VII. PIKE COUNTY— EARTH-WORKS, ETC. 



PLATE I. 



ANCIENT EXCAVATION, BIG BOTTOM, PIKE COUNTY. 



The works here represented are situated on the west bank of the Scioto River 

 near the line between Pike and Ross Counties. The design appears to have been 

 to form a cut or passage from the bottom land above " Switzer's Point," to the bot- 

 tom land below; but what necessity there was for so expensive a road, is beyond 

 conjecture. The Point (as it is called) is only eighteen or twenty feet above the 

 bottom, and is easy of ascent and descent. Only a very small portion of the earth 

 removed is now to be seen; having been transported to some spot which I did not 

 discover. The banks E, E, E, along a part of the edge of the cut, are light; only 

 one and a half feet high and ten broad. 



The sections or profiles a h, and c d, give the dimensions of this ditch, along 

 which the engineers of the Ohio Canal located a portion of their work. If there 

 were any signs of this passage having been acted upon by running water, we 

 might conclude that it had been used for hydraulic purposes ; but its sides and bed 

 are very little injured, or worn away; no more so than we might expect from the 

 effect of rains, frost, &c. There are probably other remains in the vicinity, although 

 I could hear of none. At the north-eastern end of the east bank, E, is an artificial 

 mound five feet high and thirty broad; and near the termination of the western 

 embankment is a natural one, disconnected with the bank. A little to the west and 

 north-west, is a natural ridge which appears to have been trimmed by art, and to have 

 been used in connection with the lower portion of the western line of embankment. 

 The second bluff is elevated from forty to sixty feet above the river, and is gene- 

 rally under cultivation, as well as the rich bottoms, which are very extensive. 



This work has not the appearance of a drain for swampy land or ponds ; for it is 

 not on the most direct course to the river. If designed as a work of defence, it has 

 rendered the Point by no means inaccessible; for the bottom land on the other side 

 is comparatively solid ground, and the low bluff presents no natural obstacle. The 

 trench itself, unless filled with water, would be but a slight impediment. It is 

 situated within twelve miles of the "Graded Way," near Piketon, described in the 

 Smithsonian Contributions, I. p. 88. The mass of earth removed is here greater 

 than at Piketon; where a large portion, though not all, is used in forming the bank 



at the sides. 



I think it probable that this class of works was connected with religious or 



superstitious ceremonies. 



