Tunnels were excavated into the east and south sides of the mound, and both of them may date to the 1890s or earlier (see Table 1 for a summary of descriptions). The purpose for these early tunnels is unclear. They both apparently originated well before the 1930s, when the discovery of spectacular artifacts at the nearby Spiro site led to tunneling and large-scale excavations of many of the mounds there. Whether the tunnels were originally excavated for storage spaces or as amateur explorations into the mound, they ended up being used for both. The south tunnel appears to have been backfilled, or at least the opening of it was plugged, by 1940 when Newkumet made his sketch of the mound (see Figure 2).

The east tunnel was open and at least occasionally used for storage until the 1970s, when it was plugged for safety concerns. The tunnel has been opened and re-plugged several times since then. Beginning around 1957 Frank Etter continued excavation into the east tunnel, and re-opened the south tunnel for excavation. Etter reportedly found an open room at the end of the south tunnel, although Dollar (1958) states that he found no evidence of this. A substantial room existed at one time connected to the eastern tunnel (the "potato cellar"), and may still exist. Note that there are no claims that these rooms were part of the original mound and were "discovered" by the historic tunneling efforts - every indication is that they were created in historic times as part of the tunneling efforts.

The eastern tunnel is currently open (as of late 2004). The tunnel is about one meter wide and just over one meter high, extending into the mound for at least 15 meters. At least one side-tunnel branches off to the north. Trash litters the tunnel throughout. Safety considerations precluded a thorough examination of the tunnel deep into the mound during the 2004 visit.