Beaumont, Texas, Dec. 26—Captain Jack Caswell, an old-timer of this county and a steam boatman away back before the war, was in the city a day or two since, when asked by the News correspondent if he knew anything of interest, he answered, “Well, no...” He was about to walk away when his eye turned downward and he saw a little round white shell.
“Why, here are some of the old shells from the shellbank,” continued the captain. “We brought these shells up on the old steamer Rabb. It took us a long time to handle them, and we made some curious discoveries. We found several perfect skeletons buried in the banks, and the people that lived in them must have been seven feet high. We took a bone from a lower leg and placed it by Captain Rabb’s, and he is six feet, and the bone was six inches too long for him. We supposed that they were the old Flathead Indians, as the skull from about an inch above the eye socket turned straight back and was as flat as a pancake clear to the rear end of the head. The skeletons were arranged in such a manner as to indicate that they were all buried at once and that Grigsby’s Bluff [Port Neches] was a favorite happy hunting ground for the once extensive tribe of Flathead Indians. According to their custom they had placed clay pots and various cooking utensils made of earthenware alongside their bodies. There were also large pan-shaped shells, shells for holding water, and cooking shells that, even left the signs of the fire visible.”
The deeper into the bank we went, the more signs we saw, and when we left with the shells, the old relics and skeletons were lying on the surface.” This historic old point, named Grigsby ‘s Bluff for an old settler, is fifteen miles southeast of Beaumont on the Neches River. It is one of the prettiest Spots in the country. The bluff rises gradually and beautiful shade and fig trees cover the pretty natural lawn. Then just below is the shell bank, where thousands of tons of these round little white shells form a bank ten to twenty feet high and running back some distance… The steamer W. P. Rabb brought several cargoes of them up to Beaumont, and it was on one of these trips that Captain Jack and his party discovered the old relics.
(Galveston Daily News, Dec. 28, 1896).
“Why, here are some of the old shells from the shellbank,” continued the captain. “We brought these shells up on the old steamer Rabb. It took us a long time to handle them, and we made some curious discoveries. We found several perfect skeletons buried in the banks, and the people that lived in them must have been seven feet high. We took a bone from a lower leg and placed it by Captain Rabb’s, and he is six feet, and the bone was six inches too long for him. We supposed that they were the old Flathead Indians, as the skull from about an inch above the eye socket turned straight back and was as flat as a pancake clear to the rear end of the head. The skeletons were arranged in such a manner as to indicate that they were all buried at once and that Grigsby’s Bluff [Port Neches] was a favorite happy hunting ground for the once extensive tribe of Flathead Indians. According to their custom they had placed clay pots and various cooking utensils made of earthenware alongside their bodies. There were also large pan-shaped shells, shells for holding water, and cooking shells that, even left the signs of the fire visible.”
The deeper into the bank we went, the more signs we saw, and when we left with the shells, the old relics and skeletons were lying on the surface.” This historic old point, named Grigsby ‘s Bluff for an old settler, is fifteen miles southeast of Beaumont on the Neches River. It is one of the prettiest Spots in the country. The bluff rises gradually and beautiful shade and fig trees cover the pretty natural lawn. Then just below is the shell bank, where thousands of tons of these round little white shells form a bank ten to twenty feet high and running back some distance… The steamer W. P. Rabb brought several cargoes of them up to Beaumont, and it was on one of these trips that Captain Jack and his party discovered the old relics.
(Galveston Daily News, Dec. 28, 1896).
