THOMAS.] TENNEi^SEE. 357 



cau not now be ascertained, but it is afiirmed that the area of the level 

 top was at least an acre and that it was cultivated as a garden. If this 

 be correct it must have been a very large and important tumulus, prob- 

 ably 250 feet in length by 175 in width. What adds to the interest 

 attaching to this work is the fact that, running around it in the form of 

 a semicircle, and about 300 yards from it, is a series of large pits, twelve 

 in number and somewhat evenly spaced. The dimensions can not be 

 definitely ascertained, as they are now nearly filled up. They were 

 probably 100 feet or more in diameter, and, according to the statement 

 of citizens, fully L'O feet deep. Possibly they are the spots from which 

 the material for building the mound was obtained. 



JEFFERSON COTINTY. 



Some explorations were made in this county, but the examinations 

 were hasty and incomplete. The agent was, at the time of his visit, 

 simply on a prospecting tour, expecting to return to those works which 

 he thought worthy of special investigation. 



Two mounds were discovered immediately below Taylors bend of the 

 French Broad river, 9 miles east of Dandridge. One of these, on the 

 north side of the river, stands on a level bottom about 300 feet from the 

 river bank. It is circular in outline, 120 feet .in diameter and 12 feet 

 high. Trenches were cut through it, but no evidence of burial or relics 

 of any kind were revealed. The other mound is about half a mile above 

 the preceding, south of the river, on the farm of Mr. John B. Stakely. 

 It stands on the level bottom about 200 feet from the river; is similar 

 in form to the other, but smaller, the diameter being 05 feet and height 

 ;» little less than 5 teet. The ground on which it stands is subject to 

 overflow, and the mound itself has been entirely covered with water 

 more than once. A wide trench was carried through it and down to 

 the original soil, but neither skeletons nor relics were found; nor any 

 indications of burial. The whole body of it was composed of dark, 

 sandy soil like that of the ground around it. At the bottom, resting 

 on the natural surface, was a layer of sticky yellow clay, 3 to 4 inches 

 thick, which appeared to underlie the entire mound. The nearest 

 place where this pipe clay is found is a ridge about a mile distant. 



There is an ancient burial ground about one-fourtli of a mile above, 

 but on the opposite side of the river from the last mentioned mound. 



There is a mound on the south side of French Broad river opjjosite 

 Swans island, about 3 miles above Dandridge. It stands on the lower 

 bottom which borders the river, about 200 yards from the latter. There 

 are traces of an old "trail" leading from it across the ridges for a dis- 

 tance of 3 miles to some stone graves near a creek. The largest trees 

 along the trail are marked, but the marking extends up and down the 

 trees according to the old method of blazing routes instead of across 

 them, as is now usual. If these marks bear any relation to the trail and 

 graves, it is probable that all are the work of modei'n Cherokees. 



