Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-03-06
is,sres,iss Indian Relic. AIOpS the Lack


Aside from Western New York, Central
Pennsylvania affords the strongest evidence
Of long II not peaceable occupancy BIZ the
wild men Of the country betweenthe Attain
tic Ocean and the Allegheny. West Of the
Alltg anies along The Mississippi and Ohio,
ssepuichral memorials and ancient fortified.
tions aTpear more abundant and imposing
than eastward of this range, yet along the
Sufqueh anna, the Delaware and the Mohawk,
places Of defense and burial are scattered at
intervals, indicating the habits, the plans,
and the relative departure or approach Of
barbarism of those who fashioned them
sufficiently ingenious for their purpose, oen-
turtles ago.. f't.
OF the ancient monuments along the No
hawk, the papers of +. G. Squier treat with
interest while the mounds and defensive
works along the Wyoming Valley, have
been as faithfully described by the Hon.
Charles Miner in his History Of Wyoming.
Indian tribes living alongthe Lackawanna,
left no traces of Notifications. Game and
fish we're so abundant, the soil so fertile and
yielding to simple tillage, that there seemed
no Indictment TO warfare. Although from
later and careful explorations, there appear
to have been no less than seDen Indian
villages along the stream-all standing upon
its eastern bank-but a single mound marks
the place of the dead. Evidences Of villages
are found in the pottery, ~tomahawks, pestles,
amulets, quoits, stone knives, arrow and
speer-heads scattered over an acre Of ground
near the stream, generally where a small
tributary comes in to the Lackawanna,
while upon lands Immediately adjoining no
other trace of Indian occupancy is found
than that recorded by some stray arrow or
lonely scalping knife.
One peculiar feature Of their village life
A. EooA AkoA 4rknwn Aka hroIa1
pottery is most abundant, no stone utensils
other than a pestle or an amulet are found
within twenty or thirty yards-showing
that the braves practiced their archery away
from the shadows OF their wigwams. Near
Alderman Griffin's, in Providence, a little
stream puts into Lackawanna, on the bank
of which under the shelter of q hill, Indian
pottery ornamented with skill is brought to
light each year by the plow, while thirty
rods away upon either side, evidences Of the
! departed race cover the ground for quite a
distance, and yet no culinary utensils are
found. Midway between their hunting
grounds and one of their villages, rises a
gentle elevation which we shall name Cap
ouse Mound, as it stands at the head of the
old Indian clearing or meadow of Capouse.
At the time of the first occupation of the
valley by the whites in ITO, some twelve
graves lay here untouched in their solitude
and repose. In 1893, however, the curiosity
of the white led to their destruction. The
discovery of a small kettle of European
manufacture, a quantity of beads, stone
knives, and other rude articles of Indian fash
ioning were exhumed at the time, but like
nearly all the relics gathered in the country
half a century ago have been lost forever to
those who can as plainly read the features of
savage, social life, in these rude openings, as
the uDeducated eye can perceive meaning
less formation of pots and stone
Through the agency of DIR. Hollister, of
Providence, this ancient mound is about
being carefully and thoroughly excavated
for the purpose of bringing to light the date
and character of the remains thus deposited.
A trench twenty feet wide and four feet
deep, will be dug, and if it should throw new
light on the rude and primitive people in
habiting,our valley 100 years ago, it will in
a measure subserVe the cause of scientific
enquiry and aid to enlarge his collection of
Indian relics of the Lackawanna Valley.
A day or two since we saw an old farmer
who thirty years ago had picked up from his
garden an Indian pestle. We asked him to
sell it but he replied that, "that long peStle
the old woman rolled out short cake, whet
up the butcher knife and squeezed out the
honey NTH Ill"
No one man could have done more in Sc
curing for the Wyoming Valley a collection
of Indian implements used in war or peace
than our old friend Stuben jenkins, who for
| the last twenty. five years has retrodden
every accessible foot of land in his native
valley, in search of pipes and stone or clay
arrow and spear points, tomshawks aud
skinning knives, aud various Indian orna.
ments, until his collection now attains a dig
nifty in completeness unknown to any other
private collection in the State. One of the
party of the Prince of Wales was detached
and sent to Wyoming Valley for a few o
her relics, but Stuben, nnyielding as tn,
rock to the solicitations of royalty, permit
ted him to return with nothing but a look a
his aboriginal friends.