The term Digger Indians has been given to various tribes conquered and driven from their fishing and hunting grounds. They live almost wholly upon roots of weeds or the few insects and small animals found in the plains of eastern Utah and the surrounding country. The stronger tribes will not let them fish in lake or stream, and their whole life is miserable.
The Indians of California were originally very brave and warlike, but the remnants of the tribes are broken in spirit and seem broken-hearted. Those which have drifted or have been driven by whites and red men into the peninsula of southern California are much like the Diggers.
The different tribes and nations scattered over America seemed to have known much about metals, [[46]]although they used stone arrow points and stone axes when the first explorers visited their homes.
The copper mines of Lake Superior show yet where the Indians have mined in them. Gold and silver ornaments were used in many tribes to decorate the braves and their squaws. Shells were carved with sharp tools and used as ornaments, or cut small into wampum.
Arrowheads were of flint or jasper and were made by the arrow makers of the tribe. It is said each nation had its own shape of arrowhead. Some preferred very small points; some chose the larger ones.
The early races of white people in all ancient lands used stone for many purposes. This first period has been called the Stone Age; this was followed by the Copper Age; then came the Iron Age. The Indians do not seem to have used iron before white men came, and were living in what history would call the Stone Age. [[47]]
THE INDIANS WHO LIVE IN BRICK HOUSES
The native Indians of the southwestern part of the United States were much more civilized when discovered than the wandering tribes in other parts of the country. They have built adobe houses for many centuries. These houses of mud, brick, and hewn timbers cannot be removed like the wigwams, teepees, or wickiups of the other tribes. The Spaniards named these Indians Pueblos, for pueblo is the Spanish word for village. There are twenty-seven Pueblo towns.