Corky Barrack, Coldwater, Michigan
Volume 47, Number 4, October 2000 Central States Archaeological Journal
What started out as a casual conversation with an employee in 1960 turned out to be so much more. Toni told me that her now-deceased father-in-law had, many years ago, found some kind of Indian pipe. In response, I had commented that I would like to see it sometime. A few days later, Toni showed up with the pipe. I was taken by the pipe’s beauty and had hopes that one day I would be able to acquire it. Well, that day came in February of this year, when Toni’s husband Bill and his mother Joan agreed to part with it. It is my pleasure to now own this piece and share its history with CSAS members.
The pipe was found by Robert Hawley in the early 1960s on his farm in Girard Township in Branch County, Michigan. The Hawley farm was near what locals call the “North Chain of Lakes,” and just south of the old Sauk Trail, now Highway 12 between Detroit and Chicago.
The pipe was created in the traditional Mic-Mac style and is 3 3/8 inches long and 3 3/4 inches high and was made from black steatite. The vase-like bowl, which is constricted at the top and bottom, surmounts an ornately carved platform that is somewhat reminiscent of the bow of a canoe. The pipe has an ornately scalloped “keel” with six suspension holes encircled with pewter inlays along the keel’s bottom edge. The top of the bowl is inlaid with pewter, and additional pewter inlays in the shape of an arrow adorn each side of the stem. The piece is a well-polished finish.
The Mi’kmaq (Mic Mac) Indians inhabited a region stretching from northern coastal Maine to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. During a period of roughly 100 years (1700–1820) the northeastern colonial provinces (New England and the Canadian Maritimes) experienced a change in culture, largely due to colonial powers of France and England, for dominance over the fur trade and land acquisition….
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