EARTUWORKS ON HARPETH RIVERS. 



79 



CHAPTER V. 



EARTHWORKS ON WEST HARrETH AND BIG HARPETH RIVERS. 



A CIRCULAR embankment lies on the northeastern bank of West Harpeth River, 

 five miles southwest of Franklin, Tennessee, on the land of Mr. J. R. Hughes. 

 This ancient earthwork, together with the mound which it incloses, and the burial 

 mound situated without the line of fortifications, is represented in Fig. 46. 



Fig. 46. 



£arial Mband/ — 





$m^ 



Jfyramidal Md, . 



7Aa-cs 



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'^k Scale /Gaft.ioinA 



Plan of works and mounds lying on West Harpeth Eiver. 



The line of fortification is 1970 feet in length, and incloses seven acres. Both the 

 rampart and the works within tlie inclosure are covered with large forest trees. 



The pyramidal mound standing in the northwestern corner of the inclosure has 

 a diameter at the base of 110 feet, and at the summit of 35 feet, and a mean height 

 of 9 feet. A fine spring breaks out near the southwestern line of fortifications, 

 and runs through a small ravine into the West Harpeth River. 



Near the northeastern angle of the mound is a regularly formed depression or 

 basin, 32 feet in diameter. 



The growth within the inclosure consists chiefly of birch, maple, elm, hickory, 

 and oak; a number of these trees are not more than from 6 to 14 inches in diameter, 

 and are apparently from 40 to 50 years of age ; but there are still standing a 

 number of old oaks. The stump of one of these 7.5 feet in diameter, standing 

 near the foot of the mound, exhibited fJiree hundred rings, and from appearances, 

 the tree had been cut down some twenty years before my exploration. 



The larger oak which overhangs the spring is 10 feet in diameter at the base. 



