In part 3 of his series, Fred Steiner offers an account from “The History of Hardin County, Ohio,” published by Warner, Beers and Co., in 1883.
By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com
Most remarkable of all mounds in Ohio
The most remarkable of all mounds in the State was one in Hardin County, in which were found about three hundred skeletons. A doubt has, however, been expressed that these were all Mound Builders skeletons.
The only other mound of which we have been able to learn anything definite, was located in Hale Township, between Mount Victory and Ridgeway, on the line of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad, and opened in 1856, by John S.B. Matson, during the construction of that road.
This mound was regarded as one of the most remarkable in Ohio, and as Mr. Matson published the results of his investigations, we cannot do better than to give his description verbatim.
He says: “I commenced removing a gravel bank for the purpose of ballasting a part of the railroad. I learned shortly after my arrival that the bank was an ancient burial ground. This information caused me to examine the ground and note discoveries.
Before I came, there had been a track graded and laid. This track separated a short distance east of the mound, one track on the south and the other on the north. The men who graded the track had taken the loam off where the track ran, and cast it out from the mound.
We removed the gravel from both sides moving the track up to the bank when it became difficult to load. The loading was done on gravel cards, by men with shovels, and hauled out with an engine. The average amount removed was about 220 cubic yards per day. After about six weeks in the winter we had to suspend operations on account of the ground freezing.
The mound covered an area of 1 and ½ acres
“The mound covered an area of one and a half acres, being covered with an orchard of apple trees then in bearing. Several large stumps and a few trees of the original growth still remained thereon.
I was informed by citizens of the vicinity that there had been a remarkable heavy growth of timber on the mound. The stumps remaining were large. The mound is what I would call double, the larger and higher part to the east.
About two-thirds of the mound was embraced in this part. The eastern portion presented the appearance of a smaller hill having been pressed against the other, leaving a depression between them of three or four feet below the highest point of the smaller and five or six feel below a corresponding point of the larger.
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