MISSOURI ARCHEOLOGY. 105 



level land three or four acres in extent, and which is the mouth or junction with the 

 second bottom of the Meramec, of a small valley through which a rivulet meand- 

 ers. The Spring is a hundred paces west of a hill, and discharges its waters 

 about a foot below the surface of the earth into a deep trench. It appears to 

 flow beneath a small marsh, and it may be that excavations of sufficient depth, 

 made thereabouts, would bring to light animal remains. 



The second bottom, or valley proper, of the Meramec, is hereabouts near a 

 mile wide. Benches or terraces, more or less inclining, but much higher than 

 the alley, jut out from the hillsides to the westward. The present valley was 

 once, perhaps far back in quaternary times, the bed of an immense lake or river, 

 and the terraces may then have corresponded to what is now the second bottom. 



The locality around Cerre Spring once abounded in archaeological objects; 

 but sixty years ago people began to carry away the "Indian curiosities." As 

 they were called, found there, and as they have continued to do so until the 

 present time the supply is well nigh exhausted. On the flat land near the Spring 

 arrow points are found occasionally, and directly opposite westwardly, about one 

 hundred yards distant, the plateau is strewn with fragments of thick pottery, 

 which was probably made, and certainly used on the spot. On the same ground 

 also some noteworthy implements have been picked up. The potsherds vary in 

 size from quite small pieces to six inches square and in thickness from half an 

 inch to one anda quarter inches; they appear to be of the same composition as to 

 material, as what is usually designated Mound-Builders' pottery, loam, with a 

 small portion of pounded shells intermixed. Some of the fragments at least are 

 of vessels that could have held thirty gallons, and were ornamented near the rim 

 with cross-lines, or simple indentations, or finished plain, probably according to 

 the fancy of the maker. In form they were wide shallow pots. No whole ves- 

 sel or a large piece of one of this class of pottery I believe has ever been found. 

 Similar pottery has frequently been discovered in the immediate vicinity of Salt 

 Springs, but I am informed nowhere else. These two facts seem to justify us in 

 determining its use and giving to it the name by which it is commonly known, 

 salt kettle pottery. For the most part it has been well fired. I have never seen 

 a fragment which showed salt glaze; nor do I know of a single instance of salt 

 having been found in a mound or burial place. It is possible that the water was 

 evaporated only so far as to produce concentrated brine, or that evaporation was 

 produced by the heat of the sun. 



It is certain that white men did not make this pottery ; and it appears that 

 the Indians before Europeans came among them did not use salt; besides, it is 

 impossible that Indians could have made such large vessels without our having 

 certain knowledge of the fact. I am inchned to think that the makers of this 

 pottery, the constructors of the stone graves, and the builders of the mounds were 

 one and the same people. The implements referred to just now were picked up 

 by myself. One is a fragment of limestone about five-eights of an inch thick, in 

 form an size much like the blade of an iron hatchet broken off below the swell of 

 the eye, and ground at the cutting line three-quarters of an inch wide on both 



