30 



ANTIQUITIES. 



The location of the earth-works of Mad river valley that have thus 

 far been examined are found to bear a close relation to the topograph - 

 ical features of this region as described above. They occur usually, 

 on the high land overlooking the river valley, the exceptions to this 

 rule being nearly always in the upper part of its course where a 

 mound is occasionally found located on low ground at the junction of 

 the main stream with one of its smaller tributaries. The works con- 

 sist almost entirely of mounds, there being but one enclosure, as far 

 as is known at present, namely, that situated on Haddix Hill near 

 Osborn, and described in Prof. Werren's paper.* The mounds vary 

 greatly in size. The smaller ones are usually low and flat on the sum- 

 mit, and might be styled disk-shaped mounds. These are from three 

 to five feet in height and from thirty to fifty feet in diameter. An- 

 other class of mounds is more conical in shape, varying trom eight to 

 fifteen feet in altitude and having a diameter at the base of from 

 seventy to eighty feet. The very large mound at Enon, in Clarke 

 county, belongs to the class of Grreat Mounds, like those at Miamis- 

 burg, 0., and Gravecreek, Va., described in Squier and Davis' Mon- 

 uments of the Mississippi Valley. This mound is from fifty to 

 sixty feet in height and is situated a short distance from the village of 

 Enon, upon the east bank of the river. The internal structure of 

 all the mounds of this region that have been opened is nearly 

 homogeneous in character, being generally of a clayey loam like the 

 surface soil. In regard to the relation of the mounds to each other, 

 sufficient data have not yet been obtained upon which to base a 

 definite statement, but it is observed that in the case of those sit- 

 uated upon high ground, one or more may be distinctly seen from 

 the summit of another, as in the case of the Baldwin and Roberts 

 mounds on Buck creek, and of the mounds at Enon, Haddix Hill and 

 Kauffman's farm, suggesting the idea that they may have been used 

 as signal stations. Of the mounds thus far opened by the Associa- 

 tion, those upon the farms of Mrs. Samuel Baldwin and of Mr. Charles 

 Roberts have yielded the most important results, and the description 

 of their excavation and contents will be given in detail. The Bald- 

 win mound was opened in the summer of 1876 and the Roberts mound 

 a year later, but an account of the latter will be given first. 



♦Another earth-work is reported about five miles east of Springfield, but ii has not yet 

 been examined. 



