Sacramento’s California State Indian Museum

Some Ted Orcutt Bifaces, the one at the Sacramento Museum is much larger.
Sacramento’s California State Indian Museum

Wednesday I went to Sacramento’s California State Indian Museum.I had heard that they had some of Ted Orcutt's large bifaces and some of Ishi's points. I was pleased to find that both were true. No photos are allowed at the museum, so I can't post any here. I always wondered why museums were so anal about photos, I asked the lady at the desk how I could obtain permission to secure some photos but she said there was no way! How do you research or publish something about an artifact if you can not photo it? Anyway, I will say that Orcutt's biface work displayed here is great! The large bifaces are displayed with other White Deer Dance Artifacts and black and white posters the historic dance. Orcutt's work looks much better than I could have captured on film anyway I suppose. The Ishi points, to my surprise were glued in place- ruining the rare artifacts. At least one was broken. Most of the made by Ishi and on display here were made of white milk glass. One was an anthropomorphic doodle of an Indian's siloete, with feather sticking up. I think 3 points were made of Purple glass. I don't pretend to know much about the story behind these points, other that Charlie Shewie had bought one of the Ishi knives from a guard here in 1968 or so. They are obviously made by Ishi, easyto tell if you have seen his other work. These Ishi points were not well knapped, the flake scars were crude step fractures and all the points were a different shape (type), the points were not lenticular. Only one point was notched well, a basal notch on an odd shaped purple glass point. This point had a round hollowed out base. I will try and get permission to photo or draw the points in a couple months, but they suck! The museomentrance fee is two bucks, not too bad, but the museum is very small. It is next door to the Sutter's Fort.

Bakersfield knap-in september 2008

It was 105 degrees, but we had fun, the flint was heat treating as we knapped it. My son, Bryan Harwood, was getting some point pointers from Gary Picket.


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Bakersfield knap-in sept 2008

Stone Hinge knapper/archer

http://flickr.com/photos/wessexarchaeology/sets/72157594537116112/


This is the most fascinating article since Ishi

Lunch at the Country Store on Main Street in Volcano,

Here is where we ate lunch, the Country Store on Main Street in Volcano, California.





Established in 1852, the place maintains the charm of the era. A stone oven cooks the food. Lots of character I had the vegie burger and my son had a chicken sandwich. Really good food. Beer bottle and antique collection and old photos. The lady that works there is a decedent of the original proprietor. Old locals hang out under the overhang on the front porch, like Andy and Goober



Volcano, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Volcano is an unincorporated community in Amador County, California. The town sits at 2,200 feet (670 m) above sea level and the current population is approximately 85. It is located at [show location on an interactive map] 38.4426° N 120.6316° W, just north of Pine Grove. The town is registered as California Historical Landmark #29. The community is in ZIP code 95689 and area code 209.

The town is named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley which early miners thought was caused by a volcano. The early morning fog rising from the valley floor only reinforced that belief. The spot was discovered in 1848 by Colonel Stevenson's men, who mined Soldiers Gulch in 1849. In 1851 a post office was established and by April 1852 there were 300 houses. By 1853 the flats and gulches swarmed with men, and there were 11 stores, 6 hotels, 3 bakeries, and 3 saloons. Hydraulic mining operations, begun in 1855, brought thousands of fortune seekers to form a town of 17 hotels, a library, a theater, and courts of quick justice. During the Civil War, Volcano's gold served the Union — Volcano Blues smuggled the cannon "Old Abe" to quell rebel sympathizers. The cannon was cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. in Boston in 1837 and is the first of two 6-pounders made on the same day to be stamped with serial number 4. The other cannon still survives at Shiloh Battlefield and is called "Shiloh Sam". Abe is the only cannon of that age in the U.S. still on a 19th. Century wooden carriage, and has had an interesting history all on its own.

Volcano is the birthplace of Harry Liversedge, two-time track star at both the 1920 and 1924 Olympics and later Brigadier General best known as the leader of the regiment figured in the historic Iwo Jima flag raising, died in 1951 after almost 25 years of Marine Corps service.

Although small, Volcano is a town of many "firsts":

* 1854 First theater group in California
* 1854 First debating society in California
* 1854 First circulating library in California
* 1855 First private schools in California
* 1855 First private law school in California
* 1856 First legal hanging in Amador County
* 1860 First astronomical observatory in California
* 1978 First solar still in California

The observatory was established by George Madeira and is where the Great Comet of 1861 was discovered (in the U.S.). It is registered as California Historical Landmark #715.

Volcano is also home to Black Chasm Caverns, a National Natural Landmark.

Community theater, first established in 1854, continues in the town through the efforts of the Volcano Theater Company. The company conducts a full season each year, performing in both the 35-seat Cobblestone Theater and in the larger outdoor Volcano Amphitheater.

Black Chasm Cave
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Black Chasm Cave is a cave near Volcano, California and is a National Natural Landmark.

Black Chasm Cave was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in 1976. It was recommended for this protection by members of the National Speleological Society who had made explorations of its numerous chambers in the 1960s.

One of the outstanding geological features of this cave (and a major reason for its NNL designation) is the profusion of helictite crystals located in the Landmark Room. These unusual speleothems or formations are probably creat


























































Indian Grinding Rock SHP
State Historic Park

Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills eight miles east of Jackson. The park nestles in a little valley 2,400 feet above sea level with open meadows and large valley oaks that once provided the native Americans of this area with an ample supply of acorns. The park was created in 1968 and preserves a great outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes -- the largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America.

Location/Directions
The park is northeast of Stockton in the lower foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Take State Highway 88 East through Jackson to the town of Pine Grove. Take a left turn on the Pine-Grove-Volcano Road, and about a mile and a half later you will enter the Park. The SECOND turnoff is the main entrance (the first is to the small campground)(US.GOV SHP).













I have heard rumors of the location of the infamous Farmington Chert. It is not chert at all, but a green coarse rhyolite I am guessing. Most of the stuff is to granular to knap.