“Let any one experiment with a bone point in chipping flint; he will soon discover the value of a dry bone, a bone free from grease that will hold to its work without slipping, a bone with sufficient hardness to resist abrasion, a bone of strength to bear the pressure, and he will value such a pointed bone, and will understand why, with such a bone, John Smith’s ancient arrow-point maker ‘valued his above price, and would not part with it.’ I have been informed that the modern Indians free their flaking-bones from grease by burying them in moistened clay and wood ashes, not unlike the common practice of our housewives to remove grease-spots from their kitchen floors.
Fig. 51. (S. 2–5.) Triangular, or war points and knives. Implements with straight, concave, and convex bases. S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin.
“The hunter or trapper described to me a mode still in practice among the remote Indians of making flakes by lever pressure combined with percussion, that is more philosophical and a better mechanical arrangement than by the use of the flaking-staff, as described by Catlin. Fig. 22 shows the manner of utilizing a standing tree with spreading roots for this purpose; a flattened root makes a firm seat for the stone, a notch cut into the body of a tree the fulcrum for the lever; either a pointed stick is placed on the point of the stone where the flake is to be split from it, its upper end resting against the under side of the lever, or a bone or horn point let into and secured to the lever takes the place of this stick. When the pressure is brought to bear, by the weight of the operation, on the long end of the lever, a second man with a stone, mall, or heavy club strikes a blow on the upper side of the lever, directly over the pointed stick or horn point, and the flake is thrown off.
Fig. 52. (S. 1–1.) Knife with curved sides or edges. This form seems more specialized than other types under Class I, sub-type A′. Dr. T. B. Stewart, Lockhaven, Pennsylvania.
“Lubbock, in ‘Prehistoric Times,’ illustrated the Eskimo scraper as used at the present time in preparing skins. When we consider the close proximity of the flint workshop to the great salt licks on the Saline River, the flowing salt springs, the deeply worn buffalo paths still to be seen after having been subject to the destructive work of cultivation by the plow for more than a generation, where skins by the thousands must have been dressed, it is not surprising that the many chert flakes, that have been split off with too great a curvature of their flat sides in their length to admit of being chipped into arrow-points, should have been utilized for scrapers, many of which are the exact facsimile of what Lubbock has illustrated as the Eskimo and others of the European type, of which he says: ‘It is curious, that while these spoon-shaped scrapers are so common in Europe, they are very rare, if indeed they occur at all, in North America south of the Eskimo region.’
Fig. 53. (S. 1–2.) Translucent scraper made of chalcedony. Length, 9 inches; greatest width, 5 inches. Found near Lake St. John, Quebec. In Toronto University collection, collected by H. Montgomery.
“I think it most probable, from their close resemblance to refuse flakes and chips, they were overlooked by early collectors. In the great game districts of the West, both in flint workshops and among the waste of Indian settlements, they are much more abundant than arrow-heads, or any other implements, with the exception of the small flint knives.