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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 27
the Town of Blakely, testify to the existence of this prehistoric race, giv
ing us at the same time some of its peculiar habits and characteristics.
Perhaps nowhere on the continent can there be found today memorials
of a more colossal character or of a more profound interest to antiquar
ians, telling of the former existence of this unknown race than we find in
the famous monumental structures on the Etowah, some two miles distant
from the present Town of Cartersville. These ancient relics of an un
known race are located on what was formerly the property of Col. Lewis
Tumlin. There are similar structures to be found in the Valley of the
Mississippi and along the Ohio and the Scioto rivers, but none to com
pare in magnitude with these splendid piles. Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr.,*
who visited the locality some time in the '50s for the purpose of making
scientific investigations, has put on record an exhaustive monograph,
dealing with the subject from almost every point of view. Pie thus
describes these immemorial mounds:
'' Situated upon the right bank of the Etowah River, in the midst of a
perfectly alluvial bottom, they tower above all surrounding objects,
changeless amid the revolutions of centuries. They consist of a series of
mounds, surrounded by a large and deep moat—the traces of which are
quite distinct; and, when filled with the tide of the river it effectually
isolated the entire space included within its boundaries. The Etowah
River here turns to the south; and, after a gentle sweep again recovers
its wonted course, thus forming a graceful bend. This moat originally
communicated at either end with the river, a fact which is still apparent,
although the current of the stream, in its flow of years, has filled to a
very great extent, the mouths of the ditch, thus preventing the influx and
reflux of the tide. Formerly the water must have coursed freely through
it, thus isolating the entire space and constituting quite an obstacle in
the path of an attacking foe. This ditch varies in depth and width; in
some places possessing still a depth of twenty feet—in others, of not more
than eight or ten; and differing in width from fifteen to forty feet. North
and west of the mounds situated within this enclosure, and along the line
of the moat, are two excavations, each having at present a conjectured
area of about an acre, and a depth of some twenty-five or thirty feet.
With these excavations the moat communicates directly, so that the same
rising tide in the river, which flowed into the ditch, would also convert
them into deep ponds or huge reservoirs. The reason why these excava
tions were made is evident. The earth removed in constructing the moat
was not sufficient to build even a moiety of the immense tumuli within the
enclosure. Hence' the Mound Builders were compelled to resort to these
enormous excavations, which still exist and will remain for ages yet to
come. The space included within the limits of the moat is between forty
and fifty acres. From the general appearance and nature of the works,
we are induced to believe that these excavations were designed to answer
another.purpose. They might have been, and probably were, intended
as huge reservoirs, wherein a supply of water, sufficient to flood the
entire moat, might have been detained and preserved ready for an emer
gency. The streams of this region, springing as they do from hilly
* '' Historical Btemains of Georgia,'' by Charles C. Jones, Jr., pp. 27-29, Savannah,
1861.