Ohio History Journal

ABORIGINAL HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

ABORIGINAL HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.

[AFTER a brief popular discussion of the evidences of

pre-glacial man in France, England, and New Jersey, Mr.

MacLean spoke of the analogy between the situation of the

gravel terraces along the Miami, in Butler county, and those

in which the remains of man have been found in the other places

referred to. Like the terraces on the Delaware at Trenton,

New Jersey, where Dr. C. C. Abbott had found rough stone

implements of pre-glacial age, the terraces of the Miami

present an important field of investigation, though they have

as yet yielded no direct evidence of man's presence as early

as those in New Jersey. When the ice of the glacial period

had retreated to the central and northern part of the State,

Butler county was for a long period left in a most favorable

condition for some race of hardy hunters like those which

followed the retreating ice on the Atlantic coast to do the

same here. It is worth while, therefore, for local investiga-

tors to be constantly on the lookout along the terraces of

Southern Ohio. The negative and disappointing results of

Mr. MacLean's efforts are thus stated:]

In the valleys of the Somme and the Delaware Bouches

de Perthes and Dr. Abbott have found rude Palaeolithic im-

plements in situ as they were originally deposited in the

gravel terraces of glacial age. But this cannot be said of the

rude implements from Butler county.

With my own hands I have indeed taken rude chert im-

plements from the bottoms of our creeks. But this proves

nothing tangible in regard to antiquity. Whence came they

there? Did they fall from the embankment above, or were

they washed down from a point further up the creek, or were

they recently exposed and still remained in position ? No man

can tell. The same thing has occurred in the bed of White-

water, in the adjoining county of Franklin, Indiana.

1Abstract of a Paper read before the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society at a meeting at Hamilton, October 27th, 1885.

Aboriginal History of Butler County

Aboriginal History of Butler County. 65

Once the Miami Canal extended an arm almost into the

heart of the city of Hamilton. A few years ago this arm

was cut off and the banks leveled. In the gravel of the

south bank, near the junction with Seventh street, I found a

rude stone implement, which evidently had been used as a

netsinker. Still my evidence was not convincing.

A little south of our city the Cincinnati, Hamilton and

Dayton Railroad owns a gravel bank. Thousands of yards

of gravel are annually taken from this deposit. In this

gravel, after it has been loaded upon the cars, I have seen

the same rude implement, fashioned almost after the pattern

of the axe. Four years ago, midway between McGonigle

and Wood's Station, in the gravel used for ballasting the

railroad track, I picked up a porphyritic hatchet, regularly

shaped, well wrought, although unpolished. This also had

been taken out of the gravel bank just below our city. I

have gone to the gravel pit several times, and tried there to

find implements in situ, but so far I have not met with

success.

Passing over a great lapse of time and casting speculation

to one side, we come to the remains of a people upon which

there can be no doubt.

With the exception of Ross county, Butler contains more

antiquities than any other in the State. Prof. S. F. Baird

pronounces it one of the most interesting spots on this con-

tinent. When it is considered that within its borders are less

than three hundred thousand acres of land, the claims put

forth appear to be exaggerated. And yet we have over 250

artificial mounds, and seventeen enclosures. All of the

latter have been surveyed and described save one. Add to

these over three hundred thousand various kinds of stone

implements which have been picked up, and no mean appear-

ance is presented.

Of these remains, the most celebrated is that known as

Fortified Hill, located in Ross township, on Section 12, and

less than two and one-half miles from the Miami. So far as

my information extends, this work has never been surveyed

but once-in the year 1836. The work was done by James

66 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

66 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

McBride and John W. Erwin-the delineation by the latter.

The plan of the work with accompanying description was

first printed in Squier and Davis' "Ancient Monuments of

the Mississippi Valley," published by the Smithsonian Insti-

tution in the year 1848. All other plans and descriptions have

been taken from those made by Messrs. McBride and Erwin.

Passing over such works as contain only a description, the

following books may be named which contain a delineation

of "Fortified Hill:" "Appleton's Cyclopoedia," 1873; Bald-

win's "Ancient America," 1872; Bancroft's "Native Races of

the Pacific Slope," vol. IV., 1875; MacLean's "Mound

Builders," 1879; Larkin's "Ancient Man in America," 1880;

Smithsonian Report, 1883; History of Butler County, 1883;

and Allen's "Pre-historic World," 1885. It is thus seen that

great prominence has been given to this work. The descrip-

tion of the work was originally written by James McBride.

At this late day it may be impossible to tell what liberty

Squier took with the original notes.

As the fort presents itself to-day it is by no means formid-

able, and one wonders why this structure should have been

singled out in preference to many others which certainly con-

tain more striking features. Fort Hill, in Highland

county, is a stronger one. So is the fort just west of Carlisle

station, on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad,

but as to this, our knowledge of it is more recent.

Viewed as it now is, we find it located on three farms,

with two rows of fences running in diverse directions, passing

through it. The northern half of the work is under cultiva-

tion-the wall for the most part sadly damaged by the plow.

The crescent line of embankment exterior to the northern

gateway has been obliterated, although it may be traced

over the recently ploughed ground by a difference in the

color of the soil. The walls enclosing the gateway are nearly

ploughed down. What remains indicate that the main line

of embankment was the heaviest. The plow has brought

to the surface some of the limestone out of which the wall

was partly composed. The northern part of the eastern

wall skirts far below the backbone of the hill. The wall at

Aboriginal History of Butler County

Aboriginal History of Butler County. 67

the lowest part of the hill where it occurs does not have the

appearance of ever having been heavy. The western wall is

in a fair state of preservation, although the plow has done

much towards leveling it.

The southern half of the fort is still covered with forest

trees and underbrush. The wall at this part does not appear

to have been so high as at the northern extremity. In places

large oak trees still stand on the wall, indicating that the wall

itself was not high at these points. Still we are not able to

judge clearly, for we know not what changes have taken

place since the survey of forty-nine years ago. The tramp-

ing of cattle, the rains, the freezing and thawing, and the

natural increase in the weight of the trees, must of necessity

result in some changes.

The descriptions given of the work are uniform in declar-

ing that the wall is composed of a stiff clay. Where the

plow has run over it, there are indications of water-worn

limestone as having constituted a part of the wall. One

year ago I caused two different sections of this wall to be cut

across. These drifts revealed that the outer face of the wall

was originally faced to a height of three feet with regularly

laid up limestone. The wall was three feet in breadth. The

appearance indicated that during the lapse of time the stiff

clay had fallen over the stone wall and thus concealed it.

Four hundred feet south of the eastern gateway is a mound

semi-circular in form, the concave part facing the east. The

mound from base to base is seventy feet by thirty feet. Its

summit is thirty feet by twelve feet, and height five feet.

This mound I opened in 1883, and an account of it is

published in the Smithsonian Report for that year.

I failed to obtain the consent of the proprietor, a German,

to open the mound, which stands a short distance north of

the northern gateway. The owner stated that his boys

wanted to open it. I tried to arrange a time when it should

be opened. But I failed to obtain any satisfaction whatever.

I have since learned that "the boys" opened it, but only

ashes were found.

The other works of this county, save one, have been so