USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 48
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Some Notable Collections.
. Missouri has not only been a rich field for the archaeologist but it has been thoroughly and intelligently worked. In St. Louis are four collections each of which is nationally notable in a distinctive line of material. St. Louis University
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has the Lucas Collection of American Archaeology, arranged on a scientific basis. J. B. C. Lucas, who gave the collection to the university, traveled widely and interested the help of friends in gathering American antiquities, presenting the results to his friend, the late President William Bank Rogers, when the latter was at the head of the institution. The Lucas exhibit is strong in its hammers, celts, flaked flints. notched spearheads, separated arrow points, dis- coidal stones and ornamented pipes. It illustrates admirably what Gerard Fowke described at length in the thirteenth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology as the "Stone Art." With the Lucas exhibit are associated the aboriginal relics collected by the missionary fathers who went out from St. Louis to labor among the North American Indians. Father DeSmet, Father Ignatius Panken, Father Kuppens and others sent back to the university many things of ethnologic interest. The contributions of these missionaries to American ethnology and linguistics were treated at length some years ago by James Mooney in the United States "Handbook of North American Indians North of Mexico."
A private cellection of great value for its variety of chipped spades and celts is that of Dr. H. M. Whelpley. It is said to lead all of the others in these specialties.
The Missouri Historical Society collection in number and comprehensiveness is probably the largest in the United States. It is arranged on scientific lines, having received the careful preparation of Gerard Fowke. The series of arrow- heads and spearheads is arranged according to types. Accompanying the cases of the Missouri Historical Society is much detailed descriptive matter making the study of these objects interesting to the average visitor as well as to the student of archaeology.
A private collection of note was made by Rev. Frederic Schulte of St. Engel- bert's. This was especially interesting for articles made of hematite.
Amos Beckwith's 50,000 Relics.
In one of the buildings of the Cape Girardeau Normal school is housed the 50,000 archaeological objects collected by Colonel Amos Beckwith. When the museum was dedicated, Louis Houck, the historian, told how Beckwith became interested in archaeology, and with what zeal he pursued his investigations in Southeast Missouri during forty years. Beckwith was born on a plantation in 1840. His grandfather came to Missouri in 1812. On the Beckwith estate was a great mound, which attracted the boy's interest. Mr. Houck said :
"He observed that the corners of this mound were square as if the work had been done by an experienced builder. The mound was twenty-five to thirty feet higher than the general level of the land. It was 110 feet wide and 160 feet long. The top was covered with burned clay to a depth of about five feet. Fifty feet from this mound there was another truncated mound nearly as high and seventy or eighty feet wide. On about 400 acres of land around these mounds relics of every description were found by the negro plowmen and this, too, attracted Beckwith's attention. A few miles from these mounds, on Pinhook ridge, he saw other groups of mounds. In fact in almost every part of Mississippi county, in the deepest recesses of the forests, on his hunting expeditions and on other occasions, he observed these silent memorials of the prehistoric inhabitants of the country. At first he considered these mounds only as offering a harbor of refuge for his stock in times of overflow. Then the peculiar shape of the mounds, the location and possible purpose began to interest him. Thus he discovered a group of mounds in
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the neighborhood of his land, which became known as 'Beckwith's Fort,' because plainly erected for defensive purposes."
Mr. Houck thought that Beckwith was prompted to take up archaeological research and collection through the influence of Colonel Norris long associated with the Smithsonian at Washington. Colonel Norris visited the mounds of Southeast Missouri and took Beckwith on several exploring expeditions. He inspired him with the interest to learn "what these prehistoric people really were, how they lived, how far advanced they were in the domestic arts, how they cultivated the soil, how they hunted, what was the character of their institutions." The result was that Beckwith gave his leisure time and expended much of his means for more than forty years, until he had accumulated "one of the greatest local archaeological collections in the world." Mr. Houck justified this estimate of the Beckwith relics because "they were locally collected from the mounds of the upper St. Francois basin and principally from mounds in Southeast Missouri counties, and because from this collection can be secured almost a perfect picture of the domestic institutions and civilization of a group of the race of so-called mound builders in this particular locality."
Allan Hinchey's Study of Beckwith's Collection.
Allan Hinchey, of Cape Girardeau, has made an exhaustive study and analysis of the Beckwith collection. He said :
"The handiwork of several ages may be seen, some of the articles having been made after the coming of the white man, others apparently several centuries before. Some- thing can be learned of these tribes as warriors, as growers of grain, as hunters, as , citizens, and even as to their religions and culture. That they were agriculturists is proved by the many hoes and spades, made of flint and stone; that they were sun worship- ers, by the number of ceremonial vessels ornamented with pictures of the sun; that they were warriors, by weapons of attack and defense; that they were citizens of some sort of society, by the system displayed in the location of their dwellings and places of public assemblage, and by their mode of burial. That they had reached some stage of culture is shown by their art in modeling and carving, some of the figures equaling in workman- ship specimens of ancient Egyptian art, both as to execution and truthfulness of depicting the characteristics of the subjects. That they were somewhat skilled in mechanics is proven by the exactness of their measurements, and the proper proportions used in making their figures, wares and implements.
"These relics of unknown tribes were taken, for the most part from the mounds of Mississippi county, along the river courses, or from camping places or villages. Some of them were found in excavations several feet deep. In some cases articles were found at a depth of a few feet, and beneath them, several feet deeper, other relics were un- earthed of apparently much older origin, indicating that they were made by different people at different times. Most of the human figures have Indian features, while some resemble the Caucasian race, and one bears a strong likeness to the negro.
"Several burial urns are included, the largest one being thirteen inches deep and sixteen inches in diameter. In this urn were found human bones it having been the custom of some tribes to bury the bones after flesh had disappeared following a long suspension on a scaffold. The weapons of warfare consist of axes of stone, arrow and spearheads of flint, and baked balls of pottery and stone to be used with slings. Some of the whet- stones and polishing stones are smooth on one side and rough on the reverse. Some of them have grooves wherein were sharpened the points of weapons and working tools. All working tools found in the excavations of Southeast Missouri are of stone or flint, except one awl of copper about two inches in length. There are many pieces of pottery Vol. I-29
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that had been baked by fire, some of them highly colored. There are 1,100 splendid speci- mens of pottery-vessels, water bottles, bowls and jars, some of them being made ap- parently after the coming of the white man, others centuries before. These bottles and bowls are made to represent fishes, birds, beavers, opossums, raccoons, . frogs, ducks, owls, hawks, turtles. but not a single representation of a snake can be found in the entire collection."
Many of these articles of pottery found in the mounds of Southeast Missouri were made of aluminous clay mixed with pounded shells.
The Indian Mounds.
The scientists devoted a great deal of time to the Indian mounds of St. Louis. They located twenty-seven along a line leading north of the city and on what they called the second bank of the river. Each of these mounds was measured with care. Several of them were from four feet to five feet in height. The largest was thirty-four feet high. Some were round; others square or oblong. Some were arranged to form a partial enclosure. Several were in a curve. On the Illinois side of the river, within five miles from the river bank opposite St. Louis, the scientists found seventy-five of these mounds. Long's expedition reported on them :
Tumuli and other remains of the labors of nations of Indians that inhabited this region many ages since are remarkably numerous about St. Louis. Those tumuli imme- diately north of the town, and within a short distance of it, are twenty-seven in number, of various forms and magnitudes, arranged nearly in a line from north to south. The common form is an oblong square, and they all stand on the second bank of the river. It seems probable that these piles of earth were raised as cemeteries, or they may have supported altars for religious ceremonies. We cannot conceive any useful purpose to which they can have been applicable in war, unless as elevated stations from which to observe the motions of an approaching enemy; but for this purpose a single mound would have been sufficient, and the place chosen would probably have been different. We opened five of them, but in only one were we fortunate in finding anything, and all that this contained was a solitary tooth of a species of rat, together with the vertebrae and ribs of a serpent of moderate size, and in good preservation. But whether the animal had been buried by the natives or had perished there, after having found admittance through some hole, we could not determine.
The Big Mound.
Every St. Louisan of scientific bent liked to talk about the mounds. Every tourist visited them and wrote of them as being the greatest of natural curios- ities. Edmund Flagg found in them not only the field for investigation but the opportunity for the preservation of a most attractive civic feature. He wrote :
They stand isolated, or distinct from each other, in groups; and the outline is gen- erally that of a rectangular pyramid, truncated nearly one-half. The first collection orig- inally consisted of ten tumuli arranged as three sides of a square area of about four acres, and the open flank to the west was guarded by five other small circular earth- heaps, isolated and forming the segment of a circle around the opening. This group is now almost completely destroyed by the grading of streets and the erection of edifices, and the eastern border may, alone be traced. North of the first collection of tumuli is a second, four or five in. number, and forming two sides of a square., Among these is one of a very beautiful form, consisting of three stages, and called the "falling garden." Its
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elevation above the level of the second plateau is about four feet, and the area is ample for a dwelling or yard. From the second it descends to the first plateau along the river by three regular gradations, the first wtih a descent of two feet, the second of ten, and the lower one of five, each stage presenting a beautiful site for a house. For this pur- pose, however, they can never be appropriated, as one of the principal streets of the city is destined to pass directly through the spot, the grading for which has already com- menced. The third group of mounds is situated a few hundred yards above the second, and consists of about a dozen eminences. A series extends along the west side of the street, through the grounds attached to a classic edifice of brick, which occupies the prin- cipal one; while opposite rise several of a larger size, upon one of which is situated the residence of General Ashley, and upon another the reservoir which supplies the city with water, raised from the Mississippi by a steam force pump upon its banks. Both are beautiful spots embowered in forest trees; and the former, from its size and structure, is supposed to have been a citadel or place of defense. In excavating the earth of this mound, large quantities of human remains, pottery, half-burned wood, were thrown up, furnishing conclusive evidence, were any requisite further than regularity of outline and relative position, of the artificial origin of these earth heaps. About six hundred yards above this group, and linked with it by several inconsiderable mounds, is situated one com- pletely isolated, and larger than any yet described. It is upward of thirty feet in height, about one hundred and fifty feet long, and upon the summit five feet wide. The form is oblong, resembling an immense grave; and a broad terrace or apron, after a descent of a few feet, spreads out itself on the side looking down upon the river. From the exten- sive view of the surrounding region and of the Mississippi, commanded by the site of this mound, as well as its altitude, it is supposed to have been intended as a vidette or watch tower by its builders.
From the Big Mound, as it is called, a cordon of tumuli stretch away to the north- west for several miles along the bluffs parallel with the river, a noble view of which they command. They are most of then ten or twelve feet high; many clothed with forest trees, and all of them supposed to be tombs. In removing two of them upon the grounds of Colonel O'Fallon, immense quantities of bones were exhumed. It is evident from these monuments of a former generation that the natural advantages of the site upon which St. Louis now stands were not unappreciated long before it was pressed by the European footsteps.
It is a circumstance which has often elicited remark from those, who as tourists have visited St. Louis, that so little interest should be manifested by its citizens for those mys- terious and venerable monuments of another race by which on every side it is environed. When we consider the complete absence of everything in the character of a public square or promenade in the city, one would suppose that individual taste and municipal authority would not have failed to avail themselves of the moral interest attached to these mounds and the beauty of their site, to have formed in their vicinity one of the most attractive spots in the west. These ancient tumuli could, at no considerable expense, have been enclosed and ornamented with shrubbery, and walks, and flowers, and thus preserved for coming generations. As it is, they are passing rapidly away; man and beast, as well as the elements, are busy with them, and in a few years they will have disappeared. The practical utility of which they are available appears the only circumstance which has attracted attention to them. One has already become a public reservoir, and measures are in progress for applying the larger mound to a similar use, the first being insufficient for the growth of the city.
Big Mound Park Proposed.
Public sentiment in favor of preservation of the Big Mound became active at one time. The movement contemplated the transfer of title to the city. There were several owners. It was proposed to have transformed, into a public garden or park, three or four blocks of ground, the central part of which
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would be the Big Mound. Upon the Mound was to be constructed a pavilion. A committee of public-spirited citizens undertook to secure the transfer of the land to the city. A. B. Chambers, editor of the Missouri Republican, was one of the foremost advocates of the plan. Mr. Benoist was the owner of a con- siderable part of the ground desired. The committee waited upon him and presented the arguments in favor of the Big Mound park. Mr. Benoist declined to transfer his part to the city. The movement was abandoned.
The Geological Theory.
After three generations of scientists had made much in the way of specu- lation about the mounds of St. Louis and vicinity, there came geologists who studied the soil and the rocks and advanced natural theories to account for most of these landmarks. Away back, in the ages when the Mississippi Valley was being formed, there was drift clay and loess, these later scientists said, covering St. Louis and the valley roundabout so that the surface was from fifty to sixty feet above the present level. Loess is almost anything ground up tolerably fine. As the great rivers wore out their channels and diminished in volume through the ages they left many elevations in and around St. Louis "locally known as 'mounds,' the formation of which has generally been referred' to human agency." The quotation is from Worthen of the Illinois geological survey, whose theory has been accepted widely by latter day geologists. Sup- port to this theory is given in a thesis by Henri Hus upon whom Washington University in 1908 conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Worthen said further of these mounds :
These elevations vary in height from ten to sixty feet and more above the level of the surrounding bottom, and when carefully examined are found to consist of drift clay and loess, remaining in situ just as they appear along the river bluffs, where similar mounds have been formed in the same way by the removal of the surrounding strata by currents of water. We had an opportunity of seeing a good section of the large mound in the upper part of the city of St. Louis exposed by digging into the upper end of the mound for material to be used in filling adjacent lots. It was found to consist of about fifteen feet of common chocolate brown drift clay, the base of which was overlaid by thirty feet or more of ash-colored marly sands of the loess, the line of separation between the two deposits remaining as distinct and well defined as they usually are in good artificial sections of the railroad cuts through these deposits.
Natural Causes.
The professor concluded, ruthlessly disposing of the theories and discus- sions of the generations of scientists who had measured and dug into and described these prehistoric landmarks :
Hence, we infer that these mounds are not artificial elevations raised by the aborig- inal inhabitants of the country, as has been assumed by antiquarians generally, but on the contrary they are simply outliers of loess and drift, that have remained as originally de- posited, while the surrounding contemporaneous strata were swept away by denuding forces. They are not found to occupy any fixed relative position in relation to each other, or to have any regularity of size or elevation, and hence antiquarians appear to have inferred that they were raised simply to serve as burial places for the dead. But the simple fact that they were used for this purpose by the aborigines, which seems to be the
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main argument relied on as proof of their artificial origin, seems to me entirely inadequate to sustain such a conclusion, and they were perhaps only selected by them for this pur- pose on account of their elevated position, for the same reason that they selected the highest point of a bluff in preference to any lower point, to serve as. the last resting place for the earthly bodies of their relatives and friends. I have very little doubt that many of the so-called Indian mounds, in this state at least, if carefully examined, would prove to be only natural elevations produced by the causes above named.
'A Prehistoric, City.
In a History of Missouri by Walter Bickford Davis and Daniel S. Durrie, published in 1876, is an account of a prehistoric city in New Madrid county. At that time, forty years ago, the evidences of a dense population were said to exist :
"The city was surrounded by fortifications, the embankment with covered ways con- necting the outworks which have been traced for several miles. The remains of mounds, serving either for outlook's to watch an enemy, or as cemeteries for the burial' of the dead, in which are found skeletons, associated with drinking vessels, are also found distributed about the area of the ancient encampment. The indubitable traces of the dwellings, streets and avenues were also traced over large portions of the grounds, the proper survey of which would doubtless tend to throw new light on the origin of this people. The houses were quite small, from eight to twelve feet in diameter, and located about twelve feet apart. They existed in regular rows with streets and avennes running through the city at right angles, at proper distances apart. The foundations of the dwellings, if not the entire structure, were made of a kind of adobe brick, of a red color like a modern brick, but of coarser material. The brick specimens have transverse holes passing through them, sup- posed by some to act as ventilators to the dwellings. The bricks being laid flatwise in the wall, the sides of the house would be, thereby, pierced with a multitude of holes for the admission of the outside air. Another, and more probable, theory is that the bricks in a malleable state were pierced with round sticks, for the more readily handling and burning ; and the same having been burned out, left the impression of their form in the shape of a hole. The sites of these ancient habitations are plainly observed by a sunken depression of several feet in the ground, leaving evidence of cellars like those seen in modern times. At first sight of these habitations, the observer might be led to believe that these ancient people lived in cellars, and built their houses underground; but this impression will vanish on reflecting that accumulated debris of ages had entombed these dwellings beneath the surface. Besides, on one side of the ancient city, there is still a lake or marsh which at some remote period may have overflowed its banks, submerged portions of the site of the ancient city long after its extinction, and added its deposits to the accumulating debris. The site of the city is now covered with trees, mostly oak, of an ancient growth, showing that thousands of years rolled around before the handiwork of these early Missourians was exhumed. The pottery consists largely of drinking cups, culinary utensils and bottles of a gourd shape. There are also rude trowels and tools used for fashioning and orna- menting the pottery, and whetstones for sharpening the stone axes and other instruments. But the fantastic character of the ornamentation of the vessels is what strikes every one with surprise. There are very accurate figures of fish, frogs, hedgehogs and such animals as existed at the time; besides among the feathered tribe are the goose, duck, owl, hawk and probably, from. his comb, the rooster. There are miniature busts of male heads carved out of clay, representing a type of face more resembling the ancient Aztec race than the modern American Indian."
Civilization on the Gasconade.
A theory of prehistoric civilization on the Gasconade river was advanced by an early writer. The pioneer settlers found saltpeter in the caves along the river.
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They shipped it to St. Louis with some profit. They established several powder factories in the county and utilized the saltpeter. This writer said :
"Some of the caves are very large, consisting of a succession of rooms joined to each other by arched walls of great height. The walls are uniformly of limestone and often present the most beautiful appearance. When these caves were first discovered it was not unusual to find in them Indian axes and hammers, which led to the belief that they had formerly been worked for some unknown purposes by the savages. It is difficult to decide whether these tools were left here by the present race or by another and more civilized which preceded them. It is unusual for savages to take up their residence in caves,-con- sidering them places to which the Manitou resorts,-and they, not being acquainted with any of the uses of saltpeter, would rather avoid than collect it. The circumstance of finding these tools in the caves would of itself, perhaps, furnish slight evidence that the country of the Gasconade was formerly settled by a race of men who were acquainted with the uses of this mineral, or who exceeded them in civilization, or the knowledge of the arts; but there are other facts connected with these about which there can be no mistake. Near the sawmills, and at a short distance from the road leading from them to St. Louis, are the ruins of an ancient town. It appears to have been regularly laid out, and the dimensions of the squares and streets and of some of the houses can yet be discovered. Stone walls are found in different parts of the area, which are frequently covered with huge heaps of earth. Again, a stone work exists about ten miles below the mills. It is on the west side of the Gasconade, and is about twenty-five to thirty feet square; it appears to have been originally built with an uncommon degree of regularity. It is situated upon a high bald cliff, which commands a fine and extensive view of the country on all sides. From this stone work is a small footpath leading to the cave, in which was found a quantity of axes. The mouth of the cave commands an easterly view, and also a view of the path to the building referred to, which may have been erected to some imaginary deity."
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