\ 
296 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 
Mound No. 4, the largest of the three mounds, has an elevation of ten 
feet, and at base a circumference of two hundred and fifty feet. “ It is 
well preserved, and has a beech tree crowing on its eastern slope. 
These mounds are about two hundred feet apart, and range westwardly. 
No. 13 of this group is located on the northeastern portion of this 
plain. It consists of a circular embankment about one hundred feet in 
diameter. This work is now almost entirely destroyed by the cut 
made through the edge of this plain for the New Richmond Railroad. 
Mounds 5 and 6 are situated in a field south of the turnpike, on the 
same plain as Nos. 2,3 and 4 on the lands of Mr. Abner Hahn, and 
are respectively five and three feet in height, 
Mound No. 7 is known as the “big mound;” it is the largest in 
Hamilton county. A description by T. C. Day, published in the Cin- 
cinnati Chronicle, August, 1839, entitled “The Mounds or Tumuli of 
the Little Miami Valley,” is as follows: 
“About a mile east of Newtown, in this county, on the farm of 
Levi Martin, is a mound of the largest class. Its shape is an ovak 
oblong, rounding to its apex with the most perfect accuracy. It is 
situated on a shelf of land about thirty feet above the alluvial bottom 
of the Little Miami river. The soil around is gravelly, but the 
material of its structure, as usual, is a brick-elay. Near its summit is 
a large beech, probably two feet in diameter, and its sides are covered 
with a thick growth of underwood, with several large forest trees. It. 
is within three hundred yards of a high range of hills, and could not, 
therefore, have been erected as a watch tower or a place of defence. 
It has never been opened, but the most probable conjecture is, that it 
is the monument of some mighty chief, who lies interred in its centre. 
The plain around its base is perfectly ievel, except within two hundred 
feet of what was probably its original circumference, the washings of 
the rains have filled up to a considerable height. The dimensions of 
this mound, from actual admeasurements, are as follows: 
Cincumferencerat: WAS. 06 ':,.\ae tia anes 5 Se ree 600 feet. 
Width af paser eh ie i. eos oa er Lames 
Weneth Of atibaeee tec his a th ola 250 “ 
Perpendicular Mersin) 23 ose ss dint ee 40“ 
Covering an area of an acre.” 
A recent measurement (July, 1878) by the writer, gave the height 
as thirty nine feet, circumference at base six hundred and twenty-five 
feet. Col. Chas. Whittlesey, in Vol. lii., Smithsonian Contributions, 7 — 
Art. 7, May, 1850, describes this mound, and figures it in Plate iii., No. 
