MOUND-BUILDERS IN ILLINOIS. 257 



a smooth, conchoidal fracture. It was all brought there, as no stone 

 is found in situ in the whole ridge. 



Here was a great manufactory of arrow-heads, and other flint imple- 

 ments. Pieces of arrow-heads, and fragments of the flint in all stages 

 of manufacture, strew the ground. Perfect arrow-heads are sometimes 

 found in clusters. Twenty-six were recently picked up in one nest, 

 rough, but well-nigh finished. Two copper implements, and one of sand- 

 stone, evidently used for polishing stone axes, were also picked up. 



In Whiteside County, just above the city of Sterling, on a high table- 

 land overlooking Rock River, and on the north bank of the same, is a 

 large group of these mounds. They now form a part of the fine ceme- 

 tery grounds of that city. Along the south banks of the river below Ster- 

 ling are a number of quite large mounds, at considerable distances 

 apart. Most of these Sterling mounds are the common round ones. 

 Some of the largest are oblong in form. Many have been partially ex- 

 cavated, and some trinkets and charcoal and ashes observed in them. 



At Portland and about Prophetstowu similar mounds also exist. On 

 Elkhoru Creek, on the farms of Dr. Pennington and Mr. Dinsmore, 

 some small round ones were noticed. 



At Cordova and New Albany, near the banks of the Mississippi Eiver, 

 some large mounds may be seen. At the latter place, Mr. Tyler 

 McWhorter, in the summer of 1872, had a tunnel carried through one 

 of them. This one was GO feet in diameter at the base and about 12 

 feet high. In it was found a rude stone inclosure. Portions of skele- 

 tons had been placed here, seemingly in detached parts. The structure 

 seemed to belong to the more recent works of the mound-builders. 



But it is useless to enumerate further the localities where these mounds 

 may be seen. In almost every picturesque spot they were built ; and 

 doubtless they exist in hundreds in this county, as they do in those 

 surrounding it. A village of mounds also exists below Sterling on the 

 north sideof Eock Eiver, of large size. 



Mercer County contains probably something over one thousand 

 mounds, mostly located over the western third of the county. The eastern 

 part of the county has a few scattered ones of the same general character. 

 Most of these mounds seem to be of very ancient date — they are much 

 flattened by the wear of time, only rising a few feet above the general 

 level. But there are a few mounds on the bottom-lands under the bluffs 

 of more recent date. They have steep declivities, and rise 8 or 10 feet 

 in height. These have yielded well-preserved skeletons ; but the more 

 ancient have disclosed to the spade of the excavator no well-preserved 

 bones or implements — only beds of ashes with some charcoal and stones, 

 and, in some of the older, human remains in a state of decay. 



In Iowa, opposite to the county of Mercer, and near the Mississippi 



Eiver, is a high bluff range, on the top of which, facing the town of 



Xew Boston, is the old half-forsaken village of Black Hawk. Here are 



seven or eight mounds, on the brow of the hill, which are the largest 



17 s 



