Towanda man has collected thousands of Indian artifacts

TOWANDA, Ill. -- There's a point to the hobby that Lyle Merritt has enjoyed for more than 50 years. Merritt, 76, has been collecting arrowheads, ax heads and other American Indian artifacts since he was a boy on his way to fish in Money Creek near his native Towanda.

It's a pastime that keeps him in shape. He walks miles along creek beds, freshly plowed farm fields and even subdivisions under construction, looking for the unearthed treasures made of flint or other stone.

He's collected more than 5,500 individual items dating back thousands of years.

Much of his collection came from within 20 miles of his home. He's explored several river valleys, including the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Rock, which would have provided food, water and transportation routes for American Indians.

"Anywhere I go and look for arrowheads, I can find some," said Merritt. "My son says I can almost sniff them out."

For his trained eye, finding a place to locate pieces from the past is not hard, he said.

"They [American Indians] were everywhere in the United States, everywhere in Illinois. There's probably not a square inch you couldn't find something," he said.

The best time to hunt? Anytime you want to take a walk. Spring is good, especially after a gully washer cuts new soil from the creek banks; summer can be a difficult time after corn has grown, he said.

Merritt's oldest piece was made 12,000 to 20,000 years ago.

A retired heavy equipment operator, Merritt was on a job site near Downs one day when he looked over to see a nearby farm field where rain had just fallen. He decided to explore and soon saw the point standing straight up.

Closer examination revealed the piece was a flint honed to a sharp point, which archeologists link to a time hunters used spears to hunt mastodons.

"It's really neat," he said.

Merritt thinks touching something fashioned so long ago creates a bond with the hunter who made it. There's something awe-inspiring about holding something that moved from his hands to yours with only time in between, he said.

"You go out and find an arrowhead, and you're probably the first person to touch it since it was lost," he said.

Merritt studies topographical maps he's gotten from the state of Illinois. They could reveal a hidden creek bed or bluff where American Indians might have camped or a low point in a field that once was a buffalo wallow. Where there was food, there were hunters.

His collection also includes rarer finds, like a nutting stone. Nine holes were drilled in a piece of sandstone to hold nuts so someone could use a larger stone to crack all of them at once.

"They made all kinds of stuff. Everything they made was made of stone or bone or wood. It's fascinating," he said.

But there's a chance you could come across a fake piece made by modern hands, Merritt said. They are usually easy to discern from the real things, which are weathered and dull from exposure. Newer arrowheads have sharp edges that bear no sign of age, he said.

Merritt likes to collect his own samples of American Indian handiwork. In that way, he gets the benefit of exercise and knows what he finds is authentic. And, with arrowhead collecting, there's no end to the chance for discoveries, he added.

"There'll be things here until the end of time. You'll never get all the things the Indians left behind."