KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



The nongcientitic work of the Bureau, which iufhides the library, the jihoto- 

 graphic laboratory, the editorial, and the general clerical work has engaged ten 

 persons aside from the chief administrative officer, and on the whole has progressed 

 favorably, many changes having been made in method and routine, especially 

 toward the close of the fiscal year. 



For the Ijetter understanding of the work of the year and the conditions affecting 

 the present affairs of the Bureau, considerable data dealing A/ith history, statistics, 

 and I'outine have been introduced into this report. 



KESEARCH WORK. 



The Chief prosecuted archaeological researches at a number of points in the eastern 

 section of the United States. Previous to October 13 he was engaged, with the 

 assistance of Mr. Gerard Fowke, in making examinations of the fossil bone beds at 

 Kimmswick, Mo., with the view of determining whether there was satisfactory 

 evidence that man was contemporaneous with the mammoth and the mastodon in 

 that region; but no traces of man were found in direct association with the fossil 

 remains. Examinations of aboriginal flint quarries and sites of stone-implement 

 manufacture were made in southern Indiana and in eastern Kentucky. In October 

 explorations were undertaken at Lansing, Kans., with the view of determining the 

 age of the human remains found embedded in loess-like formations near that place. 

 The formations were extensively trenched by Mr. Fowke, under the direction of the 

 Chief of the Bureau, and the conclusion was reached that the remains were of 

 exceptional antiquity for America, but that they could not with certainty be assigned 

 to a definite geological horizon and that they were probably of post-Glacial time. 

 In April the Chief paid a visit to Leslie, Mo., for the purpose of studying certain traces 

 of ancient operations reported to occur in an iron mine near that place. Very inter- 

 esting phenomena were encountered, the ancient aborigines having penetrated the 

 Dve body in many directions and to surprising depths, the purpose being, apparently, 

 to obtain the red and yellow iron oxides if>r paint. Many hundreds of mining tools 

 of stone were found in the ancient tunnels. Early in May a trip was made to Georgia 

 and Alabama for the purpose of examining quarry sites and caverns occupied in 

 ancient times by the aborigines. 



Reports have been prepared on the explorations at Lansing, Kans., and at Leslie, 

 Mo. The first of these researches deals with the important and ever-recurring ques- 

 tion of the antiquity of man in America. It has been the aim of the Bureau, and espe- 

 cially of the present Chief, to occupy conservative ground with respect to this subject, 

 and to so scrutinize the discoveries and reputed discoveries reported from time to 

 time that erroneous interjjretations should not prevail. The purpose of the excava- 

 tions made at Lansing was to expose the formations containing the human remains 

 so fully that geologists of all ways of thinking might study them to advantage, thus 

 preventing the adoption of conclusions based f>n inadequate observations. The 

 Leslie iron mine study has an interesting bearing on the technic and industrial his- 

 tory of the tribes. It has been a 'matter of much surprise, as the investigations of 

 the ancient mining and quarrying have progressed, that the al)origines, seemingly 

 so nonprogressive and shiftless, should have conceived and carried out really great 

 enterprises. The technical knowledge and skill displayed are of a low order indeed, 

 but the work accomplished indicates remarkable enterprise and persistence, and 

 demonstrates the existence of native capacity of high order. 



Mr. "W J McGee, ethnologist in i-harge, continued as Acting Director until October 

 13. During this period he prepared the annual report for the preceding year, made 

 a hasty archreological and ethnological reconnoissance in ^Minnesota, and in Septem- 

 ber visited Baddeck, Nova Scotia, whence he was called to the deathbed of Major 

 Powell in Haven, j\Ie. In Decemljer he visited Mexico with the view of arranging 

 for an expeditieu to the island of Tiburon, but in this he was-not successful. En route 



