Part 36

At 29 feet the underlying yellow earth became comparatively level across its upper surface, again closely resembling a river deposit. The darker earth above it contained a greater amount than heretofore of ashes, bones in small pieces, potsherds, mussel, snail, and periwinkle shells, and the like. More charred corn was found along here.

At 30 feet the yellow earth began to rise, and at 32 feet it was very little more than 3 feet lower than the top of the highest ashes. A section at this point is shown in figure 28. At 35 feet the strata became quite regular and uniform from wall to wall. The dark earth, next above the yellow, measured 3 feet in thickness at the center, and while showing by its admixture of ashes, etc., that it had been thrown here, had evidently formed the floor for a considerable time. The upper foot was burned red or dark from long-continued fires, the ashes above it being from 6 to 8 inches thick, and forming the present floor of the cave at this place. The dark earth contained much less of refuse than nearer the entrance; such shells and ashes as appeared were promiscuously distributed and not in little piles or masses as before. A section at 351/2 feet appears in figure 29. It may be remarked here that this is the only sketch in which the upper line coincides with the surface of the deposits. In the others a thin covering, less than 6 inches at any point, of disintegrated material from walls and roof covers the ashes left by aboriginal fires. This is omitted from the drawings.

At 38 feet the yellow earth had risen until it was within 3 feet of the top of the entire overlying deposit. The latter contained little of the dark earth, being mostly composed of ashes and burned earth, some of which resulted from fires made on the spot, but the greater part being thrown from other points. The rise of the yellow earth, consequently, is more rapid than the rise of the material covering it.

At 40 feet there was a dip in the yellow earth, extending for 4 or 5 feet and descending 2 feet at the deepest point. This may be due to drainage at a lower level.

At 471/2 feet a pocket of the dark earth extended a few inches into the underlying yellow earth. A hole seems to have been dug into the latter. There was no more of foreign material in this hole than elsewhere in the dark earth above and around it. It is shown in figure 30.

The amount of shells, pottery, etc., had been decreasing for several feet before this point was reached; indeed, from 40 feet onward there was very little of it--enough, however, to show that all the dark earth had been disturbed and thoroughly mixed. The fire beds, too, while holding their depth of about a foot, contained more earth between the successive layers of ashes, showing as great age, probably, as those nearer the entrance, but less continuous occupation. This condition prevailed to about 60 feet from the entrance, at which point the yellow earth, now mixed with sand and gravel, was only 3 feet below the surface of the floor. The appearance of this line is sketched in figure 31.

At 62 feet there was a dip in the yellow earth, extending to 67 feet and 2 feet deep at its lowest point; it then rose to the usual level.

At 70 feet ashes appeared in greater quantities; at 73 feet the dark earth was only a foot thick, the ashes and burned earth being 2 feet thick and apparently all dumped, as there was no definite arrangement of the various parts. (See fig. 32.) A small perforated disk and a double-pointed bone needle were found here.

The fire beds now began to thin out rapidly, the dark earth also diminishing in quantity, until at 80 feet, from which point the entrance was no longer visible owing to curvature of the walls, there was only 5 or 6 inches of them in all, resting directly on the yellow earth, which contained much more clay than farther toward the front. The walls began to diverge here, forming a room whose greatest width was 11 feet 6 inches at 95 feet. At 100 feet a reverse curve brought the cavern on a course parallel to that which it had held up to 60 feet.

At 90 feet there was evidence of fire at one side, the ashes and burned earth being 5 inches thick at the wall, and thinning out to a feather edge within 4 feet. This was the last fireplace discovered which may not with certainty be attributed to white men. The yellow earth, presenting no evidence of having been disturbed since originally deposited, reached from the superficial layer of loose dry earth to the bottom of the trench, a depth of 4 feet 8 inches. Below this point the walls were less than 4 feet apart, and the space filled with gravel, as shown in figure 33. This gravel had exactly the appearance of that in gullies on the hills outside, and plainly dates back to the period at which the cave was formed. The stream which aided in the erosion, or which flowed through from some sink hole or other outside opening, carried this gravel into the crevice. Consequently, even if the space between the walls had been ample for dwelling purposes, an attempt to live here when the gravel was being carried in would result in the intending settler having his effects washed out into the river.

At 93 feet the side walls confining the yellow clay narrowed to a little less than 5 feet apart. The upper portion of the one to the left has been eroded into a recess or cavity, forming the chamber above mentioned. The earth on the rock floor in this recess is nowhere more than a foot deep. A section is presented in figure 34.

At 100 feet the room came to an end. The space between the walls was 71/2 feet at the floor level and 4 feet at a depth of 4 feet. At 105 feet the nearly vertical walls were only 5 feet apart on the floor; at 112 feet the space increased to 7 feet. A section showed about a foot of loose earth mixed with ashes; 3 feet of yellow clayey earth, rather compact; then gravel and sand. The latter was dug into for a foot, at which level the walls were converging and it was useless to go any deeper. Enough was done, however, to verify the supposition that this stratum was due to the action of running water seeking its outlet at the mouth of the cave.

At 103 feet, at the bottom of the yellow clay and on top of the gravel, was a chalcedony pebble about 21/2 inches in diameter. The material is foreign to this locality. It had plainly been used as a hammer stone, and is the only object of human origin found anywhere below the dark earth. There was not the slightest evidence of any disturbance of the clay in which it rested.

At 120 feet the side walls were only 5 feet apart. At 125 feet they again diverged slightly, and a recess on the left forms a chamber 12 feet across. At 150 feet they had drawn in to 8 feet at the widest interval. A section showed loose dry earth, some of it cemented by drip from the roof until about as hard as lump chalk; then compact clayey earth, also with travertine in small lumps; below this the gravel and sand. The latter, at this point, seems to have been deposited in the last stages of the formation of the cave. Occasionally, along here, a small patch appeared that seemed to be ashes; but none of it was more than 6 inches below the top of the ground, and the substance may not have been ashes at all, but the fine white limestone dust that wears off from the stone. There was nothing in the trench, at any depth, after the chalcedony pebble, that could possibly be due to human intervention, except these small patches of ashes, if ashes they are.

At 165 feet from the entrance the cave made its fourth turn and expanded into a chamber about 15 feet wide. Along the sides of this and in the various crevices opening from it were great quantities of clean ashes, plainly enough thrown there from fires made in the central part. The gravel came to within 3 to 5 feet of the top, being quite irregular. On the gravel was dry clay, seamed and fissured in all directions so that it fell out under the pick in clods like angular pebbles from an inch to 3 or 4 inches across. This was clearly the result of muddy water settling in a hole and thoroughly evaporating. There was also some travertine in small lumps here and there through the clay, and above it was a mass fully 2 feet thick at one side of the trench but running out before it reached the other side. It was porous, almost spongy, and seemed to be the lime dust from the roof and sides cemented by dripping water. Above all this, so far as the trench extended toward the sides of the cave, was an inch to 4 inches of loose, dry, dark earth, which on the left dipped down to the clay, thus replacing the travertine.

At 175 feet the gravel had leveled down and was more or less mixed with clay and sand. Above this was another "mudhole deposit" of clay which had thoroughly dried out and become checked and cracked in all directions. On the right this was covered with travertine slightly mixed with earth and clay; on the left, above it and also at one place within it, was a coarse gritty earth fallen from the roof but not converted into a compact travertine. The section appears in figure 35. At 180 feet the trench was carried to a depth of 6 feet. This exposed a fine clay and sand, or silt, like that deposited in the eddies of streams. Above this was another deposit of "mudhole" material which had thoroughly dried out, checked and cracked in all directions so that it formed angular masses of various sizes, and had then become wet again so that it was now soft and sticky. To the left of this, on the silt also, was a small amount of the gravel. It had the appearance common to a bank of such material on the side of a little stream which has undermined and carried away part of it. Clearly, these three formations were of an age that witnessed the erosion of the cave. Next above them was a stratum of loose dark earth similar to that noticed in the front part of the cavern; but here were found no traces whatever of man's presence. Into the right side of this stratum projected the wedge-like edge of a mass of travertine, which was not traced to a termination. Over all lay a deposit 3 or 4 inches thick of dark, nearly black earth, mixed with ashes. This is quite modern. The section appears in figure 36.

During the Civil War the cave was continuously resorted to by deserters, refugees, moonshiners, fugitives, and "food for powder, dodging the conscript." All these sought shelter in this chamber and behind it, in order that their fires might not be visible from the river. The piles of ashes in the crevices and corners were thrown there by these hiders-out, to get them out of the way. Similar but smaller piles of ashes are to be seen all along as far as the spring, 200 yards from the entrance.

The presence of pottery of a type common to this region in fields and shell heaps, and of maize, denotes that all the fire beds, etc., are the results of habitation by the modern Indian. Where these ceased nothing else was found. In or below the yellow earth, clay, or gravel, nothing can be found; for until these were laid down and the stream of the cave had sought another outlet, there was no dry place in which to live.

It may be worth recording that a dead mulberry tree stood about 20 feet in front of the entrance to the cave. Under it was a narrow crevice filled with earth, but all around it was bare rock. A root, larger than the tree, grew into the cave and followed along one side wall as if fastened there for a distance of some 60 feet. Here the earth floor of the cave came high enough to cover it. This root was exposed for 160 feet in the trench, or 180 feet from the tree; at this point it was 3 inches in diameter and turned aside into a crevice. As the root could not have grown in the open air, it furnished proof that much deposited material has been carried out of the front portion of the cavern and away from the ledge since this tree was a sprout.

III. EXPLORATIONS ALONG THE MISSOURI RIVER BLUFFS IN KANSAS AND NEBRASKA

VICINITY OF WHITE CLOUD, KANSAS

About 4 miles southeast of White Cloud, Kansas, is the "Taylor Mound," from which Mark E. Zimmerman and William Park took 56 skeletons, or portions of skeletons, in a space not more than 6 by 20 feet. This was clearly an intrusive communal burial of skeletons carried from some other point and interred in the mound which owed its origin to persons who had piled it up at some previous time. The bones, which were not arranged in any order, were 30 inches beneath the present surface of the mound, but this does not mean they were no deeper originally, as the mound has been plowed for many years and is in a situation where it will easily wear down when cultivated.

A few feet away, at a depth of 7 feet, other bones, or fragments of bones, were found in a mass of burned clay. A cremation had taken place at some point away from the mound, and the resultant burned earth, with so much of the bone matter as was not destroyed by the fire, was carried here and buried. The depth in this instance is not significant; the earth is loose and very easily dug; besides, the grave pit was near the margin of the mound and earth had washed down over it from above.

Some stones, carried from neighboring ravines, have been exposed by the wear due to erosion from natural causes and from cultivation. The main portion of the structure is still intact, and it is probable that no deposits belonging to it at the time of its construction have been unearthed. A systematic exploration, showing the original construction as well as the alterations resulting from later burials, is much to be desired.

While this is the largest mound in the vicinity, and is claimed to be the largest mound in Kansas, it is not different except in size from many others within a few miles. All of them are made of the same earth as that which lies around them--a light, sandy loess which is easily removed with a shovel, requiring no picking or other loosening. In fact, it is almost as easy to dig as loose sand would be. Sometimes there are flat limestones in or around the graves; similar slabs are found not far away in the ravines.

Not far from this mound is a large lodge site, one of the so-called "buffalo wallows" as they are commonly known. These are the ruins of aboriginal houses. The general construction is the same, the only practical difference being that some are square in outline, others round. This difference is not always apparent prior to the excavation. In the making, a pit was dug, square or round as desired, and the earth thrown out on every side. Posts were then set around the margin of the excavation, and the house built in the same manner as those with which we are familiar from accounts of early travelers. Many of them have been examined by Zimmerman and Park, who found masses of hard-burned earth in which are cavities and depressions due to the burning of straw, grass, twigs, and poles, used in the construction of the houses. This results from the destruction of the houses by fire. Sometimes the floor has a layer of this burned material which is evidently due to the falling in of the roof. Most of these are on the hilltops, but some of them are on narrow ridges leading from the high land to the creek or river bottoms. In the latter event there is always a village site on the low ground bordering the stream. The relics gathered up on these village sites are in no wise different from those found when the lodge sites are excavated; and also are of the same character as those picked up on what are no doubt modern village sites in the vicinity. This fact militates against the idea that the lodge sites are extremely ancient.

IOWA POINT

On a low hill, cut off on every side by steep ravines, is a small mound containing a cist grave. The bottom of this, which was dug slightly below the natural surface, was covered with a pavement of limestone slabs. The grave was roughly oval or triangular in outline, measuring about 7 by 9 feet. Around it was a wall of similar stones, set in contact and sloping outward at an angle of about 40 degrees from the vertical. There was nothing whatever in this grave.