592 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



soually inspected every locality ou the upper Osage that had been in- 

 habited by the Osage Indians, with the view of collecting reliable ma- 

 terials for his "Centennial History of Vernon County '^ (published in 

 1876), and to secure, if possible, relics of ancient Indian art for the Phila- 

 delphia Exposition of that year, in writing to me says: "As far as my 

 knowledge extends there are but very few evidences of prehistoric man 

 existing in Vernon County. Excepting a few tlint arrow-points, I do 

 not know of a stoue implement of any kind, neither grooved ax, celt, 

 or ornament, ever having been found here. Nor is there an artificial 

 sepulchral mound in our count}', though we have many magnificent 

 natural mounds of geological origin. Absence of Indian burials here 

 has often suggested to my mind the query, what did the Osages do 

 with their dead? We know that they were a numerous tribe, and that 

 this district was the central point of their territory for nearly, or quite, 

 a century and a quarter; yet although I have searched all over the site% 

 of the Big and Little Osage villages, and in every direction throughout 

 the county, I have failed to find any indication of Indian burying 

 grounds, or any isolated graves that could, with any degree of certainty, 

 be attributed to the Indians. I am therefore of the opinion that with 

 the exception of their distinguished men, these Indians cremated their 

 dead. In my search for Indian relics here, in 1876, all that I found 

 were brass and pewter ornaments, glass beads, fragments of gun flint- 

 locks, broken iron and copper utensils, and crockery of French make. 

 There are no Indian graves here on the crest of our ridges and bluffs, 

 or on the top of our natural mounds, as is the case elsewhere through- 

 out the Mississii)pi Valley, with but one known exception. A very noted 

 chief of the Osages, named Pah-hus kah, or Pawhuska, but called by 

 the early French "Chev^eux Blanche," said to have been killed in a 

 skirmish with the whites, was buried on the top of the big Blue Mound, 

 and over his grave a large stone heap was erected by his people. Dr. 

 Badger, an old settler here, says that on his arrival, in 1844, this stoue 

 heap was a very conspicious landmark and could be seen from a great 

 distance. At that time it was 8 or 9 feet high and aboat the same in 

 diameter at its base. When I first saw it, in 1867, there was still a por- 

 tion of it plainly to be seen from the prairie in all directions; but in 1876 

 there was not a vestige of it remaining," 



Of the death and burial of this chief Mr. Holcombe says, "The exact 

 date of the death of old White Hair can not here be given. He died 

 at his village in the northern part of this county, however, and was 

 buried on the summit of Bhie Mound, in a stone sepulcher made for the 

 occasion. It is probable that this was about the year 1824. His grave 

 was afterward broken into by white vandals in search of treasure."* 



To the foregoing statements it may not be inappropriate to add the 

 results of my own personal observations. During my residence of eight 

 years in southwestern Missouri, 1853-1861, 1 traversed the entire valley 



* History of Vernoa County, Missouri, p. 142. 



