HIGHLAND LOCATION OF ARCHÆOLOGICAL REMAINS
In examining the standard work on the exploration of the American
mounds, the _Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_ of the
Smithsonian Institution, by Dr. Cyrus Thomas, it is plain that the
mound-building Indians were well acquainted with the watersheds and high
lands in the regions which they occupied. As a general rule it can be
said that they cultivated the lowlands and built their forts and mounds
upon the adjacent heights; but, so widespread are their works over the
counties which they occupied, that it seems evident that they were at
least well acquainted with all the surrounding territory. Whatever may
have been the significance of their works, it is reasonable to believe
that they were erected to be seen and visited; it is sane to believe
that they were erected near the highways traveled, as has been the case
with all other races of history. It is now in point to show that their
mounds and effigies were not only on high ground, but often on the
ranges of hills.
Examining Crawford county, Wisconsin, we find the mound-builders' works
"on the main road from Prairie du Chien to Eastman," which "follows
chiefly the old trail along the crest of the divide between the drainage
of the Kickapoo and Mississippi rivers.... The group is, in fact, a
series or chain of low, small, circular tumuli extending in a nearly
straight line northwest and southeast, connected together by
embankments.... They are on the top of the ridge."[14]
"About 2 miles from Eastman, ... just east of the Black River Road, ...
are three effigy mounds and one long mound.... They are situated in a
little strip of woods near the crest, but on the western slope of the
watershed and near the head of a coulee or ravine."[15]
"In the same section ... are the remains of two bird-shaped mounds,
both on top of the watershed."[16]
"The next group surveyed ... are on the crest of the ridge heretofore
mentioned and on both sides of the Black River Road."[17]
"Mound No. 23 ... is also in the form of a bird with outstretched wings.
It lies ... on top of the ridge, with the head lying crosswise of the
highest point."[18]
"Mound No. 24 is close to the right or east, on the high part of the
ridge, extending in the same direction as 23."[19]
"Northward of this group some 400 yards, there is a mound in the form of
a quadruped, probably a fox, ... partly in the woods and partly in the
field on the west side of the road. It is built on the crest of the
ridge with the head to the south."[20]
"About a mile southward of Hazen Corners ... is a group.... They are
all situated on the northern slope of the ridge not far from the
top."[21]
"... A small group ... situated west of the Black River Road, ... on the
top of the ridge in the woods. The ridge slopes from them to the east
and west."[22]
"Some 10 or 12 miles southwest of the battle-field of Belmont [Missouri]
is one of the peculiar sand ridges of this swampy region, called Pin
Hook ridge. This extends 5 or 6 miles north and south, and is less than
a mile in width.... There is abundant evidence here that the entire
ridge was long inhabited by a somewhat agricultural people, with
stationary houses, who constructed numerous and high mounds, which are
now the only place of refuge for the present inhabitants and their stock
from the frequent overflows of the Mississippi."[23]
"These ... are situated on the county road from Cairo, Illinois....
They are the highest ground in that immediate section" (Missouri).[24]
Crowley's Ridge, running through Green, Craighead, Poinsett, and St.
Francis counties (Arkansas) forms the divide between the waters of White
and St. Francis rivers, and terminates in Phillips county just below the
city of Helena. Most of the bottom lands are overflowed during high
water. There are some evidences of archæological remains throughout the
length of this ridge.[25]
"The works ... one mile northeast of Dublin [Franklin county, Ohio] ...
are on a nearly level area of the higher lands of the section."[26]
"The group shown ... is on a high hill near the Arnheim pike, Brown
county [Ohio]."[27]
"On nearly every prominent hill in the neighborhood of Ripley [Brown
county, Ohio] are stone graves."[28]
"Just east of Col. Metham's residence, on a high point overlooking the
valley ... was a mound."[29]
"... A group ... located 2 miles southwest of the village of Brownsville
[Licking county, Ohio] and half a mile south of the National Road, on a
high hill, from which the surrounding country is in view for several
miles."[30]
In the _Catalogue of Prehistoric Works_ issued by the Bureau of
Ethnology almost every page gives proof that the mound-builders were
occupants of the highlands. Some quotations will be in place:
"Inclosures, hut-rings, and mounds on a sandy ridge between the
Mississippi River and Old Town Lake at the point where they make their
nearest approach to each other, and near the ancient outlet of Old Town
Lake" (Phillips county, Arkansas).[31]
"... Remains of an Indian fort on the summit of a precipitous ridge
near Lake Simcoe."[32]
"Stone cairn ... on ridge between Anawaka and Sweetwater creeks"
(Douglass county, Georgia).[33]
"Stone cairn on a ridge" (Habersham county, Georgia).[34]
"Stone mound on a ridge" (Hancock county, Georgia).[35]
"Deposit ... on a ridge half a mile south of Clear Creek" (Cass county,
Illinois).[36]
"Mounds on the spur of a ridge, midway between the Welsh group [Brown
county] and Chambersburg, in the extreme northeastern part of the
county" (Pike county, Illinois).[37]
"Group of mounds on a ridge in Skillet Fork bottom" (Wayne county,
Illinois).[38]
"Mounds on several high hills" (Franklin county, Indiana).[39]
"Four mounds on top of a ridge near Sparksville" (Jackson county,
Indiana).[40]
"Stone enclosure known as Fort Ridge" (Caldwell county, Kentucky).[41]
"Indian mounds ... on 'Indian Hill'" (Hancock county, Kentucky).[42]
"A group of circular mounds scattered along a ridge between Fox river
and Sugar Creek" (Clark county, Missouri).[43]
"Two parallel embankments stretching across a hog-back between two
ravines" (Livingston county, New York).[44]
"Embankments on Ridge road ... along the edge of the bluff overlooking
the Ridge road" (Niagara county, New York).[45]
"Cairns on ridges" (Caldwell county, North Carolina).[46]
"Stone cairns ... on trail crossing ridge between Tuckasegee river and
Alarka Creek" (Swain county, North Carolina).[47]
Flint Ridge in Coshocton and Licking counties, Ohio, contained stone and
earth mounds and quarries; "Indian trail from Grave Creek mound, West
Virginia, to the lakes, passing over Flint Ridge."[48]
Some of these remains are undoubtedly of no later age than the Indians
whom the first whites knew; many of them are of far earlier times. It is
now held by the most prominent archæologists that there are works of the
mound-building Indians which do not date back far from the time Columbus
discovered America. Thus any work which gives evidence of having been in
existence five hundred years may belong to the mound-building era. And
throughout all these five hundred years there is hardly a time when
there is not evidence of Indian occupation. So the line between the
mound-building Indians and the later Indians, among whom the building
of mounds was a lost art, is exceedingly hard to draw.
[Illustration: EARLY HIGHWAYS ON THE WATERSHEDS OF OHIO]
These quotations give some evidence that the builders of our earliest
archæological works were well acquainted with the high grounds. It is
not apparent now that in any signal instance there exists evidence of a
reliable character that any watershed was a highway; all we are seeking
to show now is the very general fact that these people lived and moved
and had their being often far inland on the heads of the little streams
which never in historic times have served the purpose of navigation, and
that here many of their works are found on the high grounds where it is
sure all previous races have made their roads.
Now, it has been suggested already that lines of land travel have varied
little since the time the buffalo and Indian marked out the best general
courses across the continent. Mr. Benton said that the buffalo blazed
the way for the railroad to the Pacific. In a general way this has been
the rule throughout our history; the first routes chosen have often
proved the best the tripod could find. Now it would be significant if
it could be proved that there are numerous archæological remains along
these strategic lines of travel. This, probably, cannot be shown. There
is, however, strong evidence that is worthy of consideration. Many of
the early routes of travel converged on certain well-worn, strategic
gaps in our mountain ranges. It is interesting to notice how many
archæological remains are found at these points. A few quotations from
the _Catalogue of Prehistoric Works_ will be in point:
"Stone cairns in Rabun Gap" (Rabun county, Georgia).[49]
"Pictographs on large bowlders in Track Rock Gap" (Union county,
Georgia).[50]
"Ancient fire-bed and refuse heap at Buffalo Gap (bones and pottery
found here)" (Union county, Illinois).[51]
"Mound near Cumberland Gap" (Bell county, Kentucky).[52]
"Cairn at Indian Grave Gap on Green Mountain ... in the trail"
(Caldwell county, North Carolina).[53]
"Mound ... said to be ... toward Grandmother Gap" (Caldwell county,
North Carolina).[54]
"Mound ... one mile southwest of Paint Gap post-office.... Cairn at
Indian Grave Gap, in Walnut Mountain ... on south side of road from
Marshall to Burnsville" (Madison county, North Carolina).[55]
"Cairn at Boone's Gap on Boone's Fork of Warriors Creek" (Wilkes county,
North Carolina).[56]
"Cairns at Indian Grave Gap" (Blount county, Tennessee).[57]
"Cairns in the gap on the state line at Slick Rock trail" (Monroe
county, Tennessee).[58]
"Mound 500 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 40 feet high ... 2-1/4 miles
west of Rockfish Gap Tunnel" (Augusta county, Virginia).[59]
Some of these cairns do not, in all probability, date back to the
mound-building era, but the mounds and other archæological works
probably do, giving the best reasons for believing that the earliest of
Americans found the strategic paths of least resistance across our great
divides.
But not only in the mountain passes have our tripods placed their stern
stamp of approval upon the ingenuity of the earliest pathfinders of
America. In a host of instances our highways and railroads follow for
many miles the general line of the routes of the buffalo and Indian on
the high ground. This is particularly true of our roads of secondary
importance, county roads, which in hundreds of instances follow the
alignment of a pioneer road which was laid out on an Indian trail.
No one can examine the maps and diagrams of the archæological works of
central North America with this truth in mind without noticing how
largely these works are found near to some present-day thoroughfare.
This is of significance. While it is true that works near such highways
are perhaps more quickly discovered and easily approached, it is at the
same time doubtful if any of importance have been ignored because they
are at a distance from highways of approach. The relation of these works
to neighboring roads has also been accidentally emphasized by the
necessity of describing their position, which is often most easily done
by a reference to adjacent roads. For all this due allowance must be
made. At the same time this does not explain the fact that a significant
fraction of these works lie along the general alignment of our present
routes of travel and are in numerous instances touched by them. It need
hardly be added that these roads were laid out with as much reference to
the stars above them as to the ancient works near which they
accidentally pass.
The following instances have a bearing on the question:
Two miles from Madison, Wisconsin, a line of mounds is found beside a
highway to the city. The road passes through one of the group and the
remainder follow the road on high ground almost parallel with it.[60]
The road from Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin) to Eastman is paralleled by a
long line of works. As previously noted (p. 69) this road follows the
alignment of an old Indian trail.[61]
There are mounds on both sides of the Black River road near Hazen
Corners, Wisconsin.[62]
In the archæological map of Hazen Corners, Wisconsin, the works bear a
significant relation to the junction of the three roads which meet
there. Supposing the roads to be the prehistoric route of travel, it is
seen that all the mounds lie just beside them, many even touching them,
but in only one instance does a mound cross any of the three present
roads. True, the roads may have destroyed some of the works, but of the
effigy mounds, at least, it is sure that the figures are complete, or
nearly so.[63]
It is to be noticed with reference to the effigy mounds that, to a
person standing on the present highway the figures are "right side up."
In the case of the animal figures, if the road runs to the left of a
figure that figure is found to be lying on its right side; if the road
runs on the right the figure is found to be lying on its left side; the
feet are toward the road. In the case of birds, either the head or the
tail is toward the present highway.[64]
A line of mounds lies on high ground on the northeast bank of the
Mississippi river, near Battle Island, Vernon county, Wisconsin. The
road to De Soto is on the same bank and lies parallel with them
throughout their length.[65]
A remarkable line of mounds and effigies lies near Cassville, Grant
county, Wisconsin. A road runs exactly parallel with them. The mounds
lie on the west and the effigies on the east. The animals lie in a
correct position to be viewed from the road.[66]
Between the Round Pond mounds (Union county, Illinois), which are so
near together that "one appears partially to overlap the other," runs a
roadway.[67]
A roadway cuts through the ancient works on the Boulware place, Clark
county, Missouri; the alignment of the road and the series of works is
nearly the same.[68]
The Rich Woods works, Stoddard county, Missouri, lie on a long, sandy
ridge; "the general course is almost directly north and south." The road
to Dexter runs near them, touching one, in the same north and south
direction the entire length.[69]
The Knapp mounds, Pulaski county, Arkansas, "the most interesting group
in the state," are surrounded by a wall of earth. A roadway passes
through the entire semicircle formed by this surrounding wall, and
passes between or at the base of the mounds contained within it.[70]
A road runs through the entire length of the ancient stone work near
Bourneville, Ross county, Ohio.[71]
A state road (Lebanon to Chillicothe) crosses over Fort Ancient. At the
spot where this road ascends to the fort, the embankments of the latter
are found to be increased in height and solidity, showing that this
point was most easy of ascent--probably the very spot where the ancient
road was made.[72]
A road passes through the entire length of the North Fork works (Ross
county, Ohio).[73]
A road passes through the entire length of ancient work, Ross county,
Ohio.[74]
Two roads cut ancient work in Fayette county, Kentucky.[75]
Ancient work is cut in two by road from Chillicothe to Richmondale,
Liberty township, Ross county, Ohio.[76]
The state road passes through the great Graded Way in Pike county, Ohio,
one of the most famous works in the United States. It is surely
significant that a modern road should pass so near the very track which
evidently was a highway in prehistoric times.[77]
Such are the conspicuous examples of ancient works that are now found to
be on the alignment of modern routes of travel. In two singularly
significant instances--in the Graded Way in Pike county, Ohio, and at
Fort Ancient, Warren county, Ohio--there is no doubt that the modern
road passes over the very track of the road used by the mound-builders.
These two famous works, with the exception of the Serpent Mound probably
the most famous in all the Central West, are near no stream of water
which is not frozen in the winter and nearly dry in the summer. There
can be no reasonable doubt that their builders used the routes on the
watersheds.
As was said at the beginning, it does not seem wise to attempt to
speculate on the probable routes by which these early tribes found their
way to and fro between their works within the interior of the country.
That they did so pass it seems difficult to doubt. That those early ways
were along the watersheds, higher or lower, we may well believe, since
for the races that have occupied the land since their time these
watersheds have been the routes of travel--and will be until aërial
navigation is assured.
That these earliest Americans had roads of one description or another,
there is sufficient evidence. About their great works there were graded
ways of ascent, up which the materials used in construction were hauled
or borne. Now and then we find mention of some sort of roads which may
seem to have been of a less local nature, but so far as highways of war
and commerce are concerned there is no evidence which can be admitted
into this treatise.
It will not be of disadvantage, however, to give a brief catalogue of
such roads and ways as seem of most importance in the _Catalogue of
Prehistoric Works_ previously quoted:
MANITOBA, DOMINION OF CANADA: "Calf Mountain" (Tête de Boeuf), a mound
95 feet in diameter and 15 feet high, with a graded roadway 2 feet high,
running southwest from it 154 feet; about 60 miles north of Pembina.[78]
JEFFERSON COUNTY, GEORGIA: Remains of large cemeteries and a broad trail
leading to Old Town, 8 miles from Louisville, on the eastern side of the
Ogeechee.[79]
LOWNDES COUNTY, GEORGIA: Ruins of an "old town" within a few miles of
Troupville, "with roads discernible, which are wide and straight."[80]
FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA: Camping grounds and traces of old trails in
Secs. 34 and 36, T. 13 N., R. 13 E.[81]
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA: Traces of camp sites and old trails are
observable on Sec. 31, T. 10 N., R. 1 W.; Sec. 33, T. 10 N., R. 2 W.;
Sec. 10, T. 12 N., R. 13 E.[82]
UNION COUNTY, INDIANA: Traces of camp sites and old trails are
observable on Secs. 8 and 11, T. 11 N., R. 2 W.; Secs. 34 and 36, T. 13
N., R. 13 E.; and Sec. 7, T. 14 N., R. 14 E.[83]
MADISON COUNTY, LOUISIANA: Group of earthworks, consisting of seven
large and regular mounds and an elevated roadway, half a mile in length,
on the right bank of Walnut Bayou, 7 miles from the Mississippi
river.[84]
BALTIMORE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS: Old Indian trail in same county,
leading from the rocks of Deer Creek (Hartford county) to an ancient
settlement near Sweet Air.[85]
LICKING COUNTY, OHIO: Work on Colton's place on Newark and Flint Ridge
road--a conical hill which has had a roadway "cut entirely around it;
the dirt is thrown up the hill, leaving a level track with a wall on
the upper side." Two miles and a half northeast of Amsterdam.
WEST VIRGINIA: Indian trail from Grave Creek mound to the lakes, passing
over Flint Ridge.[86]
PIKE COUNTY, OHIO: Ancient works at Piketon, consisting of parallel
walls, graded way and mounds.[87]
It is not, however, on this slight evidence of local roadways that one
would wish to base belief that the early Indians opened the first land
highways in America. It is possible that they had great, graded roads
near their towns and no roads elsewhere, but it is hardly conceivable.
We have seen that the mound-building Indians occupied, in many
instances, the heads of the lesser streams, and the argument in favor of
their having opened the first land highways has been based on this
interior situation which, unless the lesson of history in this case
tends to false reasoning, necessitated landward routes of travel.
There is, fortunately, one last piece of evidence which will more than
make up for any lack of conclusiveness which may be laid to the charge
of the preceding arguments.