WERE THE OSAGES MOrND-BUILDEK'S ? 591 



So far as history can aid iir, in tracing the Osages we are satisfied that 

 at the period of Afarquette's descent of theiMississippi, in 1073, they oc- 

 cnpied one or both banks of the Missouri Eiver, at and above the 

 mouth of the Osage; and that they established the central villages of 

 their tribe at the liead of the Osage River about the year 1700, or a few 

 years before that date, and remained there until their removal, in 182G, 

 farther west. That, in that time, they erected stone heaps occasionally 

 over the graves of their dead — to preserve the bodies from the ravages 

 of wild beasts — is true, for some of the stone heaps, attesting the fact, 

 are still to be seen there. But they built no earthen mounds. In all 

 the region of their occu})ahcy of the immediate valley of the Osage 

 River there is not an artificial mound of earth to be found ; and it is 

 not reasonable to suppose that such monuments, if erected, should in 

 the lapse of less than a century have so completely disappeared. Pro- 

 fessor Broadhead, who carefully explored the entire valley of the Osage 

 in prosecuting the geological survey of Missouri, in a private letter re- 

 l)lyingto my inquiries, says: "I have seen no artificial sepulchral mounds 

 on the Osage River. With the exception of pictographs, on the rocks, 

 about 25 miles above its mouth, I found but few, if any, prehistoric 

 remains anywhere on that river." 



Robert I. Holcombe, esq., who ranks little below Parkmau in Ameri- 

 can historical research, after si)eiiding many months at or near the 

 site of the "Great Osage village," when writing of that locality in his 

 "History of Vernon County, Missouri," says: "It does not seem that 

 the mysterious race of beings termed the Mound Builders ever dwelt here 

 in any considerable numbers or for any considerable period. But few 

 traces of their occupation remain, if they ever existed. In some ])arts 

 of the county there are a few small elevations resembling the sepul- 

 chral mounds of the Mouud Builders; but it can not be asserted that 

 they are not natural. If any examination has been made, it has not dis- 

 closed any noteworthy archaeological specimens, and few, if any, Hint 

 arrow-heads, lance heads, stone axes, or fragments of pottery have been 

 found."* After calling Mr. Holcombe's attention specially to this 

 branch of inquiry he informed me, in the course of our correspondence, 

 that in all the region he had examined he had not seen an artificial 

 earthen mound; and had met but few, if any, evidences of a pre exist- 

 ent "stone age." Of the many residents on and near the Osage, from 

 its mouth to its sources, to whom I have addressed my inipiiries, not 

 one has seen an artificial earthern mound there, and but few have 

 ionnd aborignal stone implements of any description in that icgion. 

 All agree that such evidences of prehistoric occupancy are almost to- 

 tally absent. 



E. R. Morerod, M. D., an old resident of Vernon County, Missouri, 

 an intelligent and scholarly man, who had devoted much time and 

 thought to the study of American history and antiquities, and who per- 



* History of Vernon Couuty, Missouri. St. Louis. Brown & Co. 18-^7, pp. ^7, 86. 



