230 Remarks on the Prials of Human Feet. 



re[jtiles, which arc abundantly found, not only in the al- 

 luvial soils, but also occasionally in the rock strata of Eu- 

 rope and America, sufticicntly indicate the revolutions and 

 chati^es which the earth's surface has undergone at com- 

 paratively recent periods. We wish only to discover the 

 remains of man, in similar situations, to date these changes 

 subsequent to the Mosaical period of his creation; and 

 here, apparently, we have found them! But the facts de- 

 mand a careful investigation. 



" The drawings which 1 have taken of these impressions, 

 the inspection of the original, now at Harmony, and the 

 best rellections I have been able to bestow upon attending 

 facts and circumstances, concur in my mind, to establish 

 the conclusion, that they are natural, and genuine; and 

 consequently, that the discovery should be seized upon to 

 erect a new^ genus of organic remains, of which the specific 

 type should be any portion of the human frame, recognized 

 in the anatomical nomenclature : But it is not conceived 

 to be necessary here, to state the circumstances which in- 

 duce me to consider these prints as the result of a local sub- 

 mersionofthe country extending north of the Grand Tower* 

 on the Mississippi. 



" 1 have the honor to be sir, 

 Witli high respect, 



Your most obedient servant, 

 HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT." 



Col. Benton in Reply. 



" Washington City, Jipril 2dth, 1822. 



"Sir, 



"Yours of the twenty-seventh was received yester- 

 day. The " prints" of the human feet which you mention, 

 I have seen hundreds of times. They were on the uncov- 

 ered limestone rock in front of the town of St. Louis. This 

 rock forms the basis of the country, and is deposited in 

 horizontal strata, and in low water is uncovered to the ex- 

 tent of three mih-s in length on the bank of the Mississippi, 

 and, in some places, from one to two hundred (eet wide. 



* t am not ahle to refer to any adequate description of this bold and pic- 

 turesque feature in the °;eolosy ^^ the Mississippi valley. It is cursorily 

 mentioned in my View of the Lead Minos of Missouri. H. R. S. 



