The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1931-09-10
Unusual Exhibit Causes
Interest at StearnS Co. Fair

tween the Women's and Agricul-
tural buildings at the Stearns
county Fair recently was that
Of F. T. Gustavson, Pequot mer-
chant.
Mr.. Gustavson is a lover of ma
! ture and has devoted much of his
! time in hunting, fishing, and col
Letting relics of the Ojibway or
Chippewa type of Indian.
Out near the middle of White
fish lake, near Pequot, is an island
that is known as an old burial
ground of the Redskins.
1t was a hobby rather than an
ambition to win fame as an auth
GRITTY on Minnesota archaeology that
for 10 years had drawn him time
and again to the many mounds,
monuments of the Sioux who dwelt
centuries ago in the lake country
that now is Crow Wing county.
But, while he had no way of
knowing it F. T. Gustavson was
headed for the find of which he
had often dreamed, but scarcely
hoped to realize. Before the day
was ended he was to become the
possessor of virtually unchanged
specimen of Sioux household pot
terry.
His trek took him two and one
half miles north of Pequot, to that
group of 73 mounds designated as
Fort Poualak known to and visited
| hxy 80 ,efr
to spend their vacations in north
ern Minnesota.
There he previously had found
countless bits of broken pottery,
flint chips and arrowheads, and
many other things that helped him
to understand the people who left
them behind when the powerful
Ojibways invaded the state and
drove the Sioux westward 300
years ago.
On this day his specific goal was
a slight, almost unnoticeahle de-
preston on the top of a timber
covered rise, several hundred feet
away from the mounds.
There he drove his spade into the
light colored, sandy clay. Nearly
four feet below the surface he
reached the floor line of what re-
manned of the old, partly subter-
ranean Sioux dwelling.
Soon he had unearthed the primi-
tive fireplace, and was working
along what had been the entrance
to the hut. That entrance way
proved to be the hiding place of the
thing he had sought for so long.
First one pot, shattered to bits
by moisture and frost, and then
another, at first seemingly intact
but so badly cracked that only half
of it could be removed. and reas-
sembled, were brought to light.
Encouraged by those finds, he
continued, and soon his prying
spade brought to light the magnifi-
cent and wholly unanticipated re-
ward of years of diligent and
painstaking effort.
To the uninitiated, the thing I'M
covered would, have been nothing
more than; dingy bit of pottery,
perhaps worthy of casual: interest,
but certainly. of no great -signifi-
canoe. : .,. ~
But, without being told, Gustav
SON knew that the finding of the in
tact Sioux cooking vessel marked
a discovery decidedly rare in the
annals Of Minnesota archaeology,
and that not even the Minnesota
Historical society could boast of
such specimen.
The mere unearthing of the YES
sci, however, was but a beginning
of the patient work that needed to
be done. Caked with clay inside
and out, the pot presented some
thing of problem to the man who
desided to preserve it without mar
ring its primitive beauty.
Removal of the hard clay pre-
sented the danger of breaking or
damaging the vessel, but by care
full work with a jackknife Gustav
son was so successful that even
the ring of SCOT around the bulge
obviously accumulated through con-
slant use over fire,--,was pre-
served. :
Now the vessel holds the place
of prominence in the display of
Indian relics that has come to oc-
cupy almost equal space with the
goods he sells in his log-front
grocery store.
Made of lightweight clayey
substance, it stands nearly ii inch
es high, and is slightly more than
that in diameter. It's capacity is
slightly more than five gallons.
OF more interest than it's size
and shape is the appearance of it's
exterior decorations. Plainly the
Sioux women of that long-past age
were not content with mere utility
in their household equipment.
With admirable patience the
maker of that vessel had worked
the outside to give it an appear
ance initiating the rather fine
grained bark of a tree. Around
the rim the handiworker impressed
a series of Observation-Disclosures
ly made with small mOlar tooth.
With corresponding degree Of
carefulness, the discoverer of the
vessel has set about preserving the
article that to him, instead of being
merely an object worthy of some
brief attention, serves to reveal
something of the life Of the people
who were responsible for its manu-
facture.
Certainly, he felt, no ordinary
stand would furnish fit setting for
the displaying of his find. It was
some time before he hit upon just
what he wanted, but once the idea
was firmly in mind, the making of
the stand, while requiring careful
workmanship, was comparatively
easy.
From some abandoned brass,
printers column rule he fashioned
tripod on which the pot now
stands under a glass case.
Since he finished the mounting
thousands of tourists and residents
of the vicinity have inspected it in
the store. If the visitors announc-