WILLIE  CLIFFORD HELBERT & 
BEULA EARLE (BRYAN) HELBERT

Across the Fence

I have known for a long time that Willie Helbert was interested in collecting Indian arrowheads and tools and in Indian culture, so Mary and I went out and had a long visit with Willie and Beulah.

The number of arrowheads and things that he has would run into the hundreds, so it is impossible to show all of them in a picture. The picture reveals just a few of the different types of arrowheads and tools the Indians used.

The long, deeply notched spear head is a ceremonial flint. Different tribes held dances and ceremonies distinctive to their tribe, yet most of them would have their own war dances, rain dances, harvest dances, etc. The eagle shaped flint was also a ceremonial object, and these things were often buried with the dead.

The arrowhead we see most often is called a projectile point, and was used in warfare and in the hunting of deer and other animals. A small bird point is shown in the picture and as you would guess was used for bird hunting. Also shown is a full grooved axe or tomahawk. They varied in shape and in use from a hammer to a battle ax. A handle was tied on at the groove.

To be fair to the Indian women, two of their tools are shown. The large stone in the center is a hoe the women used to work the fields; corn being their chief crop. A grinding stone is also shown. It was mainly used by the women to grind corn, but they would grind mesquite and honey locust beans to get a sweetening. They also ground up nuts and acorns to make a kind of soup they would dip their dried venison in after it had been pounded up with the grinding stone.

To show you the status of the Indian women, let me quote from an old history book Willie has. “The men regarded all labor as degrading and fit only for women. His squaw, therefore, built his wigwam, cut his wood, and carried his burden when he journeyed. While he hunted and fished, she cleared the land for his corn. She cooked his food by dropping hot stones in a tight willow basket containing materials for soup. The leavings of her lord’s feast sufficed for her, and the coldest place in the wigwam was her seat.”

Evidently the Equal Rights Amendment hadn’t been thought of then. “You have come a long way baby.”

Willie said he first became interested in arrowheads while a school boy at Lund Valley as he and other boys would go to the Cowhouse Creek. He said he found most of them near sandy natured soils as they could till that soil better and it was also cleaner in wet weather.

As time passed he became more interested in hunting for arrowheads, so now has this fine collection. He has even learned to make them. He showed me the simple tool he uses to put pressure on the brittle flint rock to make it chip off just as he wants.

I became interested in Indians early in life. My dad worked on the Waggoner lease on the “Big Pasture” in Oklahoma and there were many Indians there, so he learned many of their words and customs. He would often say some Indians word that pertained to what we were doing or using. I don’t remember any of the words and certainly couldn’t spell them if I did, as they were mostly a grunting sound. Evidently Indians didn’t have enough of a vocabulary to form sentences, as I never remember Dad using two words together.

The Federal government moved Indian tribes from over much of the United States to Indian Territory , which is now Oklahoma . I was born in Old Greer County, Oklahoma, but that county was a part of Texas when the Indians were being relocated, so there were no Indians in our county. I learned much about them in the study of Oklahoma .

When Nathan and Alyce Ann were small we took them to an Indian Pow-Wow at Anadarko, which is Western Area Headquarters of Oklahoma Indians. We got to see their displays and them in their native costumes. Old Indian squaws in blankets, old men with their long, coal black hair in braids down their sides, beautiful young princesses in their white buckskins, and young bucks in ceremonial regalia of beautiful feathers, each trying to outdo the other in appearance.

That night we attended the ceremonial dance contest, which was really a treat. Several tribes were present, and each given a chance to perform. I sat by an old Indian squaw and as I sat there thinking about two civilizations sitting side by side and two cultures that were hundreds of years apart, she pulled out her Lucky Strikes and began smoking.

We found the Helberts interested in other things besides Indian relics. They have five of those antique mantle clocks, and I was out there one day at noon and all five were striking twelve at the same time. It sounded like I was in a fairyland.

One of the things that Beulah’s grandfather, F. W. Bryan, used in the Civil War is a small cast iron pot that he carried to heat his water and cook his food in. Mr. Bryan ran the Bryan Hotel in Pottsville for a number of years. During the war while Mrs. Bryan was at home caring for five small boys, she spun, wove and made a Confederate uniform for her husband.

The chair in the picture which holds one of the many frames of arrowheads that Willie has, is a handmade chair that was brought from Arkansas in 1875 by the William McPhersons, the parents of Mrs. Van Wisdom. The seat is made of rawhide strips.

The Helberts have many other antiques items, but their largest collection is much newer. It is potted plants. They have a green thumb when it comes to starting new plants and getting them to grow. Their home is nearly like a greenhouse. The old and new go well together.

Shared by Roy Ables