124 



The Mlssourium. 



Vol. VI. 



their timely deliverance ; and more latterly, they have 

 offered their sacrifice on the tahle-rock previously men- 

 tioned, which was held in great veneration, and con- 

 sidered holy ground. 



Tliis ceremony was kept up with the utmost rigidity 

 until one of the white emifrrants settled in the valley 

 at the foot of the rock, with the intention of making 

 himself and family a permanent residence on this fer- 

 tile spot ; but he did not long enjoy this beautifijl situ- 

 ation, for on the return of Ihe Indians to oll'or their 

 wonted sacrifice, they beheld with indignation and as- 

 tonishment the intrusion of this venturesome settler 

 on their sacred ground. Soon the council fire was kin- 

 dled, when the Indians gave their accustomed murmur 

 of dissatisfaction, and immediately the white man was 

 obliged to leave, without the least preliminary cere- 

 mony. Some time after this, on becoming better ac- 

 quainted with his red neighbours, and liaving through 

 much perseverance gained tlieir good opinion, after 

 much reluctance on their part, and explanations and 

 assurances that he would not infringe on their sacred 

 privileges, and would only raise corn and potatoes for 

 his family, he was once more permitted to settle on 

 this sacred spot, of which he retained peaceable posses- 

 sion until the return of some old chiefs, who had been 

 for a long time absent. They, in turn, were e.vaspe- 

 rated to madness on seeing the violation of the sacred 

 ground of their forefathers by the encroachment of the 

 white man, and again tlie poor farmer was obliged to 

 leave. From that tiiue this spot remained in the liands 

 of the Indians, and no entreaty or allurement could be 

 held out to induce them to resign it, until they were 

 removed by the government; it then for the third time 

 fell into the hands of the original .settler, who joyfully 

 took possession of the place he had so long desired to 

 make his home. 



After a while other settlers arrived, and as the want 

 of a mill for grinding thiir dilPTent kinds of grain be- 

 gan to be felt — each family having hitherto been obliged, 

 in order to obtain a supply of meal, to resort to the la- 

 borious process of pounding their corn in mortars — the 

 old farmer resolved on building a tub-mill for the ac- 

 commodation of himself and his neighbours. In order 

 to procure the necessary water-power, the aid of the 

 before-mentioned spring was brought into requisition; 

 and in making the necessary excavation, the labourers 

 found several bones of young mastodons, which e.\cited 

 their curiosity and astonishment, bnt they suspended 

 their labour on ascertaining that the force of said 

 spring was not sullicient for their purpose. Soon after 

 this the place was sold, and the excitement about the 

 bones and the Indians was forgotten until the summer 

 of It's!), at which time a young man, who was employed 

 to clean said spring, found a tooth of a mastodon dur- 

 ing his labour; which occurrence reminded several of 

 the old settlers of the former transactions and tradi- 

 tions, and a narration of these, induced a few persons 

 residing in that vicinity, out of mere curiosity, to make 

 further examination as to what was contained in the 

 spring. They succeeded in finding several bones and 

 teeth ; but the mud and water nccuniulated so fast, they 

 soon became discouraged with tlir (liliinilties attending 

 the search, and gave it over. .Snaie of llio.^e facts came 

 to my knowledge in March, 1H40, on my return to St. 

 liOuis from an excursion to the southwestern part of 

 the country, when I immediately repaired to the spot, 

 and found the facts as I have here stated. 



EVIDENCES OF HUMAN EXISTENCE CONTEMPO- 

 RARY WITH FOSSIL ANIMALS. 

 It is well known by all persons acquainted with ge- 

 ology, that it is admitted as a fact, that the mastodons, 

 together with the generality of antediluvian animals, 

 existed and became e.xtinct, previous to the creation 

 of the race of men : which supposition was founded on 

 the fact, that no evidence of human e.xistence could be 

 traced back to, or found with, those antediluvian ani- 

 mals. The positive cause of this I do not know. My 

 opinion, however, is, that this want of evidence of a 

 former human race is, that those relics of the ancient 

 animal world generally, have been found accidentally 

 by persons who were not aware of the importance of a 

 U)inute and critical examination of the deposits disin- 

 terred by them, and then^fore the scientific observer 

 was deprived, no doubt, often of the facts necessary to 

 be known in order to form correct opinions on this 

 subject. In view of this, I deem it my duty to lay be- 

 fore the world what facts I have been able to gather on 



this interesting subject, which will be strong evidence 

 in favour of my belief, that there was a human race 

 existing contemporary with those animals. 



These facts are as follow: In October, 1838, I disin- 

 terred the remains of an animal which had clawed feet 

 and was of the size of an elephant. This deposit was 

 in Gasconade county, Missouri, on the shores of the 

 Burbois river. The principal part of this animal had 

 been consumed by fire, which fire, evidently had not 

 been produced by a volcanic eruption, but had been 

 formed and kindb^d by human hands, as it appeared, 

 for the purpose of destroying the above-mentioned ani- 

 mal, which had been mired here, and was unable to 

 extricate itself. The particulars of the transaction are 

 as follow : 



A fanner in Gasconade county, Missouri, perceived 

 for some time a disagreeable taste in the water which 

 he bad used for his household. This water was taken 

 out of a clear spring, situated in what is usually called 

 a bottom, near bis house. For the purpose of remedy- 

 ing this evil, he dug around and into the spring, lhu3 

 to be enabled to enclose it afterwards as a well. By 

 doing so, he found several bones belonging to an ani- 

 mal of an unusually large size : some were whole, and 

 some in fragments. Also, at the same time he found a 

 stone knife and an Indian axe. This circumstance cre- 

 ated some excitement in the neighbourhood ; and these 

 transactions were mentioned to me some time after- 

 wards by a Mr. Wash, who lived in the vicinity. 



On hearing this, I inunediately made arrangements 

 to proceed to the place. On my arrival there, in Octo- 

 ber, 1838, I found the prospects rather dull, as the bones 

 which had been dug out of the spring were principally 

 destroyed ; what few remained, were broken to ascer- 

 tain if they contained marrow, until the few remain- 

 ing fragments were collected togiither by an intelligent 

 gentleman named Bailey, in the neighbourhood, who 

 presented them to nie, and assisted me in my farther 

 researches. I found, nine feet beneath the surface, a 

 layer of ashes from six to twelve inches in thickness, 

 mingled with charcoal, large pieces of wood partly 

 burned, together with Indian implements of war, as 

 stone arrow-heads, tomahawks, &c. &c. Also, more 

 than one hundred and fifty pieces of rocks, varying from 

 three to twenty-five pounds in weight, which must 

 have been carried here from the rocky shores of the 

 Burbois river, a distance of 300 yards, as there was no 

 rock, stones, or even gravel near to be found ; and those 

 pieces of rocks, taken out of the ashes, were precisely 

 the same as that found on the river, which is a species 

 of limestone; these bad been thrown, evidently, with 

 the intention of striking the animal. I found ihe fore 

 and hind-foot standing in a perpendicular position ; and 

 likewise the full length of the leg below the layer of 

 ashes, so deep in the mud and water that the fire had 

 no effect on them. 



The fore-foot of the animal consists of four toes and 

 a thumb; each toe has five joints, each last joint armed 

 with a claw, or long nail. The thumb has two joints ; 

 the crown of the foot is composed of four bones, joined 

 together, and each connected to a toe. On the top of 

 this is a thin, round bone, connecting them with the 

 shin-bone. The construction of this foot shows that it 

 possessed much power in grasping and holding objects. 

 The hind-foot is smaller, and has also four toes, with 

 five joints, but has no thumb. The crown is entirely 

 ditf<;rcnt in construction from that of the fore-foot. A 

 few of the teeth appeared to have been broken out by 

 the force of the rocks thrown at tlie head of the animal, 

 and were carried some little distance; so that they es- 

 caped, in a measure, the violence of the fire, and have 

 all the appearance of those of a carnivorous animal. 



The second trace of human existence with these ani- 

 mals. I found during the excavation of the Missouri 

 Leviathan. There was, embedded immediately under 

 the femur or hind-leg bone of this animal, an arrow- 

 head of rose-coloured flint, resembling those used by 

 the American Indians, but of a larger size. This was 

 the only arrow-head immediately with the skeleton; 

 but ill the same stratum, at a distance of five or six 

 teel, in a. horizontal direction, four more arrow-beads 

 were found; three of these were of the same formation 

 as the preceding; the fourth was of very rude work- 

 manship. One of the last-mentioned three was of 

 agate, the others of blue flint. These arrow-heads are 

 indisputably the work of human hands. I examined 

 the deposit in which they vvere embedded, and raised 

 them out of their embedment with my own hands. 



