86 Hopewell Mound Group 



in view of the imperfect means at the command of the builders, is 

 immense. The embankments measure together nearly three miles in 

 length; and a careful computation shows that, including mounds, not 

 less than 3,000,000 cubic feet of earth were used in their composition. 

 Within this work, some of the most interesting discoveries recorded 

 in this volume were made. 



Our Survey and Measurements; Comments on Changes Since 

 1845. — The map of our survey (Frontispiece) was drawn by Clinton 

 Cowen, civil engineer. There is one error to be noted, and this is that 

 Mr. Cowen copied Squier and Davis' cross-section, which makes the 

 highest point in No. 25 thirty-three feet. During the course of explora- 

 tion, we found the highest point from the base line to the summit to 

 be twenty-three feet. 



Attention has been called once or twice to discrepancies in the 

 measurements of this large mound. When the survey located on Mr, 

 Hopewell's farm, the mound was covered with a heavy growth of clover. 

 Since Squier and Davis' visit (1844-45) it had been cultivated continu- 

 ously, and the diameter and length extended. The trenches or cuts 

 made through it show that the original diameter was far less than at 

 the present time. The discrepancies in measurements relate solely to 

 the "wash" or "feather edge." The slope of the mound where it meets 

 the surrounding surface, or area, is very gentle; and this slope is extended 

 by ploughing and natural wash or erosion. Mr. Cowen, Dr. Wilson, 

 Dr. Cresson, and myself differed from three or four to as much as ten 

 feet as to where the feather edge ended, and the natural surface began. 

 It seems to me that the general statement made in the notes, and in 

 one or two preliminary publications, that mound No. 25 was 550 feet 

 long and 220 feet wide, is as near the exact as can be determined. 

 Nothing was found in the cuts beyond a point where their walls were 

 five or six feet in height. The exploration indicated that the original 

 area covered by this mound must have been approximately 400 by 160 

 feet. Thus it will be seen that the discrepancies in the measurements 

 are confined to the disturbed or extended edges, and are of little con- 

 sequence. 



Squier and Davis have given such a good description that I will only 

 call attention to the points overlooked by them. The entire space 

 enclosed was occupied as a village site, but the indications are most 

 numerous where the words "village site" have been placed on the map. 

 We examined the point in the wall, where they found calcined human 

 bones, but could discover no traces. The burned wall of the eastern 

 square also is so obliterated that accurate observation could not be 



