Ohio History Journal

ANCIENT WORK NEAR OXFORD, OHIO.

In the first volume of Smithsonian "Contributions to

Knowledge," Mr. McBride gives a cut and description of

this work.¹ But both plat and description vary so widely

from the facts, that it seems desirable to bring the case up

again. Mr. MacLean in his "Mound Builders," repro-

duces the figure and copies the chief points of the gen-

eral statement. They differ as to the locality, McBride

being entirely right, but McLean putting it in the wrong

township. The work lies wholly in lot 6, section 31, town-

ship 5, range 2, east of the Miami Meridian.²

The Smithsonian plat (Plate XI., No. 2) gives the area

enclosed as "²⁵ acres;" the text says "²⁰ acres."  Mr.

MacLean copies the text. A careful survey, made under my

personal supervision, by Christian Pann, H. L. Kramer, and

P. W. Jenkins, of the Engineers' Class, gives eight acres.

An inspection of the cut in the Smithsonian publication or

in the "Mound Builders" shows that no survey had been

made, and only the wildest kind of guesswork could have

produced a plat so far out of the way in respect to size, shape,

and position.  For a full understanding of this description,

it will be necessary to use the plate given herewith.

Mr. McBride says the bluff is 60 feet high. A careful

application of the level and rod shows that the point marked

C is 95 feet above the level of the creek near by; and

the point B, 90 feet. At N the old channel of the creek

was closed by glacial drift many thousand years ago. Imme-

diately beyond this obstruction, to the eastward, is the buried

 

1Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, pp. 29-30.

2In the technical description of land in this corner of the State the word

north must not be used. In the location of the mounds of Butler county, as

given in the first number of the QUARTERLY this mistake of using N. (north)

occurs nine times; and the mounds as thus described lie in Paulding and

Defiance counties-not in Butler at all. The work described in this article

is on the Miami University lands, and all these lands have the sections

divided into six lots-not into quarters, as elsewhere.

265

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266     Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

forest, mentioned in the Ohio Geological Survey. The creek was forced to turn abruptly back, and it has cut for itself a channel over two miles in circuit; whereas, the direct dis-

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Ancient Work near Oxford, Ohio.        267

tance across is about three-fourths of a mile. Of course, at

first, the creek kept close to the bank from W all the way to

the township line as marked in the plat. It is possible, but

not probable, that the stream so ran in the time of the

Mound Builders. But it has not so run for many hundred

years.

When settlers moved into this vicinity eighty years ago,

the valley at O was covered by a heavy forest, chiefly sugar-

tree. This fact I have from Mr. Wallace, who lives but a

few hundred yards away, and speaks from personal knowl-

edge, having lived there since 1818. But in the early part

of this century, even so late as 1840, the stream flowed in

that part marked "old channel," the farthest point being dis-

tant from the present channel about 300 feet.

This valley between the glacial dam and the creek, is 50

rods in length from east to west, and of a width nearly equal.

The steep declivity from W to the old channel is covered with

trees rather sparsely; and so is all the land between the creek

and the brow of the hill. The terrace mentioned by Mr.

McBride is nothing but landslides, caused by the steep bank

and the water in it. The slides extend irregularly for more

than half the surface of the slope. But the upper 15 or 20

feet is steep and without slides, and along this space there is

no sign of any defensive work.

Mr. McBride describes the work as reaching only from H

to A, about 1,000 feet, with one gateway at K, nearly 300

feet from H. Before the ground was cultivated the wall was

six or seven feet high, and was so steep that the boys of the

time amused themselves by sliding down the steep slopes, as

related by the aged Mr. Wallace. The same authority says

that in 1818 the enclosure was still in the state of nature;

and that the trees within were more stunted than those

beyond the wall; and nearly every tree was a support to the

wild grapevine.

The wall has been plowed down until it is now scarcely

distinguishable from the general level of the fields, except by

the ranker growth of corn and weeds along the course of the

ditch on the exterior side of the wall.

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268    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

Twelve or fourteen years ago, in an ancient work near

Columbus, O., some pieces of wood were found having un-

mistakable marks of being the lower end of pickets set in

the ground. One piece was placed in the Museum of the

State University. This seems to prove that in one case the

Mound Builders used pickets in their line of defence, as was

also done by the early settlers of the West, in their struggle

with the Indians. From what follows, it may not unreason-

ably be inferred that the Mound Builders were accustomed to

have such a line of pickets as an essential part of the enclos-

ure's defense; and if such should be found to be generally

true, then the earth was used chiefly as a means of holding

the pickets in place. This may prove to be a new feature.

But see what follows.

In the examination of the work there were present, besides

surveyors, Prof. James, of the Chair of Geology in Miami

University, and Mr. Nelson Perry, of Cincinnati, an exper-

ienced geologist and mining engineer, and others. A plow-

man, who had often plowed the field, said he wished some

one would explain to him why there was a black band of

earth along the middle of the wall,-that when the field is

fresh plowed the eye can easily trace out the center of the

wall by this streak of dark earth. Acting on this hint we

caused six or eight trenches to be cut directly across the wall,

down to the general level of the earth; and, at intervals, for

five hundred feet, or about half the length of the main wall.

Looking into these cross-sections the most careless eye could

not fail to detect immediately the position of the dark band.

This was about one foot wide and was filled with earth of a

darker hue. The spade cut through small pebbles of lime-

stone which had been changed to lime, and thus the part of

the cross section occupied by this band was speckled with

white spots. We found also small pieces of charcoal too

deep down to have been put there by accident.

How shall these facts be interpreted? Let the following

be suggested until a better shall be found. Suppose that

the mound builders set up a row of pickets sixteen or

eighteen feet long, and piled earth on both sides to the height

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Ancient Work near Oxford, Ohio.       269

of seven or eight feet, so the pickets would be rendered firm

in their upright position. In the destruction of the works

fire played its part, the pickets being burned to or near

to their base. The cavity so left would subsequently be

filled with leaves; rain and frost would tend to fill up the

space formerly occupied by the pickets; the burning timber

would burn the limestone pebbles into lime, and at points

near the base coals would be lefts The decay of the leaves

would make the dark colored earth; the calcined pebbles

would produce the speckled appearance, and the dark central

streak is fully accounted for. It is not necessary to dwell on

the points further. The facts have been given; an explana-

tion is suggested; let the matter be considered by those so

inclined, and who also have a sufficient acquaintance with the

subject to make their opinion valuable.

According to all accounts thus far published the wall ex-

tended from H to A, and there terminated. But all along

the brow of the hill from A to D, and thence across the cor-

ner to F, there is a band of yellow earth, such as is found at

the depth of a foot or fifteen inches in all this region. At E

there is a break in the yellow land, precisely as at K. Both

K and E are gateways through the wall. The streak of yel-

low clay along the brow of the hill might be considered

merely the outcrop of the layer, but for that part of it from

D to F. The ground itself shows that from D to F there is

no outcrop, but the band is due to excavation, in the same

way as trenches are cut in a field for the purpose of receiving

tile, and which, after the filling, can easily be traced by the

subsoil that has been exposed and thrown up.

If this is the proper explanation, then there was also a row

of pickets of less height and of smaller retaining embank-

ments, all the way from A to F, and possibly along the en-

tire circuit of the enclosure; although from F to H no indi-

cations of any can be found.

Then the additional inquiry is started whether or not this

use of pickets was general among the mound builders.

The tongue M Y is 290 feet long to the point where the

descent to the ravine begins. From T to H is 264 feet; and

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270    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

to V is about 100 feet further. The gateway at K was of

course the place of ordinary exit: that at E opens directly

into the head of the ravine, and seemed to have served as a

passway to the water at Z. Within the enclosure there is no

depression-which could be used as a catchbasin for water.

Both ravines seem to me to be artificial, and to have been

made for the purpose of water supply. That beginning at

E, is one hundred feet long, and nearly a hundred wide at

the mouth. The water drains into it from the distance of

twenty or thirty feet only. The whole ravine is filled with a

dense grove of small trees. Now if there had been a line of

pickets from D to the front of the steep bank at C, the water

could easily be reached without danger from a side attack.

If the long ravine starting at T, on ground very near level,

has been washed out since the destruction of the fort, then

there should be the remains of the wall across the point Y.

There is no mark of a wall on that point. From T to V is

about 370 or 380 feet, the gully pointing up stream, then turn-

ing almost at right angles with V and recurving at L slightly

in the down-stream direction. At the level of about twenty

feet below H and Y, there is a bench or terrace very nearly

level, and extending for more than a hundred feet. In the

course of time the drainage water has cut out the central

part of this level space. These reasons point to an artificial

origin. The embouchure at L is narrower than the ravine fifty

feet further back. The whole face of the bank from W to Z

is full of water to this day. Now, suppose the ravine to have

been excavated, and a dam thrown across at L. Suppose,

also, that back of the dam at Y the spongy ground is tapped

for water; then the space back of the dam for nearly two

hundred feet will be a reservoir of water with a level bottom;

and, if there were a line of pickets from L to H, then this

abundant supply of water was perfectly safe from all danger-

ous intrusion by an enemy.

The bottom land O was probably a cornfield when the

fortification was inhabited. It is certain that all the trees of

our forests have grown since the disappearance of the Mound

Builders. When I last visited Fort Ancient, a number of

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Ancient Work near Oxford, Ohio.       271

years since, a tall poplar tree, not less than five feet in diam-

eter, was standing directly on top of the wall where it was

twenty feet high, and the most careful examination showed

that the forest trees without, within, or on the wall were of

one age and growth.

A few years ago three skeletons were plowed up in the

wall twenty or thirty feet from H. The bodies seem to have

been laid on the ground and the wall built over them. One

jaw was said to be wide enough to slip over the face of a man

of broad countenance, indicating one giant "in those days."

At the same point in our examination a few weeks ago we

picked up six or seven pieces of skull, one tooth, part of a

rib, and a miscellaneous lot of pieces which were no longer

of any use to the owner.

Although I have lived near this fort most of the time for

more than thirty years, and have often been within it, the

loose description in the books and the erroneous statements

about it induced me lately to make a pretty thorough exami-

nation. The chief points only are set forth in this narrative.

Oxford, 0., Nov. 15, 1887.    R. W. MCFARLAND.

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