The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-08-04
AS SEEN BY EXPLORERS
APPEARANCE OF MOUNDS OF
 THE AMERICAN BOTTOM
Mysterious Earthquakes Along the Mississippi River and in Missouri Results of Recent Investigations.

Results of Recent Investigations.
 Below the mouth of the Missouri riv-
 CT. for some fifty or sixty miles. the Mississippi is bordered on the east by a rich alluvial plain, once the center, ae- cording to modern archaeologists, of a large population of prehistoric inhabl- tants. These early inhabitants built Tn this region, generally known as the American bottom, a series of mounds that are still visible, among them Ca hokla, the largest native earthWork III America, situated not far from modern St. Louis and named in honor of the Cahoklas, an extinct tribe of American Indians. Although comparatively little can now be known about the history Of this interesting section, where the far
 mer's blow has already lowered and all tered the shape of many of the mounds, 1 the region is considered the richest in the country in possible future discover lies of archaeological importance, and
 in a recent publication MT. D. I. Bush nell, Jr., has described the appearance of the group as the mounds looked when first seen by European eyes; their
 history, so far as 1t can be at present surmised, and the various objects that have already been unearthed in their vicinity.
 .tThe large number of unusually large mounds that stood formerly on either side of the Mississippi, and the great quantity of prehistoric implements and utensils that have been discovered" " says Mir. Bushnell mark that region as an important center of population of the prehistoric tribes of North Ameri- ca"
 GROUPS OF MOUNDS.
 The Cahokla group of mounds stands near the center of the American bot tom. about six miles distant from the river and just south of Caholsla creek, a small waterway that may have easily served the original mound builders as a connecting link with the Mississippi, and thus with a far spreading area of prehistoric North America. The main group, which surrounds the truncated rectangular pyramid that giant Caho- kia still rises one hundred feet above the original surface, includes some six ! ty-seyen mounds. Extending from this group in adirection south of west, a chain of large mounds ends in group of smaller ones near the Missippi, and, before St. Louis occupied the site some twenty or more mounds stood on the l opposite bank. Seven miles north of Cahokia stands a group of eleven mounds with several isolated earth works not very far distant. ther small Her elevations have probably entirely disappeared under ages of cultivation. Cahokia itself has been partly cultiva- 1 ted and is often spoken of as Monks mound'' in memory of Trappist monks who planted their wheat on it's summit nearly a century ago. These monks, when the explorer Brakenbridge visited l them in 1911, were living in several cab l ins located on one of the smaller ele- vations, probably the one immediately southwest of Cahokia. Tn referring to Cahokia itself, he says: The step or apron has been used as kitchen gar den ... and the top is sowed with l wheat"
 Taken as a whole these remarkable artificial elevations, built by the mys- tarious mound builders about whom so much has been written and so little ever definitely discovered are rectangu- 1 lar or conical in shape. Cahokia itself apparently consisted of series of high terraces, the area of the base being about sixteen acres. Regarding the iname Cahokla, Professor Putnam has said: While there is not the slightest evidence that the Cahoklas of the time of La Sale were the builders of this, or Of other mounds in the vicinity, 1t Is a gratification to be able to perpetuate the name of an extinct tribe of Ameri- can Indians, in connection with this monument of an unknown American nation, rather than that of a religious order of foreign origin"
 OF THE ILLINOIS TRIBES.
 These Cahokias were one of the two Illinois tribes-the other was the Ta- naoas, who have been left so far with out any memorial whateyer-frequent- Ny mentioned by early explorers of the Mississippi valley. They are now very much part of the ancient history of North America. The site of an ancient village of Cahokias and Tamaoas, visi- ted by Charlevoix in 1721 after the two tribes had been amalgamated, was pro- bably not very far from the present set tlenent which perpetuates the name of the former tribe; and 1t IS here that the party of Tamaoas taken to France in 1720 may have returned after their visit to the gay French capital and their presentation to royalty. In 1769 Ponti- ac was murdered near the same village. Just why the mounds were built is one of the unanswered questions, hard- ly more likely to be definitely settled than the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask. The mounds were built, and the Man in the Iron Mask did in- habit the Bastile, and that is all that research, archaeological or historical has ever been able to find out about either. One theory, says MT. Bushnell, lean be readily disposed of--they were not burial mounds. In seven mounds |that have been opened on elevated ground the finding of potheads, bits of clipped chert and the indication of fire, all on what appeared to have been the original surface, would point strongly to their having been the remains of earth covered lodges. Early explorers mention seeing such Indian lodges in different parts of the valley.
 Mounds, however, that can be partly accounted for on the theory that they
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