Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1880-02-13
MOUND BUILDERS.
WOnderruI Discoveries In Adams
County. Ohio.
From the Cincinnati Commercial.

From the Cincinnati Commercial
MANCHESTER, ADAMS COUNTY, o.,
The Ohio Valley, and this imme-
diAte section IN particular, Is rich in
remains of that wonderful pre-. his
toric race, the evidences of whose
civilization have been perpetuated
in those curious pieces of engineer
ing from which we derive the euphO-
nious name, 'sMound Builders, given
them by archRologists. Within the
past few days wonderful discoveries
have been made in this vicinity,
winch open up a new chapter in the
history of this remarkable race, and
throw much light upon their manner
of living, their social nature and their
physical character. In different
sections of the world, at different
periods of its history, there have
been found the remains OF an enor-
nous fauna and fora, and of a gi-
gantic race of men. So rare and far
apart have been these discoveries,
however, that we have looked upon
historical accounts of them as clever
ly constructed pieces of fiction, and
been 10th to believe that there ever
existed a race of men able to do bat
tie with the savage mastodOn or the
fierce megatherium. It remains for
Adams county to come forward with
a startling confirmation of the scrip
tural text, "And there were giants
in those days" For in Adams coun
ty has been found not only the bones
of a gigantic race of men, but their
implements of warfare and husban-
dry, and exeeIlently preserved speci-
mems of their art in sculpture, paint
ing, engraving and writing.
Whether those prehistoric giants
had hand in the erection of those
splendidly designed and durably
constructed pieces of engineering
which stretch across the country
from the headwaters of the Ohio TO
the Rio Grande, there to cOmmingle
with similar chain of roads, mounds
and Notifications coming down the
Pacific Slope, and continue on
through Mexico, Central America,
and the South American States, to
be finally lost in the unexplored bar
rens of Patagonia, will be left fer
the solution of wiser head than
your correspondent possesses. He
simply relates the facts; the scien-
lists may build thereon the theo-
ries
In conversation with some of the
oldest citizens Of this county, l have
been enabled to learn the date of the
discovery of cave on the old Smith
farm in Tiffin township. It's exist
ence was proven to the earliest set
tiers, and they probably learned of
it from the Indians. For years it
has been place of resort for the
curious, and was always esteemed a
great natural curiosity. The old
Smith farm is on the Portsmouth
pike, between fifteen and sixteen
miles northeast of here. The farm
is Dow owned by Mr.. Samuel Grooms
and is a fertile, well-cultivated body
of land. About a mile from the
pike is level plateau of two hun
dred odd acres, surrounded on all
sides by lofty hills. As you near the
mouth of the cave there is a gradu-
al depression of the ground on all
sides, forming what, in the local no
menclature, is denominated ''sink-
hole" At the bottom of this circu-
lar basin is a hole three feet in di-
ameter, and about twenty five feet
in depth, at which distance from the
surface you strike the floor of the
first chamber in the cave, a dry cav
ern thirty by twenty feet with
smooth floor, roof and walls of free
stone. Crossing the room you en-
ter a corridor five feet wide, con-
Meeting it with another chamber,
smaller than the first, and this in
turn is connected with third cham
Der by a similar corridor. The third
room is about the size of the first,
but it has a lofty, arched dome, and
the walls, floor and roof are of lime
stone. Through this rock water has
oOzed for countless ages, and formed
thousands of glistening stalactites
and stalagmites. No where else in
the cave do you find the limestone
cropping out, and no where else do
You find these slow growing forma-
tions. To gain access to the fourth
chamber it is necessary to climb
steep bank and squeeze through a
fsure in the rock. In one corner of
this chamber Is an elevation, which,
when surmounted, discloses a yawn-
ing well, with a mouth ten feet in
diameter, and of unknown depth.
Apply your ear to the edge of the
well and you can hear the hollow
roaring Of a stream of water hun
dFeds of feet below. Beyond this
chamber are five others connected
by narrow galleries. The cave
comes to an end against a perpen-
dicular wall of solid rock, in the
ninth chamber, and about FIVE hun
dred yards from its mouth. The
floor of all the chambers except the
one where the limestone crops out,
are dry. All are mathematicallY
regular in shape except this one.
They are of different lengths, but all
are of the same width and height.
1t is romantic place for picnic,
and has been given up to such rural
festivities for years. Every corner
Of the cave has been thoroughly ex-
plored a thousand times, and the
walls of the limestone chamber arr,
covered with the names of visitors
and the date Of the;T visit. One,
high up oB-~tTe wall, reads, "Von
BradFSTTs9." Won Brady was
pioneer Indian fighter and hunter,
who came here in advance of the
t0hio Company" in I7s6. He was
3 daring man, and sent many of the
red men to the "happy hunting
grounds"
A few days ago a party of gentle
men visited the cave, provided with
plentiful supply Of lanterns, ropes
md tools, for the purpose Of explor-
ng the mysterious well. The fol-