Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/65

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI in some parts of the section than iu others. It is pointed out by Houek, that the.y are most abundant on a line extending southwest along the border of the lowlands from Cape Girar- deau to Arkansas. Along this line they exist in great numbers. They are found also in large numbers in all the lowland region bor- dering the Mississippi. Another fact that concerns their distribution is that they were often constructed on the bank of creek or river. INIany of them are found, it is true, away from bodies of water, and yet so many of them are found in relation to water that we are justified in concluding that proximity to some body of water helped often to determine the location of the mounds. Another fact of interest in connection with them is that they vary greatly in size. Some of them are very large. One which stands about two miles south of the present site of New Madrid is nearly circular in form, hav- ing a diameter of about two hundred feet and is probably thirty feet high. It is surrounded by many smaller mounds. The largest mound in the section, if not in the state, is in Pemi- scot county. It is four hundred feet long, two hundred and fifty feet wide and thirty- five feet high. It has an approach from the south leading up to the top. It is higher at the north end than at the south by fifteen feet. There are many other large mounds in the same vicinity, some of them being more than two hundred feet in length. One of them is six hundred feet long and two hun- dred feet wide but only eight feet high. From these large mounds they vary in size to the very small ones only a few feet in length and in some cases only a few inches high. The mounds vary in shape as well as in size. Some of them are rudely conical. This is per- haps the most common form. Others are somewhat elliptical in form having one axis much longer Ihan the other. This is the case of the great mound in Pemiscot county. Others, still, are almost square at the base with tapering sides iu the form of a pyramid. The.se mounds however are very much less numerous than the conical ones. It is rather remarkable that few if any of the countless mounds here show any resemblance to bird or beast. In other parts of the country, where mounds exist in such numbers as here, some are usually found bearing unmistakable re- semblance to the form of some animal. This is true of the great serpent mound of Ohio. One mound in Pemiscot bears some resem- blance to the handle of a gourd. A few others in this part of the state bear some real oi* fancied resemblance, to some natural object! Most of them, however, have no such resem- blance. Another fact that is true of a very large number of these mounds is that they are earth mounds. In many parts of the country there are mounds w^hich have rude structures of stones at their base. There are some of this character in Southeast ^lissouri, but the great numlier are built entirely of earth. It is plainly evident, in many cases, just where! the earth which entered into the construc- tion of the mound was secured, for the de- pression or excavation made in taking up the earth is still to be seen in the immediate neighborhood of the earthwork itself. No matter who built them, nor for what purpose, it is still true that they were built of earth taken in most if not ail eases from near thei site of the mound itself. These mounds are often grouped in rather significant ways. They are as we have said often situated on the bank of a stream or pond. They are nearly always grouped to-