MOUNDS AND MOUND EXPLORATIONS IN NORTHEASTERN 
IOWA. 
P>y Ellison Orr. 
Prehistoric earthworks are common in Allamakee, Clayton and Win- 
neshiek counties, in the northeastern corner of Iowa, on the bluff tops 
and on the terraces of the Mississippi and its tributaries, the Oneota or 
Little^ Iowa, and the Turkey. They are always close to the stream along 
which they Occur, none being found in such position that some part 
of the river cannot; be seen from them, none being over a mile from the 
water and usually very much nearer. 
Those found on the terraces may or may not be located along the side 
next to the river. Long embankments usually run parallel to the stream 
but round mounds may be found scattered over any part of the ter- 
race, preferably on the slightly elevated portions. 
The favorite sites selected by the builders, however, seem to have 
been the sharp divides separating the gullies and ravines that cut 
through the bluffs, opening into the river valleys. 
On the bluffs bordering the Mississippi rows of mounds are found 
along the ridges of many such divides regardless of the direction they 
take. Such groups are most abundant near the mouths of the smaller 
tributary streams like Village Creek, Paint Creek, Yellow River, Bloody 
Run, and Buck Creek. 
The largest are usually found on the point of the divide next the 
river. Back of these are found the smaller ones, and still farther back 
where the ridge widens are the long embankments and Effigy mounds. 
Only very rarely do they occur on a sloping hill side. 
Four types are found. The most common being the round, dome- 
shaped form, having a uniform diameter, at the natural surface, of tien; to 
sixty feet, an average being about twenty-five feet. Where they have 
never been disturbed by cultivation they range in height from one to 
eight feet, an average being about four feet. In many places mounds 
that are said to have been six or eight feet in height are nearly obliter- 
ated by cultivation. 
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