USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 2
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
300
First Road Petition 235
First Schools 261
First Settler
231
Free and Accepted Masons
319
Furniture Industry
380
G
Geology 217
Graduate School 294
Grand Jury, First 235
H
Harrodsburg 409
Hindostan 434
I
Independent Order of Odd Fellows __ 319 Indian Creek Township 218, 227, 411
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Indian Occupancy 221
Indiana University 271
Indianapolis Southern Railroad 449
J
Jackson Township 229
Jail
1 240
Jordan Field 288
Judges, Associate 253
Judges, Circuit
253
Judges, Probate
J
1
252
Jury, First Grand 235
Justices of the Peace
254
K
Knights of Pythias
320
L
Lamb Township 227
Land Entries, Bloomington Town-
ship
367
Lawyers 321
Library, Old County 245
Licenses
236
Lincoln Funeral
398
Lincoln's Assassination 350
Local Option Election 256
Mc
McHolland, David
231
M
Manufacturing Industries 379
Marion Township 220, 413
Masonic Order 319
Medical History 325
Methodist Episcopal Churches 304
Mexican War 331
Military History
330
Military Roster 352
Miscellaneous 435
Monroe Co. Historical Society 441
Monroe County, Organization 224
Monroe County Quarries 364
Monroe County Seminary 265
Morgan's Raid 345
Mt. Tabor 401
Muster Day 375
N
New Albany & Salem Railroad
446
Newspapers of Monroe County
300
0
Odd Fellows 319
Old County Library 245
Old Settlers' Society 437
Old University Campus 284
Oolitic Stone Industry
360
Organization of Monroe County 224
P
Perry Township
217, 229, 415
Physicians, Early 325
Physicians, Present 329
Pioneer Tales 453
Plats
435
Platting of Bloomington 370
Political History 246
Polk Township 220, 229, 418
Poor Farm 241
Population
436
Presbyterian Churches 1
306
Present Bar
325
Present Court House 1 239
Present Physicians 1 329 1
1
1
1
Presidential Vote
246
1 Probate Judges I 252 1.
Professional Schools
1
283
Prosecuting Attorneys
253
Public Buildings
237
Q
Quarries
364
Quarrying Methods 362
R
Raccoon Township 227
Recorders 250
Reformed Presbyterian Church 307
Religious History 304
Reminiscences of Bloomington
393
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Richland Township
217, 229, 421
Roster of Monroe Soldiers 352
S
Salt Creek Township
220, 229, 427
School Examiners 254
School of Education 283, 293
School of Law
283, 291
School of Medicine
283, 292
School Superintendents
254
Schools, First 261
Schools of 1913 268
Schools, Township 262
Seminary, County 265 1 I 1 1
"Seminary" Township
I
415
Seminary Trustees
252
Sheriffs 250
Showers
Bros. Company
380
Smithville
410
Spanish-American War 357
Stanford
430
State University 271
Stinesville
402
Stone Companies
364
Stone Industry
360
Superintendents of School 254
Surveyors, County 252
T
Tales of Pioneer Days 453
Tavern Licenses
236
Tax Levies, Early
236
Topography
217
Township Schools 262
Treasurers, County 251
Treaties
222
Trustees, Seminary 252
U
Unionville
405
United Presbyterian Church 307
University Buildings
285
University Charter
280
University Chronology
294
University Expenses
290
University Funds
281
University, Indiana 271
University Legislation 272
University Library Building 285
University Observatory
288
University Presidents 296
V
Valuations, Assessed 245
Van Buren Township
218, 229, 429
Village Plats
435
Vincennes University 273
W
War Meetings
334
Washington Township 219, 229, 432
Wayport
434
White Men, First Here
222
1
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX
A
Acoam, John W. 635
Akin, R. A. 542
Allen, William J. 743
Atwater, Amzi
520
B
Bailey, John S. 544
Baker, Herschel E. 699
Barnes, Alexander
675
Barrow, Harrison R.
746
Batman, Ira C.
592
Bell, Oscar E.
748
Blair, J. W. 558
Blakely, William O. 655
Boruff, James E.
1
1
627
Bray, Samuel
583
Breeden, W. T.
659
Brinkworth, Thomas M.
625
Brooks, Thomas J.
482
Brown, John S. 597 1
Brown, William A. 534 1 1
1 Bryan, William Lowe 1 1
471
Burton, Martin A.
1
727
Buskirk, Lawrence V.
672
1
1
Buskirk, Philip K. 1 1
530
1 1 Butler, Charles P. 615
1
Byrns, James D.
723
C
Caress, James M. 740
Carey, Harry K. 651
Carpenter, Earl C. 665
Chapman, Thomas N. 628 1
1
Chase, Hollis H.
562
Chitty, Howard 700 1 1
Clark, M. C. 643
Collier, James F. 732
Collins, S. W. 648
Corr, Edwin
751
Cox, Alex
683
Crabb, Mortimore 708
Cravens, Oscar H.
712
Crim, Isaac H.
736
D
Dilley, Joseph T.
604
Dodds, Andrew
681
Dodds, Samuel C.
488
1
Duncan, Henry Clay
1
1
496
Duncan, J. B.
518
1
Dunihue, Fred T.
620
E
East, Rufus H.
581
Edwards, Ezra W.
742
F
Fenneman, Fred W.
749
Fields, Albert J.
560
Fowler, John P. 716
Freeland, John T.
550
1
Fulwider, W. A.
704
1
1
G
Gibbons, John A. 733
Grant, Herman U. 588
Guthrie, Alfred 552
Guthrie, Marshall
762
Guthrie, Mitchell R.
646
H
Hamer, G. Albert 721
Hanna, Ulysses S.
573
Hardwick, Thomas S.
694
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Harris, C. E.
599
Harris, Jolın G. 533
Harris, Oliver K. 596
Harris, Thomas L. 614
Harris, Walter W.
596
Harris, William B.
756
Henley, George W.
662
1
Henley, Joseph E. 696 1
Hill, Nathaniel U., Sr. 461 1 1
Hill, Nat U.
664
Hill, Philip B. 587 1
Hinkle, Charles 1 I
624
Hoadley, Albert T.
1 1 656
Hoadley, Burt G.
610
Hobbs, Joel L.
516
1
I
Hobbs, E. M. C.
688
Holland, J. E. P. 515
Holmes, Joseph L. 725
Hostetler, Alonzo H. 667
Howe, Jesse A.
690
Hubbard, William A.
670
Hughes, Louis W.
556
J
Jackson, George B. 701
Jones, Walter A.
1 684
Jones, Walter H. 674
Julius, Fred F.
735
K
Keach, Sherman L. 602
Keane, Edward M.
719
Kelly, John C.
629
L
Lamkins, Frank W. 557
Lannert, Joseph 543
Lee, Henry A. 568
Lee, Rogers A. 720
Louden, Theodore J.
676
Louden, William M. 728
Mc
McDonald, Arthur J. 494
Mckinley, Cornelius 759
McPheeters, Joseph G. 640
M
Martin, William H. 484
Marxson, C. H. 536
Mathes, William A. 622
Matthews, Fred
616
Medaris, William H. 601
Miers, Robert W. 584
Miller, Robert G. 570 1 1
1 Milligan, Thomas 537
Moore, Edward P. 578
Moore Family
576
Moore, Milton N. 577
Moore, Silas
576
Murphy, Edgar R.
709
Myers, Burton Dorr
760
N
Neeld, Cyrus N. S. 668
Newland, Ben 504
Nichols, John L. 509
Nichols, Leo
509
Norman, Olin B.
1
745
0
O'Harrow, John W.
632
Otis, Fred B.
633
Owen, McHenry 539
Owens, Fred I.
692
Owens, James K.
641
P
Palmer, Robert N. 547
Pearson, Henry P. 715
Pearson, John R. 510
Perry, Eugene H. R.
618
Plummer, Richard E.
714
R
Reed, Millard C. 736
Regester, J. F. 717
Rice, J. Marion 575
Rogers, O. F. 706 1
Rogers, R. C.
706
Rothrock, David A.
579
1
1
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
S
V
Sanders, Lawrence B. 487
Shaw, Lyman Emery 680
Short, Earl G. 499 1
Voris, Joseph R.
476
Showers, J. D. 608 1 1
Showers, William N. 1 1
480
Simpson, Morrell 653 1 1
W
Small, Charles S. 527 1 1
Stalker, Elbert J.
612
Stipp, William E. 686 1 1 I
Strain, Joseph 755 1
Whitted, Silas N. 637 1 I 1 1
Wilcox, Asher S.
528
Wilcox, Thalus M. 606
Williams, Canaan
590
Thornton, Edmund B. 502
Thornton, George D.
753
Tourner, J. P.
478
Trainor, Joseph W.
649
Woolery, Marshall
738
1
1
1
Williams, Isaac 693
Wilson, J. B.
594
Woodburn, Walter E. 524
1
1
T
Waldron, Charles B. 500
1
Walker, Rolla F. 660
Weaver, William W. 507 1
Strout, Noyes E. 652
Van Valzah, F. B. 549
Voris, Archibald C. 512
LAWRENCE COUNTY, INDIANA
CHAPTER I.
THE GEOLOGICAL AND SURFACE FORMATIONS.
From various state geological reports the following has been deduced concerning the geology of Lawrence county, in a general way :
Undulating or gently rolling plateaus, drained by deep, narrow valleys, obtain in the eastern and northeastern portions of the county. The central region north of White river is very hilly, and the western and southwestern is rough and broken. Each of these divisions is covered with a soil almost wholly formed from decomposition of underlying rocks. In that part of the county underlaid by St. Louis limestone, comprising a broad belt twelve miles in width, passing centrally from northwest to southeast, "sink-holes" are very numerous. The chief streams are the East fork of White river, Indian, Big Salt, Little Salt, Leatherwood, Guthrie, Back, Sugar, Fishing and Beaver creeks. Originally, the county was well timbered with large forests of oak, hickory, beech, maple, chestnut, walnut, elm, etc.
The geological formations of this county comprise three divisions of the quarternary age, two of the coal measure group and four of the sub- carboniferous group. . The formations dip slightly, with a variable rate, from east northeast to west southwest, and the outcrop from east to west in the county represents a vertical measurement of about seven hundred feet. From east to west the formations, in the order of age, outcrop as follows: Knob- stone group, Keokuk group, St. Louis group, sub-carboniferous group, car- boniferous group, quarternary group. No drift is to be found in the county, save occasional traces brought down by streams which have their origin farther to the north.
Briefly, the geological sections and stratas are these: The quarternary system ; the carboniferous group; the sub-carboniferous group; the St. Louis beds ; the Chester beds; Keokuk beds; Knobstone formation; the coal meas- ure, in the western portion of the county, represented only by beds of shale
26
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
and shaley sandstones on the tops of some of the high elevations and hilltops ; the conglomerate or millstone grit below the coal measure. Then comes the real Chester formation the upper member being a valuable liinestone, whitish gray to dark brown.
Number 21, known as "Bedford stone," is the material so well known and so extensively used by builders throughout the country, especially in the West. It appears to be formed almost entirely of minute fossil cemented together with shell and coal dust. It varies in color from gray to creamy white, and is found in almost endless quantity as thick as twelve feet, suitable to saw, cut, carve and mold in any desired shape. Beneath this is the famous fossil bed, containing seventy species, and it is from a few inches thick to four feet in some localities. All are very small and some even microscopic, yet very perfect and beautiful.
The knobstone shale is the lowest visible formation in the county, and is nearly five hundred feet thick and outcrops on the eastern and southeastern portions. Outcrops are seen at Ft. Ritner, Guthrie and at other places in this county.
A mile or so southwest of Bedford is what is known as Dunihue's cave. It contains many beautiful chambers, with stalactites of rare purity and many other beautiful, curious formations. Here the fine white limestone, so valu- able in this section of Indiana, is found in immense quantities. As long ago as 1883 it was written of this location : "The stone is so soft at first that it is easily chiseled and moulded, and it is peculiarly suited for door and window caps and sills, columns and highly ornamented capitals and brackets. Weather hardens it. The hard laminated limestone is four feet thick ; the white quarry limestone is ten feet thick and the blue quarry limestone is seven feet thick. The quarry of N. L. Hall was extensively worked in this stone. A powerful engine drove three gangs of saws. The white limestone has all the excellent qualities above described. It has been used in the Bedford court house, the postoffice at Indianapolis, the State University at Bloomington, the new state house of Illinois, the Louisville custom house, etc. It is a famous stone."
The St. Louis section in the valleys of Salt and Leatherwood creeks near Bedford, the whole depth of the St. Louis limestone outcrops, have a perpen- dicular measurement of about one hundred feet.
In the vicinity of Fayetteville the blue and gray limestone measures thirty-five to forty feet in thickness.
The hills north of White river are generally capped with members of the Chester formation, and sometimes almost six hundred feet above the river bed. A half mile west of Chester Huron, the Chester beds are found, and
27
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
at one time were extensively worked, and the material was known as "Huron stone." The bed is twenty-five feet thick.
At Connelly's Hill, the flint bed section was worked by the Indians. Here they quarried material for their arrow and spear points. Fire hearths are seen in the adjoining valley, surrounded with flint chips. Mounds are also found on this hill.
The country around Mitchell was originally a valley of erosion, and later the flood plain of White river. The surface rocks are of the upper cherty member of the St. Louis beds. Here fossils abound in great quantities. In numerous wells have frequently been found eyeless fishes. Here the soil is rich in plant food.
On section 26, township 4, range I west, is a coral reef. Valuable specimens of coral have been found and sent to national collections. The pre- historic people here evidently made their reddish colored stone implements and ornaments. Years ago large amounts of lime were burned near this point. Asa Erwin made fully twenty thousand bushels, which found ready sale on account of its superiority. The waste lime was then used for com- post. There are many caves near this point. Hamer's cave, on section 32, township 4, range I west, is forty-five feet above the valley. The floor is level, six feet wide, and covered with a swift stream of water eight inches deep, though in some places twenty feet in depth. Three-fourths of a mile from the entrance is the first fall. The "grand cascade" is found three hun- dred feet farther on. Eyeless fish, crawfish, etc., are here seen in great numbers.
Donnelson's cave, with its blind fishes, is on section 33 of this same township and range. Here, at one time, was a large line of mills, including a saw mill, grist mill, woolen factory, etc., all driven by a positive water power. The interior shows that at one date gunpowder was manufactured here. Within this wonderful cave the roar of a magnificent cascade may be heard. Here one finds a well formed hall, twelve feet high by three hundred feet in length and forty-four feet wide. There thousands of bats congregate ; eyeless fishes and crickets are also found.
In 1884 it was written of the great kaolin mines of Spice valley: "The substance known as kaolin is a variety of clay produced by the decomposition of the mineral feldspar, fused with other minerals, and is used for the pro- duction of porcelain ware. These mines are by far the best in the state-not surpassed anywhere. They were first opened in 1874 by Dr. Joseph Gardner, E. T. Cox. state geologist, and Michael Tempest, potter, of Cincinnati. They made a fine white earthenware. In 1877 these interests were taken over by
28
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia and near Pittsburg. For years they shipped annually two thousand tons of this clay to their factories in Pennsylvania. From the product they made alum of a superior quality."
Mineral springs abound at many places within this county. Their waters are highly medicinal in their composition, and in many instances have been found to do what the more celebrated waters of French Lick will not do. Some of these springs have been used with good results, but the lack of developing and keeping them advertised before the general public has kept them in the background. In an early day, when salt was scarce and high priced, many salt wells were made in Lawrence county, some of these being along Salt creek. One was sunk a hundred and fifty feet on section 8, town- ship 5, range I west. Long years since these salt wells were abandoned as not being profitable, with the discovery of better methods of procuring salt.
In conclusion, it may be added that the stone industry of this county has made it famous and this will form a separate chapter, hence need not be further mentioned in this connection.
CHAPTER II.
OCCUPATION BY PRE-HISTORIC AND INDIAN RACES.
In taking up the early settlement of Lawrence county it is fitting that the aboriginal inhabitants, the discoveries, and the various treaties and other deals incident to the settlement of the county, should be given introductory space. The Indians had practically disappeared as a nation from the south of Indiana when the first settlements were made in the county. The war with Tecumseh was just nearing the close, which came with the battle of Tippe- canoe on November 7, 1811, and the Indian opposition to the land grants made to the United States by various tribes was being destroyed.
These famous treaties, ceding the land of southern Indiana to the gov- ernment, were three in number, and were all written before Tecumseh and his Shawnees rebelled against the white man. The first treaty was made at Fort Wayne, on June 7, 1803, and was called the Vincennes tract. It in- cluded in Lawrence county all of the area south of a line commencing on the western boundary near the middle of section 31, township 4, range 2 west, and running in a direct line to the southeast corner of section 14, township 3 north, range I west, where it leaves the county on the southern border. This tract includes nearly a third of Spice Valley township, and a part of the south- west corner of Marion. The treaty was signed by chiefs of the Shawnee, Delaware, Pottawatomie, Eel River, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia tribes and granted to the United States about one million six hundred thousand acres of land, of which over twelve thousand were in Lawrence county proper.
The second treaty was made at Grouseland, near Vincennes, on August 21, 1805, and in this compact tribes of Pottawatomies, Miamis, Delawares, Eel Rivers and Weas gave to the United States all their land south of a line running from a point north of Orleans, Orange county, to the old Greenville boundary line near where it crossed the Whitewater river in the eastern por- tion of the state. This line traversed Lawrence county in a northeast direc- tion, from the middle of section 17, township 3 north, range I east, to the point where the county corners with Jackson and Washington counties, mak- ing a total area in this county of nine thousand, nine hundred and twenty acres.
The remainder of the territory comprising Lawrence county was ac- quired by the government in what was known as the Harrison Purchase, a
30
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
treaty made at Fort Wayne on September 30, 1809. This included a large area of land mostly on the east side of the Wabash river and below Raccoon creek near Montezuma, Parke county, and running to a point near Seymour, Jackson county, where it intersected the line mentioned in the previous treaty. The area included in this compact was approximately two million nine hun- dred thousand acres.
French, English, and American financiers, in this early day, formed immense land companies, for the purpose of trading or buying immense tracts of valuable territory from the Indians. In the Northwest most of these real estate deals were executed, and in the number was one to the Wabash Land Company, for an area two hundred and ten miles wide, extending from Cat creek, near Lafayette, Tippecanoe county, down the Wabash river to the Ohio, covering a total area of nearly thirty-eight million acres. For all of this the remuneration was as follows: "400 blankets, 22 pieces of stroud, 250 shirts, 12 gross of star gartering, 120 pieces of ribbon, 24 pounds of vermil- ion, 18 pairs of velvet laced housings, I piece of malton, 52 fusils, 35 dozen large buckhorn handle knives, 40 dozen couteau knives, 500 pounds of brass kettles, 10,000 gun flints, 600 pounds of gunpowder, 2,000 pounds of lead, 400 pounds of tobacco, 40 bushels of salt, 3,000 pounds of flour, 3 horses, II silver armbands, 40 wristbands, 6 whole moons, 6 half moons, 9 earwheels, 46 large crosses, 29 hairpipes, 60 pairs of earbobs, 20 dozen small crosses, 20 dozen nose crosses and iro dozen brooches." On October 18, 1775, the deed was signed in Vincennes by eleven Piankeshaw chiefs. Congress refused to recognize the validity of this deed, even though the agents of the land com- pany made many efforts, the last being in 1810. A portion of Lawrence county was included in this treaty as the land here was originally the home of the Piankeshaw tribes.
In saying that the Piankeshaws were the original Indian inhabitants of the land of Lawrence county, some exceptions must be noted. At certain times the Delawares, Shawnees and Pottawatomies acquired a part of this land. However, upon the first advent of the white settlers very little trace of the Indian remained. A few scattering camps and burying grounds were all that constituted the Indian occupancy of the time. The towns were, even in the days before the pioneer, very small, and unproductive of records available for history, Heltonville, Springville and Dougherty's Mill, on Indian creek, marking the sites of the most prominent of the Indian settlements. Nomadic bands fished along the banks of Salt creek (We-pe-pe-moy), the east fork of White river (Gun-dah-quali), or White river proper, which was called Ope-co-mee-cah.
31
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
The white men were seldom molested by these roving bands. The mur- der of Pierre, a trapper, supplies the chief incident of this character in the early history of the county, and even his death has been a question. The Rawlinses were living in a shanty in Bono township, a temporary home dur- ing the corn crop season. Just the men of the family were there, the women having been left at Maxwell's Fort, on Lost river, Orange county, as the Indians were known to be on the warpath. Arising one morning the men discovered that their horses were gone. Upon returning to the camp they found additional evidences of Indian depredations there and they immediately made all preparations for their own protection. On the following morning the men began the journey to the fort, meeting, on the way, the old trapper, Pierre, who was told of the presence of hostile Indians. . This old Frenchman was on the way to tend to his traps along Fishing creek, and declined to abandon his journey, being slightly credulous as to the danger from the tribes. The Rawlinses reached the fort, procured mounts, and joined Captain Big- ger's company of rangers. After a few days they ventured back to their former camp in Bono township, and discovered that the Indians had been there before them, as everything had been destroyed or stolen. The old trapper, Pierre, was missing, and a search was made for him. Finally, his canoe was sighted in the branches of a tree which had fallen in the river. In the bottom lay the body of the old trapper, shot through the heart, and scalped. It is almost an unquestioned fact that he was murdered by the tribes.
In the year 1810 two families, the Flinns and the Guthries, built a fort near Leesville for their protection, the fort being located about a mile north of the village. By March, 1815, the usual vigilance had been relaxed due to the apparent absence of Indian troubles. A band of Pottawatomies suddenly appeared from the north, however, and swooped down on the fort. The men were engaged in felling a tree nearby, and were attacked before they were aware of even the presence of Indians. John Guthrie was shot through the breast, but retained strength to reach the gates of the fort, where, in the face of the Indian bullets, his courageous wife dragged him inside. He was not wounded mortally, but his comrade. Josiah Flinn, was tomahawked and scalped, which caused his death four days afterward. Jacob Flinn, the other of the three attacked, was made prisoner, and taken to the chief Pottawatomie village at the headwaters of the Wabash river. Forced to undergo the sever- est hardships and nearly perishing from starvation, he was kept four months in this Indian village. One night he escaped in a canoe and started down the river, traveling at night and hiding during the day, subsisting all of the time
32
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
on frogs, fishes and roots of trees. He at last reached the post of Vincennes in a desperate condition. Strangely, he made the statement that he could have fled sooner, but he wanted to wait until he could take Guthrie's axe, which had been stolen at the time of the attack. It is difficult to appreciate how an axe was worth the risk of a life unless we know that the axe, in those days, was the prime necessity of life.
Lawrence county has scattered over her territory many evidences of a prehistoric race. The mysteries of these early peoples, their habits, customs and modes of living, have been lost to mankind, and the silent, tomb-like · mounds left have resisted every effort of the archaeologist to fathom their dark secretiveness. The Mound Builders they have been called, because no other name was possible. Where they sprang from or whether the Indian was a descendant has never been learned. They existed thousands of years ago, but, notwithstanding, there is a well founded supposition in the minds of the scientific world that they were further along in the scale of civilization than the American Indian as the white man found him. "Not entirely voice- less, they tell of a people who once possessed the valley of the continent. Peaceful and law-abiding. they were skilled in agriculture and the arts of the 'stone age,' and executed works that required the united and persistent efforts of thousands under the direction of a well matured design. In the compara- tive absence of war-like implements. we conclude that this work was a labor of love, and not of fear; that it was inaugurated and directed by a regal priest- hood to erect votive temples in honor of the sun, a visible creator of comfort. food and life."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.