ADDITIONAL MONUMENTS IN NEW YORK. 175 



Racket river. It is on a considerable eminence, about half way between the 

 Racket and Grasse rivers, and three miles from the mouth of the latter. The hill 

 may be fifty feet higher than either river ; the ancient work is on the southern 

 declivity of the hill, near the top, and the outer ditch may enclose perhaps an acre. 

 It is nearly square, with the corners projecting beyond the line of the sides ; from 

 which it may perhaps be inferred that it was a defensive work, and belonged to a 

 different period from the circular works above described. The bank, when first 

 discovered, was surrounded by a ditch about three feet wide, and between one and 

 two feet deep. In the ditch were the remains of old pine trees, some of which 

 must have been at least five hundred years old. Within the enclosure were two 

 elevations, about fifteen feet square, and two feet above the level of the surrounding 

 ground. The location commands a prospect of the country around, in every direc- 

 tion, to a considerable distance. 



" In Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, there existed, on the first settlement of the 

 country, a work similar to the one last described, but which is now nearly 

 obliterated by the plough. It was on the west side of Racket river, about half 

 way from Potsdam village to Norfolk. Like the other, it was situated near the 

 top of an elevation, conspicuous from all the surrounding country. Like it, also, it 

 was quadrilateral ; its size was nearly the same, and the vicinity of both furnishes 

 numerous remains of rude pottery, stone axes, flint arrows, and various ornaments 

 wrought in steatite. The location in Potsdam is about eighteen miles distant to 

 the southwest from that in Massena; and there is little doubt but that one might 

 be seen from the other, if the the intervening timber were cut away. 



" The foregoing are the only remains of ancient art which the writer has been 

 able to learn of in St. Lawrence county, after making the most diligent inquiries." 



ESSEX COUNTY. 



The following passages are extracted from a private letter addressed to the author, 

 by P. W. Ellsworth, M. D., of Hartford, Connecticut : " In the summer of 1848, 

 while passing through the town of Keene, Essex County, New York, my attention 

 was arrested by what was instantly recognised as a mound, identical in form with 

 those found at the West. No notes were taken at the time, and in giving you an 

 account of it, I must trust entirely to memory ; but there is little danger of error, 

 as Dr. A. Smith, at this moment at my side, was then with me. We did not go 

 upon the tumulus, but had a distinct view of it from the road, a few rods distant. 

 It was situated near a little stream, in a large, level meadow, which was surrounded 

 on every side by high ground. It was about fifteen or twenty feet high, with a 

 proportionate base, and rose rapidly, with a graceful curve, from the plain, forming 

 a regular cone. Upon inquiry, I ascertained it was considered to be of Indian 

 origin; that it had been partially excavated by money-diggers, but found to con- 

 tain nothing beyond human bones. It attracted my special attention, from the 

 circumstance that I supposed no monuments of the kind occurred to the eastward 

 of the Alleghanies." 



