Mound 58
Directly south of Mound 42, Patrick indicates a rather large conical
mound that he numbered 58. Patrick records no height for this mound.
The McAdams Map of 1882 gives 20 feet (6.1 meters); the Thomas Map of
1894, 15 feet (4.6 meters); and the Peterson-McAdams Map of 1906,
14 feet (4.3 meters). Moorehead refers to it only as one "of the very
large mounds" (Moorehead 1923: 48). The 1930 survey for the USGS
Monks Mound quadrangle shows three 5-foot (1.5-meter) closed contours
in this area. The elevation of the top of this mound is given as
440 feet (134.1 meters) above sea level. This would indicate a height
of about 20 feet (6.1 meters). By 1966 the mound was only 1 meter
(3.3 feet) high. Although the earlier maps indicate some lowering of
Mound 58 through time, it seems apparent that its major destruction was
after 1930. It may have been mostly leveled during construction of the
nearby Falcon Drive-In Theater.
This area has been cultivated for many years, and the mound today is
indistinct in the contour lines of that area. Based upon those contours,
it appears the mound spread to the north and south. In the 1920s, when
Moorehead worked in the area, he added a Mound 74 just to the west of
Mound 58. It may be, however, that this is just part of Mound 58
disturbed in the 50 years from the time of Patrick to Moorehead. Modern
contours in the area show no well-defined second mound but rather an
extension to the west that appears to be something like a platform or
terrace. Had there been another mound so close to Mound 58, Patrick and
his surveyors would surely have indicated it on their map.
Based upon all the previous maps and recorded observations, Mound 58
was a large, conical mound which in the late 1800s was probably 20 feet
(6.1 meters) or more in height. There is no reference to any excavation
conducted in this mound.