12  HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

gun-barrel was at one time found in making an excavation on this
ground. Arrowheads of different sizes, carved out of flint not native
to this territory, but of sections of the country farther east, have been
found on the uplands of the county. Stone axes and fragments of
implements and utensils used in their domestic arts are not wholly want-
ing. In 1823 there were Indian villages on Eel river, near the site of
the present Centennial Mills and just below the Woodrow or former
Sanders mill-seat.
    Of the pioneer population of the county who, in their boyhood days,
associated with the native children of the forest, were James P. Thomas,
Absalom Briley and Athel Staggs. Thomas said at an Old Settlers meet-
ing, at Center Point, many years ago, that when his parents settled on
Eel river, he played much of the time with Indian boys, because there
were no white ones within reach of him. When asked what tribe of
Indians, he replied “The Miamis.”
    Dr. Briley having said in an address delivered at a Sunday school
celebration, near Middlebury, that in his youth he enjoyed going in
swimming with the Indian boys, when asked “what Indians,” answered
“The Delawares.”
    Staggs took delight in relating his experience with the natives over
in the wilds of Vigo county, before coming to Clay, having associated
with them in the days of his early manhood. The favorite sport in which
they mutually indulged was wrestling. “A white man can throw an
Indian,” he used to say, “but he’s so slippery that you can’t hold him to
the ground.”
    Of the earliest settlers of the county, who mingled with the natives,
none survive to relate personally the reminiscences incident to their joint
occupancy of the territory.