The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-04-05
Relics Of a Dead Race.

WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES BY AN ARTIST
IN THE CAVES OF THE
OZARK NOUN
Mr.. A. ]. Conant, the artist, re-
turned recently from the. Ozark
Mountains, where he passed a week
in exploring some remarkable caves
on the Gasconade and tributary
streams, lying principally in Phelps
and Pulaski counties. Mr.. Conant,
about two years ago made some in
teresting discoveries in the region
mentioned of human skulls and skel-
etons, supposed to belong to a people
who existed before the historic peri
cd, and as 1t is understood that he
has been engaged since 1862 in col
Letting the materials of work on
archaeology, it may we'll be supposed
that he is enthusiastic in following
up his discoveries.
He and his party first visited
Bruce's Cave, so named aster one of
the early settlers, who made salt
petre from the cave deposits. The
cavern is in the limestone founda-
ton, with an entrance about one hun
dred and thirty feet in the bluffs
above the Gasconade river. They
first entered spacious chamber, hut
as the passage narrowed, the party
were forced to get down on their
knees and crawl some distance
They next made nearly perpendie-
ular ascent of fifty feet, when they
entered a large chamber sparkling
with stalactites ola snowy whiteness
like alabaster, with hundreds of bats
hanging in festoons from the roof.
Having explored the caverns, the
work of excavating began at the
mouth of the cave, where bones and
implements were found. They made
vertical section of six feet, and
studied the qualification of the soft
deposits.
The layers changed from a black,
rich soil, to ashes, alternating with
strata composed Of soil and ashes in
termixed. 1t was in these strata
that human bones and fragments
were found. The skulls exhibit a
low facial angle, and the teeth, some
If which dropped out, are as we'll
preserved as if drawn by 4 dentist
vest erday. There is the skull of an
old man, known from the knitting to
gether of the sutures, and also one of
an infant of almost water-l like thin
ness, and the several parts separated
at the sutures. Besides the skulls
there were found arrow and spear
heads, flint implements, knives and
avis for sewing skins, made of bone,
very hard and polished; also the
bones of the turtle, deer and wild
turkey, intermingled with various
fragments of carnivorous and brow
sing animals not yet identified.
Great care was required in exhuming
these remains, as the skulls were
liable to be broken by the pick.
The second cave explored was
about mile distant from the former,
and is locally known as Ash Cave,
from the fact that there is a deposit
of ashes from the saltpetre manufac.
tured there about thirty years ago.
These saltpetre operations have so
far disturbed the original deposits
that nothing satisfactory could be
obtained, except one corpse, which
was found in a sitting posture, with
the knees drawn up to the face
With this corpse was also found the
nearly entire skeleton, very much de-
cayed, of an elk or largesized deer.
II Missouri Republican.
ID. L. PHILLIPS, editor of the
Springfield en-. State Journal, ap-
pointed by the Washington Govern
ment to ferrett out crookedness and
corruption on the Pacific Coast, gives
a very sorry account of official virtue.
TO Chicago Tribune
reporter he says that the revenue SER
vice of California is "seething, boi
ling caldron OF corruption, and with
very few exceptions, that there is not
an honest Government official on the
Pacific Coast He found that the
whisky distillers had been System
atically swindling the Government