Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-09-28

Springfield, ILL.,, Sept. 22.-What is
said to be one Of the finest collections
Of aboriginal American relics and
weapons in the world is the work OF
Edward W. Payne, banker of this
city.
Not only is the collection a most I'M
usual one, but the making Of it is q
most unusual avocation for an Ameri-
can business man. It is true that
some wealthy men In this country col
lect pictures, prints or rare books,
often employing experts to do most Of
the work Of selection and buying. But
these men enter well known fields, and
for the most part obtain treasures
which would otherwise be more avail
able to the public in other places. OF
course, the majority of business men
devote all of their leisure to amuse-
ment.
Mr.. Payne is the rare examplexof a
man who has devoted his leisura for
80 years to collecting material Of Ugh
scientific value, much Of which would
never have otherwise been brought to
light. He contemplates eventually
presenting his collection to some public
institution, perhaps together with
building to house it. At present, less
SAoAA iAC-lCAlu VI ~ Is III CH0CS WuiCA
fill four rooms Of Mr. Payne's dwell
ing. The rest of it is stored away,
five vaults being filled with the more
valuable objects.
Most of the objects in the Payne
collection come from the great central
region of the continent in which he
lives. This region, as you may know,
is dOtted with artificial mounds, vary
ing from relatively small ones to some
that rival the pyramids in bulk. It is
from these mounds that a large part
of the Payne collection has come. It
includes innumerable arrowheads,
spearheads, and ak heads, and is es-
pecially notable for the beautiful
carved tobacco pipes, and the stone
butterflies and crescent which were
evidently religious symbols to the an
Gent men who made them.
Theory Of Vanished Race.
These articles deeply impress one
with the artistic skill of their makers,
are the product of race far more cul-
tured than the Indians as they have
been known in historic times. In adj
dition to this, the enormous quanti-
ties of such articles that have been
found, and the great number of mounds
would seem to prove that the people
who made these things were more
numerous than the Indians whom Col
umbus found here. The occurrence
Of Lake Superior copper far to the
south and other like facts show that
commerce existed among them.
These mounds and the men who
built them have engaged the American
imagination for hundred years, since
first they were noticed. The view
long accepted. and still held by many
the mounds were built by race far
more numerous and more advanced in
culture than the Indians as we know
them. This view seems to be shared by
Mr. Payne. who, however, frankly ap-
proaches the matter as collector
rather than as student.
Science no longer accepts this view
of Il vanished race. Extensive study
of the mounds by the Bureau Of Ameri-
can Ethnology has convinced the world
of science that these mounds and all of
their strange and beautiful contents
were the work of the ancestors of the
Indians whom Columbus found here.
In fact, it was established that some
of the more western mounds were
built after the white men came, as
shown by the finding in them of steel
knives, European glass beads and other
articles which the Indians had OBJ