With permission from Jim & Jill Conant:
"Herman" Subject: Skeletal remains 1984
From: "jimandjillconant"
To: connolly@uoregon.edu Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009
In the late spring or early summer of 1984 we found skeletal remains on our farm.
The police officer we called took the bones and sent them to the crime lab. He later told us that the bones dated to be very old and were probably the remains of a settler.
The Utter Disaster (on the Oregon Trail) ended on this particular piece of property. We have pictures of the bones that we discovered. We were told that the bones ended with your museum.
We are looking for some facts. The most important is, do you have the bones and what is there actual age. This find is along the banks of the Owhee River near the old railroad bridge.
We know that if they in fact came to you, they came through the police department. My husband, Jim Conant, was the contact name given to the police.
We would be forever grateful to get information about these bones. I have attached a picture of the bones.
Thank you for your time,
Jill Conant
Dear Jill, Your email was forwarded to me by our Research Director, Tom Connolly.
I'll check our records later this week and get back to you. (we're on hold for a day or two due to construction on our new addition, and I'm using a computer at one of our near-by labs).
It shouldn't be hard to figure this out.
Sincerely,
Pam
Subject: Fwd: Skeletal remains 1984
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 07:49:49 -0800
Can anyone help with this? --
Dear Jill,
I apologize for the delayed response to your inquiry, but hadn't been able to verify the identity of the remains until now.
We do have those shown on your photo; according to our files, they were found near Adrian along the Owyhee River and were transferred to us by the Malheur County Sheriff's office in early 1985. They were inventoried and analyzed and reported as a requirement for compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
According to this research, the remains probably represent a Native American male, 30-50 years of age. As for when this individual lived -- we cannot establish that without additional (and destructive and costly) analyses.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely, Pam Pamela E. Endzweig, Ph.D., RPA
Director of Collections & Senior Research Associate
Museum of Natural and Cultural History & State Museum of Anthropology
Jill Conant wrote:
Pam, you are amazing. Thank you so much for finding the information for us. We have always called him "Herman". After we found the skull part, and the detective was with us, our (then 12 yr.old) son reached into a pile of slag left from the flood and pulled out a stick as a joke. He said, "Look what I found." You should have seen his face when the detective told him it was the femur! :) . . .
Jill Conant
Subject: Re: Fwd: Skeletal remains 1984
From: "Pamela Endzweig" Date: Thu, May 28, 2009
Hello again, Jill.
Oregon State Law protects Indian burials and burialgrounds. I would suggest that you contact Dr. Dennis Griffin at theState Historic Preservation Office for guidance.
Pam
