752 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



attempt to draw aside the curtain that separates myth from truth may 

 fail, but if this investigation is but partially successful in casting a ray 

 of light upon these mystical structures, the labor will not have been in 

 vain. 



SIGJ?"AL MOUNDS OF BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO. 

 By ,T. p. MacLean, of Ilaviilton, Ohio. 



The great mound of the valley of the Great Miami Eiver is situated 

 on one of the highest hills in its immediate vicinity, and located about 

 three-quarters of a mile southeast of the town of Miamisburgh, Mont- 

 gomery County, Ohio, and about the same distance east of the Miami 

 Eiver. The hill is composed of limestone representing the geological 

 formation known as the Hudson River efjoch. Broken limestone crops 

 out on the surface, and the soil is very thin, not adapted to agricultural 

 puri>oses. The hill from the north and west is steep and may be said to 

 be diflScult of ascent. The surface of the country for a considerable dis- 

 tance to the east and south is very much broken. The mound is on the 

 summit of the hill and on a natural knoll of a very noticeable declivity. 

 The sides or various sloi)es of this knoll appear to be regular and of 

 equal descent, or rather rising evenly from all directions. On the east 

 side of the mound and penetrating it is an excavation walled with stone 

 and probably used as a milk house. Two or three rods farther removed 

 is a farm-house, while the same distance to the northeast is a barn. The 

 mound is 08 feet in perpendicular height, and 852 in circumference at 

 its base, and contains 311,353 cubic feet. The summit is level, circular 

 in form, with a diameter of about 20 feet. It is said that from this point 

 a view may be seen extending for 20 miles up the valley' and the same 

 distance down the river. The day I visited it was cloudy and rainy, caus- 

 ing the view to be limited, although one of the grandest sights within 

 the State presented itself to my eyes. Some of the hills of Butler 

 County, upon which I knew were located mounds, were before me. 



The summit of the mound overlooks some of the most important iu- 

 closures of the valley. Looking north a distance of 3 miles are the in- 

 complete works at Alexandersville, figured and described in "Ancient 

 Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," p. 82. 



In a southwest direction and 5 miles distant from the mound is the 

 Fort on Big Twin located on Sec. 3, German Township, Montgomery 

 County, described in my work on " The Mound-builders," p. 25. An en- 

 larged plan of the work is given. 



Nine miles northeast of the last-named fort, and IJ miles south by 

 west of Farmersville, situated on Big Twin Creek, is another inclosure 

 containing two irregular circles, with still another at the north gateway. 

 The work is situated on a spur of land about 100 feet above the creek 

 with a perpendicular declivity. Toward the north the hill slopes and the 



