December
20, 2000. Having called yesterday and gotten permission from the owner of the
land, Bob Jones, to explore the mounds, I took a taxi from the motel in
Chillicothe. It was partly sunny and about 20 degrees out.
I start the survey from the (closest to)
south corner. The southwest side of the square, wall “E-G”, had a road built
upon it, which is still present and in use. All references to gateway
nomenclature herein are from the 1880s Middleton-Fowke survey as published by
Cyrus Thomas in 1889 and 1894. I will refer to it as “the Thomas data”.
It is easy to see the southeast wall,
“G-A”, as it leaves the road perpendicularly.
When
I was there, there were various areas of the field left in moderate stubble of
hay of some sort, so not all segments of the earthwork were equally visible.
For instance, starting on the crest of and adjoining the entire length of wall
G-A on its southwest side was an area of unmown dead growth. Hence the width of
this remnant section of the square could not be ascertained. Conversely, the
northern parts of the square, northeast of the fenceline crossing the field,
were virtually bare of growth and well seen.
My goal was to replicate the Thomas data
layout as per the lengths given. I did not measure the azimuths except very
roughly (uncorrected, to a degree or two) with a hand held common compass. By
measuring with a 100-foot tape, I was able to relocate gateways. The accuracy
was probably good: a few feet at most over the 500+ feet between gateways.
I began by measuring from the center of
the road. This was the best guess since the road is over top of the wall.
Following the Thomas data distance, I began measuring toward gateway H. The
gateway was quite obvious and matched well the data. The width of the low
gateway was still around 30 feet. I could not see the southwest side of the
embankment aperture because of the aforementioned stubble and growth.
Continuing on to gateway A, there is a
problem. The Thomas figure puts the tape measurement into a large swale or
ditch. The lease-farmer for this piece of land, George Vandermark, related that
a prior owner of the land in decades past had rediverted the flow of a runoff
creek in the area. In years past there had been a mill not too far away:
flooding and water were and are facets of this landscape. The net effect being
here is that we cannot be sure of the original placement of this corner of the
square, gateway A. Subsequent measures toward gates B and C revealed this error
at A by not matching up with the Thomas data.
AS I measured toward gates B and then
the corner gateway C, their placement did not match the Thomas data, at least
relative to the best fit I could get on the location of the corner “A”. I am
not confident of the location I determined for A.
Subsequent
work to place it per the Thomas data could be explored using profession survey
equipment by plotting the Thomas azimuths as well.
The wall A-C crosses a fenceline between gates B and C.
Here near the fenceline, the embankment is still well pronounced. I have enclosed
a photo of this section of the wall. The view of the camera angle is indicated
on the site map. In the photo, the far wall of the square is notable as the
road. Gateway B, by the way, is poorly defined. It is best noted as a lower
area relative to the rest of the wall sections.
Finally arriving at corner gateway C, one sees the
feature obviously. Both wall B-C and
wall C-D are distinct where they come close to form gateway C. The wall C-D is
very apparent throughout its length. I measure along it following the Thomas
data. I marked the gateway D with some stakes.
AT
this point, I return to corner gateway G, the starting point. Now I measure
back along the road to establish the loci of gateways E and F. It is easy to
measure along the road, except for the few cars etc that go by. Gate F is
highlighted on a detail map provided herein indicating local features along the
roadside.
Corner gateway E is not on the road. The road bends
just as it nears this corner of the square. A swelling in the land can be seen at the location of the destroyed
corner. There are some buildings quite near not shown on the enclosed drawing.
However, it is very easy to see along the bearing of the wall E-G by virtue of
sighting along the road.
Sticking with the Thomas data, I measure now along wall
C-E toward gateway D. There is excellent agreement with the survey stakes I
placed there coming around the other side of the square earlier: the marks are
virtually coincident.
Now I have established the axis of the avenue/square.
This runs between gates H and D. Unfortunately, right before sunset it clouded
over, so I did not get to make the winter solstice set observation!
Report by Christopher S. Turner
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