The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-11-12
A SINGULAR DISCOVERY.

In excavating the Oak street culvert in the
upper part of the city, the workmen on
Tuesday came to the remains of o cabin
eighteen feet below the present surface of the
street, and about 100 feet from the pitch of
the present bank of the river. 1t had evil
IDENTIFY been o human habitation and that of
an European. The cabin was twelve feet or
more in length, formed by upright posts set
in the ground, and the sides boarded up with
split oak puncheons, fastened on with inch
wooden pins. The posts, puncheons and
pins were but partially decayed, and still ad-
hered together; the posts had to DO cut off
with an axe to remove Them. In the interior
were found the parts of an old fashioned
European spinning wheel undecayed. A
wooden mall, that perhaps had served to
split the puncheons that covered the cabin
the fire-stick, with its charred end, that had
reused the slumbering embers of the fire
pieces of cane that had been notchsd and
cut apparently for bow-and, up near
where the roof had apparently rested, were
| found pairs OF European made boots and
shoes, which had been placed in that posi-
| ton apparently on a shelf. AS the grade of
the culvert did not 60 to the floor of the cab
in by several feet, the workmcn took out on
ly those things which had been placed on
shelves or hung up on the walls of the cabin
near the roof. What might have been found
on the floor beneath we are left to surmise,
as the contractor refused to disturb the earth
below the grade for fear of injuring the
foundations of the brick work of the cul-
vert; though his curiosity strongly prompt
ed him to explore the matter to the bottom.
| the earth that surrounded aud filled the cab
in was the solid, compact body of sandy
loan that composes the whole substratum
of the city. There were no perceptible differ
ences in the strata around the cabin, than
in those that extended the length of the
culvert; it is apparently all one cotempora-
neous deposit. The discovery suggests nu-
merous interesting questions. 1t does not
appear possible that, q deposit of 90 or q
feet of earth can have been made on the
present site of the city since the first civil.
zed foot trod upon the banks of the Ohio Al
this point. The age of some of the tree.
that formerly stood upon the p esent surfac,
would almost preclude such supposition.-
That the builders and occupants of the cab
in were civilized men is proven by the augu
holes and pins-by the pegged soles anc
seams of the boots, and by the spinnin,
wheel, and the absence of Indian nipple
ments. Who were they, and when did the,
' erect their habtation therel Tie date o
the first settlement of vinccnnes by Euro
peans is in doubt it is known to have bee
"a made before the year 17O0-one hundred an
: sixty years ago. 1t is possible that the spin
o ming wheel, that now lies in our sanctum
s twirled to the moving foot of the busy house
wife, and its hum was heard among the tree
!, before the bees made their first music i'm tn
primeval forests hers-and these old boot
. perhaps made the first footprints Of civiliza
;, ton along the levee now busy with the ope
j. rations Of an extensive commerce.
h Entering the precincts of this old cabin
like walking the exhumed streets of Pom
peii and Herculaneum, and carries the min
u through changes in the history of the local
y ity greater than those that have intervene
It between the Roman Empire and the dynast
q of King Bomba in Italy.
1t has been suggested that perhaps the cal
in was a French Z" cacaetn built in an exc.
walton and covered over, as hiding pla,
for grain to conceal it from the Indians,
was frequently done by the early settlers
= But they would not have gone twenty
y twenty-five feet below the surface and the
was 70 break in the strata above it, and Il
posts of the cabin were too small and too fe
to have sustained a roof with large body
earth on it. Nor would the builders of sue
a storehouse have used fire in it or placed the
worn out boets and shoes in it, or hung up
spinning wheel in it. 1t is one of those di
- coveriss that opens pleasant field of specl
lation for the curious and lovers Of the VOL
;, derful.
ID w A swindler, who professed to be Il
4 IL