Ohio History Journal

THE INDIAN'S HEAD

 

HENRY BANNON

The white man, when he first crossed the Allegheny

Mountains and entered the Ohio Valley, found many

crude drawings of the figures of men and beasts on the

rocks, along the Guyandotte and Ohio rivers. Of course

it is not positively known whether these pictures were

the work of Indians or of some tribes that preceded the

Indians. On the Kentucky shore, about opposite the

foot of Bond Street, Portsmouth, Ohio, there still stands

one of these inscribed rocks, known as the "Indian's

head." A hundred years ago, this rock, and the Indian

head cut in it, could be seen when the river was low.

But, owing to changes in the channel of the river, the

rock is now visible only when the river is exceedingly

low. And the face, carved on the rock, is beneath the

water, even at its lowest stages. On September 9, 1894,

the Ohio River was so low that about two feet of the

rock was above the surface of the water; and the Indian

head was about ten inches below the surface of the

water. The head could be easily traced with the hand;

and, in the morning, when the rising sun shone fairly on

the water, above the sculpture, the Indian head was

plainly visible, beneath the waters. Doubt has been ex-

pressed as to this figure's being the work of ancient

tribes. There is a tradition that stone was quarried

from the hill above it, during pioneer days, and that a

quarryman carved the Indian face. Squier and Davis

in "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley"

(1847) thus described it:

"It consists of a colossal human head cut in outline, upon the

vertical face of a large rock extending into the river. It is al-

ways under water, except when the river is at its very lowest

stages, and is not exposed oftener than once in four or five years.

(71)

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72       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. It is familiarly known as the 'Indian's head,' and is regarded as a sort of river gauge or meter. When the water line is at the top of the head, the river is considered very low." In those days there was the familiar frontier ten- dency to magnify the proportions of natural objects which tendency is now observed only by fishermen. Hence, Squier and Davis's description of the Indian head as "colossal". Neither saw it so they adopted as

a fact the impression of some one possessing a rather elastic imagination. The rock, upon which the "Indian's head" is cut, was exposed during a period of low water in October, 1920. A short time prior to that low water stage some wickets of a dam in the Ohio river, a few miles west of Ports- mouth, were broken by a steamer; otherwise water would have remained over the rock, because the dam when in repair creates a deep pool extending some dis- tance beyond the location of the rock. As no picture or accurate description of the Indian's head was in ex-

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The Indian's Head.            73 istence, my brother, Arthur H. Bannon, determined to secure a photograph of it, if possible. On October 22, 1920, the top of the sculpture was about six inches be- neath the surface of the river so a plan to bring it into view for a photograph had to be devised. This was ac- complished by running a motor boat past the rock at very fast speed. As the boat drew the water away from the rock, a photograph was obtained of the sculpture.

The difficulties in the way of a clear photograph were many, for the photographer was obliged to stand in the water and take the picture instantaneously, when the wave was at its lowest ebb, and while water was still running down the side of the rock. The work had to be done in the morning, while the sun was back of the camera, and at an hour when the atmosphere was still a little hazy and the light not good. The wickets had just been repaired and the river was slowly rising, so it

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74      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

was then or never. Had there been sufficient time to do

so, a cofferdam would have been built around the rock

that it might be thoroughly examined. After several at-

tempts to take a photograph of the sculpture, one was

successful and we now have an exact reproduction of

the image that has for many years been a mystery. The

initials E. D. C., never noticed before, were discovered

at the right and near the bottom of the sculpture, as one

faces it, and a date, the month of which (September)

only could be made out. The initials were neatly carved,

evidently by one quite adept in stone carving. Such was

the only time, within the memory of any living man,

that the Indian's head has been seen, except when cov-

ered with water. In all probability neither the Indian's

head, nor the rock upon which it is cut, will ever be seen

again, as it is hardly within the realms of chance that the

dam will be broken at such an opportune time.

Unquestionably the Indians head was not the work

of a quarryman. It bears strong resemblance to other

Indian carvings and impresses the mind with the fact

that it is thoroughly Indian in its execution. The out-

line is cut in the southeast corner of the rock and faces

east.

There is another rock, about one hundred yards

upstream from the Indian rock, upon which some one in

recent years carved an Indian profile with feathered

head-dress, but this one is not the genuine Indian head,

though frequently taken for it.

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