The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1912-10-03

Vile has written for tho publications
Of the Fllson Club Of Louisville a
description Of this Fcrt, adorned with
number OF illustrations, from which
we quote:
ION the east the top OF this noun
tain is reached by a neck or ridge
nearly a mile In length. AT
point where this ridge or neck fin
ally reaches the top of the mountain,
these ancient people constructed
stone fort by the erection OF a wall
across the neck OF the ridge.
This stone wall 10 three hundred and
eighy feet in length.
This stonework, stacked up on the
mountain sido, at some places mea-
sures sixty feet from the lower base
OF the wall to the top Of the en-
bankment, and rises four or five feet
above the natural surface within the
space to be fortified, making an EN-
bankment or parapet of considerable
proportions behind which the defend
ers could stand. Some OF the stones
which enter into this structure
were brought from the valley below,
where limestone OF CHARACTER found
In the walls could have been quar-
ried. Some OF these weigh as much
as five hundred pounds, and they.
must have bccu carried on sticks
by two or more men up the noun
tain side, and then deposited in their
places in the walls. - While many
limestone blocks were used in CON
structing this paiapet. sandstone,
which abounds H. the mountain top,
is the prevailing material. The forti'
fication included the whole mountain
top and contains four or five hun
dred acres of land. II was naturally
defended by prccipitous bluffs ex-
cept at six points. First the NECK
on which the wall was erected; then
about half a mile due east, in sort
OF cove. where there is gradual
ascent from the valley below, these
ancient engineers discovered a preg-
nable point. and for about seven hun
dred and twenty-five feet they
erected second stonework built III
the same manner as the other.
This second wall extends from the
end OF one bluff around a curve IN
the cove TO the end OF another bluff,
and at one end of 1t there is now In
perfect form what the writer has
seen nowhere else In Kentucky, with
one exception-that is. regularly laid
courses Of ctonc. Part of this regu-
lar course has been thrown down by
the accretion CT vegetable mold AMI
earth behind the wall and by the
erosion OF the earth where the wall
rested. About thirty or forty feet Of
1t still remains intact. Following
this bluff which overlooked this stone
wall laid in regular courses. and trnv-
cling around the side Of the mountain
for n mile and quarter. there was
ladder IL would have been possible
for an invading force to reach the
top. Here another short stone wall
had been erected guarding a narrow
dtfilc between two projecting bluffs,
up which an elcmy in single file
might have reached this portion of
the top of tho mountain. This wall
was not more than fifteen or twenty
feet in length. Upon one OF the
cliffs. between which It extended.
were some curious as well as pa
thetic remains. The path or defile
along which the invaders must nee
essarily approach TO reach the top
Of the mountain passed directly un-
der the foot of this ovcrhanging cliff.
On this particular point there were
piled a large number of stones. evil
IDENTIFY placed there at the time this
fertilization was manned, for dcfensH.
They were of Irregular shapes and
sizes. weighing from five to twenty
five pounds. and had evidently been
placed by the warriors just as the
author saw them. to be thrown down
upon the invaders WHO might seek
by this defilc 10 enter tho strong
hold. With some knowledge OF
military matters, the writer thinks
nothing short Of QUO thousand men
fertilization SO as to make II secure
against the approach of an enemy
A few flints picked up here aud
there, and an AK or two. are all the
remains that would indicate that the
men of the Stone Age inhabited this