Hayden.] 3^2 [October 



The following communication from Dr. F. V. Hayden, was 

 read : 



JuLESBURG, Col., October 10, 1867. 



To THE Secretary of the American Philosophical Society, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



Sir: I have made some very interesting observations in regard to 

 Indian History in the course of my geological survey of this State. 

 Most of the Indians of the Lower Missouri, as the Pawnees, Otoes, 

 lowas, Missouris, live in earth-built or stationary villages, and have 

 done so from time immemorial. The tribes on the Upper Missouri 

 do the same, — Arickaras, Mandans, and Minitauns. 



All along the Missouri, in the valley of the Little Blue, Big Blue, 

 Platte, Loup Fork Rivers, I have observed the remains of these old dirt 

 villages, and pieces of pottery are almost invariably found with them. 

 But on a recent visit to the Pawnee Reservation or Loup Fork, I des- 

 cried the remains of an old Pawnee village, apparently of greater an- 

 tiquity than the others, and the only one about which any stone imple- 

 ments have been found as yet. On and around the site of every cabin 

 of this village, I found an abundance of broken arrow-heads, chipped 

 flints, some of which must have been brought from a great distance, 

 and a variety of small stones, which had been used as hammers, chisels, 

 &c. I have gathered about half a bushel of the fragments of pottery, 

 arrow-heads, and chipped flints, some of which I hope to exhibit to 

 the Society next winter. No Pawnee Indian now living knows of 

 the time when this village was inhabited. Thirty years ago, an old 

 chief told a missionary that his tribe dwelt there before his birth, 

 but he knew nothing of the use of stone arrow-heads, though he said 

 his people used them before the introduction of iron. This discovery 

 is interesting, as it is the first tribe that I have ever been able to find 

 connecting the stone age with the present in the Missouri Valley. 



I have asked the most intelligent Indians of more than twenty 

 tribes in this valley, how far back in the past the Indians used stone 

 arrow-points, and I have received but one answer. They would point 

 towards heaven and say, "The Great Spirit only knows, we do not." 



At Pine Bluff", on Pole Creek, a branch of the Platte, and on the 

 line of the Union Pacific Railroad, there are large quantities of 

 chipped flints and arrow-heads, showing that in former times they 

 wrought them at this locality. Mr. S. B. Reed, Superintendent of 

 Construction U. P. R. R , found specimens of pottery abundant, and 

 chipped flints and arrow-points on the Plains near the Humboldt 



