Indian Burial Mounds in Whitley County, Indiana
This small pile of stones has been there since the land was settled according to locals. It is located on an old Indian trail that overlooks the Miami Indiana village once inhabited by the infamous Little Turtle.
Counties of Whitley and Noble Indiana,1882
Several mounds have been discovered in Whitley County, and novices have opened a few of them, and as a consequence the more important features have been lost or overloaded. It may be stated in general that, in this locality, the earthworks are of three kinds-sepulchral, where the dead lie buried, sacrificial, where offerings were burned to gain the favor of the deity; and memorial mounds, which were erected to commemorate some great event. A number of years ago, a sepulchral mound was opened about three miles east of Columbia City and a quantity of crumbling homes and a few stone implements were taken. This was a sepulchral mound, and, if a cross section had been examined, the alternate layers of clay, sand and small cemented pebbles would have been seen. This kind of mound was wisely made. There first the stratum of fine gravel, almost as good as cement, placed directly over the skeletons; next was a hard pan of clay that was almost impervious to water as the cement; then came a stratum of sand that would carry all percolating water down the sides of the mounds and away from the skeletons. It is maintained on good authority that corpses, placed under these conditions, with additional stratum of earth above the sand, will be preserved for centuries. The burden of authority places the erection of the mounds throughout. The country at a period preceding the Christian era a co-existent with the old Assyrian, Egyptian and Babylonian nations.
Several mounds have been opened in the county, in which charcoal has been found. If carefully examined, these mounds will present the following characteristics always present in sacrificial mounds. A small earthen alter, sometimes two or more yards square, in the center and at the bottom of the mound, upon which is often found a bushel or more of charcoal and ashes, often mingled with half consumed bones of animal that were burned to propitiate the deity. Over the altar are found the strata of earth already mentioned. . . .The writer learns from various sources that there are mounds in the following townships: Etna, Jefferson, on its eastern line, Troy, Thorn Creek, Smith, Union, and possibly in Columbia and Cleveland. Openings have been made in most of them, and bones, charcoal, ornaments and implements have been discovered.
