Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1935-09-07

I stone valley, near Livingston. who soma
five years ago interested himself ia col
Letting arT0wheads and studying the
probable history Of the buffalo jumps.
Ar. Nesbit started by excaVattng un-
der cliffs near his home, then ia the
Madison and Gallatin country, and
more recently in the Sun river country
and IA Teton county.
With Henry Ientfer Of Livingston,
Mr.. Nesbit has made a number Of trips
70 the Sun river country since excavat-
ing near home. he has some I 100 ar
Chiefly from one Of group OF IA cliffs
on Sun river and IN the vicinity OF
Emigrant.
Confirming the theory that the crud-
er agrOw points are the newest, Mr.
Nesbit points TO his collection from the
cliffs near Emigrant A cliff near the
mouth Of Emigrant gulch, east Of the
Yellowstone river, shows the crlldest
workmanship. About a third Of the
points secured here are of obsidian,
probably secured from Obsidian cliff in
Yellowstone PARK. Obsidian, while
easily Clipped, Is brittle and difficult
TO shape. A few points here are Of
flint and jasper, but very crude.
West OF the Yellowstone are two cliffs
close together. One yields points about
a third Of which are obSidian. while the
other yields about fourth obsidian
pieces, the remainder In each case being
of hard stones Except for the obsidian
points, the arrowheads found at these
two cliffs are Of better workmanship /
than those found east of the river.
At each Of these cliffs, all within !
a radius Of five miles, the designs OF the /
points differ from the others. par
ticuIarly in the shaft notchings, and
most Of them show a variation in shap-
ing, In addition to varying degrees Of
crude craftsmanship.
The Gallatin cliff yields about half
obSidian points OF better workmanship
than the Yellowstone finds. The hard
stone points also are better, showing q
few specimens Of great skill, infinite
pains and accuracy Of outline. The
Madison cliff south of Logan has about
20 per cent obsidian points, the re-
mainder Of hard stone and the entire
group showing better workmanship than
any Of the others, with & smaller perl
centage Of crude points. The Madison
and Gallatin collections differ from
each other and from the Yellowstone
groups in design and markings
In the Teton county group only one
)bSidian point was found, the remain
Ter Of light grey stones, lighter In color
han those found in southern Montana.
The Teton group as a whole showed
considerable skill, with many really
line points found In the collection.
On Sun river, Mr.. Nesbit and Mr..
-entfer found IL different cliffs within
| radius Of two miles, and the arrows
'ound in the debris at the foot OF each
lift bore characteristics distinctive to
-~fS Efs.I 81 tFznt
cliffs. The points found
lere are generally very finely formed
md all Of hard stones.
Mr.. Nesbit devoted most Of his effort
N Sun river to one particular Cliff,
which yielded the finest group Of hard
tone points from the standpoint Of
liilfU1 fabrication care In shaping and
needle fineneSs of~the points; all fiat,
hin stones with sharp edges and needle
,oiutS.
Indication that this particular de-
'ogit OF arrowheads was far older than
ny of the others was found In the fact
hat drift-mining methods were re-
uired, on small scale, to secure the
'oints.
At the Yellowstone, Madison and
sallatin cliffs, at those In Teton coun-
y, and at the other Sun river cliffs,
ut little excavation was necessary 70
each the deposits OF old buffalo bones,
uffalo hair, ETC., in which the points
re found.
At this drift-mine cliff, Mr.. Nesbit
ad to start at the base Of the cliff as it
lands today and work back some is Z
eet under about eight feet to follow
be deposit, which pinched out much as
'ould an ore vein, indicating that over
long period Of time silt and earth had
cen dropped In the lee Of the original
iff TO move 1t face forward some is
let from its original position. The
oints found in this deposit show dis
nctly different characteristics in shap-
lg and workmanship to set them
part from those found at cliffs within
very short distance.
The differences in design and quality a
[ workmanship found Ia the arrow n
eads at each cliff was rather slrpris-
Il to Mr. Nesbit, and the discovery
as turned mildly interesting hobby
I merely gathering arrOwheads into o =
eenly interesting search for more %
arieties Of points from other buffalo
lmps. he expects this fall to visit e.
ew locations in quest Of more points d
nd possible clues which may give some 4