Ellsworth and Charlotte (Harding) Cowles

ELLSWORTH COWLES - 1897-1992

When you stop and look at Spanish Hill from time to time - I hope that you  realize that it was almost demolished for landfill for the highway in the 1970's.  It was through the work of a group of men led by Ellsworth Cowles that saved our hill!

Ellsworth Cowles was an amateur archeologist and well respected historian. He was also convinced that Spanish Hill was Carantouan.

- Listen to Ellsworth talk about Spanish Hill !

As the story was told to me, when they heard that the hill was going to be leveled, Ellsworth and Ray Ward (from Waverly) went to Harrisburg. While there, they were able to meet with the heads of the project at hand, and convince them not to destroy the hill. Ellsworth had a bag full of artifacts that wowed them enough to allow him some time to redraw their plans to in the end only skim the east side of the hill for the necessary earth for the project. (Thank GOD he was an engineer and draftsman by trade!)

Ellsworth studied Spanish Hill for a span of 50 years - from the 30's to the 70's, and was the last great historian of our time to protect it for our future generations.  He had hoped that one day that it would have been set up as historical site and park - that we could actually use the same exact post holes that once were there to again raise the palisades around it's majestic top - and had even protected all of his work including the palisaded prehistoric village site and effigy at the base of the hill for future possibility of rebuilding it exactly the way it was over a thousand years ago.

Ellsworth was the son of A.C. Cowles of Waverly, NY.  He used to play on Spanish Hill as a child. He and other local children were paid by local businessmen for arrowheads and artifacts they could find for them.

A.C. was born in 1866 and wanted to be a cowboy when he was a child.  He went out west when he was just 17 to live out adventure he had dreamed of.  He returned to Waverly, NY at the age of 27 and set up Waverly's first General Store. He sold everything from food to guns in that store and was known to barter with the best of them. I have had some people from Waverly tell me that they remember that store to this day.

Dick Cowles image of his grandfather A.C. (bottom right- his cowboy hat from his trip out west!)	Ellsworth and his dad - A.C. Cowles in front of their  General Store in Waverly NY

Ellsworth was born in 1897 in Waverly, NY (on Talmadge Hill) and from the very beginning showed artistic talent. Initially he thought he wanted to be an illustrator for a magazine, but one month before graduation, he was given a fulltime job as a draftsman in the Lehigh Valley Railroad shops, and he never went back to his initial career ideas.  Well - until the Pennsylvania Archaeologist met up with him! Click Here!

He seems to have been quite popular and even showed his acting talents of in a Waverly (senior?) play titled, "A Brace of Partridges" in which Ellsworth played the TWO lead roles (twin brothers). From what his son Dick told me it was hit, and it was quite memorable that he had to change his clothes so often that at one point he forgot to zip his pants up and the crowd had quite a laugh at his expense!

Ellsworth and Charlotte were married and had three children, Dick, Marilyn and Kenny. Dick and Kenny accompanied Ellsworth on many of the digs at a very young age. The family would put up huge tents and camp there at Spanish Hill while Ellsworth continued his research.

In the end, Ellsworth completed study via the International Correspondence Course in engineering and became the lead designer for the type 40 (portable) air compressors at the Ingersoll Rand in Painted Post.  

He went on and completed the International Correspondence Course in Aircraft Engine Design and then actually designed the first engine that combined power cylinders and air compression cylinders mounted radially around a central frame, called the 3R-36, or fondly called the "RAD-AIR" (given the idea by his son Dick because RADAR had just started being used!)

Dick Cowles showing me actual  housing of a RAD-AIR engine!

Ellsworth was most famous for finding the palisaded prehistoric village site and effigy at the south base of Spanish Hill.

Here is an illustration by Ellsworth Cowles (in 1933) of an effigy found right below Spanish Hill. (note his artistic talent!)

Want to know more about the Prehistoric Village Site? Survey/map of the village site Actual report by Ellsworth Cowles in 1933. Click here to see more info

Here is the actual photo taken that day:

Most people think that this effigy is of a mammoth, which it may very well be since Chemung a Delaware Indian term for "place of the big horn," and a huge mammoth tusk in it's riverbank.

Interestingly - Ellsworth Cowles told the story of upon finding this effigy - Louise Welles Murray turned to him and said, "Why Ellsworth, I believe you have just uncovered a QuisQuis"

I found and interesting piece called "THE LENAPE STONE OR THE INDIAN AND THE MAMMOTH BY H. C. MERCER" that describes the "Quis Quis":
( - the full text can be read at : http://www.webroots.org/library/usanativ/lstiatm0.html  )

"David Cusic, the Tuscarora Indian, in his history of the Iroquois, among other instances, speaks of the Big Quisquis, [A word meaning " hog " in modern Iroquois.] a terrible monster who invaded at an early time the Indian settlements by Lake Ontario, and was at length driven back by the warriors from several villages after a severe engagement; and of the Big Elk, another great beast, who invaded the towns with fury and was at length killed in a great fight; and Elias Johnson, the Tuscarora chief, in his "History of the Six Nations," speaks of another monster that appeared at an early period in the history of his people, which they called Oyahguaharb, supposed to be some great mammoth who was furious against men, and destroyed the lives of many Indian hunters, but who was at length killed after a long and severe contest."

The palisaded prehistoric village site was another huge find for him. I have yet to locate the drawings of the village site, but wil be sure to post them when I get them!  Here are some other shots from that dig. The littlest boy is his son Dick , then next youngest boy is his other son Kenny.  Ellsworth has on the white shirt in the top picture, is on the left in the middle shot, and is in the jacket in the bottom shot. Dick told me that the other two younger men in the pictures below are Wayne and Roy Allen.  Wayne went on the become a doctor and was the head of the Pediatric Department at Guthrie until his untimely death at age 65.

Dick tells me that these pictures were most likely taken in 1933 or 1935. Dick would have been 9 or 11 years old at the time. Ellsworth would have been 36 or 38.

Here are more photos of the dig that year - including the huge trench marking where the palisades were.

Here are actual photos of the post holes he found for the palisaded prehistoric village site at the south end at the base of Spanish Hill: (he protected these so they could be found again someday)

In the end Ellsworth gave most of his finds to the Tioga Point Museum, but kept some with which he added to his own collection with which he founded the Erwin Museum and was curator (1934 to 1973) - Erwin is just outside of Corning, NY.

Unfortunately, Ellsworth had a falling out with the board of the museum and took all of his artifacts out.  They now reside with his son Dick Cowles in a private collection.

Other Interesting notes on Ellsworth include:

He was a 9th Ward alderman during the late 1950s and was a two-term member of the Corning City Planning Board. He also was a member of the Corning-Painted Post school board at the time of the building of Corning East and West high schools.

Ellsworth was the author of much of the available information on local history and spoke throughout the area on the important part the Indians played in in our area.

In 1976 he became one of four living inductees into the Steuben County Hall of Fame. He also was honored with the Distinguished Citizen Award by the Painted Post Board of Trade.

His son Dick has remained very active in retrieving and preserving these documents and artifacts and was the soul reason I was able to make this page in tribute to his father. 

Note - this page will print nicely in landscape mode.