Historical Markers, Interpretive Signs

Not too far from home:





I'm not happy about the paint. This tree was vandalized recently.

Terrific tree stuff. They do indeed tell tales and participate in tales.

The Council Oak Tree, Tulsa, OK.



The Creek Council Tree, a mature burr oak, marks the traditional "busk ground" chosen in 1836 by the Lochapoka clan of Creek Indians. In late 1834, they had begun their involuntary migration from Alabama under the control of the U.S. Government. It was a slow and painful trek; of the original group of 630, 161 died in route. Their 1836 arrival was marked with a solemn and traditional ceremony. A "busk" site was chosen on a low hill overlooking the Arkansas River. Here, according to their traditions, they deposited ashes brought over the trail from their last fires in Alabama. The Tulsa-Lochapoka, a political division of the Creek Nation, established their "town." As late as 1896, the Lochapoka gathered here for ceremonies, feasts, and games. The site was probably not used by the Indians after the turn of the century. Gradually it became a solid residential area for the growing city of Tulsa. The Creek Council Tree itself, however, survived. The oak, standing in its small, well-landscaped city park, serves as a meaningful memorial to the proud Indian tribe that brought law and order to a new homeland nearly 156 years ago. The Creek Council Tree was placed under Historic Preservation Zoning in January of 1992.

The historic train roundhouse at Como, in South Park, Colorado.

Standing on the Continental Divide in 1805 Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal that the Columbia River and all the other rivers they were facing would have much stronger currents (Rapids) than any rivers they had encountered on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

How he figured it out. A British sea captain (Capt Gray) had documented the latitude and longitude of the mouth of the Columbia River in Washington state in 1792, 13 years earlier.

Knowing their current latit/longit. standing on the Cont. Divide Lewis in his head calculated the distance from where he stood to the mouth of the Columbia River (about 600 miles) and sea level and had a mental picture of the difficulties the Expedition faced.

He documented these thoughts on August 10, 1805. Months before they reached the Pacific Ocean. Lewis' conclusion was that the current elevation and distance to the Pacific and it's elevation meant that the rapid water fall would not be navigable by boat and man.

Lewis' comment to Clark was basically "we need more horses".

Amazing foresight!

Approaching the Cont Divide via Lemhi Pass Road:



Standing on top of Lemhi Pass looking east from the Continental Divide.



Standing on the Cont Divide on Lemhi Pass, looking towards today's mouth of the Columbia River (Astoria, Oregon/Cape Disappointment) - (605 miles over that horizon).



Marker at the Cont Divide about Meriwether Lewis' conclusions. Note to far right that the actual distance was 600 miles.



Meriwether Lewis was a really smart dude.

With a compass, sun, moon, stars, and a quill pen his conclusions were exactly correct.
Most of us would have never figured this out even with our Garmins.

Got lost going to the grocery store today.

Very Powerful stuff. I usually just lurk and don't post, not wanting to break the integrity of the threads.

But, I LOVE your posts here, in The Plains and Before and After, along with those of others who contribute.

Please keep up the fine work!

I am amazed that the soldier documentation was as good as it was, in regards to cause / date of death and location.

So, I am completely baffled as to how the (very appropriate) Indian Defender grave markers were located on the spot where they fell, the name and tribe info retained, etc.

Any insight to the abilty to do that?

It's a wonderful development to see that in my lifetime both sides of these conflicts are beginning to receive attention.

More good stuff sb. Looks like a warm and balmy day there, enjoy a picnic, read a book in the fields.

Here's a sign at Dinosaur National Monument in extreme NW Colorado. It describes the great Echo Park ride way down below which can be access just south of this sign. See 2nd pic.

of the so called Indian Wars.
Battle of Milk Creek, South of Craig Colorado and North of Meeker, lead to the White River Ute Tribe being moved to Utah
The markers, the one on the left lists the killed and wounded soldiers, it used to be shorter. It was raised to be the same height at the one on the right, rumor has it it is 1" taller.The middle one was "snuck" in sometime in the 80's as rumor has it by the Ute Tribe , the one on the right is the official Ute one (1993).


The right


the middle


the left
Killed

wounded panel 1

Panel 2

11 Medals of Honor were earned on the battle field. [FONT=arial,helvetica]Among the Buffalo Soldiers was Sgt. Johnson
here is the citation
[/FONT]Citation:
Voluntarily left fortified shelter and under heavy fire at close range made the rounds of the pits to instruct the guards, fought his way to the creek and back to bring water to the wounded.
[FONT=arial,helvetica] first black man to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. [/FONT]

The 12 non-commishion officers, enlisted and teamsters are buried in a mass shallow, unmarked grave to the right of the point above the creek in this photo. From what I have read, this is the only place the US Army has not removed known US soldiers from a battle field and given them a militarty burial. The grave was uncovered in 2006 so it exact position is known and marked.

The Park the Meeker Colorado Historcal Society is building.

followed part of the Pony Express Trail a few yrs ago and went right by Milk Creek and did not even know it. A spur of the Pony Express traveled thru Craig, Colorado.

An interesting map: How the pioneers, troops, trading posts, etc and Pony Express traveled east to west.

http://cprr.org/Museum/Maps/Pony_Express.html

If you go to the Battle Site, do not miss the White River Museum

They have great stuff on Meeker and the battle, also the museum of Northwest Colorado in Craig
I would be glad to show you around if I am not working.
Tom Horn
The Wild Bunch
Isom Dart
Matt Rash
Queen Ann Bassett
Bob Meldrum
Joe Herrera
They all hung out around here. Some literally!

In March 1958, an American B-47E bomber flying en route to Britain dropped its payload — an atomic bomb similar to the infamous Fat Boy — on Florence, South Carolina. Luckily, only six people were injured. No one died.
Blessedly, it didn’t detonate. Well, actually, it sorta did.
The payload was released right over the home of Walter Gregg of Mars Bluff, a small, rural area of South Carolina. The fissile material for the bomb was stowed away separately on the plane, the trigger however, 7,600 pounds of TNT, went off on impact, obliterating poor Gregg’s house, injuring his family, damaging a nearby church and houses within a five-mile radius. According to local reports, the TNT itself left a crater 70 by 35 feet wide and was big enough to produce a small mushroom cloud. The Greggs received a small settlement.

Whites Creek, Tennessee



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I never knew that. Thanks for the historical moment.

And yes capt, great sign captures, then expanded views. And good for W.W. Earthman to make that arrest of Tom Hill.

From a recent ride through the Colorado National Monument SW of Grand Junction.

Here's an interpretive sign above one of the many canyons. Tried to make it big enough, but not too obtrusively so, so it can be read!...


Gonna have to scroll back and forth. Here's the canyon referred to by the sign...


Perhaps this approach is better, if the words can be read. Could have done a better job matching the image capture with the sign, but this posting is an afterthought! Later on through the journey through the monument...

This is one of those historical things that got lost.

France (under the command of Napoleon) held and claimed lands that are now basically Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, etc). In 1803, Napoleon saw that Pres. Jefferson was ultimately going to explore the territory and HE had no significant military in North American to keep Thomas Jefferson from settling the area....so agreed to sell "all lands that drained into the Mississippi River:. At the time no one knew what those lands included...but it was called the Louisiana Territory. T. Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory under the Louisiana Territory Purchase Treaty.

Shortly after 1803 a team of surveyors traveled to the territory to survey the land and document the southern boundaies of the Louisiana Territory, but it eventually was lost deep in the swamp. Today to get to the marker you have a 100 yards of boardwalk above the swamp.

A group of hunters, one being an educated surveyor, found the marker almost 100 years later. The hunting party was in a remote swamp when they saw a series of downed trees in various directions and the surveyor/hunter realized it was the trail of a surveyor's marker, further research identified this site as the long lost southern boundary marker of the Louisiana Purchase Territory.

The signs provide more detail.







This marker is near Brinkley, Arkansas, about 14 miles off interstate I-40 exit at Brinkley.

William Clark's signature:



Clark wrote in his journal about scratching his name and the date on a weird rock ledge he called Pompy's Pillar (or Pompey's Rock). 17 yrs later a trapper decided to search out the signature and found and further documented it's location. The rock is now a Montana State Park. Stairway to the Clark signature is at top right side of picture.



another closer pic of signature:



The L & C Journals mentioned around 20 places that they left their initials, but most were in trees that are most likely long gone. Lewis even had a branding iron that he heated up and marked trees along their route. His branding iron was found in a creek in Oregon and is presently in a museum in Portland, OR.

Things have changed.
I left my signature on a restroom wall in Saigon>



For about 100 yrs the only positive artifacts of L & C were this signature, Lewis' compass,
and their Journals.