MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 531 



from the water, as tlie shells of the fresh-water clam are numerous, aud 

 Avere obtained from the Missouri Eiver, which at that time i)robably 

 Howed along the foot of the blufl", at their very door. 



The stone for their implements seems to have been obtained in part 

 from some ledges near here, and perhaps some of it from a distance, as 

 the finer and more perfect of their tools were made from a kind not found 

 here, except in the form of pebbles or drift bowlders, all the native 

 stone being a carboniferous limestone, with the exception of a very 

 coarse flint which is met with in some localities, and which was used for 

 the larger tools, but which apparently was not suitable for smaller im- 

 plements. Chalcedony seems to have been used by them to some extent, 

 as were other kinds of stone of which the writer does not know the 

 name. Some of these tools show superior skill, and have been appar- 

 ently first chipped into shape and then ground to a perfectly smooth 

 surface. This is the case with some hatchets which have been found, 

 also of a globular stone which the writer has in his collection, and which 

 was probably used as a sling shot or for a similar purpose. 



Sketch No. 2 shows the location of a peculiar mound, which is situated 

 on the summit of one of the highest of the range of bluffs which borders 

 the Missouri Eiver flood plain. It is near the northwest corner of the 

 northwest quarter of the southeast quarter section 10, township 72 

 north, range 43 west of the fifth i)rincipal meridian, aud is about 5 J miles 

 south and 2 miles east from No. 1. 



This bluff is nearly 300 feet above the lowlands, and overlooks the 

 country for many miles in every direction. The mound in question was 

 formed of the soil adjacent, and is at the present time about 8 feet in 

 height above the original surface. The base of the mound is elliptical 

 in form, being about 70 feet north and south, aud 40 feet east and west. 

 The earth from which this mound was made was apparently taken 

 from a place 125 feet south, where a large depression exists, about 

 35 feet square, and at present 5 feet deep. There is the stump of 

 a burr-oak tree IG inches in diameter standing near the northwest cor- 

 ner of the pit, on the edge of the slope of the bank ; also another burr- 

 oak stump 14 inches in diameter near the southeast corner, which is also 

 on the bank, but at the edge of the excavation. This mound was par- 

 tially opened some twenty-five years ago, but without yielding anything 

 of consequence. My note-book shows the foUowitig entry: "Opened 

 mound with S. B. Proudfit, November 25, 1879, and dug a hole G feet 

 long and 4 feet wide. At 7 feet from the surface came to a layer of 

 ashes about one-half an inch thick, and below this a layer of stones. 

 These stones were from 2 to 11 inches thick and would probably weigh 

 from 20 to 30 pounds. They were evidently placed on what was the 

 original surface of the ground, and the ashes and earth placed above 

 them. The stones were probably brought from the Nebraska 'side of 

 the Missouri Eiver. About 4 miles directly west the characteristic 

 fossils in the stones indicate this. There did not seem to have been any 



