Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-11-20
INDIAN CUkIeSITIEs.
weapons which are Manufactured
Merely 10 Sell To the whites.
st. Paul pay.

A few leisure moments of repre-.
sentative of the Day were improved
this forenoon in looking over the array
of Indian articles of warfare, toilet.
luxury and general utility, exhibited
for sale in the show windows of a
popular business house of ST. Paul.
There were war-clubs, tomahawlss.
bows and arrows, necklaces of elk's
teeth and bears claws, stone pipes,
moccaslns of every description, so ar
ranged as to attract the attention of the
relic hunter.
Where do you get those thingsY''
INQUIRED the Day representative.
Well" said the merchant, "we
get them from Indians, trappers, post
traders, and sometimes from amateur
travellers and adyenturers who have
started out on small means and after
reaching St Paul on their way home
from the West, find it necessary to sell
their relics, in order sometimes to OBJ
tain neal. 1t is astonishing how
many people go West, thinking they
will make speculation in procuring
Indian toys and selling them in st.
Paul. These people usually find it
hard to sell their specimens at any
price
Post traders and trappers often
come to ST. Paul with specimens ex-
pecting to realize handsome profits,
but they are generally disappointed
| remember trapper who came to my
store four or FIVE years ago trying to
sell nae a rare specimen of Indian
workmanship. He stated that 1T was
made by one of an extinct tribe, and
the only relic left as a memento of
the race. | learned afterward that he
had tried to sell it to several dealers
both in st. Paul aud Minneapolis, but
had failed. He started out asking the
exhorbitant sum of $500 for the speci
men, but had knocked at each success
sive store until the price asked was
only $40 | looked at the man a mo-
ment and listened to his story about
the rarity of the specimen, etc, and
then said to him; My friend, that's
a very pretty story you're telling, but
you see ] shan't be able to make any
one swallow it, and the fact is I'll have
hard work to get 10 cents for the
trinket.
" We'll, hang it, said he, give me
a drink of whiskey and take the cuss-
en- thing. This is the only house in
the Nor'f, est that | haven't tried to
sell it to, and I'm broke and dry as
powderborn. Take it along, stranger,
and gimme drink, quick, and call
the deal squar. l gave the man a
good flask of whiskey and a cigar,
and he wandered off apparently
happy.
'Well, how much did you get for
the toy2'
"Oh, l happened to be in luck, " said
he, with twinkle in his eye; IAN
English Lord came along, and / told
him the story had learned from the
the trapper, and | think | got about
$3.50 for the specimen.
DO you sell many of these goodsl'
Eyes, a good many; but nearly as
many to Americans as | do to Euro
peans. OF course, Eastern people buy
them; but we have to be very mo3er-
ate in oar prices in order to sell to this
class. We can get fancy prices for
the goods from English and Scotch
people, During, the sammer season
our sales upon these goods to Euro
peans mount up to thousands OF dol
lars, while to the Americans they
scarcely reach into the hundreds"
Are these goods genuine-that is,
maze by Indians for their own use9H
well, no; not all of them. A large
portion is made by the Indians ex-
pressly to sell to the white people,
Such goods would never answer the
purposes of an Indian"
Here the merchant showed the diff
ference between practical war club
and fancy one, a practical toma-
hawk aud a poetical one. 1.-The In
dians, half-breeds and some of the
frontier whites make many of these
toys expressly to- sell, said the mer-
chant. But, then, you see, it's not
necessary to mention that to foreign
ers. The cheats bring about as big a
price as the genuine article"