Various

“ The Home Industry finally came to a close in 1953. “Mrs. Betty Price of Appomattox County was the last to make pipes. I have a mold used by her. She made them from childhood and in her prime could make 40,000 pipes per year, having been taught by her mother in 1866 when she was eight years old. Her mother had made them a lifetime before her. In the last year of Mrs. Betty Price’s life, 1953, she made 500 pipes at the age of 95. They were made from clay from her own farm.” (Personal letter from Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox, and her son, Jack Price of Pamplin) . ”

“ Two adults seem to have “trophy” skeletal materials with them: a skull on the knees of Burial 2 (burnt) and many fragments of three and possibly four people on the lower legs of Burial 1. Bray (1961b:17-19) reports a “trophy head” with an Orr focus Oneota burial at the Flynn site, and glass trade beads with it point to this being an historic Ioway trait. Because there is no historic data on Missouri Indian burial practices, it is not possible now to tell if the trait is associated with them nor just what it may mean. ”

“ No complete skeleton was found, rather a series of jumbled long bones with the femur head facing southwest (Figs. 2 and 5) , suggesting an extended burial on a northeast-southwest axis. At the knee area was found a skull which showed evidence of burning. This data, even more than that of Burial 1, suggests “human sacrifice” or some such exotic behavior. Because some of the long bones were burnt too, it is possible the firing occurred as a part of the burial ritual. At the northeastern end of the burial was found a child’s skull; its relationship to the adult is unclear at this time. ”

“ The predominant color of the pipes is dark red. A lighter color is infrequently present, running from almost yellow, to salmon, to light brown. The very dark, almost black coloration of some is said to come either from minerals present in the soil of this area, to which the pipes presented here had been subjected since nearly all had been many years underground, or from actual fire that had fallen into the saggers of the Company kiln, or the iron pots in which the pipes had been fired in the home industry. ”

“ Most Pamplin pipes of home manufacture were made by women; however, Miss Wilsie Thornton and Dr. C. G. O’Brien said that a Mr. Rodgers, about 1938, made pipe molds and pipes of unusual form as a hobby. Miss Thornton mentioned two forms that he made—an Indian Head, and a Woman’s Leg, the calf being the bowl and the foot being the base, with the toes at the stem end of base. ”

“ This is the largest plant in the world devoted exclusively to the manufacture of Indian stone clay pipes. Our plant has a capacity of 25,000 pipes per day; our kiln has a capacity of 200,000 pipes at a single burning.
From careful search of the records, this factory started more than 200 years ago. The present plant has been in operation for 44 years. Skilled American labor is used in a modern, day-lit plant with special attention to cleanliness, sanitation and ideal conditions. ”

“ Although most burials have some grave goods material, some do not. Except for the “trophy” material and the fact that some of the historic burials have more artifacts, there do not seem to be marked differences in the wealth of the burials. Possibly each individual is accompanied by some personal tool or ornament. At the Flynn, Hartley and Utlaut sites, burials of children are accompanied by ceramic vessels—at the Blood Run site, with a rim sherd. If this is a pattern, it changed in historic times because burials with pots and trade goods are adult (Flynn, B. 5, and Utlaut, B. 6) . ”

“ Factory. Two examples. Colors are light orange and red. A flat band encircles the top of the bowl, and below this is a more narrow rounded band, whose lower edge is here and there lightly cut in line with the grooves below. The vertical grooves of decoration on the bowl continue, or merge with a lesser number of horizontal grooves and ridges which run to the stem end of the base. These grooves, in part at least, extend over the large rounded swell at stem end of base. These two pipes illustrate the minor differences that may exist in different molds used in making the same basic pipe form. ”

“ Miss Wilsie Thornton felt that a man working such a machine could produce thousands of pipes per day. It is unknown how many such machines were used by the factory, nor how many people were employed since ideas of our informants varied; however, the best estimate seems to be 8 to 10 machines, with employees varying from 10 to 40, depending upon the press of work and the rush of orders at any given time.
Bob Davis of Pamplin, in the interview with John W. Walker said, “Old man Taz Harvey made the Powhatan mold. He had a shop and made many molds”. ”

“ The skull on the knees of Burial 2 was burnt at the time of interment as the knee area was also burned. Then too, if one was collecting platform burial remains to be inhumed, more than just the skulls would be lying about to be collected. Again if we look at the Winnebago we get some interesting data. In a discussion of grave-post markings, Radin (1923:155) points out that a warrior who had killed a man and cut off his head received a special grave-post signifying the deed. ”

“ Practically speaking, all of the pipes made at the homes were made by white women, and from about the time of the first settlement of the territory, as the special suitability of the local clay for that purpose was early discovered.
Miss Wilsie Thornton of Pamplin said that this industry had become especially important after the War Between the States, because with so many men having been killed and the area in such straitened circumstances, the women 5 were badly in need of some means of making a living. ”

“ Jobbers discounts were offered. “10 to 20 boxes, 20%”, and going up by 5% stages to “101 to 500 boxes, 35% discount”. “We make many other styles of Indian Clay and Stone Pipes, ... we can make any style of pipe that can be made of clay. Our own designers and artists are at your service” (Plate 11) .
In the last years of Factory operation their sales carried an identification tag, “This Is An ‘Original’ Powhatan Pipe”, and it was being made by the last two women of the Pamplin area who were still making pipes at their homes (Plate 12) . ”

“ Burial 5 was an adult oriented north-south and accompanied by many offerings: a pot, a fresh water clam shell, 100 copper/brass beads, 12 copper/brass bracelets, sheet copper, two steel knives, a steel awl, chert flakes, glass beads and “bead” girdle as in Burial 1. Burial 6 was a fully extended supine adult with a north-south orientation, with the head north. Artifact associations were blue and green glass beads, a beaver incisor, chert flakes, a polished bison rib, a beaded girdle as with Burials 1 and 5 and a “trophy” human skull at the left knee area. ”

“ Burial 7 was a 35 year old male with knives and abrader. Burial 8 was fully extended, 35 years old, male, covered with red ochre and was accompanied by several chert flakes. He may have died of wounds, since a projectile point was found in the cervical vertebrae. Finally, in the summer of 1970 an adult male was found in a storage/trash pit at the site (Robert T. Bray, personal communication) .
Having reviewed the data on Oneota burials in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, the following hypotheses or assertions or guesses are offered concerning the general character of Oneota mortuary practices. ”

“ Burial 7 was different because it was deeper, under slabs of rock, and in a pit. Present was a child’s skull and two carnivore jaws. Burials 8 and 9 were incomplete and damaged, but seem to have been an adult and a 30-month old child. Burial 10 was a fetus or newborn infant.
Ten burials are reported (Henning 1970:120-212) from the Utz site (23SA2) , the nearest large Oneota site just a few miles east of the Utlaut site. Position, sex and age are known only for a few. Burial 3 was a 27 year old male, fully extended 64 with a mussel shell, sheet copper and bone tube. ”

“ The making of clay pipes was an old and well established business at Pamplin; whether the impressing of the word ORIGINAL on the base of this pipe was an innovation of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, or whether this had been long done by the Home Industry is unknown.
Plate 13 B. Slightly Acute Angle. Home. 2 examples. Dark red. Plain round bowl, octagonal base. Quite similar to “A” except both bowl and base are shorter, and diameter of bowl proportionally larger. “ORIGINAL” is impressed on right side of base. ”

“ The potsherds from pit A are from large vessels, and with one exception they have lightly re-smoothed cordmarked exteriors. All sherds have been smoothed inside. Of the three rimsherds recovered, two have rounded lips and one a rather flat lip which, in the process of smoothing, received considerable more burring over the outer edge than those with the rounded lip. All sherds are hard and clay tempered. ”

“ Small lumps of fired limestone were scattered through the fill, which included two rimsherds (Fig. 2, a and b) and 12 small body sherds. One rimsherd is evidently from a miniature pot. It is smooth inside and out, grey in color, very hard and without apparent tempering material. The other rimsherd is similar to those from pit A which have the rounded lips. The body sherds seem to be from rather large vessels which had cordmarked exterior surfaces and are clay tempered except for one which was tempered with grit. One flake of white chert showed usage. ”

“ They may also have brought one or more Akron pipe forms and decorations with them, to be manufactured at Pamplin. In turn the Pamplin Home Industry possibly adopted some forms now being produced by the Company. (Some of these forms may also have been in production in other areas, but probably of different clay) .
The foremost factor distinguishing Pamplin area pipes, from either manufacturing source, was the “Virginia clay, of attractive red color”.
So far as we have been able to determine, no particular friction ever developed between the Factory and the industry being carried on at the homes ”

“ Burial 4 with its punctated vessel though is probably late, bordering on the late proto-historic-historic Missouri line. Burial 6, with its glass trade beads, is historic, and since the Gumbo Point site (23SA4) , a historic Missouri village dating around 1727-1777 A.D., is only one and a quarter miles to the northeast of the Utlaut site, the burial is probably an Indian of that village.
The following data on Oneota burial practices can be extracted from these data. Individuals are buried in a supine extended position on a northeast-southwest axis. ”

“ This obviously cannot refer to the establishment of the plant, nor even to the mother plant at Akron, since pottery was first produced in Summit County, Ohio, in 1828 (Blair, 1965:2) . The Company may simply have been employing “poet’s license” and appropriated a date which they felt representative of the start of the Home Pipe Making Industry in the Pamplin area. ”

“ Burial One is a middle aged male in good condition, represented by an almost complete skeleton. Of the major bones, only the left radius, right ulna and left clavicle are absent, along with the second cervical, four thoracic and one lumbar vertebra. ”

“ Pit A could be clearly defined in outline beneath 28 inches of overburden. This overburden consisted of 4 inches of top soil and 24 inches of light colored soil. The pit outlined by the cultural fill measured 8 inches deep, and had been approximately 40 inches in diameter. Excavation later revealed that the deposit extended only 13 inches into the bank, the greater part of the deposit having been previously removed. The sterile overburden was examined as it was removed from above the pit. The pit fill was so compact that Blake had difficulty in examining it. ”

“ Rex L. Wilson, National Park Service, loaned us a copy of his manuscript, “Clay Tobacco Pipes from Fort Laramie, Wyoming and Related Sites”, in which he identified some specimens as having come from Pamplin.
FACTORY PRICE LIST OF PIPES AND JOBBERS DISCOUNTS, AS OF 1941.
The Company’s price list of November 1941 listed “The Powhatan Machine Made”, fitted with cork closures and 10′′ reed stems, bowls trade-marked, packed 50 to box, 25¢ retailer. Price $6.00 per box.” (Plate 10) .
Five other models were listed, “5 in. reed stems, packed 100 to box, 15¢ retailer. Price $3.00 per box.” ”

“ The sutures endocranially are closing, but ectocranially the sutures are still quite distinctive and have not yet begun to close. This indicates an age of 28 to 35 years. However, 70 some authorities feel this is not a good criterion for aging (McKern and Stewart 1957:37) . ”

“ Consignee: Vivian and Simpson, Virginia City. Manufacturer’s stenciling: ‘THE CELEBRATED VIRGINIA POWHATAN (CLAY) , J. R. FRANKLIN & CO., SOLE AGENTS FOR THE MANUFACTURERS, PAMPLIN DEPOT, APPOMATTOX COUNTY, VA.’ Field lot numbers MPC 104, MPC 358, FSC 171.
The following description of the pipe shipment on the Bertrand was provided by Ronald R. Switzer, Director, Bertrand Conservation Laboratory, National Park Service, Missouri Valley, Iowa.
“The pipes are of one type and design (Plate 2) . Forty pipe bowls plus 136 fragments ... all but 15 are chipped or broken, condition otherwise good. ”