498 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



MOUNDS ON THE FAItM OF CAPT. SPARR. 



Ou the farm of Capt. SpaiT, opposite Belle Veruon, on the upper ter- 

 race, is a level tract comprising several lields, which is bounded on one 

 side by the river and ou the other by Maple creek, which here flows 

 jiarallel with the river for perhaps half a mile. Ou this tract are six 

 mounds or graves nearly in a straight line and bearing east of south 

 from the one nearest the point. This, which may be called No. 1, is 3 

 leet high and 25 feet across, composed entirely of stone. It has been 

 all torn up. 



Fifty feet distant is No. 2, an earth mound <S feet high and 50 feet in 

 diameter. This had a trench through it, and a uumber of flat stones 

 wei'e scattered about over its sides, which were thrown out by the inves- 

 tigators ; yet no one could be found who was able to tell anything about 

 its interior arrangement. Another 50-foot interval occurred between 

 this mound and the next. 



No. 3 had been considerably disturbed, but not so much as to pre.- 

 vent its construction from being studied. A circle of bowlders and large 

 flat rocks, measuring 24 feet across, had been made, and the interior 

 paved with flagstones; next, large rocks piled above these; and earth 

 thrown over and around the whole. On the eastern side three rows of 

 the flat, up-edged stones remained. Any examination of the central 

 part of the mound was useless, as it had been torn up se\'eral times. 



Two hundred yards from this is No. 4, a small stone grave, not over 

 12 feet in diameter. Sixty feet farther is a similar grave. Both of 

 these had been plowed around and the stones removed to such an 

 extent that nothing could be ascertained as to their arrangement. 



Twenty-five feet from No. 5 is a stone mound, elliptical in shape, 55 

 feet by 125 feet in its two diameters, 3 feet high, with the longer axis 

 nearly north and south. This was composed almost entirely of water- • 

 worn bowlders of various sizes, some weighing fully 200 i>ounds. They 

 were thrown in promiscuously and rested directly on the soil. For 

 about 8 inches from the top there was no soil, save what had accumu- 

 lated from the decay of vegetable matter; below this the rocks were 

 packed in hard yellow clay ; there was a depression on the east side of 

 the mounds, whence the soil had been removed and the clay thrown 

 on the mound obtained. Whether this had been done as the work 

 progressed or whether the dii-t had been thrown on after the mound 

 was completed, is uncertain; in either case it would have settled to the 

 bottom, lea \ing the upper stones dear. The entire mound was removed, ■ 

 but nothing found; it may have been modern. 



It is reported that in the fields to the south and southwest of these 

 mounds skeletons have been found in a sitting position, under flat 

 stones a few inches below the surface. The statement as to the posi- 

 tion may be considered doubtful, although the rest is quite probable. 



There are two such cemeteries about 5 miles from Monongahela city^ 

 on the farms of John Van Voorhis and Lewis Colvin. They are both 



