USA > Indiana > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Indiana : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 8
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CHAPTER II.
Archaeological Remains in Hamilton-The Straitan Ancient Fortification - Accompaniments-Burial-Place-Situation-Relies-General Indi- cations and Observations-Deductions.
A N examination of what has been written in the preceding pages will enable the careful reader to form n judgment in the premises concerning the character of the remains known as the works of the Mound-Builders. to which attention may be directed in the pages ancereding. The article referred to presenta a general review of the subject, according to the best lights
. Pre-flistoric Man, pp. 7.1-74
t Mound Builders, p 147.
28
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
of the present day. Compared with the discoveries in this department found in the adjoining counties of Maudi-on and Tipton, what we shall be able to dis- rover in this will not, perhaps, lu found on full ma so varios, nor, indeed, so franght with diversified interest, as the former-set proposing features essentially diferent hot most others in this part of the State. That these remains were the work of a rare of people long since extinct, there is now no doubt. Who they were, lesever, where they come and whither they went, are questions remaining not satisfactorily solved, not withstanding the facts and speculations relative thenotes are, in many respects, almost conclusive, since the internet already awakened has wrought many changes in the status of knowledge con- rerning them,
The ancient works of the class known as the creation of the Mound- Build- ers listand in Madison, Heury. Wayne and Randolph, to the eastward, are, without doubt, a part of the extensive system of earth work - found in Western and Middle Ohio, having an mtimate relation omne with another. Among these, almost every form of structure coming under this class may be found, including the various forms of incleares and med- In the adjoining comty of Madison, the prevailing form of inclosures is circular, while mmy are in the form of unstricted ellipses. Farther cast, some are almost square, and other- parallelograms, Relative and adjacent in these, the inseparable mounds are found. Altogether, it would seem that these divers structures indicate equal diversity in the purposes to which they were appropriated. and. as a natural sequence, that the ancient population that constructed and med them were as nomerously classified and employed.
In this county, these works are loss nomevon- than in counties less removed from the principal settlement in the Miami Valley. Indeed, there are but one or two noteworthy examples. The principal of these are found on the sith side of White River, a half mike west of Strawtown, in White Hiver Township. situade on the form of S. B. Castor, in the southeast part of the northwest quarter of Sertion 3. Township 19 north, Range 5 cast, wear the center of the section. For the reader's edification, we append hereto an account of the visit and advertations of Prof. E. T Cos, State Gieologist, in the fall of 1875, to this place.
" THE STRAWTOB & FORT AND MOT NH.
" Through the kindness of fion. Mas and William M. Tanke, I obtained the skull and ornaments for the State collection. I was taken by firm. Now nul Mr. Locke to Strawtown, seven miles From Noblesville, to see some pre- historie earthworks. They are now in a cultivated field owned by J. I. Parker. The corn and words were so thick it was impossible to make an accurate or even satisfactory examination of the works. The main work is a vir- ele, about three hundred feet in diameter, thrown up in the center, but apparently loved, and surrounded by a ditch, that Mr. Parker says was about six feet deep when he first saw it. Fifty yards to the south of the Lage circle there is a small circle, about fifty list in diameter, and now almost obliterated. The site of these works is on the second bottom of the White River, about a quarter of' a mile from the lank, and thirty feel alosse the overflow. Between the earth imu lospres and the river there is a mound which commands an extensive vien up and down White River. The large inchiave is one of the very few in the Mississippi Valley that have the ditch on the outside, and it is therefore worthy of motr rarefal Andy."
Prin examinations and measurements made subsequently, the following additional data are ascertained: This principal inclosure is situated about seven hundred feet west of the river and abend one thousand foot northwest of the center of Section 3, on an elevated point of land extending in a northwesterly direction into the bend of White River, surrounding the major part of the northwest quarter of the same sertion. This elevated point over- looks a strip of low In ttom land, varying in with from four hundred feet on the east to two thousand fort on the north, and about three thousand fort on the west, widening to the southwest and south, White River now occupying the outer boundary, high bluf land bordering the opposite side. The low bottom land just described, is composed of a light sand of loan or alluvium, indi- eating that when these works were created the White River covered the entire area, with the fortification little more than one hundred feet from its margin. An necurate measurement of the wake shows a diameter of two hundred and eighty feet from the middle of the embank ment on one side to that on the oppo- site side. From this point the enter sloge to the middle of the ditch surrounding is abont twenty feet, the ditch having been about thirty feet wide and nine feet deep, the earth mol gravel excavated therefrom forming the embank ment. The material overrated appears to have been in large proportion composed of care gravel with a fair admixture of sand and lom. Inside the inclure,
the middle area was originally, no doubt, of' equal elevation with the surface :outside, since the embankment is still visible from the inside, and apparently two or two and a half' fort high. The purpose of this construction, it can scarcely be denided, was for defense, the ditch on the outside lying designed to mosis assault. Within the incleare numerous specimens of ancient jeffery have been fined. that arrows heads, also, of various designs and degripe of skill in workmanship, are discovered, indicating with reasonalde certainty the character of the works.
Almost directly to the west ward, near the western extremity of the elevated peninsula before described, and about six hundred feet from the earthworks. is situated a sopadebal mound and several leria place for the occupants of the first Its location commands a fine projet to the northward, westward and sentleward, and was well adapted to the purposes of a lock-out station. in case of expected invasion bo rarmies approaching along the river. On the site of this mound. skull and other haman bones have been exhumed, or other .. sise mnouvered in the process of cultivating the grounds. Quite recently. many fine and comparatively well preserved fragments of vessels, such as are sogood to have been need for sepaiebrad purposes, have been found here. It is highly probable, also, that a careful examination of these works, would bring to light many valuable momentoes of the ancient inhabitants of this locality, who were interested in the fabrication of these archeological monuments. On opposite page will be found a sketch exhibiting, with a fair degree of acentury. the work- just descritas, with their surroundings, which may le of value for purposes of reference.
While there in the vicinity of Strawtown are of paramount inquotance In the interested archeologist, there are other remains the consideration of which will In. frond to command little less attention. Prof. Cos, in the article referred to, described certain relies of' fus class discovered in this emnuty, in the Edbeing language
" The glacial shift is from eighty to one hundred feet thick in Hamilton fonty, and is admirably expired near Noblesville, at the Indianapolis, Pero A Chicago Railway gravel pit, where it is mined for ballast. The excavation has a fare several hundred yards long, and at the deepest part, where it reaches the crown of the bill, forty five foot thick.
THE: SKILL AND ORNAMENTS,
" The other day, while the men were engaged in removing gravel, the skull and other bones of a human skeleton were undermined by the caving of the bank near the top, and came rolling down to the bottom. The skull is of medium size, well preserved, and probably belonged to a more modern race than the Mound-Builders. With the bones there were found two highly- finished ornaments made of mussel. shell, probably awi-horns, on account of its great size. These pearl ornaments are spin-shaped, and nearly of the same size. They are a little over eight inches long by two and a quarter to two and a half inches wide near the large end, and about our-eighth of an inch thick, plano convex, and perforated along the middle with three holes. One had been broken across during the lifetime of the owner, as there are small holes tilled on each side of the break for the passing of sinews to tie the two pierey together.
"Some years ago, a number of' homes were washed out of the river bank on Mr. Micus's farm, near Conner's Mill, and a great many stone relies have been found on his land, some of which he kindly presented to the State Cabinet.
. PRE-HISTORIC MEN.
"These discoveries add to the chain of evidence already accumulated, which shows the former existener of' a dense population of pre-historie men bordering the main water-courses of the State."
CHAPTER IL. GEOLOBY OF HAMILTON COUNTY.
Some of the loading Goodagreat Features of the County-Peculiar Forma- tions-Hilor ial Action-Hx Results-The Sail, de.
I-T KiBE, as in Madison County, the geological formations are peculiar, making the language in a recent report, and quoted there, equally appropriate in this county. Speaking of these peculiarities, with considerable show of reason, he says that it " appears tame and devoid of the marvelous which attached to those regions of country where the forces generated in the earth's laboratory
STRAWTOWNFORTIFICATION From Observations and Measurements made April 28!4 1880 by ThoS B. Helm, L L.D. Scale 200 Feet to 1 Inch
Supposed former
line of River
Ancient Fortification 280Ft.
WHITE
RIVER
Center -(3 Section
31
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
have made themselves conspicuous by the metamorphism of the rocks and the tilting, fobling and fracturing of its erust, for here the clements concerned in the building up of strata leave no trace of violent cataclysms, and the rocks presented to view lie regularly belled at an inclination, or dip, to the westward and northward, so gentle that its existence can only be made known by observa- tions extended to points that are far distant from one another. Not a single true fault, or upward or downward break and displacement of the strata, las yet been discovered." It is not to be wondered at, then, that we should antici- pate low dificulties in making up the geological record of the State. Not- withstanding, this apparently monotonous uniformity of strata caries with it something of perplexity in determining the tracings of time and in fixing the Inmindaries of geological epochs. When we come to consider that a large pro- portion of the interior of the State is covered by an immense deposit of glacial drift to a depth so great that the out-croppings of stratified rocks are infre- quent, and the investigation of them is made more difficult and nucertain, this idea becomes more and more significant. The depth of the glacial deposit in counties north of the Wabash, is estimated by competent authority at several hundred feet ; at fifty to one hundred feet in the central part of the State, and from twenty to sixty fort in the southern part. From these considerations, there- fore, it would seem that such conditions could only have been the result of a general up-heaval of the continent rather than a local up-lift, since, otherwise, there would have been less uniformity of stratification and more frequent interruptions than are found to exist within the limit indicated.
Assuming, then, that the explanation just given is the true one, the follow- ing from the State Grological Report of 1878, concerning this drift formation, will throw much light upon the subject about which there is even now room for conjecture ;
"I can ser no evidence of a subsidence of the land to terminate the glacial period, wor can we find in Ohio, Indiana or Minois, anything to militate against the commencement of the glacial period dating back to tertiary times, and continued nutil brought to a close by its own eursive force, aided by atmos- pheric and ameteorological influences. By these combined agencies, acting through tine, the mountain home of the glacier was ent down, and a general leveling of the land took place all along its course.
"The glacial period was the result of high elevations in the northern regions, and its force was expended in eroding and cutting down, aod in removing min- eral matter from a higher to a lower level. This grinding and synalizing work of' the glaciers was bound, in time, to effeet a material change in the topogra- phy and in the meteorological condition of the continent ; not only were eleva- ted mountain peaks worn down, and the general leveling of the land brought about, but vast quantities of mud and sand were carried forward by the streams of water which flowed beneath the glaciers, and these streams, swelled during the summer time to flood- by the melting of the ice, would carry the sedi- ment forward until deposited in the veran. In this way the shores of the continent were pushed from year to year, and from century to century, and the superficial area of the land would in this way he materially angmented.
" The configuration of the earth's surfaer in North America, as well as its climatic laws, gave direction to the glaciers, and caused them to move from the north in a southerly course. * * * The valley of the Ohio Hiver was the southern terminus of the glacier, and its channel was formed by melting the of the ice, and the flow of water which always underlies its bed. Ax the glacier became less nod less powerful, by the dying out of the cause which errated and sustained it, the terminal margin withdrew to the north ; and wherever there remained undestroyed rock barriers or dams, they gave direc- tion to the waters of the terminal moraines. The course of the Wabash Hiver and its principal tributaries, East and West Forks of White River, as well as the Ohio, own their main direction to this caner."
Considering, then, the geological formations as ascertained to exist in this county and the immediate vicinity, the operations of the glacial period become an important factor in the argument based upon determined results. Heure, no we have seen, n mixed drift forms the upper stratom of the earth in this locality, and the accepted opinion of geologists attributes these conditions to glacial action, the conditions precedent being higher elevations of surfer in the northern regions where the ice formations were generated, and n series of receiling elevations to the southward, passing over the local area and inducing the tendeney of moving bodies to this direction. The changes of surface con- sequent upon the equalizing work of the glaciers, are necessarily grent, though wlow in the production of results, when measured by man's brief opportunity to observo. Henec, perhaps, we are disposed to underestimate their value. Results we are, but the process nod progress of produciog agencies eno only be estimatedl.
Prof. Cox, speaking with direct reference to the geology of Hamilton County, in an article devoted to that jonpuse, says: " Hamilton County is one of the many counties in the northern part of the State, in which the sedimentary rocks are, with rare exceptions, covered to a great depth with glacial drift. 'in Bumilton there are few exposmes of limestone belonging to the upper part of the Niagara group. At Conner's Mill, on White River, in Section 16, Town- ship 19, Range & cast, the Niagara rocks are exposed in the banks of the river, and may be traced for a few hundred yards up and down the stream. On the right bank they extend six feet above the lord of the stream and dip a little south of east, at an angle of 230; this dip is, however, only local, as Mr. Clank, the present owner of the mill [1875], informed me that the beds are apparently level where they form the foundation of the mill. The color of the Mone varies from lauf to dark gray. Portions of the bed are dolomitic and filled with everinite stones and corals. The most abundant road forms are Favorites, Ningarensis and Halysites catentafutu. It burns into dark-colored lime, which is strong and well suited for masonry. Several lime-kitns that have gone into disuse, are seen close by, and I was told that the manufacture could not, at this locality, compete with the lime made at Fern and Hunting- ton. A similar stone is seen five miles east of Nublewville, un Stoney t'reck, at J. E. Buyer's place ; and again farther up White River, in Section 31. Small pieces of bituminons cual have, from time to time, been found in the drift in this county, which has led many to believe that it indicates the posi- bility of finding workable seams of coal. Hint, when it is known that these pieces of coal, as well as the material in which they are found, sand, gravel, lowiders and clay, are derived from the disintegration of beds that lie to the mothward of the State, and were brought here by the agency of the gla- ciers, there can be no ground for such an opinion. The Niagara beds above mentioned, are the only rocks in the county that are in place, and they wereupy a geological position in the earth's crust many hundred feet below the horizon of' the coal-bearing strata."
CHAPTER IV.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
Something of the Batany of Hamilton County-Hydrology, embracing the Principal Suurers of Drainage-Adaptabilities, etc.
TN the preceding articles, devoted to the Geology and Arebiology of Hamil- ton County, the discussion has been confined to the development of the leading features of its organic structures ouly, suggesting to the general reader the basis for more extended research and more thorough elaboration, in that department. In the department of Archaeology, also, a fair outline of the sub- jert has been given, embracing the present status of knowledge pertaining thereto, with so much of the details as may be necessary in determining the classification and exemplifying, by the standard given, particular remains here- after discovered. In the department of Botany, however, we shall not presume to discuss even the ontlines of the science, since the public, no doubt, ix suf- ficiently informed already ; but, to give, so far as we have the means at com- mand, a list of the principal trees and woody shrubs now found in the county, ns coming within the range of this work. In this list will be found, first, the botanical name, with the common or local name as a means of determining dentities, and dirreting attention to species :
Acer dasyearpum. .. Silver Maple.
Acer rubrum ... .Red Maple.
Acer saccharinum. .Sugar Maple.
. Fisculus flava ..
.Sweet Buckeye.
.Harutus hippocastanum. . Horse Chestnut.
Ampelopais quinquefolia. .. Virginia Creeper.
Ammina triloba
.I'กทพ.
Azalea nud flora.
. l'urpie Azalen,
Carpinus Americana.
.Hornbeam,
Carya porcina ..
Pignul.
1
Carya squamnad
.Shellbark Hickory.
Carya sulcata.
Western Shellhork.
Castanea Americana ... American Chestnut.
Cat ilpa bignoninidea. „I'ninipa.
Cethis cruanfolta ... llackberry.
Cercis Cunadensia ... .Redbud.
Corylus Americana ... Hazlenut,
Cornus Florida .... Flowering Dogwood.
Cratirgus flava ... Yellow Haw.
Crotagus sanguinea. Ked Thorn.
Cydonia vulgaris
Quince.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
Leatherwind.
Phrea palustris .... ..
Pagus ferrugine .........
Beech.
Fraxinus .imericana ...
WInte Ash
Fraxinus platycarpa ... Fraxius quadranguluta.
Blue Ash.
Black Ash
Gladbachtar tratcanthus.
Honey Locust
Rumuorladus Canadentia,
L'offreunt.
Butternut.
Jagtens were ...
Black Walnut
lugustrum vulgare ..
l'rivet.
Spice wind.
Louer ridotta ...
Early Honeysuckle
I autos große
Sweet Honeysuckle.
Lomireret semperretten.
Trampet Honeysuckle.
Maelura aurantien
Dunge Orange
Vellow Cucumber Tree.
Black Mulberry.
Marua Tubra ....
Bed Mulberry
Segundo aceruides
I run wond.
Pintauur orcolentahis
Sycamore.
Populrs al'ın ......
White l'aplar
Populus caucheant
Binlin of filead
Populus dilatuta.
Lombardy Poplar
Poppins troisdames
Quaking Asp.
I'ruuns cerutNY
Red D'henry.
I'ruans dum vica
Garden l'inm.
Wild Red Cherry.
l'runny scrolina .. Wild Binek Cherry
Prunus Virgenmua,
Choke Cherry. l'ear.
Porus communis ...
l'yrua corunared American Crab Apple.
l'yrus mulus ...
Apple.
l'grus prumfole ..
White Onk.
Quereus mierucarpa ...
Burr (tak.
Quercus nigra ...
Black Onk.
Quercus prinvudet. l'hinquapin Oak.
Durreus rubrit.
Red Oak.
Ribes Florulum ..
Wild Black Currant.
Thes lurtellum
Wild Gooseberry.
Kılıen rubrum
Red Currant.
Rusa Carolina ..
Swamp Ruse.
Rosa Tutaginosa ..
.Sweet Briar.
Sahz Babylonia
Weeping Willow.
Sulz cordata.
Common Willow.
Kılı Karıştığı.
River Willow
Salus muurcrutarpa
Western Pond Willnw
Savafrus officinalis
Snusafros.
Tilis Americana
Linien or Bassword.
Tout heterophylla.
White Limien.
Wahoo, or Winged Ilm.
I'luna Americana.
White l'im.
Phau Jalva ...
.Shppery Khu.
'buraum prenforum
Binck Inw.
Yanthurylum Carolimanym
i'rickly Ash.
The natural sratrees af' denimage in Hamilton County are excellent, owing to the perufior contour of the ground. the surface being seldom abrally nurten, but gently modulating in the direction of water-courses through which these latols are susceptible af drainage. The principal streatus are the West Fork of White River, which comes into the county from the rastward, crossing the line fren Madison County about 120 rods south of the northeast corner of Section 12, in Township 20 worth, Range six east, in White River Township ; thener, in a generally southwest course, traversing the southern part of White River, Soldesville and Delaware Townships, it crosses the south line of the county near the middle, on the south line of Section 9. in Township 17 north, Range I east, into Marion County, thay watering the middle puration, and indirectly, through its tributaries, affording drainage for the major part of the county. The principal smaller streams running into it are Cicero freek, which, after receiving its several forders that drain parts of White River, Jackson. Adams, Washington and Noblesville Townships, discharge them into the White River about one mile to the southward of the city of Noblesville, in the northwest quarter of Section 12, in Township 18 north, Range & east ; Stoney Creek,
with its menerous branches, after watering the upper and middle portions of Wayne and the southeastern part of Soldesville Township, discharges its waters, also, into the White River, near the middle of the east line of Section 12, about two-thirds of a mile below the month of Ciero Creek , Fall Creek. which flows through the southeastern part of Fall Creek Township, and, after watering only a miner portion of that township, leaves the county about the middle of the south hoe of Sertion 9, Township 17 north, Range 5 ca-t, and lischarges into the White River nem Indianapolis, in Marion County. In addition to these named. there are many add smaller magnitude which, in the aggregate, constitute the Hydrological system of Hamilton County Noge in detail, however, the remaining smaller streams, tributaries of the laget, te embraced in the Following summary .
Duck Creek comes into this county from Tipton, wear the northeast euten of White River Township, in Section 5, and run- those in a southwesterls course, until it form- a junction with Bear Creek, wear the renter uf' Section 33. in Township 20 north, Range 5 rast.
Bear Creek has its power in Todon County, ale, whener it hows south, fort ing a junction, as above, with Duck Creek, when the united water flow theme in a westerly direction, still beating the name of Duck Creek, and saleequently miting with long Branch, in the southwest quarter of Section 34 Township 200. Hauge 3; the principal stream maintaining its name, and, after flowing about eighty role in a southwesterly direction, discharge it- accumulated waters into White River.
Deer Creek is a tributary of Bear Crock, and forms a junction with it in Section 3.
Pipe Creek comes in from Madison County, entering Fall Creek Township of this county , a few fonds south of the northeast cover of the southeast quater of Section 29. Township 20, Range 6; it traverses a small fraction of White River Township in a southwesterly direction, and empties into White River in the northwest quarter of Section 32, making its entire length in this county little more than a mile.
Sugar Ron has its source on the east side of Section 20, Township 20. Range 5, and flows thener in a south and east direction, entering White River in the northeast quarter of Section 1, Township 19. Range 5.
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