Chapter 10

The ridge farthest south, on the farm of Joseph Ross, has five stone graves along the crest, numbered here in their order from the bluff. Number (1) is a few rods below the sandstone outcrop, and is constructed partly of weathered limestone blocks such as are now lying around it and partly of sandstone slabs carried from farther up the hill. All the other cairns, although (2) and (3) stand on the limestone bedrock, are built entirely of sandstone fragments ranging from the size of a brick or smaller to pieces weighing over 200 pounds.

At first sight the cairns appeared to be only piles of stones thrown together; but more careful inspection showed that each burial place was outlined by a wall, laid up with as much regularity as was practicable with the material at hand, and inclosing a space approximately square. Measuring from face to face of their walls, the spaces between these cairns were as follows: (1) to (2), 21 feet; (2) to (3), 19 feet; (3) to (4), 36 feet; (4) to (5), 34 feet.

Not one of these walls was intact at the time of examination; hunters had torn away portions of all of them in pursuit of small animals which had sought refuge among the stones; and such parts as were not thus injured were more or less displaced by roots of trees penetrating in every direction the soil which had accumulated in the open spaces.

So far as could be judged in their chaotic condition, the first step in their construction was to lay a row of slabs around the area required; then another row upon this; and the work was continued in this manner until the desired height was reached. As a rule, the stones were so laid as to break joints and to interlock at the corners, for greater stability; but in a few places this was not done. If a stone, once laid up, did not fit as it should, the builders apparently did not take the trouble to replace it with another better suited to the requirements. Seemingly, care was taken to build in such a manner that each outer face should be vertical, and in a straight line from corner to corner; but the inner side was left rough and irregular according to the shape and size of the blocks, no attempt being made to even it up. If timbers of any kind had been laid across the top, resting on the walls, there remained no indication of the fact. However, the bodies may have been protected at the time of interment by small vaults or pens constructed of poles, whose decay would allow the stones to settle, and of which no traces would now be left.

The space inclosed by the walls was filled with loose stones lying in such disorder as to suggest that they had been carelessly or hastily thrown in to fill the interior and round up the top; but some of this confusion may have resulted from the same causes by which the walls were defaced.

It does not appear that any stones had been piled against the outside of the walls to assist in retaining them in place; such as were found in this position were either thrown there by the present inhabitants or had fallen from the top.

Two of the cairns, the second and the third in order, were so torn up and overgrown that no investigation of them was attempted; the three others were fully examined.

CAIRN (1)

In the first, that nearest the terminus of the ridge, all stones lying against the outside of the structure were thrown aside, bringing the outer face into plain view. The inclosure thus revealed resembled the rude foundation of a small building. Measuring from corner to corner the north wall was 14 feet long, the south wall 16 feet, the east wall 14 feet, the west wall 13 feet. The walls were as straight and the corners as square as they could well be made with surface rocks not trimmed or dressed from their natural rough condition.

The space within was next freed of stones; the topmost were 3 feet above the outside level, though no doubt higher when first piled. The inside measurements were: North wall 10 feet, south wall 10 feet, east wall 9 feet, west wall 9 feet; all measurements being approximate, as no definite boundaries could be determined.

The south wall was practically destroyed; the others were not much injured, but no longer plumb, as they undoubtedly were when constructed. The east wall was in best condition; the outer face was nearly vertical; the top of the highest stone remaining in it was 28 inches above the bottom of the lowest. The general appearance of the wall indicates that it was somewhat higher.

After the stones were thrown out there remained a deposit of loose material, composed to some extent of very scanty soil and of humus from decayed weeds and leaves, but principally of disintegrated sandstone which had settled or washed in. Its thickness above bedrock was about 16 inches. All this was carefully examined.

Near the center, a few inches above the natural bedrock, were some fragments of human bones which seemed to belong to two adults. Another adult body, or skeleton, bundled or closely folded, had been placed against the south wall, which had partially fallen in on it. Pieces of long bones, including heads of two femurs, the ends of the bones at an elbow, phalanges, and a fragment of rib were found in a space less than a foot across. Nothing more of them remained and nothing else was found.

CAIRN (4)

The fourth grave in order was worked out in the same manner as the first. On the outer face the north wall measured 14 feet, the south wall 15½ feet, the east wall 16 feet, the west wall 14 feet. The interior lengths were: North wall 12 feet, south wall 11½ feet, east wall 12 feet, west wall 11 feet.

Near the center were a few fragments of bone, with a columella bead 4 inches long, perforated lengthwise. It is shown in figure 18. To the east of these, also to the south, were other fragments, indicating, in all, at least three interments.

CAIRN (5)

In grave No. 5 the walls on the north and the south were entirely torn out except some stones in the bottom row of each; the upper portions of the east and the west walls were also gone. For this reason the rocks lying outside the structure were not removed.

The north wall, outside, was 15 feet long; the south wall, 14 feet; the east wall, 16 feet; the west wall, 14½ feet. The corresponding inner measurements were, north wall, 10 feet; south wall, 10 feet; east wall, 12 feet; west wall, 12 feet. But as the position of the corners was uncertain these figures are no doubt somewhat in error in either direction.

The central portion had never been disturbed, the stones lying as they were put originally, except for a possible settling due to their weight; the top of the rounded heap was about 4 feet high. This justified the hope that something might be discovered beneath them. But although the entire space within, up to the fairly defined inner faces of the walls, was thoroughly cleaned out down into the untouched gravelly subsoil, no trace of a bone or other indication of a burial was found. The only artificial object was a section 3¼ inches long of a columella perforated lengthwise, apparently lost by the wearer, as it lay on the natural surface. This is shown in figure 19.

CAIRNS ON HELM'S FARM

To the north of the Ross farm, on the ridge which is owned by Daniel Helm, are three stone graves made of shapeless limestone blocks such as cover the surface around them. One of these is about 300 yards from the bluff, on a knoll capped with the sandstone; the others are at the break of the ridge. All have been opened, two of them practically demolished. Those on the end of the ridge are only 14 feet apart, measuring from their adjacent margins, and were about 16 and 20 feet in diameter as built, both being somewhat widened now owing to the stones having been thrown outward from the central parts by hunters. Each was probably 3 feet high.

The smaller, being least defaced and nearly free from timber, was entirely removed, except a small portion along one margin, and the earth beneath it examined down to the bedrock. There was no sign of a wall; but one that would stand could not be made with stones rounded by weathering.

Remains of at least three bodies were found. One was laid in a crevice; only a few fragments of the long bones were left. With scraps of bone from another body were four teeth worn almost to the roots. They were not close together, but this was due to small burrowing animals which had scattered them. Of the third body, a few pieces of arm and leg bones remained. By itself, loose in the earth, was a single molar, not in the least worn, and with a very small root.

So far as appearances go, it seems the bodies were laid on outcropping rock, or in crevices, and stones piled on them without any attempt at order or arrangement.

The graves on the Helm farm are merely piles of stone, such as are found in various States. Those on the Ross place are of the same type as the cairns on Lost Hill at the mouth of Gourd Creek in Phelps County, but of a more advanced form. In both places flat stones were laid to inclose the burials. At Lost Hill, however, there was seldom more than a single layer, while at the Devil's Elbow a regular wall was built, seven superposed slabs being observed at one point with a certainty that others had been placed above these. They are not of the same class as the walled graves found in earth mounds along the Missouri River. In the latter, the inner face of the wall was as smooth and regular as it could be made, the outside being rough and upheld by stones and earth piled against them; while in those on Big Piney care was taken with the outer face which, it seems, was intended to be left exposed to view, while the inside was rough and hidden by stones thrown in. But no inference must be drawn from the different methods of filling or covering the vaults after they were completed. Along the Missouri, earth was abundant right at hand, but stones had, as a rule, to be carried some distance; while on the bluffs of the Gasconade and its tributaries the reverse was the case.

Petroglyphs, 75 feet above the level of the river bottom, are reported to be cut in a bluff facing the Gasconade River on the east side, 2 miles below the mouth of Big Piney.

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A rock shelter not more than 15 feet wide and 10 feet deep is near the top of the bluff overlooking the Gasconade, almost opposite the mouth of Big Piney. It contains a quantity of ashes, but as it was frequently resorted to by bushwhackers during the Civil War, and is still much used by trappers and hunters who camp in it, these are probably not due to Indians.

ASH CAVE

So near to the county line that there is some uncertainty as to whether it lies in Pulaski or Phelps County is Ash Cave in a bluff over Baker's Lake, an artificial pond, 4 miles west of Arlington. The cave is small, and notwithstanding its name it contains no ashes or other remains of occupancy. The great number of large rocks on the floor makes examination impossible.

CLEMMENS CREEK CAVE (27)

At the head of a ravine opening into Clemmens Creek, about 4 miles south of Dixon, near the Piquet orchards, is a cavern with an entrance 55 feet wide and 40 feet high. The depth is 110 feet to loose rocks and clay, partly from the sides and roof, partly washed in through side caves and crevices. There is a small amount of cave earth along one wall, but it is damp, moldy, and covered with a growth of minute green fungus. Most of the floor, however, is of clay strewn with loose rocks and swept over by water at times.

There is no refuse, and the cave was never fit for habitation.

CAMDEN COUNTY

ALONG THE NIANGUA RIVER (28)

It is widely known that many caverns exist along the Niangua River and its tributaries, in Camden County, especially in the vicinity of Hahatonka, or, as it is locally termed, "Tonky." This is one of the show places of Missouri. The name includes a post office; a store; a school; an immense spring coming out at the foot of a cliff; the creek formed by this spring; a lake of several hundred acres, made by damming the creek; a picturesque ruined mill with the usual accessories of such a building; numerous caves; and a magnificent, but unfinished, residence crowning one of the hills. This has already called for an expenditure of half a million dollars; and at least double that sum, additional, will be required to complete it in accordance with the original plans. Whether it be due to the national appreciation of architectural beauty or the national appreciation of ability to do things in a large way, the palace seems to impress most visitors more than the remarkable combination of natural features.

The principal caves in the vicinity have distinctive names, as "Onyx" (there being two thus called), "Robbers'," "River" (this because there is a stream in it which can be crossed only in a boat), "Bridal," etc. Others are named for the owners of the land, or from some peculiarity, as "Dry," "Bunch," "Morgan," "Arnholdt." Many are not deemed of sufficient importance to have specific titles.

All those named were visited, as well as a number of the others.

A detailed description is not necessary. Not one of these caverns has ever been occupied unless as a temporary shelter. Some are flooded at intervals, either from the outside or by interior drainage; some have very restricted entrances and are dark at the front; some have rock floors or muddy bottoms; some can be entered only by clambering over talus to an opening at the bottom, or near the bottom, of a sink hole. Some shallow cavities, which under different conditions would be available as rock shelters, are in places difficult of access, remote from water, or otherwise unsuitable.

Some of these caverns have wonderful deposits on ceilings, walls, and floors, rivaling in beauty and ornate patterns those of the most famous caves of the country; and if they were easily accessible or could be conveniently explored, would attract hosts of visitors. One in particular, the "Bridal Cave," so called from a mass of stalactite material fully 10 feet from side to side at the top, which hangs in delicate translucent loops and folds and convolutions, equals Luray or Wyandotte for beauty, though not for extent.

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It was reported that two walled graves stand on a "bald" on the farm of Will Robert Eidson, on the divide between the Niangua and the Little Niangua Rivers, about 4 miles north of Roach post office. They were described as "rocks laid up in a regular wall about 4 feet high, and about 30 steps square, and filled up inside with rocks." A visit to the site disclosed two ordinary cairns, made by throwing weathered limestone boulders into a rounded heap. Both piles have been scattered, and as they now exist one is about 25 feet, the other about 30 feet across. Such exaggerated, misleading descriptions are common, and result in much fruitless investigation.

Several caves are reported in the vicinity of Toronto, in Camden and Miller Counties; especially the Cokely Cave, 4 miles from Brumley on the Linn Creek road. From the descriptions given by informants, none of them appear to be suitable for habitation.

Many cairns exist on the ridges in this region, especially on high points overlooking valleys. All of them were built up with chert or limestone blocks, and all are more or less torn up. So far as could be learned there is no sign of a wall in any of them.

In the present state of knowledge, Camden County offers no inducement for archeological research.

A FOSSIL CAVE (29)

The geological deposits in this region comprise three principal formations which are named in the State report as the Jefferson City limestone, the Roubidoux sandstone, and the Gasconade limestone. It is in the last (which is the lowest) that caverns are found.

In various places erosion, either internal or superficial, or both, has formed crevices or sink holes through which the disintegrated sandstone finds its way into caverns below, where it accumulates and hardens until more resistant than when in its original condition.

Further erosion has in several places carried away the limestone from around these intrusive masses, allowing them to project above the present surface. Sometimes, where the sand piled up, they resemble haystacks; but usually they are of indefinite form, having spread out on the floor of the cavern, as such material will do in a shallow stream.

An interesting example of this action is the "Standing Rock," 4 miles west of Linn Creek, the county seat. Here was formerly a large cave with an eastward trend until near the mouth, when it turned sharply southward, the opening being in the direction of a little stream. The lower end of this cave became solidly filled with sand, and the water found an outlet farther back. All the limestone which formed the roof and walls of the middle portion of the cave is gone, a narrow ravine marking its course. The sandstone obstruction held its place, and now extends directly across the ridge between the two ravines. Its surface is an exact cast of the interior of the cave which it filled, and nodules of chert, remaining when the limestone dissolved, are still imbedded in its surface. The line of demarkation between the limestone matrix, where this still exists in part, and the siliceous filling is as distinct as that between the stone and brick in a building. The loose cave earth shows plainly under the sandstone near the former mouth of the cavern. Plan and section are shown in figures 20 and 21.

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MILLER COUNTY

WRIGHT CAVE (30)

A mile and a half west of Brumley, near Glaize Creek, is Wright, or Brumley, Cave. The entrance is 15 feet high and 40 feet wide. At 20 feet from the mouth the width contracts to 20 feet. The depth is 120 feet in daylight to a stalagmite floor. Dry cave earth extends for 35 feet from the entrance, at which distance it reaches tough, sticky clay; this continues to the stalagmite. Above the clay are growing stalactites.

In front of the entrance were a few flint chips, but no indications of pottery or shell. A small implement, shown in figure 22, was found which is of interest because it was worked to a sharp point at one end of a narrow drill, while the other end widened into a squared form with a straight base which was dulled and polished from use as a cutting tool; the entire surface was polished from long service. An object of this kind would be highly suitable for mending moccasins and leggins. Finding this and nothing else strengthens the probability that this cave was used as a temporary camping place, but was never permanently occupied.

WILSON CAVE (31)

Facing Barren Fork of Tavern Creek, on the farm of John R. Bond, 8 miles northwest of Iberia and 12 miles southeast of Tuscumbia, is a cave celebrated by reason of a provision in the will of a former eccentric owner.

There is a small cave which has an opening in the bluff, a few feet to one side of the larger cave. This can be reached only by means of ladders 60 feet long.

Jack Wilson came from Ireland and settled on Tavern (or Cavern) Creek in 1822. For a number of years he lived in this cave, with his family. He died in 1855, leaving instructions that his body was to be packed in salt and placed in the small cave, "with a ten-gallon cask of good whisky," the entrance then to be sealed up. In order to carry out his last wishes, and at the same time to give him a "Christian burial," his wife had all his internal organs removed and interred in a cemetery; his body was filled with salt, and placed in a coffin, which, according to his wishes, was deposited in the cave, with the whisky. On the seventh anniversary of his death the whole community was to assemble to "eat, drink, and be merry." For many years residents in the vicinity had used the cave as a place for festive gatherings; but this occasion was to be on a scale beyond anything previously attempted. If necessary, Scriptural methods were to be employed; that is, messengers were to be sent out in all directions, urging every one to come. The floor was to be enlarged, and a platform erected on it. When all were assembled, the whisky and the coffin were to be brought from their resting place and set on the platform. Then certain famous fiddlers were to ascend the platform and play, while the guests danced. When the whisky was exhausted, and the fiddlers in the same condition, the picnic was over and the assembly would disperse. The coffin was then to be replaced in the little cave, which was to be again sealed up, not to be reopened until the Day of Judgment.

The preliminaries were carried out according to program, but when the time for the celebration came round the people were more concerned with the Civil War, and especially in the activities of the bushwhackers who infested that part of the country, than they were in picnics; and Wilson's resurrection was brought about by persons whose identity was never discovered. They got into his tomb in some manner, drank all the whisky, broke open the coffin, and threw Wilson's bones to the outside, where they were scattered down the slope. Horrified relatives gathered them up, replaced them in the cave, sealed it again, and Wilson is still there awaiting his final summons.

The entrance is 20 feet high and 45 feet wide. Dry cave earth extends for 135 feet; from this point it continues, partially filled with fallen rock and stalagmite, 40 feet farther, or 175 feet in all, in plain daylight, at which distance the cave makes a turn; and the cave earth was followed in this to complete darkness without coming to its termination.

Beginning 100 feet from the entrance and extending for 35 feet, a narrow row of loose rocks fallen from the outcrop of stratum along the center of the roof lies on the surface. The cavern here measures 35 feet in width.

There is a wet weather stream along one wall, but the amount of water passing out is never large.

Solid bedrock, with patches of cave earth on it, is exposed, in slightly rising strata, for 10 feet from the little bluff at the mouth; within this it is hidden by the earth which gradually rises to a height of 6 feet; but some of this rise may be due to increased elevation of the rock floor. The entire cave can be easily cleared out to the stalagmite; and it would be advisable to remove at least portions of this in order to ascertain what may lie beneath it.

Refuse appears in considerable quantity in the bottom of the little stream bed and under the receding walls; and likewise a small amount outside the entrance. But the bedrock crops out frequently in narrow ledges between the mouth of the cavern and the foot of the hill, so very little débris of any kind lies on the slope outside.

Some alteration of the surface of the earth floor has taken place in consequence of the construction of platforms; but aside from this it has remained practically undisturbed.

BAGNELL CAVE (32)

A large cavern is near the top of the "Bagnell Hill" on the Bagnell and Linn Creek road, on the right (south) side of the Osage River, and about 3 miles from the town of Bagnell. On account of the "millions" of bats which shelter in it, the name of Bat Cave is applied to this as it is to many other caves in the region.

The entrance is so small that the cavern can be entered only by crawling in; and as no traces of Indian remains have ever been observed in it, or around the front, no examination was deemed necessary.

BODE CAVE (33)