42 BURIAL MOUNDS OF THE NORTHERN SECTIONS. 
From an article by Messrs. Hardy and Scheetz in the Smithsonian 
Report for 1881,! we learn the following particulars regarding the 
burial mounds of Ralls County : 
Oceasionally an isolated one is found, but almost invariably they are 
in groups of three to ten or more. They are usually placed along the crest 
of a ridge, but when in the bottoms or on a level bluff they are in direct 
lines or gentle curves. They are very numerous, being found in almost 
every bottom and on nearly every bluff. They are usually circular and 
from 2 to 12 feet high, and are composed wholiy of earth, wholly of 
stone, or of the two combined. Where stone was used the plan seems to 
have been first to pave the natural surface with flat stones, in one or 
two thicknesses, for a foundation. In one case the stones were thrown 
together indiscriminately. Human remains are almost invariably found 
inthem. The bones are generally very much decayed,.though each bone 
is found almost entire except those of the head. This seems to have 
always rested on a stone, and to have been covered by one or more 
stones, so that it is always found in a crushed condition. In rare in- 
stances stone implements, pipes, ete., are found in the mounds. The re- 
mains found in tumuli wholly of stone are much more decayed than in 
those of mixed material. 
One opened by the writers of the article is described by them as fol- 
lows: 
On the south side of it the bed stone had been formed into a shallow trough. On re- 
moving the flat stones which coyered this, and which showed no action of fige, we 
found a bed of charcoal several inches thick, both animal and vegetable, and the 
limestone which composed it was burned completely through. Some fragments of a 
human femur were found in a calcined state. There were no indications of fire else- 
where in the mound, but there were the partial remains of several skeletons, lying in 
two layers, with stone and earth between them. 
Tn another, examined by them, fragments of human bones were found 
so near the surface as to be reached by the plow; but deeper, on the 
north sides, were single skeletons laid at length east and west, and be- 
tween them amass of bones confused as though thrown in indiserimi- 
nately. The diameter of this mound was about 30 feet, height 23 feet. 
In section 24, township 55, range 7, is a small hill, known as ‘ Wilson’s 
Knob.” Its erest, which is about 120 feet long, is completely covered 
with stone to the depth of several feet, the pile beimg about 20 feet 
wide. Examination brought to light the fact that this was originally a 
row of stone mounds or burial vaults, nine in number, circular in form, 
each from eight to nine feet in diameter (inner measure), and contig- 
uous to one another. Judging from appearances it would seem that 
each had been of a conical or dome-like form. They were composed 
wholly of stone, and the remains found in them were almost wholly de- 
composed. 
On another ridge the same parties found another row with four stone 
mounds similar to those described, except that the cists were square 

1 Pages 533-6. 
