576 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that in the east ravine they sunk a well and curbed it down to 

 the bed-rock, a depth of 42 feet, and made a boring of about 150 

 feet in its bottom. That all the way from the surface to the rock 

 they found pieces of broken pottery, and on the rock a pitcher or jug, 

 with a handle within the rim ; this jug was sent to the Philadelphia 

 Museum. My informant expressed the opinion that, at the time the 

 aborigines used the waters, the spring had its outlet at or near the 

 bed-rock, and had since gradually filled by surface-washings, just as 

 the well in the west ravine has been filled since my first visit, and is 

 now a cattle-tramped salt-swamp. 



The present outlet of the spring is not over six or eight feet above 

 low water of the Saline River, and the character of its bed precludes 

 the possibility of its ever having been on a lower level ; for at Island 

 Ripple, within two miles of the spring, t^e river falls over a broad reef 

 of rocks which backs t^ie watey forming a pool up to this place, 

 where there is another slight ripple. 



This, to me, is conclus_ive evidence that, whoever the people were 

 who left the masses of broken pottery as proof of their having used 

 the salt-waters, they resorted to precisely the same means as did their 

 more civilized successors of our time that is, sinking wells or reser- 

 voirs to collect the brine ; and the dipper-jug which had been dropped 

 had sunk to the bottom, showing that their reservoirs were down 

 to the rock. 



Running nearly in an east-and-west course on the south side, and 

 close to the outlet of the springs, is an upheaval that has brought the 

 carboniferous limestone to the surface standing on edge. The sulphur 

 and fresh-water springs rise south of the line of this dike. On the line 

 of it, about the centre of the raised bottom or plateau between the two 

 ravines, say ten or twelve feet higher than the springs, and embracing 

 an area of about eight acres, occurs a sink of about 120 feet in diame- 

 ter. It was on the raised rim of this sink that I discovered the heaps 

 of clay and shells, and what I took to be the inside mould or core on 

 which the kettles had been formed. It was then a pool of water, 

 around which I found the most abundant remains of pottery, not only 

 represented by fragments of the large, coarse salt-pans, but by many 

 pieces of small vessels of much finer texture, and of superior workman- 

 ship, such as would be used for domestic purposes. From these 

 and large quantities of chippings and offal, I inferred that this was 

 the site of the old settlement. The broken pottery, the black soil, 

 the waste from long occupancy extending a considerable distance 

 both east and west of the springs, and to the foot of the bluffs on the 

 south, covering an area of about thirty acres, were confirmatory of 

 this view; but the fact of the annual overflow made me look further 

 for a permanent settlement. 



The hills at this point run nearly an east-and-west course, form- 

 ing a range of upheaval that crosses the State of Illinois, from the 



