Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-17
E.1etst.rg Gl1at

Over $4,000 specimens of Indian
relics, most of them war imple-
nients. nave been assembled in the
| Hulte Museum as the result of some
lattehtion given to the acquisition of
OBJECTS showing the life of the In
uiah tribes that formerly roamed
tnFoush Pennsylvania and steps are
oelns taken to increase the number
@ @au variety through donations or
u'ii purchases as the funds permit.
~ the last rev years there has been
Il revival of interest in the Indian
Ielics and number of valuable COL
lections made in Pennsylvania and
containing objects distinctive of the.
tribes that once inhabited this StatS
were sold to residents and institu
IONS or other states. Offers were
nlaue TO the State Museum, but
iioney was not available and few
sl sa.9 Vi any consequence have been
maze. Most of the collection has
oeen assembled through purchases
from collectors who have given
years to gathering. 1t is now tne
ann TO assemble in the Museum In
utan relics from every county. Most
VI Ihose IN hand come from central
pennsylvania. There are few sneci-
mems distinctive of the Allegheny
ttalleg, the southwestern counties,
,ne Erie region or the northeastern
lahe n' region of Pennsylvania. The
iiieU'iohs 1,oiie are rich in Susquehanna
valley material especially.
me State Historical Commission
lecently purchased for the Museum
coIlectlon which has been declared
Dy Or. Thomas Lynch Montgomery.
the State Librarian, and Boyd p
Ihotnrock, the curator, to be one of
the most complete of any from the
section where it was gathered. 1t
was bought from Harry E. Hoke. of
chtS n Snsplre, and consists of between
S ana f'OoO specimens, mainly
rom Lancaster, Dauphin. Perry,
YORK, Cumberland and Adams com
eles; IL represents, says Mr. Roth
Lock' all types of material known 10
nave been used hereabouts. II was
the work of many years. Another
complete collection and embracine,
d larger area was that bought from
II. n. Deischer, of Kutztown. There
are Twelve cases filled with material
Sathered In York, Northampton,
naooI, T , Berks, Lehigh, Luzerne,
~ GSSoonllhg, Union, Snyder Lancaster,
Chester, Montgomery, Schuylkill and
Northumber 1t contains arrow
neads, spearheads, knives. axes.
ofills, hammerstones, paint pots'
PlPes' pottery, pestles, bannerstones'
ornaments and contents of graves of
braves who fought and hunted in
the valleys of those counties many
years before Penn came to found
tne commonwealth. Some caches
whlch attracted wide attention
among students of the Indian were
opened py the man who assembled
the collection. 1t contains several
thousands of specimens and like ali
the rest is open for the public to
inspect. 1t may be said in passing
that these superb collections have
Deen visited by so few people that
IL is absurd to think of the time and
expense given to getting them and
then think how many of the thou
sands who daily pass by the Museu,,
are unaware of the treasures it con-
tains.
When the late j. A. Stober. long
aoenator from Lancaster, was elected
state treasurer, an Office he never
nlled owing to his death before he
was sworn in, he donated a colIec-
tlon he had made in the west Cocal-
leo section of Lancaster county. It
contains some unusual spearheads.
arrowheads and characteristic uten-
Sis. Captain E. r. Bergstresser's
collection made at Goldsboro and
vicinity, which contains Indian hoes.
KNIVES and domestic utensils, is also
in the State Museum, while the do
nation of John S. Hines, of Jersey
Shore, has many arrowheads and
other war articles. Other donors
have been George Rupp, Shiremans-
town, who gave five spearheads
found in Perry county; Russell Wise.
OF Harrisburg, who gave arrow
heads found in this county and 7
Charles Boyle, who sent arrowheads
discovered in Mifflin county One of
the best donations was 200 speci-
mems from Paul Meyers, of this CITY.
1t contains Indian axes and sinkers.
as we'll as the familiar arrow and
spear points, some of which are in
fine condition. One of the recent
purchases was from the estate of the
late DR.. w. G. Laverty, of Middle
town, which contains 5000 speci-
mems of pottery, some in fine state,
Indian celts avis, drills, weapons
and ornaments. 1t was gathered in
the vicinity of Middletown on both
sides of the Susquehanna and illus
trates many phases of life.
1t is the aim of DIR. Montgomery
to gather the Indian relics so that
| IiiC uloplty may BC USEFUL IN the
study of the life of the aborigines.
There is no State where the Indians
and the white men made more in
teresting history and no section
where the Indians fought more
among themselves than in the val
ley of our own Susquehanna. The
fact that so many Indian arrow
heads and axes have been found
close to Harrisburg and in the city
for that matter, indicates that this
section was occupied. 1t was noted
for hunting and at the same time
, the trails that met at John Harris
ferry of later years must have seen
some dark and bloody deeds. The
tribal history of this part of the
Susquehanna valley has been
touched upon by some writers, but
owing to paucity of material will
never be told. Enough is known to
indicate that Duncans and other
islands up the river were objects of
struggle more than once and that
possession of the fords and trails of
the river valley was held of the ut
most consequence by sachems whose
home villages were in New York and
Virginia. History repeats itself to
certainty in this river valley. In
dians fought each other for it before
Columbus; Shawanese and Della
wares fought for it in the time of
Penn; Scotch-Irish and Indians
fought for it when Washington was
surveyor; the French tried to take