FOWKE] ANTIQUITIES OF MISSOURI 15 
In the vicinity of Warrensburg [15]¢ are mounds, every one excavated showing a 
stone box within, forming a true cist. They are essentially the same, their dimen- 
sions being nine by eleven feet, and six feet deep. 
Tt is unfortunate that we have not a more detailed account of these 
mounds. 
THE “INDIAN HOUSE” IN PIKE COUNTY (16) 
Among the remains which have aroused great interest, but which 
have been instrumental in creating a false impression concerning 
the aborigines of the Mississippi valley, is a peculiar stonework in 
Pike county, near Louisiana. 
The earliest known reference to this structure is found in a work 
by Beck.’ The illustration which he gives has been widely copied, and 
its complete lack of resemblance to anything ever constructed by a 
“Red Indian,” or by his mythical predecessor, the ‘“‘ Mound Builder,” 
has furnished a basis for all sorts of fanciful theories. The smooth- 
ness and regularity of the walls, the accurate alignment of the stones, 
as portrayed in his cut (reproduced here as fig. 17), might well excite 
the envy of a skilled stone mason of our own day. The statement 
in his text that ‘all the walls consist of rough unhewn stone”’ proves 
the inaccuracy of the drawing, in which they are shown as smooth 
and even as they could be made with modern tools and machinery. 
Nevertheless, writers imbued with the idea of a “lost race” or a 
“high civilization’? overlook this inconsistency and take only the 
drawing as a text. 
Beck’s description follows: 
Noyer creek, a trifling steam, runs an easterly course through Pike county and 
empties into the Mississippi two miles below the mouth of Salt river. It is princi- 
pally noted on account of the singular ancient works found on its banks about two 
miles southwest of the town of Louisiana. They are built of stone, with great regu- 
larity, and their site is high and commanding, from which I am led to infer that they 
were intended for places of defence. Works of a similar kind are found on the banks 
of Buffaloe creek and on the Osage river. They certainly form a class of antiquities 
entirely distinct from the walled towns, fortifications, barrows or mounds. The 
regularity of their form and structure favors the conclusion that they were the work 
of a more civilized race than those who erected the former—a race familiar with the 
rules of architecture, and perhaps with a perfect system of warfare. The annexed 
engraving [fig. 17] will illustrate the form of these works. 
Fig. 1, faces the southeast. 
ABCD outer wall, 18 inches in thickness; length 56 feet; breadth 22 feet. 
(All the walls consist of rough unhewn stone, and appear to have been constructed 
with remarkable regularity. Although they are at present considerably decayed, 
their form is still distinct. ) 
E is a chamber, 3 feet in width, which was no doubt arched the whole way, as some 
part of the arch still remains. It is made in the manner represented in fig. 3, and is 
seldom more than five feet above the surface of the ground; but as it is filled with 
rubbish, it is impossible to say what was its original height. 
a The corresponding number on the map (pl. 1) designates this group of mounds. 
>’ A Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri, by Lewis C. Beck; Albany, 1823. 
