Iroquois Fort Photograph 800 A.D. Fort Wayne Indiana
5 forts were constructed in Fort Wayne from 1715 to the abandonment of the last after the War of 1812. The oldest fort was constructed by the Iroquois around 800 A.D., but unlike its the later French, British and American fortifications this one can still be seen today.
The Iroquois inhabited northern Indiana and the Great Lakes region for thousands of years starting as early as 2000 B.C. to the 1500s. Their burial mounds and earthworks can still be seen in many of the counties of northern Indiana. Three Iroquois burial mounds, a solar temple called a henge, and a horseshoe shaped fortification can still be seen in Allen County. Unfortunately, nothing is preserved with the burial mounds being desecrated by the local university archaeologists at IPFW.
Recently IPFW excavated the Iroquois fort, hacking into the earthwork itself, but it is unknown what destruction they caused. It is the practice of university archaeologist to dig holes in prehistoric works and not fill in their holes when they are done. They show little or no respect for Native American antiquities.
There are a few people who have shown interest in buying the property where the earthwork is located, preserving it and making it an Indiana travel destination. This would keep IPFW from doing any further damage to this historical treasure.
The title of this is a bit misleading; the landowner will have you arrested for trespassing if you try to access the land. The general location of Fort Wayne's first fort is across from Riverbend Golf Course on the St. Joe River. Fort Wayne's first fort could actually be seen from the 469 bypasses if the land was developed to be a travel destination.
IPFW archaeologist never divulges the location of the burial mounds or earthworks where they are digging, but all the directions to the burial mounds and earthworks in Allen County are photographed and directions provided in "The Nephilim Chronicles: A Travel Guide to the Ancient Ruins in the Ohio Valley."
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA
The History of Allen County Indiana, 1880
“Prehistoric Remains” by R. S. Robertson:
Northern Indiana has many proofs of the presence of this race recorded almost indelibly upon its soil, and they have left some of their monuments in Allen County, but not as many, nor so extensive, as ones found in Ohio or to the southern part of Indiana.
While some of them were pushing upward and making great settlements along the tributaries of the Ohio, others had passed further up the Mississippi, discovered The great Lakes, and entered into quite extensive copper mining operations on the shores of Lake Superior. Colonies had occupied Michigan, and as far south in Indiana as the Kankakee, and it from them, we think, that Allen County received the marks of their occupation. All along the valley of Cedar Creek, in DeKalb County, their mounds and earthworks appear in considerable number, but decrease in number as we proceed southward onto Allen County, and we totally wanting in the southern portion of the county.
Still further down the river, on the west side, opposite Antraps Mill, is a semi-circular fort with its ends on the riverbank.
The largest earthen wall of the Iroquois fort is on the end on the north side of the work. The wall no longer encloses the two parallel walls that run to the river, because a part was destroyed from farming.
Directions to 222 burial mounds and earthworks in Indiana, Ohio West Virginia, Kentucky and Michigan can be found in the most comprehensive guide to the ancient world.
