Fig. 695. (S. 1–2.) Two of the best grooved axes I have ever seen are shown in this figure, from the collection of Mr. Braun, East St. Louis, Illinois. There is one in the National Museum, and one in the New York Museum, each of which weighs over ten pounds, and they are nearly as symmetrical as Mr. Braun’s largest axe.
which we are familiar. Others we know nothing of save as we learn by continuous study, by gleaning a fact here and there from the specimens themselves, and from exploration.
Fig. 696. (S. 1–1.) A beautiful hematite axe from the collection of Henry M. Whelpley, St. Louis, Missouri. This was found in central Missouri.
In the collection at Andover there are about four hundred hematite objects. The collections in the Smithsonian and American Museum of Natural History are much larger. Doubtless we should be quite surprised if we were able to reconstruct the past and see to what use these strange iron ore specimens were put by the natives who worked so long and laboriously to bring them into a state of perfection.
Mr. C. E. Brown, reporting on the hematites of his region, states:
Fig. 697. (S. 1–2.) Hematite cones. Collection of H. M. Whelpley, St. Louis, Missouri. Localities: Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas.
“A small number of implements made of this material have been obtained in Wisconsin. These include a grooved axe, a number of celts, several cones and plummets, a gorget, and a pipe. The total number of specimens of all classes at present known to exist in local collections does not exceed thirty specimens. Nearly all come from southern Wisconsin counties. Several specimens have been obtained as far north in the state as Winnebago County. It is likely that some of these hematite implements were introduced into the state through early trades with middle Mississippi Valley tribes.”
