Steatite is available in MO? Gary
Gary, not being a geologist or rock hound I could easily be wrong on the type of stone, I always assumed it was soapstone because of the way it carved and looked but I never had it examined by anyone and I have never tried to scratch it, if it isn't soapstone I stand corrected.
I can't even guess how many miles of creeks I walked, has to be in the hundreds over a 20 year period, they were spring fed creeks and streams and evidently had camp sites along them, being spring fed they didn't freeze solidly, my guess due to the amount of artifacts I found in them. One was my favorite as it seemed to produce more than the others. My best day I found 40 whole points after a heavy rain, I waited till the water receded and walk the creek/stream that produce points regularly that day. My hunting partner and I tried to find where the camp sites were a couple times but never did, it was hard due to the heavy brush and we were finding so many in the water we decided we were wasting our time.
The creeks and streams were fairly wide in a lot of places where the banks had fallen in from water erosion, I assume that was were the artifacts came from as the banks collapsed from the rain storms the artifacts fell in and washed down stream till they became stuck in the places I found them. I learned to look behind anything that blocked the flow of the current like behind trees branches, weeds, rocks, even at the bottom of tiny water falls. I found a small waterfall one day where water dropped maybe 18 inches and at the base of it was a hole formed by erosion, I pulled multiple points out of it, it was a feeder creek to a stream and was spring fed. It was in a small creek that I found the largest piece of petrified wood I had ever found.
Most of my areas I hunted were between 10 and 20 miles from Missouri river, and a few were along the Missouri river when I could get permission. I also hunted along the Mississippi river in east St Louis area as I worked in St louis, lived in Columbia Mo so hunts during the week would be in St Louis area. I also hunted areas between St Louis and Columbia, stopping on my way home from St louis.
Beer bottle is for size reference.
