The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-11-26

liged TO go over mile before she was able
to obtain any. When she returiicd with
several neighbors the peddier was gone.
He had recovered consciousness and fed,
leaving his pack in the house. " q
THE MOUND-BUILDERS OF OHIO. /
The Most Extensive of Their works
at NeWark-Thefr Appearances and
eonformatiOn-SPec rs 10
Their Age.
The first settlers of the Ohio and Mis- !
sissippi Valley found various forms of
earthworks in the sOlitudes of the wilder
ness overgrown with dense forests. Ii is
said that Ohio alone has 10000 of these in
the form OF mounds. of various sizes, and
800 Enclosures are scattered throughout
the State. They are found in Illinois,
Wisconsin. and other Western States. and
in the Gulf States, varying in size. Some
are small hillocks , or 3 feet high, while
Others assume almost pyramidal magni-
| tude, like the Round at Cahokla, H.,
which has base of more than acres,
summit of nearly acres In area, and
| height OF 80 feet. One of the most elabo-
rate of all these works Is located at New
ark, q. It is lahyrinthine in structure,
contains some - miles of enIbankment,
and after years of investigation areh9olo-
| gists can do no more than surInise as to
what its uses were. Clearly itcannot have
been built for architectural purposes, for
the enclosures of which it principally
consists have the bitches on the inside OF
! the embankment, while the outside pre-
sents no visible obstacle to an invading
army. One of the largest of these incloS-
/ mr. nd ~ haC known
the ''old fort" and stands u miles south
west of the City of Newark. Ii consists
of circular embankment of more than
mile in circumference, entirely unbroken
except on the side toward the city, where
a mammoth gateway, 100 feet wide, was
constructed by the builders. On each side
of the passage the ends of the embankment
project little from the center of the in
closure and rise to a height of % feet,
while the general height is about IS.
Upon this embankment, and within the
ditch on the inside, the trees are as large
as those upon the undisturbed portions OF
the ground around and within the fort.
The citizen still lives in Newark who cut
an oak tree upon this bank siXty-twO
wears ago which numbered over $50 rings
of annual growth. From this mammoth
gateway two parallel walls of earth, a few
rods apart. lead to a rectangular Enclosure
over half a mile to the northeast, which
has an area of about 20 acres; beyond
which, nearer the city ARE still other works,
traces of which are somewhat Obliterated.
From this network near the city two sets OF
parallel walls run west more than two
miles TO another Enclosure in the form of
an octagOn. containing about 80 acres, to
the southwest of which, and almost join
ing it, is another circle about equal in size
to the " old fort, y Both of these a e situ-
ated on a range of hills. IKE plowshare
has performed its work of demolition to
some extent upon the walls of these latter
Enclosures, with the exception of one point
: i'm the circular embankment. This con-
sists of earth and stone somewhat irregu-
larlv built to the height of % feet, and, as
, il lies TO the extreme southwest of the
whole system of works, it is thought by
some that this was the watch-tOwer or sig
nal station on the west.
J When, by whom, and for what purpose
: these mammoth works were built, are
puzzles which have always batfied the skill
of archRologists. 1t is evident that they
were built long ages ago, for where
the timber has not been removed by civil
lied man, as in the case of the odd fort,
! dense forests covered the works, which
I must have required thousand years to
grow where they now stand. 1t is not al
: together unreasonable to suppose that
E generation after generation of forests has
: grown and decayed upon this soil since ii
was built by the dusky sayages into the
: form we now find it. Also other things
= 60 to prove the antiquity of these works.
The Indian had no knowledge or tradition
: concerning their erection. Skulls found
= at the bottom of some of these mounds
differ greatly from those of the Indian.
Also a species of hemp cloth has been
} found in some of them, thing
| unknown to the Indian. From these
: and many other facts, one may reasonably
conclude that they were erected by race
of people anterior 70 the Indian race,
whom by common consent we call the
J MOund-Builders. For what purpose these
works were constructed has not been sat
isiactoriy settled. Some have the appear
ance of military structures; Others look
as though they were built for purposes OF
observation, while still others seem to
/ have been designed for religious or burial
purposes. Some mounds have the form
: of birds, serpents. alligators, or other ami
: mails. The "old fort'' Mt Newark has a
mound in the center several feet high and
about 80 feetlong. built in the shape of an
eagle with spread wings. Upon removing
, the earth from the top of this mound,
, charrcd wood and ashes were discovered.
What this indicates it is difficult TO tell.
Perhaps the priest of some mighty nation
once offered sacrifice upon this mound in
the presence of the assembled thousands.
Or il may be here that the concluding GER
! emory OF some national game was per
formed. Notwithstanding the manner OF
constructing the works. their appearance
is decidedly military. 1t takes but little
, Imagination to fill the vast arena with
dusky savages, or to believe that the wall
was once thronged with a dark array.
Perhaps that mighty gateway witnessed
f the final struggle of an extinct race. One
of our best historians says: ''The Ameri-
can Indian, when first known to the
whites, was destitute of all knowledge OF
the arts and sciences" But it is all mys-
terry. One can only wonder that such a
mighty people should so completely pass
away as to leave no trace of their history
but these piles of earth.