Another Indian Story

My last blog was our winter research and investigations of the famed Indian Rock (or Pulpit Rock). The team consisting of myself, Tom Yingling, Staffin Hamme and Ken Frazer did not stop after Indian Rock. Tom Yingling had indicated to me last year that he would like to see what is known as the Okete cave near Stoverstown, North Codorus Township. I originally learned about the Okete cave back in 1973 when my uncle, Larry Bare, a native of Stoverstown drove me around the area showing me geological “things” that he knew about. One of those stops was the Okete Cave. So, visiting the cave numerous times over the years, I took Tom on an adventure of his lifetime traversing the topography of the Piedmont Uplands Section. That visit sparked the interest of the remaining member of the group and the project was underway. Upon further investigation of the area, we discovered an additional cave that I didn’t know about and a possible collapsed opening or perhaps the initial digging of a third cave. We interviewed several life-long residents of the area that we knew. We also sat down with several members of the Spring Grove Historical Society to do some “brain picking.” Every interview gave us a piece of additional information and it was quickly realized that there was more than one opening.

Now as the geologist of the group, I immediately made my team aware that these were not natural caves. The rock is mapped as the Harpers Formation with a metamorphic rock known as phyllite. This rock is lovingly exposed at nearby J. Joseph Raab County Park, the site of the 19^th century York Iron Company mine. Natural caves can only form in limestone and/or dolomite. So these caves have been hand-dug. Before I knew much about the Okete Indians thanks to Tom and Staffin, I was thinking their openings may have been exploratory shafts for iron since similar rock is found at the caves and the mine. As some theories evolved, I was wrong about the exploratory shafts since no mining was indicated on my historic mine maps of North Codorus Township.

Armand Gladfelter in his book “The Flowering of the Palatinate – A History of North Codorus Township” does talk about the Okete Indians. He states “The Okete Indians of Codorus Township (now North Codorus) consisted of several families living along the West Codorus Creek near Sunnyside. These Indians were the victims of the mores of their own society, and for some infractions against tribal law or custom, had been condemned to silence. This effectively isolated them from their tribes, leaving them no alternatives but to find other places of habitation.” Armand continues to describe that the Oketes were a take-off of the Conestoga tribe that was located in Canadochly, Windsor Township. The last known Okete Indian lived in these caves during the winter possibly as late as 1850.

Armand mentioned another detail in his book that is interesting. The Oketes were known for having a supply of coal that they gave out to residents as a gesture of appreciation. There is a reference in a book that states that the Okete Indians supplied coal to the blacksmith who was located in Stoverstown (today near the Township offices). So, the question was formulated “Where did the coal come from?” Again, the geologist (me) had to step in and mention that the only very thin coal or peat layers in any rock in York County is found in the northern part in the area of Manchester, Shiloh and near Abbottstown. Geologically it is impossible for North Codorus Township to naturally contain coal. Um, further thought led us to thinking about nearby railroads transporting coal, but a roadblock in that theory was that the railroad wasn’t developed here until 1840, such as the Northern Central Railway. So, the last Okete Indian took that knowledge along with him to his grave.

With our curiosity killing us on how large these water-filled caves are, we invited the York Grotto Club to do some investigation for us. Their members love to explore the unknown and are equipped to dig open caves, dewater the caves as much as possible, and document what they found. A big thank you to the grotto for spending an afternoon on site exploring our known opening and adding information to our database. The two openings were large enough to accommodate 2-3 people.

With spring weather quickly approaching and the appearance of the underbrush, our time for further investigation came to an end. All of us were satisfied with our winter-long research and findings. Our findings have been documented in our database. In the future, the Okete cave site can be preserved for future generations to study.