The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-10
Indians Hunting Ground

Marion county comprises an area of | 472 S96 acres, or approximately 739 square
 miles, It is situated in the northwestern
 portion of Alabama, bounded on the north by Franklin, on the east by Winston and Walker, on the south by Fayette and
 I.amara and on the west by Lamar and the state of Mississippi
 Tuscaloosa county was established Feb- ruary 7 ISIS. Six days later, the legisla- ture cut from the territory of Tuscaloosa
 what is now Marion. Pikeville was the first county seat, and what is now Ham, ilton was Toll Gate At the present time, Pikeville has practically disappeared, while Toll Gate, transformed into Hamll-
 ton. is a thriving little city with .en- dercy towards modern ideas.
 But long before the organization of the county, the Choctaw Indians occupied It's territory, and that their occupancy vas extended throughout half a century e
 more is proved in the existence today of
 a famous old mound in which they buried their warriors prepared for the happy
 hunting ground. This mound is situatss
 on thes Buttahatchee river a few miles fItm Hamilton, is 30 feet in height and in circumference about 100. While no concerted effort has been made to dis cover what is contained in the mound, casual diggings have brought to light pots. chains, arrowheads, bones and d human skull.
 It is interesting to note that the top Of the mound is used now as a burial ground for white people, and old residents state that John D. Terrell, an early settler, Is inferred in an upright position on it's top.
 JacksOn's Road Is Seen Another interesting historical fact is that prior to the organization of the county, Andrew Jackson led his riflemen of Kentucky and Tennessee through what is now Hamilton. en route to New Or leans, where later he inf!.cted a crushing
 defeat on the English under Packenham
 The old military road is still in existence.
 and is pointed to with pride by the pres-
 ent residents of the county. One of Jack.
 sons soldiers died in Marion and lies
 buried today near Pikevile Efforts have been made to have his burial spot mark ed by the government, but to date no
 success has been attained
 Following the organization of the coun- ty Capt A. J. Hamilton lived at Toll
 Gate, and owned practically all the prop
 erty thereabout. He and other promi-
 nent people of that day schemed to
 have the county seat moved from Pike
 vile to a point near the center of the county. An act of the legislature au-
 thorized an election in which Pikeville
 ran against ''the center of the county" Pikeville lost.
 Hamilton Is Created
 For four years, however. nothing was
 accomplished towards building a court
 house in the center of the county, and
 in the next session of. the legislature authority was obtained to hold an elec-
 ton for the purpose of naming Toll Gate
 the county seat Toll Cate which was
 so called on account of the fact that
 pedestrians and all others passing through
 certain gate on the outskirts of the
 village were required to pay toll, by
 means of which the roads were kept In
 state of repair. won the election. Then
 Captain Hamilton donated ground, which
 when divided into town lots, was sold
 for sum sufficient to erect a court
 house. The plehian Toll Gate'' was
 changed to more aristocratc Hamilton
 in honor of it's most enterprising cit
 izen Pikeville. in which Judge c. C.
 Nesmith of Birmingham was born. and
 where the late Judge Mudd Of Jeffer-
 son often held court. gradually losing its prestige dwindled to such an ex-
 tent that today It's total number of houses
 is one, Between Pi.eville, incidentally.