SMITH LEE INDIAN RELICS by CLAY ROBINSON

Charles Lee Indian Relics

Mr. Kent  Powell, Managing Editor

Utah Historical Quarterly, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, Utah  84101 - November 8, 2008 -

 Dear Editor Kent,

   Articles and photographs, in Beehive History 28 and Historical Quarterly, Fall 2008, featuring the Pectol Indian shields, brought memories to Max and Clay Robinson.

  In about 1935, Charles Lee, a pioneer settler of the village of Torrey, came to our Torrey home and asked our father, Ellis, if our work-horse team and wagon would be available to him for going into the hills to retrieve some wonderful ancient Indian artifacts.

  The old gentleman declared, in all apparent sincerity, that he had been visited in a vision by an old Indian chief.  The chief reportedly informed Mr. Lee that he could uncover a cache of treasured Indian artifacts in the ledges not too far from Torrey.

  With our horse-drawn outfit and his camping essentials,  Mr. Lee was gone into the hinterland for a few days before returning to Torrey with a load of relics. 

  We boys were especially excited and went immediately to  view the prizes.  We remember, especially, a small doll in Indian tribal dress. It was positioned into a cradle board. And there were a number of perfectly preserved pots and baskets.  Not whetting our appetites was a cake containing what appeared to be ground grasshoppers, grass seeds, and red berries from Squaw Berry or Bull Berry bushes.

Wayne Umpire Store

  We were skeptical about the vision the old gentleman claimed to have experienced.  Even to this day we wonder: was Mr. Lee being facetious about being visited by the long-deceased Indian Chief?  And did Mr. Lee first find the cache of relics, then experience the vision?

  Eventually the relics found by Mr. Lee became combined with the Pectol collection and were displayed for years on the mezzanine of the Pectol mercantile store, The Wayne Umpire, in Torrey.                                                                        -end-