Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/25

19 nearest the Muskingum, is the appearance of the walls of a covert way leading towards the river. The highest part of the remains of these walls is twenty-one feet, and forty feet in breadth at the base. The mound of earth, in form of a sugar-loaf, is thirty feet in height, and the base 115 feet in diameter. It is situated at a little distance from the smallest square. These works were included in public squares and have been carefully preserved; but a small opening has been made in the conic mound and found to contain human bones. Although these ancient works fill the beholder with astonishment, others have been discovered of far greater magnitude. On a branch of the Muskingum, about ninety miles from Marietta, there are these ancient works extending about two miles in length, and the ramparts and mounds of a much greater height than those found here. Vestiges of ancient works, of different forms and sizes, and at small distances, are to be found over the whole State, and in many other parts of the western country.

Marietta is favourably situated for commerce and manufactories. The depth and gentle motion of the water, in the mouth of the Muskingum, and the cheapness of excellent ship timber, render this one of the best places for 3hip-building on the Ohio river. A number of large ships and brigs - were built in a short time, and the employment was rapidly progressing