Daily Iowa State Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1859, 1857-11-24
Singular Discovery.


Journal, while making some evacua-
tious on the streets of Evansville (Ind.)
last Tuesday, came to the remains of
a cabin eighteen feet below the pres
0t surface of the ground, and 100 feet
from the present bank OF the river
The Journal says:
1t had evidently been a human hab-
itation and that Of an Europ can. The
cabin was twelve feet or more in length,
formed of upright posts set in the
ground, and the sides boarded up with
split oak puncheons, fastened on with
zach wooden pins. The posts, punch
cons and pins were but partially decay
ed, and still adhered together; the
posts had to be cat 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 serv-
ed to split the puncheons that covered
the cabin-thc fire-stick with its char
red end, and that had reused the slum-
bcring cmbers of the tirc-pelces Of
cane that had been notched and cut
apparently for bow-and up near
where the root had apparently rested
were found pairs of European made
boots and shoes, which had been plac-
ed in that position apparently on shelf.
AS the grade of the culvert did not 90
to the floor of the cabin by several feet
the workmen took out only those things
which had been placed on the 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
culvert though his curiosity strongly
prompted him to explore the matter
to the bottom. The earth that sur
rounded and filled the cabin was the
solid, compact body Of sandy loan that
composes the whole substratum of the
city. There were no preceptible diff
ferences in the strata around the cabin,
than in those that extend the length
Of the culvert; it is apparently all one
cotemporaneous deposit. The discov-
cry suggests numerous interesting ques-
tons. 1t does not appear possible that
a deposit of 20 or 25 feet of earth can
have been made on the present site of
the city since the first civilized foot
trod upon the banks of the Ohio at
this Joint. The age of some of the
trees that formely stood upon the pres
cnt would almost preclude such suppo
sition. That the builders and occupants
of the cabin were civilized men is prov
en- by the augur holes and pins-by the
pcgged soles and seams of the boots,
and by the spinning wheel, and the alb
sence of Indian implements. Who
were they, and when did they cree,
their habitationthere The date ofthe
first settlement of Vincennes by En-
ropeans is in doubt, i, is known to have
been made before the yaar l7OO-one
hundred and sixty years ago. 1t i,
possible that the spinning wheel thu
now lies in our sanctum, twirled to tne
moving foot of the busy house wife,
and its hum was heard among the
trees before the bees made their frs,
music in the primerial forests here
and these old boots, prehaps made the
first footprints of civilization along the
levee now busy with the operation:
OF an extensive commerce.
Entering the precincts of this oil
cabin is like walking the exhumed
streets of Pompei and Herculaneum
and carries the mind through change.
in the history of the locality greater
than those that have INTERVIEWED be-
tween the Roman Empire and the dy
nasty Of King Bomla in Italy.
1t has been suggested that prehap!
the cabin was French "cachet" bull
on evacuation covered over, as a hi
ding place for grain to conceal it from
the Indians, as was frequently done BY
the early settlers. But they woult
not have gone twenty or twenty-f v,
feet below the surface and there wa,
no break in the strata above it, and tn.
posts of the cabin were too small ane
few to have sustained q roof with
large body Of earth on it. Nor woult
the builders Of such storehouse have
used fire in it, or placed their worn ou
boots and shoes in it. or hung up /,
spinning wheel in It. II 10 one O
those discoveries that opens . pleasant
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