For several backbreaking days, workers labored with pickaxes and shovels to remove tons of earth from a natural sandstone formation. When metal finally hit rock, a startling discovery was made.
In September 1899, the Akron White Sand & Stone Co., managed by Champ N. Belden, assigned a small crew of men to work in the company’s quarry off Portage Path near the Northern Ohio Railroad tracks. Incorporated in 1891, the business only recently had resumed operations after suffering a devastating fire in 1893 and falling into receivership in 1895. From its quarry outside city limits, the company mined sandstone to grind into pure silica for use in glass, iron and steel works.
Workers Gerald Brown, Gus Miller, William Miller, Myron Pettitt and Charles Wagoner were digging away dirt to prepare a Sharon conglomerate ridge for a dynamite blast when they unexpectedly got sidetracked.
“About 12 feet of earth had been removed from the bluff when solid rock was struck,” the Akron Daily Democrat reported Sept. 7, 1899. “About the center of this, the men discovered a cave-like crevice, four feet wide, running back into the stone for a considerable distance.”
The curious laborers widened the opening and worked their way forward, removing debris so they could creep farther into the dark passage.
“The crevice was a mere crack at the surface, but further underneath, it opened into a cave of no mean properties,” the Beacon Journal reported. “On the floor of the cave was found about two feet of black loam and decayed vegetable matter, which yielded easily to the shovel.”
As the men reached bottom in the dim light, they were startled to find a large human skull. Digging further, they found a jawbone, vertebrae, ribs, femurs, a pelvic bone … an entire skeleton was hidden in the deep crevice.
It must have belonged to a large man because the jawbone was bigger than those of the workers when they placed it next to their faces.
Landowner George Hardy suspected that the workers had discovered a murder victim, probably someone who fell prey to a cutthroat band of horse thieves who operated along the Portage Path wilderness in the early 1800s.
Theories mount
Then the workers found bear claws.
Hardy decided that the skeleton must have belonged to a poor pioneer who had been killed by a voracious bear and dragged into the cave to be devoured. The den theory seemed to gain credence when the excavators discovered deer antlers, wolf bones, fox remains, an ivory tusk and animal hides.
Sifting through dirt, however, the quarry workers found pottery shards, beads, a knife, arrowheads and other artifacts. They had stumbled across an American Indian site, possibly a burial chamber, that may have been hidden for centuries. The men divided the artifacts as souvenirs but left the bones where they were.
“They said nothing about the discovery, intending to make an investigation of the mystery themselves,” the Daily Democrat reported. “They were unable to solve the matter and called in outsiders.”
Dr. J. Vale Cleaver, a surgeon, and Dr. Percy Buchtel, a dentist, were invited to the crevice to inspect the bones. They said the specimens belonged to “a prehistoric race of human beings” and had an “inestimable value” from a scientific standpoint.
Inspecting the skull, the doctors noticed that the back of the head had been crushed. Was it the cause of death or had the damage occurred during a burial ritual?
Secrets remain
The quarry workers found a smaller ledge that also contained bones. These appeared to be human as well, but apparently belonged to a different skeleton, or possibly several incomplete skeletons.
“Another blast will be made at the quarry in a short time,” the Daily Democrat noted. “Startling discoveries are anticipated.”
Yet no other findings were reported in Akron newspapers. If anything else was found, it remained a well-kept secret.
At the turn of the 20th century, there was no public sensitivity about the treatment of Native American remains. Akron White Sand & Stone Co. sold the skeleton for an undisclosed amount to Akron saloon keeper John Koerber, who managed the Bank Café under Central Savings Bank at South Main and Mill streets.
Koerber billed his business as “The Finest Restaurant in Akron,” served meals at all hours and offered “fine imported and domestic wet goods and cigars.”
As patrons feasted on clams and lobsters, they could gaze upon a new display featuring the Indian skeleton. Col. Samuel Bucher, a history buff, entertained diners with lectures on his theories about the ancient man’s demise.
Hidden for centuries, the skeleton became the star of a nightly cabaret. Today, its final resting place is unknown.
After the excitement of September 1899, White Sand & Stone Co. continued its mining operations along Portage Path. The company shut down its quarry in the early 20th century — and the site became even more famous.
Stan Hywet
Several years later, Goodyear co-founder F.A. Seiberling purchased 3,000 acres for his family’s estate. Stan Hywet, the industrialist’s 65-room mansion built from 1912 to 1915, now stands on 70 acres in Akron.
“Stan Hywet” is old English for “stone quarry.”
Boston landscape architect Warren H. Manning incorporated the White Sand & Stone Co. quarry into Stan Hywet’s landscape.
The abandoned pit was flooded to create the estate’s famous lagoon.
Copy editor Mark J. Price is author of The Rest Is History: True Tales From Akron’s Vibrant Past, a book from the University of Akron Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.