| E.G. Squier | Aborignal Monuments | Table of Contents |

•

ORLEANS COUNTY.

IT is not known that many ancient remains occur in this county. There is, however, an interesting work in Shelby township, one and a half miles west of Shelby Centre. The following account of it was communicated by Dr. S. M. Burroughs, of Medina, to O. Turner, Esq., of Buffalo, by whom it was presented to the author. "It consists of a ditch and embankment, enclosing, in a form nearly circular, about three acres of ground. The ditch is still well defined and several feet in depth. Adjoining this fortification on the south is a swamp, about one mile in width by two in length; which was once, if not a lake, an impassable morass. There is a passage-way through the lines of the entrenchment towards the Swamp, and this is the sole gateway discoverable. Large quantities of small stones, of a size to be thrown with the hand, are accumulated in piles within and near the work. Here, too, are many arrow-heads of flint (silex), stone axes, and fragments of pottery, exhibiting ornaments in relief. Human skeletons almost entire have been exhumed here. Half a mile west of the fort on a sand-hill, an immense number of skeletons have been found in a very perfect state. Many seem to have been deposited in the same grave. As some of the skulls appear to have been broken by clubs or tomahawks, is it not probable that this was the site of some great battle?"

Previous Table of Contents Next