86 ^iouso City Academy of Science and Letters. 



clothes. Out of this necessity grew a custom. Long 

 continued custom made habits which finally grew into 

 religion and superstition. 



Another thing that should be said to disabuse your 

 minds of a common fallacy, is that the Indian had few 

 tools and weapons and he put to every possible use such 

 as he had. He did not have a different tool for every 

 kind of work, but made his larger arrows serve as spear 

 heads and knives; his bone needles as drills, awls, 

 punches, eta. Being lazy, it was easier to adapt the tools 

 they had to as many uses as possible than to make new 

 ones, their weight also made them a factor in transporta- 

 tion from place to place. Broken implements unfit for 

 their original use were made over for some other pur- 

 pose. 



The mound investigated is situated on the banks of 

 a spring-fed creek now known as the Broken Kettle 

 creek, which empties into the Big Sioux Eiver about 

 twelve miles northwest of Sioux City and in the south- 

 west corner of Plymouth County. 



The mound is up creek about three-quarters of a 

 mile from its mouth in a valley running northeast and 

 southwest. The creek where it passes the mound flows 

 directly west, coming from the north as it reaches the 

 eastern extremity. It would be diflflcult to find a more 

 sheltered spot in the entire valley. The long row of clay 

 hills that bound the valley on the north and west, rising 

 to a height of several hundred feet, affords at once a 

 shelter from the northwest wind and a screen from the 

 enemy. 



The location is ideal for a village. The Sioux Valley 

 could be watched for miles in both directions from the 

 hills, which at the same time provided good ground for 

 defense. The village was far enough from the Sioux 

 River to be undiscovered by the roving bands of the 

 enemy that constantly wandered up and down to the 

 Missouri and the south. 



About two hundred feet south and west of the site 

 the creek doubles back for about one-half of the length 

 of the mound. At this point the banks of the creek are 

 heavily lined with trees and underbrush; the village 



