Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-09
TOMB OF THE QUEEN
OF AMERICA
Scientists are Exploring Its Wonder
full Depths to Learn Something Of
This Beautiful Sovereign.

Allegheny, Pa, June THE inStitu-
tons of learning and archaeological So
cieties of Pennsylvania are much inter-
ested in the news that an English insti-
tute has appointed a committee, consist
ing of nine delegates. to make a trip to
this country for the purpose of decipher-
ing the inscription on the tombs which
have been unearthed in western Pennsyl-
Vania.
1t is now two years or more since these
excavations began, and the excitement
which they aroused to fever heat has not
died down in archaeological societies.
What was before a matter of interest has
become one of intense curiosity. and, in
stead of solving itself by modern meth
DDS of hieroglyphics. the strange writing
remains as impenetrable as ever.
1t has been ascertained beyond ques-
ton that, 5000 years ago, there lived in
the country, now known as the western
part of Pennsylvania and the eastern
part of Ohio. a beautiful woman VINO
ruled this vast territory as it's queen.
There is record of her in the ancient
mounds and there are references to her
in the archaeological findings of north
western New York, yet who she was. Of
what race, color. style or description
there is no record, other thar thai to be
III AiSA o'iAN piiA Va ~
husband which We're found standing in
the urn by her side.
THE DEAD QUEEN.
That this queen was tall and that she
was pretty are KNOWN. Her skeleton is
long and symmetrical and her fingers ia
per toward the tips like those of an art
list. 1t is likely that she was talented and
loved beauty, for all the details attending
the tomb are those of a woman whose
taste for the beautiful was we'll devel-
oped.
When the remains of this queen We're
discovered all the credit was given Pro-
fesors GerrOdette and Harper, the former
of the Carnegie museum, and the latter
a scientist of the state. But
since then the work of excavation has
bee carried on by others until traces of
this mysterious queen hav been found as
far north as Buffalo On Lake Erie. and as
far west and further than Cleveland.
The theory is that. once upon a time,
probably about 5000 years ago, there
lived here a queen, not an Indian, ans
we now know the Indians, bu t a queen of
a prehistoric race. This parsonage owned
and ruled the vast tract of country ex-
tending from Buffalo to Pittsburg and
from Allegheny about to %Sandusky. This
gave her a vast square tract of land
which could not have been traversed, in
the methods of those days, in less than
three weeks of travel. north and south.
and over which the queen probably trav-
eled not more than once a eyar. z
That she divided her time between. the
north and south of the country is proven
by the inscriptions found on the tablets
Of the north. One, deeply buried. and dis
covered on the shores of Lake Erie. told
a story it is presumed of triumph, for it
Is exquisitely decorated with immense
leaves, something like the laurels of to-
1nN an ~ r. s--A ---A
of Columbus, told a tale of sorrow. for it
has inscriptions which in all the tablets
of those days spoke of woe.
HER STORY.
But by far the most important of all
are the excavations which have been
made near Pitsburg and which at the
time attracted so much attention. The
hierOglyphics have never been fully de-
ciphered, nor ave the puzzles of their
buried state been solved, but the tracery
was so important and positive that it left
little room for doubt on the important de-
tails.
The story, as now believed, Is that the
queen who raveled so constantly from
north to south, found at last that the
country was not suited to her and to her
people. AS early as 5000 years g oil
began bubbling from the ground and
when the people dug for stone they Found,
brittle to be used for building n too
dirty to be handled. 1t was coal but little
did they know its value.
The queen desiring to inc a new and
betterc ountry Travelled further south
and west each time, even on the search.
On one of these expeditions it is pre-
summed that the queen was taken ill and
that she died before shec ould be taken
home The mound which holds her re-
mains has no traces of her personal pcs
sessions. or of her clothing, such as they
used to bury with the dead, nor are there
any Of her household implements. No.