " so defined and the third stretchirg from South Carolina to Texas. These several groups. apparently with very lttle difference among themselves consist of nulnberlesS mounds. and of earth and s5onc- .500 of the latter and 10C9Q of the former being said to stud Ohio alone. The erecti0ns themselves range from five to thirty feet in hcight, while the areas inclosed-generally of some symmetrical figure, such as a circle or eclipse, rectangular paralleiogram or regular polygoa-vary from twenty to forty acres. The circumvallat.ons, seem generally to contain the mounds, and sometimes a smaller circumvallation is surrounded by larger one W1ether thsze colossal structures were intended for worship or for defense, it $ impossible to de- eide; more probably, however, they were of military character. provided, as they ordinarily were. with cisterns for water. But, whatever their ongIn, they derive interest from the analo- gous fact that within ths same terri ,orial limits have been dug up vases of oarthenware or copper in elegant forms, pipe bowls decorated wi@h hu- man heads of the type of the existing aborig.nes, or with those Of birds, etc, domestic utensils. personal orHa- ments, hatchets of stone and, lastly. weapons of copper or mica, or shell ~,