Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1915-03-11
RECENT ACQUISITIONS
OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY
|udian Ornaments and Utensils
Added to Collection.

Curator Fise e the State Histor-
ical society haS< ,eived some new
and interesting 8, Mrs from In
dians in the last +. .@/ weeks to in
crease the already lara Election of
Indian utensils. apparel - imple-
ments now stored in the 70. IF the
society at the state capitol.
The library is also being cata-
logued by an experienced librarian,
Miss Simpson, and many of the books
that have been stored in boxes, un-
packed for lack of room, are now be-
ing placed on shelves, numbered and
listed. There is much historical in
formation regarding North Dakota
and the Northwest now in the rooms
of the State Historical society.
Among the historical material Sc
cured is the private correspondence
of every governor, from the first ter
ritorial executive at Yankton down,
to recent years. These letters were
found packed away in a vault and
were about to be destroyed by the
janitor when. fortunately rescued by
Curator Fish.
Indian Ornaments.
Among the Indian souvenirs re-
Gently received is a beautifully made
headdress of porcupine hair artistic
ally colored. This dress resembles
a kind of crown with long strip of
porcupine fur hanging down the
back. It was brought to the society
by an Indian from Standing Rock
who wanted it kept for preservation.
A pioneers flint stone with a punk
case was also recently received.
With this little outfit the trapper was
able to start a fire in any weather.
It was one of the invaluable articles
of the hunter and trapper in early
days.
A set of plum-seed dice, used by
the Indians in gambling. has also
Seen recently received. One -oa..the
most remarkable acquisitions is that
of a string of variously colored beads
made of different minerals and
stones. These beads were buried
with Indians years ago at Standing
Rock and, in the course Of years,
have been brought to the surface by
ants and left on top of ant heaps.
The squaws collecting these old
beads, finally secured enough to put
them together and made a large
string. The beads are blue, white,
black yellow and green and are small
but we'll made and highly polished.
A spearhead, believed to have been
bought from the Spaniards, who
came up from New Mexico, following
the Missouri river in early days, has
also been obtained. This is prob
ably at least 800 years old. Few
people are aware that the early
Spanish conquerors of Mexico drift
ed up into the Northwest and left
undoubted evidences of their deal
ings with the Indians and associa-
tions with numerous tribes from Da-
kota to the Texas boundary.
A complete diary has recently been
obtained, kept by Dan E. Williams,
Company X, Seventh regiment, Min
nesota volunteers. The little book
was secured from the daughter OF the
captain of the company and gives a
minute account of experiences of the
soldiers in various camps in North
Dakota in the early days. Another
diary made by the trumpeter of both
the sully expedition of 1858 and the
Sibley expedition of 1864 has been
secured. This was written in Ger
man. An account is given of the first
concert ever played by the band to
the Indians, telling how the squaws
fell at the feet of the bandmen and
expressed the greatest delight at the
hearing of such wonderful music.
A number of Indian speeches have
been taken on records and for re-
production on the graphaphone.
About $50 such records have been
secured; among them several conver-
sations with Indian girls, including
their giggles. A Crow Indians head
dress, the hump bone of a buffalo,
a pistol belonging to General Custer
and q rifle barrel used to measure the
height Of the pile of frs, for which
the rifle was traded to the Indians,
are all recent acquisitions. Also a
fiat stone used for polishing and
softening leather. Indians were ex-