New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-20
MISREPRESENTATION OF THE MOUND BUILDERS
THEY COULD NOT BUILD WALLS WHICH WOULD
STANDING ECONOMIC USE OF METALS

eating with the fort. Mr. Foxke says: "But We ara
left IN ignorance as to the method By which men
animals could find their way into OF through a
tunnel whose entrance was at the bottom OF a
pool over thirty feet deep and its exit IN a mud
hole than two hundred and fifty feet above
This may be the place 70 which NadaiIlac refers
when he says that mound builders works ara
ccnnecte1 with each other BY deep trenches and
secret passages. some OF them hewn out beneath
the beds Of rivers CPrehistoric Peoples page 80
From Utah. Kansas. Indiana. Illinois. Texas
and. perhaps. other places come reports OF corn
dug from the bottom OF a mound. which. being
planted. produces bountifuI crop. As a rule. tho
grain OF this corn different from any other ever
discoveries, and his report affords fitting end 10
these aosurditles. he says tnat near ne great
floor. paved with adobe. having an area Of quite
been thrashed on this spot and stood in bins made
OF the same material the remains OF which are
DG Pres article fhs9 goes on hystercaIy aSou.
countless nyriads OF people, skulls and thigh
Inaining bones entirely disappear5: in the swamp
canals By which foods were rendered impossible;
broad farms OF hundreds and even thousands OK
'mightier tasks than those achieved by modern
with sliding lid half full OF pills whose potency
had caused the bones OF the mound building pa
enough. he makes no mention Of the tan man WITH
heavy whiskers and an unusually large jaw. who g
shape Of bIriT' weather beaten sailor who hs5
pens along Just in time to pronounce an exhumsd
has before him wheat raised in Arkansas from
agus- Strange. but true il is. this very wheat
mounds near Memphis, Tenn, which IS sufficient
proof that the mound builders are descended from
"The greatest mistake that has ever been printed
In regard to American antiquities comes from
less a person than americas most eminent his
tortan. 1t Is quite opposite in its nature the
gSRsTsl ten0r of those which have Just been con-
Mr. Fowks quotes statement OF Bancroft's to
has no monuments. Where imagination
fashions relics OF artificial walls geology sees but
crumbs OF decaying sandstone the mounds
Power that sSape5i the gIobe into wales and HI
locks He adds that 1t IS only fair TO state that
this quotation does not appear In the latest edi-
'Broadhead says OF a walled burial place; The
walls were constructed or rough limestone taken
less the Illustrations which he gives OF them rep
resent straight lines, sharp angles. smooth curves
and accuracy or htting sucn as would re posstol9
only with slabs dressed by a skilled artisan.
- t5 SL+( ne GUS, ' hs s3 ~ s in
sptraton to various persons for the assertion that
large buildings, constructed with great regularly
Of stone accurately cut and fitted. are still to DO
found in Missouri. -
has ever appeared in q scientific disguise IS thas
Of a former State Geologist OF Indiana. who f9f-
stone fort at the mouth Of Fourteen Mile Creek.
IN Clark County near Charleston Across me HS S5
River. he says. wall Is piled up mason fashion:
seventy-hve feet above its base the upper ten
feet being vertical The plate which Accompanies
ss Is0 appaTa2 ssse ar m Squared
wall along the creek is said 70 be similarly ogl,
logical Report ls7a page l52 Both the plan 1na ana
mary The reported walls are only the natural
outcrop of the heavy, evenly beddec hmestoheS =.
capacity with a seoIogical Survey. even as cook
mule driver could ever have made sucnI q Flu'--
Again 1t is stated that the great nagniJqes 2,
the works SHOWS numerous population 0lstElo-..ss
Central bower with kings, and chiefs and hgh
priests and laws. and established religious syssn
IF the assumption upon which all this IS Sssss
scattered through the Mississippi valley we're o.
cupied at one time ~ one people there r NG rat
Is deanitely known points the other way-to DIS
ttnct races OF mound builders az widely sepaE@"SA
"A close study Of the Enclosures leads to the con-
viction that the population was not numerous, ca
not necessarily built synchronOusly-in fact, some
have the appearance OF being Of much mSF s,S NJ
What their use may have been has always oss5, =
nculties to overcome. Among other SUGGESTIONS
the plausible that they were intended - =
II this be the correct theory (which IS not as
serted Il can be readily understood that wen 70 ~
such degree as to feel crowded, portion Woa-a
branch on and establish themselves at some an IN
closure or protective wall similar to tn@' 49,
Moreover. IL the great centre OF ell this power
within the southern half CT OHIO; IS Y 20 To-
principal fortihcatons in the interior leaving us
''The 'kings.' priesthood religious systems.
ETC. result fI95n he intfpsnse Of VIVID VIII ysVsd
IN its simplest aspect bun weIInigh impossible T. "a
the original question. be added the mystery -
nonsense in which so many are trying 10 sa'''