The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1935-03-28
s@aasxs.
THE PATH OF THE MOUND
BUILDERS.

BUILDERS.
1t is with feeling of the immensely
and the reality of ancient and prehis-
toric history that we Of today must
contemplate and visualize the practice
of arts by the early aboriginal inhab-
itants of what is now the state Of Mon
tana, which has made it possible for
US to see the traces Of earth mounds
and other artificial earth tumuli which
appear today along the courses of the
inland waterways of Montana 1t is
hard to realize, yet is true. that $500
years previous to the arrival Of Co
lumbus to the shores of America,
highly cultured race Of people inhabited
what is now the states of Montana,
Idaho and Washington. Even into the
adjoining districts of British Columbia,
Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada,
archaeologists find evidence Of the race
known as the Mound Builders
Who were these people? The answer
has been withheld for several years,
not owing to any cause which would
disprove theories, but to wait until abb
| oO4AN@ AEAAllE AlAOlIIldllOIl GO0lA @QE
presented to the reading public which
would stand scrutiny. Archaeologists
and anthropologists have refused to
commit themselves to any definite con-
clusions regarding the origin of the
Mound Builders until they could COM
plete their investigations of this strange
race from all angles. But at last, after
painstaking search, working through
every tangible clew which has been
dug from the earth, from the hills, the
mountains, the beds Of streams and
rivers in Montana and elsewhere, arch
aeologists have pieced together the
fragments Of the story which the
ancient races have left for us of this
generation to solve. And this history in
the form of artifacts, pictoglyphs, burial
ceremonial and fertilization mounds is
one of the most complex ever found
For ten years archaeologists have
been tracing the path which it is sup
posed the Mound Builders took prior
to their arrival along the Missouri, The
Milk, the Mississippi Ohio and other
inland waterways In the United States
Every possible angle has been checked
Artifacts have been compared and re-
compared. Human skeleton remains ex-
amined closely. Measurements of skulls
have been studied by expert crainiolo-
gists and compared with skulls Of other
races of mankind. The result of this
search has been definite picture Of
the route taken by this race during
their migration through the western
portion of the North American con-
/ tinent.
| Years for Migration
Taking into consideration the fact
that many obstacles had to be met by
the early day races who inhabited what
is now western Montana and elsewhere,
the migration of the Mound Builders
which originated in Asia is fixed at an
approximate time Of arrival of POPS B.
c., in what is now the territory of
Alaska. This migration which came by
way of the Boring Straits consisted of
about 100000 men, women and children
and according to word pictures" or
pictoglyphs which appear upon the
time worn walls of canyons in Mon
tana, North and South Dakota which
depict this great march of prehistoric
times, many hardships and battles faced
these intrepid pioneers as they fought
their way mile by mile to the south
land
The Mound Builders took at least
/ 1000 years to pass from what is now
Alaska down to their southernmost
point of habitation which was the Yu-
catan Peninsula Of Mexico. AT this
point they are believed to have ANAL
gamated with the Mayas and contrib
uted their cultural development along
with that of the Mayas and the Aztecs.
Great Works Of the East.
The greatest works Of the Mound
Builders appear at Lewistown, ILL.,; on
the Spoon River, at Wickliffe, KY.
where last year 100 human skeleton
remains of the Mound Builders were
unearthed in a giant burial mound. at
Fort Ancient, north Of Cincinnati, o.:
and at various points along the Ohio,
the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers.
Lesser works of the early cultural
development OF this. race appear be-
tween Missoula and Kalispell, following
on q line north and south, along the
Big Fork of the Swan river, and along
the banks Of F1athead Lake near Pol
son, and up near Kalispell. In this
area there have been found arrow
heads of chalcedony, obsidian, glacial
granite and carboniferous of Mississip-
plan bluff limestone which are the for
nations which were used by the Mound
Builders in making their implements
Of agriculture and war. Between the