The success which attended the expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and
the important information which it imparted concerning the nature
of the valley drained by the Missouri and its tributaries, of which
nothing was known but what had been observed by Lewis and Clarke,
induced the Government of the United States to continue its endeavors
to explore the unknown wilds within its limits. The first object
which appeared to it deserving of investigation was the district of
country bounded by the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the northern
boundary of the United States.
Accordingly it was determined in the spring of 1823, by the
executive, that an expedition be immediately fitted out for exploring
the river St. Peter’s and the country situated on our northern
boundary between the Red River of Hudson’s Bay and Lake Superior.
The command of the expedition was intrusted to Major S. H. Long, and
he received orders from the War Department, dated April 25, 1823,
from which the following is taken:--
“The route of the expedition will be as follows: commencing at
Philadelphia, thence proceeding to Wheeling in Virginia, thence to
Chicago via Fort Wayne, thence to Fort Armstrong or Dubuque’s Lead
Mines, thence up the Mississippi to Fort Anthony, thence to the
source of the St. Peter’s River, thence to the point of intersection
between Red River and the forty-ninth degree of north latitude,
thence along the northern boundary of the United States to Lake
Superior, and thence homeward by the lakes.
“The object of the expedition is to make a general Survey of the
country on the route pointed out, together with a topographical
description of the same, to ascertain the latitude and longitude of
all the remarkable points, to examine and describe its productions,
animal, vegetable, and mineral, and to inquire into the character,
customs, etc., of the Indian tribes inhabiting the same.”...
The party travelled in light carriages from Philadelphia to Wheeling,
where they disposed of them and purchased horses in exchange. The
usual route through Lancaster, Columbia, York, and Gettysburg, was
travelled. Here they left the Pittsburg turnpike road and reached
Hagerstown in Maryland by a cross road; from Hagerstown they
continued along the Maryland turnpike road to Cumberland, where
it unites with the national road, upon which they travelled to
Wheeling....
The country about the Muskingum appears to have been at a former
period the seat of a very extensive aboriginal population. Everywhere
do we observe in this valley remains of works which attest at the
same time the number, the genius, and the perseverance of those
departed nations. Their works have survived the lapse of ages, but
the spirit which prompted them has disappeared. We wander over the
face of the country; wherever we go we mark the monuments which they
have erected; we would interrogate them as to the authors of these
mighty works, but no voice replies to ours save that of the echo.
The mind seeks in vain for some clew to assist it in unravelling the
mystery. Was their industry stimulated by the desire of protecting
themselves against the inroads of invaders, or were they themselves
the trespassers? did they migrate to this spot, and if so, whence
came they? who were they? where went they? and wherefore came they
here? Their works have been torn open; they have been searched
into, but all in vain. The mound is now levelled with the sod of
the valley; the accumulated earth, which was perhaps collected
from a distance into one immense mass to erect a monument, deemed
indestructible, over the remains of some western Pharaoh, is now
scattered over the ground so that its concealed treasure may be
brought to light. Every bone is accurately examined, every piece
of metal or fragment of broken pottery is curiously studied; still
no light has as yet been thrown upon the name and date of the once
populous nation which formerly flourished on the banks of the
numerous tributary streams of the Ohio.
Such were the reflections suggested to us by our visit to the
numerous mounds and Indian works which abound in this part of the
country, the first of which we observed in the small village of
Irville, situated eleven miles west of Zanesville. It has been
opened, and as usual it has yielded bones. This mound was about
fifteen feet in diameter and four and a half in height; it appears to
have had an elliptic basis. Our guide told us that he was present at
the opening of it, and that there were a number of human bones, and
among others a tolerably entire skeleton which laid with its head to
the northwest; the arms were thrown back over the head. Besides the
bones there were numerous spear and arrow points, and of the latter
we picked up one on the spot. There was also a plate of copper of
the length of the hand, and from five to six inches in width; it was
rolled up at the sides and had two holes near the centre; its weight
we were told might have been about a quarter of a pound, but was
probably heavier; for it must have been very thin, if, with those
dimensions, it weighed so little. What could have been the use of it,
except as an ornament, was not determined; indeed, the inhabitants
of that part of the country are so much accustomed to dig up the
bones and remains of the aborigines that they are very careless about
observing or recording the objects found, and the circumstances
under which they were discovered. We are told that pieces of copper,
and even of brass, had been frequently collected. The copper may
be easily accounted for without a reference to a higher degree of
civilization or to an intercourse with nations more advanced in the
arts. The existence of native copper strewed upon the surface of the
ground in many places will easily account for the circumstance of its
being used by the natives as an ornament, in the same manner that the
Copper Indians of the north have been known, from the earliest days
of their discovery by the whites, to adorn their persons with it; but
we cannot account for the discovery of ornaments of brass unless we
admit an intercourse with nations that had advanced in civilization.
The existence, therefore, of fragments of this alloy in mounds
appears to us doubtful; for, if true, the Indians who constructed
them must have been much more refined than we can suppose they
were, or they must have had intercourse with civilized nations. The
erection of these mounds, which appear to be in a great measure
contemporary, was certainly much anterior to the discovery of this
continent in the fifteenth century; and therefore it is not from
Europeans that these pieces of brass were obtained, if, again we
repeat it, they have been found interred in these works.
Besides this mound there are many others in the immediate vicinity
of Irville, some of which have very great dimensions. We observed
one near the road, which had been but recently excavated at its
summit; it was perhaps thirty-five or forty feet high. These mounds
were for the most part overgrown with bushes; we could discover no
order or plan in their relative positions, and from the scattered
and irregular manner in which they lie, it does not appear that
they were intended to be connected with any work of defence; it is
more probable that they were erected as mausoleums over the remains
of the dead, and that the difference in their size was intended to
convey an idea of the difference in the relative importance of those
whose bones they covered. We were informed that this valley and the
neighboring hills abound in excavations resembling wells. We met with
none of these; they are said to be very numerous, and are generally
attributed to the first French adventurers, who, being constantly
intent upon the search of the precious metals, commenced digging
wherever they observed a favorable indication. Not having seen any of
these, we could not pretend to express an opinion upon their origin,
but from the number in which they are represented to be, as well as
from their dimensions, they appear to us far exceeding the abilities
of those to whom they are attributed, and to have required a much
more numerous and permanent population than these adventurers are
known to have brought over with them; we would, therefore, prefer
the opinion which ascribes them to the nations that erected the
mounds, and who may have sunk these wells, either for purposes of
self-defence according to the usual mode of Indian warfare, or as
habitations, in the manner known to be practised by some tribes,
or, finally, for some other cause as yet undiscovered. Their great
depth, which is said at this time to exceed twenty feet, may be
considered as an objection to the opinion which we have advanced. The
supposition of Mr. Atwater that these wells, which he states to be
at least a thousand in number, were opened for the mere purpose of
extracting rock-crystal and horn-stone, appears to us too refined.
Whatever may have been the advances in civilization of these nations,
we have no reason to believe that they had carried them so far as
to be induced to undertake immense mining operations for the mere
purpose of obtaining these articles.
“All this,” said Uncle Fritz, “is about Ohio, you see. Now if you will
turn over to my mark you will find something farther off.”