168 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULF,. 76 



due to the decay of a tree which grew here before the mound was 

 made. At the top of the dirt filling this hole was a piece of decayed 

 bark, apparently oak, which had grown in the air ; and farther down 

 fragments of root bark. Eight feet east of the center was a hole 

 (F), similar to the last, 10 inches deep and averaging 2 feet across. 

 This, also, resulted from the decay of a stump. 



A plan of the holes is given in figure 37. The dotted lines are 

 merely to show direction and distance. 



This mound offers confirmation of 



A 



Q 



bC?'^: 



_.6'0' 



,->-0t 



o 



C 



t- ir'o". 



= 



6 



Fig. 37.- 



-Plan of House Mound 

 County, Mo. 



in St. Frangois 



the belief that such struc- 

 tures, or some of them at 

 least, mark the sites of 

 dwellings. With the two 

 trees, E and F, the posts, 

 A and B, would form the 

 corners of an irregular quad- 

 rangle; the two posts, C and 

 D, would support the inner 

 ends of roof timbers. While 

 no trace of posts or roof 

 timbers remained, it is diffi- 

 cult to imagine for what 

 other purpose these holes 

 would be dug; and in this 

 heavy, wet earth all traces 

 of wood must in time disap- 

 pear. Conversely, the total 

 absence of a fireplace, pot- 

 sherds or other remains, and 

 of any sign of a floor, would 

 serve to dispel the assump- 

 tion that this spot was ever 

 The evidence is as strong one way 



inhabited even for a short time 

 as it is the other. 



In short, the limited observations above recorded leave the ques- 

 tion of origin and purpose just where it was. 



Some years ago one of the mounds at Ferguson, St. Louis County, 

 was opened. No remains of any sort were discovered, according to 

 the report of the excavators; but on the original surface, at the cen- 

 ter of the mound, was a fire bed in and about which were ashes, char- 

 coal, and fragments of rude pottery. 



No excavations have ever been made in the mounds near Granite 

 Mountain ; but a tortuous little stream has undercut several of them, 

 thus making vertical sections as in the case of the mound at Hunter's, 

 near Farmington. In some mounds only a small portion near the mar- 



