Palmer — Flora of the Grand Falls Chert Barrens. 105 



need of further explanation. On both sides of the creek, 

 wherever the chert is exposed and even over the small 

 area on Turkey Creek in Jasper County, these peculiar 

 mounds may be observed. They are perhaps most typi- 

 cally developed along Silver Creek, a small stream that 

 flows into Shoal Creek from the north, near Reding' 's Mill. 

 A large number may be seen along this stream, just west 

 of the Joplin wagon road, and between this point and the 

 mouth of "Tanyard Hollow ' : hundreds could doubtless 

 be counted. 



These elevations are usually from ten to thirty feet in 

 diameter, roughly circular in outline and rise in the center 

 to a height of from two to three feet above the general 

 level. The plants occupying these knolls are, as might 

 be expected, chiefly those of the dry woods, which monop- 

 olize these more favorable spots nearly to the exclusion 

 of the barren species. Amongst trees and shrubs Quer- 

 cus stellata, Q. marylandica, Diospyros virginiana, Frax- 

 inus americana, Amelanchier canadensis, Rubus villosus, 

 Rosa setigera, Vaccinium arboreum and V. vacillans are 

 common. 



A general similarity in size and form and something 

 like uniformity of distribution at several points strongly 

 suggests the theory that the mounds are of artificial ori- 

 gin. With this idea, no doubt, persons digging for relics 

 have dug trenches in several of them at different points. 

 However, so far as known, nothing has been found in any 

 of them to repay the investigation or to bear out the 

 theory. The material forming the mounds, as encoun- 

 tered in these excavations, is a mixture of soil, clay and 

 chert fragments, showing no evidence of human agency in 

 its arrangement, but on the contrary having every ap- 

 pearance of being a natural deposit of residuary material. 

 Indian relics are found at a number of places in the near- 

 by alluvial valley; but one could scarcely believe that 

 the rocky barrens would be likely to have appealed to the 

 aboriginal settlers as "a favorable site either for a vil- 

 lage or a necropolis. Moreover a careful search has 



