Ohio History Journal

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THE PILLARS OF HARRISON COUNTY

THE PILLARS OF HARRISON COUNTY

 

BY JOSEPH T. HARRISON

There are three native pillars of stone, in Harrison

County, Ohio, which, if their age is reckoned from

the date when they first reared their heads above the

surrounding landscape, are older than Rome, older than

the Pyramids, and older than the Sphinx itself.

They are located in the north, central, and southern

parts of the county, the first two on the tops of hills and

the third well down from the top of the adjacent hill,

and appear to be portions of a continuous stratum of

said rock that spread above the entire present surface

of the county. If this be true, the present inhabitants

of the county are all living in basements of what was

formerly the land surface of Harrison and Carroll

Counties.  The stratified structure of these pillars

shows that they have never been disturbed by anything

to move them from their present location since they

were formed. They consist of nothing but water de-

posited sand in regular layers.

They stand erect like pillars, and had not the des-

ecrating hand of the white man removed, from the top

of the first two, about eight feet for building purposes,

their present height would be about twenty feet. Their

present isolated character is as much shown by the

erosion and the wearing away of the remainder of the

parent stratum in the great age of their existence, as

the teeth that remain in the human jaw, when the

neighboring teeth have disappeared, and the gums have

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