Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-08-02
THE MOUND.BUILDERS.
Mysterious FOOt-Prints at the Mar
rows Of Harpeth.
An Interesting Chapter Of Antiquarian
Research.

To the Union and American:
In a recent excursion to the country was
led to visit the s1seenes Of my childhood"
one of the most interesting of which is the
''Narrows of Harpeth,n in sight of which
was born.
At this point Harpeth river forms bend
in the shape Of horseshoe, making cir
cult of between six and seven miles and
returning to less than one hundred yards
Of itself again. Here, to wit, at the heel
Of the shoe, rises a wall of stone three
hundred feet high or more above the river,
stretching southwark towards the toe of
the shoe, being between eighty and one
hundred yards thick at the base, with a
breadth Of surface on the top at the highest
and narrOwest point Of from three TO five
feet. The length Of this wall is between a
fourth and half Of mile, and on the east
ern side the face of il is perpendicular, and
on the western side the slope is so steep
that neither man nor animal, except
squirrel, cat or the like, can ascend it; in
truth. much of the western side consists
Of perpendieIilar-falls Of many feet. II is
only at the ends of this wall that its sum-
init can be reached either by man or beast,
and that with difficulty at the northern end.
At the southern end it widens ont and
descends with a more gentle slope, yet
quite steep. At the highest and narrOwest
point on this wall, is stone six or eight
feet long, about four feet wide and eigh-
teen inches or two feet thick, with a flat
surface on the top, and on this surface and
on that of another similar stone near by,
lis carved many a long forgotten name
At the base Of this wall the late Mont
gomery Bell, distinguished as the. pioneer
iron manufacturer of Tennessee, pierced
II with two tunnels, the first of which was
completed the Fourth Of July. 1918, (Which
he celebrated with a great festival,) at
cost Of 5000 to him. But the contractor
sub-let the work at 5000. The tunnel Is
fifteen feet wide, six feet high and between
ninety and one hundred yards in length,
and has a fall Of eighteen feet and some
inches. The object Of the tunnel was 10
create water power by turning HaTpeth
| River through it. After finishing the
| tunnel az the date above stated, it reniain-
ed unimprOyed until 1880, when Mr.. Bell
| built a large forge. with four large tilt
hammers, for making hammered iron, to-
gether with a saw mill and grist mills.
About the same time, that is about 1880
or 1881, he pierced the second tunnel about
| sixty wards south Of the first. This second
| tunnel is about sixteen feet wide AMI SIX
feet high, with about the same length and
| fall as the first. II cost him six thousand
| dollars and has never been improved. 3Ir.
| Bell continued To own the property until
| his death, which occurred a few years be
fore the war. lie then willed it, together
with a very large property Of land and
| slaves 10 his nephew James Bel, whOdied,
I / believe. about the commencement OF the
| war. During the war il was impracticable
| 10 run the works and they were suffered to
| 20 to decay and tumble dOwn-the grist
mills only remaining. The slaves having
been emancipated by the war, nothing
remained of the splendid estate but the
/ lands.
But its most interesting feature 10 the
| curious, is that Of several human foot
prints imbedded in the rock. There are
/ two pairs Ofchildren tracks, one adult track
| cOmplete, and two half tracks, that is from
the heel to the middle Of the foot. These
| prints look as old as the surface Of the rock
| itself, and in such perfect unison OF eOlCr,
| that one might visit il hundred times,
aud would never discover them unless by
/ cilance: vet when discovered they are as
! perfect as if they had been imprinted in
soft earth and quite as natural. Some p0r-
tions Of the tracks are imprinted into the
rock TO the depth of half an inch or more,
and so perfectly smOOthe, that no mark Of
the chisel is visible TO the eve.
The prints of the first pair are exactly
/ the same length and dimensions, one being
i Of the right, the other Of the left foot, and
are small enough for the tracks Of year
| old infant. The second pair-One being
| the right, the other the left foot, compared
exactly in length and dimensions with
each other, and indicate the child to have
been three or four years old.
| The largest track is rather larger than an
average sized lady's' foot and not 80 large as
an average foot Of 4 man. 1t Is somewhat
broad and square at the toes, the toes seem
inc to spread more than is usual with
foot accustomed 10 wearing shoes. The
two half tracks are imprinted on the edge
of the rock which is also the verge Of the
precipice. and look as if the person making
them had leaped from thence 10 the abyss
below. As much as there is OF them cor
respond in size and appearance with the rear
portion Of the large track above described.
The children'S tracks are handsome and
denote graceful, Weil-fOrmed feet. All the
tracks point in the same directiOn-toward
the east, where the precipice is perpendicu-
lar and Of great heIght. BY little aid
from the imagination, one may, II he Wl!l'
picture the person making them taxing his
or her last leap from that cr'lsg.
What is very singular about the matter
is that notwithstanding the apparent an
tiCrIity of the prints 1 met with no one in
the neighbOrhOOd who had ever seen them
or heard Of them. Some one however, had
1 IL. N
some instrument of recent date, We're dis
coverable as ifSome one had been scratching
away the miss to assure himself that Il
was a foot print. l inquired concerning
them of Mrs. Bell, widow of the late Jane:
Bell. deceased, Cand whose kind hOSpitali
ties | shared with very much pleasure)
She is the present owner of the property y-anC
! has resided within a half mile of the rOcl
; naaIly all her life, and has been on It many
times: but she had never seen or heard Oi
the foot prints on it. l was born ant
spent the first nineteen years of my life il
: eight Of she rock, and have been upon i
perhaps, more than hundred times, with
: out discovering them or even hearing then
spoken of.
r If they are the work of art they were pro
, | duced by a pains-taking skillful hand
: Nothing in the way Of sculpture could b
| much truer to nature.
You can imagine you see the little Ia
| foot Of the infant flutching its toes to TN
r rock as ifiust learning to balance itself oI
S its feet, and not vet able to stand alone
: its right foot turned little in toward IN
! left, while it steadied itself by clinsinS .
its mothers skirts.
The larger child's tracks have NOR
mature appearance, more slender anI
= graceful and occupy more trained anC
a educated position with reference to eacI
! other.
+ The adult track is less distinct than tha
of either of the children, and is alone with
n out its mate, it being the track OF the lei
;, foot, as l remember.
y They are all grouped very near together
; a square yard of cloth, or perhaps less
would cover them all. As l have said
q they all have the same direction, towar
e the east, the adult track being little u
o advance. the infant track little to th'
a right and rear, and the ehild's tracks TO Tn
rieht of the infants, and perhaps a little u
y | the rear, and all Of them twelve or eiShtee
inches in rear Of the two half tracks on IN
edge Of the precipice.
8 About one hundred or one hundred an
] ifty wards further south. and where th
|. bluff begins to widen out, is an "lndla
| .z.-.... -, ,.rTa1 aio1rf fxrnutV fVpUt1