Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1841-03-19
GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES.

UCOLOOlChh DlCOO v ERlEsC
In the Clinton Republican, Wilmington, y
We find an article on the Geology of the
Miami country, which has much of interest
The writer is speaking of the Geological re-
mains on Todd's Fork of the Little Miami
After speaking of fragments of primitive
rocks, still found in this region, the writer
proceeds to say
"ln digging wells, and excavating the
earth near Wilmington, beds of Peat have
been discovered at the depth of twenty feet
from the surface, and charred wood and parts
Of vegetables at much greater depth, fur
nishing indubitable evidence that the SUPER
incumbent soil has been made by the con-
WILSON'S of the elements in that great change
produced in the order of things, by the Del
uge. The country through which Todd's
Fork runs,is formed from the diluvial depos-
it, but in many places the alluvium is colec-
ted in Peat beds and furnishes the riches,
and most productive bottom lands in Ohio.
Minerals are buried far beneath the surface,
and the land is much better adapted to farm
ing than for mining. Along the banks OF
fodd's Fork northwest, and west of Will
mington, may be found the human skeleton
deposited in stoney vaults, made of the fiat
limestone. These stony graves are built on
elevated ground and bear evidence that the
design in their construction was to exclude
water from entering them. The earth does
not seem to have been excavatcd to deposit
the dead, but their tombs are built on lev
ell with the carth's surface. COMPARING a
human skull taken from one of these stony
arches with one taken from a mound that
had been raised near ten feet over the sk.lc-
ton, it seems that the changes that have been
wrought on them, by time, are very similar.
The skull taken from these rocky tombs pre-
sents to the eye the appearance of bone that
has been calcined by slow aud continued
heat, dissipatng the fibre and gea,inc, and
leaving nothing to preserve the identity of
the human form, but the phosphate of lime.
II has been supposed by those who have ex-
amined the contents of the mounds that are
found in val ious places between the Scoto
and Miami Rivers that they have been the
repositories of the human remains for many
ages"
After remarking upon the remains of the
Mammoth, the writer says:
/" am led to conclude, therefore, tina, the
human beings whose remains are now repo-
sing in these rocky tenements, were at least
co-eval with the Mammoth in his day ofmo-
table existence Perhaps long before tina,
new sepulclre of Joseph of Aremathea was
made, part Of that sn-doing and disobc-
dent tribe of Israel had wandered over the
land and over the sea and tenanted the very
spot on which now write. 1t NAV be, the
skull now look upon aided in building some
OF these stony arches over the last remains OF
some one of that peculiar people.
Skull, vert thou Jew or Gentle9 Vert
thou man of letters, with your songs and
your merriment7 Oran untutored savage 7
Did'st thou worship the true God! Or bow
the knee to stocks and s,ones7 Did'st thou
eat pork! Or the suculent Juice of the
green herb Alas! thou heed'st me not
Well, too may one day be like thee. A
thousand years may pass into forgetfulness
and oblivion and my tongueless jaws and
scathed and worm-eaten skull may remain
as a last lingering evidence of former
race J"
1t is even so. They who now glory in
youth, and beauty, and wealth, a thousand
years hence may have their skulls pored
over by Biologists and Antiqnarlans 1t
may be doubtful to what race or nation thew
belonged!