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INDIAN GOD ROCK

PETROGRAPHY BY AMERICAN INDIANS
The Indian God Rock – Various Theories, Etc.
BY SAMUEL D. IRWIN, MEMBER OF STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Date of article or where published is unknown. Short biography of Samuel D. Irwin has been placed at the end of this article.

A subject which is very interesting to those interested in American antiquities are the rock carvings along the rivers of Northern and Western Pennsylvania, and at one point in Massachusetts, which will be referred to later. The carvings occur in Pennsylvania at two points on the Susquehanna, viz; at the Big and Little Indian Rocks, In the state of New York – one of these near Safe Harbor, and the other above it.

WHAT TRIBE MADE THE FIGURES.

The figures on these rocks represent beasts and birds as well as man, reptiles and serpents. The question arises naturally what tribe, or nation of Indians made these characters, and hieroglyphics, certainly not the Indians that inhabited these lands when the white settlers came, for there is no record that they practiced cutting characters on stones. The Monseys were found on the banks of the Allegheny river when David Zeisberger the Indian apostle of the Allegheny river was here in 1767-67, as he states himself, and the Seneca’s succeeded them on the same river in 1769 – while the Mohawks roamed abut the upper Susquehanna, and its branches. These facts are well established by both Zeisberger and Loskiel – so this was not the work of either Mohawks, the Monseys or the Senecas, (sometimes called the Cool Spring or the Cornplanter Indians after the great chief of that tribe best known to white men.)

POWELLS OPINION.

Powell in his Ethnology says of these pictured rocks, that they clearly show Algonkin origin and also says that P. W. Shafer published a historical map of Pennsylvania in 1877 in which were several groups of pictographs. On that chart says J. W. Powell a group of pictures is also given copied from originals on the Allegheny river in Venango county seven miles below Franklin.

Among the petrographed rocks of Pennsylvania is one in Fayette county described by J. Sutton Wall, as about 390 feet above the level of the Monongahela river, it is a sand stone, detached rock, is about 6 feet thick with vertical sides only two figures are carved on the sides, the inscriptions on the top of this rock are about obliterated – no indications of tool marks appear.

OBSERVATION, PECULIAR CARVING

Right here it may be observed about these markings on the rocks, as has been observed concerning the rock called Indian God, below Franklin, near the mouth of Sandy Creek, that the lines of the figures showed no work by means of tools, but looked like lines burned into a board with a sun glass, as stated in the old Goodrich geography of the state, which I have quoted from memory. This tallies well with Mr. Walls description of the Fayette county rock inscriptions.

THE ALGONQUINS, WHO ARE THEY?

Having traced the work to the Algonkins, (spelled also Algonquins), the next question that naturally arises is, and who are they? They are described by both Schoolcraft and Catlin who are authority on all questions concerning the Aboriginies, as an Indian linguistic stock numerous in North America, who were bent on freeing this soil from the whites. In character they were brave, strong and intelligent, but lacked steadiness of purpose, they had a common language and expressed the same by means of symbols – they had many traditions and when the whites came to our land they were scattered over a large part of the land east of the Mississippi. So from this description of their character, habits and the fact that they had a common language expressed by characters and figures, it is quite reasonable that they are the authors of our pictured rocks, also because hieroglyphics are the written language of a primitive people – as has been said, “symbols are older than Babel and survives its discord.”

OBSERVATION ON KIND OF ROCKS CARVED

Another observation is that the inscriptions were made on rocks, usually of sandstone, which had been worn down to a flat surface by the action of the ice and water, and sloping toward the stream, as is the case with the noted rock below Franklin, Pa. It is also one of the hardest of the sandstone rocks along that side of the river where it is situated. Schoolcraft describes this rock thus.

SCHOOLCRAFT’S DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIAN GOD ROCK AND THEORY

One of the most often noticed of these inscriptions exists on the left bank of the Allegheny river about six miles below Franklin (the ancient Venango) Pennsylvania. It is a prominent point of rocks, around which the river deflects rendering this point a very conspicuous object. The rock, which has been lodged here in some geological convulsions, is a species of hard sandstone about twenty feet in length by fourteen in breath. It has an inclination to the horizon of about 50 degrees. During freshets it is nearly over flown. The inscription is made upon the inclined face of the rock. The present inhabitants of the country call it the “Indian God.” It is only in low stages of water that it can be examined – Captain Eastman has succeeded by wading into the water in making a perfect copy of this ancient record, rejecting from its borders the interpolations of modern names put there by boatmen, to whom it is a point of landing. The inscription itself appears distinctly to record in symbols, the triumphs in hunting and war.”

HOW LONG KNOWN TO WHITE MEN.

This noted landmark has been known to white men for about 150 years, if we can believe the early writers. The boatmen and the early settlers gave it the name of the “Indian God.”

THE NAME AN ERROR.

This was a misnomer, because it is a well known fact concerning the American Indians, that they worshiped no idols or pictures, but that they all adored the Great Spirit.

INDIAN BELIEF AS STATED BY POPE.

Alexander Pope the great English poet who was never on our soil understood this well when he wrote those memorable lines so well known and frequently quoted.

“Let the poor Indian whose untutored mindSees God in clouds and hears him in the wind,His soul proud science never taught to stray,Far as the solar walk or milky way,Yet simple nature to his hope has given,Behind the cloud-top’t hill; an humbler heaven,Some safer world in depths of word embraced,Some happier island in the watery waste,To be content his natural desire,He asks no angel’s wings, no seraphs fire,But thinks admitted to that equal skyHis faithful dog will bear him company.”

How much better and clearer was the Indian belief, seeing God in clouds, and hearing him in the wind that shakes the leaves of the forest, and the hope of going to happier hunting grounds, than the dreams of the Grecian Philosophers, shadowed forth who in imagination pictured the beauty of the Elysian Fields as the desirable and happy home of the blest. so it seems that both Savages and Sages looked for happy homes beyond this life, “where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.”

OBSERVATIONS ON MISNOMERS.

Misnomers with regard to our aborigines began with the great Columbus himself when he called the people he met Indians, supposing that they were natives of India, as we read in our geography in our youth, so the early settlers are to be excused for calling this early pictograph on the famous rock the Indian God, because they had not known them long enough to become acquainted with their religious belief, nor would we look for theologians among the early settlers, boatmen, and hunters of those early days.

HOW THE INDIANS REGARDED THE ROCK.

But they say the Indians looked on these inscriptions and carvings with admiration and veneration, this I believe to be true, and this seems to be the view that Dr. Eaton (Rev. Dr. Samuel John Mills Eaton) took of it, that they considered it a record of the prowess of their ancestors recording deeds of valor and war. This view is also taken by Schoolcraft himself where he says:

“The inscription itself appears distinctly to record in symbols the triumphs of hunting and war, the bent bow and arrow are twice distinctly repeated, the arrow by itself is repeated several times, which denotes a date before the introduction of fire arms. The animals captured to which attention is called by the Indian pictographist, are not deer or common game, but objects of higher triumph. There are two large panthers or cougars, variously depicted, the lower one in the inscription denoting the influence agreeable to the pictures heretofore published, of medical magic. The figures of a female denotes without a doubt a captive, various circles representing human heads denote deaths. One of the subordinate figures depicts by his gorgets a chief. The symbolic sign of a raised hand drawn before a person represented by a bird’s head denotes apparently the name of an individual or tribe.”

At the foot of this stone in the water there is a smaller rock with only one image carved on it. The greater rock has been worn very smooth by the wear of the elements and of late years the heavy ice gorges have worn away the surface of the rock, yet most of the figures through all this remain quite plain today.

WHERE MARKED ROCKS ARE FOUND.

There are no carved rocks in the eastern part of our country except those incidentally referred to, there being a wide vacancy between the few found on the Susquehanna, the one in Massachusetts and the one on the Allegheny the most notable of them all, and a few are found in the far west, in New Mexico, Colorado and Old Mexico.

CONCERNING OTHER KINDS OF PICTOGRAPHS.

It may be observed here that pictographs made with paint on the skins of animals as the buffalo, moose, deer &c are quite common at the present time among the Western Indians of Colorado, Montana &c, they are called “winter records,” usually and show common events, such as deaths, number of deer, bear, &c, killed during the season and rough pictures of the chiefs and parties who participated in the winter hunt, they are fully illustrated in the work of Hon. J. W. Powell on the ethnology of our Western Indians. A grade higher than these are the pictured walls or caves along the famous Gilce river Colorado and New Mexico, where also are found a few rock carvings of a higher order.

ANOTHER THEORY.

All the articles I have quoted traced the Indian God to the Algonquins, that great people who had a common language as stated, but others have entertained other views, and endeavored to show that it is not of Indian origin at all, but the work of Scandinavians. A sensational piece come out in the Oil City Derrick in 1889 written by that excellent writer R. W. Criswell headed: “A Runic Mystery – Europeans in Pennsylvania 800 years ago. Evidence that the inscriptions on the Indian God rock were made by Norsemen.” I quote from that article as follows – “There is now some reason to believe that it (the carvings) may have been done by the Norsemen as early as the 11th century, hundreds of years before Columbus discovered America. The photograph of this rock remained in my portfolio until I read in the St. Louis Globe Democrat of Sunday, March 27 last, of the Dighton rock (Massachusetts) and the inscriptions found upon it. Antiquarians attribute the Dighton rock inscriptions to the Norsemen, and comparing them with the picture of the Indian God, they seem to be very much of the same character so much so indeed that the same hand might have made both. Prof. Rafu who interpreted the inscriptions on it, also Prof. Anderson of the University of Wisconsin believes that the Runic lettering was the work of early Norsemen, also if Prof. Rafu’s plates and interpretations can be relied upon all doubts concerning the presence of Thorfinn Karlseine who came to America in 1007 are removed as the rock lies in the very region the Norsemen frequented. These inscriptions as were copied by Dr. Danforth in 1680, Cotton Mather in 1713, and James Winthrope in 1778 and by others in that century. Near the center in Roman characters is seen CXXXI which is 131 the Icelander reckoning 12 decades ____120 the hundred calling it a great hundred, the exact number of Thorfinn’s party, then comes an N, a boat and the runic character for M, which antiquarians interpret Norse seafaring men. This Prof. Rafu interprets. “Thorfinn with 131 Norse seafaring men took possession of this land. There is also a figure of a woman and a child in the lower left corner with a letter S near the latter reminds one of Gudrin and his son Snorre the first European child born in America, this carries the inscription on the Dighton back to the early part of the eleventh century.”

REMARKS ON THIS DOCTRINE.

That the “Indian God,” was known before the regular white settlers came into the country is a well established fact. The Indians knew it well and spoke of it in their traditions to the whites claiming that it was the work of an earlier tribe or nation – so it was. The Indians that the first white men saw in Western Pennsylvania did not do that kind of work, they were incapable of its execution, and strangers to the art of making pictographs which were practiced by the earlier people, an act which nature suggested to a rude or primitive people in the absence of an alphabet to perpetuate their history.

CELERON NOTICED IT.

But there is other evidence that it was well known before the whites came into the land to make their homes, for in the year 1749 DeCeleron, one of the captains of Louis X V of France, explored all the region from Lakes Erie and Chautauqua and the Ohio and Allegheny rivers and he planted leaden plates all along his route chiefly at the outlets of the lakes and where its tributaries entered the Allegheny claiming the land in the name of his master, the King. These plates were buried by Celeron, at the mouth of the Conewango, at Warren, at Tionesta, Franklin, Foxburg, Kittanning and Pittsburg, and strange to say he buried one plate at the “Indian God.” In reading Celeron we must always read the Ohio as the Allegheny (or Beautiful River) for he considered what we now recognize as the Ohio and the Allegheny, its principal tributary, as one and the same stream. It was said by the Indians that Allegheny and Ohio are the same, the Allegheny being named of old by the Algonquins, whose favorite river it was, while the Ohio was originally named by the Miamis and other nations that were formerly residents along its banks. In reading the plates of Celeron we must also remember that he called French Creek in his record Riviers aux Boefs (or Buffalo river) because in his day buffalo were seen by him and his party ranging on the flat lands up by Waterford and Union City, Pa. The following is from the journal of DeCeleron: “Buried a plate on the south bank of the Ohio (Allegheny) river four leagues below the Riviere aux Boefs, opposite a bald mountain and near a large stone on which are many figures crudely engraved.” So this was considered by Celeron a good place to bury a plate departing from his usual custom of placing them by the mouths of streams or outlets of lakes.

EFFORTS TO FIND INDIAN GOD PLATE.

From time to time several exploring parties have endeavored to find the particular leaden tablet buried at or near the famous rock, one of the last searching parties was composed of people from Franklin who were interested in the subject, as follows: the late Judge John Trunkey, Jacob Shirk, R. L. Cochran, J. H. Newton, Charles Heydrick and Dr. Eaton. They engaged several laborers, who spent considerable time in removing the earth and stone in the vicinity of the rock. Diligent search was made but it was barren of results, the coveted treasure, the leaden plate was not found, nothwithstanding the locality at which it was buried was quite accurately described in the Journal of the French Captain who placed it there. Its loss may be accounted for in two ways- the washing away of the river banks during the long period which elapsed from the time it was buried, or secretly it might have been stolen, or to put it more mildly, appropriated by the Indians who wanted lead above all things. The contents of the leaden plates is no mystery, because some of them were found, those found were all similar claiming the land for the French King. The one that was buried at Franklin, then Fort Machault, was stolen from the then Commandant Joncaire, says Dr. Eaton, by the Seneca’s in the year 1750, and was brought to Colonel Johnson to be read, who made good use of it to exasperate them against the French. The inscription on these leaden plates as found as are follows: “ In the reign of Louis XV, King of France, in the year 1749, M. Celeron commandant of a detachment by Monsieur the Marquis of Gallessonier commandant in chief, of New France to establish tranquility, in certain savage villages of their cantom has buried this plate at the confluence – the Ohio (Allegheny) and ------ the ---- day of July near the Ohio, other wise Beautiful river as a monument of renewal of possession which we have taken of said river and all its tributaries, and of all lands on both sides as far as the source of said river, inasmuch as the former Kings of France have enjoyed it by their arms, and by treaties, especially those of Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix La Chapelle.”The above is fair translation of the text of the plates, the blank spaces left in the above were filled out as they were placed as each plate required and they were all similar in form being of uniform size. They were all exactly 14 inches in length by 9 in breath and only one eighth of an inch in thickness. The top and margin were decorated with lilies, the national flower of France, the letters were all capitals.

HISTORY OF THE PLATES.

They were brought from Canada by Celeron, where they had been made by an artist. On the reverse side was the name of the skillful maker and the designer, Paul Labrasse. The exact inscription being “Paul Labrasse, feeit,” so their origin is no mystery. They were all buried in their respective places during the summer of 1749..eighteen years before David Zeisberger the famous Moravian missionary and apostle made his memorable journey to the wilds of the Allegheny river and established missions among the Monseys at three points, vis: At La-hun-unakhannock (meeting of the waters) Se-qua-linget or place of Council, Tionesta, and Cush-Cush (Holemans flats,) Venango county.

MONSEY MIGRATION.

In June 1769 the whole Monsey tribe, along with Zeisberger made a great exodus from their three principal villages started in canoes, going down the river to a point in the state of Ohio, and were supplanted immediately by the Senecas, a less hostile and more peaceful nation. All this we get from Zeisberger who is the next white man of note, who was on the river and recorded his Journey and experience of Celeron the great French explorer. The first plate found it is said was at Fort Venango a short time after it had been planted and as Dr. Eaton says: “It was brought to Colonel Johnston to be read who made good use of it to exasperate the Seneca Indians against the French.” The Seneca’s had previously stolen it from Jonceair who was there before the English occupation.

OBSERVATION.

These are the facts so far as I am able to obtain them after resorting to different sources of information, but in writing of the past persons are to criticize the narrator, as the writer in some instances is thought to be extravagant often bordering on the incredible, even by those who have given a subject little or no attention, all which is contrary to the old maxim, of sticking at least to the appearance of truth. Writers of sketches historical in their nature are too often charged with dealing with the marvelous. Why marvelous?

Doubt and skepticism have always characterized mankind. Our early histories and school books related the adventures of William Tell, now that history is questioned and doubted, also some of the writings of the Hebrew prophets in Holy Writ- No one could successfully question the life of Washington for instance as written by the standard historians, but the life existence and exploits of the Indian Chief Cornplanter, Tecumseh and Red Jacket are equally well attended, though we immediately question the authority of such works as Robinson Crusoe. The adventures of the Knight of the Burning Mountain because they have no foundation in fact. Stone inscriptions, and metallic tablets of olden time rest on a better foundation being their own witnesses, they can not be successfully simulated, as it is impossible to make new - old carvings on rocks, every surveyor knows that you can not manufacture even a new – old stone monument for the corner of a tract of land. One of the most notable attempts at fraud in imitation of ancient writings or characters in modern times were the brass plates hid in a hill in the state of New York to which Joe Smith alleged the Angel Maroni, directed him, which he said he read by means of magical spectacles, and culminated in the production called the “Book of Mormon.” But the thinking mind sifts things, distinguishing the true from the false. appropo of this was the great “fake” a few years ago of what was called “The Stone Man,” alleged to be the petrifaction of the frame of a huge giant, whose parts it was afterward found out were picked up in several townships, mismatched and started out to gull the people of our country under the charge of a fakir, who pretended to explain it, taking as his text, “And there were giants in those days.” So this bubble exploded before it rose very high. Returning from this apparent digression to the subject, I would say that from the date of the earliest settlement the inhabitants of the Allegheny valley have always regarded this as the most ancient work, so unique in its character. Men of all classes learned and unlearned regard it as a record of former times, and as speaking a language that we can not interpret. Scientists and scholars and all interested in our local history wish to preserve it as a relic of a by gone age. The project has been frequently broached of moving it to the Park at Franklin which it would adorn, and be the delight of the antiquarians. But this removal it is claimed would be a difficult task, on account of the great size and weight of the rock, while others object to its removal at all on the ground that it would be a desecration to take it from its old bed beside the river where it has rested for untold centuries, but there should be no scruples on that score, since we have precedent for it, since the Egyptian government gave to us Cleopatra’s needle which was transported across the Atlantic to New York and which vast monolith is now one of the main attractions of Central Park. Another argument for placing this rock in Franklin is that it is so close to the railroad track that it might be damaged in some way, in fact it is within the right-of-way or franchises of the same, therefor its existence for any stated time is in jeopardy.

ITS REMOVAL CONSIDERED.

The transportation of this rock to the Franklin park was a favorite project of the late Dr. A.G. Egbert, whose memory is honored by a beautiful memorial fountain. He saw the difficulty of moving this large rock as stated but thought that it was a difficulty that could be overcome. He consulted stone masons as to the advisability of trying to “cap it,” but this was deemed by them impractical on account of the nature of the clearage and even if this experiment should be successful it would destroy its beauty and symmetry – so that project was abandoned, then he hoped that the entire rock could be brought to the Park.

DIFFICULTIES OF INTERPRETATION – CONCLUSION.

The translation of symbols, the first written language of all primitive nations is at best a difficult undertaking, and the interpretations are looked upon with a great deal of doubt by linguists. Take for instance the Egyptian and Mexican inscriptions on their stone monuments, and although they have the Rossetti Stone to explain in a manner the former, but no such stone dictionary exists by which American antiquities can be unraveled. No two interpret them alike even those which have a key and we must say that those translated reveal as a rule nothing of practical value to mankind – only the vain boasts of some conqueror, or some superstition concerning the incredible exploits of some heathen God, or else some recipe for health, or remedy for disease which a modern doctor would scoff at. When linguists fail to translate even living written languages alike, that being assumed how can we reasonably expect renditions of more than were approximate accuracy of these ancient carvings on rocks which excite our wonder and admiration.

Sketch of Samuel D. Irwin is from “History of the Irwin Family”, compiled by S. D. Irwin of Tionesta in 1893.

Samuel D. Irwin, son of Richard and Hannah W. May Irwin of Franklin, was born March 12, 1835 and died April 29, 1921. Samuel, an attorney, lived in Tionesta during the latter part of the 1800s. From 1855 to 1857 he attended Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, PA, and in 1858 was principal of the high school at Farmington, Iowa. Moved to Paola, Kansas, and surveyed the lands belonging to the Peoria, Wea, Miami and Piankeshaw Indians, as well as the lands of settlers in Miami county. He studied law under Hon. W.R.Wagstaff and was admitted to the bar in March 1862. Mr. Irwin participated in the border troubles from 1860 to 1863 under Lane, Montgomery and the Union leaders against Quantrell and other guerrillas, and while with the militia was in several skirmishes, both in Kansas and Missouri. In August 1863, he joined Co. I., 12th Kansas Volunteers, which regiment went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he was assigned to duty at the headquarters of the Frontier Division of the Seventh Army Corps. He took part in the Arkansas Expedition in 1864-5, principally with the engineers and scouts, and was honorable discharged at Little Rock, Arkansas, July 15, 1865. He returned to Pennsylvania, where he has admitted to the bar in 1867. In 1868 he made the first map of Forest County which was adopted as the official map, and followed it by two revised editions in 1881 and 1883. In 1868 he had published in the Forest Press the pioneer history of Forest County in 28 chapters. August 13, 1873, he was made a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He was three times elected District Attorney of Forest County, and was actively engaged in the practice of the law. He was a member of Stow Post, No. 274, G.A.R.

coordinated and transcribed by Penny Haylett-Minnick

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