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By far the most interesting point of study in the state is found at Nehawka, where the aborigines quarried flint. This field has been explored and described in my reports.

Very interesting remains were found along the Blue river. The Platte and its eastern branches abound in earthworks and village sites, and the whole Missouri front presents a difficult and interesting problem which will require time and careful study to untangle.

The Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804 gave the earliest and most authentic description of this Missouri front, and a careful study of this expedition enabled me to locate each camp made in the state. Many of these have been visited, and the study of the Missouri front is well begun.

The Indian bibliography is growing slowly; when this iscompleted it will be a history and biography of every notable Indian mentioned in the literature of the state.

The museum has grown during these five years. When I assumed charge there were but a few relics; part of the Whitcomb collection was here as well as about 150 numbers in the general catalogue. Now the catalogue shows ten large collections, which have been catalogued separately, as well as about 700 numbers in the regular catalogue. This will give you a conception of the amount of material which has been gathered into the museum during the last five years.

The letter C. before the number shows that the article belongs to the J. R. Coffin collection. This collection consists of 115 numbers and is chiefly Pawnee material. Mr. Coffin lives at Genoa, Nebraska, and has known the Pawnees from boyhood. He speaks the Pawnee language, and was called "The Boy Chief," or "Per-iska Le-Shar-u."

The Hopkins collection has the letter H. placed before the number. It consists of chipped and polished stone-work found along the Elkhorn river, as well as many other curious and interesting articles. There are 307 separate catalogue numbers, but this does not give an idea of the collection, as a

catalogue number often embraces a number of articles. One number has four thousand separate pieces of chipped flint. It is the best single collection of chipped stone implements we have.

The B. Y. High collection has the letters B. H. placed before the numbers, and contains 91 separate pieces, mostly of Santee beaded work. This collection represents more money than many of the larger collections, as the pieces are all very superior. It was procured at Niobrara and was selected as the best out of the quantity sold there by the Santees.

The Cleveland collection has the letters H. C. before the numbers. It is material from the Philippine Islands, collected by Howard Cleveland, of Table Rock, while with the 3d Nebraska regiment. It has 88 numbers.

The Searle collection was brought from the Philippines by C. H. Searle, of Plattsmouth, and has 202 numbers with the letter S. before each. It is much the same as the Cleveland collection, only larger, and it contains many very fine specimens.

The Hemple collection is one made by Benjamin Hemple, of Plattsmouth. It is not catalogued separately, but, like the many small collections, is found in the general catalogue. It consists of guns, coins, and other interesting curios.

A number of lectures have been given in various parts of the state which have been instrumental in bringing the people into closer touch with the Society. These lectures cost but the actual expense of railroad fare and entertainment, and we are glad to make arrangements to fill a number of dates each year.

About 30 lantern slides have been made, showing some of the best museum specimens, and others will be made when the honorable board will grant us a lantern in which to use them.

The literary work done in this department is no small item; a number of manuscripts are prepared, and we hope to arrange for their publication some time in the future.

With this brief résumé of the previous reports, I herewith present my (fifth) annual report for 1906:

REPORT FOR 1906.

The beginning of the year, from January 1 to April 1 was devoted to arranging material in the museum and to arranging and listing the library. The daily care of the rooms was no small part of the work, and little was accomplished beyond routine work during this time.

The Academy of Sciences asked me to prepare a paper on aboriginal pottery for their meeting February 2 and 3, 1996. February 23 I was called to Swedeburg, a little town in Saunders county, to deliver a lecture.

During the past two years little has been done in the way of securing large collections for the museum. The already crowded condition seemed to justify inactivity until such a time as the legislature should see fit to grant us more commodious quarters, but there are a number of collections in the state which demand immediate attention if we ever expect to secure them, and I was determined to secure collections and care for them as best we could until more space was secured.

To this end I visited Florence, April 5, and investigated the W. F. Parker collection with the agent of the estate. June 6 I spent two hours in the Parker museum. There are few things of historical value to Nebraska in the collection. It is interesting, but Nebraska is not well represented in it, and the whole collection is going to ruin from lack of care. There is no catalogue and the moths are doing much damage in the valuable rugs and costumes.

The safe which is in the Parker museum was the one used by the bank of Florence and is a valuable Nebraska relic. An old bass drum which the Mormons used at the "winter quarters" is also of interest historically, but most of the pieces are from other countries, and as they lack labels are of no value to science.

May 25 I gave a talk at the Prescott school on Indian customs, and later a talk at the city library along the same line.

A new town was dedicated on the new line of the Great Northern at Lesharu, and I was asked to give a talk on the old Pawnee village site near by.

While on the trip to investigate the Parker collection I went with R. F. Gilder to view some of the earthworks he had discovered north of Florence, and stopped to see the place where the "Learned Spear" was found. This spear is seven inches long and three inches wide. It is a very artistic piece of chipping from agatized wood. Originally it was brown in color, but one side is eroded to a bluish white. It is very different from any spear found in the state and evidently was not made by the Otoes who formerly owned the land. It will take the evidence of a specialist to determine how long this material must be exposed to the elements to change the color as this is changed. There is no evidence of a grave at the point where it was found and it seems to have been in the drift or in the loess soil.

While on this trip we saw the great lodge circle in the top of a hill overlooking the Missouri river. This circle is over 60 feet in diameter and fully six feet deep in the center; it is one of the largest I have seen. Many bits of flint and ancient pottery near prove it to be old. Mr. Gilder showed me many evidences of aborigines north of Florence, which convinced me that the archeological condition in that vicinity is very complicated. In fact the whole Missouri front is a very complicated study. It is in this field that the "Nebraska Loess Man" was discovered. The geologists are. -better qualified to handle the situation in regard to this find, as it is purely a geological question. There is no doubt but the bones found are human bones, and the only question involved is the age of the bones; this must be determined by the age of the undisturbed geological formation in which they were found.

June 20th I visited the home of W. J. Harmon in company with J. J. Hawthorne of Fremont. Mr. Harmon owns the land upon which an ancient Indian village site is situated. This site, which I have named the "Harmon Site," is on seetion 28, township 17 north, range 8 east. It is situated on a high bluff overlooking the Platte river. Near the point of the bluff may be seen a number of lodge circles and mounds similar to the mound houses on the Burkett site.

No implements showing contact with whites were found; a number of specimens of pottery of ancient design were picked up there, as well as broken flints of a gray color and some brown specimens.

This site was doubtless contemporaneous with the Ithaca site, as the debris is similar, although the Ithaca site yielded a few relics showing contact with the whites. The Harmon site covers an area of about three or four acres and was the home of some small band of aborigines for a number of years. The mounds have not been disturbed, and a cross-section of them may yield more evidence of the people. This site is one of many in Saunders county, and in fact all along the Platte. The proof of the identity of one will settle the identity of all, as they all bear a close resemblance to each other. The supposition that these villages are Pawnee may be established as a fact, but at present writing the study has not gone far enough to prove it beyond doubt.

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About a mile farther up the river and quite near its banks, is the site of the once famous "Neapolis."

Tradition has this to say of this place:

The "rump" legislature of 1857-58, which adjourned from Omaha to Florence, January 8, 1858, passed a resolution lecating the capital of the territory at a point which should be sixty miles west of the Missouri river and within six miles of the Platte river north or south. An enterprising company from Plattsmouth discovered a valuable body of timber on the Platte river and immediately "jumped" the claim and laid

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