Having a Plan B is really important when Plan A gets rained out.
My suggestion is to get to know Clark County’s first residents a little bit better.
Now I’m not talking about those first settlers like Simon Kenton, Jonathan Donnel or John Paul over by New Carlisle. And I’m not talking about the French fur trappers who used to have a trading post right in the middle of Medway. (That’s right: The French trappers once lived near where Spangler Road meets the stoplight in the middle of Medway.)
And believe it or not, I’m not talking about the Shawnee Indians who lived in their huge village along the Mad River at George Rogers Clark Park.
No, I’m talking about the ancient ones, the ones who were here long before that.
We know that thousands of years ago this land that we live on had been covered by thousands of feet of ice. As the climate grew warmer and that last continental glacier quickly melted, the milky colored melt water made the Mad River wider than the Ohio.
Really.
The raging water carved a huge river valley. As the glaciers disappeared and the melted water diminished and slowed down, the valley was filled with rocks, gravel and sand. The remaining smaller river meandered back and forth through low swampy areas and deposited layers of rich dark soil. Frequently the river jumped its banks and changed courses.
That is how the river got its name, you know. Early explorers said it was crazy, unpredictable … and Mad.
We do not know exactly when the first residents of Clark County arrived. They lived on the high banks of that river, hunting and fishing. We know they were there because we find their stone tools when we plow our fields, especially along those ridge lines.
I would love to see this area then. The forests were young. There were mammoths, giant elk and herds of bison on the grassy plains. And there were the ancients living well along the ridge lines, sometimes in compounds surrounded by earth works.
There were many of them; different groups with different skill sets. Today we give them names like Glacial Kame, Adena, and Hopewell. We’ll never know what they called themselves because they were gone long before the Shawnee moved here in the 1700s. And long before the settlers arrived.
The Enon Adena Mound captured the imaginations of the exploring frontiersmen. Early settlers reported lots of small mounds in this area, many in odd groupings. In Bethel Twp., two large complexes of mounds and walls, similar to, but smaller than, Fort Ancient, were named after the farmers who owned them, Campbell and Boblett.
During the 1930s, Clark County Historical Society curator Arthur Altick was intrigued by the plentiful artifacts people had been finding in their fields. It seemed that every farmer had a collection.
Like a local Indiana Jones, Altick mapped and excavated many of the mounds on the high plateaus along the Mad River. Part of his focus was the Campbell and Boblett earthworks in Bethel Twp. These were located within sight of each other on either side of the creek along the north ridgeline above the Mad River. Without trees they probably could have been seen from the Enon Mound.
Today some of Altick’s huge collection of local artifacts are in a well-labeled display on the second floor of the Heritage Center of Clark County, 117 S. Fountain Ave. in downtown Springfield. Do open the drawers in the display. The signs say it is allowed.
Really.
There you can get acquainted with the ancients by looking at the cool stuff they made here in Clark County. There are some great old maps displayed that show the sites of some of the mounds and photos of Altick himself.
Altick’s indexed findings reveal to us that more than one hunting and gathering type of culture lived along the ridges above the Mad River within the last 3,000 years. From the remnants he found in the ashes of the campfires, we know the ancients hunted buffalo, bear and elk and ate turtles and clams. They wore bears teeth for decoration. There is evidence of trade with other areas. Stone hoes tell of the beginnings of farming.
It was good that Altick made the effort to examine what he could, because plows soon tore apart the small mounds and low walled complexes of the ancients. Houses and farms were built, and I cannot help but wonder if the current residents have any idea that they live on ancient village sites.
I also wonder how many simpler sites went undocumented. My house is on a small hill. Do I live on one?
So, I am suggesting that when your outdoor activities are rained out, Plan B might be to retreat to the dry and air-conditioned Heritage Center.
Go spend a fascinating hour or two getting acquainted with those who loved the Mad River Valley long before we did.
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