PRE-HISTORIC INHABITANTS.

[Page 29]

     Throughout the southern half of Ohio, there are remains of earth works constructed by a people of whom we have neither history or tradition.  All we know of them, is what may be deduced from the character of these ruins.  Some of them are in groups of mounds, lines of embankments, either single, double or treble; sometimes with ditches, but more often without.  When without ditches, they resemble a turnpike, but such was not their original design.  They are both straight and curved, generally forming an enclosed figure, approaching to mathematical regularity; such as a rectangle, octagon, circle or ellipse.  A partial enclosure in the form of a horse shoe or a segment of some regular figure is common.  Although mounds and banks of earth, are as nearly imperishable as any structure raised by man, they are more or less obliterated by rains, frosts and other atmospheric agencies.

[Page 30]

ANCIENT EARTH WORKS

     Some of the parallels require close examination to detect, and especially to follow them; through cultivated fields, herbage, and the undergrowth of western forests.
     Ditches and pits are sooner obliterated than works in relief.  On these ruins, the timber is of the same size and character, as it is around them.  Trees 400 years old have been cut down, whose roots were fixed upon the top of embankments, where the remains of previous generations of trees, were also visible.
     There is evidence to show that the race is red men, whom Columbus, De Soto and John Smith, encountered on this Continent, had then been here fifteen or twenty centuries.  The Aborigines had no knowledge, and no received traditions of their predecessors; which they must have had, if the race of the mounds were their ancestors.  Everything which remains of the mound builders, indicates a people of higher cultivation than that of the Indians.  The more ancient race were industrious, cultivating the soil; not wandering hunters.  They erected mounds of earth, which are in some instances from sixty-to seventy feet high, with a circumference at the base of seven hundred and eight hundred feet.  These are still quite imposing piles, rising nearly to the tops of ancient trees, among which they stand.
     A single fortification on the bluffs of the Little Miami, called "Fort Ancient," in Warren county,

[Page 31]
Ohio, has a parapet which in some places is eighteen feet high, and fifty feet thick at the base.  The entire work, is computed to contain six hundred thousand cubic yards of embankment, and would allow of twenty thousand men for its defence.  Near Newark there is a circle, one-fourth of a mile in diameter, where the bank is at the highest point, twenty-six feet above the bottom of the ditch.  This people has left numerous ruins, not only over the southern half of this State, but throughout the low lands of Kentucky, Western Tennessee, Southern Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Mexico.  The large cities, if we may judge by their position, were selected on the same principle by which our fathers selected theirs.  Extensive ruins were once visible, on or near the sites of Cincinnati, Marietta, Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Circleville, Dayton and Newark.
     They were contiguous to large tracts of good land upon valuable water courses.  The same people worked the copper mines of Lake Superior.  Many of their mounds, are monuments raised to the dead, where valuable relics were placed; consisting of beads and shells and plates of native copper and silver.
     Their tools are of copper, which appears to be the only metal they had for implements.  They forged of it spears, arrow heads, axes, chisels, spades and gouges in its native state, never having been melted or refined.  Their tools are found, not only with the      

[Page 32]

ANCIENT COPPER MINES

ashes of their dead, but on the surface, in the vicinity of their works.  Very good cutting tools were made of stone, of which great numbers have been found.  The race of red men had also stone axes, knives, spear and arrow heads, but did not possess implements made of copper, with the exception of some very rude knives, found among the tribes inhabiting Lake Superior.  Here the Chippewas have sometimes fashioned an awkward knife, or an instrument for dressing skins, from nuggets of native copper which they found in the gravel.  The style and finish of their rough knives, enables one at once to separate them, from the more perfect work of the mound builders.  This difference of mechanical perfection, aptly distinguishes the civilization of the two races.
     The North American Indian relied principally upon flint, which the race of the mounds used very sparingly.
     As implements of wood soon perish, we have little trace of them, although they must have been numerous.  Some of the wooden shovels and bowls, which they used in the mines of Lake Superior, have been preserved beneath the water and rubbish of old mines.  A part of the decayed handle of a copper spear, was found in the same situation.  In the north eastern part of Ohio, in the county of Geauga, a war club of Nicaragua wood, was discovered early in the settlement of that region.  This might have

[Page 33]

IMPLEMENT OF WEAPONS.

belonged to either of the races, which preceded white men on this soil.  Wooden ornaments and implements, not being so precious, were not buried with the dead.  If they had been, there are cases where something would remain of them.  Threads of hempen cloth, and timber forming a sort of coffin or vault, have, in some cases, resisted decomposition.  So has their ornaments of shell, bone and stone; and their pipes, grotesquely carved with images of animals.  All these relics, show a condition advanced beyond the people, called by us the Aborigines, who were the second, perhaps the third, race which preceded us.
     Along the south shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, are numerous ancient works; but of a character different from those on the waters of the Ohio.  There were two of them within the limits of the city of Cleveland.  A low mound was visible within the last twenty years, on the lot at the south east corner of Erie and Euclid streets.  But the mounds, embankments and ditches, throughout the lake country are insignificant in size, in comparison with those in the southern part of the State.
     Most of those in New York and the northern part of Ohio, are fortifications; while a large part of those farther south were not designed for the purposes of war.  Many of the latter had reference to religious ceremonies and sacrifices, probably of human beings.

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FORTIFICATION OF LAKE ERIE.

     There is a wide belt of country through central Ohio which is nearly destitute of ancient works, as though there was a neutral tract, not occupied by the ancient races.  Those on the waters running northerly into the lake, are generally in strong natural positions.  They may still be seen on the Maumee river, above Toledo, and on the Sandusky, Huron and Black rivers.  A group of these enclosures existed at the forks of Huron river, where the road crosses, about a mile and a half west of Norwalk.  As a sample of ancient forts in the lake country, I insert plans of some of those which are not yet destroyed.

ANCIENT FORT, NEWBURG.

     This consists of a double line of breast works with ditches across the narrow part of a peninsula, between two gullies, situated about three miles south-easterly from the city, on the right of the road to Newburg, on land heretofore owned by the late Dr. H. A. Ackley.  The position thus protected against an assault, is a very strong one, where the attacking party should not have projectiles of long range.
     On three sides of this promontory, the land is abrupt and slippery.  It is very difficult of ascent, even without artificial obstructions.  Across the ravine, on all sides, the land is upon a level with the

[Page 35]

OLD FORTS, CUYAHOGA COUNTY

enclosed space.  The depth of the gully is from fifty to seventy feet.  About eighty rods to the east, upon the level plain, is a mound ten feet high and sixty feet in diameter.  At the west end of the inner wall is a place for a gateway or passage, to the interior.

Ancient Fort Newburg.
[ PHOTO]

     The height of the embankment across the neck is two feet, and the enclosed area contains about five acres.  Perpetual springs of water issue from the sides of the ravine at the surface of the blue clay, as they do at Cleveland.
     About six miles from the lake, on the eastern bluffs of the Cuyahoga river, is a similar work that

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ANCIENT FORT, SUMMIT COUNTY.

has but one line of embankment, with a ditch.  The bluffs are higher, but not quite as inaccessible as on the ACKLEY farm.  About the middle is an unexcavated space across the ditch, but the breast work has no gap for an entrance.
     Two miles farther up the river, on the same side, is a third work, in the same style, similarly located, but enclosing about twice as much space.  The general figure of the enclosure is very much like the one on ACKLEY's premises.  Two small branches head near each other at the upper end of two ravines, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet deep.  Across the neck are two parallels, which have been nearly obliterated by cultivation.  The inner parallel does not appear to have been as high as the outer one, and between them was a broad, but not a very deep ditch.  A conspicuous ditch was made on the outer side of the outer wall, from which, no doubt, the earth was taken for the embankment.  There are no gateways in either of the walls.
     A much stronger and more elaborate fortified position, exists in Northfield, Summit County, on the river bluffs, two miles west of the center.
     A road leading west from the center to the river, passes along a very narrow ridge, or "hogs back," between two gullies, only wide enough for a highway.  Before reaching the river bluffs, this neck of land expands right and left, where there is a level space of about two acres, elevated near two hundred.

[Page 37]

PHOTO
of Northfield Co., Ohio

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OTHER ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS.

feet above the canal and river.  Where this area begins to widen out on the land side, there are two lines of banks, with exterior ditches, which are forty feet apart, and extend across the neck, without entrances or gateways.  From the top of the breast work to the bottom of the ditch, is now from four to five feet.  Mr. MILTON ARTHUR, the owner of the land stated, that before the land was cultivated, a man standing on the ditch could not look over the wall.  ON all sides, the flat land is bounded by gullies, eighty to one hundred feet deep, except where it is joined to the ridge.
     There is permanent water in the ravines.  The earth of the bluffs is so steep that it is subject to slides.  It is remarkable that there is, within this area, another set of lines on the side towards the river, reducing the fortified area to about one-half the space, whose edges are at the bluffs.  Two projecting points are cut off by these lines, and left outside the works.  In this way, much of the natural strength of the position is lost.  At these places, there are pits, which are early settlers of Northfield say were filled with water, and were stoned around like wells.  There are also two low mounds, m, m, on the east side.  Where the bluff is not as steep as it is elsewhere, there is a parapet thrown up at the crest.  A part of the earth on the north and west side, was taken from the inside, which indicates a state of siege, or at least some

[Page 39]

FORT ON WEST SIDE OF RIVER.

pressing haste when this part of the line was finished.  Perhaps their enemies had gained a foot-hold in the level space outside the lines.
     On the west side of the river is another ancient fortification, opposite this, and it is stated there is in the township of Independence, on the bluffs, north of Tinkers creek, near its mouth, another work of the same character.  There are no doubt others which are known to the inhabitants not yet surveyed or described.

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FORTIFICATION NEAR WEYMOUTH.

[PICTURE of Enlarged profile on the line a, b.]

     A short distance east of the village of Weymouth, in a bend of the Rocky River, is a fortified point of land, with three lines of banks and ditches.   From the outer to the middle one is forty-two feet, and thence to the inner parallel, thirty-eight feet.  In 1850, the outer and the inner lines were in the best condition.  From the top of the outer wall to the bottom of the ditch, is five feet; of the middle

[Page 41]

ANCIENT WORK AT GRANGER.

one four feet, and the inside parallel six feet.  The excavations for the ditches reached to the slate.  This ground was selected by the first white settlers, for a burying ground, but was abandoned because the soil is not deep enough for graves.  Around the bend in the river is a deep channel, with vertical rocky walls, thirty to fifty feet high.  It is therefore, a very defensible position.
     The length of this peninsula is three hundred feet, from the inner parapet to the extreme front, and the distance across the base, one hundred feet.  There are no openings or gateways through the parallels, and no breaks in the ditches.  The engineer who planned the works, must have provided for passing over the embankment, into the enclosed space, by wooden steps, that have perished.  Near the village of Weymouth are five small mounds, m, and within the fortress, one.
     One-half mile east of the center of Granger, in the same county, is a low circular enclosure, about three hundred feet in diameter.  It has a slight exterior ditch.  There is an opening for entrance on the north-west side, near where the east and west road crosses the work.  Two small streams of living water pass along the sides of it.  The situation is low and flat, with a slight rise on the west, which overlooks the interior of the enclosure.  It possesses no natural strength of position, and was doubtless designed for other purposes than defence.

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ANCIENT FORTS.

FORT NEAR PAINESVILLE.

     On the west bank of Grand river, about three miles east of Painesville, is a narrow peninsula of soap stone and flags, which has been fortified by the ancients.  A tall growth of hemlock furnishes a refreshing shade, to which the citizens resort for May-day picnics, and Fourth of July celebrations.  A small creek runs outside the point, which is about 200 feet wide by 600 in length, entering the river at the apex.  The elevation is from 40 to 60 feet above water level.  At the extremity of the point is a lower bench, across which is a low bank and ditch.
     About 400 feet farther back from this are two parallels across the peninsula, which are 86 feet apart.   In most places it is nine feet from the bottom of the ditches, to the summit of the walls.  All the ditches are on the outside and are well preserved.  There are very few places where a party could climb up the soap stone cliffs, without the aid of trees or ropes.  The course of this projecting point is east and west, joining the mainland on the wet.  In this direction there is higher land within 300 feet of the outer parallel.

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ANCIENT FORTS.

FORTIFIED HILL NEAR CONNEAUT.

     On the south side of the creek above the village of Conneaut, in Ashtabula county, is a detached mound of shale, about seventy feet high, which is crowned with an ancient fortress, or strong-hold, represented in the plan here inserted.

PHOTO of FORT HILL

     On the north side there is a low bank of earth following the crest of the hill.  There is here no berme, or level space, outside of the embankment.

[Page 44]

FORTIFIED HILL, CONNEAUT.

On the south side, where the bluff is not as steep and difficult of ascent as on the north, there is a ditch between the parapet and the crest, as represented in the profile, a, b.  Outside of the ditch is a low bank of the edge of the natural slope.  Thus the side having the least natural slope.  Thus the side having the least natural strength, was made stronger by art.  It would be almost impossible, for men to ascend the steep escarpment of soap stone on the north.  A narrow ridge of gentle ascent, allows of an easy grade on the south-eastern side, where there was in 1840, the remains of an ancient road.
     This leads to the gateway at c, where there must have been some obstructions of wood like a "porte cullis," which the inmates could open and close at their pleasure.  Why there should have been an opening in the enclosing wall, at the end next the river is not apparent.  Within the enclosure, embracing about five acres, the soil is black and rich, while it is clayey and lean without.  This is a common feature of the old earth-works on Lake Erie.  It indicates a lengthy occupation of the place, by human beings.  The ground occupied by Indian villages in the north, is always more fertile than the same soil outside of their towns.
     In the valley of the creek, there is much good land which the ancients no doubt cultivated.  These strong natural positions, resemble the fortified villages of the Moques, on the waters of the Colorado;

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RESEMBLANCE TO INDIAN FORTS.

which were visited and described by Prof. J. S. NEWBERRY in 1854.
     If the North American Indians, had been found intrenched in earth-works, when the whites first knew them; or possessed traditions concerning them, we should attribute the small forts which are upon the waters of Lake Erie, to them.  But I have not seen among descriptions of the early French writers, any thing of the kind more permanent than pickets and stockades.

END OF CHAPTER

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