Elephant pipes and inscribed tablets in the Museum of the Academy of natural sciences, Daveport, Iowa / by Charles E. Putnam.

  • Charles Edwin Putnam
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elephant pipes and inscribed tablets in the Museum of the Academy of natural sciences, Daveport, Iowa / by Charles E. Putnam. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/100 page 9
    of the Davenport Academy. It was published, and may be found in its “Proceedings.”^ Upon the announcement of the discovery, the officers and many members of the Academy were early on the ground to verify the statements made by the discoverers. The gentlemen engaged in the exploration are well known, and held in high esteem; their testimony as to all essential facts is clear and convincing, and the circumstances narrated seem to fully establish the genuineness of these relics. That their statement contains only facts, all who know them will not ques- tion; and that the mound from which the relics were obtained had not been previously disturbed, is sufficiently established by their testimony. The authenticity of this discovery must therefore be conceded by every fair-minded inquirer. The third inscribed tablet was found on January 30th, 1878, in Mound No. ii, in the group of mounds on Cook’s farm, in the suburbs of Davenport, and in close proximity to the mound wherein the other tablets were discovered. That indefatigable explorer. Rev. J. Gass, was also present during these further researches, and had for his assist- ants John Hume and Charles E. Harrison, both members of the Acad- emy, and well and favorably known in this community. The circum- stances of this discovery, as narrated by Mr. Harrison, are published in the Proceedings of the Academy.t No suspicions whatever attach to this discovery, and the well-attested facts connected therewith estab- lish, beyond reasonable doubt, that, whether more or less ancient, the tablet was deposited at the making of the mound. Of the elephant pipes in the museum of the Academy, one was dis- covered in March, 1880, in a mound on the farm of Mr. P. Hass, in I.ouisa County, Iowa, by Rev. A. Blumer, a Lutheran clergyman from a neighboring city, and was by him donated to the Academy. Rev. J. Gass, Mr. F. Hass, and a number of workmen were present, assisting in the exploration. A detailed account of the finding, pre- pared by Rev. Mr. Blumer, is published in the Proceedings of the Academy.^ From the social standing and high character of the prin- cipal discoverers, no question has been, or can be, successfully raised as to the authenticity of this discovery. The other elephant pipe was not “discovered” by Rev. J. Gass, as stated by Mr. Henshaw, but was obtained by him from a farmer in Louisa County, Iowa. § This * Proceedings of Davenport Academy of N^atural Sciences, V'ol. II., p. 96. t Proceedings of Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, V’ol. II., p. 221. Mr. Harrison is now Vice-President of the Academy. $ Proceedings of Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, Vol. III., p. 132. ^ Proceedings of Davenport Academy of Natviral Sciences, Vol. II., ]). 349, note, 2
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3