66 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

*CHAPTER VI.

PREHISTORIC RACES.

The Cave-Dwellers—Mound Builders—Their Fortifications and Works in the County—Description and Location of the Works—The Stone Workers.

THE CAVE-DWELLERS.

THAT there was a race of men who dwelt in caves made in the rocks, who inhabited this continent, or parts of it, is now pretty well settled among those who search for ancient traces of mankind. Much inquiry has been made in this direction by earnest and learned men, and the facts gathered furnish strong circumstantial, if not positive evidence that some of the Cave-dwellers inhabited different parts of Ohio, and that they were the first inhabitants. Among the proofs adduced to establish the existence of the Cave-dwellers, we find that some time ago Colonel Whittlesey, who was President of the Northern Ohio Historical Society, made an exploration along the Cuyahoga River, from its source to its mouth, and reported that he found artificial habitations made in the rocks forming the north side of the river, which, though narrow, has

*The following chapters, up to and including parts of the history of Fremont, were written by Hon. Homer Everett,

cut a channel down the north side of the dividing ridge between that river and the Tuscarawas. He found that in some places the chasm was made deeper than the stream is wide at its head, and on the sides were caves containing human bones and bones of animals, showing that they were once inhabited by human beings.

General Bierce, who published a history of Summit county, corroborates, from personal observation, the statements of Colonel Whittlesey as to the caves. General Bierce also shows that in Green township, formerly of Stark county, now of Summit, on the east side of the Tuscarawas River, great numbers of stones were found by the white settlers of Stark county on an elevated plateau. These stones varied from four to six feet in circumference and were elevated a little above the earth's surface, with a comparatively even surface on top. On these stones it was supposed sacrifices of human beings were made to appease the wrath or propitiate

*S. P. Chase.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 67

the favors of some ancient god or gods. Near by the place where these stones were found was the Indian trail used in passing from the Sandusky country to the Ohio River. The trail ran along the elevated ridge on which these stones were found. But no evidence was found about these stone altars either of calcined bones of burnt prisoners, or of charred wood, or of implements to indicate that the altars had been made use of for any purpose by the modern Indians; and in the absence of other evidence, the conclusion is that the altars were erected by the ancient race domiciled in the caves, and who were probably the first of mankind in Ohio. Mr. Whittlesey, in passing down the Cuyahoga, found earthworks and other evidences of a later race than the Cave-dwellers, and further on toward the lake he found what approaches to be regular fortifications, evincing a still higher civilization than the earthworks already mentioned; but he leaves his readers to form their own conclusion.

From the facts given here by Colonel Whittlesey and General Bierce, taken in connection with the better and the undoubted testimony which the Mound Builders have left of their existence, and interpreting the works each race has left on the earth, as they came and passed in successive ages, we may quite reasonably conclude that first came the Cave-dwellers into this land to inhabit it. Second, there succeeded them at some time another race who had invented implements, and could erect earthworks for defences, and who piled it up into great mounds for burial, sacrificial, or military purposes. Thirdly, came a race who worked stone and earth and with their improved implements, made regular fortifications and places of abode or worship. Fourthly came a race of red men who afterwards kicked down the stone altars and destroyed the earthworks of their predecessors, struck fire from flint, burned all they could of the structures of the more ancient races, using for themselves the bow and arrow and stone hatchets and stone arrow heads, with bark canoes and thongs of the hides of animals for fishing and hunting purposes, while the mounds of earth raised by the more ancient races were left unharmed, as places for lookout, or of burial for their chiefs and warriors. Thus seems to read the inscriptions made by the ancient races on the surface of the earth, as far as they have been yet interpreted by observation, science and reason.

WHENCE CAME THE CAVE-DWELLERS.

Where these most ancient of the inhabitants of our continent, the Cave-dwellers, came from, is a question which perhaps may never be satisfactorily answered. But certain geological facts may help to conjecture whence they came. First, it is said by the most learned geologists of the time, that certain portions of this continent are the oldest portions of the earth's surface, and contain its Eozoic crust without evidence of marine beds or other proofs of submergence by any floods since that day. Certain areas in northern New York, Canada, Labrador, and west of the Mississippi, in Missouri, Arkansas, Dakota, and Nebraska remain as in the Eozoic time, or time when there was no life. Second, from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean no sea has ever overflowed these parts of the continent since the close of the carboniferous age or the age which produced the plants and forests out of which coal was formed.* Third, at the time the carboniferous sea disappeared the watershed holding back the mass of waters of the lake existed and on which dry land first appeared in Ohio. This watershed traversed the State from south-

*See Dana's Geology, 135. 136, 137, and 138.

68 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

west to northeast, in the direction of the Canadian highlands.

Mr. Atwater, the antiquarian, in his work on the antiquities of America, holds the opinion that the people who put up stone altars, earthworks, and fortifications, commenced that work at the head of the northern lakes, thence moved along their borders into what is now western New York, thence in a southwestern direction, following the rivers to the Ohio River and down the Ohio and Mississippi, thence to the city of Mexico, as now known, where they had their central power, and from which locality they radiated colonies into what is known as South America, and other countries. But whence came the Cave-dwellers is a question still unsolved. Some speculations are found about it, such as that at one time the islands in the Atlantic, North or South were once so approximate as to allow convenient transit from continent to continent, and that afterwards upheavals in the ocean and the sinking of these islands left a greater expanse of water.. That crossing was once effected by way of Greenland, and thereby a race was planted on this continent—others claiming that man was as indigenous to this continent as to the Eastern hemisphere. These speculations are of little value in settling the query, and leave the question still unanswered and surrounded with that mist and darkness which bounds the region of ascertained facts. There are as yet no discovered traces of this race in Sandusky county; still,, the nearness of them to us makes the mention of them pertinent, while the facts discovered are interesting to all.

MOUND BUILDERS AND THEIR WORKS.

The subsidence of the waters of the glacial period of the earth, which geologists say formed the great chain of lakes whose waters flow over the Falls of Niagara in such awful grandeur, sending the lowest bass of perpetual thunder against the reverberating hills around, left the region of country called Northwestern Ohio, of which Sandusky county is a part, a great plain slightly inclined from the south towards the north, its northern termination but little elevated generally above the level of the lake which bounds it at the present time. The region was generally almost level, and, though swampy, was chiefly covered with a dense growth of large forest trees of considerable variety.

The singular absence of high hills, low valleys, high rocks, and intervening ravines, which made this country ineligible to the Cave-dwellers, rendered it also a rather uninviting location to the Mound and Fort Builders. The works of the successors to the Cave dwellers are therefore not as numerous nor as striking to the beholder as they are in many other localities. But, notwithstanding this unfavorable feature in the surface of the county, there are yet found within its limits sufficient of these works to prove that this ancient race, or these ancient races of men, were once here.

There were, a few years ago, the remains of a line of earthen forts, supposed to be for defence, extending from Muskash Point, now in Erie county, along south and eastward on the solid lands along the marshes of Sandusky Bay to the Sandusky River, striking the river in section twelve, township five, range fifteen; thence up the river to Negro Point, on the Williams Reserve, in section fourteen, and along up the river on the high bank or hill along the river on the east side, up to near the north line of Seneca county.

Mr. Michael Stull, an aged farmer now residing in section twelve, Riley township, says that in 1820 he came to Muskash and owned a piece of land there on which were the remains of a considerable ancient fort. The walls were of earth,

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 69

with openings or gates. The fort was in a circular form and inclosing several acres of ground. In this fort he found flint arrowheads, stone axes, and numerous specimens in various forms of rude pottery which appeared to have been made of burnt clay, largely mixed with pounded shells of clams or oysters.

Another similar fort, with similar remains in and about it, was found in section one, Riley township. Then another on the farm now owned by Mr. Stull in section twelve in the same township. This fort or ancient structure is now entirely obliterated, and was, when the writer visited the place in August, 1879, part of a beautiful clover field, not revealing even a trace of its walls or form. Mr. Stull leveled it himself. It was, according to his description of it, circular in form, with two gates or openings opposite each other. The circle was about twenty rods in diameter. A distinguishing feature of this fort was that a part of the wall on the west side was made by piling soft limestones, which were found in plenty on the surface of the land a short distance from its structure. The walls of this fort, when first seen by Mr. Stull, were about four feet high. The ridge of soft limestone had been covered on the sides and on top by earth to a considerable height; the other portions of the wall were composed of a ridge of earth only.

Another ancient fort was found on the premises now or lately owned by Mr. J. Longan, in section twelve, township five, range fifteen.

Another on land owned by Charles Werth, in the same section, and a little further up the river than that last mentioned.

Another a little further up the river on the land now owned by Jacob Thorn, in the same section.

Another on the Williams Reserve, still further up the river, in section fourteen, same township. This fort included five or six acres of land, and is situated partly on the land now owned by L. D. Williams, and partly on another tract. The five last mentioned of these ancient forts are in the form of semicircles, the river forming the arc. The bank of the river where these remains are found, is composed of earth which readily dissolves and washes away by the action of the water, and these works are on the side of the river on which the current and the motion given to the water by the winds spend their force, and where these forces have for a long time been encroaching upon the land, which, in times past, was some distance away from the river. It is quite plain, therefore, that these, like the one at Muskash Point and the one on the Stull farm, were originally circular in form, and some distance from the perpendicular, low bank of the river, for all the remains of the other forts in this chain, unaffected by the wash of a stream, are in that form complete.

There are evidences of another fort of the same kind above the Williams Reserve a short distance, on the high bank of the river, in section thirteen, township five, range fifteen. This work is different in form from those heretofore mentioned, being nearly square, and is supposed to include about three acres of land. It is situated at a place where there was once an Indian village called Muncietown, about three miles below the city of Fremont.

Another and larger ancient fort was found a little down the river from the residence of Mr. L. D. Williams, which, he says, was a circle and inclosed about ten acres of land.

A MOUND.

Near the fort next above the residence of Mr. Williams, and not far from it, was found a mound about fifty feet in diam-

70 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

eter, which must originally have been raised to a considerable altitude, and must have been of very ancient construction. Mr. Williams says that about the year 1820 he assisted in cutting down a white-oak tree which stood on the very summit of the mound, for the purpose of capturing a swarm of bees which had long been in the tree, and that this tree was then near three feet in diameter. At the time this tree was cut the elevation of the mound was about eight feet above the general level of the surrounding land. The mound was afterwards opened by Mr. John Shannon, of this county, and his brother, about the year 1840. The mound had then attracted considerable observation and much speculation among the observers as to what it was raised for, and what might be in it. One night Mr. Shannon's brother dreamed that there was a large wedge of gold buried under this mound, and communicated his dream as a profound secret, and the two were so strongly impressed with the belief that the gold wedge was there that they, being then young men, resolved to dig open the mound at all events, and see what was in or under it. The stump of the oak had then so far decayed that it was removed without much difficulty. On removing the earth from a considerable space and a little below the general level of the surface around the mound, they found, not the gold wedge dreamed of, but the teeth of a human being in good preservation. Upon further carefully removing the earth they found, marked in a different colored earth from that surrounding it, the figure of a man of giant size, plainly to be seen. Where the breast of the buried man had lain were found two oval-shaped plates of white mica. One of these plates had been, or appeared to have been, perforated, as there was a round hole in it near the centre, such as might have been made by a rifle ball. On the other plate were dark streaks and spots, which the discoverers supposed might be characters or letters, understood at the time, recording the name and rank of the man who had been buried, and the circumstances of his death; but these inferences can only be entitled to the rank of conjectures.

Following the river up about two miles from the location of the mound above mentioned, the remains of another ancient fortification were found on the hill overlooking the valley of the river of the opposite side below and both sides above. It included the block of lots once called the Whyler property, on which he many years ago erected a brick cottage, which is still standing. Here the hill or bluff trends quite sharply to the east for some distance, and then curves southward, meeting the river again near where it is crossed by the Lake Shore railroad in the southern portion of the city. No more advantageous point for a fort and lookout can be found along the whole course of the Sandusky River than this one. Our informant* saw this fort before improvements had obliterated it. According to his description of the location of these remains this fort was in the original plat of the town of Croghansville, on lots 649, 650, 667, 668, 669, 670, as now numbered on the present map of the city, and perhaps other and parts of other lots.

There were a few years ago the remains of another fortification about two miles from the last mentioned, on the bluff commonly known as the Blue Banks, in section ten, township four, range fifteen, in Ballville township.

The remains of another ancient fort were discovered by our informant some distance from the river, on Sugar Creek,

*Mr. Julius Patterson.

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 71

in the south part of Ballville township, on the east side of the river.*

There was also found a considerable mound on what is now out-lot thirty-three, a little to the left or east side of the road leading from the south end of Front street in the city of Fremont, to Ballville village. This mound was leveled and plowed over many years ago. In it were found some human bones, pottery, arrowheads, and stone axes, so common in these tumuli, but the fact that human skulls and other bones were found indicated that the human remains had been placed there at a later date than that of the age of the Mound Builders.

WHY DID THESE ANCIENT RACES COME
AND FORTIFY HERE?

If any one is curious enough to inquire what inducements existed to bring these ancient races to the region of country through which this line of ancient fortifications is found; why they should settle and fortify themselves along the marshes bordering the Sandusky Bay, and the dry land along the banks of the Sandusky River, the answer could rationally be, that they were attracted hither by the health, beauty, or the grand scenery; or by advantageous localities for strong fortifications for defence or aggressive war. The most rational and acceptable answer to these questions may be found in the fact that those races obtained their supplies of food by capturing the game in the woods and prairies, and in the waters in their vicinity. Credible accounts given by the early settlers of countries where the remains of these fortifications were found, all tend to prove that in all the regions of the Northwest, there could be no point found where the locality afforded such a superabundance of superior game and fish in close proximity, as this. The

*Mr. L. Leppelman.

great abundance of deer, bear, turkeys and wild fowl of the woods; and of waterfowl, such as swan, geese, brant, and crane, and ducks of great variety; and such animals as beaver, otter, mink, etc., which the Indians and early white settlers describe as once being here, and the immense quantity of excellent fish, show that no better point could be found for a race of men to locate who depended on the chase for food.

THE STONE WORKERS.

The evidence of the existence of a race of men who worked stone into weapons and clay into utensils, is abundant in the county. There are also proofs showing the great antiquity of this race. Mr. Albert Cavalier, residing on Mud Creek, in Rice township, this county, on section twenty-five, township six, range fifteen, a few years ago cleared a part of his land, which was level—no sign of mound or fort was perceptible. The trees were of white oak, very large and fine; some two and some as large as three feet in diameter. On plowing the land, his plow threw up a great number of flint arrowheads, stone axes, stone pipes, and pieces of pottery composed of burnt clay mixed with pounded shells. These could not be seen on the surface, but were covered nearly to the depth of a furrow, and some were found under the stumps of the trees he had cut, when the stumps were removed. Mr. Cavalier deposited a variety of these articles with the Historical Society, and they . are now in Birchard Library. Mr. Lewis Leppelman, of this city, has been for some years gathering specimens of the same kind. He is entitled to great credit for the time, energy, and money he has spent to collect the largest variety and finest specimens of this kind of relics known in Northwestern Ohio, and placing them also in Birchard library, where they can be seen by all visitors. A description of all

72 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

the varieties of this interesting collection, and where found, would alone make a volume. Mr. Leppelman would lay the public under still greater obligation by placing with them a descriptive catalogue, showing where each of the important pieces was found. This collection contains not only stone arrowheads, axes, and pipes in great variety, but a large number of specimens of other forms of stone, showing equal or more skill in their make, of which it is difficult to conjecture the use. Many of the specimens of Mr. Leppelman have the same form, and are of like material as those found in the lakes of Switzerland, and described and lithographed in the Smithsonian Report of 1876, on page 356 and the four succeeding pages. This valuable work proves very clearly that in Europe there were distinct periods marked by man's use of different material: first, the age of stone; second, the age of bronze; third, the age of iron. The age of stone seems to have for a long time been coextensive with the races of men. The writer was lately informed by Mr. Samuel Ickes. now residing at Deadwood, that some of the Western Indians still use the flint arrow-point for some purposes, such as killing small game with the arrow, and skinning deer and preparing the skin for various uses with the stone axe.