History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 30

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Ohio > Knox County > History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present > Part 30

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

On the eastern margin of the territory, by boring, gas predominates, and at Well No. 2 has flowed for twelve years with a continuous pressure of about one hundred and eighty pounds to the inch. Westward, petroleum is more abundant. The oil is thus far nearly all found in the sand-rock, di- rectly above the red shale.

The water obtained above the second sand-rock and that below the red shale is fresh; that between the second sand-rock and the red shale is salt, and affords a suggestion as to the probable source of the coloring material in the red shale-iron deposited by the salt water.

The results obtained suggest further explorations in the southeastern part of the district for gas, and in the western part for oil. With the new uses de- veloped for natural gas, it is difficult to decide which would be the more valuable.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ARCHÆOLOGY.

MOUNDS IN THE COUNTY-PROFESSOR ROBERTS' ADDRESS --- TRACING THE' MOUND BUILDERS-MOUNDS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA COMPARED-THEORIES REGARDING THEIR ORIGIN-MAN IN A SAVAGE STATE-THEIR NUMBERS HERE AND MANNER OF LIVING-THE HUNS-CHARAC- TER OF THEIR EARTHWORKS AND THEIR PROBABLE USE- DIFFERENT CLASSES OF MOUNDS-THEIR ANTIQUITY- THE IMPLEMENTS IN USE BY MOUND BUILDERS AND IN- DIANS-COPPER MINING-STONE RELICS.

A LTHOUGH the territory embraced in Knox county is not nearly so interesting to the arch- æologist as that further south and east in the valleys of the Licking and Muskingum rivers, yet archæolog- ical remains are not wanting in any part of the coun- ty. There are evidences that the Mound Builders were here in considerable numbers, a few scattered monuments of this mysterious people still remain- ing. There seems to be no authentic history re- garding this people. The known records of the world are silent-as silent as these monuments that perpetuate their memory. Nothing of their origin or end is certainly known. They probably ante- date the various Indian tribes, who anciently occu- pied and claimed title to the soil of Ohio; though this is only problematical-the two nations might have been cotemporaneous.

The most prominent of the Mound Builders' works will be briefly mentioned here, and a history of these and others, more in detail, will be found in the histories of the townships in which archeolog- ical remains appear.

A quarter of mile south of Fredericktown, on quite a high eminence, is a mound in an excellent state of preservation, it having been spared any mutilation. Mr. William Allen, who cleared the land, planted fruit trees over it and preserved it. A mile to the southeast of this mound, was, fifty years ago, a perceptible embankment enclosing a considerable area. About four miles south of southwest of this in the southerly part of Wayne township, is a mound in the woods, not well pre- served. Three miles on an air line to the west of southwest of Mount Vernon, in Green valley, is a small mound, now nearly obliterated by the plow. About sixty years ago Josiah Bonar, a boy long since dead, dug into the centre of this mound, and found bones in a very much decayed condition.

172

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

Several stone pipes were also found in and around this mound. One hundred rods southeast of this mound is another, of similar size, which has nearly disappeared under the plow. Two miles still south- west, in the northeast corner of Liberty township, is, or was, when in woods, an embankment with gateway, enclosing a plat of ground only a few rods in diameter. The ditch inside this enclosure, hav- ing a hard-pan subsoil holding water, so as to make it marshy at the bottom.

Throughout Green valley relics of former occu- pants were at one time abundant, such as stone axes and tomahawks, arrow-heads, lapstones for cracking nuts, etc.

There is a mound on the summit of what is known as "Rich Hill" in Hilliar township, that is quite peculiar. Rich Hill itself is peculiar. It is mound shaped, containing about one hundred acres, and so high, that when the surrounding country was an unbroken forest, one could stand on the summit and see over the tops of the trees all around. The elevation was perhaps one hun- dred feet. The hill was covered with the kinds of timber common on the richest bottom land. On the highest point of this hill stood a mound about thirty-five or forty feet in diameter at the base, and fifteen feet high, built entirely of cobblestone, which must have been brought from a distance, as no such stone is found in the vicinity. The first set- tlers took the stone from this mound and used them for the purpose of walling wells, etc.

In Liberty township, on the farm once owned by Joseph Beeney, was once a mound of considerable dimensions. It was levelled for a building spot. In it was found a skull of immense size, so large that the largest man in the county could put his head into the cavity with great ease, still leaving unoccupied space.

The mound now in the Mount Vernon cemetery has attracted, and does yet attract, much attention. It is of small size but beautifully rounded and com- pactly built. From its sides and top trees have sprung that have grown to a large size. From its summit on a clear day can be seen the neighboring village of Fredericktown. It is now used for vaults for the dead.

The works which formerly existed in the north- ern part of the county, and some of which now exist

in the vicinity of Fredericktown, near the head of Owl creek, are described in the journal of the Arch- æological association of Ohio, with the aid of a diagram about as follows:

. D. . .

.. D. C

E .. . .

. C

A-Level summit of elevated mound, about seventy-five feet across.

B B-Raised mound on platform sloping up to level summit A. CCCC-Level base of platform, about one hundred feet square.

DD DDD-Ditch five feet in depth and eighty feet wide, lying between wall E E aad platform C C C C, and termin- ating at F F.

EE EE-Wall of earth five feet in height, indicated by space between outer dotted lines.

F F-Entrance to platform.

The following is taken from Howe's Ohio Col- lections :

When the settlers first came, there were two wells only a few rods apart on the south bank of Vernon river, on the edge of the town, the origin of which remains unknown. They were built of neatly hammered stone, laid in regular masonry, and had the appearance of being overgrown with moss. Near by was a salt lick at which the Indians were accustomed to encamp. Almost immediately after the first settlement, all traces of the wells were obliterated, as was supposed by the Indians. A similar well was later brought to light, a mile and a half distant, by the plow of Philip Cosner, while plowing in a newly cleared piece of forest land. It was covered with poles and earth and was about thirty feet deep.

The following is from an address delivered be- fore the Nu Pi Kappa society of Kenyon college

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

RICHES COL.O.

STONE PESTLE.

HEAVY STONE AXE.

CLUB-HEADED STONES.

PERFORATED PLATES, THREAD SIZERS, SHUTTLES, ETC.

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

PERFORATORS-FLINT.

ARROW AND SPEAR HEADS.

I73

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

by C. M. Roberts, of Chillicothe, Ohio. In it are advanced theories, and proofs of the same, regard- ing the Mound Builders, that seem at least rea- sonable.

From the Alleghanies on the east to the Rocky mountains on the west, we find, thickly scattered, mounds or tumuli, some of which bear evidences of very great antiquity. They extend in an unbroken line from the northern part of British America down through the Mississippi valley, Mexico, Central America, into South America as far as the southern part of Peru. The more southern mounds differ materially from those in the north, bearing evidences of much greater taste and skill, a higher state of cultivation, and a much more recent date. Their num- bers and similarity of design at once divest them of all claim to be the result of natural agencies, and stamp them with indubi- table marks of human workmanship. Who built these earth- works? The traditions of the oldest Indian tribes throw no light on the subject.

It is now generally conceded as a fact that Asia was the first home of the human race. Not only do sacred writings point to this country, but many other facts, some of which have been but lately brought to light; as, forinstance, the roots of those Asia- tic languages which were known to have belonged to the most ancient peoples.

Assuming that the above theory-not to speak too strongly -- is the correct one, it follows that the Mound Builders must have owed their origin to Asiatic races. The only part of the prob- lem which remains to be solved is how they got here and from what race or races they took their origin.

Glancing at the geography of Asia, we find the central part of the country thickly covered with these same earthworks. They stretch out in all directions, across the whole of Europe into Britain, down through Asia into Africa, across Tartary, and northeast through the whole of Siberia.

Then since we find these mounds in unbroken extent, reach- ing up through Siberia to Behring's strait and from Behring's strait on through America, it is only fair to infer that this was the line of march taken up by the Mound Builders. To clinch the above theory and prove it beyond question, the contents of the mounds in Tartary are almost exactly similar to those con- tained in the mounds of North America. The Tartars opened a mound in Tartary, and found some vases together with the bones of men and animals, besides shells, charcoal, and weapons. Upon excavating a tumulus in Scotland, almost the same contents were found, and it is almost needless to add that they agree in the most minute particulars with the contents of mounds which have been explored in our own country. The burning of the dead was a custom in vogue among nearly all the ancient nations of Asia, and we find the same custom in use among the Mound Builders. The tradition of the intended sacrifice of Isaac is handed down among the Greeks as the in- tended sacrifice of Iphigenia, the beautiful daughter of Agamem- non, who was spirited away by Diana and made a priestess in her temple; among the Hindoos as the intended sacrifice of Cunacepha, who, being bound to the altar, called upon Indra for aid. As he prayed his bonds became looser and looser until they fell from his limbs, and he stood free by the power of his god; and among the Mexicans the tradition was a stern reality, for thousands of human beings perished yearly upon the sacrificial altar. It is said upon good authority that sixty thou-

sand persons were sacrificed at the dedication of one temple.

What could have been the cause of such similarity of customs if not similarity of ancestry? Had the habits of the two peo- ples agreed in but one or two circumstances, the conclusion might be admissible that so much of similarity was the result of chance. But the two peoples, separated as they were by thousands of miles of ocean, agree in almost every fact known concerning their customs and habits. Beyond question the two nations were closely related.

Various have been the theories as to whom this strange peo- ple owed their origin. Some have contended, and with no little reason, that they were the descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel. Others think that they sprang from some Polynesi- ans who were accidently cast upon the shores of South America, and who, by a series of migrations northward, gradually peo- pled the whole of this vast extent of territory. Upon exploring the Mammoth cave there was found a man of this lost race wrapped in a cloth into which the feathers of birds had been so skilfully woven as to be almost as impervious to wet as the back of a bird. The same kind of cloth is manufactured by the Polynesians, and from this fact grew the above theory. But the fact that the more northern mounds bear unmistakable evidence of greater antiquity than those in the south, is quite sufficient to prove the falsity of any such conclusion as the above.

Still another theory is, and it seems by far the most capable of proof, that the Mound Builders were either descendants of the Huns, or were veritable Huns.

In the savage state man is a migratory being. Holding no fixed habitation, recognizing no law but strength, waging war with all living things, governed only by natural appetites, swayed by every impulse and ruled in every act by momentary caprice, he roams from place to place seeking sustenance and ease. Even in the first stages of civilization, man loses but little of his migratory habits. Nature has made all things for man ; he has but to chose, to have. It is only when he has reached the higher stages of civilization that hecasts aside his migratory habits, and begins to recognize the necessity of fixed habitation and a moral law.

We have sufficient proof to warrant the assertion that the Mound Builders had advanced far beyond the savage state. The number and beauty of the remains we have of them is proof positive that this people were here in immense numbers. Had they been ever so skilful as hunters, the produce of the chase could have sustained but a very meagre population. They must have tilled the soil and carried on commerce, both doubtless in a very rude fashion. That they understood some- thing of the science of numbers is evident from the fact that they constructed wonderfully accurate squares, circles, elipses, crosses, besides many other mathematical figures, and this fact, is hardly compatible with the idea that they were savage. Again, the oldest trees in the Mississippi valley scarcely date back 800 A. D., while on the Pacific slope trees are still stand- ing which must be twenty centuries older than our era. When. the Lake Superior copper mines were discovered, it was found that they had been extensively worked, more so, in fact, than they have ever been since. Away back under the ground a block of pure copper weighing tons upon tons was found propped up as though it had been just got ready for removal. Everything looked as though the miners had merely gone away to dinner.

According to Chinese history. about the time of the invasion of Rome by the barbarians, a tribe of Huns migrated north- east, passing up through Siberia toward Kamschatka. The

174

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

record is all the more worthy of credibility, as the attention of the Chinese was especially called to the barbarians who lived on the borders of China, and against the inroads of whom the great wall had just been built. From the time that this migra- tion was noticed, nothing was ever heard of them again. This was probably the last of a long series of migrations, as the descendants of this one tribe could not have been the authors of all the earthworks in the New World. There is a tradition among the Mexicans that the Aztecs reached Mexico about the middle of the seventh century. They were in all probability this same tribe of Huns who found the northern countries already occupied. That they were relatives of the Mound Builders is very evident from the similarity of customs. The Huns built mounds, so did the Mound Builders; the Huns in- terred animals, weapons, and ornaments with the dead, so did the Mound Builders; the Huns were small in stature, heavy, with round heads, so were the Mound Builders; and we find by the most careful research that, not only were the Mound Build- ers the exact prototypes of the Huns in a physical sense, but also in every other. To pile proof upon proof, the mode of reckoning time among the Mound Builders was exactly that of the Chinese, Japanese, and Tartars, and the Huns were a Tar- tar tribe. This fact becomes all the more wonderful when we consider that this mode was by far the most perfect that had been devised. In Mound City, near Chillicothe, Ohio, the bones of horses and elephants, together with the teeth of the latter, were exhumed from a mound, and it is a well known fact that the Huns almost lived upon horseback. The connection of the two peoples cannot be questioned, for they have marked their way with everlasting guide posts, have stamped with their peculiar characteristics every fact known of the two nations. History stopped short, but they unwittingly took up the broken thread and wrote volumes for our perusal, not upon paper, with pen and ink, but upon tablets as eternal as the mountains. In defiance of the ravaging hand of time, the prying curiosity of the would-be antiquarian, and the carelessness of the agricul- turist, they still stand silent but indubitable proofs of the iden- tity of their builders.

We now come to the most interesting part of the problem -- what were these earthworks built for? What sufficient reason could their builders have had in carrying earth, often for miles, to pile it up in any of the many shapes we now see it in? Their motives were probably almost as various as their needs. To a people so primitive in their habits as the Mound Builders must have been, owing to their rude state of civilization at its best, this was almost the only available mode of protecting themselves, and probably their religious notions largely con- duced to their building many of the works which could only have been intended as places for worship.

The earthworks of the New World may be separated into two principal divisions, mounds (conical and animal shaped), and enclosures (for defence and religious purposes). The conical mounds are by far the most numerous of the remains. There are thousands upon thousands of them in the broad valley of the Mississippi, and they stand like hoary sentinels guarding the silence of the past. I have stood upon one and counted twenty others. Trees already ages old strike their roots deep into their tops, while the rain of centuries have ribbed their sides in a hun- dred places. Judging from internal as well as external evi- dences, the tumuli seem to have been constructed for at least three purposes. Their close resemblance to the Teocalli of Mexico would warrant us in saying that they were places of

sacrifice ; evidences of fire on their tops indicate that they were used as telegraph stations ; while the presence of human remains prove that they were monuments erected over the dead. They were probably used for all three purposes, though no one was perhaps used for more than two. Mounds used for either sac- rificial purposes or places of observatory were generally either inside, or contiguous to, some enclosure, though the latter do sometimes extend from one fortification to another. Those tu- muli which ought to be classed as sacrificial are sometimes conical, sometimes sided, sometimes animal shaped. The most noteworthy of the animal shaped are in Michigan and Wiscon- sin. We have, however, two very remarkable ones in Ohio, the "Great Serpent" and the "Alligator." In Pickaway county there is a work shaped like a "cross" which could only have been built for sacred purposes. The uses of these structures cannot be questioned. Their very shape would warrant the assertion that they were temple mounds, and gives us a deep insight into the religious notions, systems and creeds of their authors.

The general inner structure of the sepulchral mounds was always the same. At the bottom of the mound rests the body, sometimes covered with bark, sometimes built over with logs, sometimes enclosed by stones, in a manner closely resembling the Kislvaen of English antiquities. Tumuli of this order are generally isolated, or in small groups, one always appearing to be the central figure. They rarely contain the remains of more than one. From the very manner of the disposal of the mounds we could scarcely help concluding that here slept some eminent family. Over their ashes a grieving nation erected monuments more lasting than brass. Upon excavating such a mound, some mica, a vessel probably at one time containing food or water, some pearl beads, a copper implement, an ornament or two, a tobacco pipe, and some human remains, are probably all that would be found. Yet in honor of these remains this great last- ing monument was reared, and even now, when the winds of ages have whistled round their hoary tops, when the snows and flowers of a thousand winters and summers have come and gone in the ceaseless march of Time, they are still a noble record of a nation's honor to a nation's dead. When the last vestige of civilized life shall have passed away, when the beautiful and fer- tile America becomes as barren as the site of Babylon, these simple monuments will still stand a lasting testimony of a na- tion's love.

The last two classes of works to be noticed are works of de- fence and sacred enclosures. The fortifications are in every case situated in the highest and most impregnable places. The shape was always governed by utility alone. They were sometimes built of stone, sometimes of earth, always close to a stream of water. The wall was always surrounded by a ditch. Here the nations collected in times of danger to defend themselves and their country. What thrilling scenes have been enacted behind these walls! Here stood the warrior armed for battle, here the trembling wife surrounded by her offspring, yonder, upon that mound the gray-haired priest, his long white beard sweeping down to his waist, while at his feet is extended the human victim. Outside, up the hill, in myriads comes the foe. These people, isolated as they were from their brethren in the old world, still acted out the same old scenes in the drama of life.

Last of all, we come to the sacred enclosures, probably the most interesting of all. To the antiquarian, the unraveling of the religious dogmas and practices of a people Is the most ab- orbing of all work; for when once you are acquainted with a

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

PERFORATED PLATES, THREAD SIZERS, SHUTTLES, ETC.

DRILLED CEREMONIAL WEAPONS OF SLATE.

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

STONE AND CLAY PIPES.

175

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

people's religion, you have lifted the veil from a people's moral life. The facts, that certain enclosures are placed in the broad, low, level, river bottoms; that they are in many cases small in size; that the walls range only from three to seven feet in height; that the ditch was inside the walls; that they were often com- manded by high hills; is sufficient, not only to prove that they were not places of defence, but to stamp them with that religious character which is, evidently, the purpose of all of them. It was here that the nation assembled on solemn occasions-to cel- ebrate solemn games and festivals-to make prayers to and wor- ship their awful deities.

There are three hundred millions of people in China. The na- tion is probably four thousand years old. If by some chance that people were suddenly swept from existence, a few centuries would be sufficient to blot out every token of them. Yet China is known to be the most ancient and populous nation on the globe. Here we have a country, far larger than China, abound- ing in remains, some of which for extensiveness and beauty are scarcely equaled anywhere. From one end of the continent to the other we find them by thousands. There is a structure on the Scioto river which was built upon a hill extending down to the water. Part of the hill and fortification has been washed away by the river which now flows a quarter of a mile off. There is a line of fortifications beginning at Cataraugus creek and extending along what was once the shore of Lake Erie. Now the structure nearest the lake is at least three miles off, while the farthest is about five. Decomposed vegetable matter is found upon this old bed of the lake to the depth of a foot, while no perceptable difference can be noticed between the veg- etation inside and the vegetation outside the old shore. What shall we say then as to their numbers and date? These hills, these valleys, from the Arctic ocean to the gulf, from mountain range to mountain range, must have swarmed with human beings before the time of Homer. No puny colony could have built these vast fortifications, these numberless mounds, these great sacred enclosures. They could only have been the work of a mighty nation whose numbers were almost beyond computation. You cannot ride a day's journey without meeting some huge re- mains of a nation which probably appeared more than twice two thousand years ago. Yes, when David was playing before Saul they were here; ere the Greeks were a nation they were here; while Nineveh was in her palmy days, before a dwelling marked the now long forgotten site of Troy, they must have been here in countless thousands. In this land they lived, tilled the soil, herded their flocks and carried on commerce, before the mighty nations of the old world were born. Rivers have changed their channels, and lakes receded for miles since their first arrival here.

Their government was probably by the priesthood. Can we account for the tens of thousands of sacred enclosures which dot our continent on any other hypothesis? The very number of the remains they have left is proof positive, not only of the im- mensity of their numbers, but that they were fully organized, and religious to fanaticism. That they carried on some com- merce may be seen from the fact that in the same mounds we find copper from the Lake Superior mines, mica from the Alle- ghany mountains, shells from the gulf, green lava from Mexico, walrus tusks and sharks' teeth from the Arctic ocean. Yet, if we allow that they are commercial, we must acknowledge that they had risen above the savage state, that they were a regu- larly organized nation or nations. That they worked copper mines has been already shown. In a mound near Marietta were found some ornaments rudely covered with a thin coating

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 30

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096