ANCIENT EARTHWORKS IN OHIO. 263 



quarter, is seen overlooking the whole surrounding country for a distance 

 of from four to seven miles. This work is above the town, and there is 

 a gradual descent from it in all directions. It is a strong military posi- 

 tion. A circular embankment, 2,145 feet in length, containing an area 

 of 8^ acres, surrounded the brow of the hill. When the late Henry 

 Gamble entered upon his land in 1815, the fort was covered by large 

 trees, such as were found in the forest of the neighborhood. The em- 

 bankments were very nearly 4 feet high in the center, and 10 or 11 feet 

 wide at the base. The work must have required a considerable body of 

 men a long time to construct it. It had a gate-way at the southwest 

 side, fticing a deep ravine; and near the gate a very excellent spriug. In 

 taking the dimensions of the fort, I was assisted by Col. George W. Urie 

 and Maj. Eichard P. Fulkerson, who examined the work nearly fifty years 

 ago, when much of the large timber was standing. The Atlantic and 

 Great Western Eailway passes down the ravine just south of the fort, 

 and the spring now supplies the water-tank. The embankments have 

 been plowed over for nearly fifty years, and exhibit but slight traces of 

 their outlines. 



In looking down the valley some two miles, a large mound can be seen, 

 which has recently been opened and found to contain human bones, 

 charcoal, and wood, clearly evincing the presence of fire. The mound is 

 situated on the northeast part of section 9, and is composed of sand 

 and drift. The excavation from which it was taken, about one hundred 

 yards away, can be plainly seen. On section 3, in a northeast direc- 

 tion from the above mound, about a quarter of a mile distant, near a fine 

 spring, stood another small mound, which contained human bones, a few 

 arrow-heads, and one or two stone axes and fleshers. These were turned 

 up by the plow. The site of the mound is now obliterated. Other small 

 mounds have been found in Montgomery Township, the contents being 

 similar to the ones described. Four miles northeast of the Gamble Fort, 

 'on section 28, in Orange Township, is found the Norris Mound, near the 

 village of Orange. It has been examined and found to contain human 

 bones, large quantities of red and yellow ocher, charcoal, a few shells, 

 and a pure copper needle seven inches long, with a well-tempered point. 

 If the forest were removed this mound could be plainly seen from the 

 fort. It was evidently a burial site. The presence of charcoal, and the 

 oily condition of the hard-pan, ocher, and sand, would suggest that vast 

 quantities of animal oil had been used in its sacrificial ceremonies. It 

 may have been a signal point also. Large trees grew around and upon 

 this mound, its height being about 5 feet, and diameter 30. 



About thirty-five years since, while some persons were engaged in 

 cutting a bluff on the bank of the creek east of the residence of the late 

 Patrick Murray, for the purpose of improving the railroad alluded to, 

 a number of human skeletons were unearthed. The bones were in a 

 good state of preservation. 



