The recovery of the perennially submerged rock, which was the subject of local lore since the 1800s, was celebrated by Ohio and Kentucky residents in the months that followed.

City of Portsmouth, Ohio officials had planned to display the Indian Head Rock in a manner appropriate for the preservation of the historic boulder.

However an ensuing interstate dispute led to charges being brought against Shaffer and his fellow divers and a suit demanding the rock be returned to Kentucky.

[1] Other theories include that a band of robbers used it to mark their nearby stash and that a quarryman carved the face with a metal device.

[citation needed] The first surviving historical reference to the boulder by name is from Squier and Davis's Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (1848).

[10][11] The Indian Head Rock originated as part of "Quaternary Pleistocene and Recent Landslide deposits" from the Kentucky hillside facing the city of Portsmouth.

The landslide deposits consist of "unconsolidated angular boulders and finer debris; found at base of steep slopes along Ohio River.

[17] In September and October 1908, the Ohio River was at an unusually low level, allowing exceptional access to the Indian Head Rock by local residents.

"It is said that over 1000 people viewed the Indian Rock near the Kentucky shore opposite Bond street, Sunday, the water being so low that the historic relic is now plainly visible to the naked eye.

"[19] The newspaper also reported that "J. E. Bradford, well known amateur photographer of 336 Robinson avenue, has obtained some of the finest pictures of the famous Indian Rock in the Ohio that have been so far exhibited.

"[20] The low water levels of 1908 inspired a proposal to preserve the Indian Head Rock by removing it from the river and displaying it in a popular riverfront park in Portsmouth.

[21] "Henry Lorberg is going to communicate with the light house department with a view to having the snag boat Woodruff pull up the Indian rock, the idea of Mr. Lorberg being to have the city place the historic bowlder [sic] in York park, in a position overlooking the river, with an iron railing around it and a history of the rock, as far as obtainable, engraved or painted on the face.

The wonder is the government hasn't pulled the rock out of its place long ago and crushed it with dynamite, as it is an undoubted menace to navigation of the river between five and fifteen feet.

The bottom of many a boat and barge was torn out by it in the old days when steamboats were plentiful...Portsmouth is the River City and to preserve the rock in the manner referred to would be highly appropriate."

Book was a very adventurous boy and grew to be one of the best known citizens of the county and state was a captain in the civil war and killed in battle.

The Rock could only be seen when the Ohio was extremely low--about once in a decade; but since the River Dams have been built, it is now entirely out of view, and has probably been seen for the last time by the present generation.

[23] As a result the Indian Head Rock was permanently submerged, except for a brief period in 1920, due to damage to Lock and Dam No.

On October 22, 1920, the top of the sculpture was about six inches beneath the surface of the river so a plan to bring it into view for a photograph had to be devised.

Bannon concluded that "Such was the only time, within the memory of any living man, that the Indian's head has been seen, except when covered with water.

In all probability neither the Indian's head, nor the rock upon which it is cut, will ever be seen again, as it is hardly within the realms of chance that the dam will be broken at such an opportune time."

During a period of low river levels in the 1890s, Portsmouth Common Pleas Judge James Bannon learned that three new sets of initials, HB, AB, and JB, had appeared on the rock, defacing earlier carvings.

Shaffer stated that "Both the re-discovery and recovery of the Indian's Head Rock were important, pointing out no other single artifact from the region represents so much of the area's pre-history and history.

In addition, Judge William Marshall of the Scioto County Court of Common Pleas sustained an earlier ruling by Greenup County Circuit Judge Bob Conley that then-Portsmouth, Ohio Mayor Jim Kalb and witness Bill Glockner were material witnesses in the case.

[35] The Kentucky Native American Heritage Council,[36] of which Meeks is a member-at-large, passed a resolution on November 1, 2007, also calling for the return of Indian Head Rock to its original location, i.e., the Ohio River bottom.

In his 12-page motion, Duvall said he was dropping the case because he would not able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the 8-ton boulder that Shaffer and his associates pulled out of the river in September 2007 is, in fact, the same Indian Head Rock that was registered with the University of Kentucky as a protected archaeological object in the mid-1980s.

According to Duvall, Shaffer would still face other consequences for his actions, including being cited by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for undertaking a dredging operation without a permit.

"There it squats in the county garage in Greenup, eight tons of sandstone surrounded by worn-out tractor tires and crusted with four years worth of cobwebs and grit.

"[4] In April 2019, Greenup County Judge-Executive Bobby Carpenter announced plans to spend up to $5,000 for a gazebo and concrete pad upon which to display the Indian head Rock in a South Shore park.

"[43] In September 2020, the Indian Head Rock was placed on public display at a park in South Shore, Kentucky, on a covered platform protected by chain link fencing.

[3] Steven Middleton,[44] a Morehead State University instructor and filmmaker, learned of the interstate custody battle for the Indian Head Rock while making a series of documentaries about Kentucky and Appalachia.