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<\/a>Dr. Mark Schurr and Judy Judge<\/p><\/div>\n
Dr. Mark Schurr, professor at Notre Dame University, began archaeological digs at the Collier Lodge site<\/a> in 2003. On March 8, 2018 Dr. Schurr will be doing a program about his discoveries for the Porter County Soil and Water Conservations District\u2019s annual meeting. The program is open to the public. More information can be found included on the article webpage.<\/p>\n Dr. Mark Schurr with Bridgette Murray<\/p><\/div>\n Dr. Mark Schurr program flyer<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Collier Lodge Skeleton Mystery<\/p>\n Jim Collier in forefront of Collier Lodge 1919<\/p><\/div>\n Skeleton of Indian girl is found near Valparaiso<\/span><\/p>\n Vidette-Messenger<\/span><\/p>\n November 15, 1919<\/span><\/p>\n Jim Collier on Collier Lodge steps 1950<\/p><\/div>\n Carl Black, residing three miles east pf town has a brand-new skeleton in his home\u2014new as an arrival, but very old in point of years. From the Kankakee River he brought the skeleton after James Collier, Baum\u2019s Bridge merchant, had unearthed it under his store while excavation for a basement. <\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Black received a telephone call from Mr. Collier regarding the discovery, and the Valparaiso relic hunter wen to receive the skeleton as gift. Some of the bones had been broken by the spade use digging, but they can be put together and the skeleton will be nicely rebuilt. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The bones are those of an Indian girl, Mr. Black explained Saturday night, for scattered through the earth where the skeleton was found were many little white shell beads. These had been placed around the neck before burial. Also, there were no weapons or pipes buried there. This indicated that they were the remains of a girl or woman. Mr. Black can tell by the color shading of the bones he states, that they were not those of a white person.<\/span><\/p>\n Beads found with Collier Lodge skeleton<\/p><\/div>\n The Indian beads are regarded as fine relics. They are now cleansed of the earth, strung on a thread, and are quite ornamental. A magnifying glass shows very fine workmanship of them.<\/span><\/p>\n The skeleton was fond on the site of what may be an Indian burying ground. Three other skeletons have been found there, according to those who live in the river country. The bones are still quite firm; so are the teeth that dropped from the jaw bones. The incisors are small, round and sharp, almost like those of a dog. The molars are very similar in shape and size to the teeth of the Caucasians.<\/span><\/p>\n Carl Black has a wonderful collection of Indiana relics, and some day he expects to have them arranged in glass cases so that the public may get some idea of them. Included are hundreds of arrowheads and tomahawks, and he has Indian pipes of various tribes. Only one of these pipes was found in Porter County. Like Indian beads they are hard to find. The beads from the skeleton are the fines Mr. Black has ever seen. Some have even ventured to call them pearls that were gathered from clams in the long ago in the river that is now turned into the Marble ditch. <\/span>Mr. Black will return to the Collier place and see to many remaining beads and other relics that may be still resting beneath the Collier store. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pottawatomie Projectiles on Parade<\/p>\n Carl Black with skull and teeth of Collier Lodge skeleton<\/p><\/div>\n The Gary Post-Tribune The Pottawatomies wouldn\u2019t recognize their arrowheads and spear points\u2014all artistically mounted on display boards and neatly stored in the spacious basement of a brand new suburban Gary home.<\/p>\n But one of the biggest collections of artifacts of the primitive people who roamed this part of the country long ago is to be found in such a setting\u2014the home of Carl R. Black at 5601 Adams St.<\/p>\n Black, now 78, spent about 50 years of his life getting together this fabulous collection. He found some of the items just lying on the grounds excavated mounds in Indiana for some others and bought many items from other area collectors.<\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t know how big his collections is, except that it numbers in the thousands.<\/p>\n His most prized possession is a collection of hundreds of tiny mother-of-pearl beads made from clean shells. Black painstakingly sifted them from earth surrounding a skeleton he found in a Northwest Indiana mound.<\/p>\n These aren\u2019t traders\u2019 beads,\u201d he says. \u201cI took them to a museum in Chicago and had them checked by experts.\u201d<\/p>\n The beads are tiny\u2014little larger than pellets for an air rifle. How the primitive People managed to drill a tiny hole through each one is a mystery.<\/p>\n Just as big a mystery, however, is how ancient man made his arrow and spear points.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lost art,\u201d Black says sadly. \u201cAll we know about the process is that it involved chipping and the use of pressure and hot water.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of people faking arrowheads today, but the fakes are easy to detect. It\u2019s very difficult to duplicate the crude work of ancient man.\u201d<\/p>\n Black\u2019s collection of Indian relics points to the fact that Indians and the early ancestors of modern man used whatever materials were at hand. Most of the arrowheads are made of flint chert, which is common in glacial deposits in this area. Most of the ax and tomahawk heads are made from granite boulders which also are plentiful here.<\/p>\n Another of Black\u2019s prized specimens is a skull which he unearthed in an area mound.<\/p>\n The skull has been identified by experts as that of a woman, 50 or 60 years old. Found with the skull was a full set of teeth which had fallen from the jawbone.<\/p>\n \u201cI loaned the teeth to a dentist who mounted them on a wax and took them to a dentists\u2019 convention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey caused quite a stir. Here was evidence of a middle-aged woman whose teeth had been worn nearly flat\u2014almost down to the gum line\u2014and there wasn\u2019t a sign of a cavity.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they hadn\u2019t heard of toothbrushes in those days,\u201d he chuckled.<\/p>\n Black can\u2019t remember just when the arrowheads collection bug hit him, but he recalls that as a youngster in Valparaiso (where he was born and attended school and college) he used to find arrowheads in his strolls around the countryside.<\/p>\n \u201cI bought most of the items in the collection\u201d he says. \u201cOne man couldn\u2019t find a collection like this in a lifetime. And now they\u2019re even harder to find than when I was a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n Black, however, did his share of prospecting for artifices. He has excavated mounds in southern Porter County and in Jasper County.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to dig in mounds during vacations, and sometimes I just took off from work for a month or two at a time to excavate.\u201d<\/p>\n He recalls one time when his shovel stuck a hard object in the middle of a mound.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept digging very carefully, then came to charcoal\u2014evidence of an ancient campfire. Now I was sure that I was going to find something important.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you know, I sifted that site and the only thing I found was one stone implement. It was a good specimen, but that\u2019s all that was in that mound.\u201d<\/p>\n He hopes one day that he can sell his collection so that more people can enjoy it. There just isn\u2019t room in his home to spread the collection out so that the people can see it.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nSunday, January 29, 1961<\/p>\n