SOAPSTONE — ^BUSHNELL 477 



he found grooves and hollows made by the Indians in taking out 

 sugarloaf-shaped masses of the rock; and throughout the soil re- 

 moved he found numerous fragments of the masses mostly hollowed 

 as the beginning of pots, together with numerous quartz picks, some 

 broken axes and mauls, and a few hammers of soapstone, which had 

 been used in quarrying and working the material." 



Three of the many speciments collected by Gushing and now in 

 the United States National Museum are illustrated in plate 5. 



Goochland County. — During the spring of 1881 George W. Eeid, 

 <vriting from Galedonia, Goochland County, to Professor Baird, de- 

 scribed one or two extensive quarries of soapstone in that county. 

 They were known locally as "Payne's Quarry or the Indian Dens," 

 and were evidently similar to those some 30 miles southward in Amelia 

 County. At that time, 1881, part of the surface of the quarry had 

 been cultivated, but much of it remained covered with brush. Many 

 specimens, some of which were in a more finished condition than 

 usual, were found in the vicinity of the quarries. One bowl, recovered 

 from the bed of the creek, was 15 inches in length and weighed 

 about 40 pounds. There was likewise discovered "an axe and a 

 broken bowl lying just as they had been left by the Indians." Ma- 

 terial collected by Reid at that time is in the National Museum. 



Bedford County. — A large quarry workshop occurs on a ridge a 

 few miles southeast of Bedford, between Little Otter and Big Otter 

 Rivers, near the junction of the streams. No excavations have been 

 made to ascertain the extent of the work done by the Indians. Many 

 fragments of unfinished vessels, intermingled with quantities of un- 

 worked stone, have been found scattered over the surface. A view 

 of the site, looking along the ridge and showing piles of stone, is 

 reproduced in plate 3.® Examples of the unfinished, broken vessels 

 are shown in plate 2. They form an interesting series and illustrate 

 clearly the work done at the quarry. All are greatly weathered and 

 show the effect of long exposure to the elements. One specimen that, 

 if completed, would have been a long narrow vessel with handles 

 extending from the rim, is shown, restored, in figure 2. 



Albemarle County. — In 1926 extensive quarries were being operated 

 by the Virginia Alberene Corporation in the vicinity of Schuyler. 

 Nelson County, Va. One of the quarries is shown in plate 4, figure 1. 

 Another quarry was soon to be opened about 2 miles northeast of 

 Schuyler, on a high ridge a short distance south of Damon, in Albe- 

 marle County. This was \\\q site of an ancient Indian quarry and 

 was between 5 and 6 miles from the nearest point on the left bank 



« I am indebted to R. L. Updike, Bedford, Va., for all information concerning the quarry 

 and for the photograph. The six specimens from the site were presented by Mr. Updike 

 to the U. S. National Museum. 



