482 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1939 



both sides of the Patuxent River in the present Howard and Mont- 

 gomery Counties. Quarries have likewise been discovered in the 

 adjoining counties of Baltimore and Carroll, and large collections 

 of partly made vessels from the sites are preserved in the National 

 Museum. Two specimens are shown in plate 7. 



Ancient quarries and quantities of fragments of soapstone ves- 

 sels have been discovered in York, Lancaster, and Chester Counties, 

 Pa. The three counties adjoin Maryland on the south, and the 

 material from the entire region is similar. One vessel from Lancas- 

 ter County is illustrated in plate 7. Fragments of soapstone utensils 

 found on sites farther up the valley of the Susquehanna, in Juanita 

 and Clinton Counties, are in the collections of the National Museum, 

 also some pieces from near Easton, on the Delaware River in 



FiGunB 4. — New York. Part of a small vessel from Jefferson County. U. S. N. M. No. 8903. 



Natural size. 



Northampton County, which proves the wide distribution and gen- 

 eral use of the stone. 



Soapstone was used extensively by the Indians who once occupied 

 the present State of New York. A piece of a small bowl, found in 

 Jefferson County, is shown in figure 4. The handle, which projects 

 from the side of the vessel below the rim, resembles specimens from 

 Virginia and elsewhere. 



EASTWARD FROM THE HUDSON RIVER 



Soapstone occurs in the Connecticut Valley, and the quarries 

 which were operated in that area by the Indians were undoubtedly 

 the source of the material found on nearby sites. An interesting 

 and apparently very old quarry was discovered in 1892 at Bristol, 



