Ohio History Journal

Forty-First Annual Meeting            641

 

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE WORK OF RESTOR-

ING AND PARKING OF THE MOUND CITY GROUP,

IN CAMP SHERMAN, ROSS COUNTY, OHIO

Under instruction of the Director, the Curator of Archae-

ology spent the month of October, 1925, on the preliminary work

of restoring the Mound City Group of Prehistoric Earthworks,

located in Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, preparatory to con-

verting the area, turned over to the Society by the War Depart-

ment, into a State Park.

This area, approximately fifty-seven acres in extent, ex-

tends eastward from the public highway to the Scioto River,

with East Liverpool Street its northern, and Portsmouth Street

its southern boundary; in other words, the area comprises the

Camp Sherman Sections N and O.

Conditions of the tract of land at the time of beginning the

work of reconstruction were briefly as follows: In those portions

of Sections N and O where the mounds and their accompanying

earthwork are located, there remained as obstructions the con-

crete bases of the latrines; the greasetraps, and a great deal of

rubbish resulting from razing of barracks. On the area border-

ing the river were more than twenty large dead trees, killed as a

result of picketing horses thereto. The entire area was grown up

in weeds, brush and saplings, approximately three acres being

heavily covered with Virginia creeper of large size.

The concrete bases in Section N were broken up and hauled

to the sites of adjacent mounds to be restored; several of these

bases in Section O were similarly disposed of, and the remainder

are being handled as explained later on in this report.

Approximately eighty wagon-loads of trash and debris were

gathered up and dumped into ravines and washes adjacent to the

river.

The acreage grown up with Virginia creeper was grubbed

over with mattocks, and locust and other heavy brush were

similarily disposed of, to prepare the area for plowing. In order

to destroy as much weed seed as possible, as much of the area

was burned over as would lend itself to this procedure.

The dead trees adjacent to the river were cut down and

burned.

Section N, that is the portion thereof on which the mounds

are located, and the entire strip of land lying between the rail-

road and the river, from East Liverpool Street south to Blue-

field Street, was deep-plowed, the object of this being three-

fold; the procedure serves to locate the sites of undetermined

mounds and the presence of any archaeological evidences not here-

Vol. XXXV--41.

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642       Ohio Arch and Hist. Society Publications

 

tofore discovered. In plowing the above areas, all ditches and

roadways which will not be desirable in the park plans, were

plowed and leveled.

A large supply of electric light poles and railroad ties, which

had been piled along the railroad on and adjacent to the northeast

turn of the earthen enclosure, were removed to government land

north of East Liverpool street.

No attempt was made to complete the restoration of any

given mound, but all of those whose location was evident, in

Section N, received their quota of broken concrete from latrine

bases and a considerable amount of grading by scrapers of ad-

jacent earth.

The northernmost of the two latrines on the Society's acre-

age, was repaired and supplied with door and windows and a

padlock and used as a tool and storage house.

In the absence of any action looking to the utilization and

preservation of the Y. M. C. A. building, facing on Mansfield

Road, temporary repairs were made. It is presumed that the east-

ern and smaller portion of this building will be made into a care-

taker's house. With this in view, windows and doors were taken

from the larger (western) portion, which is in very bad repair,

and used to make the smaller portion somewhat secure against

further deterioration as a result of the winter snows and rains.

This section is in fair condition and will pass through the winter

without marked additional deterioration. The lumber in the

larger portion should go far toward effecting necessary repairs

on the eastern section, and should further afford some lumber to

be used for shelter house or other desired purposes.

With respect to additional concrete latrine bases, in Section

O: it was found that each one yields, upon being wrecked, suf-

ficient metal -- lead packing and iron pipe -- to sell at approxi-

mately $2.00. Two men, with sledges and bars are able to wreck

and pile two floors daily, thus affording a return, in scrap metal,

of $2.00 per day per man. Two of the workmen were willing,

when no other labor was available, to wreck and pile the con-

crete of these bases, in return for the scrap. It was thought to

be an economical proceeding to permit them to do so.

As a result of one month's presence on the site, the pos-

sibilities of the area as a State Park are most impressive. There

are some handicaps which, for the present, cannot well be elimi-

nated; the railroad passing through the eastern part of the en-

closure, will continue to be used indefinitely, as a connection be-

tween the Veterans' Hospital and the main line railroad. While

the streets or driveways at the north and south borders of the

proposed park are ideally located, those at the east and the west

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Forty-First Annual Meeting             643

 

-- Mansfield Road and Charlestown Avenue, respectively -- are

not so happily located, since both intersect and cross over and

through the mound area within the earthen enclosure. The lo-

cation of these two driveways might be changed at some future

time.  Two intersecting drives -- Bluefield and Steubenville

Streets -- should be eliminated; this can easily be done as they

are merely graveled drives.

The Y. M. C. A. building, which offers much needed sup-

ply of lumber and housing facilities, should be looked after at

the earliest possible moment, as deterioration under present con-

ditions is rapid.

Report on the Work of Restoring and Parking of the Mound

City Group in Camp Sherman, Ross County, Ohio,

1925-1926

The following brief report is a summary of the work done

in 1925 and 1926, toward the restoration and parking of the

Mound City Group of Prehistoric Earthworks, under the fund

of $2,000 provided by the State Legislature for the purpose.

Working under instructions of the Director of the Museum, and

with the cooperation of the Chairman of the Mound City Com-

mittee, the Curator of Archaeology spent the month of October,

1925, in preparing the area of approximately fifty-six acres turned

over to the Society by the War Department for the actual work

of restoration and parking. The results of these activities were

set forth in a Preliminary Report tendered to the Director, at

the close of operations, which Report precedes this one. The

efforts of the 1925 survey were concentrated on the clean-off

of debris from the tract, in felling and burning dead and un-

desirable trees, in grubbing, mowing and plowing, and in break-

ing up and removing cement floors of cantonment buildings, all

of which is reported in detail in the foregoing report. The cost of

the 1925 operations was $683.39, leaving a balance from the orig-

inal fund of $2,000 of $1,316.61 for use in the operations of 1926,

all of which is now expended.

The work this season covered the period from May 25 to

July 1. All Mounds of the Group -- twenty -- four in number-

and the earthen wall enclosing them were restored to as nearly

their original locations, form and size as it was possible to deter-

mine, and the immediate vicinity of the mound area was mowed

and cleared of brush and other obstacles.

The work of restoring the Mounds and the Wall entailed

some difficulties, and the labor involved was somewhat greater

than had been anticipated. This was due to several factors.

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644       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Most of the smaller mounds, and several of intermediate size had

been practically obliterated in the construction of the cantonment,

while the enclosing Wall, with the exception of a portion of

the eastern side, had been completely graded down, creating

something of a problem in supplying earth for their rebuilding.

Two of the three large central mounds (numbers 3 and 7) pre-

sented difficulties owing to the presence around their outer mar-

gins of large quantities of coarse gravel and stones, with which

the structures originally were covered. It was almost impossible

either to plow or scrape these masses of earth and stones, which

had to be loosened with picks preparatory to conveyance by dump

scrapers onto the mound, which has a height of eighteen feet.

Heavy rains throughout the season also impeded progress.

No difficulty was encountered in locating the course of the

wall, even where it had been completely eradicated by cultivation

and grading. On its south side, a slight compromise from its

original position was made, in order that advantage might be

taken of the adjacent graveled driveway (Bluefield Street) which,

owing to the fact that it passes through the mound area, was un-

desirable and unneeded. Thus in one operation, material for con-

struction of the Wall was secured and the roadway disposed of.

With the exception of three or four of the smaller mounds, which

had entirely disappeared, original locations of the tumuli were

definitely determined as a result of plowing the area; positions

of the exceptions were approximated from the Squier and Davis

map. Comparison of this old map with the restored group will

show that it errs in many respects and that it does not represent

an exact survey.

Following a decision of the Mound City Committee, which

on June 19th met at the site, the larger portion (to the westward)

of the old "Y" building located on the park area, was offered for

sale. Chairman Spetnagel succeeded in disposing of the part-

structure for $150.00, which sum will be used for roofing, paint-

ing and otherwise repairing the remaining smaller portion, to be

used as a cottage for a caretaker and for shelter house purposes.

This work will proceed shortly, when money accruing from the

sale is available.

With the work of actual restoration of the Mound City

tumuli completed, there remains much to be done. Presumably

the restored mounds and wall will suffer somewhat from washing

as a result of heavy rains. A desirable procedure insofar as the

mounds proper are concerned, would be the sodding of their

bases, to a height of three feet. Abundance of fine blue-grass sod

is available on the park tract, in the pasture-land adjacent to

the river. Sodding of the mound bases, prior to the time when

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Forty-First Annual Meeting             645

they shall have settled well, did not seem advisable; nor would

it have been possible owing to lack of funds.

Careful leveling and grading of the park area, or as much of

it as may be deemed advisable, remains as a task for the future.

A preliminary step would be the breaking up of the entire tract

and seeding it to wheat. This would facilitate leveling and

grading, by thorough harrowing or disking, and dragging, and the

wheat stubble would afford a good nurse-crop for grass, by

sowing, with the wheat, proper amounts of timothy and blue-

grass seed. An arrangement probably could be made for the

seeding of the area to wheat this next autumn which would afford

the Society some monetary returns. However, it should not be

expected that a prospective farmer could do this on the usual

half-and-half basis, since, owing to underground impediments and

other causes, the work of seeding would be much more difficult

than ordinarily.

In the interest of the general welfare of the site, it seems

strongly advisable that a tenant, caretaker, or temporary over-

seer should be on the tract, who might look after it to some ex-

tent in return for the privilege of living in the house, provided

that such can be made habitable.

The Society and the Park Committee are indebted to Doctor

Rowland, in charge of the United States Veterans' Hospital,

and his farm manager, Mr. Godden, and to Superintendent Mc-

Donald, of the United States Reformatory, for many favors and

unstinted assistance in carrying on the work of restoration.

(Signed) A. C. SPETNAGEL,

Chairman.

H. C. SHETRONE,

Curator.

The Committee on

 

NECROLOGY

reported as follows:

With regret we report the death of the following members

of the Society:

Hon. Rufus B. Smith, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1924.

Mrs. Mary C. L. Stevenson, Dresden, Ohio, January 9, 1925.

Mr. R. R. Walker, 528 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio,

March 16, 1925.

Hon. Birchard A. Hayes, Toledo, Ohio, January 24, 1926.

Mr. Hayes was a son of President Rutherford B. Hayes and a

brother of Colonel Webb C. Hayes, a Trustee of this Society.

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