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New Hampshire Statesman And State Journal
Concord, Merrimack County, New Hampshire
What is this article about?
In Keene, Mr. Erastus Chase discovered an old Indian scalping knife embedded in a fallen pine tree, covered by 140 years of growth, predating white settlement in the Ashuelot Valley by 27 years; first settlement 1734, permanent 1753 after conflicts with Indians.
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Where did it happen?
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Ashuelot Valley
Key Persons
Outcome
discovery of an old indian scalping knife embedded in a pine tree with 140 growth rings.
Event Details
Mr. Erastus Chase, of this town, while cutting up a large pine tree which had blown down, struck his axe upon the blade of a knife embedded in the tree, and broke it. On taking it out, it was found to be, to appearance, an old Indian scalping knife, which had been stuck horizontally into the tree when a sapling, and the wood had grown entirely over it. The blade is about six inches long, with a buckhorn handle. On the blade and handle are one hundred and forty distinct rings, showing the number of years of the tree's growth, since the knife was left there, one hundred and forty years ago, and twenty-seven years before a white man settled in this valley. The first settlement of the town was in 1734; but the settlers were driven off, and no permanent settlement was made until 1753. The Ashuelot Valley was a favorite resort and home of the Indians, and it was with great difficulty and hard fighting that they were at last driven from it. Many interesting relics of the aborigines have been turned up from the soil, before this discovery.