Page:Kansas A Cyclopedia of State History vol 1.djvu/94

 in Kansas. Says the American: “Judge West presents a large amount of evidence to show that at a remote period that region was peopled by a race with which the mound builders must be accounted modern. . . . Prior to the (glacial) drift epoch the river channels were deeper than now, and the river valleys were lower. Subsequently the valleys were filled by a lacustrine deposit of considerable depth. In or beneath this last deposit the reamins of an extinct race occur.”

The remains mentioned in Judge West's report were found along the line of the Union Pacific railroad in Douglas, Pottawatomie, Riley, Dickinson, Marion, Ellsworth and Lincoln counties, and all with the exception of one on the second bottom or terrace. In digging wells and making other excavations stone implements, pottery, bones and bone implements were found from 20 to 30 feet below the surface. Judge West is inclined to fix the time when this race occupied the region as after the glacial epoch and prior to deposition of the loess. In requesting the newspapers of Kansas to urge the importance of saving such relics and remains when found, he says: “Here we have a buried race enwrapped in a profound and startling mystery—a race whose appearance and exit in the world's drama precede stupendous changes marking our continent, and which perhaps required hundreds of thousands of years in their accomplishment. The prize is no less than determining when this mysterious people lived, how they lived, when they passed out of existence, and why they became extinct.” (See Lansing Skeleton.)

George J. Remsburg, who has devoted considerable time to the study of the archaeological remains of the Missouri valley, investigated the ruins of a number of Indian villages, etc., and in the Kansas Magazine for June, 1893, published the results of his researches. After mentioning the location and describing several old Indian villages, he says: “One of the richest archaeological finds ever made in Atchison county was at Oak Mills, a small village in the river bottom. Two men were employed in repairing the fence around John Davitz's lot, when they observed several flint implements projecting from a ridge of clay. Investigation revealed the fact that it was an aboriginal burial ground.The remains of several Indians were exhumed, the bones of which crumbled instantly on being exposed. Not even a small fragment of bone could be preserved, except the teeth, which are worn down very short and smooth, indicating that the deceased were of an advanced age, or that they had subsisted on a diet of dry corn or coarse food. The skulls were completely decayed, but the imprint of one of them indicated that it was unusually large. . . . Near the shoulders and breast of each of the skeletons was a pile of flint implements. The large implements were made from common blue chert, while the drills and arrow points are of finer materials and of various colors. . . . Everything about these discoveries goes to show that they are the remains of Indians who occupied this region centuries ago. All external evidence of a burying ground had been obliterated, and had it not been for the heavy rains the discovery would probably not have been made.”