Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-11-01
CURIOUS MEMORIAL
THAT OF THE MOUND BUILDERS
IN OHIO.
PROPERTY OF A MUSEUM
The Great Serpent Mound Decided to
State Archaeological Society by
Harvard ColIege-Its Preservation
From Destruction by the Peabody
Museum-Putnam's Investigations.


PEBBLES, Adams county, Ohio, Octo-
Der 20, 1900.-By a recent vote of the
Harvard Corporation, the treasurer or
Harvard College has been authorized
to deed to the Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical society the
Serpent Mound park which for the
last fourteen years has been in the
custody of the Peabody museum in
Cambridge, thus restoring to Ohio the
ownership of the most remarkable and
famous of the thousands of monu-
ments of the ancient mound builders
which exist within her borders.
The great serpent mound lies in
the township of Bratton, overlooking
Brush Creek, about seven miles from
PEBBLES, the nearest railway station
1t had been noted with wonder by the
! first settlers, but it was not until
1876 that it was measured and de-
sCribed by Squier and Davis, who pub
! lished a report with drawings from
surveys in the first volume of the
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl-
edfe. The two explorers had found
the site Of the mound covered by a
forest. Thirteen or fourteen years
after their visit tornado swept di-
rectly alog Serpent hill, practically
sweeping the forest clear. This led
to retaining the land for cultivation
but by 1858 it had relapsed again to
a state of nature and was overgrown
with sumach and briars.
In that year Professor Frederick W.
Putnam, curator of the Peabody mu-
scum and Peabody professor of arch
aeology and ethnology at Harvard,
visited that spot in the course of a
trip which he was making through
southern Ohio for the purpose of ex-
amining some of the best .yuOwn Of
he ancient monuments for Whj"'l this
0art of the state is famous through
out the world. He was able to make
Z rangemcnts with Mr.. Loyett the
ow' er of the land, to have the site
c! AIRED of underbrush, so that for
the first time in years the eXtraordi-
naT character and grandeur of the
great Serpent was apparent to visi-
tors.
1t has been reckoned that no less
thin $4,000 mounds and earth-works,
built either by the Indians or by the
so-called "prehistoric" inhabitants of
the Mississippi valley, are included in
the state of Ohio alone. But the ad-
vance of cultivation, the cnpidity of
; seekers after the buried treasures
which are popularity supposed to be
hidden under many of these works,
and in some cases pure vandalism,
l have put many, including, of course,
some of the most important, in jeo-
pardy, An example of this last kind
of destruction is to be found at Mari
eta, where two great entertainments,
famous among students of American
archaeology, have been partly de-
/ stroycd-One having been built upon
and in part lcvcled and the other
made into bricks. The destruction Of
the Marietta works seems all the
moro to be regretted on account of
the contrast which it offers to the en-
ightened wisdom of the pioneers,
I who, acting under the direction of the
famous Rufus Putnam, had utilized
the two entertainments to form an
avenue which they named, in the
classical fashion of the day, the Via
Sacra
On his return east accordingly,
Professor Putnam Immediately took
i every opportunity to urge the import
anCo of preserving the great Serpent.
Visiting Adams County again in 1885
he found that its destruction was in
i cvitablc unless immediate measures
were taken for it's preservation. He
was able to secure contract with
the owner that it should remain in
tact for year, and a price for the
absolute purchase of the land was
/ agreed upon. Going back to Boston
he enlisted the aid of Miss Alice G.
i Fletcher, well known for her notable
contributions to the knowledge Of
Indian life, Miss Fletcher, meeting
pealed to them for support with so
much effect that in the winter of 1886
a private circular was issued with
the Endorsement of the late Francis
Parkman, the historian of the west,
calling for subscriptions. AS a re-
suit a sufficient sum, amounting to
about $4,000, was secured TO buy such
land as seemed to be required for the
purpose in view, and to take steps for
the preservation of the serpent, with
! provision for making thorough excava-
tons in the immediate neighborhood.
In the end some rs acres of land
along the pike leading from PEBBLES
to Hillsborough were purchased, and
the whole, under the name of the Ser
i, pent Mound Iark was transferred to
the keeping of the Peabody museum
ir trust