The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-03-30
PREHISTORIC REVELATIONS.
DR.. j. III. Porter's Remarkable Discover
les In Eastern Tennessee.

DR.. J. II. Porter of the Smithsonian
Institution was one of the passengers
on Louisville and Nashville train en-
route for Washington. All during the
last summer a party of scientists from
the Smithsonian have been making
researches into the archaeology of the
curious walls and stones uncovered
near Cleveland, Tenn.
"Yes, sir, l consider that Tennessee
holds the best evidence of a prehis-
toric race to be found in the world.
have found many wonders on my
trip and will write a book concerning
the evidence of the race on my return
to Washington. Three places have at
tracted my attention and will kill all
doubt in the skeptical mind. One was
the mound on Jolly Island, at the con-
fuence of the Hiawassee and Tennes-
see rivers. 1t is a temple mound,
built with accurate, mathematical pre-
cision, undoubtedly erected by the
Toltecs, a civilized race of Indians
who lived here prior to the Aztecs.
The next place was the cyclopian wall
on Fort Mountain in Murray county,
Ga. This wall is erected on the top
of the Appalachian chain of mount
aims, at least 5000 feet above the sur
rounding country. This peak is like
Lookout mountain in appearance. lt
juts out boldly from the main system
| of the mountain and is very preclp-
itous. on the east, north and west, and
on the south side there is a wall built
to inclose the lofty top, which COM
| prises one hundred acres. The wall
built across the mountain in this way
is about 1900 feet long, with many
| angles and curves to command every
approach. There is one opening to
| the wall that, when | first saw it in
| 1876, was guarded by three tall tow
| ers, which have since been leveled to
| the ground.
"This wall was at least five feet thick
| and six feet high. The general idea
| is that this fortress was built by DE
| Soto in his wanderings through Geor-
| his horses and cattle. This is not
true, however, and 1 will give you
three reasons for saying this. DeSoto
would and never could have built it
| when a wooden stockade would have
answered. DeSoto never had enough
| men to man the fort, and it was not
built according to the civil engineer
| ing of DeSoto's time. Ny idea is that
| it was built for a place of worship.
'An altar lifted high that the people
might worship as the Bible says OF
the Hebrew custom.
'The third point of interest is the
famous wall covered with hieroglyph-
les, found near the Tennessee river,
close to Cleveland. This is no wall at
all. 1t is simply stratum of sand
stone thrown up to an almost vertical
position from level by great upheav-
ais. The rocks were placed in their
upright position when the surround
ing hills were formed. Every forma-
ton and stratification shows that man
could not have built such wall. The
characters, however, were formed by
man, and that, too, before the hills
were made. The characters are on
f1uted stones, and only on the raised
portions of the stones. They are in
straight lines as regards each other,
and run diagonally.
Mount Hebal is natural forma-
ton. The markings are regarded as
script, because of their non-natural
appearance and essential forms. The
resemblance between some of the
marks and certain letters of the Greek
and Arabian alphabets are purely
accidental. Nashville american.