176 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



located in eastern Cass County 8 miles south of the town of Platts- 

 mouth and i| miles south of the old river town of Rock Blufifs (maps, 

 figs. 13, 24). Concerning the local topography, we may best quote 

 from Sterns' brief but excellent summary report.'" 



The lower portion of this stream's course [Sterns Creek] is through an 

 alluvial terrace of the Missouri River. This terrace is now about a quarter of a 

 mile wide and sufficiently raised above the present level of the river to be out 

 of reach of even the highest water. It is separated from the flat through 



Fig. 24. — Sketch map of Walker Gilmore site, Cass County. 1-17, exposures of 

 Sterns Creek culture ; A, shallow exposure. 



which the gully runs by an old river bank about 8 feet high. This flat forms 

 an east-and-west gap between two high river bluffs to the north and to the 

 south of it. Its greatest width from slope to slope is about a quarter of a mile. 

 The stream formerly had a winding southeasterly course across the alluvial 

 terrace; but the owners of the property diverted the creek a few years ago 

 by digging a drainage ditch almost due eastward. The great shortening of its 

 course thus produced has caused it to cut the gully which it now occupies (pi. 19, 

 fig. 2). This gully averages about 30 feet in width and 20 feet in depth and 

 has almost vertical walls. In places its sides and bed are composed of a yellow 

 loesslike clay similar to that which forms the neighboring river bluffs, while in 

 other places it cuts through deposits of blue " gumbo " clay such as is common 

 in the creek beds of the region, or through creek gravels, or through secondary 



" 1915, pp. 122-123, Sterns' unpublished work, 1915 a, aside from a map and 

 plates, showing exposures and artifacts, gives little additional information on 

 this site. 



