The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-10
IONBS OF A LOST RAGE.
ON THE NORTH PACIFIC
COAST
BURIAL PLACES OF INDIANS
Secret Of Heaps OF Stones In British
Columbia and WashfngtOn-
Traces of Early Civ
IIizatdon.

British Columbia and the state or
Washington have for years been favorfte
exploring grounds Of ethnologists who
are collecting material about the Indians
Among other things noted In this region
have been heaps Of rocks Of varying
size, for which the explorers could find
no adequate explanation. Some consid-
cred them to be freaks Of geological up
heaval, while others believed that the
present Indian inhabitants had piled
them up for some ceremonial purpose,
though the Indians deny any knowledge
Of them. Last summer Prof Harlan l.
Smith, of the Jesup North Pacific expedi-
ton, tore apart a number OF these
mounds, and the result Is an interesting
and valuable addition to American eth
nology.
Every mound explored by Prof Smith
vas found to be a tomb in which had
been buried an individual of race whose
history is an entire blank, whose very
existence had previously been unknown
to ethnologists, says the New York Sun
This style of burial is not known In
the earliest records Of any Of the North
western coast peoples
One of the unusual and puzzling fea-
lures OF the discovery Is the fact that the
explorers have not been able to Gull from
the stone sepulchers single definite fact
as to the identity Of the race now van
1shed from the face OF the earth. No
architectural remains or ruins were
found which might have been inhabited
by these people, and the Indians who to-
cay inhabit that region have no tradi-
tions or legends regarding them. Prof.
Smith believes that the race was Of q
lower form OF civilization than the cliff
jewellers or mound builders, and that it
was beyond question extinct long before
the advent of the whites.
The excavations began in the south
eastern part Of Vancouver island, B. c.,
and In the San Juan group and Whidbey
Islands, state of Washington. A whole
series of the massive stone tombs each
containing a single skeleton, were
found. Some Of the skeletons were in a
state Of good preservation; others were
all but disintegrated. The great num-
Der OF the burial places, extending well
down into the state of Washington. fndI-
cate that at one time the race that prac-
t1ced this form Of sepuleher must have
been numerically strong and politically
powerful
Prof. Smith spent three months of last
summer in uncovering and examining
some hundreds of these old burial places
which had escaped the serious attention
of previous Investigators. He thus
describes these ancient tombs which are
technically termed cairns.
"They are from six to twenty-five feet
in diameter and generally consist of an
irregular pile of boulders, many Of
which are Of huge size, weighing several
tons and requiring the strength Of four
men with crowbars to dislodge them
| These structures are usually situated on
slopes with gravelly soil, strewn With
angular boulders. They overlook, and in
| most cases are near, the sea, and the
graves in each group are about twenty
feet apart. They are usually located
within a mile or so Of she'll heaps AS
| these latter are very numerous all along
the coast, their proximity is thought to
imply probably a historical relation be-
! tween the two kinds Of structures. One
| stone tomb is found over each body
THE entrance is composed Of a more
or less rectangular opening, formed by
| placing the straightest side Of several
| boulders inward, and covering the OPEN
! ing thus formed with two or more slab
shaped rocks Of like character. In some
cases the vault is not well formed, and