The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1875-02-04
TIE MouNp-BUILDERs.
The Most Extsnsivs hof their Works ut
Nswsrk-Their Appearance and Confirm
atton-Speculations ~ to their Age
Were they the work of Indians.

stion-speculations ~ to their Age
fs[ . Were they the work OF Indians.
Correspondence of n. Y. Tribune.
The first settlers of the Ohio and
Mississippi Valleys found various
forms of carth-works in the solitudes
80 of the wilderness ovsrgrown with
tiq dense FORESTS 1t is said that Ohio
alone has ten thousand of these in the
form of mounds of various sizes, and
fifteen hundred Enclosures are scatter
ed throughout fine State They are
HU found in Illinois, Wisconsin, and other
r. Western States, and in the Gulf States,
varying in size. Some are small hill
- locks two or three feet high, while
others assume almost pyramidal mag
~ n nitude, like the mound at Cahokia,
Illinois. which hasa base of more than
six acres, a summit of nearly five acres
81 in area and height. of ninety feet
III One Of the. most elaborate of all, these
works is located at Newark, Ohio 1t
TUls labyrinthinel in structure, contain
ing some fifteen miles embankment,
t'ti and after years Of Investigation arch
bN biologists can dofnoTmore then to sur
mise as to what its uses were. Clear
ilD1yl it cannot have been for military
. purposes, for the enclosures of which
1t principally consists have the bitches
JG on the inside of the .embankment,
while the outside presents no visible
obstaele'to an Invading army. One
1871 Of the largest Of these inclosures, and
lhe best preserved, is known as the
"Old For:,' and stands one and a-half
r, ~ miles southwest Of the city of Newark
1t consists of a circular embankment
SD(e6mSre th4n)a mile in |circdm ference,
entirely unbroken except ON the side
, "toward the city, where the mammoth
tu gateway, ope hundred feet wide, was
constructed by the builders. On each
= sidetofltds passage 10 the ends Ut the
II epbank ment projects "a Httle from the
center Of the enclosure an ii rise to the
I2chsighs of tdSenty.fte feck while the
~ Il gepsraf height isabout eighteen. Up
on this 'embank ment, and within the
1fl ditch ON the inside, tile trees ARE as
large as those upon the undisturbed'
III portions OF the ground around and
Dn within thedqrtTI fle ci,izehi still lives
in Newark who cut an oak tree upon
this bank sixty-two years ago, which !
I. numbered over, six hundred aud fifty
rings or annual growth. From this |
b 0nlannioth gateway, two parallel walls |
of earth, q few..rods. apart, lead, to |
rectangular enciosute over a half a,
bDniIe to theD Inorthesstl " hich has an
area Of about twenty acres beyond |
which nearer the city, are still other
tJfworks, traces Of which au,e somewhat
obliterated. From this network near
the city two parallel walls run west |
more than two miles to another enclo-
sure in form Of an octagon, containing
, -abonf finy acres, to the southwest of
which, and almost joining it, iis anoih-i
II er circle about equal in size to the
-, sold Fort.y Both of these are 'situ-
Ia iatcd on range of hills. The. plow-
share has performed its work of dem
solition to some extent upon the walls
of these latter Enclosures, with the cx-
10 ception of one point in the circular
W 7" embankment. This'eonsists OF earth
E. and stone somewhat irreguiarly built
TO the height of twenty-five feet, and
E1is lies to tho extreme southwest of
the whole ~ stem 3 v orks, it is thouht
by some that this was the watch-tower
or signal station on the west.
When, by whom, and for what pur-
pose, these mammoth works were
built, are puzzles which have always
baffled the skill of archaologists 1t
is evident that they were built long
ages ago, for where the timber has not
, been removed by civilized man, as In
the case of the sold FORT dense for /
ests covered the works, which must
have required thousand years to
grow where they stand. 1t is not un-
reasonableto to suppose that generation Ise
7a after generation of forests have grown a
= and decayed upon this soil since it was !
built by the dusky savages into tine !
form we now find it,. Also, other
things go to prove the antiquity of
~tbese: works. ,Fhs Indians had no -
knowledge or tradition concerning
their erection. Skulls found at the =.
:, ,bsttem, Sf some of these n1ounds differ ;.
I giPatly from those ofthe Indian! ALSO ',
= 'asrecies Or hemp cloth has been found !"
in some of them, thing unknown to
snO 1huidu. tHeSc anu IQauV
other facts one may reasonably con-
clude that they were erected by race
OF people anterior to the Indian race, Z
whom, by common consent, we call Gl G
the Mound Builders. For what pur- O
pose these works were constructed has
not been satisfactorily settled. Some
have the appearance of military struc-
lures, others look as though they were =
built for purposes of observation and T
= still others seem to have been design =
s ed for religious or burial purposes.
= Some mounds have the. form of
r. birds, serpents, alligators or other an I
= finals. The "Old Fort" at Newark hi
has a mound in the center several feet
high and about fifty feetlomg, built in :.
50 the shape of an eagle with spread mi
wings. Upon removing the eartiIt q;
from the top of this mound charred
wood and ashes were discovered We
What this indicates it is difficult to
tell Perhaps the priest of some
mighty nation once offered sacrifice T..
Z upon this mound in the presence, of
the assembled Thousands or it may
4. Ill.