The early explorations and history  of the  most famous mound group in North America.   Includes discussions of Cahokia and the other mounds and village in this area.

On the east side of the Mississippi this flood plain, already mentioned, varies in width from two to five or six miles. A line of high bluffs ninety to one hundred twenty feet in altitude parallels this plain. From below French Village, the bluffs in early historic times were dotted with mounds and other evidences of Indian occupation. Many of the tumuli have disappeared. Others are more or less effaced, yet a sufficient number remain to afford students a conception of the enormous extent of aboriginal occupation throughout this area. We use the word "enormous" advisedly.
The Cahokia group of mounds lies on either side of a creek of the same name. The most easterly of the tumuli forming this group are approximately one and one-half miles out toward the west from the foot of the Collinsville bluff. An air line from this point to the mouth of the Cahokia Creek would be approximately seven miles in length. Following the contours of the creek the distance might be extended to nine miles.
The dominant monument, around which all the others center, is the great Cahokia Mound. Since we have applied the term "Cahokia Group" to the entire setting, No. 38 on the official map, Fig. i, will hereafter be known by its local name of Monks Mound.
In the year 1921 we stood on the summit of this eastern pyramid and looked out across the famous American Bottoms. We were one hundred feet above the plain and because at that time there were no buildings or amusement parks nearby, our vision was not impaired. Both the site and the view were conducive to reflection on the past, and one's mind naturally harked back to the days of Brackenridge, Flagg, Rau, and Featherston-haugh,—for these men saw Cahokia at its best.
Fortunate indeed is it that these pioneers in Cahokia archaeology gave us clear word pictures of conditions then, for while practically all of the tumuli remain, their external contour is altered.

Warren K. Moorehead