On Friday evening, I wandered down onto the flats below the Cox Ford Bridge to take some photos. I noticed a man walking about staring at the ground, but paid attention to him solely because he was in my shot.
A minute or so later, I discovered he was talking to me. He said he was looking for arrowheads and Indian beads. I asked if he’d found any, and he showed me a plastic bag containing several objects. Some were circular stones with holes though the centers. Others were cylinders with parallel bands. They certainly looked man-made, and I was impressed.
He told me his wife was a full-blooded Indian and that they came there often to search for the beads. They make necklaces out of them. I chatted with him for a couple minutes, then wandered off to take pictures.
I mentioned what I’d heard to my friends, and soon we were all searching through the gravel on the flats. The man I’d spoken with came over and showed the others what he’d found. He even gave me five or six bits he’d found since I’d last talked with him. I’d never found an Indian artifact, so I began looking intently until I finally discovered a small round stone with a hole. My friends also found some beads.
I thought it was cool, but it bothered me. Why would there be so many Indian beads in one small section of river bank? Did Indians actually sit right at that spot and make beads? 
Why hadn’t they worn or washed away? Could here be another explanation? I decided they had to be the result of some natural process I wasn’t aware of. After all, it wasn’t very likely that the Indians had held a prom on that very spot.
In addition to the beads, we found several animal bones and other interesting rocks. My wife found a small piece of coal — I read later that there are many veins in the area.
I went back to the same spot with another group of friends the next afternoon. We began searching again and fou
nd a bunch more “beads.” I was trying to convince the others that they weren’t man-made, but I wasn’t having much success, particularly after a woman gave Margaret a piece with a star-shaped hole. That woman was one of three park staff members who said they go there frequently, and they were adamant that Indians made the beads. I still wasn’t convinced.
When I got home, I looked up “Indian beads Sugar Creek” on Google and found the truth. They’re not beads — they’re fossils of pre-flood plants called crinoids. I still can’t explain Margaret’s “bead.” But I also still haven’t found an Indian artifact.