THOMAS.] TENNESSEE. 373 



buried liere. All the bones were so much decayed that ouly one skull 

 could be saved. Five feet farther down, near the original surface and 

 immediately under this pile of bones, was a, horizontal layer, or rather 

 floor, of rough river stones, but no traces of coal or ashes. It was 

 circular, with a diameter of 20 feet. (See vertical section in Fig. 248.) 

 Mound No. 3 was 90 feet in diameter and 8 feet high. It as well as 

 No. 1 were composed of red clay. Two skeletons were found near the 

 center, at a depth of less than 2 feet. Nothing else of interest was 

 observed. 



THE srsPADDlN MOUNDS. 



This section of the group, but a short distance from the preceding, 

 and on the same side of the river, is on the farm of Mr. T. T. McSpad- 

 din, just below the mouth of Citico creek. It consists of five mounds, 

 located as shown in Fig. 24:7, bearings and distances as follows : 



From c, at thejunotiou of the creek with the river, to d, on the west bank of the 

 river, N. 22 ' W., 444 feet. 



From (I to Mound No. 4, S. 63° W., 538 feet. 



From Mound No. 4 to Mound No. 5, N. 68° W., 1,896 feet; the point on this line 

 where it crosses the rise to t!ie secon<l l)ottom is 550 feet from No. 5. 



From Mound No. 5 to the point in the gap marked e, S. 24° W., 793 feet. 



From e to Mound No. 6, S. 66° W., 724 feet. 



From Mound No. 6 to Mound No. 7, N. 65° W., 215 feet. 



From Mound No. 7 to Mound No. 8, S. 39° W., 1,270 feet. 



The dotted line shows the old channel of the creek, now dry; its 

 nearest point to Mound No. i, is 208 feet; fiom the same mound to the 

 nearest point on Citico creek as it now runs, is 480 feet. The second 

 bottom is 10 feet higher than the first. The spur and hill, which seem 

 to have been cut off from its point in past geological time, are of con- 

 siderable height. Behind these is an area of level land on which 

 Mounds No. 6, 7, and 8 are situated; No. 8 is at a considerable dis- 

 tance from the others, and beyond a ravine. The distance from No. 4 

 to No. 8, by way of the gap is about three-fourths of a mile. 



Mound No. 4, known locally as " Citico mound," is the largest, not 

 only of this group, but of the entire section. In shape it resembles 

 the half of an egg divided lengthwise, being broadest and highest 

 nearer one end, sloping thence by regular, somewhat curved lines. The 

 length is 220 feet; greatest breadth, 184 feet; greatest height, 14 feet. 

 It may ijossibly have been flat on top originally, but no satisfactory 

 evidence of this can be had ; in fact, its present form seems to be that 

 which it has had from the beginning, so far as can be judged from an 

 examination of its structure. As is shown in the plat, it is located 

 on the first bottom of the Little Tennessee, and, though often sur- 

 rounded by water in times of flood, was never known to be covered. 

 For a space of 6 or 7 acres around it the soil is strewn with fragments 

 of pottery, flint chips, broken stones, animal bones, charcoal, and other 

 refuse. Great numbers of shell beads have been picked up here, and 

 human skeletons have occasionally been plowed up or washed out by 



