WERE 'i'llE OSAGES MOUNU-liUlLDERS "? 589 



quest of precious ores. They opened lead mines in the vicinity of Potosi, 

 at Mine a Renault and Mine La Motte, which have been, more or less, in 

 o[)eration to the present day; and established trading" posts and inti- 

 mate commercial relations with the Osages. In 1800 Lieutenant Pike, 

 on his expedition to the mountains, found the Osages at their "Great" 

 and "Little" vilhiges, where they had entertained Du Tissenet eighty- 

 seven years before; both travelers locating the larger or main village 

 in what is now Blue Mound Township, Vernon County, Missouri. Sev- 

 eral years before Lieutenant Pike's visit — in 1787 — Pierre Chouteau 

 had established, near the Great Village, a fortified trading- post which 

 he named Fort Carondelet in honor of the Baron De Oarondelet. 



The topographical features of the country bordering the Osage River 

 are in many respects very peculiar and strangely attractive. In the 

 greater part of its course the river has cut its way through ledges of 

 massive magnesian limestone which tower above the beautiful stream in 

 domes and terraces and knobs that seem to have been designed by 

 skillfnl architects. Professor Swallow says of these blufis, about the 

 junction of the ]S'iangua and Linn Creek with the Osage, they "slope 

 back into knobs and ridges, which are frequently surrounded by 

 numerous natural terraces so regular and uniform that they appear 

 like the work of human hands. These terraces are formed by tlic de- 

 composition of the strata of magnesian limestone which form the bluffs."* 

 Farther back from the river, remarks the same writer, " The prairie of 

 this region is characterized by what are called knobs or mounds; they 

 are somewhat variable in size and form, but usually present the ap- 

 pearance of a truncated cone. The tops of these mounds are usually 

 flat, and covered by a thin soil, underlaid by a durable stratum of 

 sandstone or limestone, which crops out on all sides near the top, pre- 

 vents the wearing away of the upper edges, and preserves the well 

 defined angle between the top and sides; while the stratum of shale or 

 clay, which forms the lower part, is easily decomposed and carried 

 away by aqueous agencies. The sides rise with a gentle declivity, at 

 first, but become more and more abrupt until they are nearly perpen- 

 dicular at the top. The most of these mounds belong to the coal meas- 

 ures; but those near Bolivar are in the Chemung group, the upper 

 beds of the vermicular sandstone and shales forming the top, and the 

 underlying shales the lower part of them."t Of the mounds men- 

 tioned by Professor Swallow, near Bolivar, one of the largest was 

 almost in sight at my front door. It stood, in bold relief, near the 

 middle of a cultivated field, a truncated pyramid, 20 feet high, with 

 level top 20 by 50 feet in dimensions, and with angles and sides true 



"Geological Report of the Southwest Branch, etc., by G. C. Swallow, State geolo- 

 gist, St. T.ouis, Mo., 1859, p. ^2. 



t First niid second reports of the Geological Survey of Missouri, by G. C. Swallow, 

 State geologist, Jefferson City, 1855. 



