THE MOUND BUILDERS OF TENNESSEE. 59 
Mound Bottom and Osborn’s Place. At these extensive for- 
tifications, which enclose the sites of two ancient cities, are 
found three pyramidal mounds, about fifty feet in elevation, 
and each one containing an acre upon its summit, and be- 
sides these, numerous lesser mounds. Such structures must 
have required the labor of a considerable population for a 
series of years; and more especially must the erection of 
these earth pyramids have been slow and tedious, as the 
aborigines were without horses or carts, and the immense 
mass of earth must have been carried by hand in baskets and 
skins. The old road or trail which connected these two 
ancient cities can still be discerned in the forest, the well- 
worn way being in some places a foot or more beneath the 
general surface. It is evident from these facts that a chain 
of fortified towns extended in ancient days all along Big 
Harpeth, and from careful excavations and examinations and 
comparisons of the crania and relies, we are convinced that 
they were all erected by the same race. One of the most 
remarkable aboriginal remains in Tennessee is found in the 
fork of Duck River, near Manchester, and is known as the 
Stone Fort. The walls of the fort have been formed of 
loose rocks and stones gathered from the bed of the river. 
The gateway of the fort, which opens toward the neck of 
land between the two branches of the river, is carefully pro- 
tected by an inner line of works, so constructed that the 
enemy entering the fort would be received in a blind pouch 
or bag. Dimetly in front of the gateway of the fort, and ` 
about half a mile distant, stands a remarkable mound, the 
structure of which is similar to that of the walls of the fort, 
being composed of rocks, none of which exceed a foot and a 
half in diameter. This oblong mound is 600 feet in cireum- 
ference and forty feet in height, and the labor of collecting 
and depositing the loose rocks by — must have been con- 
siderable. 
It would be impossible for us upon the present occasion to 
enter into a minute description of the mounds of Tennessee. 
