Cannelton, Indiana
Contributed by Stephen Sallman
Edward "Buddy" Scheidegger of Cannelton has been collecting Indian relics since he was 12 years old which is probably the reason he has over 12,000 items. He keeps only the perfect specimens attractively placed in trays which line two cabinets in the living room of the Scheidegger home. Imperfect arrowheads, tomahawks and others are traded or sold.
One gets the "collecting fever" when he talks to Buddy who is well-informed on the priceless items in his outstanding collection. For example there are a dozen trays holding nothing but arrowheads from the very small to the large in all shapes and colors and which were used for different purposes the more one feels like going out on an expedition.
There are still many arrowheads, tomahawks and other relics to be found in this county. Buddy tells us Perry County is an Indian Relic collector's paradise. The Jim Polk farm, Mt. Pleasant, Rome, the Peter's Cave near Leopold and many other locations are still giving up relics to those who will search for them. It is an education as well as pleasant entertainment to view the collection and hear Buddy describe them and tell the uses Indians had for different ones.
There is hardly a Sunday that one or more collectors do not call at the Scheidegger home. Somehow the word gets around from one collector to another "Did you know so and so has a nice peace pipe?" will send them all scurrying, for peace pipes are rare indeed, although Buddy has three, one of which is a perfect specimen.
Arrow heads were used by the Indians to hunt with, the type of arrow head varying according to use. Most of them were made from flint and probably differed in color or type flint of the area. In Buddy's collection is a polished arrow head which undoubtedly was used in ceremonials. Most arrow heads were chipped but this one is highly polished. Some of the arrowheads are made of jasper "chert" an impure flint, obsidian, which is volcanic material which resembles glass, and other materials. Scheidegger has several small black points of the volcanic glass-like material.
Arrow heads are of so many sizes and shapes that collectors are constantly trying to figure out what the different ones were used for. Some of the points were called fish scaler's, hide scrapers or stun arrow heads. There are beveled styles, spinners, saw tooth and the Folsom is the most sought after by collectors. It is so named for the man who made a study of this particular arrow head which is found under glacier deposits and therefore must be thousands of years old. Buddy has three Folsom. He says the Folsom arrow head is found in the hill country away from the river.
A hunting arrow head had notched sides probably for use on reed shafts. The war point arrow head naturally was used by the Indians in fighting his human enemies. Scheidegger has three boat stones in his collection, which are priceless. They are made of slate and have two holes bored in the pieces. The boat stone, so called because it is shaped like a small boat, was used as an ornament. It was usually of hematite or pure iron ore.
There are tomahawks of every description in his collection and as every child remembers from his history the Indian used the tomahawks to scalp their enemies and many a white man suffered such a fate. The tomahawks are made usually of graphite however, there are a number of flint.
The banner stones are those the Indians used probably as a symbol of the tribe. Of many designs and shapes, several in the collection are shaped like an hourglass. Usually the banner stones had holes drilled through them. When one hears of the Indian's procedure for drilling a hole through the stone one is amazed that he ever succeeded but the Indian must have been patient in such matters. Buddy says reeds were filled with sand, and after being placed on the stone, twirled until the hole was bored.
One man who collects Indian relics experimented to learn how much time would be required to bore a hole in one of the stones. He found that 40 hours of the continuous swirling drilled a hole of quarter inch deep. Buddy's wife found a beautiful banner stone. It has many colors running through the stone. Naturally the discovery made her a confirmed enthusiast.
A banded banner stone is another rare piece in the collection, and a lovely butterfly banner-stone is a priceless relic. Of banded slate, it has a deep grain much like that of a beautiful wood. There are also banner-stones of quartz. Mortars and pestles and large round balls of stone are in the Scheidegger collection. No one knows exactly what the stone balls were used for. They could have been used in games or perhaps in slingshots. (If such things were known to the Indian).
Buddy says there are two old shell mounds on the Jim Polk farm. Rich dirt mixed with mussel shell usually formed the material for the Indian mounds in this section. On Corn Island between Troy and Grandview, John Haaf has built a corn crib atop a mound and it has been known as "Crib Mound" which is the highest elevation on the farm and therefore chosen for the crib to be out of the reach of high water. Old pottery, petrified bones of both humans and animals and other relics have washed out of the mound through the years. Buddy found some carved bones from this mound.
He also has necklace bones, bear claws, antler points, teeth, a part of a skull and many other relics. Of all the hobbies, collecting is most interesting because it is educational and romantic. While "Buddy" refuses to estimate the value of his collection it must amount to a great deal of money in addition to its other values. (JUNE 18, 1948 PERRY COUNTY DEMOCRAT)
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