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STORIES
| A GIFT FROM GRANDPA It all started approx.30 years ago, when I went to an opening of my home townships new baseball fields and recreation area. There were various displays from local residents and one in particular caught my attention. A well known collector of Indian artifacts was present with a display that started this incurable disease, that I now have for hunting and collecting Indian artifacts. Over the years I have hunted various locations within the state of Pa. and have spoken to anyone willing to talk about Indian artifacts. I have sat and listen to stories from Grandparents, who talked about finding arrowheads in their fields and either throwing them back or keeping them in their barns. At this time they were interesting to look at but never really meant much to them. On day I was talking to my mother about hunting artifacts and she told me stories of her as a child finding arrowheads in the fields close to her home. She continued to tell me how they should still be at my grandpa’s house and that I should ask him about them. This came to me as a shock, that someone whom I lived with only now released such important information! My grandpa was a full blooded Cherokee Indian and grew up 1 of 10 children. His mother was the local medicinal “doctor” for the area. Tragedy struck when his father died and he went to work on the railroad at the age of 14, to support the family. I went to my grandpa’s house and began the task of gathering information about sites and knowledge that he had about artifacts. I asked him about the artifacts that he had gathered over the years. He told me that he had found some while on fishing outings, but forgot where they were now stored and that someday he would find them! I left the house with some knowledge but I was disappointed that I failed to see the artifacts that he had. Not that there was a lot but that “my” family collected them. Sometime later, my grandpa passed away and My mother was named the executor of the estate. My mother was preparing for sale and found a few arrowheads in my Grandpa’s belongings. She came to my house and gave them to me. I put them in my collection and I still can tell you which ones they are. I was excited about having them, not that they were anything great or rare but that they were my grandpa’s. A few days passed and my mother called me and informed me that they had everything out and ready for sale. She asked me to come over to my grandpa’s house and look through his belongings, before the sale, to see if there was anything we wanted. I was reluctant to go, but I went and met up with my younger brother at my grandpa’s house. We began looking through his belongings and there really wasn’t anything that I felt I needed. I already had the best items given to me, in my opinion. I was milling over a box lot of items, when an old Easter candy box caught my eye! Why, it did I will never know. I picked up the box and discovered that there was something inside.!!! I opened the box and I could have passed out! There inside I found numerous arrowheads as well as a beautiful yellow jasper Paleo/Plano knife!! Thank you Grandpa !! This was by far the best gift I could have ever received. I will cherish that piece forever. |
| An Odd Cache of Points About fifteen years ago I met Mr. Dan Troutman, who owned a small business in Millersburg, Pa. I often visited him because he had a great interest in Local Indian history, and I was an arrowhead collector. On one visit he showed me a small box containing about two dozen quartz triangle points, which he found while helping to clear trees from the old Cummings farm. I hunted this farm and found a lot of archaic and transitional points, but never any quartz triangles. Dan didn’t actually do any surface hunting, and I was to find out the points he showed me were found as a group eroding from the roots of a tree. He found a very unusual “ cache “ , in that the points were finished, not blanks or performs. Sadly, Dan passed away shortly after I moved from the area. I never gave any thought to pursuing what might have happened to that cache. About fifteen years later, I saw an auction ad in the paper, about a public sale being held not far from my current home in Harrisburg. The sale bill listed 29 arrowheads. I went to the sale and met the owner. Surprise number 1! It was Mr. Troutmans daughter! We talked awhile, and she remembered who I was, and after her dad passed away, she was given the box of triangle points. And they were being sold at the sale! I found a spot and waited. Finally, the box of points came up. Surprise #2! The auctioneer stated they were sharks teeth! I put my hand up and left it there! I got the entire cache for $6.00!! The box they came in was antique, and actually sold for more than the arrowheads. What a strange circle of events. There were 30 quartz triangles, and 1 large black flint triangle, which may have been a knife. The quartz points are very similar, and I can only theorize they were made by the same person. They’re extremely sharp, with concave sides and bases. I don’t believe they’re Susquehannock, but rather Seneca or Delaware. And I believe they were probably carried as spare hunting points in a leather bag, and simply lost by the hunter, rather than buried there to be retrieved later. Whatever the circumstances, they were probably very important to the Indian hunter who lost them, and I know they were very special to Mr. Troutman, and due to the circumstances of how I finally acquired them, they’re also very special to me! |
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The Sinker
It all started one day as I bragged about a site that I had found in Mifflin County Pa. I had named the
site, “ The Turtle Field”. Now how the site was named was a story in it’s self.
I had been hunting arrowheads with my father and cousin, from field to field, throughout Mifflin County.
We had located a site along the Juniata river, which was just off the river on the first terrace. The soil was
very sandy and was almost beach like. The site consisted of two fields that were seperated by a small
creek. The one field was low to the river and was easily in the flood plain. The second field was higher in
elevation and consisted of a rolling hill, leading down to the river.
As we entered the field we were filled with excitement, As we stood and observed the landscape. There
was no doubt in my mind that we were going to find some artifacts.
We started through the field and almost immediately started finding chips of dark flint. We continued on
finding numerous arrowheads, throughout the field. A thunderstorm was brewing but I continued to hunt,
refusing to leave my corn row!
Well the rain started and it rained like it was never going to stop. I continued on, finding a very nice
dovetail arrowhead in my row. As I picked up the arrowhead I noticed a stranded turtle. The turtle was
stuck on top of a mound of sandy soil. The rain had washed all the soil around the turtle away, leaving him
stranded on a mound of dirt. The mound was so high that his legs could not touch the ground. There he
sat ! From there on out the site was referred to as “The Turtle Field”.
Back to the sinker…..Now I continued to talk about “The Turtle field” for months after. I was able to make it
back to the site several times that year and I had found numerous artifacts and was very pleased with
each trip.
As sprig approached I started talking about “The Turtle Field” to my friend, Paul. Now Paul was not up
for any stories, he wanted a visit to the site. A plan was made and the day approached that a visit to “The
Turtle Field “ was going to happen. I picked him up early and off we headed to “The Turtle Field”.
Once we arrived we practically ran down the tractor road to the site. This day we were going to start on
the high side of the Site, as the ground had been worked. We started low and worked our way to the
higher ground. We found several arrowheads, as we appraoched the high ground.
Now once we were on the high ground I really slowed down and began searching. As there was a small
area that almost always turned up some type of artifact. I remember telling Paul this is the area we really
needed to pay attention too.
There it was!! One row over from where I was!! I saw some type of a drilled bead. I started to yell as I
picked it up and then I started to hyperventilate!! Paul was telling me to calm down and to show him the
bead. I was reluctant to show him but finally I had opened my hand. The bead was covered with mud and
the hole was packed with dirt. Paul took one look at it and told me that it was a line sinker for fishing, and
that it was not an artifact !!
Now I am an avid fisherman and I knew that the bead was not a sinker. I went to the edge of the field and
began to clean the bead. I took a small branch off the tree and was able to clean out the hole. Paul
watched and even assisted at times. Now that it was all cleaned up we both looked at it in amazement !
The bead was made out of a green serpentine with a hole drilled length ways, possibly an elk tooth effigy.
What a find and I can’t wait to return to the “Turtle Field”.
It all started one day as I bragged about a site that I had found in Mifflin County Pa. I had named the
site, “ The Turtle Field”. Now how the site was named was a story in it’s self.
I had been hunting arrowheads with my father and cousin, from field to field, throughout Mifflin County.
We had located a site along the Juniata river, which was just off the river on the first terrace. The soil was
very sandy and was almost beach like. The site consisted of two fields that were seperated by a small
creek. The one field was low to the river and was easily in the flood plain. The second field was higher in
elevation and consisted of a rolling hill, leading down to the river.
As we entered the field we were filled with excitement, As we stood and observed the landscape. There
was no doubt in my mind that we were going to find some artifacts.
We started through the field and almost immediately started finding chips of dark flint. We continued on
finding numerous arrowheads, throughout the field. A thunderstorm was brewing but I continued to hunt,
refusing to leave my corn row!
Well the rain started and it rained like it was never going to stop. I continued on, finding a very nice
dovetail arrowhead in my row. As I picked up the arrowhead I noticed a stranded turtle. The turtle was
stuck on top of a mound of sandy soil. The rain had washed all the soil around the turtle away, leaving him
stranded on a mound of dirt. The mound was so high that his legs could not touch the ground. There he
sat ! From there on out the site was referred to as “The Turtle Field”.
Back to the sinker…..Now I continued to talk about “The Turtle field” for months after. I was able to make it
back to the site several times that year and I had found numerous artifacts and was very pleased with
each trip.
As sprig approached I started talking about “The Turtle Field” to my friend, Paul. Now Paul was not up
for any stories, he wanted a visit to the site. A plan was made and the day approached that a visit to “The
Turtle Field “ was going to happen. I picked him up early and off we headed to “The Turtle Field”.
Once we arrived we practically ran down the tractor road to the site. This day we were going to start on
the high side of the Site, as the ground had been worked. We started low and worked our way to the
higher ground. We found several arrowheads, as we appraoched the high ground.
Now once we were on the high ground I really slowed down and began searching. As there was a small
area that almost always turned up some type of artifact. I remember telling Paul this is the area we really
needed to pay attention too.
There it was!! One row over from where I was!! I saw some type of a drilled bead. I started to yell as I
picked it up and then I started to hyperventilate!! Paul was telling me to calm down and to show him the
bead. I was reluctant to show him but finally I had opened my hand. The bead was covered with mud and
the hole was packed with dirt. Paul took one look at it and told me that it was a line sinker for fishing, and
that it was not an artifact !!
Now I am an avid fisherman and I knew that the bead was not a sinker. I went to the edge of the field and
began to clean the bead. I took a small branch off the tree and was able to clean out the hole. Paul
watched and even assisted at times. Now that it was all cleaned up we both looked at it in amazement !
The bead was made out of a green serpentine with a hole drilled length ways, possibly an elk tooth effigy.
What a find and I can’t wait to return to the “Turtle Field”.
Click to Enlarge
| STORIES; We need and welcome any stories of artifacts / arrowheads, artifact hunts, sites and / or areas visited by early man. We welcome stories of good old moments shared in the field with friends and those moments of finding that first arrowhead. Pictures and stories are welcome. Please contact us and we will do the rest. |