Mr. Charles E. Brown, Dean of the Museum of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, has prepared for me this chapter on copper objects. Mr. Brown’s long association with the Milwaukee Public Museum, and his knowledge of copper collections throughout the United States, have made him an authority on this subject.

I have added a few concluding paragraphs to Mr. Brown’s able paper.

The Native Copper Implements of Wisconsin

The number of native copper articles already recovered from Wisconsin fields, village-sites, mounds, and graves is very large, possibly exceeding that already obtained from the balance of the United States. A careful estimate places the total number of such articles collected in the state up to the present time at not less than twenty thousand.

Although the collecting of these implements in Wisconsin has already continued for nearly forty years the supply has not yet become exhausted.

The opening to cultivation of new lands in the central and northern portions of the state, the increase in the number of collectors, and the more careful examination of old sites, cause each passing year to add its large number to the total already in collections.

In an address delivered in 1876 before the Wisconsin Historical Society, Professor James D. Butler made the statement that the Society was then the proud possessor of 109 native copper implements. The Smithsonian Institution then owned 30 specimens; the Wisconsin Natural History Society of Milwaukee, 14; Dr. Increase A. Lapham, 11; Milton College, 4; and Beloit College, 1. At the present day there are in the combined collections of the State Historical Museum, Logan Museum at Beloit, Milwaukee Public Museum, and of Mr. H. P. Hamilton and of Mr. S. D. Mitchell nearly four thousand specimens.

A very large number of other specimens are in other public and private collections in Wisconsin and other states. To the activity of the Wisconsin Archæological Society and of its members is due the very great increase in recent years of the number of copper implements in local educational institutions.

There is evidence to show that in pioneer days a very considerable number of such implements, their value being unappreciated, found their way into the hands of roving pedlers and junk dealers and afterwards into the founder’s crucible. In several institutions are implements which have been rescued from such a fate.

Others have been found useful by their original finders and wholly or partially destroyed.

I continue: The conclusion now universally accepted among archæologists is that there is no reason for attributing the working of the copper deposits or fabrication of the implements to any other people than the Indians. The early explorers found both the northern and southern tribes in this country using implements and ornaments of native copper often in common with those of stone. From South America almost to Canada various travellers refer to this metal being in the possession of or employed by the natives. Many of these accounts have been so often quoted by writers on North American archæology that they are entirely familiar to the student, and there is therefore no necessity of repeating them here. There is no doubt that some of these accounts refer to European metal obtained from earlier visitors or traders, or possibly from shipwrecks along the coast. Thus the natives soon became quite proficient in fashioning it into articles adapted or better adapted to their needs than the ruder articles which they then employed.

Ohio.

It is equally certain that other accounts refer to the native metal or to objects fashioned therefrom.

Whether the working of the copper deposits or the fabrication of copper implements in this section of the country, thought to have been begun at least several centuries before, was discontinued before the coming of the white man, or whether the industry was continued or at least to some extent resumed by the descendants of the pre-Columbian miners and artificers during and after his intrusion, is still in dispute. It is doubtful whether this matter will ever be satisfactorily settled.

The accounts of the Jesuits, as given in the “Relations,” give the impression that while the Wisconsin Indians of that period were evidently familiar with the sources of the metal, they regarded it with superstition and employed it only in a reverential way. Radisson, however, found native copper ornaments in use among the Bœuf (or Buffalo) band of Dakota, in Minnesota in 1661–62. Alexander Henry, as a result of his visit to Lake Superior in a later day, stated that the Indians there obtained copper for the manufacture of implements and ornaments. In recent times, Indian agents testified to the use of copper implements among the Wisconsin Winnebago and Chippewa. Native copper implements have also occasionally been recovered from local mounds, where they were found in association with metal kettles, glass beads, and other articles of European manufacture.

The evidence of the mounds and of the earlier village-sites is to the effect that before the coming of white man the use of copper had become quite general among the Indian tribes of the upper Mississippi Valley.

It is very probable that the native metal first became known to them through the accidental discovery of small nuggets among the debris of the glaciers, and as it quickly came into demand, was traced to its source in the Lake Superior region. These deposits they mined, cutting it into shapes convenient for transportation to their villages, where it was fashioned into articles for their own use, or for the purpose of trade with distant tribes.

Nowhere in this entire valley do copper implements, however, appear to have entirely replaced those of stone, the use of which was continued until quite recent times. The manufacture of copper implements doubtless extended through several centuries. The Siouan Winnebago and Dakota of Wisconsin, being nearest the source of supply, possessed of course the greatest quantity. Even among them the use of copper artifacts did not in prehistoric times equal the use of others. Among the outlying tribes in other states copper implements were yet probably somewhat of a luxury, when the intrusion of the Algonquian tribes into Wisconsin made more and more difficult, and finally altogether shut out access to the Lake Superior mines. It appears certain that the Chippewa after their occupation of the copper region, did do at least a small amount of digging for the metal which for purposes of trade, or for other uses, they found of value. This continued until the arrival of the traders laden with desirable articles caused a suspension of mining operations, and diverted the attention of the Indian from mining to other pursuits....

Our native copper implements were fashioned by being hammered into shape while the metal was in a cold or heated state with such rude implements as were at the command of the natives, the finishing touches being given by cutting and trimming the uneven edges with sharp flints and smoothing the surfaces by rubbing or grinding with stones. Successful experiments in reproducing the various forms of implements from the native or nodular copper by these primitive processes have been made by the late Frank H. Cushing, and by other archæologists. Mr. Gerard Fowke is authority for the following statement:—

“So far as its working qualities are concerned, copper at ordinary temperature is much more malleable than pure soft iron; and it is much more easily worked into shape when at a red heat than when cold. If hammered cold it must be annealed occasionally, otherwise it becomes brittle. It is somewhat hardened by pounding, which will account for the harder edge of celts and other aboriginal specimens beaten out thin.”^[26]

The theory that any of these implements may have been cast is now discarded by archæologists. There is no evidence to show that our local aborigines possessed any knowledge of the working of this metal in the broad sense.

“Even if copper could be melted in an open fire, which is very doubtful, it must not be overlooked that Indians had no materials of which to make crucibles or moulds capable of withstanding such heat. Admitting they had clay receptacles which would have answered these purposes, there is no way of handling the molten metal with safety.”^[27]

While it is probable that many copper implements were fabricated in the vicinity of the workings, it is now perfectly clear that fragments of the native ore were also carried away to be cut up and fashioned into implements elsewhere. The possession of such masses by the aborigines was noted by the early explorers and missionaries. On the extensive village-sites at Two Rivers, Sheboygan, Green Lake, and elsewhere have been obtained numerous small chips, scales, and fragments of copper, plainly indicating that the manufacture of implements was carried on there. Elsewhere in the state have been found lumps of the metal exhibiting tool-marks, and other indications of working.

Distribution

To fully discuss this phase of the subject would require many pages. The student must therefore content himself with such information as can be condensed into a comparatively limited space.

Implements and ornaments of native copper are distributed commonly or sparingly throughout a large portion of the eastern half of the United States and in some states west of the Mississippi River. Outside of our own state, numbers of them have been recovered in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and West Virginia, and also from the mounds and stone graves and village-sites in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. Mr. Clarence B. Moore, whose explorations have been very extensive, has reported their existence in the mounds of Florida and elsewhere in the extreme South. From five mounds on the St. John’s River in Florida he obtained ornaments of sheet-copper with repoussé designs, beads of sheet-copper, beads of wood, shell, and limestone copper coated, copper effigies of the turtle and the serpent, and piercing implements of copper. Dr. C. C. Abbott long ago recorded the existence of copper implements in the Delaware Valley.

As a result of his researches, Rev. W. M. Beauchamp recently issued under the auspices of the University of the State of New York, at Albany, two finely illustrated bulletins, one descriptive of the metallic implements and the other of the metallic ornaments of the New York Indians.

Professor G. H. Perkins states that objects of this metal are far more numerous in New England than those of bone or shell. They are found not only on the surface, but in the graves as well. They are similar in form to Wisconsin artifacts, and he believes it probable that all are made of metal obtained from the Lake Superior district. Dr. David Boyle and others have called our attention to the presence of native copper implements in both eastern and western Canada.

There is no longer any doubt that much of this metal was thus distributed, either in the unworked state or as finished artifacts, in the course of the trades or regular exchanges known to have been carried on between the aborigines holding possession of the copper district and those of other regions.

A description of the Wisconsin districts from which the greatest number of such artifacts have been recovered up to the present time may be given as extending from about the middle of Milwaukee County, northward along the west shore of Lake Michigan to Door County, thence westward to the Wisconsin River or slightly beyond, thence southward along this stream to Dane County and eastward to Milwaukee County, the starting-point. Embraced within this territory are the extensive lake shore village-sites, from which thousands of articles have already been recovered, and certain well-known sites in Green Lake and adjoining counties, the Rush Lake, Lake Chetek, and similarly productive regions. The amount of copper implements obtained from the mounds and graves of Wisconsin is very small when compared with the quantity obtained from the village-sites and fields.

Classes and Functions

The native copper artifacts of Wisconsin admit of separation into two principal classes, designated as implements and ornaments. Of these the former class is by far the more numerous. Mr. Henry P. Hamilton estimates that articles of utility constitute fully 95 per cent of the copper artifacts found in Wisconsin.

It is but natural that on account of its proximity to the source of supply we should find in our own state not only a more bountiful supply of implements, but a greater range of classes, types, and varieties as well. The correctness of this conclusion is proven beyond doubt. In the matter of the number and artistic excellence of its copper ornaments and objects of a ceremonial nature, Wisconsin, while possessing some types apparently peculiar to itself, cannot properly be said to lead. The artistically cut or embossed sheet-copper discs, gorgets, and plates, the spool-shaped objects and copper-sheathed stone and wooden ornaments of Ohio, Illinois, and the South, are here conspicuous by their almost total absence.

No one Wisconsin collection contains all of the classes and types of the implements described in this bulletin. An examination of almost any local copper cabinet, however small, is almost certain to reveal the presence of some object that is original or peculiar; or some variation of a well-known type not elsewhere to be seen. The difficulties attending the making of a proper classification are therefore apparent. Especially among the objects classed as arrow- and spear-points the number of well-established types, of varieties and infrequent forms, is particularly numerous. In a somewhat lesser degree this is also true of other classes of implements.

Among spear- and arrow-points especially, there appears to be a gradual development from the primitive leaf-shaped, through the stemmed, to the numerous and well-executed socketed forms. In this case the important element in the transition from one form to another is in the manner of hafting. A gradual transition in some instances from well-marked types of one class into those of another may also be noted. The uses of many of these implements, because of their close resemblance to modern articles, are readily understood. The precise function of others is not so readily ascertained.

An examination of a large series of any of these should convince us that each had its special function, although probably also employed for such other exigencies as might arise.

In the following pages the various classes of local copper implements and ornaments are described and such information and suggestions concerning their workmanship, purposes, frequency, and distribution given as is now obtainable.

Axes

Large numbers of these implements have been recovered from Wisconsin soil and are to-day represented by one or several examples in nearly every local copper collection. They vary in weight from half a pound to three pounds, rarely more, and in size from three to ten inches. So far as is known no hafted copper axe has yet been recovered. Probably the usual and most satisfactory method of hafting one of these implements was to insert it between the parts of a cleft stick, to which it was afterwards secured by winding the stick above and below it with strips of hide, a number of turns being also taken around or across it. There are at least three well-established types of these implements, which may be briefly described as follows:—

1. Those which are oblong or nearly oblong in outline, having the edges parallel or nearly so, and whose breadth is such as to exclude them from the class of implements known as chisels. Specimens range from less than four up to seven or more inches in length. They are generally of nearly uniform thickness throughout. (See Figs. 576, 578.) A variety of the above type has the margin at the edges slightly elevated, thus giving a depressed or concave surface in the centre, and from end to end, on one or both broad faces of the axe. In some examples this margin is fully one half inch in width at or near the middle of the axe. A curious feature of some examples of this uncommon form is the concave cutting edge. Such implements are to be seen in a number of the larger public and private collections in Wisconsin. So far as can be ascertained no examples of these curious axes have been obtained in surrounding states, where the normal form also occurs.

2. Axes with straight, tapering edges. They are widest at the cutting edge and become gradually narrower towards the head, which is either square, rounded, or pointed. The cutting edge is straight or convex. This appears to be the most common type of copper axe. The largest example known is fourteen inches in length and the smallest only two inches. The large specimen comes from Neillsville, Clark County, and is in the State Historical Museum. (See Fig. 578.)

3. A third and less frequent type has the edges curving equally from the cutting edge to the head. Most examples are quite thin, broad and flat. The head is square and sometimes nearly as broad as the cutting edge. By reason of their broad, expanding cutting edges, some of these axes may be appropriately described as bell-shaped. Fine specimens of this type are to be seen in the Milwaukee Public Museum, and in other collections. These axes approach the modern axes in form. In the H. P. Hamilton collection is a notched copper axe which comes from the vicinity of Horicon. It is rather rude and is irregularly oval in outline. Mr. M. C. Long has in his Kansas City collection the only grooved copper axe known.

Copper axes were well adapted alike for peaceful and warlike pursuits. In the hands of the Wisconsin aborigines they were undoubtedly useful implements, superseding at best the clumsy stone axe or hatchet, and possibly being in their turn laid aside for the more serviceable iron axe of the fur-trader.

Employed in warfare or the chase they would be terrible weapons. As tools they were probably especially useful in the felling of trees, the shaping of log canoes, the erection of dwellings, barricades, and stockades.

They may have been employed in connection with or without fire. It has been suggested that some of the smaller implements may have served as wedges.

Chisels. (See Figs. 577, 579, 580.)

The aboriginal copper implements known as chisels are of nearly as frequent occurrence in local cabinets as the implements of the foregoing class. In the H. P. Hamilton collection there is to be seen an especially fine series of at least a dozen or more examples, ranging in size from five to fifteen inches and in weight from five ounces to five and three fourths pounds. An equally fine series is in the Field Museum.

The office of these fine implements probably included the excavating of wooden canoes, mortars, and other vessels. Their employment in connection with the mining operations of the Indians has been mentioned. Some specimens exhibit upon their heads the flattening which would result from their being used in conjunction with a wooden mallet, club, stone, or other weighty object. Others show no such marks and were probably employed without such agencies. Rev. W. M. Beauchamp states that a large proportion of the copper articles found in New York are of the celt (axe) or chisel form. Professor G. H. Perkins has described similar implements from New England. At least three distinct types of these implements are known to occur in Wisconsin:—

1. The first of these is broadest at the cutting edge. The edges taper gradually upward from the cutting edge to a pointed, rounded, or squared head. They are usually thickest at or below the middle, the flat or convex surface sloping toward the narrow extremity. Some of these have the upper surface convex and the lower surface flat. The broad or narrow sides may be either convex or flat. Fine implements of this form are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, State Historical Museum, and other local collections. A few approach fourteen inches in length. (See Fig. 579.)

2. A second type is of nearly uniform width throughout, with straight, parallel edges. A specimen in the S. D. Mitchell collection has a cutting edge at either extremity. Implements of this type are to be seen in various Wisconsin cabinets. They range from about five to ten or more inches in length, and from one and one half to two inches in width. (See Fig. 580.)

3. A third and less frequent type is characterized by a more or less prominent median ridge, which traverses its upper surface from within an inch or more of the cutting edge to the opposite extremity. From this ridge the surface bevels off evenly on either side toward the edge. The lower surface is usually flat, thus giving a triangular section. The edges are generally parallel for at least three quarters of the distance back from the cutting edge, whence they taper or curve gradually to the rounded head. A few are of nearly uniform width throughout, with an angular or squared head. Several of these implements have the upper extremity abruptly narrowed and prolonged into a short tang, as if intended to be set into a wooden handle. A few are curved or bowed from extremity to extremity. Some specimens have an expanded, curved cutting edge. One of the largest of these ridged chisels is fourteen and three fourths inches in length. It is in the H. P. Hamilton collection and comes from the town of Oshkosh, Winnebago County. (See specimen to the left, Fig. 579.)

Spuds. (See Figs. 581, 583.)

In northwestern Wisconsin have been obtained a limited number of copper implements bearing a close resemblance in form to some of the so-called stone spuds or spade-shaped implements, after which they were probably patterned. They are rather broad, flat implements, of nearly uniform thickness throughout, and from six to eight or more inches in length. The broad, narrow blades are semicircular or crescentic in outline. From them the handle tapers backward to a squared or slightly rounded extremity. The narrow sides are flattened. The author is indebted to Professor T. H. Lewis for sketches and information in regard to some of these, which were obtained by him at Lake Chetek, Barron County, Wisconsin; at St. Paul, Minnesota, and at Ontonagon, Michigan.

The conclusion, probably correct, in regard to these implements is that they were employed, like the stone and modern iron implements which they resemble, in stripping bark from trees and for similar purposes.

Gouges. (See Figs. 582, 585.)

These implements are closely allied to the chisels, from which they are distinguished by the presence on their lower surface of a concavity sometimes reaching quite to the middle. They are well adapted for working out rounded or oval holes or hollows, and in Wisconsin are generally considered to have been wood-working tools. Elsewhere they were probably also employed like the more common stone gouges in quarrying and working steatite, catlinite, and similar deposits useful to the aborigines. Such implements are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, Field Museum, and one or two other collections.

Several specimens known to the author approach seven inches in length.

Professor Perkins mentions copper gouges as being rare in New England, where stone gouges are a common and characteristic implement. Neither stone nor metal gouges are of frequent occurrence in Wisconsin.

These implements have also been called spuds, winged chisels, and hoes. Of these the term “spud,” though unsatisfactory, appears to be that in most general use at the present time. This name, as has already been shown, is likewise applied to a rather numerous class of stone implements of quite different pattern and use. Several theories as to the possible function of these implements have been advanced. It has been suggested that they were ice-cutting tools, or agricultural implements.

An examination of a large series of them suggests the correctness of the now prevailing opinion that they were employed in shaping wooden canoes and executing tasks of a like nature. Properly hafted, their general adaptability to such service is plain.

A somewhat similar tool is also employed by modern woodworkers.

1. There are at least two well-marked types of these implements. The first of these is generally nearly square, less frequently oblong in outline. The flanges of the implement are turned inward to form a socket, at the base of which is a hip or shoulder, against which the tip of the wooden handle abuts. The blade is elevated above the socket and is provided with a straight or slightly curved cutting edge. The back of the implement, opposite the socket, is flat or transversely convex, and slopes or curves downward to the cutting edge. This is certainly the most common type, and has been obtained in many parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Examples have also been collected in Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa. The average specimen appears to be about three inches in length by two and a half inches in width. The smallest known is only one and a fourth inches and the largest six and a fourth inches in length. Fine series of these implements are to be seen in the Logan Museum, Field Museum, State Historical Museum, Milwaukee Museum, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections. In weight adzes of this type vary from a few ounces to one and a half or more pounds. (Fig. 581.)

2. A second type differs from the preceding mainly in the fact that the extremity of the socket is angular in outline and that the flanges are bent straight upward or inward, instead of curved. The hip at the base of the socket is also often absent. The back is generally flat or transversely rounded, and in some specimens traversed from the top to the cutting edge by a pronounced median ridge. A specimen in the Milwaukee Public Museum has the middle of its back ornamented with a double row of zigzag incisions. Its blade is also ornamented. (Fig. 583.)

These implements are as a class larger than the foregoing. Of a dozen or more examples which the writer has examined in the Hamilton and other local cabinets, none are below five inches in length and two and a fourth inches in breadth, the largest known being six inches in length and three inches in breadth. The weight of these specimens ranges from twelve ounces to nearly two pounds.

There are also a small number of peculiar forms, each represented by a single example. These vary in the length and breadth of the flanges and the shape of the blade. When a sufficient number of these shall have been recovered, it may be advisable to expand the present classification to include them. Many of the implements included in the adze class are admirable for their symmetry and perfection. A specimen secured in the Lake Superior region has a portion of the wooden handle still fitted in the socket.

Spatulas

Of the copper implements known as spatulas only a small number of examples have as yet been recovered in Wisconsin. The blade of these artifacts is usually broad and thin and irregularly rounded or somewhat triangular in outline. The handle is short, seldom more than three eighths of an inch in thickness, and nearly square or somewhat rectangular in section. Specimens are to be seen in the State Historical Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, and other local collections. They range from four to nearly six inches in length.

The Reverend W. H. Beauchamp has described and figured both an iron and a copper implement of this class from New York. The possible employment of these implements in the shaping of aboriginal earthenware, the removing of the flesh from skins and bones, and of the scales from fish, has been suggested. They are but poorly adapted for use as spoons.

The small number of specimens on hand at present makes it undesirable to venture an opinion of their utility.

Knives. (Figs. 597, 598.)

In point of numbers these easily rank second to the numerous class of socketed spear-points. They have been recovered in considerable numbers in many parts of the state. At least four distinct types and some intermediate and peculiar forms are recognized. The close resemblance of some of these to the white man’s knife has frequently been remarked upon.

1. The most frequent form has a usually straight back and oblique curved or straight cutting edge. It is provided with a generally short, tapering, pointed tang, suitable for insertion into a wooden, bone, or horn handle. Such knives, ranging in size from diminutive specimens one inch in length up to twelve inches, are not uncommon in local collections. (Left specimen, Fig. 597.)

An exceptionally large and fine example in the Oshkosh Library collection measures seventeen and a half inches in length and weighs eleven ounces. The blade is one and a half inches in breadth at its base, and the tang is six inches in length. A few have the cutting edge of the blade beveled. In the R. Kuehne collection is a small hammered native silver knife of this type which was obtained from the vicinity of Sheboygan. A small number of these knives have their blades ornamented with incisions and indentations. Specimens of these are to be seen in the H. George Schuette, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections.

2. A second type is distinguished from the preceding by the greater breadth of its broad curved blade, which terminates in a broadly rounded point. In this style of knife the blade on one or both sides is frequently traversed from point to tang by a pronounced median ridge. The broad, flat tang also terminates in a blunt point. Such implements are to be seen in the Field Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, State Historical Museum, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections. These vary in size from six to twelve and three fourths inches in length and from one and a fourth to two and an eighth inches in the extreme breadth of the blade. (One in Fig. 568.)

3. A third type, locally known as the “handled copper knife,” differs from the preceding styles mainly in having the tang so uniformly broad as to obviate the necessity of a wooden or other handle. Only a small number of these are in collections. A fine specimen is seven inches in length. The handle is two and a half inches in length, and of a nearly uniform breadth of three fourths of an inch. It comes from Pardeeville, Columbia County, and is in the Logan Museum at Beloit. A knife in the J. T. Reeder collection, at Houghton, Michigan, has a broad copper ferule still encircling its tang. The tip of the tang is bent over, meeting the ferule. (Fig. 581, left specimen, near centre.)

4. Socketed knives. These resemble the knives of the type first described in the shape of their blades. They are provided with a socket similar to those of the socketed spears. A small number of these have been found and are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, H. George Schuette, and other Wisconsin collections. They range from two to nine inches in size.

In these knives the cutting edge is usually along the right, rarely along the left side of the blade. A specimen in a Milwaukee collection has its blade ornamented with indentations. A small number of knives of peculiar forms are also to be seen in local cabinets. (See Fig. 597.)

Arrow- and Spear-Points

1. Leaf-shaped points. (Fig. 598, upper right-hand specimen.) These vary considerably in form and size, measuring from two to six or more inches in length. The average size appears to be about four inches. Some are oval in outline, others elliptical, lanceolate, or almond-shaped, the elliptical forms appearing to predominate. The points are not numerous. One or more specimens are to be seen in all of the larger Wisconsin collections.

A small number of lanceolate forms in the Hamilton collection have the added feature of a median ridge which traverses either side of the blade from end to end. These range from two and three fourths to nine inches in length.

2. Stemmed, flat points. (Fig. 603—to the right. Fig. 598—lower central specimen.) These are of quite common occurrence in Wisconsin collections. These points are generally quite flat and of nearly uniform thickness throughout. The stem is of uniform breadth or tapers slightly toward its extremity. In the former form it sometimes expands at the base. The base is sometimes indented. In the Field Museum there is a fine specimen of this variety from Montello, Marquette County. It is nearly seven inches in length.

The blade varies considerably in shape and size. The smallest example known is one and three fourths and the largest about eight inches in length. The average size appears to be about three inches. A very small number have the face of the blade ornamented with indentations, usually arranged in two parallel rows.

2 a. Ridged points. (Fig. 595.) These and several of the succeeding forms are, strictly speaking, only well-established varieties of the preceding type. In the present instance they are distinguished by the presence of a median ridge which traverses both faces of the point, usually from tip to tip. This is not a frequent form. The largest specimen now known measures six inches in length. It is in the H. P. Hamilton cabinet and was found at Two Rivers. Professor T. H. Lewis obtained a specimen from a mound in Pepin County. Other specimens are in the Field Museum and Milwaukee Public Museum and several private collections.