230 



ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF OHIO. 



Judge Hall, of Cincinnati, we were surprised to learn that Prof, 

 Hitchcock, taking this instance in a sweeping and general sense, 

 had announced in his geological report, that most of the supposed 

 artificial earthworks of the West, had been discovered to be natural. 

 This was at once seen to have been a mistake on the part of this 

 eminent geologist, originating no doubt in expressions not suffi- 

 ciently qualified and guarded on the part of Judge Hall. We 

 had hoped before this, that his views had been corrected. As 

 they have not, I here introduce a few remarks to prove their 

 ai'tificial origin. 



The topography of the greater part of the Western Valley dif- 

 fers widely from that of New England. There we have every 

 evidence that the original surface was a very even, almost level, 

 table ; and that the present form has been produced by the erosion 

 of streams, the larger of which have cut their channels to the depth 

 of about six hundred feet, and opened alluvial valleys from one 

 to four miles in width. A map therefore of the water-courses is 

 an outline of the whole of the simple topography, on which the 

 traveller may rely with so much certainty, that he may by means 

 of a map alone, plan his own road, and travel uninterruptedly, 

 with horses and Avagon, for weeks or months, over a pathless 

 region, without inquiring his way or employing a guide. Even 

 the parts of the country covered by diluvium are smoothly covered ; 

 there are no pot holes, no sand hills, no ridges of drift. It is true 

 there are a few conical outliers on the crests bordering the river 

 valleys, and sometimes in the aUuvians, as in the American bot- 

 toms, as described by Judge Hall ; but these are mostly distin- 

 guished, by the common inhabitants even, in consequence of 

 stratification evident in the materialsof which they are composed. 

 The mountain outlines on the upper Mississippi have been called 

 " Mounds" by a very natiu-al figure of speech, not because they 

 were supposed to be ai-tificial, as Sheralds, Sinsinaway, Piatt, and 

 Blue Mounds, some of which are a thousand feet high, and are 

 composed interiorly of massive sti-atified rocks to the above height, 

 containing in some parts veins of lead ore in place. Now in the 

 midst of the smooth boundless prairie, on the lop of the level 

 wood-covered ten'ace, or on the even, broad alluvium of the mighty 



