The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-06-07

r. D I. BUSHNELL JES., of the Peabody
museum at Harvard, has completed a ,
plaster model Of the so-called Cahokia
49, group of mounds in Illinois, the pre-
servation Of which, either by private Il
purchase or public appropriation, is
being earnestly advocated by number of Amer
lean archaeologists national duty. in order
that one of the most important of all the relics
OF the mysterious mound builders may be saved
for future study and investigation.
This remarkable group of mounds
which the big Cahokia mound is famous as the
largest structure Of its kind in the world-fol-
lows the winding course of the little Cahokia,
river. near where it empties into the Misss-
sippi and was once connected, by a line of sin
gle tunuli with the smaller group of mounds
from which st. Louis derives its title Of the
Mound City" The great mound of st. Louis
has now vanished forever, but mound still
remains among the Cahokia group which is be-
neved to be almost its exact counterpart. The
age of these mounds antedates any tradition
concerning them among the North American In
dians. Like others scattered about in different
parts of the United States, they have. fgureds
prominently in various romantic theories Of an
early race, differing from the Indians, and.
finally either exterminated by them or driven
into Central America there to become the pre-
cursors of the civilization discovered and de-
strOyed by the Spaniards. Modern archa eology,
unfortunately for the romance of the story, dis
credits this picturesque theory and attributes
the mounds directly to the distant ancestors of
the present Indians-an explanation that still
leaves sufficient material however, for the
imagination.
However that may be, Cahokia is the king Of
all American mounds. 1t covers nearly fourteen
acres of land, and stands, as has been said by
Prof. Putnam, of Harvard in the same relation
to other mounds as the great pyramid Of Egypt
to the monuments of the valley of the Nile" It
is perhaps all the more interesting in that no
measures have yet been taken for it's permanent
preservation, and 1t is therefore always in dan
ger of being put to modern utilitarian purposes
and becoming eventually a mere memory
hardly less dim that that of the mysterious ma
ton which originally built it. Such a fate
would deprive America of what is, in many re-
spects, absolutely its most remarkable native
monument, and the archaeologists are not alone
in hoping that it will be avoided Situated near
the center Of a group Of some seventy-fve
mounds-practically also in the very center of
the mound builders empire, the great American
bottom land between the Mississippi and the
crescent shaped range of bluffs that begins Just
opposite the mouth of the Missouri, Cahokia af-
fords view of the valley in all directions over
looking st. Louis. something like five miles to
the west Its general structure suggests COM
parison with the Teocallf ruined temples Of
Mexico, and its more careful investigation al
though neither money nor opportunity has yet
made such investigation possible, is considered
study Of American archaeology.
In its own immediate neighborhood Cahokia
Is best known as Monks Mound" name de-
rived from a mistaken tradition that the old
Trappist monks once made it their headquar-
tors. AS long ago as 1911, however Mr.. H M.
breckenridge, whose account of his impressions
is still recognizable by anyone who travels over
the same path. stated definitely that the monks
lived near the mound, but not on it, when
reached the foot Of the principal mound" wrote
Mr.. Breckenridge. 81 was struck with a degree
or establishment, not unlike that which is ex-
perlenced in contemplating the Egyptian pvra-
3IlldS. What a Stupendous pile Of earthf To
.heap up SUCH a mass must have required wears
ana the laborS OF thousands. 9 1t stands
immediately on the banks Of the Cahokia and
OH the side next 1t, is covered with lofty trees
Were 1t not for the regularity and design which
IT nlanteSts, the circumstance of its being on
aIuvlal ground, and the other mounds scattered
around g IT, We could hardly believe it the work
paralleogram. standing from north TO south.
on the south side there is a broad apron or
step, ABOUT half way down, and from this an
other projection into the plain about fifteen feet
wide, which was probably intended as an ascent
TO the mound. BY stepping around the base T
computed the circumference to be aft len st ann
YARDS ana the height of the mound about ninety
ieet; Inc step or apron has been used a q
kltchen garden by the monks of La TranDe set
iteG near this. and the top Is sowed with wheaf,s
Ihts early visitor concluded after an examina
ZION OF the other smaller mounds, that a very