ware in recent years all the works of this character in the county have been discontinued.

There are now two large clay-working plants in operation in the county. One of these is located at Harvey, where immense quantities of terra cotta blocks, brick and tiling of all sizes are turned out, and the other is conducted in connection with the State Inebriate Hospital in the western limits of Knoxville.

MISCELLANEOUS MINERALS

Some years ago specimens of stone were obtained from the Coal Measures in the southeastern part of the county that were pronounced by lithographers to be a lithographic stone of good quality. Other finds of this stone in different parts of the county have also been reported from time to time, but it is not known whether the deposits are of sufficient extent to justify working or not. Nearly all the stone of this character used in the United States comes from Germany. If the beds of lithographic stone in Marion County are of any considerable size, they may in time be developed into a profitable industry.

In early years lime was burned at various places in the county, especially in the eastern part, and was used to supply the local demand. While not of the finest quality it was quite durable and was used by the people of the county for a number of years. In recent years, however, the finer grades of lime, made from the gray magnesian limestone, have been introduced and the old limekilns have been abandoned. Some of the St. Louis marls are believed to be suitable for the manufacture of hydraulic cement, but no attempt has been made to utilize them for that purpose.

Near Hamilton there is a deposit of yellow ochre, which, judging from the outcrops and well borings, seems to be rather extensive. It has been detected in well borings two miles or more from where it outcrops and it is believed to be continuous between the two points. Samples of the ochre were sent to a paint manufacturing company for examination and test, and while the company reported that it contained the necessary constituents for paint, the samples showed so many impurities, principally calcium carbonate and sand, it was upon the whole unprofitable to undertake its use in the manufacture of paint. Notwithstanding this unfavorable report, it is believed that at least portions of the deposit may be free from the impurities and that at some future time the beds may be developed. A house at Hamilton was painted with the ochre several years ago and it has proved its durability as a pigment.

Small copper nuggets have been found at different places in the county, and this has caused some persons to believe that somewhere, sometime, a copper mine will be discovered. The nuggets vary in weight from a few ounces to about four pounds. In every instance they have been found in the glacial drift and it is quite probable that they were carried by the glacier from the Lake Superior region in the same way that the glacial bowlders were transported and deposited.

Reports of the presence of lead and zinc were made to Mr. Miller while he was engaged in making his survey of the county. Concerning these rumors he says in his report: "Whenever the exact location of these supposed deposits could be ascertained, the strata were carefully examined, but no evidence of the presence of either of these metals was found. With respect to the zinc, it is probable that the iron carbonate, siderite, which is found in the large septarial concretions in the black shale, has been mistaken for zinc blende. It closely resembles it in color, so that it is not surprising that such an error has been made."

Gypsum, in the form of diamond or needle-shaped crystals, has been found in the black shales of the Coal Measures. But the crystals are too small to be of any economic importance. The same is true of iron pyrites, which are found in the coal and Coal Measure shales, but not in sufficient quantity to be of any commercial value.

WATER SUPPLY

The water supply of the county comes from the running streams and wells. There are a few springs but the flow is usually so small that they cannot be depended upon to furnish a constant supply of water. Throughout the county water-bearing strata are seldom exposed, and where they lie near the surface the drift or loess absorbs or conceals the seepage, thus forming boggy places rather than springs.

As most of the water is found in the drift the wells are generally shallow, the water frequently being found in small sand-filled pockets or veins. Two wells, only a few rods apart, may frequently be of different depths, owing to their obtaining their supplies from different sources. In the eastern part of the county water is obtained from the St. Louis formation. It is generally of good quality, though in a few instances is rather "hard," on account of the large amount of calcareous matter held in solution. Water is found in the Coal Measures, but it is nearly always too strongly impregnated with mineral substances to be suitable for domestic purposes.

Some years ago a number of deep wells were sunk on the uplands between the Skunk and Des Moines rivers. These wells vary in depth from one hundred to three hundred feet. A few-those that pierce the sandstone-afford a bountiful supply of pure, wholesome water, but in most of them the water comes from the Coal Measures and is of poor quality.

Before the beginning of the present century several artesian wells were sunk in the northern and eastern parts of the county, though in none of them is the pressure sufficient to force the water to any considerable height above the surface, nor is there a strong flow at any time. The well at Flagler, which is 752 feet deep, is said to produce a water that possesses great curative properties for certain human ailments. All the water from the artesian wells is strongly impregnated with minerals, chiefly iron and sulphur. Two of these flowing wells, located in the Des Moines River bottoms near Red Rock, are about two hundred feet deep and apparently draw their water supply from the Coal Measures. So far as it has been tested, the water from the artesian wells has been found to be unfit for use in steam boilers on account of its corrosive action.

Within the last few years many persons have found it necessary to deepen their wells that draw water from the drift, on account of the great decrease in the supply. No one has been able to account for this phenomenon except upon the theory that, while the average annual rainfall has not changed materially, it is not as uniformly distributed throughout the year as formerly, and drouths are more frequent, which has an effect upon the shallow wells. Since the great drouth of 1911, drillers have been busy sinking deep wells in all parts of the county, invariably obtaining inexhaustible supplies at depths varying from one hundred to three hundred and fifty feet. Some of these wells on private farms have been sunk to a depth of over four hundred feet. In the summer of 1914 a well at the State Inebriate Hospital was sunk to a depth of over twelve hundred feet, when it was temporarily abandoned by the contractor. Members of the State Board of Control say that it will be sunk to a depth of 2,000 feet in 1915, unless a sufficient supply of water is sooner obtained.

Vol. I-2

CHAPTER II

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS

THE MOUND BUILDERS CHARACTER AND PROBABLE PURPOSE OF THE MOUNDS DISTRICTS IN THE UNITED STATES-PECULIARITIES OF EACH THEORIES REGARDING THE MOUND BUILDERS-MOUNDS IN MARION COUNTY-THE INDIANS-GENERAL DISTRIBUTION AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY-THE SACS AND FOXES-THE IOWAS CHARACTER SKETCHES OF THEIR PRINCIPAL CHIEFS THE POTTAWATOMI THE WINNEBAGO.

All over the central part of the United States have been found mounds, earthworks and other relics of a bygone race. A report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology says: "During a period beginning some time after the close of the Ice Age and ending with the coming of the white man-or only a few years before the central part of North America was inhabited by a people who had emerged to some extent from the darkness of savagery, had acquired certain domestic arts, and practiced some well-defined lines of industry. The location and boundaries inhabited by them are fairly well marked by the mounds and earthworks they erected."

Early in the seventeenth century the first white settlements were established along the Atlantic coast. Gradually civilization extended westward, but more than a century passed before the white men came in contact with the evidences that the interior of the continent had once been peopled by this peculiar race, to which archaeologists gave the name of "Mound Builders." Then arose the question: Who were the Mound Builders? It was soon discovered, however, that it was easier to ask the question than to answer it.

Most of the mounds discovered are of conical form and varying height, and when opened by the investigator have generally been found to contain human skeletons, hence they have been designated as burial mounds. Other mounds are in the form of truncated pyramids -that is, square or rectangular at the base and flattened on the top. The works of this class are usually higher than the burial mounds, which has given rise to the theory that they were used as lookouts or