Randolph County, Indiana - Pre-Historic, 1882

Pre-Historic

BUNDANT evidence exists to show that North America, (and South America as well), was inhabited hundreds, possibly thousands, of years ago by a swarming human population. Even though we possessed no written records of the doings of men upon the Eastern Continent during the ages that are past, yet the ruins that still remain of the works which they left behind them would attest their presence and their power. In the stirring words of the poet, "These ages have no memory, but they left A record in the desert; columns strewn On the waste sands; statues fallen and cleft, Heaped like a host in bittle overthrown ; Vast ruins where the mountain's ribs of stone Were hewn into a city ; streets that spread In the dark earth where never breath has blown Of heaven's sweet air, or foot of man dares tread The long and perilous ways; the Cities of the Dead !'"'

The immense walls and towers, the stupendous temples, the wondrous pyramids, the burnt and molten mounds filled with bricks and pottery - the caves hewn from the solid rock, the tombs excavated into the sides of cliffs, the marble slabs and huge pillars covered with writing made by human hands; Pompeii and Herculaneum, deep buried, or dug from the bowels of the earth ; the roads and highways remaining still to show to us in these later days how those old nations practiced locomotion in those by-gone ages; the marble pillars, the fallen statues, the gigantic sphinxes, the ruins of Thebes and Athens and Palmyra ; - all these, and a myriad other things declare the certain fact that, long generations ago, human inhabitants dwelt in numbers and in power upon those spreading Eastern lands.

It happens, indeed, that we possess legible written records of human actions as performed by a few men who belonged to some of the ancient nations who once occupied portions of Europe and Asia and Africa. We have histories telling us somewhat of the things which some of the ancient peoples did; telling us of the Jews, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Greeks, the Romans.

But these histories are (as all histories must be) merely fragmentary. They name a few men, a few cities, a few rivers, and describe some of the actions of a small number of persons out of the mighty multitude who once swarmed along those plains and mountains and valleys. But the great mass of human deeds of even the historical periods, so called, must for ever lie inextricably hidden beneath the mist of the unknown and unrecorded past.

So of these Western plains. The written history for unknown ages is wholly lacking - intelligible records, made as such by human pen or pencil or chisel, are not to be found; but the unconscious record shown in earth, in mounds and embankments, in burial-grounds and human skeletons, is abundant on every hand. The ancestral remains scattered far and wide throughout the Western Continent incontestably prove the fact that, before the stubborn Briton, the jolly Frenchman, the bluff Dutchman, the stern and haughty Spaniard ; before Gilbert and Hudson, before De Soto and La Salle, before Columbus and Cortez and Balboa and Pizarro; before even the wandering, wigwam-dwelling red aan, there dwelt throughout this vast Mississippi Valley a thronging race of men: a race, moreover, neither feeble as to power, nor lacking in knowledge and in skill.

These ancient peoples would seem indeed to have labored under some great and serious drawbacks to their power, since no proof has been found of an acquaintance with iron or with iron implements, and little or none, moreover, of the existence of domestic animals of draft or burden.

Yet their achievements, despite these serious drawbacks, as shown by the remains of their works, by the ruins of what they once possessed and dwelt in and of what they constructed, are indeed wonderful. And would it be too much to affirm that, - were the proud Anglo-Saxon race, and the other European races as well, to be swept during the next century from the American Continent, leaving no written records preserved and handed down to following ages, and (say) two or ten thousand years were to pass, while the tooth of time should gnaw remorselessly upon the dwindling remnants of their fading glory - would it be too much to declare that, after such a lapse of time, those who should then tread the American shores, would behold, in that far-off future time, fewer and less striking proofs of the former presence and power of these boastful "' white men'' than do now appear to attest the prowess of the '' Mound-Builders " and " Fort-makers,"' of the Palace-dwellers of Central America and Yucatan, the "« Cliff-dwellers'' of Colorado, or the Sun-or-Devil-worshipers of Tetzuco ?

All over this great valley, and among the mighty mountains and yawning cajions of the far-off West, once lived and moved a mighty race of men. The works which they have forsaken, the ruins which " Old Father Time'' himself has been able neither to deface nor destroy, yet stand, and raise their heads beneath the canopied sky, and say - ' Whose works are all these?"

As England was peopled before the Normans, the Saxons, the Danes, so was the American Continent peopled before the white man or the red man. And not merely were such races scattered far and wide upon our mountains and over our plains, but here, in Randolph County, Ind., here, on these lands which we now own and hold and till, they dwelt. On these rivers and streams they paddled their canoes, the animals of these forests they slew for food. Here they ate, they drank, they toiled, they dwelt, they fought, they died and were buried. Here, even like heroes of other lands and times, recorded or otherwise, they tried in battle fierce and stern defense, to beat back their ruthless foes ; but alas! like other hapless races, they failed and dwindled, and disappeared from the earth! Whence they came, how long they and their ancestors had been domiciled on these lands, and in what manner was the process of extinction; who were and whence came their strong invaders conjecture can only imagine.

They were here, and they are gone! And now, as we gaze sadly on their fortifications and on their bones exhumed from the places of their sepulture, and, as the sighing west wind gently whispers '* Whence and what were these ?'' echo mournfully repeats '"' whence and what?"' but the answer never comes !

A race so numerous, so intelligent, so skillful, so laborious, so brave, must have had dwellings, towns, clothing, implements of labor and of warfare. But of their manner of life we know little. It is strange, indeed, that amid all the remains of their works so little is left to give a clew to their life, their habits, their dwellings, their towns, their civilization.

Some tokens indeed there are, but these indications are not many. In Europe, among the lake dwellings and elsewhere, are found matting, stone arrow heads, copper and stone knives and axes, shell heaps, fragments of woolen cloth, bones of oxen, horses and cattle, of sheep, dogs and goats; seeds of strawberries, raspberries, etc., loaves of bread, and many other things.

In America also have been found matting, pipes, hammers (made of stone) large enough for two men to wield, and in heaps sufficiently large to be hauled away in cart loads, and in quantities enough to be used in walling a well; stone-axes, stone, wood and copper tools in mines worked by those primeval races ; pottery of curious construction and various device, figures supposed to have been idols; cups, bowls, and dishes of divers shapes and designs, etc.

n the northern and eastern portions of the United States, few remnants of stone-work have been found. But in Yucatan, Centra] America, and Colorado, ruins of great towns remain, nearly rivaling the desolated cities of Asia and Africa, while in New Mexico, Colorado and the adjacent regions, stone dwellings and fortresses and towns built upon inaccessible heights, and reached by flights of steps or by ladders, are found, and aboriginal tribes of men still dwelling in them.

Spanish Discoveries

The history of Spanish explorations in New Mexico and California reveals a wonderful state of things; and modern travelers discover present remnants of those ancient peoples and of their wondrous towns.

a journey of ten days brought them to villages containing ten thousand people. 'The houses were well built, four stories high, with good chambers, most of them having fire-places for winter. The people were well dressed in cotton and leather, with good shoes and boots, such as the Spanish had not seen in America before. After four days the travelers went on to another tribe, called the Tiguas, of sixteen towns. In two days they came toa country of eleven towns, of which the natives said the population was more than 40,000. They next visited the Quires and found five towns with 15,000 people. Fourteen leagues farther they found the Cunames, who had five towns with 20,000 people. Their houses were built of stone and lime and were the best the Spaniards had seen. Next were the Amejes, 30,000 in number. Fifteen leagues westward they found the town of Acoma with 6,000 people.

"This town (Acoma) is still in existence #eopled probably with the same race of inhabitants. It was on a high cliff, which was more than fifty platforms in height, and could be ascended only by steps cut out of the rock itself. All the water the people had was in cisterns. _The arable land was two leagues away, being watered by artificial means from a little river in the neighborhood." above the plain. The Pueblo can be reached only by means of a staircase of 375 steps, cut in the solid rock. At the upper end of this [ staircase ] is a ladder eighteen feet long, made from the trunk of a tree, from which notches have been cut for the feet."

Bryant continues: 'Twenty-four leagues farther west, Espejo and his companions came to Zuni, where they found the crosses, etc., left by Coronado half a century before. The Zuni live there still."

It appears then, that our western regions, New Mexico, Arizona, California, etc., were, at the time of their exploration by the Spanish, inhabited by a cultivated people, clothed, dwelling in houses, with cities, in some respects, the most remarkable in the world.

'Thus, in this desert land, we find an agricultural people, dwelling in stone houses, with walls laid in mortar, and plastered within; houses two, three, four, five and six stories high; skilled in pottery, weaving, dyeing; with picture-writing, mythology and religion; with no beasts of burden and no knowledge of metals, their tools being bones, stone and wood."'

He says further that there were found, when the region was discovered by the Spaniards and explored by them in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, about sixty towns, and that some thirty of these towns still remain; that nearly all were semi- Christianized by the Spanish Catholics, but that seven exist now as in ancient days.

These seven towns are in what is called the province of Tusayan, and are named as follows: O-rai-bi, Shi-pau-i-luv-i, Mi-shong-i-ni-vi, Shong-a-pa-vi, Te-wa, Wol-pi, Si-choam-a-vi : the last three called the Moqui towns. They are all built. on high rocks or cliffs, with houses of several stories, entered by ladders, or steps, or both. Before 1540 the clothing was cotton ; but between 1540 and 1600 they were supplied with sheep through the Spaniards, and since that time they have used woolen and now employ it largely. The men wear moccasins, leggings, shirts and blankets (which they make themselves); the women wear moccasins with long tops, besides short petticoats and a shawl over the right shoulder, a belt around the waist and an outer garment.

These seven towns have at present 2,700 inhabitants, though they are much dilapidated, and when in their glory they doubtless contained a far greater number.

"The ruins of towns are found in great profusion throughout Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California, on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, on the western slope as well; * * * over all this vast territory, in every beautiful valley and glen, by every streamlet and every spring, on the high mountains, on the cliffs, away out in the deserts of drifting sand, and down in the deep caiion-gorges are found ruins, stone implements or fragments of pottery."'

Mr. Powell thinks the Navahoes, the Apaches and kindred tribes have swept down in past ages from the north and gradually uprooted these ancient races, leaving only the feeble remnants that are now existing.

The Mexicans and Peruvians, when visited and conquered by Cortez und Pizarro, were far advanced in many arts of domestic life - in building, weaving, road-making, tilling, etc., etc.

The Natchez, a tribe of great intelligence but of limited numbers, and dwelling on the Lower Mississippi, claimed to be descendants of the ancient inhabitants and declared that their progenitors had occupied that land for unknown centuries.

The traditions of the Indians of the northern lake region extend back for '' thousands of moons,"' even to the time, as these traditions declare, in which the Mastodon, whose remains abound throughout the region, still dwelt in those wilds.

And now, interesting questions press themselves upon our notice: Who are they - whence came they - how long dwelt they - whither went they - how came they to leave the region - are

Conjecture is idle. But opinions are rife and diverse - and fruitless. Baldwin thinks they came from the southward - gradually extending through the great valley farther and still farther toward the North. This conjecture maybe true. But even this would be only an approximation.

How came they in Central America? Was that the grand center from whence the conquering hordes came northward to the great lakes and over the vast land of the Western Cordilleras, and spread southward to Peru? And if so, we repeat, how came they in Central America? Echo answers, how? Or did they come from the North, going southward, still and ever southward ? The settled opinion seems to be that the invaders who swept those older races from the face of the country came from the North ; and, if so, why not the former occupants as well? And then again the question arises, whence came those northern invading hordes if such there were? That portion of the continent could not now nourish such hosts of men, nor furnish such a birthplace of nations - how could it in ancient times ?

Some insist upon an American center and originating point for the race, or rather for "'one of the races," as they say. Be it so - but that only multiplies the miracle of the creation of man, requiring not one but many '"'Edens.'' The sad fact appears to be that much, very much of our opinion upon such subjects is bare conjecture - simply ''guess-work"' and nothing more. It is granted that races other and older than the Indians of Columbus's, or at least of De Soto's time, have filléd the land; but who they were, whence they came, how long they dwelt, who swept them away, and when and how the dread result was accomplished we may imagine, we may guess, but the world will be none the wiser therefor ; and these questions, though full of interest, can probably never find an answer.

There might, indeed, be some apparent ground for an opinion that the ancient inhabitants of Mexico, Yucatan, Peru and Colorado, as found by the Spanish explorers and conquerors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, are the descendants of the same people who built the ''mounds"' and "forts '' and " embankments'' of the central regions ; yet even this is only a "' may be so."'

And, where history is utterly wanting, conjecture is wholly unable to supply the lack. Volumes might be written, as they have already been, and doubtless will be in time to come, but who will know any more of the matter through their means ?

But not to dwell. This ancient people (or succession of peoples) must have been numerous, intelligent, skillful, enterprising and of long continuance; and the loss of their history to the world is a misfortuue that can never be regarded otherwise than with profound regret.

The scant and meager remains that still exist from their numerous and widely scattered works, make us wish only the more that we could know who and whence were this wondrous and mysterious race qf men.

A book is extant, indeed, written some thirty years ago. containing an account, apparently authentic and sincere, of the travels and explorations of the author in the Mississippi Valley, as to the mounds in that vast region, which declares asa fact that he found among the Dakota or Sioux Indians, a venerable chief of great age, named De-coo-dah, who claimed to be the last surviving member of the Elk tribe, who were the remnants of the ancient Mound-Builders. The author affirms that the old chief traveled with him in the explorations of the ancient relics ; and, moreover, that he made abundant statements, giving the traditions handed down from his ancestors, of the reason and purpose of the different kinds of structures visited by them. The work is now very rare, only three copies being known to exist. One belongs to Prof. E. H: Butler, of Winchester, obtained, after much time and trouble spent in search of it, through Clarke & Co., publishers, of Cincinnati. Another was found in some old library in the southern part of Indiana by Daniel Hough, Esq., late of Fountain City, Ind., and now in the library left by him at his decease. That copy was obtained by Mr. Hough by exchanging therefor $20 worth of other books. Another one is known to be in existence in the United States but its exact locality cannot now by us begiven. 'The title and description of the book is as follows: '' Traditions of De-coo-dah, and Antiquarian Researches, comprising extensive explorations, surveys and excavations of the wonderful and mysterious remains of the Mound-Builders in America ; the Traditions of the last Prophet of the Elk Nation relative to their origin and use; and the evidences of an ancient population more numerous than the present Aborigines, by William Pigeon. Published at New York by Horace Thayer, 18 Beekman street, New York, 1858. Entered in the Southern District of New York, 1852."

If space could be spared for the purpose, which, however, cannot now be done, it would be of deep interest to give a resume of the contents of the treatise in question. Whether the book be a true recital or not, we cannot tell. It seems to have every mark of authenticity, and no appearance of fraud or trickery of any kind. The announcement of the chief fact, that the author had discovered a descendant of the Mound-Builders, may strike many as being strange; yet such a thing would be in itself no more strange than the fact that the Welsh are descendants of the ancient Britons.

Numerous indeed and wonderful are the relics of these unknown races of men, scattered through the length and breadth of the Mississippi Valley and elsewhere; some of which also are to be found in the county of Randolph. In Ohio alone, more than 10,000 mounds, and 1,500 inclosures and embankments are said to have been found, all presumably the work of these races. These mounds, etc., are found often covered by trees from five to eight centuries old.

Shell heaps, apparently gathered by human hands, abound all along the coast from Nova Scotia to Florida - some of them are very extensive. One heap upon Stalling's Island in Savannah River, 200 miles from its mouth, is 300 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 15 feet high. Doctor Koch of St. Louis states that in 1839 he dug up, in the bottom lands of the Bourbeuse River (in Missouri), at eight or nine feet deep, the bones of a mastodon, with legs standing erect and sunk in the deep tenacious clay. Fires had been kindled around it, and, in the ashes, from two to six inches deep, were found half-charred wood, half-burned bones, stone arrow-heads, stone axes, rough stones, etc.

A year later the same gentleman discovered, in the bottom of the Pomme de Terre River, Benton County, Mo., a skeleton of a mastodon, almost entire, with two arrow-heads underneath it. They lay in a bed of vegetable mold covered by strata of sand, clay and gravel, hitherto undisturbed, and on the surface stood a forest of old timber.

The works which have been discovered are of different kinds in different regions. In Ohio, Indiana and Illinois the mounds are round, square, or having many angles, re-entrant of otherwise. In some regions, mounds are found in the shape of animals.

In Wisconsin, a few miles below the mouth of the Wisconsin River, is one called the 'Big Elephant Mound," from its shape like an elephant. The length is 135 feet, and its width is in proportion.

Many of the works were probably for defense, many for burial, some, perhaps, for worship, while to some no apparent purpose has been assigned. Many of them are very large.

On the Scioto River are embankments, the aggregate length of which is twenty miles! The walls, in some cases, are twentyfive feet high, with an outside ditch fifty to eighty feet wide.

The mounds are of various shapes - pyramids, circles, truncated, terraced, approached by inclined planes and what not. Avenues between embankments appear, extending, in one instance, near the Ohio River for sixteen miles.

The squares, circles, etc., are perfect, and, in some cases, more than a mile in circuit. Their shape and measurement are so accurate as to show a high degree of geometrical knowledge and skill.

There are some Temple Mounds, so-called because they appear like the Mound Temples in Mexico. Altar Mounds occur, containing layers of ashes, etc.

In many of them are found relics of various kinds - pottery, arrow-heads, axes and hammers (made of stone), copper tools, pipes, images, and sometimes human bones, though mostly the sand banks and the gravel banks alone seem to have been used for places of burial.

The copper mines of Minnesota would appear at some remote period to have been extensively worked by some ancient unknown people. Trenches, twenty feet deep, have been found by modern miners, containing tools made. of stone, of copper and of wood, and covered by centuries of vegetable and forest growth. In one deserted mine in Minnesota there was found, eighteen feet down, a mass of copper ore weighing six tons, raised up on a frame of wood five feet high, apparently for removal. How they did these things, moved this mass, worked their copper, made thejr tools, etc., is entirely unknown. Whether they used fire and molds, or pounded the tools into shape with their ponderous stone hammers, or otherwise, will always remain a fathomless mystery. Some of the mounds were of immense size. One at Cahokia, Ill., covered six acres of ground, and its truncated top measured 200 by 450 feet, and its cubical area equaled one-fourth of that of the great Pyramid of Ghizeh in Egypt. There are graded roads leading from terrace to terrace, evidently for easiness of access.

In Ohio has been found a work combining a square with two circles. Kach square measures exactly 1,080 feet to a side, and the circles are precisely 1,700 and 800 feet. Implements have been discovered made of polished porphyry, of granite, of jasper, of quartz and of obsidian.

[Norz. - All kinds of curious antiquities are given promiscuously in the following sketch, whether strictly pre-historic or not, and even though not pertaining to the '' Mound-Builders."']

1. One of the best known is to be seen (partly) in the fair grounds northwest of Winchester. It is an inclosure of fortythree acres in the form of an exact square. The embankment was from seven to ten feet high, with openings east and west eighty feet wide; as also having a mound in the center of the area fifteen feet high. 'The whole inclosure and the embarkment also, when found by the first settlers was covered with large forest trees exactly like the adjacent regions. The eastern opening was unprotected, the western one was surrounded outwardly by an embankment shaped like a horse shoe open toward the gate, joined on the north side to the main embankment, but left open at the south side of the gate for a passage to the outer grounds.

The embankment has been considerably lowered throughout the greater portion of its extent by cultivation, by the passage of highways, etc., but it is still several feet high, and is very plainly traceable along its entire extent.

Some of the bank on the south side toward the southeast corner still remains as it existed at the first settlement of the country. That part is now some six feet high, and perhaps twenty-five feet wide. A large portion of the eastern bank has lately been dug away for the purpose of brick-making, and it is

On the side of a creek not very far distant were gravel banks containing great quantities of human bones, which are said These skeletons were many of them large, but the bones were much decayed, and crumbled readily when disturbed and brought out to the air.

2. Another embankment exists on the Heaston farm west of Winchester, near the crossing of Sugar Creek, inclosing perhaps an acre - not very high.

3. There are mounds in Washington Township. One is near the Hogback Pike on the right of the Winchester and Lynn road. It covers two acres and is forty or fifty feet high.

5. Aremarkable hill or mound, forty or fifty feet high, comprising several acres, round like a flattish hay-stack, is in the southeast corner of Washington Township.

6. In Painter's gravel bank in the bluffs of Bear Creek, near Elder Thomas Addington's (Section 32, 20, 14), were found (in 1879) fifty or sixty skeletons of human frames. Some had been buried separately and some were in a'trench three feet deep. Those buried singly were in a sitting posture with the lower limbs extending horizontally. Those in the trench appeared to have been thrown in promiscuously, some of them crosswise. Some of the graves had been eight feet deep, others only three or four. In the trench was surface earth mixed with the gravel, elsewhere the gravel was pure. Whether the gravel diggers have uncovered the whole trench is not known.

Many, perhaps most, of the skeletons were of unusual size. One jaw was so large as so pass readily outside when applied to an ordinary man's face. One thigh bone was so long that, when put beside the thigh of a man six feet high, the lower part of the bone reached four inches below the knee.

The teeth in the jaws were perfectly sound, some were much worn but none were decayed. No hair was found, nor any woody nor fibrous material, such as cloth, ete. The bones were brittle but the teeth were firm and solid. Elder Thomas Addington saw these things personally, helping to take the gravel from the bank, and the bones from the gravel. He is a soberminded, intelligent, truthful man. Mr. Painter put the bones in a box, and buried them on his farm.

Mr. Addington said one of the skeletons had high cheek bones and long, thin skull like an Indian, and beside it were a pipe and dog. The others were not so.

9. East of Windsor and north of the Pike, on Esq. Thompson's farm, may be seen a large oval mound, covering an acre, and twenty-five or thirty feet high. It is 450 yards round the base and longer than it is wide. When dug into, it shows clay mixed with ashes, and coal more or less. A chunk, sgeming to have been a sod of grass, was thrown up from the bottom of a hole twenty feet deep, dug from the top vertically downward. A red oak tree, four feet through, was standing (forty years ago) near the top of the mound, but no other trees of much size were on its surface. The ground around the mound was then covered with large forest trees. There are now many trees growing along the sides of the mound, from six to fifteen inches through.

An excavation of considerable size appeared (forty years ago) perhaps twenty rods from the base of the mound, which is thought to be the place whence the earth for its construction was taken.

Esq. Thompson has preserved many fine specimens of arrow heads, hatchets, hammers, pestles, etc., picked up on his farm. The hatchets and hammers have hollows cut around them for

10. There was found on Section 84, Town 20, Range 12, on Bear Creek, Franklin Township, by George Addington, on the farm upon which he resides, a hidden well. He was digging in a low but not boggy place on his farm for stock-water. About three feet down he struck some puncheons lying flat, and upon removing them he found below a hollow " gum,'' and a well, inclosed by the gum, ten or twelve feet deep. He put in an oil barrel to complete the '' curb,'' and the well is there now, and he uses it to water his stock.

11. Arthur McKew, of Ridgeville, a prominent and reliable citizen of the county for nearly fifty years, says that, when he was taking the assessment of Greensfork Township (say thirty-five years ago), a light-colored mulatto man who lived apart from the ''settlement'' and who had a white wife, showed him, not far from his house, what seemed to be a sort of a sunken well, filled with logs set endwise in the earth, the ends of the logs reaching to the top of the ground. 'he well (if it was a well) was in the center of a brush-pond, with more or less water around it. 'The roots of the trees for some distance around had becn "'blazed," the blazes pointing from several directions toward the well as a central point.

Mr. McKew saw the well and the sunken logs and the blazed trees, and it was his understanding that none of the settlers had dug the well, nor filled it up nor had done the blazing, and that none of them knew anything about how the thing came there.

[Notzt. - The country in the region had been settled some thirty years, and it is possible, though hardly probable, that the work lad been done by some of the settlers.

12. There is a large, whitish, mound-like hill or knoll, round and smooth, with neither trees nor grass, not far from Snow Iill Station, north of Lynn, on the Grand Rapids Railroad, cast of the railroad and west of the pike. This knoll, covered in the winter with snow, is thought to have given the name to the old town, or hamlet, of Snow Hill.

13. The graveyard in Jericho ( Friends ) seems to have been an ancient burial ground, and human bones have at different times been thrown out where none were known to have been buried. The graveyard is a large gravelly knoll, of an acre or more, ten or fifteen feet high, at a distance from any stream of water.

17. Ina gravel bank on the west side of White River, west of Mt. Zion Church, near Nathan Butts's, were found several skeletons; and, with nearly every one, coals of fire seem to have been thrown in. 'They were three or four feet below the surface, lying horizontally, and mostly large. 'The teeth were solid, though some were worn.

18. There is a considerable knoll, or mound, in Washington Township, west of the railroad and of the wagon road that passes along west of the railroad and parallel thereto. It is southwest of Snow Hill station, located in Cal. Johnson's field, and in sight of the large clayey knoll (No. 12).

19. here are some circular embankments on the Bales farm (now owned by Mr. Branson), not far from Cedar (Friends) Meeting House, in Stony Creek Township, a little north of Cabin Creek. In one place there are two circular embankments together. The circles cut each other. A mound is in the center of each circle, higher than the embankment. 'The earth for both the wall and the mound would seem to have been taken from the

The embankments are now about three feet higher than the level of the ground outside. The central mounds are perhaps ten feet across and four feet high. The ground inclosed in both is about three acres, two acres in the larger and one acre in the smaller. There is an opening like a wagon-way on the east side of each inclosure.

20. Another on the same farm (Bales's) and on the other side of Cabin Creek, is a semi-circle opening to the west. The opening is nearly closed by a curved bank, except a space about twelve feet wide at each end of the bank. There are depressions leading through the passage ways. In the center is a mound fifteen feet across, and the inclosure is about two feet high (1880), containing two acres. South and near by, is another mound fifteen feet across and four feet high.

The fields have been tilled thirty or forty years (or even longer.) At first they were covered by the forest and their height was much greater than at present.

21. Near Buena Vista a stone wall was found near the surface at the base of a hill, extending downward into the earth. How deep it went or how long the wall was, our informant does not know. 'The part he saw was arod or so long. It was between Buena Vista and Unionsport, on the south side of the road, on land owned by Elliott, about one-half mile south of the road.

22. Temple Smith (now living near Stone Station) picked up a stone (triangular, six inches to a side) an inch thick, scooped hollowing in the middle on both sides, very smooth, and highly polished, of a dark, yellowish cast.

23. On Mulligan's farm east of Stone Station, Mr. Lewis found (ten or twelve years ago), a dark, streaked stone, very smooth, long and round, two inches through, with a smooth, round hole drilled nearly through lengthwise ; one end had been broken off, the other was smooth and flat.

from the mouth of Cabin Creek, the diggers found, at the depth of twenty-five feet, a walnut log six inches thick. They cut the log out as long as the width of the well, and brought it to the top. This was thirty years ago. The log lay at least ten feet below the channel or bed of Cabin Creek near by.

In a ditch dug by Joseph Stevens, in the northeast part of Green Township, nearly south of Powers' Station, to drain a pond, great numbers of human bones were taken out, many being of unusual size. The jaw bones were full of teeth.

{Nots. - Whether any remains of mastodons or other huge animals have come to light in Randolph County, we are unable at present to say. No such discovery has ever come to our knowledge].