It ducers. The Van Nette well lies just south of the site of the new producer and oil men are confident the same vein of the greasy fluid which supplied this once famous well has been struck. is impossible to tell whether the phenomenal flow will continue for any length of time. The Baker well, which created a great sensation in the north Tiffin field, flowed at the rate of thirty barrels per hour, just half the amount of oil the new well puts forth hourly. The Baker well dropped from the gusher class, after a few days, but is still one of the best wells in that field." The climate in Seneca county at the present does not vary much from what the pioneers experienced upon coming to the county, as has been gleaned from the following records made by one of the early settlers: January 26, 1826, 21 degrees below. April 25, 1829, two inches of snow. April 8, 1831, 2 feet of snow fell. May 3, 1831, apple trees in bloom. July 25, 1831, river very high; wet summer. October 10, 1831, high flood. November 21, 1831, winter commenced. January, 1832, great thaw. February 14, 1832, high water; corn three shillings; wheat six shillings; rye four shillings. May 8, 1832, apple trees in bloom; some had to plant corn two or three times. June 1, 1832, very cold summer; corn hardly got ripe. January 5, 1833, wild geese went toward lake; very forward spring. here. April 11 to 26, 1834, heavy frosts. February, 1835, hay $10 at Tiffin; coldest weather ever known March 13, 1836, snow fell 12 inches. May, 1836, high water. February, 1837, snow fell 15 inches; great sugar year. May 11, 1837, corn rotted in ground. January 2, 1838, weather very warm. January 6 and 7, 1838, John Morrison plowed two days. CHAPTER II THE ABORIGINES MOUND BUILDERS OF SENECA COUNTY-SACRED TO THE Dead— HONEY CREEK AND PLEASANT TOWNSHIP-ABORIGINAL RELICS ELSEWHERE-INDIAN RESERVATIONS AND TREATIES-PROMINENT SENECA CHIEFS SENECA JOHN-SQUAWS EXECUTED AS WITCHES BLUE JACKET BLACKFOOT-ROUNDHEAD LOGAN-EXECUTION OF SENECA JOHN-WHITE CAPTIVES BRITISH BOUGHT SCALPS. "Here stand mounds, erected by a race In Seneca county are evidences of a pre-historic people whose origin and fate are unknown. We know of them only by the monuments they reared in the form of earth-works, and as these principally are mounds, we call the people who made them "Mound Builders. The term is not a distinguishing one, for people the world over have been mound builders, more or less, from generation to generation. In no other country are earth-works more plainly divided into classes than here in America. In some places fortified hills and eminences suggest the citadel of a tribe or people. Again, embankments, circular or square, separate and in combination, enclosing perhaps, one or more mounds, exist. What connection, if any, existed between the mound builders and the Indians is yet unsettled. But it seems certain that many years before Columbus discovered America, the mound builders had settlements here in Seneca county, as these ancient earth-works attest. That the people were not unacquainted with war is shown by their numerous fortified enclosures. These mounds and other antiquities give us some knowledge of a people that lived here when civilization was but in dawn in Europe. The history of our own country is at least as interesting as that of the land of Pharoahs, or of Greece, for here we see evidence of an ancient culture, as well as the footprints of a vanished people. It is claimed by some writers that the mound builders were of Asiatic origin and were as a people, immense in numbers and well 15 advanced in many arts. Similarity in certain things indicate that they were of Phoenician descent. Of the mound builders we have speculated much, and know but little. When looking at the past, let us recognize the fact that nations as well as individual pass away and are forgotten. Some mounds were used as sepulchers for the dead, and should not to be desecrated even in the interest of historical research and investigation. An old-time poet wrote: "Oh Mound! consecrated before The white man's foot e'er trod our shore, To battle's strife and valour's grave, "A thousand winters passed away, "The Indian came and went again; "But did the Indian e'er presume, To violate that ancient tomb? Ah, no! he had the soldier grace Which spares the soldier's resting place. "It is alone for Christian hand To sever that sepulchral band, To bind the living to the dead.” Some say, why attempt to roll back the flight of years to learn of a pre-historic people, for the search light of investigation makes but little impression on the night of time. We have no data on which to base an estimate as to the antiquity of man, but we can comtemplate the great periods of geological times, and the infinite greatness of the works of creation, as disclosed by astronomy, with man's primeval condition, as made evident by archaeology, and exclaim, "What is man that Thou art mindful of him." The erroneous ideas of persons, otherwise well informed concerning archaeological matters would amaze one who could attain to any considerable knowledge of the science without previously becoming familiar to some extent with the many absurd theories and notions promulgated by authors ignorant of their subject and writing only to strike the popular mind and pocket. The tendency of most of these works and exceptions are not to be found among those of greatest fame and widest circulation, is to indulge in sentiment without much regard to facts; to appeal to the reader's emotions instead of to his reason; to induce a state of melancholy over the mournful and mysterious disappearance of a numerous and interesting people, instead of furnishing any information about them; to adroity rehash old matter and present it in a new and attractive form, thereby gaining for the compiler the reputation of being a great and learned man. It may seem harsh thus to characterize them, but a milder phraseology scarcely seems admissible; even allowing full honesty of purpose as the rhapsodies of ill-informed enthusiasts are as harmful as the deliberate misstatements of intentional deceivers; and one cannot resist a feeling of indignation that the wide-spread desire for accurate information on a most interesting subject is met. and perforce satisfied with such trash as forms the bulk of our archaeological literature. Heckwelder records a tradition of the Delawares that the Mound Builders came from a place far to the west, and after journeying for a long time came to a river, beyond which dwelt a people called the Tallegwi. These gave the Delawares permission to pass through their county, but when the migrating party divided the Tallegwi attacked that portion which had crossed the boundary river, and drove them with great slaughter. A long and bloody war followed; the Tallegwi made strong fortifications of earth and defended themselves with great bravery, but were gradually driven backward, building forts and other defenses as they went, until they finally passed beyond Ohio. Heckwelder identifies the Detroit as the river where the two tribes met, and says that some of the defensive works of the Tallegwi were pointed out to him, as well as a mound, or mounds, beneath which lay the bones of some of the slain. Skeletons show that the Mound Builders were much beyond the average men of today in size, and it is claimed that they had double teeth all around, as a peculiarity which separates them from all other races. There are eight thousand, two hundred and thirty-pre-historic earthworks in Ohio, of which number only three are credited to Seneca county on the State Archaeological map, although others are locally reported. Concerning the discussions and controversies about the Mound Builders the Secretary of The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Vol. I-2 Society, in reviewing Mr. Fowke's recent work on the "Archaeological History of Ohio," says: "Mr. Fowke's volume is well calculated to 'stir the bones' of the Mound Builders and their modern investigators. It is of course distinctly understood that the Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society does not stand sponsor for Mr. Fowke's archaeological views, much less for his personal animadversions. We perused the advance sheets of Mr. Fowke's book and insisted upon the elimination of much detraction of other authors and we advised the expurgation of much more. It is to be regretted that Mr. Fowke could not have presented his facts and fancies in a less kantankerous style. His pages are all 'sickled o'er' with the lurid cast of sarcastic dogmatism. The subjects of his remarks, however, take him much too grievously. His intolerance is his own condemnation. His book is a vast storehouse of research, study and conjectures concerning the mysterious people known as the Mound Builders and of their extant pre-historic works. His volume, moreover, is a veritable encyclopedia of the literature heretofore produced on the subject. "No such book has ever appeared and no other State could furnish the material for such a production. Of the technical merits of the 'history,' its opinions and statements, we do not presume to speak. The archaeological students are speaking for themselves and somewhat unrestrainedly as they are justified in doing. "This disputation is rather discouraging to the 'layman.' The saying 'in a multitude of counsellors there is wisdom' does not hold out in this case. In a crowd of critics there is an irrepressible conflict, and when doctors disagree who shall decide? A distinguished American jurist remarked 'the past, at least, is secure.' If that be true, archaeology is to be regarded as a 'dead sure thing.' But Fowke's emanations, and, indeed, the mass of archaeological bibliography (American) forces the unsophisticated to the unalterably agnostic conclusion that the Mound Builder was a successful disciple of that classic motto 'Mum's the word.' Some wag has related that when Ralph Waldo Emerson visited Egypt and stood speechless in awe on the Sahara sands before the Sphinx, he suddenly saw the lady's graven mouth begin to move and approaching the immobile features, silent for centuries, he placed his ear to the stone lips and heard a sound like a subdued murmur, 'you're another." As Artemus Ward would say of this controversy of the critics, 'it would be funny if it were not serious.' The Mound Builders of Seneca county, as elsewhere, often builded. better than they knew. Their works are food for thought and subjects for study. Certain it is, that they were a vast and enterprising and interesting race, whence and whither and why, we evidently have not learned. Archaeological 'history' is largely archaeological speculation, and with speculation one man's guess is as |