This singular work is situated five miles north of Portsmouth, Scioto county, Ohio, on the west bank of the Scioto river. It is not a true ellipse, but approaches very near it. Its longest axis is four hundred and eighty feet, its conjugate diameter four hundred and seven feet. It is built upon a high and beautiful level, elevated some sixty or seventy feet above the Scioto river, which flows about half a mile to the eastward. The embankment is unaccompanied by a ditch, and is about three feet in height, by thirty feet base. It has, as shown in the plan, a single gateway, ninety feet wide, opening to the south-east, which is covered by a long exterior mound, of about the same height with the embankment of the enclosure.

Within this enclosure is a large irregular mound, which, from its resemblance to the animal-shaped mounds of Wisconsin, of which notice will be taken in p084 another place, constitutes by far the most interesting feature of the work. It is of the form and relative size indicated in the plan, and is composed of loose broken sandstone and earth, based upon dislocated and broken sand-rock. It is from one to eight feet high, being lowest at the eastern end or head, and at the projecting points. It is probably of the same design with those of Wisconsin, already alluded to, which occur in great numbers and in long and apparently dependent ranges. None of those, however, so far as known, are found enclosed after the manner of the one here presented. (See “Remains of the North-West.”) No explanation of the probable design of this work will be attempted here: it is impossible, however, to disconnect it from the superstitions of the ancient people. An interesting fact is communicated by F. Cleveland, Esq., of Portsmouth, who assisted Mr. Whittlesey in making the survey of this work, and who was engineer on the Ohio canal when it was in progress; viz. that the workmen engaged in excavating found large quantities of mica, in sheets, in the immediate vicinity of this enclosure. This mineral is found in great abundance in the mounds, and in the neighborhood of these ancient works.

PLATE XXIX. No. 3. ANCIENT WORKS, FRANKLIN COUNTY, OHIO.[64]

This work occurs on the banks of Olentangy creek, a tributary of the Scioto river, about one mile west of the town of Worthington, Franklin county, Ohio. The plateau upon the edge of which it is situated is elevated about fifty feet above the bottoms of the Olentangy, and consists of a clayey soil resting on the black shale formation of Ohio. The work is rectangular in form; its sides correspond very nearly with the cardinal points, (varying but five degrees,) and measure six hundred and thirty, and five hundred and fifty feet respectively. The walls are unaccompanied by a ditch, and are very slight, though distinctly traceable. In the line of the southern wall is a large truncated mound, C, twenty feet in height, and measuring one hundred and ninety-two feet in diameter at the base, and seventy-six feet in diameter at the summit. It is covered with large trees. The wall that leads from this mound to the left, is placed a little further outwards than that leading to the right. The mound D, in the centre of the enclosure, is small and low. Near the south-western corner of the work is a small circle, with an interior ditch and single entrance; it is one hundred and twenty feet in diameter. Some distance to the north-west of the enclosure, and on the opposite side of a deep ravine, is another small circle, one hundred and forty feet in diameter, with three entrances. p085

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PLATE XXX. No. 1.[65]

This work is situated four miles south-west of the town of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, on S. 10, T. 1, R. 2, between the Great and Little Miami rivers. It is indicated by the letter C, in the Map of a section of the Miami valley (Plate [III], No. 2).

The ground upon which this unique work is built is the level bottom of the Miami river, at a distance from any high lands. The principal or square portion of the work is constructed of an embankment of earth, about four feet high by fifty feet base, unaccompanied by a ditch. The walls of the circular or irregular portion of the work, towards Pleasant run, are considerably heavier, and have an interior ditch. The work is not an exact square, nor are its gateways disposed with the usual degree of regularity. The walls, at the western angle, terminate in a large oblong mound, and a small mound occupies the centre of one of the attached circular works.