MOUNT VERNON — Glenn Spray, a long time Indian artifact collector, will be sharing part of his collection with the people of Knox County. Spray has donated about 80 pieces of his collection to the Knox County Agriculture Museum at the Knox County Fairgrounds.
“I’ve been collecting them for 70 years,” said Spray. “We moved up here from West Virginia in 1940. One of the first arrowheads I found was what is called a dove tail. I found that in the spring of 1940. I had only seen two dove tails before in my life, and that was down in West Virginia. I got interested in them and just kept finding them.”
Spray said some of his success in finding so many Native American artifacts is because there is what he calls a nice spring on his farm.
“One of the things the Indians needed was good water and they had it with this spring,” he explained. “Now if you go to an area where there isn’t a spring or a good water supply, then you won’t find vary many [artifacts].”
Spray thinks it’s an important addition to the Ag Museum.
“These were the tools they used,” he said. “They didn’t have metal then. They made their own tools. It’s a part of the history of the county. It’s pre-historic.
“I love to find them and I’m not worried about the value. It’s something I love to do and I still do it.”
Spray decided to donate this part of his collection — which dates between 15,000 B.C to 1,500 A.D. — to the museum because he was concerned about what would happen to the collection.
“I divided it up between my four sons, telling them to make sure they got exhibited and I gave these to the museum,” he said.
Art Mizer, director of the museum, was happy to have the collection.
“This is great and I hope it will encourage others to donate to the museum,” he said. “It would be a great place for people to donate their artifacts. We could even make a special section for them and people could come and see them.”
The artifacts, in addition to hundreds of other items showing the history of the county, will be on display during fair week, July 24 to 31. The museum will be open during fair hours during the week. For more information about the museum and to arrange tours call 397-1423.
