ANCIENT WORKS — CALHOUN COUNTY. 



121 



INDIAN GRAVE PRAIKIf;. 



About 5 miles southeast of tlie preceding on the western shore of a 

 small lake is a spot known as "Indian Grave praiiie," which in former 

 times was a favorite haunt of the Indians. It is a circular area contain- 

 ing some 50 acres, rising about 5 feet above the surrounding lands, with 

 a steep descent all around the margin, and is now a part of the levee. 

 Mr. E. E. Thorn, who noAv occupies and cultivates it, says there is 

 neither trace nor tradition of timber having ever grown upon it, but 

 that he has found abundant evidence of long-continued occupancy prior 

 to its possession by white men. 



Excavations made in several oval-topped mounds brought to light 

 nothing except the fact that they were composed mainly of sand like the 

 surrounding soil, although decayed human bones are said to have been 

 found in some of them. 



Three or four feet in depth of the bank fronting the lake is, in fact, a 

 refuse heap mixed with charcoal, ashes, stone chiijs, and other evidences 

 of long occupancy. However, a single bone awl and some pieces of 

 pottery were the only articles obtained by the Bureau assistant. 



A small image of pottery, found while plowing near one of the mounds 

 on this area, is in possession o/oue of the residents. 



CALHOUN COUNTY. 



This county is a long narrow belt of land lying between the Illinois and 

 Mississippi rivers immediately above their junction. It con.sists chiefly of 

 an elevated ridge from 250 to 300 feet high, flanked on each side by 

 rich alluvial bottoms bordering the two rivers, its sides being cut by 

 numerous deep ravines. The upland is irregular and broken, some of 

 it too much so for cultivation, though the soil is rich. 



Mounds are comparatively numerous over this area, the larger i)or- 

 tion being found on the uplands. 



The first group examined was one consisting of four mounds situated 

 on the NW. i, Sec. 34, T. 10 S., E. 2 W. These are placed along the top 

 of a spur of the ridge, about 250 feet above the bottoms; the immediate 

 position being flanked on the east and west by deep ravines. The fol- 

 lowing table shows the respective sizes of the tumuli and their courses 

 aud distances from one another, commencing with IsTo. 1 at the north- 

 west end of the series and measuring from center to center: 



