SKETCH OF AM^IEXT EiKTMWOIlKS OX THE UPPEIl MISSOURI. 



By a. Bakkandt, C. E., of Sioux City. 



Tlic arcliiEoiogical remains of tlie Upper Missouri, from the mouth of 

 the Yellowstone, iu a. southeasterly^ direction as far down as Bonhomme 

 Isliiud below Fort liandall, exhibit a progressive change of structure 

 and outline from the most simple to the most complicated. During my 

 stay in that region, 18G9-'70, I had occasion to visit several of those 

 ancient fortifications. Among the most important and v.-ell preserved 

 is one existing about nine miles south-southeast of the Missouri 

 and within half a mile of Clark's Creek, Dakota. The main work is 

 iu the form of a parallelogram, three hundred and forty feet long, one 

 hundred and ninety feet wide, and twenty and twenty-five feet high ; 

 the walls are, on an average, seven feet thick at the summit. There are 

 two openings, one facing the "west, twenty-four feet wide, and the other 

 facing south, only nine feet wide. The space inside is now full of cottou- 

 v.'ood and ash trees. Several large blocks of sandstone, roughly hewn, 

 were found, but the walls and a ruined i)ortiou of what ai:)i)eared to be 

 the remains of a smaller inclosure, were of calcined clay, changed by 

 burning into a brick color. Following the banks of the creek for 

 half a mile, we came to the remains of a wall of about five feet in width 

 and in some places attaining the height of from three to five feet. We 

 traced the wall for about four hundred yards ; it runs for about one 

 hundred and fifty yards from east to west, then turning at right angles 

 from north to south, the end of which reaches the edge of a deep and 

 precipitous ravine, beyond which we could not find any traces of ruins. 



About two hundred and fifty miles up the Bighorn Eiver we found 

 also another large mass of ruins, where was probably the site of a large 

 mound city, but none are now existing; they have all crumbled away, 

 and from a large oak tree that we felled, I found that they must have 

 occupied this spot at least six hundred jears ago, as the tree grew on 

 the remains of what had been j)robabiy the largest mound. We found 

 that these mounds had, for the most part, been constructed of turf and 

 adobe or sun-dried bricks of inferior nninufacture, which accounts for 

 their decay. 



Another curious spot that I visited was what tlie Indians of the pres- 

 ent time call Matou-tipee, (Bear-house.) It is a large mound constructed 

 of calcinated clay, which by burning was changed ijito a brick color. 

 It is situated near Grand liiver on a high elevation of land; it is encir- 

 cled b3" the remains of a wall ; one i)ortion running from east to west 

 and then down a hollow ; turning at a right angle it runs from north to 



