The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1888-02-09
OHIO CENTENNIAL.
The Former Inhabitants of Our Great
State.

i ne T OAA44CA @A44NS@eoAsS "a - - O@SN
State.
Ohio is the thirty-third State in the
United States in size, but she is. the
third in population, wealth and import
ance, ana great many other things
The first innaoitantS Of Ohio were sap.
posei 10 be The Mound Builders and
from the earthwUrks which dot its
fertile valleys. the suppOSitIOn is un.
dOubtedly a true one. These people,
Judging from the dead bodies which
have been found, were very large, IN
dustrious peoble, who lived IL cities
and towus and who worked the rivers,
titled the soil and worshipped God as
their hearts dictated, who believed in a
hereafter and prepared themselves tor
that hereafter.
one of the great eaTthwOrks or
mounds is situated near the present
site OF Marietta aud must have been
the home of i've thousand people. A
great many of them lived together at
one mound. Many Of these mounds
show Uy their form that they were
places of worship, and Judging from
the trees which grow upon their sides
must be many hundred years old.
Others of these mounds appe " 10 have
been watchtOwerS and Uy form show
that they had persons appointed to
keep watch: then other mounds appear
TO have been workshops, and in them
have been found knives. chiSelS and
great many other tools, thus showing
their industry and frugality. While
we must rely solely upon discoveries by
which to assert that these people did
inhabit our present great state, still we
do not doubt but that they did live
here. for it has been said "By his works
shall man be known The saying is
undoubtedly true one, that must be
respected, and which has oftentimes
proven itself true, therefore, we must
accept it as true in this case. While
MANY of these mounds are in our State,
we refer our readers to one discovered
in California few years since, which
contained seven persons all OF which
were about seven feet tall, very broad
shouldered, and evidently intelligent.
This mound seems to have been a
burial place, as these persons were all
laid side by side with chief in the
middle upon whose wrists were copper
bracelets, and on his breast were small
arrows, and rings in his ears, while his
comrades all wore bracelets and ear
rings Returning to our own grand
State, we will say that by the great
works left by these people, they have
set many worthy examples which our
people have followed, and so greatly
improved upon by their works
that many valuable mineral dis
coyeries have been made which
has given to Ohio great wealth.
They did great work and accomplish
ed much which has proven very Dene-
fetal to their people. We will leave
the mound builders for the present and
mass to Ohio's next inhabitants, which
we take for granted were the Indians,
the principal tribes of which were the
Fries. along the lake; the Miamis, in
the Miami valley: the SciotOs in the
Scioto valley, and the Muskingums in
the river valley OF the same name.
Thev were not as industrious class of
neor1le as the mound builders, and even
their oldest men knew nothing of the
existence of their supposed predeces-
sors. they got their livelihood by
hunting and fishing principally, but a
few of them titled the soil in later days
but in this case it was the squaws who
did the work while the men were en-
gagged in hunting, fishing or fighting
They did not seem to gam in popula-
ton on account of their wars by which
great many of their. numbers wert
killed off. These Indian tribes all haC
hiefs who were sometimes very smart
nen for their day, but the nature oi
;he Indian was not that of progression
They gloried in being the vfctors in
war. and thus retarded their own pro
gress a great deal. While the Indian: