The stone age in North America, vol. 1 of 2

by Warren K. Moorehead

Fig. 41. (S. about 1–3.) Mandan bone chipping-tools. These were made use of in flaking flint implements, Mandan village-site, North Dakota. Collected for Phillips Academy by E. R. Steinbrueck. The Mandan collection, of which a score of figures are presented, was purchased and presented to Phillips Academy by Edward H. Williams, Jr.

“He [Smith] said in substance that the Indian carried with him a pouch filled with flakes of precious stones, and within his mantle, in a pocket made for the purpose, a small instrument made of bone or horn, that he valued above all price and would not part with, and with it he deftly shaped arrow-points and spear-heads from or out of the stone flakes. On calling my grandfather’s attention to this, he said that although there was much truth in what at the time was written from the colonies, some things were highly colored and had to be sifted out or taken with caution, and he supposed the cutting of hard stone with bone or horn was one of these, and might be set down as one of Smith’s yarns. I asked myself the question, what object could he have in inventing and telling it? There must be some foundation. At all events, it made an indelible impression on my mind.

“Most of the arrow-points found within my reach in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania, were chipped from massive quartz, from the opaque white to semi-transparent and occasionally transparent. Once, in company with my early preceptors, Jacob Pearce and Isaiah Lukens, both well-known scientists, on a mineralogical excursion, we came to a place where (judging from the quantities of flakes and chips) arrow-points had been made. After most diligent search only one perfect point was found, which is still in my possession marked with ink ‘1818.’ There were many broken ones, showing the difficulty in working the material. Mr. Lukens collected a quantity of the best flakes to experiment with, and by the strokes of a light hammer roughed out one or two very rude imitations. No effort was made by pressure, which I cannot now understand, for at that time I was in the habit of breaking off points and trimming mineral specimens (likely to be injured by the jarring of a hammer-stroke) by pressure with the hickory handle of my mineral hammer.

“Major S. H. Long, afterwards colonel, who in the latter part of his life succeeded Colonel John J. Abert as head of the Topographical Department of the United States Army, whenever in Philadelphia, was a frequent visitor at my father’s house; and, when preparing for his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, in which my mother’s youngest brother, Titian R. Peale, went as assistant naturalist, I saw him almost daily. The subject of flaking and forming arrow- and spear-heads was one of frequent discussion. My grandfather, C. W. Peale, was at that time owner of the Philadelphia Museum, which had for that period a large collection of Indian curiosities, among them, many collected by Lewis and Clark on their northwestern expedition,—and to me the most interesting was a box of stone implements in various stages of manufacture, evidently collected with the view of illustrating the process. They were never put on exhibition other than in the original package, the lid of the box only having been removed. Major Long’s attention was called to these, and he expressed his belief that on his expedition he would learn the entire process, and on his return be able to explain everything in the Lewis and Clark collection.

Fig. 42. 7232 flint discs from a mound of the Hopewell group. Largest cache of implements known to archæologists. (See page [218].)

“The expedition returned, and, as far as I know, without any positive information as to the process of making the flakes. Mr. Peale said he had seen squaws chipping flakes into small arrow-points, holding the flake in their left hand, grasped between a piece of bent leather, and chipping off small flakes by pressure, using a small pointed bone in the right hand for that purpose. From this it was evident that John Smith’s story was no myth. In my lifelong intimacy with Colonel Long the subject of the flaking operation has frequently been one of conversation, on my regretting that more attention had not been paid to it on either of his expeditions. Knowing his preëminence as a civil engineer and his high attainments as a mechanic, I thought more reliable information would have been obtained by him and his party, composed as it was of such prominent men of science. He said that flakes prepared for points and other implements seemed to be an object of trade or commerce among the Indian tribes that he came in contact with; that there were but few places where chert or quartzite was found of sufficient hardness and close and even grain to flake well, and at those places there were men very expert at flaking. He had understood that it was mostly done by pressure, and rarely by blows, but he had never witnessed the operation. He expressed his belief that it was an art fast being lost, for he had found among tribes who had never seen a white man since the advent of Lewis and Clark, wrought-iron arrow-points made in England by the Birmingham nailers, sent out as articles of trade by the fur companies, and that they were preferred to the stone points.

“My early acquaintance with Catlin, the artist, was in the shop of Catlin, musical instrument and model maker, of Philadelphia. There I knew him as a very expert and superior workman in wood and ivory. As a portrait painter he was not at that time successful. He painted strong likenesses, but they lacked lifelike coloring. A delegation of Indians on their way to Washington gave him an opportunity to paint the likeness of one of the chiefs. This was exhibited in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and from its novelty attracted much attention; in fact, it was so far a success as to bring him into notice. About this time, I met him very frequently; his conversation always drifted on to the great value and importance of preserving correct likenesses of the Indians, whom he believed to be fast passing away. We all know how well he lived up to this idea, devoting his life to the work of producing the collection of Indian portraits now in the National Museum.

“On Mr. Catlin’s return from his long sojourn among the Indians, believing that, as an observing practical mechanic, nothing in the way of art among them would escape him, I took the first opportunity to see him. On my inquiry as to the mode in practice of splitting the stone into flakes for arrow- and spear-points, his reply was by a question characteristic of the man. He asked if I had forgotten Dr. Jones’s axiom, ‘The least possible momentum is greater than the greatest possible pressure.’ This was in allusion to a lecture on mechanics we had together heard delivered by Dr. Thomas P. Jones (afterwards Commissioner of Patents). He then added, ‘That is well understood by the flake-makers among the Indians, but it will soon be among the lost arts, just as the nests of Birmingham brass battered-ware kettles, the Yankee tinware, and glass whiskey bottles have already almost totally destroyed their crude art of pottery-making. The rifle is taking the place of the bow and arrow. For boys’ practice and for small game the iron points got from the fur traders are preferred to stone. A common jack-knife is worth to them more than all the flint knives and saws ever made.’