Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 118

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I > Part 118

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The breaking away of the barrier to such a body of water is no simple affair. As this writer remarks :

"The Ohio of to-day in flood is a terrible danger to the valley, but the Ohio then must have been a much more formidable river to the dwellers on its banks. The muddy waters rolled along, fed by innumerable rills of glacier-milk, and often charged with ice and stones. The first warm days of spring were the harbinger of the coming flood, which grew swifter and deeper as the summer came, and only subsided as the falling tem- perature of autumn locked up with frost the glacier fountains. The ancient Ohio river system was in its higher part a multitude of

MAP OF LAKE OHIO

L. st. Clair

LAKE ERIE

NEW

PORK

Alleghang

Akron

dewood

abash

-. 00.

CARROLL

erpool

Pittsburgh

"Urbana

Columbus

Ohio

Mad

Scioto Logan

Dunkatd

Miami

L. Miami

illicothe

ROCKINO

Fairmont s

Decker

cinnat

Kanawha R.N

Kentucky

WEST Charleston

Ohio

BUNT

From Wright's Ice Age in North America ; by courtesy of D. Appleton & Co., Publishers.

White

Perry Cr,

-7

Morgantown RYLAND

Edge of Glacier

Massillo

L.Byay,

PENNSYLVANIA

Starleta

CWDOT

JACKSON

Struthers & Co., Engr's, N.Y

MICHIGAN

SHOWING ITS APPROXIMATE FORM AT THE GREATEST EXTENT OF THE ICE.

742

HAMILTON COUNTY.

glacial torrents rushing off the ice-sheet, carrying all before them, waxing strong beneath the rising sun, till in the afternoon the roar of the waters and their stony burden reached its maximum, as the sun slowly sank again diminished, and gradually died away during the night, reaching its minimum at sunrise.

"But with the steady amelioration of the climate, more violent and sudden floods en- sued. The increasing heat of summer com- pelled the retreat of the ice from the Ken- tucky shore, where Covington and Newport now lie, and so lowered its surface that it fell below the previous out-flow point. The waters then took their course over the dam, instead of passing, as formerly, up the Lick- ing and down the Kentucky river valleys. The spectacle of a great ice-cascade, or of long ice-rapids, was then exhibited at Cin- cinnati. This cataract or these rapids must have been several hundred feet high. Down these cliffs or this slope the water dashed, melting its own channel, and breaking up the foundations of its own dam. With the de- pression of the dam the level of the lake also fell. Possibly the change was gradual, and the dam and the lake went gently down to- gether. Possibly, but not probably, this was the case. Far more likely is it that the melting was rapid, and that it sapped the strength of the dam faster than it lowered the water. This will be more probable if we consider the immense area to be drained. The catastrophe was then inevitable-the dam broke, and all the accumulated water of Lake Ohio was poured through the gap. Days or even weeks must have passed before it was all gone ; but at last its bed was dry. The upper Ohio valley was free from water, and Lake Ohio had passed away.

"But the whole tale is not yet told. Not once only did these tremendous floods occur. In the ensuing winter the dam was repaired by the advancing ice, relieved from the melting effects of the sun and of the floods.

Year after year was this conflict repeated. How often we cannot tell. But there came at last a summer when the Cincinnati dam was broken for the last time; when the winter with its snow and ice failed to renew it, when the channel remained permanently clear, and Lake Ohio had disappeared for- ever from the geography of North America.

" How many years or ages this conflict be- tween the lake and the dam continued it is quite impossible to say, but the quantity of wreckage found in the valley of the lower Ohio, and even in that of the Mississippi, below their point of junction, is sufficient to convince us that it was no short time. 'The Age of Great Floods' formed a striking episode in the story of the 'Retreat of the Ice.' Long afterwards must the valley have borne the marks of these disastrous torrents, far surpassing in intensity anything now known on earth. The great flood of 1885, when the ice-laden water slowly rose seventy- three feet above low-water mark, will long be remembered by Cincinnati and her inhabi- tants. But that flood, terrible as it was, sinks into insignificance beside the furious torrents caused by the sudden, even though partial, breach of an ice-dam hundreds of feet in height, and the discharge of a body of water held behind it, and forming a lake of 20,000 square miles in extent.

"To the human dwellers in the Ohio valley-for we have reason to believe that the valley was in that day tenanted by man- these floods must have proved disastrous in the extreme. It is scarcely likely that they were often forecast. The whole population of the bottom lands must have been re- peatedly swept away; and it is far from being unlikely that in these and other similar catastrophes in different parts of the world, which characterized certain stages in the Glacial era, will be found the far-off basis on which rest those traditions of a flood that are found among almost all savage nations, especially in the north temperate zone."

Madisonville, eight miles northeast of Cincinnati (in a cross valley about five miles in length, connecting Mill creek with the Little Miami back of Avondale, Walnut Hills and the observatory), is an extremely interesting region, as con- nected with the glacial period. This valley, or depression, is generally level, from one to two miles wide, and about 200 feet above the low water-mark in the Ohio, and from 200 to 300 feet below the adjacent hills. It is occupied by a deposit of gravel, sand and loam, belonging to the glacial-terrace epoch. In the article, "Glacial Man in Ohio," by Prof. Wright, in Vol. I., page 93, is given a map of this region. The article also speaks of the discoveries of Dr. C. L. Metz of two palæolithic implements, which prove that man lived in Ohio before the close of the glacial period, say from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, before which there were no Niagara Falls and no Lake Erie.

The first implement was found at Madisonville by him, in 1885, while digging a cistern. "In making the excavation for this he penetrated the loam eight feet before reaching the gravel, and then near the surface of the gravel this implement was found. There is no chance for it to have been covered by any slide, for the plain is extensive and level-topped, and there had evidently been no previous disturbance of the gravel." "It is not smoothed, but simply a rudely chipped,

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HAMILTON COUNTY.

pointed weapon about three inches long." The other palæolith was found by Dr. Metz, in the spring of 1887, in an excavation in a similar deposit near Love- land, some thirty feet below the surface, and ncar where some mastodon bones had previously been found. It was an oblong stone about six inches long, four and a half inches wide, which had here been chipped all around to an edge. Sim- ilar discoveries have since been made in Tuscarawas county.

Dr. Metz has favored us with the following article upon discoveries in the mounds and earthworks of the lost race which inhabited this region after the glacial cra. They are all upon the surface, being built upon the summits of the glacial-terraces or upon the present flood plains.

THE PREHISTORIC MONUMENTS OF HAMILTON COUNTY.

The territory comprising Hamilton county appears to have been onc of the great centres of the aboriginal inhabitants. This is evi- denced by the great number of carthworks, mounds and extensive burial places found throughout the county.

Mounds and Earthworks .- The mounds and the earthworks are found most numerous in the valleys of the Little and Great Miami, and in the region between the Little Miami and Ohio rivers. Of the mounds, 437 have been observed in the county, the largest of which is located on the Levi Martin estate, about one mile cast of the village of Newtown. The dimensions of this mound from actual measurements are as follows : Circumference at base, 625 feet ; width at base, 150 feet ; length at base, 250 feet ; perpendicular height, 40 feet.

Earth Enclosures .- Of the earthworks, or enclosures, fifteen in number have been located, the principal ones being the "For- tified Hill" near the mouth of the great Miami river, figured and described by Squire and Davis in their "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley " [see Plate IX., No. 2. Vol. I .. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge], and the very interesting earth- works located on the lands of Mr. Michael Turner, near the junction of the East Fork and Little Miami river in Anderson township, and which the writer takes the liberty to des- ignate as the " Whittlesey and Turner group of works." This group of works was first described by T. C. Day, Esq., in a paper en- titled "The Antiquities of the Miami Val- ley," Cincinnati Chronicle, November, 1839, and subsequently, in 1850, were surveyed and described by Col. Charles Whittlesey in Vol. III., Article 7, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Of this work, Mr. Day says : "The site of this stupendous fortification, if we may so call it, is a few rods to the right of the road leading from Newtown to Milford, and about midway between them. It is situ- ated on a ridge of land that juts out from the third bottom of the Little Miami, and reaches within 300 yards of its bed. From the top of the ridge to low water-mark is probably 100 feet. It terminates with quite a sharp point, and its rides are very abrupt, bearing evident marks of having once been swept by some stream of water, probably the Miami. It forms an extremity of an immense bend,

curving into what is now called the third bot- tom, but which is evidently of alluvial for- mation. Its probable height is forty feet, and its length about a quarter of a mile be- fore it expands out and forms the third allu- vial bottom. About 150 yards from the ex- treme point of this ridge, the ancient workmen having cut a ditch directly through it, it is thirty feet in depth, its length, a semi-circular curve, is 500 feet, and its width at the top is eighty feet, having a level base of forty feet. At the time of its formation it was probably cut to the base of the ridge, but the washing of the rains has filled it up to its present height. Forty feet from the western side of the diteh is placed the low circular wall of the fort, which describes in its circumference an area of about four acres. The wall is probably three feet in mean height, and is composed of clay occasionally mixed with small flat river stone. It keeps at an exact distance from the top of the ditch, but ap- proaches nearer to the edge of the ridge. The form of the fort is a perfect circle, and is 200 yards in diameter. Its western side is defended with a ditch, cut through in the same manner as the one on the eastern side. Its width and depth is the same, but its length is greater by 200 feet, as the ridge is that much wider than where the other is cut through. The wall of this fort keeps exactly the same distance from the top of this ditch as of the other, viz. : forty feet. Its curve is exactly the opposite of that of the other, so as to form two segments of a circle. At the southeastern side of the fort there is an opening in the wall thirty-six yards wide, and opposite this opening is one of the most marked features of this wonderful monument. A causeway extends out from the ridge about 300 feet in length, 100 feet in width, with a gradual descent to the alluvial bottom at its base. The material of its construction is evi- dently a portion of the earth excavated from the ditches. . . "To defend this entrance they raised a mound of earth seven feet high, forty wide and seventy-five long. It is placed about 100 feet from the mouth of the cause- way, and is so situated that its garrison could sweep it to its base." The mound above re- ferred to was explored by the writer under the auspices of Prof. F. W. Putnam, curator of the Peabody Museum of American Arch- æology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Mass.,

744

HAMILTON COUNTY.

and we quote from their Sixteenth Annual Report : "The large mound proved a most interesting structure, unlike anything hereto- fore discovered. It contained a small central tumulus, surrounded by a carefully built stone-wall and covered in by a platform of stones, over which was a mass of clay. On this wall were two depressions in each of which a body had been laid, and outside the wall in the surrounding clay were found sev- eral skeletons, one of them lying upon a plat- form of stones. With these skeletons were found a copper celt, ornaments made of copper and shell, and two large sea-shells. With each of three of the skeletons was a pair of the spool-shaped ear ornaments of copper, and in every instance these ornaments were found one on either side near the skull."

Large Earth Enclosure .- From the base of the graded way heretofore described extend two embankments forming the segments of an oblong oval, enclosing an area of about 16 acres. These embankments extend in an east- erly direction, gradually approaching each other until an opening or gateway, 150 feet in width, remains. To protect this gateway a mound is erected just within the opening, having a diameter at base of 125 feet and a perpendicular height of seven feet. Within the above enclosure are fourteen mounds and one large circular embankment, having a diameter of 300 feet and a gateway to the south sixty feet wide. Near the northern side of this circular enclosure was a small mound covering a stone cist containing a human skeleton.

Altar Mounds .- On the southern side of the oval was a group of eight mounds. Several of these mounds contained "Al- tars" or basings of burnt clay, on two of which there were thousands of objects of interest, which are described as fol- lows by Prof. Putnam in his report : "Two of these altars, each about four feet square, were cut out and brought to the museum. Among the objects from the altars are nu- merous ornaments and carvings unlike any- thing we have had before.

"One altar contained about two bushels of ornaments made of stone, copper, mica, shells, the canine teeth of bears and other animals, and thousands of pearls (50.000 have been counted and sorted from the mass). Nearly all of these objects are perforated in various ways for suspension. Several of the copper ornaments are covered with native silver, which had been hammered out into thin sheets and folded over the copper. Among these are a bracelet and a bead, and several of the spool-shaped ear ornaments.

"Gold in Mound .- One small copper pen- dant seems to have been covered with a thin sheet of gold, a portion of which still adheres to the copper, while other bits of it were found in the mass of material. This is the first time that native gold has been found in the mounds, although hundreds have been explored. The ornaments cut out of copper and mica are very interesting, and embrace many forms. Among them is a grotesque human profile cut out of a sheet of mica.

Several ornaments of this material resemble the heads of animals whose features are em- phasized by a red color, while others are the form of circles and bands. Many of the copper ornaments are large and of peculiar shape ; others are scrolls, scolloped circles, oval pendants and other forms. There are about thirty of the singular spool-shaped objects or ear-rings made of copper. Three large sheets of mica were on this altar, and several finely-chipped points of obsidian, chal- cedony and chert were in the mass of materials.

"There were several pendants cut from a micaceous schist and of a unique style of work. There are also portions of a circular piece of bone, over the surface of which are incised figures, and flat pieces of shell simi- larly carved. Several masses of native copper were on the altar.

Meteor ic Iron and Terra-Cotta Figurines .- But by far the most important things found on this altar were the several masses of meteoric iron and the ornaments made from this metal. One of these is half of a spool- shaped object like those made of copper, with which it was associated. Another ear- ornament of copper is covered with a thin plating of the iron, in the same manner as others were covered with silver. "Three of the masses of iron have been more or less hammered into bars, as if for the purpose of making some ornament or implement, another is apparently in the natural shape in which it was found." "On another altar in another mound of the group were several terra-cotta figurines of a character heretofore unknown from the mounds.

"Unfortunately these objects as well as others found on the altars have been more or less burnt, and many of them appear to have been purposely broken before they were placed on the altars.

"Many pieces of these images have been united, and it is my hope that we shall suc- ceed in nearly restoring some of them.

"Enough has already been made out to show the peculiar method of wearing the hair ; the singular head-dress and large button- like ear-ornaments shown by those human figures are of particular interest. On the same altar with the figurines were two re- markable dishes carved from stone in the form of animals; with these was a serpent cut out of mica. On the altar were several hundred quartz pebbles from the river, and nearly 300 astragali of deer and elk. As but two of these bones could be obtained from a single animal, and as there were but one or two fragments of other bones, there must have been some special and important reason for collecting so large a number of these par- ticular bones.

"A fine-made bracelet made of copper and covered with silver and several other ornaments of copper, a few pearls and shells and other ornaments were also on this altar." Near the last group of earth-works are two parallel ways or embankments, 100 feet apart and extending one-half mile in length north- westwardly across the lands of Mr. Gano Martin.

745

HAMILTON COUNTY.

Small Earth Enclosures .- Of the smaller earth enclosures, the one in the Stites Grove, near Plainville, is in the best state of preser- vation. It consists of a circular embank- ment, inner ditch, across which is a cause- way leading to an opening in the embankment to the southeast. Numerous ancient burial- places are found in the county, and the mortuary customs are varied, indicating that the territory has been occupied by various tribes at different periods. We find the stonecist burials, burials under flat stones, burials in stone circles, burials in the drift" gravel beds, burials in pits in the horizontal and also in the sitting positions, original mound burials, intrusive mound burials and evidences of cremation.

Ancient Cemetery, Near Madisonville, 0 .- The most extensive and interesting of the ancient burial-places is the one known as the pre-historic cemetery, near Madisonville, Ohio, which has become noted for its singular ash-pits, as well as for the skeletons buried in or at the bottom of the leaf-mould covering the pits. One thousand and sixty- five skeletons, 700 ash-pits, upwards of 300 earthen vases, numerous implements of bone, horn, shell, copper and stone have been found.

The Ash-pits are discovered after twelve to twenty-four inches of the leaf-mould has been removed and the hard pan or clay is reached, when the pit is discovered by a circular discoloration or black spot. These ash-pits, as they have been well named, are circular excavations in the hard pan of the plateau, from three to four feet in diameter and from four to seven feet deep. The con- tents themselves are of peculiar interest, and the purpose for which they were made is still a mystery. The average pit may be said to be filled with ashes in more or less defined layers. Some of the layers near the top seem to be mixed with the surrounding gravel to a greater or less extent; but generally, after removing the contents of the upper third of the pit, a mass of fine gray ashes is found, which is from a few inches to over two feet in thickness.

Sometimes this mass of ashes contains thin strata of charcoal, sand or gravel. Through- out the mass of ashes and sand, from the top of pit to the bottom, are bones of fishes, reptiles, birds and mammals. With the bones are the shells of several species of unionidæ. There are also found in these pits large pieces of pottery, also a large num- ber of implements made of bones of deer, and elk antlers have been found. Those made of elk antlers are in most cases adapted for digging or agricultural purposes, and often so large and so well made as to prove that they are effective implements. Among other objects made of bone are beeds, small whistles, or bird-calls, made from hollow bone of birds, also flat and cylindrical pieces with "tally " notches and marks cut upon them, short round pieces of antler carefully cut and polished together, with arrow points, drills, scrapers and other chipped instruments of stone. A few polished celts and several rough hammer stones have been found in the pits.

Corn-Pit .- A number of objects of copper, particularly beads, have been taken from these · pits, as have also several pipes of various shapes cut out of stone. One pit discovered August 26, 1879, known as the " corn-pit," is of peculiar interest. The depth of this pit was six feet, its diameter three feet. The layers or strata from above downwards were :

Ist, Leaf-mould 24 inches ; 2d, Gravel and clay 15 inches ; 3d, Ashes containing animal remains, pottery sherds, unio shells 10 inches ; 4th, Bark, twigs and matting 4 inches ; 5th, Carbonized shell corn 4 inches ; 6th, Layer of twigs, matting and corn leaves 2 inches; 7th, Carbonized corn in ear 6 inches ; 8th, Boulders covering the bottom of the pit 6 inches.

Immediately along-side of this pit was another the same depth, 3 feet 7 inches in diameter ; containing leaf-mould, 24 inches ; ashes with animal remains, fragments of pot- tery, shells, etc., 4 feet.

The bottom layer of all the pits was invariably ashes, and in the ashes were found, in good state of preservation, bone imple- ments, representing fish hooks, fish spears, bone and horn digging tools, bone beads, solid cylinders of bone two to three inches in length, one-fourth to one-half inch in diameter, bone awls, needles, fifes, grooved bones, cut pieces of antler of deer and elk, copper beads, perforated unios, together with numerous animal remains ; of these many were identified as belonging to the deer, elk, bear, buffalo, raccoon, opossum, mink, wood- chuck, beaver, various species of birds and water fowls, turkey, fish, together with various species of unio shell.

Pottery .- The skeletons were buried in the horizontal position, and are generally found at a depth of from eighteen inches to three feet; with the skeletons have been found a number of vessels of pottery ; the most com- mon of these are small cooking-pots with pointed bottoms and four handles. Most of the vessels are simply cord-marked, but some are found ornamented within with incised lines, or with circular indentations. Several have been obtained on which were small and rudely made medallion figures representing the human face.

Lizard Ornamentation .- On one pot a similarly formed head is on the edge so as to face the inside of the vessel. One vessel lent to the Smithsonian Institute has luted ornants representing the human face on either side between the handles. A half dozen small vessels have a very interesting form of decoration ; these are known as liz- ard or salamander pots. On some of these vessels the salamander, which is fairly modeled, is on the surface of the broad, flat handles on opposite sides, on others these ornaments are placed between the handles, and on one they form the handles. In all, the head of the salamander is on the edge or lip of the vessel, and in one or two is carried a little to the inside. A few other forms of vessels are represented by single specimens. Such are an ordinary pot attached to a hol- low stand a few inches high, two vessels

746

HAMILTON COUNTY.

joined together, one above the other, the upper withont a bottom, the two having handles at each end.

Mardelles or Dug-outs .- In the county but two of the circular excavations designated as "mardelles" have been found. The best preserved of this class of works is the one situated on the lands of the John Turner estate, two miles northeast of the village of Newtown.

This pit has a diameter of sixty feet at the top, depth in the centre twelve feet; six feet from the edge of the pit is a well-marked embankment conforming to the circular edge of the pit. The embankment is two feet high, eight feet wide at the base, and is interrupted by a gate-way or opening fifteen feet wide at the east. There are many interesting objects in the county that warrant a detailed description ; we can, however, but briefly call attention to the terraced hill at Red Bank and the old road-way in Section 11, Columbia Township.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 118

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006