The Oskaloosa herald., 1903-07-23
| PREHISTORIC RUIN
Flood Uncovers Foundation Of a
Large Building.

Knoxville Journal: A remarKaDlel
discovery was recently made on the
Helen C. Ayres farm, one and hair
miles northeast Of Ora Dell. The late
high waters of the Des Moines cover
ed all the farms of the "old river be-"
section to depth Of from two to ten
feet. For upwards of two weeks a
strong current swept across the
tongue of land enclosed by the old
river channel, denuding the surface OF
vegetation and washing the sandy soil
of to depth of from an inch or two
30 more than foot.
On the southeast quarter Of the
southeast quarter of section 20, Red
Rock township, directly opposite
s'Beaver Island" and not more than
80 feet from the waters Of the old
river basin when at normal level,
the rude outlines Of prehistoric
building OIL large dimensions were laid
bare. The foundation, which Is par
TALLY exposed on the north and east
sides, or to be more exact, at the
northeast corner. is composed OF sand
stone, the individual rocks varying In
size, juts as they do in modern build
ing operations. The largest stones
probably weigh so or so pounds. Moth
ing like systematic exploration OF
the ruin has yet been made. It Is on
a knoll slightly raised above the sur
face Of the surrounding field, but this
fact may probably be accounted for
by the walls retaining the sand and
accommodating other deposits while the
surrounding field was being washed
away. In this connection 1t might be
well to mention that the soil, which
covered the ruin prior to last month,
has been cultivated for years.
On Monday Of the present week
party from Knoxville drove over to
the scene and made superficial e1'
animation of the ruin. They were
ably assisted in the work Of explora'
ton by Messrs. o. B. Ayres and T. j.
Prickett, the men who first discovered
the foundation and recognized it as
the remains of a human habitation
The Knoxville exploring expedition
was hastily organized and was not
provided with instruments for taking
measurements, etc, but a rough es
innate places the area enclosed by the
foundation at about 60x40 feet. The
stones are red or white or red and
white combined, which has suggested
the idea that they were probably
brought from the Red Rock bluffs
three and a half miles to the south,
east. The more reasonable idea is
that the red color of the stones result
ed from heat at the time the building
was destroyed, as there is every eyi'
dence necessary to prove that the SUI
perstructure was burned. The quad
triangular area enclosed by the walls
is incrusted with charcoal, ashes and
burnt clay to depth of several
inches, to say nothing of what must
have been washed away by the waters.
In the foregoing reference, where
the ruin is mentioned as 'pre-his-
toric," the intention is not to lead the
reader to the conclusion that the walls
were built by the "Moundbuilders,"
or other persons who Inhabited this
section prior to the official discovery
of the continent by Columbus. On the
contrary, there is indisputable evil
dence that the place was once inhab-
tied by white men. Bullets, beads,
rusty blades of hunting knives, broken
glass, buckles of both silver and steel
and numerous other articles which
would suggest civilization of the Eu-
ropean type were found. The bullets,
which are of three sizes, were cast in
moulds and some still have the necks
attached. The beads are of various
sizes and Of four different colors, red,
blue, white and black. The two hunt
ing knives found on the foundation
site, and which are in the possession
of Mr.. Prickett, were so badly rusted
that nothing like manufacturers
names, marks or numbers could be
seen. The broken glass was evidently
the remains of bottles, drinking uten-
sils, vases, etc. The steel buckles are
of a curious type, chased and highly
ornamental, with forked tongues and
an extra bow working back of the
cross-bar. The uses of this latter aux
iliary are not very clear to a person
acquainted only with buckles of mod
ern pattern. The two silver buckles
were perfectly round, about the size
of silver 25-cent piece. with the
tongues bent around fiattened place
in the outer rim and extending entire
" across the space enclosed by the
circle.
Among the numerous other arti-
cles" referred to in the foregoing are
nails of the handmade kind, Of all
sizes from, tacks up TO spikes six or
seven inches in length. That these
latter articles are not rusted or cor
roded 60 any considerable extent is
accounted for by the fact that they
were all more or less burned. Only
two or three dozen nails were found;
those which were not burned have
probably all been destroyed by rust.
Only two buttons were found, both OF
which are the property of Mr.. Prick
EFT. One is small affair, scarcely
larger than a pea. 1t is of glass, set