Annals of Platte County, Missouri - Paxton
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ANNALS OF PLATTE COUNTY. PRE-HISTORIC INHABITANTS Our county records claim No heroes known to fame, No mystic legends old; No monuments are found, No ruins mar the ground, No minstrel tale is told. PLATTE COUNTY has little to inspire the rhapsodist, or to kindle the entl111sias111 of the 2111tiq11;1.1). Our native rocks l1:1e no r11de inscriptions; no 1-l11o11iele1 1e-01-ds the prowess of our aborigines, a11d few re1na.ins attest t11e high ciili/.ati011 of 21 race 11ow extinct. But our und111ati11;: prairies, our fertile soil, our ancient forests. and 0111 g11rgli11g strealns charn1 tl1e utilitarian a11d phila.ntl11-opist. S11bli111ity 11121) attract 11s for a day. or deso- lation awe 11s for an 110111. but we 111ake our home on the well- Watered domain. where elds of cereals wave before tl1e breeze. and grazing herds respond to 0111 call. Relics are ral-el f01111d. I have never. myself. picked 111) an arrow-l1e:1d, but I have seen several collections of arrowl1eads. tonlahawks. a11d mills. or 11l0l"lIS. Dr. J. A. Baldwin has the largest store of I11dian relics i11 the county. Except on the bluff at Iatan. a.11d in tl1e extreme southeastern corner of the 1-o1111t). no 111o11nds appear. No I11dia11 village was ever established. a11d s-an-eIv :1. wi;:wa111 erected on our soil. Thougll the Iowas a11d the Sues a11d Foxes set 11p claim to our lands,tl1ei1 titles were sl1adow.:111d 11ot supported byprescription. EVIDENCE OF A PRE-HISTORIC RACE In 1850, Col. Geo. S. Park plowed 11p i11 his 0r1~l1ard, adjacent to Parkville. large, sq11are. well-b11rned brick, held togetl1e1 by straw. i11 the E;;;y11tia.11 style. The) were covered by only a foot of earth, and were part of a large building. In 1877, a party of antiquarians. from Kansas City. opened fo11r mounds on the Peter Brenner farm. below l:1rkville. a11d found stone enelos11res eight feet square a11d four feet l1igl1. .~ n11111be1 of hunian sk11lls were 11nc0e1ed, some i11di1-ating large. and others very small. people. lhey s11g:geste(l :in earlier race than the Indians. b11t sca1-cel above tl1e111 in i11telli,rrence. Near the mounds were scattered large q11antities of int arrow-heads. tomahawks. a11(l spear-heads. lhey discovered 21 largze n11111be1- of small mills for cr11sl1ing grai11. See the Lmzdmurk for March 22. 1877. In the Reveille of May 19. 1871. is an account of the 111o1111ds on Da11l Pixlevs farm. fo11r miles east of P:1rkille. One large