Vol. 34 Nos. 1-2 Dec. 1972
THE MISSOURI ARCHAEOLOGIST
VOLUME 34, NOS. 1-2 COLUMBIA, MO. DECEMBER, 1972
Editor: Robert T. Bray, University of Missouri-Columbia
SOCIETY OFFICERS 1972
Henry W. Hamilton, President
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Leonard W. Blake
J. Allen Eichenberger
Dr. H. Lee Hoover
Dr. Carl H. Chapman, Secretary
Edward C. Matthews, Jr.
Clem T. Kelly
Leo J. Roedl
David R. Evans, Treasurer
TRUSTEES
Harold W. Mohrman, (Chairman)
Leo O. Anderson
Ramsey Bearden
Dale Belshe
John E. Berry
C. L. Blanton, Jr.
Freddie Bollinger
Fred Brandenburger
Mrs. Mary B. Bruno
C. Warren Cagle
Miss Harryette Campbell
R. I. Colborn
J. L. Connelly
Paul Corbin
J. M. Crick
Mrs. W. L. Davidson
W. B. Debo
Jack Dennis
Richard V. Dolby
Terrance Dyche
Benedict Ellis
Jim D. Feagins
Dr. Raymond Felling
Forrest Femmer
Charles R. Fiorita
Maynard A. Fisher
Michael R. Fisher
Howell Geiger
Henry H. Gerdes
J. W. Gerhardt
Harold Green
T. M. Hamilton
Dr. E. B. Hanan
Harry L. Harner
Dr. M. M. Hart
Dr. William Hayes
O. Lee Herberger
J. P. Herring
Leo P. Hopper
James G. Houser
Dr. Shelby Hughes
Elmo Ingenthron
Sam C. Irvine
Sam G. Jones
James F. Keefe
Thomas Keel, Jr.
David Kimbrough
George W. Kirk
Claude Knoles
Miss Margaret Lawlor
I. H. Lehmer
Dr. James L. Lowe
Frank Magre
Winton O. Meyer
Steve Miller
George W. Nichols
Dr. Peter Nichols
Charles V. Orr
W. L. Philyaw
Mrs. Howard Platz
Art Province
Julian D. Pyatt
Nelson Reed
Donovan Reynolds
Ralph G. Roberts
Paul V. Sellers
Dr. Francis L. Stubbs
John W. Taylor
Floyd Vavak
John C. Vinton
George Von Hoffman, Jr.
James Walden
PRESERVATION OF SITES COMMITTEE
J. J. McKinny (Chairman)
Joseph B. Abell
Dr. Hugh L. Cutler
William R. Denslow
Robert L. Elgin
Arthur L. Freeman, Jr.
Genevieve Huss
Charles E. Martien
Haysler A. Poague
Robert M. Seelen
George U. Shelby, Jr.
Allen B. Soper
Frank Stonner
C. H. Turner
Art. L. Wallhausen, Jr.
by Henry W. Hamilton & Jean Tyree Hamilton
We wish to express appreciation to all of the following for their help and assistance in the preparation of this report. The contributions of some are discussed in detail in the text, but we are grateful to each and every one.
Miss Wilsie Thornton, Mrs. Bess Franklin Mattox, Stuart M. Farrar and Jack Price, Pamplin, Virginia.
Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien, M.D.; Calvin Robinson, retired editor; Ray Noble and William Sperry, Appomattox, Virginia.
Mrs. Aldah B. Gordon, Clerk Circuit Court, Appomattox County, Appomattox, Virginia.
Vernon C. Womack, Clerk Circuit Court, Prince Edward County, Farmville, Virginia.
Alford L. Rector, Charles H. Meadows, and Mrs. Charles S. Martin, Appomattox Court House, National Historic Park, Virginia.
Edward A. Chappell, Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, Richmond, Virginia.
Edward F. Heite, formerly with Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission.
Francis B. Fitzgerald, Suffolk, Virginia.
David Dautenhahn, Marshall, Missouri
John W. Walker, John W. Griffin and Richard D. Faust, Southeast Archaeological Center, National Park Service, Macon, Georgia.
J. Paul Hudson, Jamestown National Historic Park, Virginia.
Rex L. Wilson, Acting Chief, Division of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Park Service, Washington.
John C. Ewers, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.
Jerome E. Petsche, National Park Service, Washington.
Charles Phillips, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Miss Mary M. Watts, Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia.
Robert L. Saville, Jr., Lawyers Title Insurance Corp, Richmond Virginia.
Morton L. Wallerstein and Ralph Dombrower, Richmond, Partners in the last factory operation.
Microfilm Department, Virginia State Library, Richmond.
Miss Eleanor Thompson, Assistant Librarian, Missouri Valley College, Marshall, Missouri.
Mrs. Dorothy Erdmann, Summit County Historical Society, Akron, Ohio.
Floyd Painter, Editor, The Chesopiean, Norfolk, Virginia.
Ronald A. Thomas, State Archaeologist, Dover, Delaware.
Mrs. Elizabeth Schick and L. T. Alexander, Archaeological Society of Delaware, Wilmington.
R. H. Landon, Minnesota Archaeological Society, Minneapolis.
Howard A. MacCord, Sr., Archaeology Society of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Ronald R. Switzer, Bertrand Conservation Laboratory, DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri Valley, Iowa.
The photography is by T. M. Hamilton, Miami, Missouri, except where otherwise noted.
To the many others who have helped, we also wish to express our thanks.
This is presented as an aid in the identification of clay pipes from the general area of Pamplin, Virginia, that might appear in archaeological and historic sites. Interest in these pipes has been stimulated by their being reported as found in various sites in the western United States.
The circumstances under which this information has been gathered and the fact that it has been a number of years since clay pipes were made here, either as a home industry or commercially by the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, leave much to be desired. On the other hand, in our work we have inspected a total of 4,451 Pamplin pipes; of this number 39% were from the factory grounds, and 61% were from the Thornton Store Site and represented the home industry, so we feel that the 39 forms presented represent at least a majority of the pipe forms made at Pamplin.
This is not to say that a similar form could not have been made elsewhere; however the style, the generally heavier and thicker character of the piece, and the finish, or lack of it, as well as the usual deep red color of the Virginia clay, would seem to make these pipes distinctive.
Under the conditions in which these pipes were retrieved it is obvious that the numbers of the different forms located give little indication of the relative numbers of the different styles that were manufactured, the popularity of the various styles, or the relative time of their manufacture.
Nearly all of the pipes examined were retrieved by excavation, by people who simply happened to become interested; this is equally true whether the pipes had been made by the factory and excavated out of fill on the old factory 3 grounds, or whether they were made at the homes and excavated from the basement of the old Thornton Store, which through the years had taken them in trade for merchandise.
In some cases among the pipes examined there were not more than one, or a few, examples of a certain form. In other cases there were hundreds. Among the examples available to us there was generally little variation in size within the same form. We have illustrated the largest and the smallest, since this also gives an opportunity to note minor variations that may exist between different molds for the same pipe form. However, a rather wide variation in size was present in that shown as (Plate 13 A), the “Original” Powhatan, where a total of 12 gradations from largest to smallest were found.
The predominant color of the pipes is dark red. A lighter color is infrequently present, running from almost yellow, to salmon, to light brown. The very dark, almost black coloration of some is said to come either from minerals present in the soil of this area, to which the pipes presented here had been subjected since nearly all had been many years underground, or from actual fire that had fallen into the saggers of the Company kiln, or the iron pots in which the pipes had been fired in the home industry.
During the last years of factory operation “some white clay from either West Virginia or Kentucky was shipped in by railroad”. This resulted in pipes of a lighter color, at times light grey to white. Apparently no pipes made from this particular clay were seen by us, except possibly those illustrated in Plate 23 AJ.
Well established local tradition indicates that clay pipemaking in the homes, for home and neighborhood use, started almost as soon as the first settlers reached the area, and after the suitability of the local clay was discovered. Initial county organization in this part of Virginia was well underway by the 1740’s.
Bradshaw’s History of Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1955, p. 5 states, Batho Austin road to be cleared from the Appomattox River near Colonel Richard Randolph’s quarter to Hill’s Fork on Vaughan’s Creek by all who lived near the route and were not employed on other roads. 1742.
Vernon C. Womack, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Prince Edward County, in a personal letter states, “Since the south fork of Vaughan’s Creek originates a short distance from where the pipe factory was later located in Pamplin, this might be the starting point. John Wood’s map of Prince Edward County, dated 1820 which shows that part that was later cut off to form Appomattox County, gives a detail network of roads through Kelso’s Old Store, which appears to be near the present location of Pamplin.”
There were stores at Sandy River, Wm. and Samuel Matthew had a store at Walker’s Church, and Kelso’s Old Store was between Walker’s Church and Merriman’s Shop (now Pamplin).” The statement is footnoted John Wood map, 1820. (Bradshaw, 1955:319).
Merriman’s Shop Post Office, 94 miles from Richmond, 185 miles from Washington. (Martin, 1835:269).
Advertisement for renewal of bids for rural route for port office in Merriman’s Shop in 1843-1848 (Bradshaw, 1955:315).
The area that was later to become Appomattox County had been, successively, included in the areas of several earlier and larger counties. Appomattox County was formed in 1845. The railroad came through Merriman’s Shop in 1854, and was renamed Pamplin. The Appomattox County Courthouse burned and the county records were destroyed by fire on February 2, 1892 (Communication from Mrs. Aldah Gordon).
Mrs. Bess Franklin Mattox reported, “Nicholas Pamplin, a resident of Merriman’s Shop, was the only citizen who permitted the railroad to go through his land without charge and so the village was renamed for him” (Mattox, personal communication). For a time it was known as Pamplin Depot, then Pamplin City, finally simply Pamplin.
The home manufacture of pipes has had a long history in this part of Virginia and can be considered as well underway by the 1740s. It existed long before the Company came to Pamplin and continued after the Company had ceased operations, or as long as there was an active demand for clay pipes.
The Home Industry finally came to a close in 1953. “Mrs. Betty Price of Appomattox County was the last to make pipes. I have a mold used by her. She made them from childhood and in her prime could make 40,000 pipes per year, having been taught by her mother in 1866 when she was eight years old. Her mother had made them a lifetime before her. In the last year of Mrs. Betty Price’s life, 1953, she made 500 pipes at the age of 95. They were made from clay from her own farm.” (Personal letter from Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox, and her son, Jack Price of Pamplin).
A column by the News-Leader correspondent from Appomattox, April 30, (year unknown) said, Hollywood bar reached all the way to Pamplin to get Mrs. Betty Price’s pipes for use by the Indians in the movie, “Northwest Mounted Police”. Cecil B. DeMille’s research man ferreted out the Powhatan pipe some months before the film went into production. Several dozen were ordered. Frank Lloyd also bought pipes to be used in the production of “Howards of Virginia”.
Practically speaking, all of the pipes made at the homes were made by white women, and from about the time of the first settlement of the territory, as the special suitability of the local clay for that purpose was early discovered.
Miss Wilsie Thornton of Pamplin said that this industry had become especially important after the War Between the States, because with so many men having been killed and the area in such straitened circumstances, the women 5 were badly in need of some means of making a living. The pipes they made could be traded at several general stores, or sold for a few cents, and there was no cost for materials.
One such establishment at which the local women disposed of their pipes was J. R. Franklin & Co., of Pamplin. Some of these pipes were recovered when the cargo of the sternwheeler, Bertrand, which sank in the Missouri River at Port La Force, Nebraska, April 1, 1865, (Petsche, 1970:1) was salvaged in 1968-69. The official list of artifacts recovered in the salvage operation, supplied by Jerome E. Petsche, National Park Service, who was in charge of that operation shows:
Pipes, Smoking; Several types and sizes recovered; briars and clay; one lot included clay bowls exclusively, others contained stems and bowls. Consignee: Vivian and Simpson, Virginia City. Manufacturer’s stenciling: ‘THE CELEBRATED VIRGINIA POWHATAN (CLAY), J. R. FRANKLIN & CO., SOLE AGENTS FOR THE MANUFACTURERS, PAMPLIN DEPOT, APPOMATTOX COUNTY, VA.’ Field lot numbers MPC 104, MPC 358, FSC 171.
The following description of the pipe shipment on the Bertrand was provided by Ronald R. Switzer, Director, Bertrand Conservation Laboratory, National Park Service, Missouri Valley, Iowa.
“The pipes are of one type and design (Plate 2). Forty pipe bowls plus 136 fragments ... all but 15 are chipped or broken, condition otherwise good. Clay, predominantly grayish-tan, mottled with brick red and brown. Paste soft, fine, and uniform, ... exterior has soft sheen. Preservation: Brushed with soft bristle brush in running tap water to remove mud.” (Switzer, personal communication).
This pipe is similar to (Plate 19 U); however, there are slight variations due to differences in individual molds made for production of the same pipe form.
The two pipe forms (Plate 19 T & U), were the only examples we found that carried the peculiar pinkish-gray tan color, and they were found only among the pipes made by the Home Industry. They were probably made of clay from the same source and by the same individual, since home pipemakers usually dug their clay on their own premises, and the condition of the pipes, after a century in mud and moisture, indicates that the work was done well.
The shipment was contained in a wooden box, which was approximately 15½ inches long, 8½ inches wide, and 8 inches tall (Plate 2). The stenciling on the box is faint, but legible.
“Lettering on the top of the box indicated the consignee but is so faded that it was impossible to obtain a good photograph; however the stencil once read,—B. A. L. Vivian & Simpson, Virginia City, M. T.” (Plate 3) (Switzer, personal communication).
“One end of the box was lettered, No. 1, 216, M. Size” (Plate 3). The meaning of this can only be conjectured, however it may have indicated shipment No. 1, to this consignee; containing 216 pipes; of Medium size.
The stencils identifying the consignor, J. R. Franklin & Co., appeared on 6 both sides of the box and were identical (Plate 3). The same, except in abbreviated form, appeared diagonally on one end of the box.
The account book of the store at New Store, Virginia, about 23 miles northeast of Pamplin, which is in the collections at Appomattox Courthouse, records that on Sept. 1, 1866, I. H. Schenault was paid $8.00 for 1,600 pipes, and later, (apparently the same day) was paid $8.75 for 2,175 pipes. The latter was evidently a partial and immediate “in trade” transaction.
So in the Pamplin area in the 1860s general stores were taking clay pipes made in the home industry, allowing about ½¢ each in trade for commodities, and at least in one instance were shipping them west for use by the miners in the gold fields.
Mrs. Betty Price has said that the Powhatan “Original” (Plate 13 A) the “Hamburg” (Plate 14 F) and the “Zuvee” or “Zoo” (Plate 19 T) were some of the first pipe forms made in the area. (News-Leader, April 30, year unknown).
Many of the clay pipes made at homes near Pamplin were traded for commodities at the Thornton General Store in Pamplin, and this store was truly “general”, for it handled, in addition to groceries, everything from threshing machines and horsepower mills to silk thread.
Miss Wilsie Thornton had a copy of her Father’s letterhead: the letter was dated, Jan. 9, 1892. The letterhead reads,—
W. D. THORNTON, DEALER.
General Merchandise and Agricultural Implements.
Wholesale dealer in All Styles of Clay Pipes and Stems
Manufacturer’s Agent for
Aultman and Taylor Threshers, Horse Power and Farm Engines.
Also Buckeye Reapers & Mowers & Thornmill Wagons.
“The pipes made by the local women,” Miss Thompson said, “were traded to the Thornton Store for the necessities of life. The pipes were stored in the basement of the store and packed in barrels, in either pine needles or sawdust, and shipped to the Baltimore Bargain House, or to other wholesale houses. From the wholesale houses they were shipped to the Cotton States and to the West. Large orders were filled for a tobacco factory in Pennsylvania, where they sold bags of tobacco with the pipes.”
Pamplin pipes have been reported from the sites of Fort Laramie, Wyoming; Fort Sanders, Wyoming; Fort Stambaugh, Wyoming; Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming; Fort Union, New Mexico; Fort Sully, South Dakota; and Fort Davis, Texas (Wilson, 1971).
Miss Thornton’s parents were married in 1874, but the store was already in operation at that time. Her father continued operation until his death, December 16, 1897; after that the store was run by her brother. A bank, the “Farmer’s and Merchant’s National Bank” was also operated in the store. In later years the building became a drug store.
Finally with time and disuse the old building came down and erosion, with perhaps some intentional filling of the area, took place. So the site of the old general store, which in its heyday had meant so much to Pamplin and Appomattox County and its people in their daily living, became simply a vacant area.
Some years ago Miss Thornton had made a train trip and met an old colored woman in a rest room to which they had both gone to smoke. (When we met her, Miss Thornton chain-smoked at the age of 89). The colored woman had a sack of tobacco and pulled out a clay pipe which Miss Thornton recognized as of the kind that her father used to take in trade, so she asked the woman if it was a good one.
The woman answered, “Law, yes, but I can’t buy them any more!” so Miss Thornton told her that it was made long ago, in her home town, and that she would try to get her some.
Her next problem was to find some pipes. After several days she thought of the pipes that she felt sure were covered with earth and still in the basement of her father’s old store, so she talked to her cousin and next door neighbor, Mrs. Bess Franklin Mattox.
Shortly after that, they dug at the site. Mrs. Mattox thinks it was around 1958, though possibly 2 years earlier. “Erosion through the years had covered the pipes and when we first started to dig we found none, then there they were, under the dirt. We found two or three sugar barrels full. Tar was on a few of the pipes, from road tar that was also stored in the basement and spilled”. (This tar, in hard-dried rough spots, is present on some of the pipes we examined; however it chips off readily and leaves the pipe relatively clean).
So the colored woman who couldn’t find a Pamplin pipe to buy received “either 15 or 16” and Miss Thornton received a letter of thanks from her from Atlanta.
Miss Thornton still had approximately 1,450 of the home manufactured pipes for us to see when we visited her in July 1969, and Mrs. Mattox had a few.
Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox has had a lifelong interest in the clay pipes of his area and in the history of their manufacture. He has a collection of pipes as well as two pipe molds, and has given us much information.
We asked Dr. O’Brien for an account of the method of making pipes in the homes. The following is his contribution, in a letter dated March 11, 1971.
“I talked to Jack Price, age 86, he had worked in the plant for years. His mother, Mrs. Betty Price, and grandmother made pipes at home in Pamplin.
“The clay was made up and put into molds, when the pipe was removed from the mold the shaper was used to smooth mold marks, if the pipe was to be identified with ‘Original’, ‘Hayiti’, or some other marking this was impressed 8 on the base with a stamp at this time. The pipe was then sun-dried on a board in summer, or in the stove oven in winter. Then after they had ‘set-up’ the pipes were put into an iron pot, the pots were put into an oven in the back yard and dry chestnut wood was placed around the pots and this was then set on fire. They did not have a thermometer so he did not know the temperature, but when the wood had burned completely the pipes were brought out to cool.
“If a piece of wood fell into the burning pot and started to smoke it was removed at once to keep from blackening or staining the pipes.
“After the pipes cooled they were brought into the house and Mr. Price said that when the pipes were poured out of the pot in which they were baked, to the floor, they would ring or chime when they hit against each other.
“The pipes were then waxed with bee’s wax and mutton tallow and then polished with a woolen cloth, and the children helped.”
In all of this, Bob Davis of Pamplin, age 91, in talking to John W. Walker in 1962, had concurred. He said, “The pipes were molded, trimmed, put on a board and dried in the sun, baked in iron pots, waxed, and rubbed. The pipes were made all through the country, the local stores bought and shipped them, and the Factory would buy these ‘country pipes’.” Here was more direct evidence that the Factory, on occasion at least, bought and shipped pipes made by the Home Industry (Walker, personal communication).
There were, however, two men who made pipes.
Dr. O’Brien’s father Thomas O’Brien, was born in 1843. When he came back after the War, about 1865, he made his own mold of white-oak with lead lining and made pipes for his own use.
According to Miss Wilsie Thornton, a Mr. Rodgers was making molds and pipes until about 1938 as a hobby. One of them was in the form of an Indian head (Plate 23 AL). The “peach seed” pipe (Plate 23 AM) is also thought to be one of his manufacture.
In the middle 1850’s that part of Ohio that surrounds Akron was the pipemaking capital of the United States, with at least six clay products companies producing them (Blair, 1965:26-30). The leading producer of clay smoking pipes in the Akron vicinity was the E. H. Merrill Co., which had been producing pottery objects since its founding in 1831. In 1843 or 1844 Calvin, brother of E. H. Merrill, invented a machine for making pipes which greatly increased the output of the company and gave quite an advantage over its competitors (Blair, 1965:3).
The Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, Inc., was established by the Akron Smoking Pipe Company of Akron, Ohio, when they built the plant at Pamplin.
That the clay in Appomattox County was well suited to pipe manufacture was well known. The establishment of this plant was no doubt the result of the 9 Company’s realization of the availability of the fine red clay from which the local women were producing pipes, a clay that could be used without even sifting.
When the Pamplin Factory was established is quite uncertain. Examination of the microfilm of newspapers of the area that were available from the Virginia State Library, beginning February 3, 1869 through December 25, 1896, gave no clue to the date of the establishment of the Pamplin Factory, nor did county records, probably due to the fire of 1892.
Sometime immediately prior to 1880 William Merrill of Akron, Ohio, undoubtedly a member of the pipe making family, established a pipe making factory at Pamplin. (Omwake, 1967:23). Our Pamplin informants were of the opinion that the Akron plant was devoted to the manufacture of drain tile after the pipe machinery was moved to Pamplin.
Bob Davis of Pamplin, born 1871, in an interview with John W. Walker in September 1962, said, “I was a kid when the factory came in”. Timewise this would be in general agreement with Omwake’s estimate for the date of the establishment of the factory at Pamplin.
That Pamplin pipes were also available from Akron in 1893 is evidenced by a letterhead of the Akron Smoking Pipe Company, dated June 26, 1893, showing examples of two clay pipes similar to Plate 22 AF & AG, (Blair, 1965:36). A communication from the Summit County Historical Society reports, “The Akron Smoking Pipe Co. is recorded as being in business from 1891 to 1895, and were manufacturers of stone, Powhatan Clay, and corn cob tobacco pipes. Daily capacity 100,000 pipes. General offices, Akron, Ohio. Factories, Pamplin City, Virginia; Mogadore, Ohio.”
Statements in company literature are also confusing. In a leaflet which carries a testimonial for their pipes, dated April 28, 1941 and price lists “effective November 15, 1941”, the statement is made, from careful search of the records, this factory started more than 200 years ago ... the present plant has been in operation for 44 years. Skilled American labor is used in a modern, day-lit plant with special attention to cleanliness, sanitation, and ideal working conditions (Plate 8).
This would give a date for the “present plant” of 1897, but it also suggests that an earlier plant had been rebuilt or replaced. (An undated and unidentified news clipping does state that at some time the pipe plant had burned). Company literature also states, “Established 1739” (Plate 8). This obviously cannot refer to the establishment of the plant, nor even to the mother plant at Akron, since pottery was first produced in Summit County, Ohio, in 1828 (Blair, 1965:2). The Company may simply have been employing “poet’s license” and appropriated a date which they felt representative of the start of the Home Pipe Making Industry in the Pamplin area.
The Times-Virginian of Appomattox, date unknown, carried a news article, Pamplin Clay Pipe Plant once termed largest in the World. The Farmville Herald of March 29, 1935 stated, ... the output of the Clay Pipe Factory at Pamplin is 1,000,000 a month, when it is running full time. In the roster of business in Virginia, this factory is mentioned as the largest clay pipe factory in the United States, and so far as is known, in the world.
At one point in the history of the plant, pipes were sold to England as well as some other countries in Europe.
Also vague has been the terminal date of the Pamplin Company; it is variously given locally as 1948 to 1951.
There is a contemporary news article on the factory published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 21, 1946. A History of Appomattox, Virginia, published 1948, states, The Akron Pipe Factory of Pamplin holds the title of manufacturing the finest clay smoking pipes in the world, known as the ‘Powhatan’ (Featherstone, 1948:44).
In a personal letter to the writers, John C. Ewers said, “During my field work on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, in 1953, I first learned of the Pamplin clay pipes. One of my Indian informants told me about selling them when he was working at a trading post on the reservation during the first decade of the present century....
“Later I visited the trading post at Oswego on the Fort Peck Reservation. There the proprietor showed me the illustrated price list of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, Inc. He showed me the only type of pipe he still had in stock—the ‘Century of Progress’, Chicago type (Plate 23 AJ). He said the manufacturer wrote him in 1951 that he planned to go back into the manufacture of the other styles, which the Assiniboine preferred.”
The Tomahawk pipe was a good specialty item for sale at such events as fairs and expositions, and the Company’s sales to the “Century of Progress” in Chicago in 1933 must have been excellent, even though they had not sold all they had made in anticipation of that demand. The bowl, necessarily narrow and elongated since it was in the blade of the tomahawk, did not recommend it to serious smokers, nor to the Assiniboine.
It would seem evident that these pipes were left over from the production of the Company in 1933, that their regular pipe models had by this time been sold out, and that the Company was already in a State of quiescence in 1951.
Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox stated that the Company ceased operations in 1951.
The Charter of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company shows that it was incorporated by the Commonwealth of Virginia on the 15th day of August, 1929. The officers at that time were, J. V. Lewis, Pres., Prospect, Virginia; J. W. Franklin, V.Pres., Pamplin; L. N. Ligon, V.Pres., Pamplin; T. R. Pugh, Secy-Treas., Pamplin.
The purposes of the Company then were, among other things, to deal in wood of all kinds, own timber lands, contract to do construction work, deal in real estate, and to buy and sell all kinds of necessary material ... and operate all the necessary equipment and machinery for the purpose of manufacturing clay pipes, crocks, and earthenware.... (Charter Book No. 1, Page 108, Appomattox County, Virginia). The corporation (Charter No. 34565-16) was dissolved by the State Corporation Commission, at the request of the stockholders, on February 21, 1952.
A personal communication, February 23, 1972, from Morton L. Wallerstein who with Ralph L. Dombrower as corporate officers were the last active operators of the pipe factory, states, “Mr. Dombrower and myself, as sole stockholders, started the operation in 1938 and baked the clay pipes up to the time of the enactment of the Minimum Wage Law by Congress. At that time it was apparent that the part-time workers, largely farm girls and boys who worked in the afternoon, would cease to be employed because the pipes could not be marketed under the wages required to be paid.
“However, Mrs. Betty Price and another woman made the hand-made clay pipes at their homes, which pipes Mr. Dombrower bought after 1938 and very cleverly boxed in antique fashion and sold them for some years. However, unfortunately the women who made these pipes died and they were no longer made.
“The factory, itself, did not manufacture pipes beyond the period stated above. The property was sold in 1947 and the corporation was dissolved in 1952.”
Apparently then, the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company ceased all activity in 1951, having been in existence slightly more than 70 years.
Some time after the closing, the main factory building was used as a garage. In July of 1969 this frame building, with the name “Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Co., Inc., American Indian Clay Smoking Pipes” still painted above the entrance, stood unoccupied; the crumbling old smokestack and large round kiln of brick construction were still there (Plates 4 & 5). Another building which had served Company purposes had been destroyed.
The machinery to mold smoking pipes and bottles was invented by Calvin J. Merrill of the E. H. Merrill Pottery, Summit County, Ohio, in 1843 (Blair, 1965:3).
The pipe machine was simple: the individual metal molds in the foot powered mechanism could be changed to vary the pipe form. The whole was contained in a simple wooden bench (Plate 6). Miss Wilsie Thornton felt that a man working such a machine could produce thousands of pipes per day. It is unknown how many such machines were used by the factory, nor how many people were employed since ideas of our informants varied; however, the best estimate seems to be 8 to 10 machines, with employees varying from 10 to 40, depending upon the press of work and the rush of orders at any given time.
Bob Davis of Pamplin, in the interview with John W. Walker said, “Old man Taz Harvey made the Powhatan mold. He had a shop and made many molds”.
The pipes were packed in round stoneware crocks or saggers made from fireclay, and the saggers were stacked alternately around the kiln. The saggers were some eight inches high and 16 to 18 inches in diameter (Plate 7). There was an opening in the top of the kiln through which, in glazing, salt was put when the pipes were hot. They were fired some 24 or 48 hours (Miss Thornton’s statement).
Mrs. Maddox said: “As a child I used to go with a colored man who worked with us and also for the factory, and watch him throw salt down a hole in the top of the kiln on the pipes to make a glaze.”
At a high temperature the salt vaporized and combined with the silica in the body of the clay to form a glassy or ‘silicate glaze’. The kiln was fired 32 to 36 hours before maximum temperature was reached; it was cooled the same period to prevent crazing (minute cracking) of the glaze (Blair, 1965:15). This description of glazing refers to stoneware in the mid-nineteenth century potteries near Akron, Ohio. However since the Pamplin kiln was the same sort of “walk-in” kiln, the detail would fit, and it is substantiated by Miss Thornton’s statement of firing time.
From the scarcity of glazed pipes among the many that we examined, we conclude that the majority were finished without glazing.
The stems sold with the factory pipes were made from switch cane Arundinara gigantea known locally as reed and once abundant in the Great Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia (R. H. Woodling to Chas. H. Meadows, May 15, 1969). (The stems used with the pipes made by the Home Industry usually came from the same source.)
The reeds were cut in 12 foot lengths by men in boats, allowed to dry for six months, cut in lengths and reamed out. Some were put in a machine and bent (Miss Thornton, Dr. O’Brien).
Cork plugs or washers were used in the base of the pipes to hold the stem in place. Some were still in place in pipes we examined. A plug mill, a high pressure machine, extruded the cork plugs which were cut off by wire (Heite).
(Replacement reed stems for clay, hickory, or corn cob pipes, retailed in the grocery stores in Lexington, Missouri, for 10¢ per dozen about 1916).
A number of people and institutions with varying numbers of Pamplin Factory pipes in their possession have given us an opportunity to examine them. The largest number of specimens were in the hands of the following.
Our attention was first called to these pipes in 1968 at the Craft Club in 13 Arrow Rock, Missouri, where some of them appeared for sale as an unusual item. They obviously had been underground, for the bowls and bases were still filled with earth containing numerous rootlets growing through the pipe cavities.
It was learned that the pipes had been supplied by Francis B. Fitzgerald, Suffolk, Virginia; David I. Dautenhahn, Marshall, Missouri, put us in touch with him. As a youngster, Fitzgerald had on various occasions visited his grandfather’s farm, which was near the Pamplin Factory, and had played in the water of a little creek on pipe plant property. In so doing, he discovered that there were numerous clay pipes in a bank which apparently had been placed in the creek to form a dam. (The dam was probably for the purpose of retaining water to mix with the clay). He had hundreds of these pipes. Practically none would seem to have been rejects—how or why they got into the dirt which was used to make the fill is unknown. Through the years Fitzgerald had made a selection of forms representative of this group, all of which he made available to us.
Since that time an owner of the pipe plant property had secured many pipes, later acquired by the Appomattox National Historic Park. They were made available to us by Alford L. Rechtor, Superintendent.
The Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission supplied photographs of some Pamplin pipes, as well as photographs of a pipe mold and pipe maker’s bench (Plate 6) and saggers (Plate 7). We were granted the use of these by Edward F. Heite and Edward A. Chappell of that institution.
John W. Walker of the National Park Service, who had worked in the area and become interested in the pipes made there, provided us with a copy of his field notes and some examples of pipes.
John C. Ewers of the Smithsonian Institution had visited Pamplin. He gave us much information and showed us several pipe forms from the area that are in the collections of that institution.
Rex L. Wilson, National Park Service, loaned us a copy of his manuscript, “Clay Tobacco Pipes from Fort Laramie, Wyoming and Related Sites”, in which he identified some specimens as having come from Pamplin.
The Company’s price list of November 1941 listed “The Powhatan Machine Made”, fitted with cork closures and 10″ reed stems, bowls trade-marked, packed 50 to box, 25¢ retailer. Price $6.00 per box.” (Plate 10).
Five other models were listed, “5 in. reed stems, packed 100 to box, 15¢ retailer. Price $3.00 per box.” Two models were listed similarly, but 10¢ retailers, price $2.50 per box. Two other 10¢ retailers were listed at $2.70 per box, and one model at $2.85 per box but the suggested retail price was still 10¢ each.
One model, their “Ole Virginny Hamburg”, was offered in finest fire-clay, hard-burned, white, simulates meerschaum, also in red. Similar to “Ole Virginny Shaker”. It was a 10¢ retailer, $2.70 per box of 100. (It is of interest that this 14 pipe, listed elsewhere in this same price list, but as “Ole Virginny Shaker of Virginia red clay, a heavier stone pipe”, was priced as a 15¢ retailer and $3.00 per box). (Plate 10).
Jobbers discounts were offered. “10 to 20 boxes, 20%”, and going up by 5% stages to “101 to 500 boxes, 35% discount”. “We make many other styles of Indian Clay and Stone Pipes, ... we can make any style of pipe that can be made of clay. Our own designers and artists are at your service” (Plate 11).
In the last years of Factory operation their sales carried an identification tag, “This Is An ‘Original’ Powhatan Pipe”, and it was being made by the last two women of the Pamplin area who were still making pipes at their homes (Plate 12).
The pipes are illustrated natural size. The largest and the smallest pipe of each form available to us are shown. In many instances this difference in size is not great; however, it does illustrate that minor variations often existed in different molds for the same pipe form. The diameters for the stem openings have not been included since they have proved useful only in consideration of the earlier integral-stem clays, and not for consideration of the “short-base” pipes of the type and time included in this report (Wilson, 1971:2).
TABLE NO. 1. | ||
---|---|---|
Sources of Pipes, and Relative Numbers Available for Examination. | ||
Total number of pipes inspected—4,451. | ||
Plate. | Source. | Number of Examples. |
13 A. | Both | Many |
13 B. | Home | 2 |
13 C. | Home | 11 |
14 D. | Home | 4 |
14 E. | Home | Many |
14 F. | Both | Many |
15 G. | Factory | Many |
15 H. | Home | 3 |
15 I. | Factory | Many |
16 J. | Factory | Many |
16 K. | Both | Many |
16 L. | Factory | Many |
17 M. | Both | 37 |
17 N. | Factory | 1 |
17 O. | Factory | 1 |
17 P. | Both | Many |
18 Q. | Both | Many |
18 R. | Home | 10 |
18 S. | Both | Many |
19 T. | Home | 14 |
19 U. | Home | 2 |
19 V. | Factory | 1 |
19 W. | Surface | 1 |
20 X. | Factory | 1 |
20 Y. | Both | 2 |
20 Z. | Factory | 4 |
20 AA. | Factory | 4 |
21 AB. | Factory | 1 |
21 AC. | Home | 1 |
21 AD. | Factory | 1 |
21 AE. | Factory | 1 |
22 AF. | Factory | 2 |
22 AG. | Factory | 1 |
22 AH. | Factory | 1 |
22 AI. | Factory | 2 |
23 AJ. | Factory | 1 |
23 AK. | Factory | 1 |
23 AL. | Surface | 1 |
23 AM. | Home | 2 |
TABLE NO. 2 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Identifications Appearing On Certain Pamplin Pipes. | |||
Plate: | Source of Pipe. | Designation. | Lettering. |
13 A. | Both | Original | Impressed |
13 B. | Home | Original | Impressed |
17 M. | Both | Original or Florence | Impressed |
18 Q. | Both | Hayiti | Impressed |
18 R. | Home | Genuine | Impressed |
19 V. | Factory | 117 | Raised |
20 Z. | Factory | Catlins | Raised |
20 AA. | Factory | 103 | Raised |
21 AC. | Home | Original | Impressed |
21 AD. | Factory | Powhatan | Impressed |
Plate 13 A. Slightly Acute Angle. Made both in the factory and in the home. Many examples. All are a deep, dark, glossy red, except 9 pipes which were a light brown. Plain round bowl, octagonal base. It was made in at least 12 slightly varying sizes, there being that many variations between the large and the small pipe illustrated. This was the Pamplin Company’s “Original” Powhatan, and it was no doubt one of the Company’s leaders in production and sales. The word “ORIGINAL” is impressed in the right side of each base, with the exception of one single pipe, and the lettering appears in at least three different sizes, there being no correlation between the letter size and pipe size. This is a sturdily made pipe.
The Company emphasized in its publicity that the Indians had originally demonstrated to the early settlers the method of making the Powhatan and so had enabled them to make this exact form, thereby inferring that this model should have been of particular interest and worth. No doubt at some time and place in our history a happening of this nature may have occurred. However, the Powhatan is a usual form which has been found in aboriginal sites, with some modifications and of varying materials, over a wide area.
Many of these pipes appeared, both from the factory site and among those made by local women and retrieved from the basement of the Thornton General Store. Mrs. Betty Price said that this form was a standard product of the local Home Industry pipe makers before the factory ever came to Pamplin and one of the earliest made in the area. All of the pipes available to us carried the designation “Original” except one.
The making of clay pipes was an old and well established business at Pamplin; whether the impressing of the word ORIGINAL on the base of this pipe was an innovation of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, or whether this had been long done by the Home Industry is unknown.
Plate 13 B. Slightly Acute Angle. Home. 2 examples. Dark red. Plain round bowl, octagonal base. Quite similar to “A” except both bowl and base are shorter, and diameter of bowl proportionally larger. “ORIGINAL” is impressed on right side of base. A very sturdy pipe.
Plate 13 C. Slightly Acute Angle. Home. 11 examples. Glossy dark red. Round bowl, octagonal base. Upper part of bowl plain, lower front portion decorated with a series of raised dots. The dotted area is divided into two triangles, as well as separated from the undecorated area by raised and rounded bands. The mold marks in the undecorated area have been almost entirely smoothed. It would seem that all pipes of this form came from the same mold, in contrast to the fact that at least most other Pamplin pipe forms seem to have come from a number of different molds.
The two pipe forms “C” and “B” are quite similar, except that “C” has decoration as well as a slightly longer base, and is not marked “Original” Both are sturdily built, with thicker than average bowl walls, and both were retrieved from the Thornton Store site; no examples were found at the factory site. They are probably the product of the same individual woman working at her home.
Plate 14 D. Slightly Acute Angle. Home. 4 examples. This is a black pipe. The deep, solid color was probably intentionally achieved by allowing portions of the burning wood of the kiln to fall into the iron kettles which were used as saggers for the firing of pipes in the Home Industry. The bowl and base are round, with diagonal cross-hatched decoration on bowl, separated from the same decoration on remainder of base by a narrow rounded band. Flat band at both top of bowl and end of base. The right and left halves of the pipe are separated from each other, front and back, by a broad smooth ridge covering the mold mark.
Plate 14 E. Slightly Acute Angle. Home. Many examples. Bright red. Bowl and base decoration similar to “D”, but this form is somewhat smaller than “D”. Double band at both top of bowl and end of base, the outside band broad and flat, inside band narrow and rounded. Only slight variations in size.
Plate 14 F. Right Angle. Both. Many examples. Dull red. The Company called this their “Akron Hamburg”. The diagonally cross-hatched bowl decoration 17 is separated from the diagonal line base decoration by a rounded band. Double band at both top of bowl and end of base, the outside band broad and flat, the inside band narrow and rounded. The right and left halves of the pipe are divided from each other, front and back, by a broad smooth ridge covering the mold mark. Only slight variations in size.
Plate 15 G. Right Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dull red. Diagonal line decoration on bowl runs at right angles to that on base. Double band at top of bowl and stem end of base, outside band flat, inside band narrower and rounded. The right and left halves of the pipe are divided from each other, front and back, by a broad smooth ridge which covers the mold mark. Two slightly different sizes.
Plate 15 H. Acute Angle. Home. 3 examples. Dull, dark red. Spiral decoration on bowl, plain hexagonal base. Double band at top of bowl, upper flat, lower rounded. Large rounded band at end of base.
Plate 15 I. Right Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dull, dark red; a few are light brown. The Company called this model their “Ole Virginny Shaker”. Grooves of decoration run vertically on bowl and curve toward the bottom to stop at a rounded band, then continue horizontally to stem end of base. Double band at top of bowl, upper flat, lower rounded. Double band at stem end of base, inside band rounded; the outside band may be either rounded or flat; if flat, the end of base is noticeably swelled. Five slightly varying sizes.
Plate 16 J. Sharply acute Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dark red. Broad grooves of decoration run from top of bowl and curve toward bottom to continue to stem end of base, or curve back around bowl. Double band at top of bowl, upper flat, lower rounded. Prominent rounded swell at stem end of base. At least 4 different sizes.
Plate 16 K. Acute Angle. Both. Many examples. Dull red to dark brown. Quite similar to “J” in form and decoration except that lines of decoration are more narrow and the bowl does not set at such an acute angle to base. Only slight variations in size.
Plate 16 L. Obtuse Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dark red to brown. Round undecorated bowl and round tapering base. These pipes are somewhat similar to early stemmed clay imports except that the base is cut off rather short, to form a flat vertical face, instead of terminating in a stem which was an integral part of the bowl and base. The opening in the end of the base is quite small and does not have the usual taper. All of the pipes of this form are nearly identical in size.
Plate 17 M. Acute Angle. Both Home and Factory products, 37 examples. Bright, light red. Plain round bowl, hexagonal base expanding to a bell-shaped swell at stem end of base. The flat bottom extends around and under the bowl. “ORIGINAL” is impressed in the right side of base of some examples and “FLORENCE” in others, while some have no wording. The factory examples that we saw were marked either “ORIGINAL” or “FLORENCE”, as were some 18 of those of home manufacture; however, 16 pipes of home manufacture had no wording. At least three sizes are represented.
Plate 17 N. Acute Angle. Factory. One Example. Dull, dark red. Similar to “M” except heavy rounded band of beading around near top of bowl, no wording. Hexagonal base expands to a bell-shaped swell at stem end. Mold marks are more distinct.
Plate 17 O. Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Dull, dark red. Plain octagonal bowl, with planes continuing along base to large rounded swell at stem end. From deep in the dam at factory site.
Plate 17 P. Obtuse Angle. Both Home and Factory. Many examples. Dull, dark red or brown. Octagonal bowl and base. No decoration. Base expands slightly towards stem end. Relatively small pipe, three slightly varying sizes.
Plate 18 Q. Obtuse Angle. Both Home and Factory. Many examples. Glossy, light red to deep red. Plain round bowl and base: the base terminates in rounded and swelled end. “Hayiti” impressed on right side of base. At least three sizes of lettering. A few of these pipes are right angled. A similar pipe, except that it had one small rounded band of beading near the top of bowl, the Company called theirs “Powow Smooth Shaker”.
Plate 18 R. Very Acute Angle. Home. 10 examples. Dark, glossy red. “Genuine” is impressed on the right side of base, except one example which had no lettering. Plain round bowl and base, terminating in rounded and swelled base end. All apparently from same mold except one which was not marked “Genuine”.
Plate 18 S. Acute Angle. Both Home and Factory. Many examples. Glossy, dark red. Plain hexagonal bowl which expands towards the bottom. Plain, slim round base tapering towards stem end. These pipes usually carry a high glossy finish. Two slightly different sizes.
Plate 19 T. Slightly Acute Angle. Home. Fourteen examples. Uniform light tan color. Undecorated round bowl and base. Bowl tapers uniformly from top to bottom and base expands uniformly to stem end. Two slightly varying sizes. No mold marks, but some evidence of smoothing.
Plate 19 U. Right Angle. Home. Two examples. Uniform, light pinkish tan color. Quite similar to “T” except bowl diameter is slightly larger and does not have the extreme taper, but rounds towards the base. Two slightly varying sizes. Probably made of the same clay by the same person who made “T”. No evidence of mold marks, but some evidence of smoothing.
Plate 19 V. Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Dull red. Round bowl and base. Two bands of rounded beading encircle mid-portion of bowl, base expands towards stem end. “117” in raised figures appears on the left side of the base near stem end.
Plate 19 W. Right Angle (A Surface find). One example. Dull red. Except for its angle, this pipe is quite similar to “V” with its two bands of rounded beading encircling the bowl.
Plate 20 X. Slightly Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Salmon pink color. Ten-sided bowl and base. A rounded band of beading is near the top of bowl, the base end is simply cut off flat.
Plate 20 Y. Acute Angle. Both Home and Factory. Two examples. The bowl is decorated by narrow upright grooves and ridges which extend from the base up to and lightly across a rounded band which encircles the bowl near its top. The hexagonal base flares somewhat toward the stem end. This the Company called “Wigwam Shaker”.
Plate 20 Z. Acute Angle. Factory. Four examples. Color ranges from pale red to light orange, though two are very dark, probably from having lain long in the stream bed. The round bowl is encircled by a band of rounded beading near the top. Below this, on each side of the bowl, appears “CATLINS”. The base is hexagonal and its planes merge into the lower portions of the round bowl. The top plane of the base seems to be divided into two narrower planes which give the base a seven-sided appearance; this however is probably due to lack of trimming of the mold mark. The base terminates in a large rounded stem end. This was probably a specialty pipe, and apparently all the pipes of this form had these characteristics.
Plate 20 AA. Acute Angle. Factory. Four examples. Color ranges from pale red to light orange to medium red. The 14 upright panels which constitute the bowl, with its two encircling rounded bands near the top, give the effect of a wooden bucket whose staves are held by hoops. The raised number “103” appears on the flat bottom. In one example a metal ferrule, apparently of brass, is still in place around the stem end of base. Other examples of this pipe no longer retain the ferrule; however, the discolored pattern of the ferrule was present to show that each had originally had one in place. All pipes of this form seem identical and evidently came from the same mold.
Plate 21 AB. Right Angle. Factory. One example. Dark Red. Round undecorated bowl and base. Stem end of base has an inside taper to hold a small reed stem.
Plate 21 AC. Slight Obtuse Angle. Home. One example. Glossy, dark red. Similar to “AB” except the angle of bowl and “ORIGINAL” is impressed on the right side of the longer base.
Plate 21 AD. Obtuse Angle. Factory. One example. The plain bowl and base have a uniform high glossy red finish. “POWHATAN” is impressed on the right side of base. The stem end of base has been broken off, and it is possible that this base terminated in a clay stem which was an integral part of the pipe. In that event it would have followed the pattern of some of the old white clay imports. There are no spurs or projections of any nature at the bottom of the bowl.
Plate 21 AE. Probably Obtuse Angle. Factory. One example. Glossy medium red. This is a form similar to some early white clay imports. While the only 20 example available to us was badly broken, it seems to have its own integral clay stem, and it definitely has one spur below the bowl.
Roll of Fired Clay. A portion of a roll of fired clay was found in the fill on the Factory site. It evidently had been prepared for molding, and some clay had been broken from each end. It could have been a test firing of the clay, or the piece may have unintentionally gotten into the kiln.
Plate 22 AF. Right Angle. Factory. Two examples. Colors are light orange and red. A flat band encircles the top of the bowl, and below this is a more narrow rounded band, whose lower edge is here and there lightly cut in line with the grooves below. The vertical grooves of decoration on the bowl continue, or merge with a lesser number of horizontal grooves and ridges which run to the stem end of the base. These grooves, in part at least, extend over the large rounded swell at stem end of base. These two pipes illustrate the minor differences that may exist in different molds used in making the same basic pipe form.
This and the following three pipe forms seem to represent a transition from the earlier, rather heavy, sturdy and relatively thick side-walled clay pipes, to a pipe lighter in weight, which is more representative of the form in use by what might be considered the last generation of regular clay pipe smokers.
Plate 22 AG. Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Color is gray. This piece was among the eight pipe sherds, still sufficiently intact to give an indication of the original pipe form from which they had come, that were picked up by us on the driveway of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company in July 1969. Some were heavily glazed and of a different character from the pipes dealt with up to this point, and seem to have come from pipes resulting from the change in style mentioned under “AF”.
This pipe fragment has some characteristics similar to “AF”. The bowl decoration towards the top is unknown, but vertical lines of decoration occupy the bowl, and only those on the front of the bowl continue along the base; those on the sides terminate upon joining the front lines. The stem end of the base is also somewhat different, being decorated by a rounded and finally a flat band. This sherd carries a moderately heavy glaze and it is the first pipe form presented which actually shows evidence of a salt glaze.
Plate 22 AH. Right Angle. Factory. One example. Color pale yellow to light brown. Round bowl and base, double rounded band of beading around top of bowl and stem end of base. Bowl decorated with raised dots in cross-hatched pattern. Spiral decoration on base. Prominent mold marks, thin sidewalls. Heavily glazed.
Plate 22 AI. Right Angle. Factory. Two examples. Color ranges from deep red through light orange to yellow. This lighter pipe with thin sidewalls has two narrow rounded bands encircling the top of bowl, which is otherwise plain. A large rounded band is at stem end of base. These pipes are well glazed.
Plate 23 AJ. Right Angle. Factory. One example. Dark Red. This is a version of the Company’s novelty “Tomahawk Pipe”, decorated to order for special 21 occasions. The pipe illustrated was made specifically for sale at the Chicago World’s Fair and has “Century of Progress, Chicago” in raised letters on the left side. “1833—(likeness of an Indian)—1933” is on the right side of bowl.
Plate 23 AK. Right Angle. Factory. One example. Color light tan. This was the Company’s standard novelty pipe, recommended for all occasions, and it was shaped like a tomahawk. A likeness of Washington appears on the right side of the bowl, with the name “Washington” in raised letters above. On the left side is the likeness of an Indian wearing a Plains headdress, and above it in raised letters is the name “Powhatan”. A wide flat band encircles the stem end of base.
The Pamplin Company’s literature stated, Tomahawk Pipe-Novelty, molded from hand engraved brass die, of finest clay, hard-burned and glazed. An attractive item for carnivals, conventions, fairs, etc. Packed 200 to a box with 5″ reed stems. Price $13.50 per box. This pipe was a regular sales item for festive occasions (Plate 11).
Plate 23 AL. Right Angle. (A surface find). One example. Deep red. Most Pamplin pipes of home manufacture were made by women; however, Miss Wilsie Thornton and Dr. C. G. O’Brien said that a Mr. Rodgers, about 1938, made pipe molds and pipes of unusual form as a hobby. Miss Thornton mentioned two forms that he made—an Indian Head, and a Woman’s Leg, the calf being the bowl and the foot being the base, with the toes at the stem end of base. This pipe is credited locally as being of his manufacture.
Plate 23 AM. Right Angle. Home. Two examples. Deep glossy red. The decoration on the lower portion of the round and expanding bowl reminds one somewhat of a peach seed; this decoration is separated from the upper part of the plain upper bowl by a rounded band. The base is undecorated, and terminates in a smooth enlarged stem end. The second pipe of this form was a surface find.
If the Factory had Nos. 103 and 117 how many more numbers may they have had?
Impressed identifications, usually put on the base of the pipe with a stamp after the pipe came from the mold, appear on pipes from both the Homes and from the Factory. It is of interest that apparently identifications in raised lettering came only from the Factory.
In the beginning of this effort we had assumed that the pipes made by the Factory would be quite different, in both form and decoration, from those made in the homes. We have found that this assumption is not valid.
There is a great deal of overlapping, probably due to the Factory, after its arrival in Pamplin, taking over and producing a number of the shapes and designs that had long been in use in the Home Industry. It is also possible that the Home Industry appropriated some of the Factory pipe forms.
In addition, all local evidence agrees that the Thornton Store did not purchase 22 pipes from the Factory; they were getting plenty themselves, taken in trade for their merchandise, and which they would have to dispose of on the wholesale market in competition with the Factory.
There is local evidence that the Factory did, at times, buy locally made pipes in order to fill large orders, as well as when their machinery was not in operation. It is quite unlikely however, after buying and paying for them, that these pipes would be found in the landfill on the Factory grounds, the fill from which the “factory” pipes considered in this study came.
Of the total of 39 pipe forms located by us, 10 were from Home Industry, 19 from the Factory, (eight appeared in both), and two were either surface finds or the knowledge of their exact place of manufacture lost, as they had long been in the hands of their local Pamplin area owners.
The Akron Company had made pipes before they established the pipe plant at Pamplin, and the names of some of their pipes in the Pamplin literature would infer that at least one form, the “Akron Hamburg”, had been carried from Akron to Pamplin, which then is described as “from Virginia clay, attractive red color”.
On the other hand, Mrs. Betty Price has been quoted as saying that the pipe form known as “Hamburg” was one of the first made by the women of the area.
For a time in later years, at least by 1941, the Pamplin Factory made a pipe similar in form and decoration to their “Akron Hamburg”, but of fire clay, and called it “Akron Shaker”.
Since there is so much overlapping of form and decoration between the pipes made in the homes and those made by the Company, one wonders if there might not have been even more overlapping had the sample available to us at this late date been greater than the 4,451 pipes examined.
It is our conclusion that when the Akron Company came to Pamplin they started to produce pipes of a number of forms that had long been made by the Home Industry of the Pamplin area. They may also have brought one or more Akron pipe forms and decorations with them, to be manufactured at Pamplin. In turn the Pamplin Home Industry possibly adopted some forms now being produced by the Company. (Some of these forms may also have been in production in other areas, but probably of different clay).
The foremost factor distinguishing Pamplin area pipes, from either manufacturing source, was the “Virginia clay, of attractive red color”.
So far as we have been able to determine, no particular friction ever developed between the Factory and the industry being carried on at the homes; each had its own wholesale outlets.
To the best of our knowledge, the Home Industry started about 1740 and definitely closed in 1953.
The Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company was established about 1878, and it definitely closed in 1951.
In our work we have handled literally hundreds of the pipes, Plate 13 A, called “Powhatan Original” in the Company’s literature and advertising. These had been excavated both from the factory grounds and from the basement of the old Thornton Store, and we found nothing about these two lots of pipes that would seem to distinguish the two manufacturing sources. Of the total, only one single pipe failed to carry the word “Original” impressed in the base.
This “Original” was an early Home Industry form, and there is strong evidence that when the Company came to Pamplin they adopted this form, and added “Powhatan” in their advertising, just as they must have adopted some other local pipe forms. “Original” was also impressed, but probably at a still later date, on the base of three other pipe forms; they were forms “B”, “M”, and “AC”.
We also believe that the Company made the best estimate as to the starting date of the home pipemaking industry, (they would have had about a hundred year advantage in arriving at such a date, as compared to the problem under present circumstances), and applied that date to Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company as having been “established 1739”. In other words, they pictured themselves as being a continuation of the industry that was already there.
If the date of 1878, or one near that time, for the establishment of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Co. is correct, then this is later than the terminal date of some of the western forts and trading posts at which Pamplin pipes have been reported. It would therefore seem evident that the Pamplin pipes found in some western locations were the result of Home Industry, made before the pipe plant ever got to Pamplin. This is authenticated by the fact that they were being carried by the Bertrand.
It would seem desirable, instead of considering these pipes as Pamplin Company products, to simply think of them as Pamplin Area Pipes.
1935 | Farmville Herald, Farmville, Va. Mar. 29, 1935 “Pamplin Pipe Factory” |
1946 | Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va. April 21, 1946 “Indian Pipes are Still Produced from Clay Found in Virginia”. |
1965 | Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va. March 31, 1965 “Pamplin Pipes in Smithsonian”. |
? | Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va. March 30 ? “Historic Pipes Shipped West From Virginia”. |
1962 | Times-Virginian, Appomattox, Va. “Ramblings About Clay Pipes” Oct. 18, ’62 |
Plate 1. Tools of the Home Pipemaking Industry. Drawing, Edward F. Heite, Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission.
Plate 2. Pamplin Pipe, from the Bertrand, sunk in the Missouri River, April 1, 1865. Photos, Ronald R. Switzer, Bertrand Conservation Laboratory, National Park Service.
Plate 3. Stencils on Box of Pamplin Pipes retrieved from the Bertrand. The box top carried the name and address of the Consignee. One end evidently identified the shipment. The Consignor was identified on one end and on both sides of the box. Copies, Ronald R. Switzer, Bertrand Conservation Laboratory, National Park Service.
Plate 4. The Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, Inc., March 1965. Photo, Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Plate 5. Kiln of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, Inc., March 1965. The kiln had a capacity of 200,000 pipes at a single burning. Photo, Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Plate 6. Pipe Molding Machine from the Pamplin Factory. Photos, Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission.
The machine.
Detail of mold.
Plate 7. Saggers Used by the Pamplin Factory. Dimensions of the larger sagger,—overall height 6″, overall width, 10¼ to 10½″, wall thickness ⅞ to 1″. Dark Brown glaze, mottled. Photos and description, Edward A Chappell, Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission.
Plate 8. Brochure, Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Co., Inc., 1941. Copy, Morton L. Wallerstein.
This is the largest plant in the world devoted exclusively to the manufacture of Indian stone clay pipes. Our plant has a capacity of 25,000 pipes per day; our kiln has a capacity of 200,000 pipes at a single burning.
From careful search of the records, this factory started more than 200 years ago. The present plant has been in operation for 44 years. Skilled American labor is used in a modern, day-lit plant with special attention to cleanliness, sanitation and ideal conditions.
The buying trend is toward Indian clay and stone pipes. Tourists and visitors to your locality are buying them as gifts, souvenirs and for personal use. Every true American wants a genuine Indian pipe—and can buy one, for little more than the cost of a can of smoking tobacco.
Order your assortment today. Display them well and they will sell quickly. Pamplin Indian Pipes give you a profit unheard of in the tobacco trade.
PAMPLIN SMOKING PIPE AND MANUFACTURING CO., Inc.
Established 1739
Manufacturers of All Styles of
Stone and Powhatan Clay Pipes and Reed Stems
PAMPLIN, VIRGINIA, U. S. A.
Printed in U. S. A.
Hand-Made “Powhatan”
Powhatan
INDIAN CLAY PIPES
MILD
mellow
SWEET
PURE
50¢ WITH Two STEMS
Be A Modern Indian Chief!
Smoke the Genuine
“Powhatan” pipe
MADE IN VIRGINIA BY NATIVES OF VIRGINIA
This handsome display card, in five colors, given with each order for five dozen “Powhatan” Hand-Made Pipes, makes selling easy. Order yours.
Plate 9. The “Original” Powhatan and other Pamplin Pipe forms. Brochure, 1941. Copy, Morton L. Wallenstein.
The POWHATAN, the original Indian hand-made Pipe, sells on sight, pays Big Profit!
“POWOW” SMOOTH SHAKER
“WIGWAM” SHAKER
ORIGINAL “POWHATAN” HAND-MADE
“AKRON” SHAKER
“OLE VIRGINNY” SHAKER
THESE ARE THE MOST POPULAR STYLES OF PAMPLIN INDIAN PIPES All (except “Powhatan”) are available in both Shaker (Stone) and Hamburg (Clay).
The Original Powhatan Pipe
The original Powhatan Indian hand-made Pipe has the distinction of being the exact reproduction of the real pipe made and smoked by the Red Men in pre-colonial days.
Pipe smoking was introduced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh who had seen the Indians smoking. With the start of tobacco cultivation in Virginia, the Powhatan Pipe became generally used in England and in all of the American colonies.
A host of that day took great pride in offering his guests tobacco grown on his own plantation, in a Powhatan Indian hand-made Pipe.
An Authentic American Treasure
The natives who have been making Powhatan Pipes for centuries are rapidly disappearing. Their children seem unwilling to do the necessary primitive and tedious work. Manual clay pipe-making, probably America’s oldest industry, will soon be only a tradition.
Today the Powhatan Pipe is more than a source of peaceful, contented smoking enjoyment. It is a collector’s prize, an authentic American treasure. In a few years it will be generally unobtainable.
This company is the world’s sole producer of genuine Indian pipes. Since 1739 it has preserved this historic industry. Its clay deposit in Appomattox County, Virginia, holds the only clay discovered as ideal for Indian pipes. The trade-mark and name, “Original Powhatan Indian Pipe,” is its exclusive property.
Yet the famous Powhatan Pipe is very low in price, as for many years past, giving the consumer a splendid value, and the jobber and retailer a profit unheard of in the tobacco trade.
Plate 10. Price list of Pamplin Company Pipe Forms. Brochure, November 15, 1941. Copy, Morton L. Wallenstein.
PRICE LIST
(EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 15, 1941)
[See Page 6 for Jobber’s Discounts]
POWHATAN HAND-MADE PIPES
Individually packaged in attractive rustic container, Historical Booklet, instruction tag, and two 10″ reed stems—one curved, one straight, ready for mailing.
Gross $48.00
Minimum order ¼ Gross
Retails for from 50¢ to $1.00
Buy Pipes Made in America—For American Smokers!
POWHATAN COUNTER DISPLAY
Twelve Powhatan Pipes, each with Historical Booklet, instruction tag, and extra 10″ straight stem included.
DOZEN TO DISPLAY CARD
Gross $48.00
Minimum order ¼ Gross.
(Display card illustrated on Page 3 of this Catalog.)
Page 10
Powhatan Machine-Made
Machine-made Powhatan, fitted with cork closures and 10″ reed stems, bowls trade-marked. Packed 50 to the box with stems. 25¢ Retailer. Price, $4.00 per box.
Akron Shaker
Machine moulded from fire clay, hard-burned and glazed; a stone pipe fitted with 5″ reed stem. Packed 100 to a box with stems. 15¢ Retailer. Price, $3.00 per box.
Powow Shaker
Stone pipe, smooth finish, glazed, fitted with 5″ reed stem. Packed 100 to a box with stems. 15¢ Retailer. Price, $3.00 per box.
Ole Virginny Shaker
Heavier stone pipe, attractive finish, fitted with 5″ reed stem. Packed 100 to box with stems. 15¢ Retailer. Price, $3.00 per box.
Wigwam Shaker.
Real character distinguishes this attractive stone pipe, fitted with 5″ reed stem. Packed 100 to box with stems. 15¢ Retailer. Price, $3.00 per box.
Shaker Assortment.
An assortment of 25 each of the four above described stone pipes, 100 pipes, fitted with 5″ reed stem. Packed 100 to box. 15¢ Retailer. Price, $3.50 per box.
Stems can be furnished straight or bent. Additional Stems and Stems Extra Length Can Be Supplied at Slight Extra Cost.
Send Money Order or Check with Order to Save Time.
Terms: 20% Cash With Order. Net 30 Days.
Page 11
Akron Hamburg
(Similar to Akron Shaker)
Machine-made from Virginia Clay, hard-burned, attractive red color. Also made in white. Packed 100 to box with 5″ reed stems. 10¢ Retailer. Price, $2.50 per box.
Powow Hamburg
(Similar to Powow Shaker)
Machine-made from Virginia Clay, hard-burned, an attractive small bowl. Packed 100 to box with 5″ reed stems. 10¢ Retailer. Price, $2.50 per box.
Ole Virginny Hamburg
(Similar to Ole Virginny Shaker)
Machine-made from finest fire-clay, hard-burned, white, simulates meerschaum, one of the most popular shapes. Also made in red. Packed 100 to box with 5″ reed stems. 10¢ Retailer. Price, $2.70 per box.
Wigwam Hamburg
(Similar to Wigwam Shaker)
Machine-made from Virginia Clay, hard-burned. Choice of red or white. Shape appeals to young and old. Packed 100 to box with 5″ reed stems. 10¢ Retailer. Price, $2.70 per box.
Hamburg Assortment
An assortment of 25 each of the four above described clay pipes, 100 pipes, fitted with 5″ reed stems. Packed 100 to box with stems. 15¢ Retailer. Price, $2.85 per box.
Stems can be furnished straight or bent. Additional Stems and Stems Extra Length Can Be Supplied at Slight Extra Cost.
Send Money Order or Check with Order to Save Time.
Terms: 20% Cash With Order. Net 30 Days.
Page 12
Plate 11. “Tomahawk Pipe”—A Real Novelty, and Jobber’s Discounts. Brochure, 1941. Copy, Morton L. Wallerstein.
The Tomahawk Pipe—A Real Novelty
Moulded from hand-engraved brass die, of finest quality fire clay, hard-burned and glazed. An attractive item for carnivals, conventions, fairs, club meetings, etc. Packed 200 to box, with 5″ reed stems. Price, $13.50 per box.
To the Trade
JOBBER’S DISCOUNTS | |
---|---|
Apply ONLY When Whole Order Is Shipped At SAME Time | |
10 to 20 Boxes | 20% |
21 to 40 Boxes | 25% |
41 to 100 Boxes | 30% |
101 to 500 Boxes | 35% |
In addition to the 10 styles of Indian Pipes illustrated and quoted in this folder, we make many other styles of Indian Clay and Stone Pipes. Orders for additional designs—for Advertising, Souvenirs, Gifts, Tourists, Fairs, Exhibitions, and Special Purposes—are solicited. We can make any style of pipe that can be made from either Virginia Red Clay or Fire Clay. Our own designers and artists are at your service. We invite your inquiries. Samples will be mailed promptly to rated firms.
(Note: If you have a friend to whom you would like for us to send one of these folders, please write. It will be sent promptly.)
Plate 12. Sales Tag, carried by the “Original” Powhatan Pipe, 1941. Copy, Morton L. Wallerstein.
This Is An
“Original”
Powhatan Pipe
Made entirely by hand in a primitive way, from hand-carved moulds several centuries old, by natives in Appomattox County, Va. Succeeding generations, dating back to the earliest days of America, have practiced the ancient art of making these Indian pipes by hand. The slow, tedious work, requiring innate skill, is not attractive to the moderns. This art is rapidly disappearing. Soon the genuine Powhatan Pipe will be generally unobtainable. This Pipe, therefore, will become a rare and cherished antique and keepsake.
This Powhatan Pipe is an original, made exactly like those the Indians used prior to the coming of the white man to America, and as smoked in the early colonies and in England following Sir Walter Raleigh’s introduction of tobacco into that country. The clay is porous and the old Virginia reed stem also absorbs the nicotine. To clean the pipe according to the old Virginia method, remove the stem and place the bowl into the fire-place. This will burn out the absorbed nicotine without in any way harming the pipe. New stems may be obtained from your tobacconist.
PAMPLIN INDIAN PIPE CO.,
Pamplin, Va., U. S. A.
Plate 13. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 14. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 15. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 16. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 17. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 18. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 19. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 20. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 21. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 22. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
Plate 23. Pamplin Area Pipe Forms.
by
Patricia J. O’Brien and Kevin Hart
The Utlaut site (23SA162W) is located on the floodplain of the Missouri River about one mile west of Malta Bend, Saline County, Missouri and approximately two miles northwest of the junction of Highway 65 and 127.
The site is situated on land owned by Oscar John of Sweet Springs, Missouri and was farmed by Ryland Utlaut of Grand Pass. Both kindly allowed us to excavate there. We were directed to the site by J. M. “Buster” Crick of Corder, Missouri, a local collector who had been finding ceramics which looked “Mississippian.” His aid was invaluable, for without it this work could not have been done.
Scattered occupational debris was found covering an area ca. 100 feet in diameter around our test, but the major materials recovered, in six burials, seem not to be related to the surface debris. Those materials will be reported in a later paper dealing with site 23SA162, the Cole Lake Sand Ridge site.
As mentioned, the Utlaut site is situated on the floodplain of the river. The area, though, is in reality an old beach of the Missouri, formed when the river swung south of its present course and came near Grand Pass. Because the soil was almost pure sand, all of it was screened.
The initial test was an east-west trench comprising five alternating squares (Fig. 2). Burial materials were found between stakes 35W and 55W north and south of the 0 line (Fig. 2). Remains of five burials were recovered. While a few bones were treated as a separate burial in the field (Burial 5), they were found to be related to Burial 2 on completion of the analysis. The bones in burials 1 through 5 were in very poor condition, and because of cultivation many are missing.
The osteological analysis of the skeletal remains found in Appendix I is by the junior author and Clark Larsen. The descriptions to follow will focus on the cultural nature of the burials.
Burial 1. This is an adult male. The body was extended and oriented on a northeast-southwest axis with the head northeast. Although a vessel was found in the same square as the burial, it is thought that it belongs to Burial 4. One projectile point was found just east of the neck. Due north by about one foot was a biface chopper/scraper. These artifacts may be associated with this burial (Figs. 2 and 3).
Figure 1. Floodplain of the Missouri River with locations of 23SA4 Gumbo Point site, 23SA162W Utlaut site, and 23SA162 Cole Lake Sand Ridge site.
Figure 2. Test excavations at the Utlaut site, 23SA162W, with Detail “A” showing the burials.
Figure 3. Burial 1, 23SA162W. View is toward northeast.
The projectile point is triangular, of tan-cream chert and is 3.1 cm. long, 1.44 cm. wide and 0.25 cm. thick (Fig. 4a). It is a typical Mississippian/Oneota point. The biface was cream colored with cortex present. There is a scraper edge on the long axis on one side (Fig. 4b). It is 14.0 cm. long, 9.9 cm. wide, and 3.1 cm. thick.
One of the most interesting aspects of this 35+ year old male burial is the possible “trophy” skeletal materials placed on the knee area. Remains of three persons and possibly a fourth were found in a fragmentary condition, and while some of the long bones were intact, the cranial remains present were shattered. Two explanations seem most obvious: (1) the remains are the result of some type of human sacrifice, or (2) they are secondary burial of remains disturbed from their original location. These ideas will be more fully explored later in the paper.
Burial 2. The skeletal material recovered from this burial was very fragmentary and the actual number of individuals involved could be three rather than the two suggested in the anatomical analysis. No complete skeleton was found, rather a series of jumbled long bones with the femur head facing southwest (Figs. 2 and 5), suggesting an extended burial on a northeast-southwest axis. At the knee area was found a skull which showed evidence of burning. This data, even more than that of Burial 1, suggests “human sacrifice” or some such exotic behavior. Because some of the long bones were burnt too, it is possible the firing occurred as a part of the burial ritual. At the northeastern end of the burial was found a child’s skull; its relationship to the adult is unclear at this time.
Also associated with Burial 2 was a ceramic vessel and a fresh water mollusc spoon (Fig. 6a-b). The spoon was very fragile and crumbled on cleaning. The vessel was a small globular jar with an everted rim and two strap handles. On the shoulder of the vessel below the handles were incised double nestled chevrons, while two single incised lines ran vertically from neck to base between the handles (Fig. 6a). The handles had double incised lines on them. The vessel was shell tempered with a slight scalloping of the lip. It was 7.63 cm. high, the orifice was 6.27 and 6.07 cm. in diameter, while the shoulder was 9.95 and 9.5 cm. in diameter. The vessel seems to be a typical Oneota form.
Burial 3. This burial was extended with head to the northeast and body on a northeast-southwest axis (Fig. 7). It was a child’s, and the only grave goods associated with it was a chert scraper (Fig. 4c). It was found south of the pelvic area. It is cream chert, is 3.39 cm. long, 1.78 cm. wide and 0.6 cm. thick. Anterioral and posterioral flattening of the frontal and occipital region is marked on this individual’s skull.
Burial 4. The burial when found was highly fragmentary; the legs are all that remain. No artifacts were found with it. Alignment of the legs indicates that the head was to the northeast and the body was on a northeast-southwest axis. However, in the process of analyzing these data it was discovered that by projecting the former location of the missing head and torso, this burial seems to be associated with the isolated pot from square 0-40W. As figures 2 and 8 show, the vessel would have been placed beside the left shoulder.
Figure 4. Artifacts recovered from the Utlaut site, 23SA162W: a. triangular un-notched projectile point, Burial 1; b. Biface chopper/scraper, Burial 1; c. scraper, Burial 3.
Figure 5. Burial 2, 235A162W. View is toward northeast.
Figure 6. Top and side views of vessels recovered at the Utlaut site, 23SA162W: a-b Burial 2; c-d Burial 4.
Figure 7. Burial 3, 23SA162W. View is toward the south. Burial 4 is to the left.
This oval-shaped vessel has 14 rows of punctations running around the whole surface. There are two strap handles each with two incised lines placed vertical to the rim (Fig. 6c-d). The rim has been damaged by the plow. Orifice size is 8.21 cm. at the handles and 7.7 cm. between them. It is 12.36 by 13.2 cm. at the shoulder and 8.15 cm. high (incomplete).
Vessels with similar extensive all-over punctation are reported from the Lower Mississippi River Valley and called Parkin Punctated (Phillips, Ford and Griffin 1951:Fig. 94). But a vessel with extensive punctation over the upper two-thirds of it, with some zoned punctates in parallel lines below the handles, has been reported from Gumbo Point (23SA4), an historic Missouri site about a mile and a quarter to the northeast (Chapman 1959:Fig. 36).
Henning (1970) does not report such a design from the Utz site nor other nearby Oneota sites. This tempts one to suggest the vessel has stronger affinities to the historic Missouri than to the Oneota component nearby.
Burial 5. These highly fragmentary remains probably belong with the child in Burial 2. They were found in the northeast corner of square 5N-50W which is just north of the area of the child’s skull in Burial 2.
Burial 6. This individual was interred in a different pattern from the others. It was semi-flexed with the head and shoulders slumped forward and down as if the burial pit was not large enough to hold him (Figs. 2 and 9). Rodents had run through the chest area and gnawed some of the bone.
Grave goods consisted of a whole vessel and glass trade beads. The vessel, which was at his knee, was a globular jar having two strap handles with four incised lines running vertically from the rim, and double nestled chevrons below them. The chevron was filled with narrow-line, incised punctates (Fig. 10a-b). The rim was damaged. The vessel is 10.5 by 11.7 cm. at the orifice, 16.3 by 18.0 cm. at the shoulder and 12.8 cm. high, making it slightly oval in shape.
Two kinds of beads were found. One was a “seed” bead ca. 0.18 cm. in diameter with a 0.05 cm. hole. There were 202 of these found in the sand around the head and shoulders. They may have been in the hair. All were turquoise in color. The second kind included three larger specimens—two turquoise blue and one black. The blue were 0.66 x 0.84 cm., 0.8 x 0.75 cm. and 0.82 x 0.63 cm. in diameter and length. The first had a 0.2 cm. hole and the others 0.18 cm. The black was 0.58 x 0.58 cm. with a 0.12 cm. hole. These beads were found in the area of the left wrist.
These materials are historic trade goods, and are not significantly different from those at Gumbo Point (Chapman 1959) or at the Utz site (Robert T. Bray, personal communication). Although these materials could be the result of English or even American trading activities, it is thought they are French, for the following reasons.
Figure 8. Burial 4 23SA162W. View is toward the southwest. The skull of Burial 3 is in the right hand corner.
Figure 9. View of Burial 6, 23SA162W. View is toward the north.
Figure 10. Top and side view of vessel recovered with Burial 6 at the Utlaut site, 23SA162W.
It is probable that this individual was a member of the Gumbo Point late Missouri village which may date 1727-1777 A.D. (Chapman 1959:63). This village was very near Fort Orleans which dates 1723-1728 A.D. (Bray 1961a:216-219). At the same time, this burial is associated with others which have no trade goods and apparently are completely prehistoric. Therefore, one could argue that the body was interred at the time of the proto-historic-historic boundary for that village. That boundary would be about 1727 A.D. if Chapman’s (1959:2) assumed dating of the beginning of the village following the abandonment of the Utz site is correct.
However, it could be argued that Burial 6 had nothing to do with the Oneota burials with it, and that the body could date as late as 1777 A.D. But for that to be so, we would have to assume it was just chance that of the several old beaches in that field this Indian was placed right in an earlier burial area. Rather, it seems more reasonable to have the cemetery area known and indeed the burials marked, so that the interment could take place without disturbing them.
Whether the Missouri Indians marked their graves cannot be stated, as no data on their mortuary practices are known. We do know that the Winnebago placed a post at the head of a grave (Radin 1923:144), and as the Missouri and Winnebago are both Chiwere Sioux, it is possible that this is an old shared trait. If this is so, and if the 1727 A.D. dating is correct, the trade goods are probably French as they were extremely active in this area at this early date.
Two separate, but related, cultural components are present at the site: Oneota and historic Missouri. Burials 1 through 4 were originally supine extended interments, although they have suffered much from plowing, and their associated artifacts indicate a general Oneota affiliation. Burial 4 with its punctated vessel though is probably late, bordering on the late proto-historic-historic Missouri line. Burial 6, with its glass trade beads, is historic, and since the Gumbo Point site (23SA4), a historic Missouri village dating around 1727-1777 A.D., is only one and a quarter miles to the northeast of the Utlaut site, the burial is probably an Indian of that village.
The following data on Oneota burial practices can be extracted from these data. Individuals are buried in a supine extended position on a northeast-southwest axis. In three cases, Burials 1, 3 and 4, the head is to the northeast; in one, Burial 2, it is southwest. Grave goods of pots, projectile point, shell spoon or scraper were present but seemingly not very diagnostic of social position, although the pots may be associated only with children here (Burials 2 and 4). Also, unless one assumes everyone was buried at the same time, it seems that the graves were marked so people could be interred over a period of time without 62 disturbing early graves, and so they could be aligned with each other.
Two adults seem to have “trophy” skeletal materials with them: a skull on the knees of Burial 2 (burnt) and many fragments of three and possibly four people on the lower legs of Burial 1. Bray (1961b:17-19) reports a “trophy head” with an Orr focus Oneota burial at the Flynn site, and glass trade beads with it point to this being an historic Ioway trait. Because there is no historic data on Missouri Indian burial practices, it is not possible now to tell if the trait is associated with them nor just what it may mean.
One could explain the skeletal remains, especially those with Burial 1 as secondary interments of graves which were somehow disturbed. In which case the term “trophy” would be inappropriate and misleading. This possibility is found in the fact that the Winnebago had two burial patterns: inhumation and platform associated with the phratry divisions of the culture, although the latter practice died out in historic times (Radin 1923:140). Since the Missouri are related to the Winnebago it is possible that these materials are inhumed platform burials.
However, the presence of single skulls with Burial 2, burnt too, and with an Ioway at the Flynn site cannot be explained that easily. The skull on the knees of Burial 2 was burnt at the time of interment as the knee area was also burned. Then too, if one was collecting platform burial remains to be inhumed, more than just the skulls would be lying about to be collected. Again if we look at the Winnebago we get some interesting data. In a discussion of grave-post markings, Radin (1923:155) points out that a warrior who had killed a man and cut off his head received a special grave-post signifying the deed. Unfortunately, he does not tell us if the head was buried with him.
As can be seen by the above discussion, there are data to support both interpretations, and indeed, maybe these burials in fact are the result of both sets of behavior rather than only one set.
A comparison of the Utlaut site Oneota burials with other Oneota burial data follows. From the Leary site in Nebraska Wedel reports (1935:25-26) two types of interments: (1) supine burials with beads to the north (3), east (3) or south (2). Associated with them are knives, hematite and a bison hoe as grave goods. (2) Bundled or jumbled bones within a pit and probably removed from scaffolds. Bass reports (1961) a body without head, semi-flexed on its back and left side.
Myers and Bass (n.d.) give the following data on Oneota burial material from Iowa. At the Hartley site (13AM103) in Allamakee County, Burial 1 was primary extended with head west and face north. It was a child about ten years old and with it was a pot and chert knife. Burial 2 was a female, 20-30 years old, primary extended with head northeast and no artifacts. Burial 3 was a child, 10-13 years old with a pot. It was a secondary burial. Burial 4 was a female, 20-30 years of age, primary extended with head to the east. A bison scapula hoe was with it. Burial 5 was a male, 25-35 years old; it was a primary one with the body 63 in a semi-sitting position and head on chest. The head faced northwest and the face was down. No grave goods were present. Burial 7 was a secondary bundled indeterminate adult. Burial 8 was a female, 18-28 years, primary extended burial with head to the northwest and no artifacts. Burial 10 was a nine year old child, primary extended with head to east. A pot was associated with it (Myers and Bass n.d.:7-11).
At the Blood Run site (13L02) in Lyon county, five burials were reported by Myers and Bass (n.d.). Burial 1 was a 3 to 4 year old child. It was extended in a pit in a mound with head facing northwest. Associated were copper earrings, two wooden tubes at the ears and a rim sherd at the right elbow. Burial 2 was a 30-40 year old male, extended supine with head northwest and no artifacts. Burial 3 was a 35-45 year old male, extended with head north and face to the east. It may be burnt on the left side. Associated was a catlinite pipe and a shell bead. Burial 4 was a male, 21-28 years of age, extended supine with head northeast and no artifacts. Finally, Burial 5 was a 2-3 year old child, associated with Burial 2; the grave goods were three blue glass beads (Myers and Bass n.d.:35-40).
At Correctionville site the burials are reported as extended supine (Myers and Bass n.d.:43). At the Flynn site (13AM51) in Allamakee county ten burials were recovered (Bray 1961b: 15-18). Burial 1 was a fully extended, supine adult with head to north. Associated were a raven skull, two bone beads, two shell beads, two copper or brass ornaments, a bone pendant and a small animal scapula. Burial 2 was a fully extended supine adult with head north. Associated were a pumice lump, red ochre, rolled copper or brass tubes, chert flakes and a belt of rolled copper or brass beads. Burial 3 was a fully extended supine adult with two triangular projectile points and some small animal bones. Burial 4 was a fully extended supine adult oriented east-west. No trade goods were found; only aboriginal bone whistles, a heron beak, a bone tube and a squirrel skull. Burial 5 was an adult oriented north-south and accompanied by many offerings: a pot, a fresh water clam shell, 100 copper/brass beads, 12 copper/brass bracelets, sheet copper, two steel knives, a steel awl, chert flakes, glass beads and “bead” girdle as in Burial 1. Burial 6 was a fully extended supine adult with a north-south orientation, with the head north. Artifact associations were blue and green glass beads, a beaver incisor, chert flakes, a polished bison rib, a beaded girdle as with Burials 1 and 5 and a “trophy” human skull at the left knee area. Burial 7 was different because it was deeper, under slabs of rock, and in a pit. Present was a child’s skull and two carnivore jaws. Burials 8 and 9 were incomplete and damaged, but seem to have been an adult and a 30-month old child. Burial 10 was a fetus or newborn infant.
Ten burials are reported (Henning 1970:120-212) from the Utz site (23SA2), the nearest large Oneota site just a few miles east of the Utlaut site. Position, sex and age are known only for a few. Burial 3 was a 27 year old male, fully extended 64 with a mussel shell, sheet copper and bone tube. Burial 4 consisted of two adults, but only one complete, fully extended 40 year old female. Burial 5 was a 30 year old male with a bone awl, a deer phalanx and worked hematite. Burial 7 was a 35 year old male with knives and abrader. Burial 8 was fully extended, 35 years old, male, covered with red ochre and was accompanied by several chert flakes. He may have died of wounds, since a projectile point was found in the cervical vertebrae. Finally, in the summer of 1970 an adult male was found in a storage/trash pit at the site (Robert T. Bray, personal communication).
Having reviewed the data on Oneota burials in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, the following hypotheses or assertions or guesses are offered concerning the general character of Oneota mortuary practices. Hopefully they will be tested in the future when more, especially descriptive, data become available.
(1) The bodies typically seem to be supine and fully extended.
(2) Orientation to a specific cardinal point does not seem to be involved as they range all around the compass.
(3) There appears to be some evidence that the graves were marked.
(4) Although most burials have some grave goods material, some do not. Except for the “trophy” material and the fact that some of the historic burials have more artifacts, there do not seem to be marked differences in the wealth of the burials. Possibly each individual is accompanied by some personal tool or ornament. At the Flynn, Hartley and Utlaut sites, burials of children are accompanied by ceramic vessels—at the Blood Run site, with a rim sherd. If this is a pattern, it changed in historic times because burials with pots and trade goods are adult (Flynn, B. 5, and Utlaut, B. 6).
(5) The lack of rich burials in the proto-historic (Oneota) period and their presence in the historic suggests a process of social stratification may be occurring because of new wealth. But this may be more apparent than real, if the “trophy” material at the Utlaut site was the proto-historic means of marking status to be replaced in the historic period by trade goods. If that is so, then it would suggest some social stratification in Oneota continuing through to the known historic Missouri chiefs.
Acknowledgments. The senior author is pleased to acknowledge the support of Kansas State University’s Bureau of General Research for a 1970 Summer Fellowship. The fellowship made possible this research. The cooperation of Robert T. Bray, Director, Lyman Archaeological Research Center, University of Missouri, is gratefully acknowledged for his help and many kindnesses throughout this work. To him, and my other colleagues: Alfred E. Johnson and W. Raymond Wood, who all helped to run the joint Midwestern Archaeological Field School in the summer of 1970 go my thanks. William M. Bass kindly loaned me the Myers and Bass manuscript which was most appreciated as it was essential for this analysis. Finally, thanks are due to the students of the field school who excavated these materials: Mike Gilman, Tom Green, Kevin Hart, Ann Hirsh 65 and Donna Roper, for without their good spirits and effort the work could not have been done.
by
Kevin Hart and Clark Larsen
The following paper reports the osteological data on the burials from the Utlaut site. The authors are indebted to Dr. William M. Bass, formerly of the University of Kansas, now Chairman, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, for his encouragement and criticisms on this paper, and especially for his training while Visiting Professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University in the Spring, 1971. He is, of course, not responsible for any errors on our part.
Burial One is a middle aged male in good condition, represented by an almost complete skeleton. Of the major bones, only the left radius, right ulna and left clavicle are absent, along with the second cervical, four thoracic and one lumbar vertebra. Except for eight phalanges of the hand, all of the hand and feet bones are also missing.
The sex of the individual is based on several factors. First, the width of the femur head is 46 mm., within the male range according to Krogman (1962:143-146). The skull is characterized by heavy brow ridges, blunt upper edges of the eye orbits, and a general overall ruggedness indicating a male. The pelvis, however, does have a wider than usual sciatic notch for a male.
Despite some erosion, the pubic symphyses show a breakdown of the symphyseal rim and face indicating an age of 38⁺ (McKern and Stewart:83). Endocranial suture closure is complete, suggesting an approximate age of at least 40. Thirdly, toothwear on the remaining molars seem to follow the pattern in Brothwell (1963:69) for the 35-45 age group.
The Stature was calculated using the formula 1.22 (Femur and Tibia) + 70.37 ± 3.24 (Trotter and Gleser 1958:120).
Both the tibiae (Fig. 11) and fibulae show evidence of inflammation of the Periosteum (Periostitis), similar to cases noted in Morse (1969:108). In addition, one lumbar vertebra has an anomalous growth on it, and the chin of the individual protrudes abnormally. The hole in the skull shown in the burial picture is the result of an accident in the excavation.
Figure 11. Tibiae from Burial 1, 23SA162W, showing evidence of periostitis.
Resting on and around the knees of Burial One were a number of whole bones and bone fragments of at least three other individuals.
Sex | Age | Stature |
---|---|---|
Male | 30⁺ | —— |
—— | 30⁺ | —— |
—— | —— | —— |
These bones were laid in a haphazard manner. Most of the larger post cranial bones are represented by fragments from two separate individuals, but there are parts of three left femora present and possibly four. The poor condition of the fourth femur fragment left the side in doubt. The skull fragments are from at least two different persons. Mixed in with these human bones are two tibia fragments from a deer.
A skull fragment from one individual shows heavy muscle marking on the occipital region, and a fairly large mastoid process, suggesting a male. There are insufficient pieces of skull from the other individual or individuals for any judgment on their sex. The pieces of innominate are also fragmentary, although it appears that one acetabulum is rather large, possibly indicating a large femur head. While the long bones from all the individuals seem large, all the femur and humerus heads are missing, preventing any measurements for sex. All the long bones are broken.
The age determination is based on the presence of completely closed endocranial sutures on the skull fragments of two persons, suggesting a mature age. Although suture closure is not a good criterion for age (McKern and Stewart 1957:37), a more accurate age estimate is not possible because of the absence of pubic symphyses and teeth.
Stature could not be determined because of the broken condition of the long bones.
Burial 2
There are at least two individuals represented in this burial.
Sex | Age | Stature |
---|---|---|
Male | 28-35 | 5′9.3″ (175.9 cm ± 3.24 cm) |
—— | 3-6 | —— |
The adult bones associated with this burial included the upper portion of a skull, right and left femur, right and left tibia, two fibula fragments, a first sacral vertebra, and fragments of both the right and left innominates. The child is represented by a left parietal. Several of the skull fragments as well as the right femur and sacral vertebra of the adult showed evidence of burning. Most of the skeletal material is fragmentary and in poor condition.
The age of the adult is based on cranial suture closure. The sutures endocranially are closing, but ectocranially the sutures are still quite distinctive and have not yet begun to close. This indicates an age of 28 to 35 years. However, 70 some authorities feel this is not a good criterion for aging (McKern and Stewart 1957:37).
The sex is based on morphological characteristics of the cranial material. The skull contained large frontal sinuses and heavy muscle markings, indicative of the male sex (Krogman 1962:112-152).
Stature was based on the formula for Mongoloids given by Trotter and Gleser (1958:120) for the femur plus the tibia. Using the left femur plus the tibia the stature estimation was calculated to be 5′9.3″ with a range from 5′8″ to 5′10.6″ (175.9 cm ± 3.24 cm). This stature is also indicative of the male sex.
Age of the child is determined by the thickness and size of the left parietal. This indicated an age of probably not younger than three and not older than six.
This child’s burial consisted of the major portion of an articulated skull, a mandible, a left scapula, right and left tibia, right and left femur, right and left innominates, two rib fragments, and two lumbar vertebrae. The condition of this burial is poor with all the bones being in various stages of fragmentation.
The age of this individual is based on tooth eruption and wear. The adult second molars are fully erupted and show no wear. The adult second premolars are in the process of erupting, indicating an age of 10-12 (Brothwell 1963:59).
Skull deformation is quite noticeable. It is flattened both anteriorly and posteriorly, particularly in the frontal and occipital regions. This deformation is probably due to pressure applied to the head of the infant through binding to a flat structure, such as a cradle board (Fig. 12).
All mandibular teeth are present with no caries or tartar. The adult second premolars are quite late in erupting. As previously indicated the skull is mostly articulated, but is in poor condition. Parts of the frontal and occipital are missing.
Burial four is the remains of one individual: a child, in poor condition. The remaining bones are fragments from the right femur, tibia and fibula, and from the left tibia. In addition, there were also several unidentifiable pieces. The size and condition of the fragments make any specific judgment as to sex, age, or stature impossible other than to say the individual was rather young. No anomalies or pathologies were evident.
Figure 12. Right and left profiles of the skull from Burial 3, 23SA162W, showing skull deformation.
Most of the bones of this burial are present with the exception of the majority of the hand phalanges, carpal and tarsal bones, one lumbar vertebra, and the coccygeal vertebrae. The condition of the bones is fair.
The age of this individual is based on the fact that the basilar suture has just closed and the sacral vertebrae have not completely fused. The sutures have not yet begun to close, and all of the epiphyses of the long boxes have united, suggesting an age range of 19 to 25.
Sex determination is based on morphological and anthropometric characteristics of both the post-cranial and cranial skeleton. The diameter of the femur head is 46 mm, well within the male range (Krogman 1962:143-146). The innominates showed narrow pubic portions and sub-pubic angles. The skull has distinctive muscle markings, large mastoid processes, heavy brow ridges, and a square chin, all of which are characteristically male.
The stature estimation was calculated from the length of the left femur and tibia, using Trotter and Gleser’s formula for Mongoloids (Trotter and Gleser 1958:120). It was calculated to be 5′8.6″ with a range from 5′7.3″ to 5′9.9″ (1.74 cm ± 3.24 cm). As indicated in Table 2, this individual was hyperbrachycranic or very broad headed. As in Burial 3, lambdoidal flattening was quite noticeable, probably a result of pressure of a cradle board.
Due to the poor condition of the material from the Utlaut site, anatomical comparisons other than male stature are not possible. Table 3 gives the stature comparisons of the Iowa-Nebraska Oneota material, and they suggest that for height of males, the Utlaut population are most similar to the males at the Leary site in Nebraska.
Table 1 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Post-cranial Measurements (in millimeters) and Indices for Skeletal Material from The Utlaut Site, 23SA162W | ||||||
Burial 1 | Burial 2 | Burial 6 | ||||
R | L | R | L | R | L | |
Femur | ||||||
Maximum morphological length | 451 | 455 | — | 485 | — | 454 |
A-P diameter midshaft | 31 | 31.5 | — | — | — | 27.5 |
Transverse diameter midshaft | 26 | 27.5 | — | — | — | 24 |
Maximum diameter of head | — | 46 | — | — | — | 46 |
Tibia | ||||||
Maximum morphological length | — | 390 | — | 380 | (392)[1] | 397 |
A-P diameter nutrient foramen | — | 40 | — | — | 36 | 35 |
Transverse diameter nutrient foramen | — | 23 | — | — | 26 | 25 |
Bicondylar breadth | — | 79 | — | — | — | — |
Post Cranial Indices | ||||||
Pilastric Index | 119.24 | 114.28 | — | — | — | 116.67 |
Cnemic Index | — | 56.00 | — | — | 72.22 | 71.42 |
Crural Index | — | 85.49 | — | — | — | 87.45 |
Table 2 | |
---|---|
Cranial Measurements (in millimeters) and Indices | |
Burial 2 | |
Parietal thickness near bregma (average) | 3 |
Burial 6 | |
Cranium | |
Maximum length | 161 |
Maximum breadth | 150 |
Basion-bregma | 128 |
Bizygomatic | 126 |
Basi-nasal length | 96.5 |
Basi-alveolar length | 91 |
Nasion-alveolar height | 68 |
Left orbital breadth | 43 |
Left orbital height | 34 |
Nasal breadth | 24 |
Nasal height | 52 |
Palatal length | 46 |
Palatal breadth | 39 |
Mandible | |
Maximum length | (76)[1] |
Symphysis height | 37 |
Bigonial diameter | (101)[1] |
Foramen mentale breadth | 49 |
Cranial Indices | |
Cranial module | 146.33 |
Cranial index | 93.17 |
Height-length index | 79.50 |
Height-breadth index | 85.33 |
Upper facial index | 54.97 |
Nasal index | 46.15 |
Orbital index | 79.07 |
Table 3 | ||
---|---|---|
Comparison of Male Stature for Oneota Indians | ||
Utlaut Site | Height | |
Burial 1 (Oneota) | 173.46 | cm |
Burial 2 (Oneota) | 175.9 | cm |
Oneota Sites[2] | Mean Height | |
Leary site (Nebraska) | 173.1 | cm |
Hartley site (Iowa) | 164.2 | cm |
Leary site (Nebraska) | 173.1 | cm |
Flynn site (Iowa) | 169.7 | cm |
Blood Run site (Iowa) | 168.2 | cm |
Correctionville site (Iowa) | 171.2 | cm |
All sites | 170.0 | cm |
by J. M. Shippee
In the latter part of August 1956, Mr. Andrew H. McCulloch of St. Charles, Missouri addressed a letter to the Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, in which he told of the discovery of buried remains which were thought to be of Indian origin. Road construction in a new housing area just north of St. Charles, Missouri had exposed an Indian camp site on high ground overlooking the Missouri-Mississippi River flood plain. Mr. McCulloch had been informed by the land owner, Mr. J. D. Wright, that a portion of a grave had been opened, exposing bones of humans and animals and broken pottery vessels.
The letter was delivered to Carl H. Chapman, then Director of American Archaeology at the university, who visited the site and decided that further investigations were advisable. Professor Chapman directed the writer to make limited investigations at the site. This work was done in 3 days beginning September 1, with the very capable assistance of Leonard Blake and Winton Meyer of St. Louis, and Robert Wright of St. Charles.
The new road cut which exposed the remains is located at the eastern edge of an old field, which has an elevation of 90 feet above the river flood plain. Erosion had removed much of the dark topsoil from above the light colored loess, which apparently is very deep. At five locations in the road cut, dark deposits of cultural debris were observed in clearly defined pits which had been cross-sectioned by the grading machines. These pits were grouped at the deeper excavations for the road which were approximately 500 feet apart. At several places, in loose earth along the road, Indian artifacts were found where the grading operations had deposited them; their exact provenience is therefore, doubtful.
Pits A and B were at the north end of the field and were exposed in the vertical bank at the east side of the new road. Both had been gouged by curious persons, and nothing is known of the material removed prior to the work described here.
Pit A could be clearly defined in outline beneath 28 inches of overburden. This overburden consisted of 4 inches of top soil and 24 inches of light colored soil. The pit outlined by the cultural fill measured 8 inches deep, and had been approximately 40 inches in diameter. Excavation later revealed that the deposit extended only 13 inches into the bank, the greater part of the deposit having been previously removed. The sterile overburden was examined as it was removed from above the pit. The pit fill was so compact that Blake had difficulty in examining it. The deposit contained 3 rimsherds (Fig. 1) and 31 bodysherds in the upper part, and considerable bone scrap of animals in the lower. A trace of burned clay and a few small lumps of fired limestone were scattered in the fill. Charred wood was collected for radiocarbon dating, and according to Dr. J. B. Griffin of the University of Michigan and Professor H. R. Crane, University of Michigan Memorial-Phoenix Radiocarbon Laboratory, it was found to be dated (M-619)—1240±200 years before present, which would give the date before 1950 as A.D. 710±200. Also found in the pit were a few flint flakes and one crude flint blank. The bones in pit A were thought to be from game animals and consisted of 5 mandibles and 2 long bones. A large mandible, from which all the teeth had been removed by pot-hunters, is thought to be that of a bison. Three mandibles were from deer.
Figure 1. Pit A pottery
The potsherds from pit A are from large vessels, and with one exception they have lightly re-smoothed cordmarked exteriors. All sherds have been smoothed inside. Of the three rimsherds recovered, two have rounded lips and one a rather flat lip which, in the process of smoothing, received considerable more burring over the outer edge than those with the rounded lip. All sherds are hard and clay tempered. The color of these sherds is a muddy-brown or brownish-grey. An exceptional sherd from pit A is tan in color, clay tempered except for a few particles of grit, has a smooth interior and is decorated on the outer surface with roulette or dentate stamping (Fig. 1, d).
Pit B, located 33 feet south of pit A in the same east bank was similar, but only a small remnant of it remained after the usual vandalism. This pit was beneath 24 inches of overburden; it had a concentration of cultural fill that measured 6 inches in depth and the diameter had been approximately 30 inches. Small lumps of fired limestone were scattered through the fill, which included two rimsherds (Fig. 2, a and b) and 12 small body sherds. One rimsherd is evidently from a miniature pot. It is smooth inside and out, grey in color, very hard and without apparent tempering material. The other rimsherd is similar to those from pit A which have the rounded lips. The body sherds seem to be from rather large vessels which had cordmarked exterior surfaces and are clay tempered except for one which was tempered with grit. One flake of white chert showed usage.
Pit C was a small, poorly defined deposit of material foreign to the light colored soil about it. The top of the deposit was 15 inches below the present surface of the field. Three large cordmarked sherds and a number of small ones were excavated. There were also bits of burned clay and a few flint chips. Nearby, in the disturbed earth of the road, several large, grit tempered and cordmarked sherds were recovered.
Pit D was exposed partly in the west bank of the road at its southern end. In addition to the part of the pit exposed in the cutbank, the horizontal outline of the pit could be traced on the surface of the graded road. Approximately half the contents of the pit had been graded away. This pit, which excavation revealed to be 20 inches deep, as marked by the dark fill, was covered by 18 inches of light colored soil. The sides belled considerably and the flat, oval bottom measured 4 feet northwest to southeast by 5 feet northeast to southwest.
Figure 2. Pits B and D, Artifacts
Over 150 potsherds were recovered; 17 were rims of vessels, nine are sketched in Figure 3. With few exceptions, these rims were similar to those from pits A and B and are from large vessels. They were cordmarked, very hard, and are tempered with clay and some grit. Many sherds break squarely, others flake badly and even crumble. From these potsherds, one vessel has been restored sufficiently to give its characteristics (Fig. 4). The pot, of about 3 quarts capacity, is 8 inches high, 8 inches at its greatest diameter and is rather thin walled. It has dark grey paste, is clay tempered, very hard and has fine vertical cordmarks over the upper body with cordmarks at random below the shoulder. The smooth interior has small angular impressions or punctates inside the lip, which is slightly everted. This vessel, considerably different from the others at the site, is very similar to one from Arnold-Research Cave which is 70 miles west in Callaway County, Missouri (Shippee, 1966). The pot from the cave was shell tempered. In a personal communication of April 13, 1959, Dr. James B. Griffin states that in theory the pottery from this site can be compared to that from sites where Canteen grit tempered cordmarked and perhaps Korando clay tempered cordmarked material is recovered. Of the many sherds recovered from pit D, all are cordmarked or brushed. One sherd is from a vessel with a thick conical base.
A baked clay object from pit D seems to be a section of a small ring (Fig. 2). One unperforated disc of cordmarked pottery was found (Fig. 2). Three projectile points were found (Fig. 2). These points were made from flakes struck from cores. Two have only primary chipping around the perimeter; the third has secondary chipping on one edge. Two of the points were made from a pale pink chalcedony. Of the small number of flint flakes found, few show evidence of use, but one had been modified to form a drill (Fig. 2). The perforated canine of a dog or wolf was in the fill of this pit (Fig. 2). Two antler sections have been altered; one by a cut which removed the tine and the other by cutting or scraping to thin it. Bone scrap of fish and animals, mussel shells and burned limestone fragments occurred in pit D. Of the considerable charcoal recovered from pit D, a sample sent to Michigan was dated (M-620) at 930±100 years B.P. or A.D. 1020±100 before 1950. The wood was from a white ash group, a red oak group and hickory. Identification by R. Yarnell Nov. 21, 1962. Reported by letter from George J. Armelagos Jan. 28, 1963.
Pit E contained one rimsherd similar to those numerous on the site, and 14 body sherds, one of which was from a large vessel having a conoidal base. Three sherds were from a miniature pot. Pit E was 24 feet south of pit D and on the same west road bank. It could be defined below 19 inches of light colored overburden and had a depth of 8 inches. A radiocarbon date for charcoal from pit E is (M-621)—1180±100 B.P. or A.D. 770±100 before 1950. The charcoal was from red oak and white oak groups, as identified by Richard Yarnell at the University of Michigan.
Figure 3. Pit D pottery
Figure 4.
From the surface of the road there was collected three rimsherds, 20 body sherds, bone scrap, and a hammerstone which had a pit in two of its flat faces. Artifacts are reported to have been found on the surface of the field surrounding this hilltop site, but we found scant evidence of occupation in the plowed soil. This lack of surface material may be further evidence of considerable deposition over the pits that were exposed in the roadway across the site.
Leonard Blake sent a copy of the original manuscript of this excavation to Patrick J. Munson of the Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, and Mr. Munson kindly submitted comparisons and comments on the 23SC50 and Late Woodland ceramics in the American Bottoms. The following is from his letter of June 15, 1966.
“The pottery shows similarities to both Korondo Cordmarked and what I call “Early Bluff” (which includes part of what Griffin calls Canteen Cordmarked and which conforms to part of Titterington’s Jersey Bluff focus). Korondo and Early Bluff are definitely related in some way (probably regional variants of what is basically the same cultural pattern) and your material therefore represents still another variant of this same pattern.
The comparisons and contrasts can best be illuminated in the following table:
Korondo | Early Bluff | St. Charles | |
---|---|---|---|
Vessel Shape | x | x | x |
Mostly Cordmarked | x | x | x |
Mostly Sherd Tempered | x | x | |
Mostly Grit Tempered | x | ||
Squared Lip | x | ||
Rounded, “sloppy” lip | x | x | |
Interior Lip Cord Wrapped Stick stamp | x | x | x |
Interior Lip plain stamp | x | x | |
Exterior Lip plain stamp | x | ||
Vertical Lip plain stamp | x | ||
Undecorated Lip | x | x | x |
As such, your material seems about as similar to one as the other, every attribute being shared with either Korondo or Early Bluff, or with both.
Also your radiocarbon dates, or at least the two earliest ones, conform quite well. Dr. Robert Hall, now of the University of Chicago, has two dates for a Korondo site in the southern part of the American Bottoms (Stolle Quarry) AD-700 and 900, and by a process of elimination, Early Bluff in the northern portion of the Bottoms must date pre-850. (Korondo is found in the southern part of the Bottoms and south; Early Bluff is in the northern portion and north.) Your one dentate stamped sherd (Fig. 1) is probably Naples Dentate Stamped, and as such is surely an accidental inclusion—I doubt if this Middle Woodland type was made later than A.D. 400 at the latest. Also the largest projectile point 84 from pit D looks like a sloppy Snyders Point, again a Middle Woodland type and probably an accident (or a specimen collected by the Late Woodland peoples). The smallest point from the pit is probably a Late Woodland Koster Point (cf. Perino, 1963, Central States Arch. Jour., Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 95-100).
An attribute you might include in your pottery description is the direction of twist of cords used in making the cordmarkings; “S” twist (right hand) and “Z” twist (left hand)—but remember, the impressions on the pottery are negative, so the cord was the opposite of the impressions that you see. I found the percentage of this attribute quite significant in separating Early Bluff from Late Bluff.”
The three days of salvage archaeology at this site at St. Charles, Missouri were well rewarded by the information gained and especially by the recovery of charcoal associated with the artifacts in the pits. The three radiocarbon dates, with the exception of the late one, must be of considerable value to archaeologists investigating sites in the Midwest, and especially those in the vicinity of St. Louis and the American Bottoms. As for the site, the writer understands that it is totally built over, but isolated finds during construction work at the location could provide further important knowledge of the prehistoric Indians who inhabited the site. The passage of 16 years since the initial investigation, before this report could be concluded, is further proof that the archaeologist’s job is a difficult one to pursue, and it is only by the persistent endeavor and cooperation of the various persons interested that anything is accomplished.