The race or races who occupied this beautiful prairie country before the advent of the whites from Europe had no literature, and therefore have left us no history of themselves. Not even traditions, to any extent, have been handed down to us. Hence, about all we know of the Indians, previous to explorations by the whites, is derived from mounds and a few simple relics.

     The mounds were erected by a people generally denominated Mound Builders, but whether they were a distinct race from the Indians is an unsettled question. Prof. Alex. Winchell, of the Michigan State University, as well as a number of other investigators, is of the opinion that those who built mounds, mined copper and iron, made elaborate implements of war, agriculture and domestic economy, and built houses and substantial villages, etc., were no other than the ancestors of the present Indians, who, like the ancient Greeks and Romans, were more skilled in the arts of life than their successors during the middle ages. Most people have their periods of decline, as well as those of progress. The Persians, Hindoos and Chinese, although so long in existence as distinct nations, have been for ages in a state of decay. Spain and Italy do not improve, while Germany, Russia and the United States have now their turn in enjoying a rapid rise. Similarly, the Indians have long been on the decline in the practical arms of life. Even since the recent days of Fenimore Cooper, the “noble” red men have degenerated into savages, despite the close contact of the highest order of civilizations.

     Nearly all modern authorities unite in the opinion that the American continent was first peopled from Eastern Asia, either by immigration across Behring’s Strait or by shipwrecks of sailors from the Kamtschatkan and Japanese coast. If mankind originated at the north pole, and subsequently occupied an Atlantic continent, now submerged, it is possible that the American Indians are relics of polar or Atlantic races.

     The ancient race which built the towns and cities of Mexico and the Western United States is called the Aztec, and even of them is scarcely anything known save what can be learned from their buried structures. The few inscriptions that are found seem to be meaningless.

     Indian mounds are found throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, but are far more abundant in some places than others. In this State they abound near the principal rivers. They vary in size from a few to hundreds of feet in diameter, and from three to fifteen or more feet in height. They are generally round, or nearly so, but in a few notable exceptions they bear a rude resemblance in their outline to the figure of some animal. Their contents are limited, both in quantity and variety, and consist mainly of human bones, stone implements, tobacco pipes, beads, etc. The stone implements are axes, skinning knives, pestles and mortars, arrow points, etc. The human bones are often found in a mass as if a number of corpses had been buried together, and indicate that their possessors were interred in a sitting posture. Judge Samuel Murdock, of Elkader, this State, who has made this subject a special study for many years, is of the opinion that these remains are not of subjects who were inhumed as corpses, but of persons who, under the influence of a savage religion, voluntarily sacrificed themselves by undergoing a burial when alive.

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