Puget Sound Knappers

SPALLS May 2001

Joan Urata, Richard Urata, Joe Higgins, and Dave Rauschenberg are producing this issue of SPALLS. Please contact Richard Urata for questions, comments, and future additions to SPALLS.

SPALLS Distribution

Many of the PSK members with only snail-mail address are not receiving SPALLS. For you members that are receiving SPALLS via e-mail, please notify these snail-mail members to send a payment of $10.00 for 2001 to Dave Rauschenberg at 38010 272^nd Ave. S.E., Enumclaw, WA 98022.

THE POLICY IS: If you send your e-mail address to Richard Urata at HYPERLINK mailto:richurata@cybernet1.com richurata@cybernet1.com there is no charge for SPALLS. If you do not have an e-mail address and want SPALLS by snail-mail, you must send $10.00 to cover the cost of printing and postage.

If you have an e-mail address and did not receive SPALLS in May, e-mail your address to Richard Urata. I have from 5 to 10 “not deliverable” messages at this time. I need some updates!

EVENTS:

Wrightwood Knap-In, Wrightwood, California, June 2 & 3

(Not a PKS Event)

Contact: Alton (760) 249-5045. The Wrightwood Knap-In is held at the Indian Springs Ranch, a few miles from Wrightwood. The Ranch is run by Robbin & Terry Cornett. It is an open area and will handle camping from tents to RVs. Take the 138 turnoff from I-15 and go west on 138 for 1.3 miles. Then turn left on Lone Pine Canyon Road and go 3.6 miles to the Indian Springs Ranch. Look for tepees on the left of the road. Water and shower facilities available.

Davis Creek, California, Electric Blue Knap-In, June 16 &17

Davis Creek has a beautiful campground with 100-foot pines that produce about 70% shade throughout the campground. A creek runs along the side of the campground. Collect Rainbows, Electric Blues, Needles, and Pink Lady obsidian. Davis Creek is located in Northeastern California on the east side of highway 395 approximately 20 miles north of the town of Alturus, California, and approximately 20 miles south of the Oregon border. All permits and maps will be provided by Richard Urata when you get there. Camping is free.

Knappers from the Northern states should plan you go through Lakeview, Oregon, and stop at the "Indian Village Restaurant". The food is good and plentiful for the price. They have the restaurant walls all decorated with arrowheads (thousands) and indian outfits. It is worth going there if a person is interested in artifact arrowheads. I think the restaurant is on 1st or 2nd street. When going north, turn right on one of the streets. The restaurant is on a corner just a couple of streets off 395. If you cannot find it, ask any local. It is a well-known restaurant there. Also stop at the Safeway store and get your supplies. That is the largest store before Davis Creek. Also gas up at Lakeview.

Go south on 395 approximately 20 miles from the Oregon border. Davis Creek is on the east-side of the highway. Stop by at the “Davis Creek Mercantile” and get familiar with the supplies and services that the store provides. The owners cater to “rock hounds” and “knappers”. You can obtain maps of the obsidian locations and permits – free. Services available are gasoline, diesel, ice, food, public phone and even a small restaurant. Many of the “single-type” knappers go to the store for breakfast. The store is a few miles from the campground, a 10 to 15 minutes drive. Last year they had a Friday BBQ for about $8.00. The BBQ included beef ribs, pork ribs, and/or chicken. The access road to the Plum Valley Campground is approximately 100 yards north of the store. Turn east towards the mountain and follow the signs. The campground is hidden from view by the pine trees. These trees produce about 70 percent shade throughout the day. There is a creek that runs along the border of the campground. There are two outhouses that are well taken care of by the forestry department. The admission is free, and camping is free. There will be a pot luck on Saturday night (breaking with tradition) and the hosts will provide a main dish of spaghetti and participants can bring side dishes of rolls, salads or deserts.

Knappers from Southern and Central California should go north on either highway 5 or 101 to highway 299. Then go east on 299 to 395 in the town of Alturus. Alturus is the last “big town” you will go through. Then go north to Davis Creek. Davis Creek is a one building town store with some gas pumps in front of it on the east side of 395. For more information, call Richard Urata at (406) 363-7256, or e-mail: HYPERLINK mailto:richurata@cybernet1.com richurata@cybernet1.com before May 19^th.

Glass Buttes, Oregon, PSK Gathering, June 23 & 24

Collect Midnight Lace, Mahogany, Rainbows, Pumpkin, Gold Sheen and Silver Sheen. From highway 97, go east on highway 20 out of Bend, Oregon.

Westbound: From highway 395, go west out of Riley, Oregon on highway 20 to milepost 77. The mileposts are on the left side (south side) of the highway. About 50 yards west of the milepost turn south onto a gravel road.

Eastbound: From Bend, Oregon, go east on highway 20 to milepost 77 and turn south onto gravel road. The road is 50 yards before the mile post sign.

Once on the gravel road, go about 1.5 to 2 miles and you will make a gentle right turn and start going down a hill. Look to the left at the bottom of the hill and the PSK group, camp 1, will be along the dry creek bed. If you have anything larger than a tent, go to PSK group, camp 2. To get to camp 2, continue on the main gravel road until you reach a pond. At the ‘Y’ stay on the left road and go another 400 yards until you see a lone juniper tree. Camp 2 is in this wide area. For more information, call Joe Greenwell at (206) 932-6137 or (206) 237-1134.

Glass Buttes, Oregon, July 4^th Gathering, July 4 through 11

Lee Olson and Don Stewart are going to travel on the fourth to Glass Buttes and stay the following week. They will be camped at Porcupine Camp, where Nine Fingers stays, and where Craig Ratzat has his classes, at the {Y} of the road to the summit of Big Glass Butte. For more information contact Lee Olson at HYPERLINK mailto:leeolson@imajis.com leeolson@imajis.com or Don Stewart at HYPERLINK mailto:scstewart@qwksilvr.com scstewart@qwksilvr.com .

Upper Missouri River Knap-In, Canyon Ferry, Montana, July 7 & 8

(Not a PSK Event)

Contact: Gil and Marilyn Alexander of Montana Science Institute: e-mail: HYPERLINK mailto:msi@mt-science.org msi@mt-science.org -Phone (406) 475-3638. Canyon Ferry is approximately 23 miles east of Helena, Montana. From I-90 take the 175 exit to highway 12 east. Go through Helena, cross I-15, and go through East Helena. About 9 miles east of East Helena, turn left (has blinking light on highway 12) onto highway 284. While on 284, you will cross the Canyon Ferry Dam and about 1 mile after the dam, look to your right and you will see a small subdivision of houses (about 10). Turn right onto the subdivision road. Find a parking space and then go to the office, about the 4^th building down and to the right.

Participants may choose to arrive as early as Friday afternoon. No fee is being charged since this knap-in has not yet grown to attract large numbers of people. Camping is available either on our campus for $10 per RV or tent or at nearby campgrounds at their regular fee on the lake. MSI will furnish some picnic tables, a shelter and Coleman stoves for those who wish to do their own cooking, but don’t have campers equipped for meal preparation. Also, two nearby restaurant/bars offer good food.

Donations to cover the cost of snacks provided by MSI are appreciated. A potluck dinner will be held on Saturday evening for all that want to participate. Gil and Marilyn Alexander will provide barbecued brisket and knap-in participants can pitch in to provide the other parts of the shared meal.

Cle Elum, Washington, Knap-In, July 28 & 29

Knap-in is at Stuart & Rose Murdock’s 3-acre residence. Lots of room for camping. Stu found a secret dig close by his residence, ask him about it, maybe he will tell you about it. Stu and Rose always have a fantastic meal on Saturday night. Bring a side dish if you plan to participate. To get to Stu’s place take I-90:

Eastbound: I-90 take exit 74, “Nelson Siding Road” and go east (parallels the south side of the freeway) for 4 miles to Secret Valley Road. Turn left (going towards the freeway) and keep to the left whenever the road forks. Secret Valley road will dead end at Stu’s place.

Westbound: I-90 take exit 78, “Golf Course Road”, pass the railroad tracks and turn right on “Nelson Siding Road”. Go west for ½ miles to “Secret Valley Road”. Turn right and keep to the left whenever the road forks. Secret Valley road will dead end at Stu’s place. For more information call Stuart Murdock at (509) 674-1975 or E-Mail at: HYPERLINK mailto:murdock@inlandnet.com murdock@inlandnet.com

Enum Claw, Washington, Flint Tipped Archers/PSK Pig Roast & Knap-In, August 10- thru 12

Having fun, pigging out, knapping, and friendly archery competition is what this get together of two groups is all about. Another activity has been added to our knap-in this year. Members of “The Traditional Bowhunters of Washington” are going to join us for a weekend seminar on bow building and arrow making. Several self bow builders will be there to help guide us in the right direction in our own endeavors to make our own bow, and how to put together a good arrow. This activity has been put together and added to our weekend because of the demand for this kind of activity and know-how. Dave thought that this would fit in real well with us. You all might appreciate the chance to get some hands on with some folks that have been doing this for some time.

We will we have flint knapping, pig roast “pot luck”, novelty shoots, vendors and our own bow building. Bring anything to add to the pot luck table. Stores and restaurants are close by, within five minutes. There is plenty of room at the Flint Tip Range, camping space for trailers and tents, water and a kitchen. There are restroom facilities but there are no showers. Oh well, guess we can put up with a little natural aroma, we survived Glass Buttes and Davis Creek okay. The Flint Tip range has a 14 target course, and is only about a 1/2 mile from town.

The weekend will be open to the public. There will be a $10.00 charge plus a side dish for the pig roast pot luck dinner for non members. (Flint tip & PSK are members).

To get to the range, go through Enumclaw, Washington on highway 410 toward the mountains. Just out of town, maybe a half mile you'll see their sign on the left side of the road. I think Dave intends to add some knapping signs to the existing sign. Expect: Archery shooting, bow making, knapping, arrow making, information sharing, story swapping, eating, etc. For more information, call Dave Rauschenberg at (360) 825-3117 or email: HYPERLINK mailto:davraus1@aol.com davraus1@aol.com .

Medicine Creek, Washington, Knap-In, September 1 thru 3

The location has changed due to a couple of years of bad weather. The knap-in will be held at Ken and Adelle Calvert’s place, at Moses Lake, Washington. Plenty of room for camping. Ken’s property is a lake front property. They say that the lake has all kinds of fish. Dave Rauschenberg could tell you a fish story or two. For more information, call Ken at (509) 762-2454.

Turkey Feast Knap-In, Millersylvania, Washington, November 3 & 4

Holly and Mike Hill, the hosts, always have on a fantastic turkey dinner at this knap-in.

Get ready for Thanksgiving by attending the November 7, Millersylvania Knap-In south of Olympia, WA. Last year Holly Hill arranged a pre Thanksgiving pot-luck feast; I think Holly provided most of the feast. Millersylvania is a Washington State Park and we can knap in a picnic shelter complete with fireplace and a kitchen. Call Mick and Holly for more directions: (360) 357-9506 or (360) 493-8439 or e-mail at: HYPERLINK mailto:mickhill@home.com mickhill@home.com or HYPERLINK mailto:hollyhill@home.com hollyhill@home.com . Please let them know if you are going.

REPORTS:

Quartzsite Knap-In 2001, Quartzsite, Arizona

It was a beautiful 65 degree day when we arrived at Quartzsite. Sixty-five was “A-Okay” as compared to Hamilton’s temperature of 30 degrees during the days. My friends in Hamilton said that the low temperatures were so consistent that the few inches of snow that we left in mid-November was on the ground when we returned 3-months later.

As soon as we unloaded and did our necessary trailer hook-ups, we went to the knap-in. Jerry (9-fingers) Calvert was there relaxing in his bus while Mary went to the dance at the Quartzsite Improvement Association building. There are community dances going on four nights a week somewhere in Quartzsite.

Unlike other knap-ins where the events are concentrated into 2 or 3 days, the Quartzsite knap-in goes for two months. Therefore the daily attendance is about 5 to 15 knappers, with different knappers coming and going throughout the two months. There is a core of 5 knappers that are there for the whole two months. With such a daily small group, knappers tend to be more involved with each other with lots of one-to-one instruction sessions.

Knappers came from Texas, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and New Mexico while I was there. Since there were less than 15, we usually got together for dinner, about 5 times a week. One person usually cooks the main dish while others bring salads and desserts. We then sat around the fireplace and “solved the world crises”, then did some night knapping before retiring for the night.

There were bulk rocks available from vendors at Quartzsite -- Mookite from Australia, Imperial Jasper and Rainbow Obsidian from Mexico, Brazilian Agate nodules and slabs from Brazil, Flint and Alibates from Texas, and Sunset Jasper, Pokadot Agate, and Obsidian from Oregon. Materials brought by knappers include -- Agate, Fossilized Coral, Fossilized Wood, chert and Jasper from Arizona, and Jasper, Flint and Obsidian from California.

Leroy Jines brought a bunch of flint, chert, alibate, Georgia dump stone and novaculite bifaces for sale. This was the best deal in town! I ran out of money purchasing the bifaces.

Howard Ruhland brought a primo red jasper boulder that was about 2 ½ feet long and about 2 feet in diameter. It was a site to see.

There was an over abundance of knapping material available and the knappers tried but didn’t succeed in knapping all of them. Some of our PSK people who will remain nameless tried to take it all home without success……. Many points were made and sold, traded, or given to someone that was an interested beginning knapper.

Everyone had fun and some close knapping relationships were created. We left after a months’ stay and headed home to the 30-degree weather in Montana.

By Richard Urata

Winter Break, Knap-In, February 11

Sunday 7 AM found me heading south on I-5 towards the Washington State Extension complex and the 1st knap-in of 2001. It was cold, icy, beautifully clear. Cabin fever had left me a mere shadow of myself, which was considerable. Upon arriving I saw Dave Pehling setting up the doughnuts and coffee table. Stu Murdock was looking at the sun to determine a warm spot to sit. Dave Rauschenberg was walking around and around and around. Jim Miller had grown a mustache so I thought he was Craig Ratzat. Holly & Mick Hill were hugging everyone as is their custom. Tom and El Hill came in a little later along with Mick Brown and his fantastic carvings. Jim Smith, he's always there, Greg Gonsalves, Ralph Denton from Bellingham, Joe Greenwell & friend, the core of the PSK old timers was present for a great day of camaraderie & knapping.

Large displays of knapped points both current and ancient were displayed. The many new members were on the receiving end of an enormous amount of talent, show and tell and time shortening advice from those who have been there and done that. In my opinion the ability to teach attentive learners, share information and materials and renew old friendships after a long winter makes this one of the best knap-ins of the year.

Well the sun was finally setting-it was time to say "Adios My Friends" but the time for another year had been wonderfully set. After ten years of meeting in Everett we have had only one really ugly day ---- The Almighty surely must smile on us. P.P. All you new guys, I'll have your names down by the next meeting----------Till next time.

By Joe Higgins

Fort Knapadonia, March 17 & 18

The early morning hours saw the arrival of pilgrims, mountainmen, indians, camp followers, and yes knappers to celebrate the opening of Fort Knapadonia (a converted two car garage belonging to Joe Higgins). Soon the fires were lit and the grub was being readied for potlach that was to follow. Wall to wall knappers soon rocked the Fort walls with all the camaraderie a fellow knapper could stand (believe me that is considerable). Cabin fever was banished and talk of spring and summer trips punctuated with the usual lies and fabrications made the small rendezvous all it could be. Hamburgers with all the trimmings, copious amounts of coffee, steak and chicken dinners marked the various times of the day.

Since it was a kind of potlach there was a plaque ceremony (all people were checked for periodontal disease and then awarded accordingly----just kidding). Some of the awards: Stu Murdock - the Big Leprechaun Award, Mick Brown - the BS Award (best story), Jim Miller - The Doug Flutie Award, Mick Hill - Rock Destruction Award, Etc. The speeches given by the recipients topped the day. Greg Gonsalves won the coveted beaded necklace with Tosoee point. Jim Miller won the world famous Square Arrow Award actually made by the last remaining Square Shooter Indian.

After the awards the group participated in a singalong with the famous Warm Spring Indian Group with such famous songs and "Oh My Gosh Its Mighty Mouse". No Fort has ever endured such music with such success! Since it was a Fort in every sense of the word, the sentries were posted, stock fed and hobbled and the occupants within bedded down after warning each other about loud snoring, passing gas etc. Crowing roosters awakened the remaining knappers (those who survived the night) to fresh coffee, eggs and hot burned rolls fresh from the oven. At about 5 PM the last of the knappers left (Stu Murdock) after being forced to watch the Last of the Dogman. I think he stole a lot of knapping material for his pickup listed badly as he rounded the corner towards the highway and Snoqualomie Pass. Just Kidding.

Hope All had a good time, let's do it again in the summer when its warm and the sun is out.

Thanks for the Debitage

Fort Knapadonia by Joe Higgins

Wenatchee Knap-In April 5, 6, and 7, 2001

We arrived at Hurst’s Landing about mid-afternoon on Friday. Several knappers were already there. Cole and his gal friend Starla were welcoming the participants. Jim “the machine” Miller was busy producing points while the others were telling stories. At my last count on noon Sunday, Jim finished 11 points – the most points made by any knapper during the knap-in.

The weather varied from 50 degrees and cloudy to 65 degrees and sunny throughout the knap-in. NO RAIN! About 40 knappers enjoyed the weekend. Knappers were camping in the back of pickup trucks, in tents, RV trailers and RV Cruisers. Restaurants were readily available 2 to 5 miles away.

There were plenty of materials to knap. Several people brought obsidian, for everyone to use at the knap-in. There were also jasper and agate for knappers to take home. Trades were completed with beaver and otter pelts, osage staves, arrows, rocks, etc. Heat-treated Brazilian agate slabs, moose billets, and bifaces made of Eastern U.S. (Arkansas, Georgia, Texas) materials were available for purchase. The “Flintkanpping 2001” calendar was also available for purchase. Martin Schempp of Euphrata, Washington, represented August of this year. Cole Hurst will be representing a month on the “Flintknapping 2002” calendar.

Knappers were making points from 1-inch art points to 16-inch obsidian bifaces. Points were made out of jasper, agate, dacite, obsidian, Texas flint, novaculite, Georgia dump rock, etc. Many super points were made, traded, and sold.

There were many show-and-tell items to look at -- Cole Hurst had several 12-inch and longer ceremonial obsidian blades; Web Hammond had his knives with fossil bone handles; Richard Queen had his super high quality presssure flakers; Ken Kurfurst had his frames of super fine detailed arrowheads.

Information and instructions for less experienced, eager to learn knappers were readily available. Instructions of other primitive skills such as drum making, basket weaving, cordage, arrow making, and spinning wool were also available. Joanie, Webb Hammond’s friend, taught interested people how to make a bark basket while she finished one basket, how to prepare cedar roots for another basket, and how to make 15 and 17-inch rawhide drums while she made three drums. Webb Hammond and Stu Murdock taught interested people on making cordage with different types of materials such as yucca and dogbane. Web made dogbane cordage for a bow string. “Arrowman”, Ron Corell taught the fine points of arrowmaking. Betty Roberts and her friend demonstrated spinning of wool to make thread.

On top of all the good knapping, displays, demonstrations, instructions, and trades, food was plentiful. A pot luck feast was held on Saturday night centering around some super good sea chowder. There were also the “normal” type food such as moose stew, smoked salmon, blueberry cobblers, and the “not so normal” type Web Hammond food such as balut (chicken embryo in the shell), bugs, and meal worms.

Oysters were eaten by the fire Friday and Saturday nights. Bettye, Joe Greenwell’s friend found a pearl in one of the oysters. Music was played around the fire by Webb (on flute), Joanie (on drums), Tom Hurst and Joe Greenwell (on crystal singing bowls) – that was a great combination!! Clams and Steaks were eaten all day Sunday.

The Ole’ saying “Time goes by fast when you’re having fun” sure applied to this knap-in. Before we knew it, two and a half days of knapping had passed. We thank you Cole for putting on such a good knap-in. I’ll be waiting for next year’s Wenatchee Knap-In.

By Richard Urata

Need Inputs from the PSK Members

This is your newsletter. We need some feedback and information to add to this newsletter. Send inputs to: HYPERLINK mailto:richurata@cybernet1.com richurata@cybernet1.com , or snail-mail to Rich Urata, P.O. Box 1089, Hamilton, Montana 59840.

Maybe of Interest:

There is a flint forum where knappers can participate by posting and reading messages and/or going into the chatroom. It may be of interest as knapping information is passed back and forth via messages. It is called TARP – you know, the thing you put on the ground to collect the debitage. HYPERLINK http://www.egroups.com/group/thetarp http://www.egroups.com/group/thetarp . Dave Rauschenberg also knows of another Egroup called flintknappersdigest, HYPERLINK "http://www.egroups.com/messages/flintknappingdigest"www.egroups.com/messages/flintknappingdigest /1.

Agates for Sale

Stu Murdock has 600 pounds of Brazilian Agates for sale at HIS COST. He bought a 55-gallon drum full of this great stuff. The nodules are 5 to 7 inches in diameter. They are uncut and these have to be heat treated. Before heat treating, ask someone that has experienced in heat treating this material. The agates are $2.75 per pound – good price!

SPALLS - Rich Urata

SPALLS August 2001

Richard Urata, Joan Urata, Dave Rauschenberg, Joe Greenwell and Mick Hill are producing this issue of SPALLS. Please contact Richard Urata for questions, comments, and future additions to SPALLS.

SPALLS Distribution

If you have an e-mail address and did not receive SPALLS in May, e-mail your address to Richard Urata. I have from 5 to 10 “not deliverable” messages at this time. I need some updates!

EVENTS:

Enumclaw, Washington, Flint Tipped Archers/PSK Pig Roast & Knap-In, August 17 through 19 (PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE FROM THE SECOND WEEKEND TO THE THIRD WEEKEND OF AUGUST) Previous date was in error!

We will we have flint knapping, pig roast “pot luck”, novelty shoots, vendors and our own bow building. Bring anything to add to the potluck table. Stores and restaurants are close by, within five minutes. There is plenty of room at the Flint Tip Range, camping space for trailers and tents, water and a kitchen. There are restroom facilities but there are no showers. Oh well, guess we can put up with a little natural aroma, we survived Glass Buttes and Davis Creek okay. The Flint Tip range has a 14 target course, and is only about a 1/2 mile from town.

The weekend will be open to the public. Bring products (arrowheads, points, blades, knives, arrows, bows, skins, furs, tools for making products, raw materials, related items, etc) made from primitive technology skills to sell/trade to fellow members and to sell to the public. There will be a $10.00 charge plus a side dish for the pig roast potluck dinner for non-members. (Flint tip & PSK are members). Flint Tip & PSK should bring a side dish to participate in the Potluck Pig Roast. If you came to any PSK event, you are considered PSK.

Medicine Creek, Washington, Knap-In, September 1 through 3

The location has changed due to a couple of years of bad weather. The knap-in will be held at Ken and Adell Calvert’s place, at Moses Lake, Washington. Plenty of room for camping. Ken’s property is a lake front property. They say that the lake has all kinds of fish. Dave Rauschenberg could tell you a fish story or two.

To get there, take interstate 90 off ramp 179 and go north on highway 17 toward Soap Lake. Stay on highway 17 until mile post 59. You will see a gravel pit on your left. Turn left after the gravel pit onto Mc Connilte Road. Stay on Mc Connilte Road for several miles and turn left onto “D 5” road. Go to end of the road and turn left. You will see a Knap-in sign about 100 yards down on the right of the road. Turn right onto Ken’s property.

If you miss “D 5” road stay on Mc Connilte Road (Stay on the pavement) and it will circle around and will pass Ken’s property. Look for the Knap-in sign on your right. Ken’s address is 4535 Road 6.5 N.E. For more information, call Ken at (509) 762-2454.

Wrightwood Knap-In, Wrightwood, California, October 11 through 13

(This is not a PKS Event)

Contact: Alton (760) 249-5045 or Tom Mills HYPERLINK mailto:Paleoaleo@aol.com Paleoaleo@aol.com . The Wrightwood Knap-In is held at the Indian Springs Ranch, a few miles from Wrightwood. The Ranch is run by Robbin & Terry Cornett. It is an open area and will handle camping from tents to RV’s. Take the 138 turnoff from I-15 and go west on 138 for 1.3 miles. Then turn left on Lone Pine Canyon Road and go 3.6 miles to the Indian Springs Ranch. Look for tepees on the left of the road. Water and shower facilities available. Cost of $10.00 for camping.

Turkey Feast Knap-In, Millersylvania, Washington, November 3 & 4

Holly and Mick Hill, the hosts, always have on a fantastic turkey dinner at this knap-in.

Get ready for Thanksgiving by attending the November 7, Millersylvania Knap-In south of Olympia, WA. In the past Holly Hill arranged a pre Thanksgiving pot-luck feast; I think Holly provided most of the feast. Millersylvania is a Washington State Park and we can knap in a picnic shelter complete with fireplace and a kitchen. Call Mick and Holly for more directions: (360) 357-9506 or (360) 493-8439 or e-mail at: HYPERLINK mailto:mickhill@home.com mickhill@home.com or HYPERLINK mailto:hollyhill@home.com hollyhill@home.com . Please let them know if you are going.

Quartzsite, Arizona Knap-In, January 1 through February 28

(This is not a PSK event)

This is the longest Knap-In in the United States, maybe the world. Hosted by Nine Fingers and Mary Webster. Mark these dates in your calendar. There will be more information in the next issue of SPALLS.

Winter Break, Knap-In, Seattle, Washington, February 3

A One-day Knap-In to initiate the new knapping season. Directions to go to the knap-in, exit I-5 at 128th Street SW (Everett exit #186). Turn east and go 1/4 mile (across from the Golf Range) to the Park-and-Ride and McCollum Park. Turn into the park (right) and go to the Cooperative Extension building at the back of the park. For more information e-mail Dave Pehling at HYPERLINK mailto:pehling@coopext.cahe.wsu.edu pehling@coopext.cahe.wsu.edu or call (360) 691-7902.

East Wenatchee Knap-In, Wenatchee, Washington, April 5 through 7

This knap-in is at Hurst’s Landing, a park-like setting, along the Columbia River. Cole Hurst hosts this knap-in. Last year’s knap-in was fantastic! It will be better this year! There is lots of room for camping. Water and a out-house are available. To get to Hurst’s Landing go to East Wenatchee and head east on Highway 28. The turn to Hurst’s Landing is on the right near mile post 6. If you make it to Rock Island, turn around and go back a few miles. Hotels and food are only a couple of miles away. For more information call Cole Hurst at (509) 421-7705. Cole is on the “Flintknapping 2002” calendar, for the month of May.

Goldendale Knap-In, Goldendale, Washington, May 25 through 27

This year is the first annual Goldendale Knap-In. The official knap-in is from May 25 through 27 but knappers may arrive up to a week earlier and stay up to a week later. It’s too early to tell but events are being planned for an archery range, knapping and jasper collecting.

To get there from Washington, take Interstate 90, then take off ramp 110 and go east on Interstate 82 (highway 97), then take off ramp 50 to Highway 97 south to Goldendale. To get there from Oregon, take Interstate 84, then take off ramp 104 and go north on highway 97 to Goldendale.

Once in Goldendale turn east on Bickelton Road and go east approx 4.3 miles to intersection. Turn left on Pumphouse Road and go approx. 0.5 miles then turn left on Rocky Ridge Road. Go approx. 0.37 miles to second driveway on left. Address is 40 Rocky Ridge Road. For more information call Ed Thomas at (509) 773-6461 or e-mail at: HYPERLINK mailto:feather@gorge.net feather@gorge.net .

REPORTS:

PSK Event Pictures are available on the Internet!

Joan has uploaded the Davis Creek pictures to an online picture host. You will get a separate e-mail inviting you to view them. For those that get snail mail versions of Spalls, use your friend’s computers or library computers. Here are the directions: go to HYPERLINK http://www.cartogra.com www.cartogra.com – fill in “friends account name” : joanurata (all lower case) - click on the album you wish to view (Cle Elum will be up soon also) and enter the “password” : PSK (all uppercase – no spaces) Enjoy!!!

Wrightwood Knap-In, Wrightwood, California, June 1 Through 3

One of the first videos that I saw on flint knapping was the 1988 Wrightwood Knap-In. I rented this video from the Cahokia Mounds Library. I was a beginning knapper hungry for information. This video was taken in a forest setting with large pine trees. This is what I expected. Things were sure different since they relocated the knap-in several years ago. The new location is several thousand feet lower in elevation so there were no pine trees – just sagebrush and yucca plants. The Desert!

I arrived about 8:30 am. Friday and it was already 90 degrees. Barney De Simone and Clay Graves, two Southern California knappers, already arrived and were unloading their products. Artists were arriving throughout Friday. About 20 artists were present with goods to sell and trade. This knap-in is geared for selling of products with lots of public participation. There were buckskin clothing, beads, jewelry, dream catchers, bows, arrows, atlatls, darts, and rocks for sale. Robbin & Terry Cornett furnished a great pizza dinner for all of the artists on Friday evening.

The temperature dropped to the low 70’s on Saturday and it was perfect. There were lots of “show and tell” items since everyone was specialized in a particular skill. Alton Stafford brought his bows and was kind enough to bring a replica of a Nez Perce Chief’s beautiful bow and quiver set. Tom Mills displayed about 10 different types of atlatl. Anyone could try them out. But, they were not for sale. Tom was also demonstrating the art of making darts. An atlatl tournament held on Saturday was overseen by the Atlatl Association.

There were approximately 10 knappers which included both experienced knappers like Steve Carter and Barney DeSimone, and beginning knappers like yours truly and 5 others. We had a treat when an elderly Native American book writer came to tell us Indian stories and legends while sitting by the campfire. He had written a book on these stories and legends. He entertained us for about 2 hours.

The temperature got colder on Sunday and everyone wore jackets and coats until they left. There was lots of talking, coffee drinking and very little artwork. People started packing up to try to “beat the Los Angeles traffic”. I guess a mass of people produce a large traffic jam when they return on Sundays from going to Las Vegas.

There’s another Wrightwood Knap-In on the second weekend in October!

By Richard Urata

Davis Creek Knap-In, Davis Creek, California, June 16 & 17

The Knap-In started early for some as knappers arrived up to a week early. They wanted to do some obsidian collecting before the knap-in so they could interact with fellow knappers during the "official" knap-in days. Tom and Linda Hill collected some great pieces of "Electric Blue" which they showed me when we arrived on Thursday evening. We used some of their collected pieces as samples for other knappers to see. Guess who did all the digging? Tom used the excuse that he recently had an operation on his arm's rotator cuff so he couldn't dig. No excuses needed Tom, we know that Linda's the digger from the last time she was here. There was a commercial permit digger using a back-hoe at the electric blue site. We talked to him and he said that he was using the material to make table tops.

Approximately 40 knappers arrived from ten different states. Adding in the families and visitors we totaled somewhere around 65 people. Some of them like Leroy and Ann Jines (Texas) brought some heat treated novaculite spalls, Coastal Plains material, Perdenales Flint, and heat treated stage four and five bifaces for trading and selling. Goooood stuff! Many West Coast knappers were happy to have the opportunity to physically see and touch these materials before buying and trading. All to often the mail-order materials are less than satisfactory.

Ray Alt brought some grey knappable material from Eastern Montana. Montana! All we hear about Montana is the Montana Agate! I later found out that the grey material is called porcelainite. It comes in colors from maroon through shades of grey to black. Barney DeSimone made a beautiful titanium-colored point out of one of the pieces. Maybe a knap-in could be started close to the Porcelainite source.

There were many repeat as well as new knappers to this knap-in. There were lots of instruction sessions going on throughout the days and lots of knapping under the lights until about 11:00 pm.

Many of the knappers quit their collecting early on Friday and went to the Davis Creek Mercantile BBQ. As always, Beef Ribs, Pork Ribs, Tri-Tips and Chicken were on the menu. I had the pork ribs and they were fantastic. The more hearty ordered the combination plate that contained all of the above. Many had to take “doggie bags” back to camp. The dinner consisted of your choice of meats plus BBQ beans, garlic bread and cold slaw.

When we returned to the campground, the nightly knapping session had already begun. About 95 percent of the knappers were knapping obsidian that they collected. Others were knapping the bifaces and spalls that Leroy brought. Points were made using a variety of methods from 100 percent pressure flaking to any combination of pressure and percussion to 100 percent percussion flaking. We knapped and BS’d to about 11:00 pm.

More collecting was done on Saturday and Sunday with knappers going to all four of the recommended sites.

As usual, the "Needles" site produced lots of good materials for everyone. This site produces materials of many different colors and patterns so knappers were trading pieces at the site for the particular color and pattern that they wanted. Clay Graves was looking for a particular black on red pattern so he gave away lots of pieces that he found that did not have the pattern. Bill Thomas liked the needles material so much that he went up there at least five times – just to look at the site. Bill got his fill on the second trip. He took others like Cliff Swenson to the site and helped them collect some materials.

Early in the Knap-In there was some talk that the "rainbow" pit wasn't producing like last year. I went up to check the site on Saturday and found that the pit was just as good as last year. When I arrived, Leroy Jines and Mark Bracken were digging in one trench with Ann and Sherry supervising. The trench that Leroy and Mark were digging in went through four parties that afternoon. Fred Lindauer got his fill and passed the hole to Leroy and Mark. When Leroy and Mark got their load, they passed the hole to me. I got about 70 pounds and passed the hole to Bruce Goulette and Bill Mulloy. All four groups were satisfied with the quantity they dug. David Harry and Ron Brazille were digging in an adjacent trench and they were also satisfied with the quantity they dug. On Monday, after everyone was done collecting rainbows, Leroy and I went up and got about 250 pounds in about 3 hours. That site was still producing when we quit.

Only a few knappers went to the “Pink Lady” site this year. I saw some from Tom and Linda Hill and from Howard, Beverlee and Chris Ruhland. They had great color with the pink really luminesced. Other samples contained the pink/purple with green color.

A potluck was held Saturday night with Joan and Richard furnishing the spaghetti for all that attended. Joan did all the cooking this year (with help from her friends - Thank You all!!). Did you know that Hamilton Beach Roasters are good for something besides heating rock???? Knappers brought the salads, desserts, wine (homemade and commercial) and bread. Food was abundant and leftovers were plentiful. These leftovers were eaten on Sunday evening with a new delicious soup dish that Ann Jines produced. Thanks Ann for all the extra work, for the soup and the hamburgers that you made on Monday.

The night knapping session started after the potluck. Those not knapping were entertained by music provided by Diane and Michael O’Meagher from Wyoming. Diane’s the knapper in this family and Mike’s the musician playing the fiddle. After a couple of hours of knapping and musical entertainment, the Ooga Booga ceremony got started. What the hell is Ooga Booga???? We’ve never seen it in the Western U.S.. Mark Bracken was the Chief and Leroy Jines was the Spirit Guide. This may have been the first Ooga Booga ceremony in the West. About a dozen people were initiated.

I think everyone who attended this knap-in were satisfied when they left. The attending knappers, food, knapping activities, musical entertainment, OOGA BOOGA ceremony, collecting activities and new friendships made this knap-in a success. All of the knappers that I checked with were successful in collecting obsidian and were satisfied in the quality and quantity that they collected.

*****See PSK Event Picture section above for directions to Davis Creek Pictures.*****

See you next year!

By Richard Urata

Glass Buttes Gathering, Glass Buttes, Oregon, June 23-24

The crowd from the previous Davis Creek Knap-In had already done a lot of digging by the time I arrived at the camping area past the stock pond on Friday evening. Seemed like Ann & Leroy Jines had the best spot so I’m betting they picked the camping. They seemed to be the camp ground hosts too. Leroy & Ann had a nice tarp shelter set up to protect from the sun. Their hospitality was appreciated as was shown by the number of knappers under the shelter and the large piles of debitage piled among them. To top it all off, Ann cooked up some awesome meals for all that lingered around their tent area. It was GREAT - - - thanks Ann!

This was the year of the RV’s. The camping area was filled with RVs’. At one point there must have been 10 trailers and motor homes. I imagine there were some coming and going, so probably there were more. Since I didn’t plan to write up the event, I didn’t take any notes and my memory has already dimmed considerably. When I worked they gave me a little badge with my name on it so I didn’t have to remember my name; when I left they took my badge away; now it takes much of my memory capacity just to remember MY name. Sorry for not remembering to list everyone who was there. During the rock breaking conversations I learned there were people from Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Undoubtedly I’ve not listed all the places. Craig Ratzat’s week-long knapping class was wrapping up so several of his students stopped by. They were pleased with the class and the rock they gathered.

I keep being impressed at the ability of modern knappers. Events like this gathering enable me to see the works of people from lots of places. There are artists everywhere!

The rock seemed to be better than usual. Even the Silversheen seemed to knap better than previous years and there were several GIANT boulders exposed and left in the hole! Oh well, guess someone eventually got them, or maybe they are still there? Some people found a little "Flame" obsidian. Hopefully I got a few small chunks. Midnight Lace hill is still very productive. There were a few hunks that must have been over a hundred pounds each.

Some of the more energetic collectors had overloaded rigs. Barney DeSimone’s little pickup truck was filled & Leroy was selling off his remaining Midwest rock so he could haul the better pieces of obsidian. We heard that Leroy’s trailer succumbed to repairs on the way to Michigan.

All in all I’d say it was a great gathering! Joe Greenwell with help from Mick Hill

Upper Missouri River Knap-In, Helena, Montana, July 6 & 7

The Upper Missouri River Knap-In is held within a mile east of the Canyon Ferry Dam. I got there mid-afternoon Friday and relaxed until other knappers arrived. It was too hot to do anything. By ten o’clock most of the knappers arrived and set their tents up for the weekend.

There were 16 knappers of which 14 were from Montana. Brian Beaulieu and Jason Roe came from Calgary, Canada. Ninety percent of the points were made from obsidian. A few points were made from porcelainite and from agate. Most knappers talk about “Montana Agate” but few ever mention porcelainite. Ray Alt brought some porcelainite to the Davis Creek Knap-In and no one knew what it was. We only knew that it was knappable. I later found out that it was porcelainite and almost all of the points found in Eastern Montana are made with porcelainite, not Montana agate. Ray Alt came to this knap-in and again brought some porcelainite. Bob Morgan also brought porcelainite. There was some badly cracked material but there were also some quality pieces.

Knapping started early (about 6:00) Saturday morning. I got there about 6:30 and found a circle of 12 knappers breaking rocks. Some knapped all day but five of us stopped and went to the local (about 20 miles away) cement producing quarry to collect some jasper and agate. Brian and Jason collected jasper and I collected agate. The agate was in narrow bands, and at the most, will make up to 3-inch arrowheads. We came back in time for the Brisket BBQ pot luck that Gil and Marilyn prepared. The brisket was super tender and tasty. Thanks for cooking it Marilyn! There was more knapping and talking done until the sun set at about 10:00 pm.

Justin Deacon brought some beautiful self-bows and stone tipped arrows for display. There were rocks (Porcelainite, Knife River Flint, Brazilian Agate, Obsidian, Texas Flint), trade beads, bows, arrows, and points for trade or sale. Most of the points were traded from one knapper to the other.

Knapping started early again on Sunday since the knappers knew that they had to pack up about noon to head for home. About 12 of the knappers were returns from previous years so friendships got closer among the participants.

By Richard Urata

Cle Elum Knap-In, Cle Elum, Washington, July 28 & 29

The reservation opened on Friday to flintknappers from all over the country. Our hosts Stuart and Rose Murdock made everyone feel at home. Flintknappers spread out to camp over the Murdock's 3 acres with plenty of room to spare. There was everything from Nine Fingers Calvert’s converted (diesel pusher) bus to small pop-up tents but everyone managed to stay warm in the unseasonably cold weather.

The travelers that came the furthest were Gerry Swiney from Missouri, Jerry Calvert and Mary Webster from Arizona and Richard and Joan from Montana. Most of the knappers came from Washington - with Arrowman coming from Oregon. Several people added the knap-in to other events. Mick and Holly Hill came by on the way to a family reunion in Oregon. Joe, Jimmy and Sunny Higgins were on their way home after an extensive vacation. There were about 65 people altogether which included 45 knappers. Obsidian and dacite were the materials most used. Nine Fingers brought a bucket full of heat treated agate from Burro Creek, Arizona, and a couple of buckets of a colorful heat treated material from Gold Field, Nevada for everyone to use. He also had a few pieces of Ulite that is fossilized alge, from South of Burns, Oregon.

There was lots of teaching and lessons on primitive technology throughout the weekend. Jerry Calvert taught several new knappers. Dave Rauschenberg and Stu Murdock had several sessions teaching the art of preparing feathers for decorations on lances, arrow, clubs, and headdresses.

Cole Hurst is featured for one of the months in next years “Flintknapping” calendar so he was busy autographing his page. This calendar features 12 top knappers from throughout the country.

Several knappers brought points and other products that they made. Exhibits of work were sheltered from the weather in a tent and knappers enjoyed a shade cloth/wind breaker set up by Stuart, Gerry Swiney and Richard. Betty Roberts demonstrated her knapping table and displayed her arrowhead jewelry and resin cast pendants.

This is one of the few “women friendly” knap-ins. Rose took the ladies on a garage sale run on Saturday morning. You had better have a racing helmet on if you are following her on the Saturday circuit – nothing gets between her and those antiques!! Ask Mary Webster and Adell Calvert how many times she left them in the dust….they were found again!!

Stuart and Rose put on a great pot luck on Saturday with everyone contributing. Stuart and his BBQ crew, consisting of Bob Snyder and Ed Thomas, cooked up about 100 country style pork ribs while Rose coordinated the chopping and mixing sessions and baked fantastic cobblers for dinner. The food was fantastic!!! Everyone ate as much as they could but there were so many leftovers that the food was brought out again for lunch and dinner on Sunday.

After dinner on Saturday Dave Pehling, Gerry Swiney, Arrowman and several of the archery group put on an arrow shooting demonstration (poor styrofoam racoon….). Pretty amazing what they could shoot with the primitive bows. They drew quite a crowd until the cold wind came up and sent everyone looking for shelter. The knappers were busy swapping stories quite late into Saturday night.

The ladies took over the house on Saturday night and few men ventured in without turning and running!! I don’t want to say they were out of control… but they are now all card carrying members of the Flintknapping Floozies!! There are some that say retraining of the wives may be necessary after this event……..

Mary Webster cooked from the time she arrived till she departed on Monday – besides her pizza bread and broccoli cheese casserole, her apple pie and home-made ice cream were quite the crowd pleaser….she received some interesting propositions for her baking skills (all in good fun)!!

Rose shared some of her antique knowledge with the ladies as mini-lessons went on all weekend. Stuart’s sister-in-law June joined us from Utah and fit right in with all the goofy gals.

***See PSK Event Picture section for directions to Cle Elum Pictures (coming soon)***

Put this knap-in on your next year’s calendar. This is a “must go” knap-in!!

By Richard and Joan Urata

A Comment from an Observer at Cle Elum’s Knap-In

Flint Knapping as an Art Form

Ed and Loretta Thomas of Goldendale Washington invited us to the Knap-in at Stu and Rose Murdock's spread in Cle Elum, WA. What a treat! As I watched you flintknappers at work and viewed the finished products I knew I was seeing an unrecognized form of real art, created by true artists. I could hardly take my eyes off of the arrowheads, some so luminous they seem to create their own glowing light and some exquisitely threaded with colors and patterns. I will stop with the gushy talk cause I know you guys will start retching or something. But you get the idea of how your work affected me.

Then I saw some feather work, some knives, some bows and arrows and well, it is all so absolutely beautiful!

So, as a member of ‘High Country Artists', an Art Gallery located in Cle Elum, I would be honored to exhibit your work. Also the HCA Gallery is holding special festivities over Labor Day Weekend featuring live music by the Old Time & Country Music Association a demonstration of pine needle basket making, and a demonstration done by a 90 year old lively gentlemen who makes scaled replicas of the old wagons. (He even makes 2 X 4 " bales of hay, which are way cool!) I know the Medicine Creek Knap-in is occurring at the same time, but if any of you can do a demonstration of your work for our event, even for one afternoon, I would be grateful. Think about showing the world your special talents! You might even sell a few things. The Gallery’s commission is 35%. Contact me if you are interested either in doing a demo or exhibiting your work as an art form. I think you are a great bunch of well fed people, (You wives are a hoot too!) and I so enjoyed myself at Stu's Knap-in. Thanks, for the good times.

Sincerely,

Virginia Stogdell-Lund (also known as Ginger)

HYPERLINK "mailto:piper@inlandnet.com"piper@inlandnet.com 509 649 3283

Need Inputs from the PSK Members

Maybe of Interest:

Kennewick Man Web Page

Are you interested in Kennewick Man? Here’s a webpage: HYPERLINK http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/kennewick/ http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/kennewick/

Cartoon By Dave Rauschenberg

SPALLS - Rich Urata

SPALLS December 2001

Richard Urata, Joan Urata and Dave Rauschenberg are producing this issue of SPALLS with contributions from Mick & Holly Hill and Arrowman. Please contact Richard Urata for questions, comments, and future additions to SPALLS.

SPALLS Distribution

If you have an e-mail address and did not receive SPALLS in May, e-mail your address to Richard Urata. I have from 5 to 10 “not deliverable” messages at this time. I need some updates!

EVENTS:

Quartzsite, Arizona Knap-In, January 1 through February 28

(This is not a PSK event)

This is the longest Knap-In in the United States, maybe the world. Hosted by Nine Fingers and Mary Webster. The Knap-In will be located on the property on the west side of the bakery. Look for a two-toned aluminum and blue colored bus. For more information call Nine Fingers or Mary at (520) 899-5495.

Quartzsite is on Interstate 10, about 20 miles east of the California border. To get there take I-10 to Quartzsite. There are two off ramps, one on the west side and one on the east side of town. From either direction, take the first exit, and drive through town. The town is on the north side of the freeway and there is only one main street. Look for the bakery on the south side of the main street. It is approximately 0.5 miles from the east off ramp and approximately 1.5 miles from the west off ramp. There will be the general store on the north side of the street, across the bakery.

There are RV parks and in-town campsites. Out-of-town, BLM runs camp sites for long term camping – like months – with dump stations, or free camp sites if you stay less than 14 days. For more information, see the Quartzsite website:

HYPERLINK http://www.quartzsite.com http://www.quartzsite.com.

If you prefer a hotel, they are available at Blythe, California, 20 miles away, and at Parker, Arizona, 30 miles away.

Winter Break Knap-In, Seattle, Washington, Sunday, February 3

A One-day Knap-In to initiate the new knapping season. Directions to go to the knap-in: Exit I-5 at 128th Street SW (Everett exit #186). Turn east and go 1/4 mile (across from the Golf Range) to the Park-and-Ride and McCollum Park. Turn into the park (right) and go to the Cooperative Extension building at the back of the park. For more information e-mail Dave Pehling at HYPERLINK mailto:pehling@coopext.cahe.wsu.edu pehling@coopext.cahe.wsu.edu or call (360) 691-7902.

Glass Butte Gathering, Glass Butte, Oregon, March 23 Thru 31

Here in the Northwest it's the largest, longest, oldest, and coldest running knap-in. The term "hardcore" suddenly springs to mind. It's very aboriginal, very warm-hearted abbo's in what can be a very COLD setting. I best repeat that in case you missed it - that's C-O-L-D!! (you have been warned....) Even at that I haven't missed one in a dozen + years. It's always been a "high energy / cabin fever breaker / icebreaker / start of the season" event.

Check out "Roadkill"s site for photos of this event:

HYPERLINK "http://www.ipgeneral.com/~roadkill/index.html"http://www.ipgeneral.com/~roadkill/index.html.

Here, I share some of my visions of some past March Knap-ins; fits of brutal horizontal snowstorms entombing the obsidian in snowpack and the knappers in teepees, the infamous "roadkill stews" (details mercifully omitted), drumming/singing/boogying till dawn, the Flood of 1999, the Coons banishing my bagpipes (...something about "it was in my best interests..?."), their 3 foot bifaces, Jim Smith and I low-grading ( "uglyrockn" ), elaborate pranks, and so many more.... but most of all it's been the people and knappers that we've come to know over the years. Also, if you have other interests in all the other aboriginal skillsets: food/fire/water/tanning/chordage/herbs/basketry/etc. This is one of the best for networking/sharing/learning. Again, the weather is THE wildcard for this event - the year before Holly and I spent the whole entire 9 day run there and had 9 beautiful days. Last year was almost as good (little snow/rain)... This year? Unknown till it happens....Anyway, before I digress too far, the March Knap-in this year is Mar. 23 - 31, 2002 (200-300 people). The guy who claims not to be in charge (just ask him) is the him : Jim Riggs, PO. Box 627, Wallowa, OR. 97885, no phone / no E-mail.

For more details (unvarnished and varnished) and possible ride/sharing/etc. gimmie a call: 360-493-8439 or HYPERLINK "mailto:mickhill@home.com"mickhill@home.com. By Mick Hill

East Wenatchee Knap-In, Wenatchee, Washington, April 5 Thru 7

This knap-in is at Hurst’s Landing, a park-like setting, along the Columbia River. Cole Hurst hosts this knap-in. Last year’s knap-in was fantastic! It will be better this year! There is lots of room for camping. Water and an out-house are available. To get to Hurst’s Landing go to East Wenatchee and head east on Highway 28. The turn to Hurst’s Landing is on the right near milepost 6. If you make it to Rock Island, turn around and go back a few miles. Hotels and food are only a couple of miles away. For more information call Cole Hurst at (509) 421-7705. Cole is on the “Flintknapping 2002” calendar, for the month of May.

Goldendale Knap-In, Goldendale, Washington, May 25 through 27

Wrightwood Knap-In, Wrightwood, California, June 1 & 2

(Not a PKS Event)

Davis Creek Knap-In, Davis Creek, California, June 15 &16

Go south on 395 approximately 20 miles from the Oregon border. Davis Creek is on the east-side of the highway. Stop by at the “Davis Creek Mercantile” and get familiar with the supplies and services that the store provides. The owners cater to “rock hounds” and “knappers”. You can obtain maps of the obsidian locations and permits – free. Services available are gasoline, diesel, ice, food, public phone and even a small restaurant. Many of the “single-type” knappers go to the store for breakfast. The store is a few miles from the campground, a 10 to 15 minutes drive. Last year they had a Friday BBQ for about $8.00. The BBQ included beef ribs, pork ribs, and/or chicken. The access road to the Plum Valley Campground is approximately 100 yards north of the store. Turn east towards the mountain and follow the signs. The campground is hidden from view by the pine trees. These trees produce about 70 percent shade throughout the day. There is a creek that runs along the border of the campground. There are two outhouses that are well taken care of by the forestry department. The admission is free, and camping is free. There will be a potluck on Saturday night (breaking with tradition) and the hosts will provide a main dish of spaghetti and participants can bring side dishes of rolls, salads or deserts.

Upper Missouri River Knap-In, Canyon Ferry, Montana, July 6 & 7

(Not a PSK Event)

Cle Elum, Washington, Knap-In, July 26 Thru 28

Enum Claw, Washington, Flint Tipped Archers/PSK Pig Roast & Knap-In, August 16- Thru 18

Having fun, pigging out, knapping, and friendly archery competition is what this get together of two groups is all about. We will we have flintknapping, pig roast “pot luck”, novelty shoots, vendors and our own bow building. Bring anything to add to the potluck table. Stores and restaurants are close by, within five minutes. There is plenty of room at the Flint Tip Range, camping space for trailers and tents, water and a kitchen. There are restroom facilities but there are no showers. Oh well, guess we can put up with a little natural aroma, we survived Glass Buttes and Davis Creek okay. The Flint Tip range has a 14 target course, and is only about a 1/2 mile from town.

The weekend will be open to the public. There will be a $10.00 charge plus a side dish for the pig roast potluck dinner for non-members. (Flint tip & PSK are members).

REPORTS:

PSK Event Pictures are available on the Internet!

Joan has uploaded the Medicine Creek/Moses Lake Knap-In pictures to Cartogra – Online. You will get a separate e-mail inviting you to view them. For those that get snail mail versions of Spalls or use your friend’s computers or library computers – here are the directions: go to HYPERLINK http://www.cartogra.com www.cartogra.com fill in “friends account name” pugetsoundknappers (all lower case) – click on the Medicine Creek/Moses Lake Knap-In Album – enter the “password”: psk (all lowercase-no spaces) Have Fun!!

The Davis Creek pictures are still online. For those snail people there is a different account name and password from the one above. Here are the directions: go to HYPERLINK http://www.cartogra.com www.cartogra.com – fill in “friends account name” : joanurata (all lower case) - click on the album you wish to view and enter the “password” : PSK (all uppercase – no spaces) Enjoy!!!

Medicine Creek Knap-In, September 1 through 3

It was a shorter drive for me to the Medicine Creek Knap-In this year. The location has changed due to a couple of years of bad weather in the mountains. The knap-in was held at Ken and Adele Calvert’s place, at Moses Lake, Washington. The weather was warm during the days and slightly chilly at night. Joan did not even turn on the air conditioner or the heater in the trailer.

The Calvert’s were having a garage sale at their Mom’s house so everyone was busy setting things up prior to the knap-in. There was goooood stuff for sale and lots of freebees! Joan bought two thirds of a pickup load of crocheting material and canning jars. When the knap-in started, all the knappers started hitting rocks and left the garage sale chores to the ladies.

There were sixteen knappers on Saturday and Sunday. Most of the knappers were fairly experienced. A couple of new knappers, Seth Woodworth and Jim Rockhold showed up and were eagerly taught how to break rocks. Lots of points were made and traded. Nine fingers brought more of the colorful material from Goldfield, Nevada and was working it throughout the knap-in. He passed it out to whoever wanted to work on it. Stuart Murdock, Dan Stevenson, Dick Kocan and Victor Anderson were seen working on this material. Many colorful points were produced. Greg Miller made a “sun disk” that he was proud of and traded it to Richard Urata. What’s a sun disk? It really is in the latest edition of Overstreet’s Arrowhead book. There were lots of stories and a few good jokes. Greg Greger made an authentic looking “Tax Certificate”, with watermark seals and heading, to be delivered to Kenneth Calvert stating that they have found evidence that Cal has been harvesting excessive amounts of obsidian from Oregon. Therefore, a tax has been levied on that portion that has been deemed “excessive”. Greg put it in an express mail envelope and had Adele give it to Cal during the potluck. She told him that the envelope just arrived. Cal opened the letter and started getting really red. We could see steam coming out of his ears! That joke really got Cal.

Like the Cle Elum Knap-in, many of the wives are attending this knap-in. With all of their help, and the Calvert’s purchasing of about 35 pounds of lasagna, the Saturday potluck was great! There was so much lasagna that we ate it on Sunday and also on Monday. It was always good! We were lasagna’d out by the time we left the knap-in. Everyone was waiting for Mary’s famous Apple Pie and both Adele’s and Mary’s home made ice cream. The wait wasn’t disappointing! It was fantastic! Even I ate a lot and later had to take extra insulin…..

After the potluck, and after cooling off from the joke, Cal took us for a tractor hayride. He bought a red, I think 1927, tractor that won best antique tractor at a show in Washington. It was shiny and as the country western song says, “she thinks my tractor’s sexy”. Mary’s attempts at starting a new singing group on the hayride were met with mixed responses – we are going for song sheets on the next hayride!!

After the tractor hay ride Adele, Mary Webster, Laura Kocan and Joan Urata went to a concert in Moses Lake. A few new Flintknapping Floosies were inducted into our group – you almost have to be certifiable to qualify!! On Sunday, Laura and Mary went for a canoe ride on the lake. Laura also brought her kayak and could be found paddling up and down the lake almost every day. The ladies managed to keep entertained while the knappers knapped. It is debatable who has more fun at these things!!

We were there for five days and that was too short. Seems like the knap-in just started and it was already Tuesday morning – bye bye time. By Richard and Joan Urata

Enumclaw Knap-In, August 17 through 19

The 2001 Enumclaw flintknapping bow building Rendezvous is in the history books now. What a time and feed we had! Friday saw many folks arriving early and setting up under their awnings, work was immediately started crafting bows of vine maple, osage and any other wood that was thought to maybe make a bow. Myron Olson brought a truckload of wood and gave it to anyone who wanted it. Saturday began with a very pleasant morning that brought more folks out, some to simply observe what we were doing and why we were doing it (and then there were the folks that just wanted to watch us bleed). After many questions some actually joined in to see if they could make as many chips and kitty litter as I could. Early morning also demanded that I get the fire and BBQ ready to go as the dinner was scheduled for around 5:00 pm. We had much meat to cook, 1 russian boar, 2 front shoulders of the Alaskan caribou, and 1 hind quarter from the Ta Tonka. Sounds like a lot but I gotta tell ya, It was all gone by
the end of the day. I could have never gotten it done alone. Thanks to all that lent a hand it went off as smooth as silk and the dinner was grand!!

I had a list of all the knappers that attended, but as usual, I can't seem to
find it now. However, I know there were at least 30 of PSK attending and somewhere
around 200 total.

Sunday was another day of making many blades, points and finishing up all the
bows that got started. There were a few completed enough to send a few arrows
down range along with all the others that were shot at the running bear.
I look forward to doing it again. By Dave Rauschenberg

Heart of Texas Knap-In, Maxdale, Texas, October 5 through 7

(Not a PSK Event)

With enticement from Leroy & Ann Jines to fill my truck with Texas flint, we left for Maxdale, Texas on September 26 to go to the Heart of Texas Knap-In. We stopped and visited knappers, Larry & Pam Goldammer at Billings, Montana and Diane & Michael O’Meagher at Douglas, Wyoming. Then there were two days of driving and sleeping at rest stops before getting to Maxdale. We arrived at Maxdale on a Monday, plenty of time before the knap-in to possibly collect some flint.

Bill Rogers and his son Pat were the first there so we pulled up and took a space next to them. They were out collecting flint near Copperas Cove, about 10 miles from Maxdale, when we arrived. Bill gave me about 100 pounds of the flint they collected. Bill has the honor of being the “Mayor or Rogersdale” at this knap-in. At least 15 knappers do their knapping at Bill’s camp. His camp was always busy.

On Tuesday, Leroy and Ann took us to Fredericksberg to collect some perdenales tabs from the Perdenales River. It was a super successful day and we both got several buckets of flint. Picking up flint from river gravel bars is much easier than digging for obsidian! It was an all day trip as the daylight hours are short this time of the year. We were tired but I had a grin all the way back to Maxdale.

Knappers started arriving on Wednesday and Thursday and the park was filled by Friday. There were about 70 knappers, most of them working with flint. I met an old timer, Swoose, who pressure flakes with buffalo horns. He is known for his Pandale (propeller) points and had several on display. He also did a demonstration on fluting, using "Y” shaped branches, a possible way that early man made their flutes.

Unlike our PSK knap-ins, almost everyone was selling their wares, points, knapping tools, rocks. There were lots of “stories” but there were also lots of points made.

The weather was perfect all week except for a 10-minute thundershower on Saturday. Knappers started leaving Sunday morning. We left early afternoon to go to San Antonio to hopefully collect some flint. Dave Sutton took the Jines’s and the Urata’s around shopping centers in the Northern San Antonio area to find flint. He sure knows where to get them! Both Leroy and I had our load limit of flint by the end of Sunday. Again we were tired but grinning from ear to ear for our good fortune. We said our good byes as the sun was setting and left heading west. By Richard & Joan Urata and Leroy Jines

Millersylvania Knap-In, (Turkey Feast Knap-In) Millersylvania, Washington, November 3 & 4

The 5th annual Olympia Millersylvania Knap-In featured good weather with another huge bountiful potluck feast. A few of us arrived early Friday for setup and an extra campfire evening.

Saturday dawned rainless as we setup for the gathering. Toasty fires were built in the log cabin shelter as knappers, rocks, friends and family arrived. Before long food was being cooked and rocks were being bashed. A BIG THANK YOU to Bob and Judy McDaniel for baking the turkey and delivering just in time for dinner. People had a great
traditional Thanksgiving dinner in the woods.

Jim Smith brought some truly Ugly Rock that he graciously dispersed among the group. His "Double Ugly Rock" was a thing of beauty (not), a lot of us took turns whacking on it and/or it's remains. As the thing was reduced to gravel, words of "encouragement" were offered after each combatant's futile efforts -- "It's not the rock..it's you"...... (such banter bespeaks volumes of the relationships among us of the PSK). Dave Rauschenberg battled several pieces and offered an eloquent running commentary that ran from bitter to disgust.

Jim Miller also took the bait for a few hits and then went back to hand fluting (!!) this long thin gray biface. Joe Greenwell got Bettye Hensel started on her first points. Scott Blackman was working his biface magic with his very worn copper paddles. Brian and I as usual continued to develop and extrapolate the concept and philosophy of the "I'm not worthy pile" ( i.e.: the phenomenon whereas a beginning knapper will set aside choice pieces of raw material he acquires and will continually add to this pile as his skill improves and yet never actually ever remove anything from the pile to work on it).

There were a number of other folks with tools and cases, eager to get involved. One new guest knapper was Donald Rothfuss who sounds serious about being a part of PSK. We'll see more of him! Other guests featured a number of local members of the Tenino Rock Cruisers-rockhounds, family and friends, curious onlookers, and a bagpiper or two.

The evening campfire featured the guys repeating their "No s**t, there I was stories..." (..those tales with the obligatory ending whereas the teller is usually eventually eaten alive by the bear, moose, or deer, or hunting partner, etc..) Holly and other gals were making rag rugs and refused to believe any of what they heard.

As with any Thanksgiving feast, the next day featured lots of leftovers and lots of yesterdays featured guest turkeys. It was a quiet day to do some serious knapping and eat serious leftovers. Dan Steuber and Brian James stopped in as well as others over the course of the day. All too soon it was time to pack up. Heavy rain held off until we were packed up and driving out Sunday!

With knapping as a common topic of interest, each gathering has proven to us that this is a truly wonderful group of caring and generous individuals. We are grateful to be part of such a collection of friends, new and old. By Mick and Holly Hill

What Hunting Is All About

In 1968, my big mouth got us onto a lot of private land here. The Cass brothers would drive to a farmhouse, push me out, and say “sick-um”. Today I enjoy the friendship of many locals here, near Readsport on the lower Umpqua River watershed.

Thanx to many of you in PSK, I now enjoy entertaining some of these folks (and the “touri”) with primitive junk and making arrows for the children of strangers, in their camps. A blessing for me, to say the least.

I opened the season this year, at the head waters of the Umpqua River, in the high Cascades, should have had “meat-on-the-ground, but no “perfect” shooting conditions prevailed – “so”, did not pull a string. Same story “here” twice! Either just out of “my” killing range or some other minor negative. I pass-up more game (at 25 yards) than most 20 hunters ever see in a lifetime!

Though I’ve given my long-bow to a retired game warden friend, and gone to a re-curve and my shooting has vastly improved; I’ll not pull a string on a 900 pound animal, unless “all” conditions are “perfect”.

My 35-plus year hunting buddies have gone home now (on this Labor Day Weekend) with one elk taken. I’m on private property, camped on “Tom Fool” Creek, an appropriate location for this Ol’man, wouldn’t you say? DON’T ANSWER THAT DAVID!

One new member of PSK, Jim Edd, which some of you have met, lives here in the area and I expect that he and I will spend some time together --- both hunting the Wapiti and knapping points.

Elk or no elk; as long as Safeway and/or Albertson’s are in business (or there are road-kills) I won’t starve, come winter! Have a good one! Love to all! By Arrowman.

Need Inputs from the PSK Members

Maybe of Interest:

TARP

Flintknappers Digest

Dave Rauschenberg also knows of another Egroup called flintknapper’s digest, HYPERLINK "http://www.egroups.com/messages/flintknappingdigest"www.egroups.com/messages/flintknappingdigest/1.

Ishi and His Points

Here’s a website on Ishi and information on his points.

HYPERLINK http://www.qal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ishi/ishihome.htm http://www.qal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ishi/ishihome.htm.

SPALLS - Rich Urata

Home :: How To :: Interesting Stuff :: Member Art Galleries :: Events :: About Us