444 DOUBLE-WALLED EARTHWOEK IN ASHTABULA CO., OHIO. 



It was formerly surrounded by a marsh or bayou of the creek, but this 

 is now underdrained and tilled. 



A beautiful growth of beach aud maple is found on the island, and 

 trees two feet in diameter stand in rows upon the ridge of the earth- 

 work. The banks gradually rise from the lowland, and the approach to 

 the wall is easy, over a plane on a level with the inclosure. There are 

 two walls and three ditches. The outer wall is 5 feet high from the bot- 

 tom of the outside ditch. The inner wall is but about 2 J feet in height. 

 The outside ditch is 2^ feet deep from the level, and the inner ditches 

 are, at present, but slight depressions. The width from the outside ta 

 the middle ditch is 19 feet, and to the inside, 35 feet in the extreme. 

 From the top of one wall to the top of the other it is 14^ feet. The 

 inclosure contains about 1^ acres, is 250 feet across in one direction aud 

 300 feet in the other. The outer wall extends in a tangent toward the 

 creek, from the inclosure to the water's edge, leaving a space on the 

 water side with a single wall. This space between the two arms of the 

 outer walls extends in a tongue of land which follows a bend of the 

 river, but the length of either arm is but about 100 feet. The whole 

 length of the outer wall, from the water's edge around the inclosure to 

 the water's edge, is about 750 feet. The inclosure was probably a forti- 

 fication or a stockade. Possibly the inner wall marks the line of the 

 stockade, and the outer wall and ditch may have served for defense; or 

 the inner wall may have served for the protection of those who Avere 

 behind the outer. It seems most likely to have been a place for per- 

 manent encampment. The beauty of the spot is remarkable. The fine 

 growth of forest trees, the meadow across the brook, the occasional 

 copse that dots the lowland on the other side, the gentle slopes in the 

 distance, the massive trees that cover the hillsides, and the running 

 stream stealing around the island and through the meadow, make a 

 lovely spot. It is just the place for a happy and contented Indian com- 

 munity. The fish in the stream, the wild animals in the forest, the fruits 

 of the wildwood, the chestnuts and hickory-nuts that still abound, 

 with i">erhaps the corn-fields that may have flourished in the vicinity, 

 would furnish food in abundance. 



There are discovered on the banks near the island '' hearths" or 

 "ovens," which may have been the sites of the tents that were once in- 

 habited by the race now departed. It is probable that the inclosure 

 belonged to the Indians ; but to those tribes which roved here long 

 before the white man came. There is no tradition in regard to it, and 

 the natives here at the time of the first white settlement knew nothing 

 of its historv. 



