Cane

General Cass Cane: "The Cass cane", which was now found its last resting place in the Detroit historical Museum, had reposed in the old Starkweather home for many years. The person who could have told most about its history, Miss Celeste Young, died more than 15 years ago. The cane appears to have been fabricated from a hard maple sapling and is curiously grooved and twisted. While the sapling was growing, it is believed that a sprig of bittersweet or wild vine had entwined itself around the shoot. The vine gradually impressed itself into the wood, both sapling and vine growing. When the cane maker ripped off the vine the encircling groove was the result. The twist becomes more pronounced and bulging near the top, and the head is formed by a two-pronged buckhorn. The stick, still strong and substantial, is unvarnished, but it bears a natural polish due to the ordinary handling of many years.

It is understood that this cane, owned and used by General Cass, was given to Charles Gibson about 1856. General Cass was military and civil governor of the then Territory of Michigan. During this period he made treaties with the Native Americans which opened Michigan to settlement.