The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-03-27

ATCndCOiONiStS THU IidOSo VI RDOt y
ines in Caves Around Spuyten Duy
vii Creek-First Corners Found Then
Ready Formed by Nature-It Was
There That Hendrick Hudson anc
His Sailors Gave Battle to the In.
dams, 1t Is Said.
Manhattan Island is unique in hav.
ing at one end the densest populated
spot on earth, and at the other, scarce
fifteen miles ava a spot of entranc-
ing wilderness, nee the home of pre-
historic cavemen. The tongue of land
at the extreme upper end of Manhat-
tan Island, formed by the Hudson river
Spuyten Duyvil creek, called by the
Indians "Shorapock," and hard by
where Columbia university's new stad-
turesque as a bit in the heart of the
Catskills. says the New York World.
Between the rounded, wooded, dome
like, rocky end of the island, facing
the mainland north, and another emf
nence to the south, opposite 2l4th
street, a little cove makes back into
the fastness of InwOod hill from the
oxbow of Spuyten Duyvil creek, now
an anchorage for pleasure boats. 1t is
a hidden dell, unsupported alike. to
those who pass on the Hudson and the
creek, for giant trees and thick shrub
berry hide it from the creek, and the
rock-ribbed hill to the west conceals
it from the big river.
1t was such a cur hiding place as
the first savage vanguard of the In
dams. spying out the u~ninhabited land
when they first came. perhaps 1000
years ago, maybe 10000, would have
picked out for a retreat from imaginary
predecessors they were ever expecting
to meet. 1t contained caves ready
formed for their occupancy, and per-
haps they were not so very far re-
moved from their cavemen ancestors
in Siberia, or Northern Europe, or the
South Sea Islands-or wherever they
came from.
Perhaps an Ancient Race.
Anyway, the caves are there, and
have been explored, and have yielded
relics, and some archaeologists believe
that the first Indians who inhabited
them were of an old race, of a culture
somewhat different from that of the
Indians who were there in later years
when the white men came. The In
wood ravine was doubtless then, as it
is ever now, an ideal place for IN In
dian village. There is the dry bed of
a tiny brooklet running down its cen
ter. High up along the west wall are
the fallen rocks which hide the caves.
Near by is a fine spring, and in the
forest are giant tulips, oaks, black
birches, and in the tangled underwood
grows the spicewood, or benzoin, used
by the savages as tea.
S. A. G. Swenson of No. 314 West
10th street is one Of the great mum
Der of thoughtful Manufactures who
have visited Inwood and delight in
studying the traces left by the prede-
cessors Of white men in this vicinity.
Amateur archaeology is N of Mr..
Swenson's hobbies.
The mystic ravine at Inwood, with
its caves, has exerted its fascination
uDOll NIL ONtuSOu " SuCu al tAtcll
that he has collected some interesting
data about it.
May Have Come From Yonkers.
at is difficult to obtain information
said Mr.. Swenson. "The first white
settlers who had the opportunity to
learn much about them left few de-
scriptions. The Indians in this neigh
borhood seem to have had their head
quarters at Yonkers, and came down
here for fishing and other expeditions.
Many of them, no doubt, had perma-
only at the northern end, but all me
way down where there were springs
and wells. The island was rich in wa
ter courses. East of Inwood Hill the
later Indians had tobacco fields. 1t is
likely the Indians of the southern end
of the island went to this more pro-
tected Inwood section in winter.
'The Manhattan Indians are re-
ferred to in the records as the Rech-
gawawank, and their %neighbors north
of Spuyten Duyvil creek-or Papirini-
men, or perhaps Paparinemin, as it
was calIed-were of the W~eckquaskeck
sub-tribe of the Mohican tribe, who
belonged to the Wappinger confeder-
-acy.ATheir chief village in Westchester
county was at Dobbs Ferry. They had
a fort called Nipinichsen on Spuyten
Duyvil hill, the exact site of which
has not been located. The Inwood
hill section on Manhattan, called
~Shorakapock, was an ideal location for
a village, being near the Hudson river
and a creek, with open water for fish
ing and close to the spouting fountain
later called Cold spring. The meadows
through which the creek wound south
east so attracted the first white set
TORS that they almost decided to settle
there instead Of at the Battery. On
top of Inwood. formerly called Cock
hill, was a fort some hundreds Of years
ago. Bolton road, once the Indian
trail. leads now to its site.
Untouched by Civilization.
''There are several caves, rock shell
tiers and rock formations at the foot
OF the hill made by rocks falling from
the cliffs above. There are also many