Plow Damage

An early 20th century photo of the Hopeton Earthworks.

NPS

When originally recorded, the embankments forming the Hopeton's square were 12 feet tall with a base 50 feet in width. Indeed, an 1848 description provided that these walls "resemble the heavy grading of a railway, and are broad enough, on the top, to admit the passage of a coach." The circle was slight in comparison, measuring only five feet tall, though it is still one of the region's largest monumental undertakings! Non-Native settlers showed little respect for the earthworks and most were used as agricultural fields beginning in the 19th century. Remnants of both the circular and square embankments are still visible, though many years of plowing have reduced them to only a few feet in height.