104 Hopewell Mound Group 



distance from the western end of the mound, we dug out trench 6, 

 which lay between sectors 3 and 2. The last sector, 7, which was 

 between 1 and 2, was not excavated, neither was section 5. About one 

 third of Mound 23 thus remains unexplored. This explanation is 

 necessary in case the Ohio State Archaeological Society should complete 

 the exploration at some future time. Rain and snow caused great 

 inconvenience in moving the earth, particularly at the north and south 

 ends of the cuts. Here the earth became mud, and it is quite possible 

 that we did not remove some burials in the southern extension of one 

 or two trenches. 



From October 24 to 28 I was called to Cincinnati and Xenia. Dur- 

 ing this period Dr. Cresson had charge of our work. This is here 

 mentioned, since there is some uncertainty with reference to the extent 

 of the two bowlder mosaics or effigies found on the south and southeast 

 slope of Mound No. 25. The first section in No. 25 was made at the 

 highest point (23 feet), and the cut was about 50 feet wide at the top, 

 and varied from ^3 to 38 feet wide at the bottom. It was necessary 

 to make the sides sloping, otherwise the earth would cave in, as it 

 was loose. The scrapers turned up a number of bowlders, such as 

 had been previously found in Mound 23, and some layers of coarse 

 gravel appeared. The persistent number of these bowlders and their 

 more or less uniform size led Dr. Cresson to examine more carefully. 

 They lay from 18 inches to 3 feet below the surface. The bowlders 

 themselves were evenly laid, but the variation in the thickness of 

 covering soil was due to the cultivation of the mound by fanning. In 

 the light of modern scientific work, one may say that the top soil should 

 have been removed for a distance of two hundred by a hundred feet, 

 and these bowlder mosaics uncovered and studied in detail. Yet, this 

 could not have been done for the reason that it would involve great 

 expense and delay. Furthermore, as stated above, Cresson did not 

 realize their importance until they had been considerably damaged by 

 the teams. Dr. W. H. Holmes visited the site when they had been 

 partly removed, and again on his way east about October 29. On my 

 return I saw such as remained of these, being a portion of the leg, tail, 

 and neck of the animals. Cresson states that they were about a hundred 

 feet in length. He executed a drawing of them with detailed measure- 

 ments. Two or three local newspaper notices of our work, published at 

 the time, refer to the bowlder mosaics. An outline sketch was pre- 

 sented by me in the Antiquarian of September, 1897, but is not suffi- 

 ciently accurate to warrant reproduction here. 



On November 3, the bottom of cut 1 in Mound No. 25 was reached; 



