Sunday, October 28, 2007

10/28/07


Went for a hike and marked a few new stone piles. Judy was happier than she looks in the picture. Most of these piles were small but showed definite signs of stacking.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Update

I've been very busy since school started and I have not had time to post new information or get out into the woods. Hunting season is gearing up so I will probably wait until December before I venture out into the woods again. I have been hearing rumors of a number of sites located throughout New York State where native stone structure can be found. I will be adding to this post as time allows listing places where these structures are rumored to have been found. If anyone reading this blog has time to check out these site and send a reply I would appreciate the information.

This account is from Mason C. Winfield's web site "Monsters From The Mound"
T. Apoleon Cheney notes (in Illustrations of the Ancient Monuments of Western New York) that a twelve-foot high elliptical mound above Cattaraugus County’s Conewango Valley held eight big skeletons. Most crumbled, but a thigh bone was found to be 28” long. Exquisite stone points, enamelwork, and jewelry (like that of Mexico or Peru) were also unearthed in the area. The mound looked like those of the Old World.


http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/allegany/countyhistory/TheForbiddenTrail/TheForbiddenTrail.htm


Zeisberger’s journal for October 3rd reported “about noon we arrived at Assinesink (Corning) previously burnt and laid waste by the Mohawks. Curiosities in the shape of pyramids of stone are here to be seen. From them this place derives its name. The two largest are over 2 or 3 stories high. In some cases a flat stone rests on the top as if to keep off the rain- whether these pyramids are natural or made by human hands, I will leave to others to decide. Here the Tiaogee (Chemung) divides into two branches, one goes north into the land of the Senecas, the other along which we pursued our way extends towards the west. We Passed Knacto (Painted Post) and Woapassique (Addison), two old Indian towns. The way was very wild and difficult.” (The stone piles mentioned by Zeisberger were just west of Gibson until the DL&W RR Was built. Most of them were blasted apart then to make room for the railroad tracks.)


http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/38834.html

There is a line of small stone piles located in the Cinnamon Lake State Forest near Corning New York. I have seen these stone piles and they are Native in origin.


Another area that I have heard rumors of stone piles is Happy Valley just North of Syracuse. I someone told me you see hundreds of them along the snowmobile trails. I would love to check this out. The Salmon River runs through this area and it would make sense that there would be stone piles in this area.

Another rumored spot is Klipnocky State Forest. A freind of mine was geocaching and said he saw a number of stacked stone piles in this area. These are the possible coordinates N 42° 22.793 W 077° 48.064 for the location of one of the stone piles.

If anyone has information about these areas or would like to add to the list please contact me.