Osage Tribe May Buy St. Louis Ancestral Mound

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- The last couple of hundred years have been cruel to Sugar Loaf Mound. Quarrying nearly destroyed it in the 1800s; construction of Interstate 55 further scarred it in the 1960s.

Now, as preservationists strive to save the city's sole surviving Indian mound, they've found a natural ally: the descendants of its ancient builders -- the Osage tribe of Oklahoma.

Sugar Loaf is about 4 miles south of the Gateway Arch, and all that remains of a network of Indian earthworks that gave St. Louis the nickname "Mound City."

Last fall, an elderly couple who own the 900-square-foot house on top of the mound put the property up for sale.

See the "For Sale" ad.

The Osage tribe wants to buy the mound, demolish the house and develop the property as an interpretive site.