Love of collecting arrowheads became lifelong hobby
84-year-old Port Lavaca native recalls arrowhead hunting days
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Who were the Karankawa IndiansThe Karankawas became extinct in the 1800s and inhabited the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi Bay to Galveston Bay.
Stephen F. Austin led an expedition to exterminate the Karankawas.
Karankawa is said to mean dog lovers ...
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Who were the Karankawa IndiansThe Karankawas became extinct in the 1800s and inhabited the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi Bay to Galveston Bay.
Stephen F. Austin led an expedition to exterminate the Karankawas.
Karankawa is said to mean dog lovers or dog raisers. The name was fitting because the Karankawas reportedly kept fox and coyote-like dogs.
Karankawan men were between 6 and 7 feet tall and wore breechcloths. They pierced the nipples of each breast and their lower lip with small pieces of cane.
The Karankawas were said to be cannibalistic.
The women were normal height and adorned themselves with tattoos and wore skins from their waist to their knees.
Children did not wear clothes.
The Karankawa's main weapon was bows and arrows and it was used for hunting and fighting. They traveled by foot on land and in canoes, called dugouts. These canoes were usually only used for shallow waters. They could fit a family of five and their belongings.
IF YOU GO
WHERE: Calhoun County Museum, 301. S. Ann St., Port Lavaca
WHEN: 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday ; 10:30 a.m - 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday; and 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday, Monday.
CONTACT: George Anne Cormier, 361-553-4689
PORT LAVACA - Charles Husak can still remember how cold his bare feet made that three-mile trek to his school near Olivia in the 1930s.
It was the Great Depression, and though there weren't many toys to play with or even shoes to wear, the now 84-year-old had one thing - arrowheads.
Sometimes on those three-mile walks, Husak would find tools from the Karankawa Indians, a now extinct group that lived along the Texas coast.
Husak's interest in the arrowheads led him to learn more about the Karankawa Indians. Eventually, that interest grew into what he has now - the largest, most accurate collection of arrowheads found in various campsites in Calhoun County.
"I loved hunting them," Husak said, as he looked at his prized collection behind a glass casing at the Calhoun County Museum. "You found them and then you got to thinking how old they are and who had them and what they did with them."
However, hunting the artifacts, some of which are dart points, arrow points and fish hooks, wasn't his job.
He had worked as many other things, including a mechanic.
Artifact hunting on the coast was just a hobby.
The hobby wasn't just about collecting the brown, sometimes chipped pieces of rock, but it was about logging the information, Husak said.
Husak's school principal saw his interest and got in contact with the Smithsonian Institute.
The institute sent documents explaining how Husak should log the information.
Husak would number each tool and then write down in which campsite he found them.
Had his principal not done that, Husak's hobby would be just for his pleasure, rather than for the pleasure of the county, he said.
"These were all found in Calhoun County," said Husak as he pointed at each arrowhead. "That's very important for the county because these are from here. We don't need to give them (to a museum) somewhere else when they belong here."
Husak's collection is one that brings a lot of insight into Calhoun County's history, said George Anne Cormier, the museum director.
"A lot of people will collect them and throw it in a basket," she said.
Husak knows of several prehistoric sites and at least 100 campsites in the county where he found many of the pieces, he said.
Most of them are near Sand Point and Rupert's Point close to the Salt and Redfish Lake, he said.
Some of the prehistoric sites are being swept away by the bay, he said.
It's difficult now to find as many tools as he did throughout much of his lifetime, he said.
Even so, he is glad he has found what he has found and learned what he has learned.
"One prehistoric site is out in the water," he said. "What are you doing to do? You can't stop it."
Comments
I've always wanted to find an arrow head. I've looked but probably never looked in a good area.
Great story, especially to a guy who has never even found one.
November 26, 2009 at 9:20 a.m.