The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-03-03

II q
within our borders is testimony to
~ the fact that poor Lo has far from
NS reached the vanishing point.
But there is another type of In
dian that is truly vanishing
American" He is the cigar store Indian, the
sign, symbol and guardian angel Of the cigar
store. There was time when no tobacco shop
was complete without the figure Of stalwart
brave or a plump Indian princess standing in
front of it. But today, with but few exceptions,
you will have to go to a museum or an antique
shop to find such an aboriginal symbol Of trade
in one of the earliest American commodities.
And, If by chance, you wish to own one you'd
better be prepared TO pay from $500 up for it.
For the cigar store Indian is now Americana"
and his value is in inverse ratio to his scarcity.
1t is one of the paradoxes of history that this
vanishing American" was not of American
igin at all. Tobacco was introduced TO the Old
World by Spanish physician in 1853 and in
1856 Sir Francis Drake brought the equipment
for smoking TO Sir Walter Raleigh who made
the habit fashionable In England. When England
was Merrie England under James (1603-1625)
there were wooden Indian trade signs in that
country. When Pocahontas died, in 1917, the
wooden Indian was no strange sight
But the early Indians seen In Europe were
fanciful figures made by carvers who had not
seen American Indians. AS one writer has OBJ
served:
Early Indians showed that Europe had set
tied down to the belief that American Indians
wore no clothes except kilt of tobacco leaves
"A wonderful triad of utility when thinks
of it-at once neither apparel, currency and
the makin's, TO be drawn upon up TO the limit
of decency. London types resembled negroes
and for 200 years were known as black boys"
While the Indian figure trade sign started
In England, 1t reached grandeur and true char
acter In the United States. American sculptors
knew the Indian, his features and characters
tics, and the resulting figures were astounding.
-Four groups Of designs for wooden tobacco
trade sign figures developed in the United
States-chiefs squaws, Roman figures and white
men. The last named included such figures as
Uncle SAM Walter Raleigh, policemen, forty
Miners and smoking girls.
plump Pocahontas-the squaw type-was
seen in Boston as early as 1730. In 1770 when
Christopher Demuth opened little tobacco shop
at Lancaster, Pa, dainty wooden gentleman
offered a snuff box instead of the traditional
cigars. Baltimore claims to have had cigar
store fixtures before 1770
But it was not until shortly before the Civil
that hordes of this race of red men appeared
on the American scene. According to one chron-
icler the wooden Indian was first introduced to
his Job guardian angel of cigar stores by
man named Chichester about 1850. The sculptor
of these earliest specimens was Tom Willard.
In the first days of the fad some of the more
aristocratic chiefs were made of metal cast in
molds. This type, however, was soon abandoned;
even from the first most of the figures were OF
wood. These were all made by hand. generally
of white pine, and considerable skill was re-
quired in their shaping. Logs were first blocked
out with an ak for the body, after which the
arms were attached and the features marked
out with a chisel. Finer carving tools gave the
finishing touches. They were then painted and
mounted on wheels for delivery.
The original sculptors were carvers of ships
figure heads. With the decay of American ship
ping, carvers here. finding their occupation slip
ping away from them, made the wooden Indian
more than parttime job They turned to him
as their manstay. One of these carvers, per-
haps the most famous of them ALL Louis
John of Ste. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec.
When John died there few years ago at the
age of eighty-six he was given wide publicity
as "the originator of the cgarstore INDIAN
although it is doubtful If that Characterization
can justly be applied to any one man. But his
pre-eminence In this field is Indicated by the
following excerpts from his obituary notices in
the newspapers at the time of his death:
Louis Johns family name does not rest ex-
clusiyely on his bizarre production He was
described as the greatest wood carver in the
world He carved wood for seventy years. though
of late his sight had failed and he had laid away
his chisel.
while cigar store Indians are becoming ex-
tinct, those created by John in his early days
In the industry are in deep demand by collectors.
One of the masterpieces of ST. Nicotine stands
today at the front door of a tobacconist's shop
on the Rue ST. JEAN in Quebec city, where it
was placed fifty years ago. The owner has re-
fused $500 for 1t.
"Jobin was humble artist who never talked
of art for arts sake, but did whatever his hand
found to do. What was in demand sixty and
seventy years ago was fgureheads for ships.
Canada was center Of the wooden shipbuild-
ing industry So the young JOHN, although he
went for a brief period to New York. found
more ample scope for his talents at home.
s'Forty years I carved for ships JOHN said.
Then the steamers came In and iron had no use