50 ' AN C I E X T M O X U M E \ T S 



PLATE XVI.* 



HIGH BANK WORKS, ROSS COUNTY, OHIO. 



The beautiful group liere represented is situated on the riglit hank of the Scioto 

 river, five miles below the town of 'Chillicothe, near the road frojii that place to 

 Jackson. It occurs at a place where the river has cut its way up to the third 

 terrace, which in consequence here presents a bold bank, rising seventy-five or 

 eighty feet above the water. This point is generally known as the " High Bank,'''' 

 and gives its name to these works. The third terrace here spreads out into a beau- 

 tiful, level plain of great extent. The principal work consists of an octagon and 

 a circle ; the former measuring nine himdred and fifty feet, the latter ten hundred and 

 fifty feet, in diameter. The coincidences, in the dimensions, between this and the 

 " Hopeton Works," (Plate XVII,) will be at once observed. The octagon is not 

 strictly regular; although its alternate angles are coincident, and its sides 

 equal. The circle is a perfect one. In immediate connection with the work are 

 two small circles, which are shown in the plan, each measuring two hundred and 

 fifty feet in diameter. 



The walls of the octagon are very bold ; and, where tliey have been least sub- 

 jected to cultivation, are now between eleven and twelve feet in height, by about fifty 

 feet base. The wall of the circle is much less, nowhere measuring over four or five 

 feet in altitude. In all these respects, as in the absence of a ditch and the presence 

 of the two small circles, this work resembles the Hopeton Works already alluded 

 to. There are no mounds, except the small ones covering the gateways of the 

 octagon. About half a mile to the southward, and connected with this work by 

 lines of embankment, much I'educed but still traceable, is a small group of works, 

 partially destroyed by the river. A fourth of a mile below this subordinate group, 

 on the bank of the terrace, is a large truncated mound, thirty feet in height. It 

 does not fall within the area exhibited on the map. 



At various points around this work are the usual pits or dug holes, some of 

 which are of large size. To the left of the great circle, on the brow of the terrace, 

 is an Indian burial place. The construction of a farm road down the bank 

 disclosed a large quantity of human bones, accompanied by a variety of rude 

 implements. A short distance below this point, on the same bank of the river, is 

 the former site of an Indian town. 



A number of small circles occur about a hundred rods distant from the octagon, 

 in the forest land to the south-east. They measure nearly fifty feet in diameter, 

 and the walls are about two feet in height. It has been suggested that they are 



*Miukcd .1 in Map. Pliile II 



