Saw first stone circles indicating position of old lodges today. No such observed E. of this though in many places & especially in vicinity of Pembina R & Mt, abundance of boulders large & small.

O'Donnell tells me prairie here much better looking than in Dakota where western trails cross it.

Day showery with variable wind.

Camp

5.30 A.M.

Bar 27.90

Ther. 56

Noon

Odom 6100

Bar 28.10

Ther 64

Camp Souris R. Top of bank 8 P.M. Bar 28.18 Ther 61

June 3. All available hands at work at bridge this morning. Parties cutting wood & other men engaged fitting together & hewing stuff.

Afternoon went collecting plants with Burgess & got quite a number of new things. Pressed plants & changed papers of all already collected.

Camp 7 A.M.

Bar 28.18

Ther 57

noon

28.09

72

8 P.M.

28.04

55

June 4. Bridge progressing though not so quickly as expected. Cribs being put together & towed into place. Stringers laid on, then smaller cross top for roadway.

Went across River with Burgess & two men & dug into one of so-called "Mandan Houses". The greater part of these mounds are situated on the tongue of land between the Souris & S. Antler Creek, on the general prairie level. A few are on the N side of the creek & near the road. One of these chosen. Diameter of mound a little over 50 feet. Height above general prairie level about 6 feet. The ground round the mound showed evident traces of having been dug into for the materials. Found remains of three skeletons. One probably adult but much broken up & not much of it found. Another that of an infant. The third nearly perfect appeared to have been buried in a sitting or crouched position. The dimension of the bones very small though from teeth &c. evidently adult. Very probably a woman. Skull short & broad. Sloping in front. The interment did not bear the aspect of very great antiquity. Sticks of wood with which a sort of covering had been built up over the bodies still visible though rotten & crumbling. Found near the skeletons a