ed position the eminence is locally known as
"Lost Hill." It is not to be confused, however, with several similar
formations in this region, to which the same term is applied and which
may owe their existence to a like cause, or may be due to cut-offs by
streams.

On the top of this particular Lost Hill are six cairns, five of them
near the northern end, the sixth just where the ridge breaks off to
the south. The margins are uncertain owing to the upper stones being
scattered by hunters as well as by credulous individuals who are
firmly fixed in the belief that all such "rock piles" contain gold
hidden by Indians.

So far as can now be determined the five at the northern end were 16
to 18 feet across as left by the builders, the southernmost one being
somewhat smaller. All are in uncleared land, and crevices between the
stones are filled with a tangled mass of roots from the trees and
bushes growing on and around them.

The relative positions are about thus, measurements being made on the
earth between the scattered stones: (1) 10 feet, (2) 10 feet, (3) 50
feet, (4) 10 feet, (5) 1,000 feet, (6). The distance from (5) to (6)
is estimated by stepping and may vary considerably either way from the
measure given.

Cairns (1), (2), and (3) were thoroughly excavated.

CAIRN (1)

This, the farthest north, was about 16 by 17 feet within the original
limits. When the outer loose rocks were removed there was disclosed a
wall of flat stones on the natural surface, so laid as to form an
inclosure apparently intended to be practically square. It measured,
across the center, from outside to outside, about 14 feet from north
to south by 12 feet from east to west. The north and south walls were
straight, the others outwardly curved. The approximate outline is
shown in figure 1. In most parts the wall was only one stone high; in
a few places there was another rock laid up. Over and within this wall
had been piled loose stones, ranging in size from small pebbles to
fragments of 150 pounds in weight, to form a heap whose original
height was about 2 feet.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Outline of Cairn (1), at Lost Hill, Phelps
County, Mo.]

When all these were cleared away the space within the wall was found
to measure 9 feet in each direction. Three feet from the middle of the
west wall was a fragment of a child's skull lying on the undisturbed
angular gravel which forms the natural surface on this ridge except
where a small a