TiiOMASl WEST VIRGINIA. 413 



au(l found to be comi)osed of yellow clay so hard that it was difficult 

 to break it up with a pick. Upon the natural surface was a layer of 

 charcoal and ashes in which were the remains of at least two skeletons. 



INCLOSURE NEAK ST. ALBIN. 



Near St. Albin, in a horseshoe bend of Coal river, 2 miles above Its 

 confluence with the Kanawha, is a bold promontory 300 feet high, be- 

 longing to the farm of Mr. B. Inman, the area of the top being some 

 15 or 20 acres. It is connected with the upland behind it by a long- 

 ridge so narrow in places as scarcely to afford room on top for a wagon 

 track. 



Here what was possibly a " graded way" was traced along and near 

 the outer edge of this promontory, past several small conical mounds 

 and rock heai)s to an inclosure upon the highest jjart. This is near the 

 northern end and less than 100 feet down the rocky eastern hillside, 

 where there is one of the finest springs of this section. This inclosure 

 is circular in form and 104 feet in diameter, with a slight ditch inside 

 the wall, which is steep on the inside and from '■'> to 4 feet high. Tliis 

 wall is broken only in the northwestern part, where there is a gateway 

 12 feet wide. In the center of the inclosed area is a mound 20 feet in 

 diameter and 3 feet high. 



Mr. Wilson, an old resident, aflirms that when he was a boy this 

 work, in common with the rest of the hill, was covered with a heavy 

 growth of forest trees. These were long since cut down, and as the 

 land has never been cultivated the area is now covered with a growth 

 of young timber. He had partially oi)ened the mound in his boyhot)d, 

 and the flat sandstones which he then removed from the top are still 

 lying at the foot. Observing a singular groove across the stones stiU 

 in place, as well as those removed, Col. Korris, the explorer, replaced 

 the latter and found that when properly fitted a-^'clUpped groove or 

 gutter 3 inches wide and nearly as deep was continuous across them 

 from the summit to the bottom. The object the builders of the mound 

 had in view in working out this channel, which must have taken a long 

 time with their rude tools, must be left wholly to conjecture, as there 

 was nothing in or about the mound to give a clue to it. The mound, 

 which was composed of light colored, mortar-like material, apparently 

 a mixture of clay and ashes, extended down 6 feet below the natui'al 

 surface. At this depth was found a single adult skeleton in the last 

 stages of decay, lying jj rostrate on its back. In the hand of the out- 

 stretched right arm was a black slate gorget. 



Two hundred yards south of the inclosure, upon the slope, near the 

 ancient roadway, stood another mound about 50 feet in diameter and 

 6 feet high. This was composed of hard, tough clay to the natural 

 slope, and below it was a vavilt or pit which had been excavated before 

 the mound was thrown u]). This was 8 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 

 about 3 feet deep at the upper end. In it was an adult skeleton 



