ANCIENT MOUNDS IN CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 847 



In regard to the mounds in Essex, I cannot do better than to copy 

 verbatim my notes taken duiyng a visit to that township in July, 1878. 



The tract of country occupying the central portion of Essex seems 

 to have been a favorite place of residence of both the Mound Builders 

 and the red Indians, as it is now of the whites. In point of fertility, 

 ease of cultivation, and large returns for agricultural labor, it is seldom 

 excelled. When first known to the oldest of the present residents it 

 was covered with patches of thrifty hazel bushes, alternating with 

 patches of a rank and nutritious grass. Oak trees of considerable size 

 were scattered over its surface. 



About 118 rods west of the northeast corner of section 16, and per- 

 haps 25 rods south of the section line, the remains of a mound (10) 

 are still to be seen. The field in which it is situated has been under 

 cultivation for, perhaps, thirty years, and the repeated use of the jjIow 

 has reduced the height of the mound as least one-half. The same agency 

 may have also increased its ajiparent area and somewhat changed the 

 form of its surface. At the present time the length of the base is 50 feet; 

 width of the base, 35 feet ; height from the natural surface of the ground, 

 2 feet ; height from the bottom of the broad and shallow trenches around 

 it, from which the earth was apparently taken for its construction, 3 

 feet. The long axis lies nearly east and west, but inclines a little (per- 

 haps 5 or 6 degrees) to the southeast and northwest. The east end is 

 bold and well defined ; the west not well defined, the mound sloping 

 gradually from the junction of its eastern and middle thirds to the nat- 

 ural surface of the ground at its west end. The earth for its construc- 

 tion appears to have been scooped up around its base, but principallj' 

 in three places — around the east end and along both sides of the west- 

 ern part. At about the junction of the eastern and middle thirds, cor- 

 responding to the highest part of the mound, the earth appears to have 

 been left in place on each side, forming a passage between the excava- 

 tions to the foot of the mound, and, perhaps by artificial additions made 

 to it, a graded way to the top. The soil is a sandy loam, with a small 

 admixture of gravel. I worked with a spade for three days in succes- 

 sion, and made extensive excavations in it, but without finding relics or 

 any evidence of the use it had been put to. A short distance easterly 

 from this mound is a smaller one, situated directlj^ in the line of the 

 axis of the larger, which has nearly disappeared under the plow. 



On the south part of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter 

 section 16 is another mound (11,) but a little less in size than the of 

 preceding. Its form is circular. According to measurements that I 

 made, its. diameter at the base, at the present time, is 40 feet, and the 

 height above the natural surface of the ground 22 inches. There is a 

 broad and shallow excavation all around it, from which the earth for 

 its construction was taken. Its height has been diminished by the plow 

 at least one-half. Mr. James Soule was familiar with it before the land 



