CERTAIN RIVER MOUNDS OF DUVAL COUNTY, FLORIDA. 473 



Grant Mound. 1 . 



The Grant Mound, 2 near New Castle, Duval County, Florida, in Section 35, 

 Township 1, stood on the southern bank of the St. Johns River, on a bluff 25 

 feet in height. Its situation is noted on the Government chart relating to this 

 portion of the river. It lay about one mile in a westerly direction from the Shields 

 mound. 



The height of the mound, taken from the present level of the bluff on the 

 west, was 26 feet 8 inches. On the eastern side is an abrupt dip of the land and a 

 measurement from this quarter would have given an exaggerated idea of its alti- 

 tude. The base of the mound, as we shall see later, was marked by a layer of 

 oyster shells. From this base line, taken on the western side where no natural 

 depression exists, the height of the mound was 30 feet 9 inches and even 

 this considerable altitude must be increased by at least one foot to allow for material 

 removed by us at a previous investigation, as was shown by trees growing on the 

 summit. It is evident, then, that the territory around the margin of the mound, 

 which was composed, to a depth of several feet, of dark loamy sand and scattered 

 oyster shells, either was a deposit belonging to a period subsequent to the erection 

 of the mound and had consequently lessened its height by about four feet, or 

 previously existing, had been dug into to a depth of four feet. 



Fully one-third of the mound on the north, undermined by the river previous 

 to our investigation, had fallen into the stream, and it is probable that had not 

 the hand of man anticipated its destruction, a limited term of years would have 

 seen the mound entirely absorbed by the river^-to a certain extent a consolation 

 for the loss of so notable a landmark. 



In shape the mound was the usual truncated cone. Its base diameter was 216 

 feet and that of the summit plateau but 24 feet. The western slope was at an 

 angle of 28°, the others somewhat less steep, though, taken as a whole, the mound 

 was one of the most symmetrical we have met with. 



Two low ridges, one somewhat better marked than the other, almost parallel, 

 start a short distance from the southernmost portion of the mound, and, after a 

 time, merge in the surrounding level. Investigation failed to reveal either inter- 

 ments or art relics in them, and it is presumable that these causeways were used 

 as approaches, like others found in connection with Florida mounds. 



The mound was totally demolished by an average force of forty-three men, 

 exclusive of those supervising the work, digging seven hours per day during a 

 period of five weeks of March and April, 1895. 



1 A short account of a former investigation of this mound was given in our " Certain Sand Mounds 

 of the St. Johns River, Florida," Part II, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. X. 



2 See frontispiece. 



