Ohio History Journal

EDITORIALANA.

ARCHAELOGICAL AGITATION. Elsewhere in this Quarterly we publish quite a snappy symposium concerning Fowke's Book, "The Archaeological History of Ohio," pub- lished by our Society in April last. Mr. Fowke's volume is well calcu- lated to "stir the bones" of the Mound Builders and their modern investigators. It is of course distinctly understood that the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society does not stand sponsor for Mr. Fowke's archaeological views much less for his personal animadversions. We perused the advance sheets of Mr. Fowke's book and insisted upon the elimination of much detraction of other authors and we advised the expurgation of much more. It is to be regretted that Mr. Fowke could not have presented his facts and fancies in a less cantankerous style. His pages are all "sickled o'er" with the lurid cast of sarcastic dogmatism. The subjects of his "remarks" however take him much too grievously: His intolerance is his own condemnation. His book is a vast store house of research, study and conjectures concerning the mys- terious people known as the Mound Builders and of their extant pre- historic works. His volume moreover is a veritable encyclopedia of the literature heretofore produced on the subject. No such book has ever appeared and no other state could furnish the material for such a production. Of the technical merits of the "history;" its opinions and statements, we do not presume to speak. The archaeological students are speaking for themselves and somewhat unrestrainedly as they are justified in doing. This disputation is rather discouraging to the "layman."  The saying "in a multitude of counsellors there is wisdom" does not hold out in this case. In a crowd of critics there is an irrepressible con- flict, and when doctors disagree who shall decide?  A  distinguished American jurist remarked "the past at least is secure." If that be true archeology ought to be regarded as a "dead sure thing." But Fowke's emanations, and indeed the mass of archaeological bibliography (Ameri- can) forces the unsophisticated to the unalterably agnostic conclusion that the Mound Builder was a successful disciple of that classic motto "Mum's the word."     Some wag has related that when Ralph Waldo Emerson visited Egypt and stood speechless in awe on the Sahara Sands before the Sphinx - he suddenly saw the lady's graven (160)

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Editorialana.                       161

 

mouth begin to move and approaching the immobile features, silent for

centuries, he placed his ear to the stone lips and heard a sound like a

subdued murmur "you're another." As Artemus Ward would say of

this controversy of the critics "it would be funny if it were not serious."

The Mound Builders builded better than they knew. Their works are

food for thought and subjects for study. Certain it is that they were a

vast and enterprising and interesting race, whence and whither and why

we evidently have not learned. Archaeological "history" is largely archaeo-

logical speculation, and with speculation one man's guess is as good as

another's, unless it happens to be your own and then of course it is a

good deal better than some one's else.

 

"But first I would remark, that it is not a proper plan

For any scientific gent to whale his fellow-man,

And, if a member don't agree with his peculiar whim,

To lay for that same member for to 'put a head' on him."

 

 

 

 

FORT ST. CLAIR.

 

In the first week in July it was the privilege of the editor to be the

guest for a day of two of the Hon. C. R. Gilmore of Eaton, the pretty

little county seat of Preble county. Mr. Gilmore is the son of the late

Judge W. J. Gilmore who was for many years a trustee of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, and one of its most active and

enthusiastic advocates and workers. He was a devoted lover of historical

lore especially that pertaining to Ohio and the Northwest. His grave

is located in the picturesque cemetery of Eaton and commands a view

of the nearby hill upon which was located the memorable Fort St. Clair.

This historic site and the surrounding fields were the property of Judge

Gilmore, and at his death passed to the possession of his son Clement R.

Gilmore.

Fort St. Clair was erected in the tempestuous months of the Winter

of 1791-2. It was started December 15, 1791, and completed January

26, 1792. Gen. Wilkinson sent Major John S. Gano, belonging to the

militia of the Territory, with a party to build the fort. William Henry

Harrison then but an ensign, commanded a guard every other night for

about three weeks, during the erection of the fort. They had neither fire

nor covering of any kind and suffered much from the winter cold. It

was a stockade of the usual kind, about three hundred feet square and had

about twenty acres cleared around it. The outline can yet be traced

in the contour of the field surface. It was designed to be the midway

fortification between Fort Hamilton on the south and Fort Jefferson on

Vol. XI.-11

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