The Story of Cooperstown | Page 5

hunters and fishermen. But points indicate only

camp sites.
On the whole, by reason of the notable absence at this time of stone
relics indicating permanent residence, it seems possible that the
statement concerning their original abundance was exaggerated, and
there is no good reason for supposing, on the strength of this statement
alone, that there was a prehistoric village on the site of Cooperstown.
Perhaps in early times, during the contests with Southern Indians, the
place lay too much in the way of war parties. But the apple trees,
concerning which there is no doubt, would indicate rather conclusively
an occupation by Indians within the historic period, which, as in the
case of many another of the later villages, might have left small
trace.[6]
In 1895 two young men of Cooperstown who afterward adopted
callings in other fields of science, Benjamin White, Ph.D., and Dr.
James Ferguson, conducted amateur archeological expeditions which
resulted in the discovery of a regular camp site formerly used by the
Indians. This lies within the present village of Cooperstown, on a level
stretch along the west bank of the Susquehanna, in what used to be
called the Hinman lot, but now belongs to Fernleigh, a few rods south
of Fernleigh House. It includes an even floor of low land not far above
the level of the river, containing a spring on its margin, and forming a
plot perhaps two hundred yards in length and half as much in breadth.
The ground begins thence to rise rather steeply toward the north and
west, sheltering from wind and storm the glen below, while affording
points of observation, looking up and down the stream.
The young explorers went carefully over the surface of this ground,
digging to a considerable depth in some parts, and using an ash-sifter
for a thorough examination of the debris. "We found spearheads, game
and war points in large numbers," says Dr. White, "as well as drills,
punches or awls, scrapers, knives, hammer-stones, and sinkers. Deer
horn, bones, and thick strata of ashes were found, the latter in one place
only. Whether or no this was the site of an Indian village, I cannot say.
Altogether it must have yielded six or eight hundred implements of
various sorts. Fernleigh-Over, Riverbrink, and Lakelands yielded

arrow-heads and sinkers, but no other implements. The present site of
the Country Club was a profitable field for arrow-heads."
Dr. Ferguson, referring to the same spot, writes, "I have long had an
idea that there had been a small Indian village located in what we knew
as Hinman's lot. After the land was ploughed we found many
arrow-heads, awls of bone and flint, and fragments of pottery. There
were several areas where fires had been located, the soil being well
baked, with mingled charcoal and burned bones. There were also about
the fire sites fragments of deer horn, bears' teeth, and much broken
pottery. Spear heads were rather few, sinkers and hammer-stones more
numerous. I never found any perfect axes, but did find fragments."
The great number of imperfect arrow-heads and flint chips found here,
as well as on the flat northeast of Iroquois Farm house, and on the low
land between the O-te-sa-ga and the Country Club house, shows the
frequent occupation of these places as Indian camps.
[Illustration: THE OTSEGO IROQUOIS PIPE
(Seven-tenths actual size)]
In 1916 David R. Dorn conducted a more intensive examination of the
plot explored by Dr. White and Dr. Ferguson. His investigation
revealed a site that showed two distinct layers of Indian relics, the
lower and more ancient being of Algonquin type, while the signs of
later occupancy were Iroquois. At about eighteen inches beneath the
surface was found the complete skeleton of an Iroquois Indian. With
the skeleton was unearthed a pipe, of Iroquois manufacture, which
Arthur C. Parker, the State archeologist, declared to be one of the most
perfect specimens known.
Taking all the evidence together, it may be asserted that the present site
of Cooperstown was from ancient times the resort of Indian hunters and
fishermen, and at a later period, more than a generation before its
settlement by white men, as indicated by the size of the apple trees
which they found, included a settled Indian village.

On Morgan's map of Iroquois territory as it existed in 1720, he shows a
village at the foot of Otsego Lake to which he gives the Indian name
Ote-sa-ga.[7] Our present form, Otsego, is a variant of the same
original. Morgan wrote the word in three syllables, adding the letter "e"
after the "t" merely to make sure that the "o" should be pronounced
long. It seems certain that Morgan never pronounced the word as
"O-te-sa-ga." This form of the name, however, when the third syllable
carries the accent and a broad "a," is