THE MUSEUM. 



57 



to attract much attention because of 

 two things, viz; its extreme weathered 

 condition and Hghtness, and the depth 

 at which it was found, 22 feet beneath 

 the surface. Being the finder of this 

 curious pre-historic rehc, I have been 

 asked to write something concerning 

 it. Dr. Claypole has done better than 

 I could ever e.xpect to do, but as many 

 probably will never hear of Dr. Clay- 

 pole's article, I write this short article 

 concerning it 



The stone axe of which I write was 

 found by me in 1886 while digging a 

 well on the farm owned by Mr. E. 

 Chapin i.^ miles east of the center of 

 New London township, Huron Co., 

 Ohio, at the depth of 22 feet. In dig- 

 ging the well I passed through the fol- 

 lowing strata: 



Eight feet lay, very firm, yellow 

 above and blue below containing small 

 stones; thirteen feet of silty material, 

 very tough towards the bottom, re- 

 quiring the use of a pick-axe for its re- 

 moval. 



Interbedded in this were streaks of 

 sand one or two inches thick. Last 

 was about a foot of coarse gravel, 

 yielding water and containing small 

 sub-angular stones. 



Beneath this all was very tough, 

 blue clay, quite impervious to water in 

 which I bored 26 feet farther in the 

 bottom of the well with a i.\ inch 

 auger, but found clay throughout. 



In the upper clay I found a small 

 arrow or spear point of white Hint; 

 also a small piece of iron pyrites. I 

 marked the specimens, time, place, 

 depth, &c. and placed them among 

 my other specimens. While engaged 

 at the World's Fair I first learned of 

 the discussions and controversies based 

 on such implements, but thought noth- 

 ing of value of my own specimens un- 

 til my attention was drawn to it by 

 Rev. Dr. Wm. Kepler, who is also a 

 geologist of some note. 



I lent him the specimens, he show- 

 ed them to several learned men, Dr. 

 Nelson of Delaware, O. being one. 

 All expressing themselves in favor of 



its value. Some time after I visited 

 Akron, O. taking the specimens with 

 me. I showed them to Dr. Claypole, 

 one of which attracted his particular 

 attention — the axe. 



He asked me to lend it to him which 

 I did, because of its extreme lightness 

 he asked permission to saw it in two, 

 which I granted. It cut quite easily 

 and showed concentric lines of colora- 

 tion, (limonite-stainesj running parall- 

 el outlines. In the center remained 

 only a small unweathered portion of 

 the original hard green stone of which 

 it was made. This and other investi- 

 gations induced Dr. Claypole to visit 

 the place where it was found and the 

 surrounding country, which he did and 

 spent a whole day in doing so, exam- 

 ing water in wells and springs for some 

 distance in each direction from the 

 well in which the axe was found, tak- 

 ing elevations, examining moraines, 

 valleys, gravels, clays, &c. In his 

 article. Dr. Claypole dwells at length 

 on these points, giving his reasons why 

 the axe was where it was found and 

 the probable cause of its weathered 

 condition. 



Nearly all of the wells and springs 

 in the vicinity are more or less charg- 

 ed with sulphur. 



The axe is of the groved pattern 

 measuring four inches in length by two 

 in breadth and one and a half in thick- 

 ness and weighs five and one-half 

 ounces only. 



The railroad telegraph station is 400 

 6-10 feet above Lake Erie. The place 

 where the well is, is a few feet less. 

 To the south about three miles the 

 ground rapidly rises to 600. About 

 40 miles south is the southern limit of 

 the glacier. The well is within the 

 Ohio drift area. 



The nearest large stream is Buck 

 Creek, three miles distant. The next 

 is the Vermillion River five and a half 

 miles away. For further description 

 see Dr. Claypole's article as stated at 

 the head of this paper. 



Elmer E. Mastekman. 

 New London, O. 



Nov. 28, 1896. 



