The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1897-10-20

by scientist, Iauhach, bray. raN>on and
Others.
From the bg.5,No'r Dt"ocrot
Recently, accompanied by Stacy b.
Bray, Esq, of Lambertville, \. J. :;
Colonel Henry ID. PaXsou, of Philadel-
phia, and genial and accomplished
young gentleman of Lamhertville,
whose name we unfortunately cannot
now call to mind, | visited the locality
of the so=called Indian graves near the
city of Lamhertvillc, New Jersey, in
the hope of adding a page to our
Indian history.
North of Lambertville, ON the banks
of the historic Delaware River, ON II
lofty spur of trappean rock. covering
many acres, surrounded hy romantic
hills, in the midst of beautiful and
fertile country, may he seen the ruins
of several dolmens, or Indian ohser-
vation huts, or properly watch towers
of ancient man The road to this in
teresting and instructive locality. al
ter leaving the river road, leads up n
steep hill i'm all probability along an
old Indian trail) III II elrcultous man
ner for II distance of half mile or
more, ending Mt farm house. From
here path or trail leads onward and
upwards distance of some five hun
bred Yards through dense timber and
huge rocks piled upon each other to n
height of twenty or more feet, to an
opening in the woods, once an old In
dian corniield and training ground,
containing upwards of eight acres.
The field al present, rs far as We could
ascertain, remained the same in size
and contour ms when the Indians held
their fetes and carniValS here, before
the advent of the white man. 1t is
surrounded by Il dense growth of TIM
Der.
\ few rods southeast from the field
are n few remnants of stone este the
underbrusl preventing II closer eNa-
mination III that direction. Some two
hundred Yards south by west from the
Indian field ON the sunny side of the
elevation, are the remnants of three
Indian huts or watch towers, the walls
of which were constructed OF trip
houlders, abundant i'll the vicinity,
The walls are i'll n tumble down condi-
ton Several rock shelters, n few
yards cast of the huts were also used
by these primitive people for obscrva-
ton camps,
Although primitive man has passed
away, has been II midget mote III
the sun, hunting his fellow animals
through hundreds of centuries, with
areillite and flint headed arrows aud
stone axes, fitting, passing, gone
the great oaks have grown, have spread
their arms lovingly over the dust OF
the duskY warriors, and, planted III
dignity, have stood ms cmblems Of
strength and power, Watching and
meditatng rs generation after genera
ton of these dusky children of nature
stepped upon the platform, performed
their little part, and passed away.
DAYS have come thick and fast and
the "hill man has long since gone
with his tribe to the land where sha-
dows fall deeper than those east by the
oHk tree
The first oal felled in America, by
the white man, hcralded the death
knell To the rule of the red man and he
has fallen under its great weight.
The view from this historic elevation
is grand II portion of LambertVillc
and New Hope, the bridge spanning
the river linking the towns, the Della
ware river flowing Mt our feet, it's mas
sive terraces carved ont by it's energy
! during the countless centuries of the
| past, the grand hills to the south, with
Jericho hill in the distance. forming f
suitable background. The Bucking
ham valley in Pennsylvania, with its
fertile farms, limestone quarries and
its densely wooded hills, and Autumn
tinted foliage offered a panorama oi
beauty seldom Witnessed outside OF
! the locality.
As our visit to the place WAS intend
ed for observation and not investign
ton. We will defer further description
of these interesting pre- historic ruins
until the contemplated Investigations
| by Messrs. Bray and PaXsOn have been
made. We will here merely call the
attention of the reader, who has
followed us thus far, TO n few facts re
lating these stone ruins, left us as n
reminder of the presence of II vanished
race. who, in their evolutionary pro
gress succeeded, during the long ages,
in evolving from the rude stone age to
the aye of polished stone implements.
In our Investigations in this line in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey we find
! that on the SUBMITS of the South
Mountain ranges, wherever these
watch towers or prehistoric observa-
tories abound, they are as rule con
strueted of the prevailing rock found
in the vicinity, walled in rear and
ends, about five feet in height and
covered with fiat stone on top or
roof The rooms are generally eight
by twelve feet, and five feet high, with
stone shelf inside against the rear
wall In digging up the floor of these
shelters. stone axes, arrows of argillite,
d.. With ,,,a,.o nc, a ,.uIo ,,o,sod I'll,
flat stones.
n, ,,,,, I