Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-05-11
INDIAN JASPER FOUND
AN IMPORTANT ARCHEOLOG.
ICAL DISCOVERY.
The FITS From which the Rcdmcn Dug
Their Arrow Heads Found ny MIR.
Morcrr-- New Light on the
Aboriginrs Provided.

~ 'ho sahe rotation TO the prehistoric
North American Indian that iron
stands TO us, From IL he fashioned
his spears, perIorators, knives, arrow
heads and scrapors, and no less dill
gently did he sock for 1T thun docs
the man Of the nineteenth century
search for that great lever of his
power aud progress iron Nut
psychologists have long boon mysti.
fled rs to the source OF the jasper 81
extensively employed by the Indians
east of the Allcghcnios Considerable
interest and impol tancc IN. therefore.
attached to the rocoat discoveries of
prehistoric iaapor quarros, which
nave been heretofore overlooked, as
these quarries fully clear up the mys.
tory aad ut tho same time throw
decidedly unexpected light upon the
Otory of ancient man in tho eastern
Lohigh hills and In tho Delaware
valley,
The quanrios woro discovered lying
in II continuous line from the Dela-
ware almost TO tho SchuyllIill river
says the Phil%delphia Times Thoy
arc situated ut topporsburg. Limo.
port, Sancon creek, Nora Cruz, and
Macungic in Lehigh county and at
Long swamp, Feuorsteinbcrg and at
Limobach's Mills in Berks county.
IL IL not remarkable that some of tho
excavations Wore mover before discov.
crcd, rs they were completely over.
grown with trees and forest mould,
and would escape the attention of the
casual observer until the pho of
jasper ilatcs, yellow aud roso tinted,
displayed by scraping away the leaves,
no .calod tho handiwork of the ancient
quarryman But at Other quarries
especially at Vera Cruz, IL is difficult
20 see how the pas5or-hy could have
overlooked them, ~ tho appearance
was so unusual and the work so OK
tended.
Fifty TO sovonty-live pits, some OF
them fifteen feet in depth and 100 to
200 feet in diameter. are an everyday
sight in this locality. Again, the
tinted flakes and refuse heaps tell the
tale, aud the nclghboring wheat
fields glisten with yellow, blue, pur-
plc, red and lavender jasper chips.
AS TO the age Of these pits. tho forest
has set It's stamp. rs an old chestnut
stump growing ON the s'do OF one Of
the excavations was marked with 1913
rings, thus proving that the work.
men had abandoned the shaft TO tho
growth of the undorbrush before tho
time that William Penn bought his
erst tract of land from the Indians ON
thc Delaware,
Under our feet, and resting on tho
Potsdam sandstone lies the great bed
Of iron clay aud jasper bearing mag
nesium limestone. which character
Ives the valley at this point, whore
for untold years rain water charged
with carbonic acid has tricklod down
tnoso slopes, thus cavorns have been
formed, the roofs of which tumbling
In have Mt last formed sink holes
IL is these sink holes that make
the matter of determining the jasper
quarries OF some difficulty, and the
proving of the heaps Of refuse jasper
as artificial, 1t is only after attack
ing the problem at many points and
selecting for working the quarries in
the open meadows, where the sink
holes are not found, but where the
jasper pits are largest, and the find
ing of humps of charcoal with jasper
chips in these pits, that the explor-
crs were convinced that the quarries
were artificial
Having settled that tho pits are
artificial. il Is interesting TO deter
mine when and how tho pits were
dug. An old stump, above referred
to, wen proves that the quarries
must have been abandoned before
1852. Thus, although we are given
u glance over She boundary lines OF
history into the unillumiped dark
ness Of this continent we must admit
that no mysterious or unknown race
made the pits, vast as the work Is.
They are the works of all the races
that for untold ages inhabited tho
new world, before tho coming OF
Columbus and De Sofa.
The next question arising is, how
the labor was accomplished. This
can be answered TO some oXtent by u
study Of the second shaft, which was
sunk to tho undisturbed bottom of
the pit, Lying in the unworked clay
at depth Of eight and a half feet
was large implement, well worn on
its cutting edges At fourteen feot.
Mt the bottom of tho refuse, a similar
tool, similarly worn, OF quartzite,
with rude point Of argielite, was
found, while at the bottom OF the
quarry two cavities in the clay, into
which plaster-of-parisw was run proved
the facsimilcs of two sharpened
wooden billets, long since rotted
away, and leaving only their moulds.
One was about six inches in diameter
and OF unknown length as the upper
part was destroyed in digging. The
other was about two inches in diam
eter and two and one-half feet long.