ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 6 



inundations have taken place in the distant past. In the absence of 

 safe terraces, these floods must have constituted a serious threat to 

 the welfare and peace of mind of primitive peoples in search of 

 habitable locations. Very probably it was recognition of this fact 

 that prompted native groups in this locality to settle in the safer side 

 valleys and to avoid generally the banks of the Missouri. 



As for the immediate locale (fig. 1), the principal tributaries of 

 the Missouri are the Platte, cuiTently entering from the north about 

 4 miles below Leavenworth; the Kansas at Kansas City; the Big 

 Blue, debouching between Kansas City and Independence; and the 

 Little Blue, which mouths opposite Cooley Lake. Though not the 

 largest, the Platte is of greatest interest in connection with the pres- 

 ent investigations. Kising in southwestern Iowa and fed by an in- 

 tricate system of creeks in Nodaway, Andrew, Buchanan, and Platte 

 Counties, its lower reaches are characterized by a well-developed 

 alluvial flood plain about a mile wide bordered by occasional terraces 

 and more or less continuous bluffs. The valley is much less regular 

 than that of the Missouri, and the bluff lines are exceedingly ragged; 

 here and there they recede farther than usual because of faster lat- 

 eral erosion where the present stream crosses ancient drift-filled 

 preglacial valleys. The Platte flows at grade in an intrenched chan- 

 nel often 10 to 25 feet below the valley bottoms. Though low-lying 

 and flat, as shown by the extremely sinuous route taken across them 

 by the river, these bottoms are not marshy, nor do they flood readily. 

 At times of high water in the Missouri, as during the annual floods, 

 the water backs 10 or 15 miles up the Platte. At present the river 

 issues from the bluffs at Farley to enter the Missouri about a mile to 

 the southwest, but within the past century its mouth has been 10 or 

 12 miles lower and within a mile of Parkville. 



The Kansas for some miles above its mouth has a flat-floored valley 

 nearly as wide as the Missouri. The bottoms, however, are firmer, the 

 bluffs lower and less abrupt, and occasional terraces offer safe habita- 

 tion sites. The Big and Little Blue, not examined for archeological 

 remains, have smaller but equally attractive timbered and well watered 

 valleys. 



Lesser tributaries leave the uplands to break through the Missouri 

 bluffs at intervals of a few miles. Those from the west and south are 

 often short and intermittent and flow in narrow steep-walled valleys. 

 From the north come several sizable creeks. Beginning below the 

 Platte these include, in order. Brush, Kush, Line, Shoal, and Rush 

 Creeks and finally Fishing River. With exception of the last, they 

 vary in length from 5 to 10 miles. In their upper portions they flow in 

 shallow valleys with gently sloping sides that grade into the rolling 

 upland prairies; farther down, the valleys are deeper, wider, flat- 



