Records of the Past Volume 6, Nos. 4-7 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...residuum of the natural decay of rocks in situ, and in this instance was chiefly a kaolinic clay. American Geologist, Vol. 31, p. 298, 1903. American Anthropologist, Vol. 4 (U. S), Oct.-Nov., 1902. and Vol. 5, Apr.-June, 1903. miles from St. Louis. lt is a smooth, "hafted" implement, 5 in. long, 354 in. wide, "and shows evidence of use both on the poll and on the edge." Miss Luella Owen, in 1899, published an account of the finding, in 1897, of a large stone axe imbedded in the loess of the bluff on the west side of the Missouri River, near Atchison, Kans., and 20 miles south of St. Joseph, Mo.17 It is an unusually large implement of its kind, weighing yy2 pounds, grooved and polished, and was 4 ft. below the natural surface, and about 240 ft. above the low water mark of the Missouri. It was at a stone quarry, and about 4 ft. of loess intervened between the axe and the surface of the rock. Immediately above the rock, however, was a foot of clay, apparently formed by disintegration STONE AXE FOUND BY MiSS OWEN, NEAR ATCHlSON, KANS. of the limestone in place. Pieces of the limestone associated with the axe had the appearance of having been burnt, indicating the former existence of a camp fire. The fact and the circumstances of the discovery of this stone are protected from discredit by the legal affidavit of the foreman of the quarry. There is no higher point in the vicinity. The surface of the bluff slopes both to the west and to the north, and it is easily seen that the axe could not have been buried by "wash." The appearance is that the loess is in its original condition, and hence that the axe dates from the accumulation of the loess, which was at the time when the Iowan ice-sheet was still extant over Minnesota. This is cert...