| After reading the following pages on this Amazing Race of Mound Builders- may I suggest that you jump in even deeper by going to this link and read more on the Red and Blonde Haired Races . After reading this, your life and perception of the past will never be the same! Mary Sutherland CLICK HERE |
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| The Mound Builders - The Ancient Ones- The Giants - The Men of Old - The Mound Builders - Mound Builders Mounds of Wisconsin - Mound Builders of Wisconsin - Effigy Mounds - Conical Mounds- Ceremonial Mounds - |
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| MAN MADE WATERWAYS - ANCIENT MOUND BUILDERS CANAL SYSTEM INTERLINKING LAKES AND RIVERS FOR TRANSPORT The ancient people not only had developed a great urban civilization based upon an agrarian economy but construsted the ingenious system of interlocking canals. With amazing skill, the engineers developed an internal system of navigation, linking the lakes and rivers with the various metropolitan centers of the region, and it was by means of these interconnecting waterways that the cities received the needed produce. The Mississippi River served as the principal transportation artery. Dr. G.C. Swallow, in referring to one of these canals, said, "One of them, that I examined, measured 53 feet wide and was 14 feet deep." More of these canal system was created interlinking water routes from the Great Lakes. Many archaeologists and investigators say that the 'artificial' rivers in the southern part of the United States are a gift handed down by this mysterious race. In all the areas where the mounds and pyramids are located, there were NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL LAKES. It is interesting to note that the Aztecs ALSO chose to dwell near lakes. Right on the shores of these lakes in the Mississippi Valley the natives constructed their vast cities. "The cities were circular in shape and surrounded by walls. Behind the wall they carved out a large CANAL to enable the waters of the lake or river to enter. These canals provided them with an inexhaustible supply of fresh water and, in addition, made it poosible for them to maintain a year-round supply of live fish" (ibid., p.54). The canals also provided transportation. This type of city is found mainly in the counties of southeast Missouri. Even today, near the city of New Madrid, one can find ruins of a city that extended over an area of several square miles -- all enclosed within a wall! The remains of numerous mounds and dwelling-places remain to this day. The people who lived in this and other cities of the region constructed the mounds, the pyramids, the walls and the canals. This kind of construction served two main purposes: it drained swampy areas and made possible the irrigation of dry areas. The engineers who designed and built the great pyramids of the Mississippi Valley would have little trouble designing and constructing the network of canals. Conant, in his previously quoted work, points out -- The prehistoric people of Missouri not only had developed a great urban civilization based upon an agrarian economy but also constructed giant edifices of earth and stone. This same race was also capable of constructing the ingenious system of interlocking canals. With amazing skill, the engineers developed an internal system of navigation, linking the lakes and rivers with the various metropolitan centers of the region, and it was by means of these interconnecting waterways that the cities received the needed produce. The Mississippi River served as the principal transportation artery. Dr. G.C. Swallow, in referring to one of these canals, said, "One of them, that I examined, measured 53 feet wide and was 14 feet deep." For a more adequate description of this type of construction, the reader is referred to Mr. George W. Carleton of Gayoso, Missouri, who wrote the following: "In addition to our mounds, we can be proud of these ancient canals. Col. Juan H. Walker informed me that before the earthquakes [1812?], these canals -- we would call them little canals today -- clearly demonstrated their artificial origin. Since the area has again been inhabited, the land stripped of trees, and the ground cleared, we are able to see what the first inhabitants of the region constructed. One of the canals lies to the east of the little town of Gayoso. It now connects Great Lake with the Mississippi River. Beyond is the Pemiscot Canal. This canal unites the waters from Lake Pemiscot with Grand Lake. Another watercourse, or artificial canal, is known today as the Cypress Bend Canal. Col. Walker said that it was built to connect the waters of Cushion Lake with a canal that flows into Grand Lake. Lake Cushion is located to the north of Pemiscot County. By means of this network of canals, lakes and interconnecting canals, the inhabitants of this region possessed an interior navigation system from the Mississippi River to Gayoso via Great Lake and Lake Cushion and another canal to Lake Collins; from there, by means of other connecting canals, it continued to the east where it flowed into the Mississippi River, about six miles downriver from New Madrid." -- Pp. 77-78. Many archaeologists and investigators say that the artificial rivers in the southern part of the United States are a gift handed down by the pre-Columbian Indians of this region! The early explorers who came upon these ancient cities with their mounds and intricate system of interlocking canals were astounded by their unexpected discovery, and they raised two very important questions -- WHY did the inhabitants abandon these great cities? and WHERE did they go? What makes the Mound-builder phenomenon so unique to archaeologists is the fact that there is NO SINGLE EVENT in terms of climate change that could have prompted such a mass exodus from a well entrenched way of life. Their art, agriculture, housing, forms of government, religion -- the whole shebang -- just disappeared! |