FOWKE] ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTlGATIOlsrs 155 



stood that these remains were in undisturbed drift, but such is the im- 

 pression that has gained credence. 



At the settlement of the country by Avhites the road constructed 

 across a ravine here, on the section line nearest the river about three- 

 eighths of a mile away, followed the natural contour and the crossing- 

 was made without difficulty. Since then a deep washout bus worked 

 its way to some distance above this point, making a long bridge 

 necessary. From the head of the washout to the Missouri River the 

 banks are vertical, or nearly so, on each side of the little stream. It 

 was in the bank on the south side that the bones were found. It 

 is stated they were 7 feet under the surface; if so there must have 

 been a mound above them, for the lowest excavation does not reach 

 over 5 feet below the present level of the ground, and at that extends 

 slightly below the bottom of the grave. 



Within 40 years the Missouri Eiver, which is now more than a 

 mile away toward the Missouri shore, flowed at the foot of a slight 

 bluff terminating the slope from the hrgh land toward the west ; there 

 was formerly a steamboat landing on the upper side of the ravine. 

 On the lower side is a triangular area of about an acre, bounded by 

 the bluff, the river bank, and the ravine. This was an excellent loca- 

 tion for an Indian village or camp. A narrow level strip extends 

 from the mouth of the ravine to a point near the bridge, some dis- 

 tance above where the remains were found. It is quite clear that the 

 skeletons were the remains of individuals who had died at the camp 

 on the river's bank and had been carried here for burial. This may 

 have occurred within the last hundred years or in fact at any time 

 Avhile the -Indians were still living in this vicinity. 



The flood level of the Missouri is not more than 15 feet lower 

 than the level space along the sides of the ravine. The little inter- 

 mittent stream has cut down this depth through a deposit which is 

 composed of river sediment, wash from the hills on eacli side, and 

 material carried from higher levels by the brook itself in rainy 

 seasons. At only one point is there a real glacial deposit, and this 

 does not extend for more than 50 feet horizontally, and does not reach 

 to the top of the bank. It is at some distance from the graves, and 

 may be due to a lobe of the ice or to an iceberg. However formed 

 or deposited here it has no relation whatever to the skeletons. In a 

 sense, the material in which they w^ere buried is "Kansan drift"; 

 but it is drift which has been redistributed and has come into its 

 present position within a few centuries at the most. 



NEAE HOWE, NEBRASKA 



Mr. Sam P. Hughes, who lives near Howe, has done considerable 

 excavating in that vicinity. He is an intelligent man and an ardent 

 student, but his ideas in regard to the age of his discoveries need 



