Half a mile to the south of these is a group of similar mounds on the farm of Isaac Hopkins, on a gently sloping hillside, and from 30 to 40 feet above the level of the overflow bottom land. One of these has been gradually worn away by the encroachment of a gully until more than half of it has disappeared. While the curvature of its surface is very apparent, and the remnant of its margin sufficiently distinct to show its regularity of outline, careful inspection of the face formed by the erosion fails to reveal any trace of stratification, or line of demarcation between the bottom of the mound and the original surface. There is precisely the same uniformity of change from the grass roots to the underlying gravelly soil that exists in the exposed bank at any point to either side of the mound. Mr. Hopkins, desirous of knowing what might be in the mound, or why it was built, has noted the appearance of the earth from the time the gully reached its margin. At no time has its appearance differed in the least from what it presents now.
On the river bottom portion of Mr. Hopkins's farm, and on the adjoining Goings and Townshend farms to the southward, are many mounds lying along both sides of the Belmont division of the Iron Mountain Railway. Fully 100 were observed within a distance of a mile; and they are said to continue both up and down the river. They are all above flood stage, except in time of extreme high water. They range from a foot to 3 feet high, and from 20 to 40 feet across; but some of them have been lowered and broadened by cultivation. They are of the same earth as the ground around them. Mr. Hopkins says crops are much better on the mounds than on the area between them. This is no doubt due to the greater amount of productive soil in the one case, and to the excess of moisture in the other; the railway embankment impeding drainage in the lower part. Oak trees 4 feet in diameter grew on the mounds before they were cleared off.
Two of these mounds were completely removed, down into the subsoil. The first was 18 inches high and 35 by 40 feet across; the variation in breadth resulting from continual cultivation in one direction. It contained nothing whatever of artificial character, not even a scrap of pottery. There were no post holes, no indications of a fire bed, no trace of a distinction between the mound and the soil below it. In fact, except for the greater thickness of the superficial dark earth there was no difference between the appearance of the face of the excavation and that of a hole dug at random in the field.
The second mound was somewhat larger than the first, being 2 feet high and 40 feet across, and at a little higher level toward the edge of the field. It was the largest which could be excavated of this group. As in the first mound opened, there was no worked object, if a small flint flake be excepted; no ashes; no fire bed; no trace of demarcation between the mound and the original surface of the ground, though in each mound the excavation over the entire area was carried down into the gravelly, hard-packed subsoil. Its artificial origin is clearly proven, however, by four holes dug into the earth beneath it before its construction. Nine feet a little north of the center, which was assumed to be the highest point of the mound, was a hole (A) 12 by 14 inches and 14 inches deep, with a flat bottom, the sides as regular as could be expected in hard soil dug out in primitive manner. Nine feet west of the center was a hole (B) a foot across, 10 inches deep, with a solid though somewhat irregular bottom. Near the center was a conical hole (C) a foot deep and the same across the top. Four feet from it, west of north, was another (D) of about the same size and shape. The measures given are of course only approximate, as the sides of all the holes were somewhat uneven, but they are practically correct. The depth was measured from the top of the gravelly subsoil. Fourteen feet east of south from the center was an irregular hole (E) about 2 feet deep to the bottom of the loose dirt in it. This had not been dug, but was due to the decay of a tree which grew here before the mound was made. At the top of the dirt filling this hole was a piece of decayed bark, apparently oak, which had grown in the air; and farther down fragments of root bark. Eight feet east of the center was a hole (F), similar to the last, 10 inches deep and averaging 2 feet across. This, also, resulted from the decay of a stump.
A plan of the holes is given in figure 37. The dotted lines are merely to show direction and distance.
Fig. 37.—Plan of House Mound in St. François County, Mo.[ToList]
This mound offers confirmation of the belief that such structures, or some of them at least, mark the sites of dwellings. With the two trees, E and F, the posts, A and B, would form the corners of an irregular quadrangle; the two posts, C and D, would support the inner ends of roof timbers. While no trace of posts or roof timbers remained, it is difficult to imagine for what other purpose these holes would be dug; and in this heavy, wet earth all traces of wood must in time disappear. Conversely, the total absence of a fireplace, potsherds or other remains, and of any sign of a floor, would serve to dispel the assumption that this spot was ever inhabited even for a short time. The evidence is as strong one way as it is the other.
In short, the limited observations above recorded leave the question of origin and purpose just where it was.