65G GEOLOGICAL SUEYEY OF THE TERKITOEIES. 



or two individuals were found here. Below these a few rocks, but by no 

 means regularly j)laced, were found ; next we came upon the remains 

 (human) of a number of individuals, at which point we ceased operations. 

 Some sis or seven individuals were disinterred. There did not appear 

 to be any great regularity as to the position of the skeletons ; in one 

 case the face was upward, two on the side, and one perpendicular, 

 (though in this instance the body did not conform to the position of the 

 skull.) In most cases the heads appear to be toward the south. Over 

 tbe bodies there was a layer of some hard mixture, much like mortar, 

 containing a white or ashy substance resembling the alkaline deposits of 

 this section. Mingled with the bones near the top, as before stated, 

 were those we supposed to be of the buffalo 5 a beaver-tooth was also 

 found, but no implements of any kind were obtained ,• yet. as we did not 

 go to the bottom, we could not say there were none there. Some bones 

 of small animals were found near the surface, but these had evidently 

 been carried into the badger-hole. 



The Sioux scouts, who were full-blood and unable to speak English, 

 showed no disgust or hesitancy at the work, handling the bones with- 

 out objection, and when asked if they knew anything about these mounds 

 shook their heads in reply. 



The layer of hard ash-colored earth is somewhat difficult to account 

 for unless we suppose fires were kindled here after the bodies were 

 buried and covered, for funeral rites or some other purpose. 



We dug into and for some distance along the middle of the ridge or 

 embankment D, but could discover nothing to indicate that it had ever 

 been more than a simple dirt embankment or wall, possibly of sod, as 

 we often see the settlers of the present day make in these western prairies. 



As 1 have not studied these ancient remains of the former iubabitants 

 of this country, and do not desire to speculate in regard to them, I take 

 pleasure in adding the following notes furnished by General Thomas 

 respecting these and some other mounds he opened in this section pre- 

 vious to my arrival: 



"Levc^is and Clarke reported seeing Indian mounds 1,000 miles above the conflueuce 

 of the Mississippi and Missouri, but this report is not verified." So says Mr. John D. 

 Baldwin, A. M., in his work entitled "Ancient America." 



I now and here iDropose to contribute my mite toward the .verification of the state- 

 ment of Lewis and Clarke. 



The few men whom duty or wild inclination have from time to time brought into 

 this, for the most part, uninhabited region of treeless prairie, have all known of tlie exist- 

 ence of thousands of artificial mounds. What was in them they knew not, and but two or 

 three, to my knowledge, have ever been opened. On August 16, 1872, I opened one on 

 the high table-lands "that spread out on both sides of alittle stream called the James. 

 The point is about 47° north latitude, and 98° 38' longitude west from Greenwich. It is 

 within three miles of the line of the North Pacific Railroad. Themoundis circular in form, 

 30 nj feet in its shorter, and 3.5 j^n feet in its longer diameter, and five feet high. I 

 opened four trenches, three feut wide, from the outer edge, meeting in the center, form- 

 ing a cross when finished. I then excavated the entire mound from the center out- 

 ward, until there was nothing more to find. For results I had several two-bushel bags 

 full of bones, eight skulls, many pieces of skulls too small to be of value, (there must 

 have been at least twenty-five bodies buried there,) a rough-hewn stone 10 inches high 

 and 5-^ inches in diameter, in shape resembling ^^ closely a conical shell, a cutting 

 half an inch deep around the center, thus, ^^ (This was evidently tied with 

 thougs to a stout handle, and used in pulveriz l^a iug their maize.) A portion of a 

 shell necklace, two flints, two heads of beaver, and some bones of auimals un- 

 known, and a large c[uantity of bivalves, much like the clam (Mya oblongata) of our 

 Atlantic coast, but thicker, and the interior surface much more pearly. 



Is this mound, and its thousands of duplicates all over this country, the work of the 

 present race of Indians, or is it not ? 



1. The Indians here and their habits have been known for some eighty years. They 

 always have buried their dead in trees and on slight and insecure scaffoldings, and they 

 never meddle with them afterward. 



2. I had two Sioux Indians (mounted scouts) with me. I made them help dig. 



