20£ 



six miles from the Mississippi and about eight miles iu a north- 

 easterly direction from East St. Louis. In this group stands the 

 great " Caliokia Mound," the central point of the system, and the 

 monarch of our prehistoric monuments, towering in its magnifi- 

 cent dimensions pre-eminent over all the remarkable structures 

 left us by the Mound Builders. 



Lines of mounds at irregular intervals serve to connect these 

 groups ; and scattered over the entire extent of these rich lowlands 

 are mounds standing alone, or in groups of two or three, while 

 occasionally one may be seen surmounting the bluffs, and upon 

 their very verge, two hundred feet above the bottom land. It has 

 been stated that there are two hundred in the series, but from per- 

 sonal observation I am inclined to think that this falls far short of 

 a correct estimate, and that a survey would show that a much 

 larger number may still plainly be traced, for it must be remem- 

 bered that many of the lesser tumuli have been so altered by the 

 plow that they are not now discernible. 



From one of these mounds in the American Bottom it has been 

 my good fortune to secure relics of so remarkable a cl^aracter, as 

 testifying to the advancement of this ancient people in certain of 

 the arts, that I deem this a fit occasion for placing their discovery 

 on record, and submitting them to your consideration. Before pro- 

 ceeding with their description, permit me to refer to a very interest- 

 ing paper by Dr. R. J. Farquharson, published during the past year 

 in the proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Science, 

 the substance of which had been presented to the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science at the Detroit meeting in 

 1875. This paper called public attention to the discovery in 

 certain mounds near Davenport of a number of Copper Axes, 

 more or less covered with cloth, and its author dwells at length 

 upon the "almost unique character and great archasological value" 

 of these specimens, citing various authorities to sustain the high 

 estimate of importance his society justly places upon them. We have 

 reason for congratulation that, in the discovery and preservation of 

 the curious remains I have to show you, we are able to add the. 

 extremely valuable testimony these relics afford of the skill attained 

 by the Mound Builders in the arts of weaving, and of working 

 copper. There is abundant evidence that the copper veins of Lake 

 Superior were well known to this early people, and were mined by 

 them for their supply of this valuable metal; to them, however, it 

 was merely a malleable stone, sufficiently tractable under their rude 



