Oklahoma Road Trip

fossis · Oct 12, 2010

After dropping my wife at the Tulsa airport this morning, 'she's going to visit folks in AZ', i took the back way home.
I did some beachcombing on the Ar river, found a broken bottle from (Paducah KY), must have been on an old steamboat when it was lost, panned some 'black sand', & found deer & buffalo or cow bones, & chrinoid fossils, plus crockery.
Stopped & got a pic of 'the Historical sign', plus an old brick storefront, & old house, & a painted store building, good day out. :icon_sunny:

Fossis............

goldenlady · Oct 12, 2010

Nice photo's...Thanks for sharing !!

fossis · Oct 12, 2010

goldenlady said:
Nice photo's...Thanks for sharing !!

Thanks, my pleasure. :icon_sunny:

Fossis.............

naturegirl · Oct 12, 2010

Oh yeah, that's my river, that's my home. I know you are familiar with Ferdinandina? the French and the Indians didn't get along so well then. Thanks alot for this road trip :icon_thumleft:

fossis · Oct 12, 2010

naturegirl said:
Oh yeah, that's my river, that's my home. I know you are familiar with Ferdinandina? the French and the Indians didn't get along so well then. Thanks alot for this road trip

I better 'hunt harder 'before you find it all upriver. :P
If the Indians knew then what was coming, they would have killed them all on the spot, it's very rare that a treaty was ever honored for long.

Fossis............

Woodland Detectors · Oct 12, 2010

You are one with the land my friend.

Great photos!

fossis · Oct 12, 2010

4-H said:
You are one with the land my friend.

Great photos!

Thanks Mike

Fossis...........

scotto · Oct 12, 2010

Hey cool pics Fossis....looks like you had a good day out.

You always go to interesting spots!

fossis · Oct 12, 2010

scotto said:
Hey cool pics Fossis....looks like you had a good day out.

You always go to interesting spots!

Thanks, I try & go different routes when I can.

Fossis.............

bbqbull · Oct 13, 2010

Great photos, thanks for sharing them with us.
Sounds like fun to take the back roads and explore, let alone pan some black sand.

fossis · Oct 13, 2010

bbqbull said:
Great photos, thanks for sharing them with us.
Sounds like fun to take the back roads and explore, let alone pan some black sand.

It sure is, & we have lots of 'back roads' in rural OK & AR. :icon_sunny:

Fossis...........

rginn · Oct 13, 2010

Nice pics. I'd rather go to Tulsa than OKC any day. NG, not many folks at all know the story of Ferdanandina. They never mentioned it once when I was in school. I wish I would have been the first to find it. It would have been very tempting to never tip the archy's off.

fossis · Oct 13, 2010

RGINN said:
Nice pics. I'd rather go to Tulsa than OKC any day. NG, not many folks at all know the story of Ferdanandina. They never mentioned it once when I was in school. I wish I would have been the first to find it. It would have been very tempting to never tip the archy's off.

Thanks, I had actually never heard of it either, it was a 'well kept secret'. :dontknow:

Fossis.............

naturegirl · Oct 13, 2010

I had never heard of it either till buckshot clued me in about 6 years ago. The corp had built a park there on Trader's Bend when they impounded Kaw Lake., then when they realized what they had, fenced it off and let the park go. The water gets up too, I'm sure. when we were there about 5 years ago, it was all over grown, no tresspassing signs everywhere, (meaning inside the fence). You could walk around the old park. No artifact hunting allowed, it's corp land. I emailed an archie at OU and asked her if there were any plans to excavate the site, and she said unfortunatly no. the corps wouldn't allow access. What a waste. We tried to get down there this last spring, but it looked too muddy to drive.

For those interested, it was a French trading post on the arkansas river in the mid 1700's. That's really early for white man in these parts. It was fairly large but an Osage war party came in from the east and wiped it out. At least that's what they think happened. Maybe the Osage by then had a sense of what the occupation of white traders did mean.

We sat up up on top of a high bluff just to the north and east of Trader's Bend. The prairie rose behind us to the east, and it was so easy to imagine a war party swooping down on the river. It's a neat place, it just felt OLD.

fossis · Oct 13, 2010

It is so sad that they will not let anyone recover the artifacts & display them in a museum so everyone can learn about the history, instead the metal objects will slowly rust into the ground. :icon_scratch:

They have signs around here on Corps land, (enjoy but don't destroy). ::)

Fossis............

rginn · Oct 15, 2010

There's plenty of artifacts been recovered from the site. OU has some; but I don't know if they're on display. Steve Wilson's book 'Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales' has some good pics of recovered artifacts and the OAS website at OU has a few pics. (they call it the 'Deer Creek' site) The French traders, maybe 300 or so, were there primarily conducting trade with the Wichitas. I don't think the Osages attacked the place and wiped them out, as they liked the trade goods too. It is reported that they were regularly appropriating shipments to New Orleans for themselves. Possibly the French-Indian war made it harder to get trade goods that far out. The Wichitas pulled up stakes and moved farther south. It probably just became unprofitable and the French got tired of putting up with the Osages. The French traders had a better relationship with the natives, as they would inter-marry, (good business move) brought trade goods (guns, guns, guns), and weren't interested in taking the land away from the natives. (sound like a history teacher, don't I)

Mental Granny · Oct 15, 2010

Jeff an I use to drive around it an wish! It is fenced off high chain link and all over grown if you didn't know it was there you'd just think it was a circle of over grown weeds. He had a friend archy at OSU a proff. He has taken groups in to do their thing an they still take some. I wish I could remember the guys name ? I think I would if I heard it!

Carl LOVE ALL YOUR PICS!!!! :icon_sunny:

naturegirl · Oct 16, 2010

Hi rginn

Thanks for the info, that's the first I've heard of that possibility, I think because one source will get quoted over and over again making it seem like the one idea is what happened. Plus the Osage being notorious for thier warring make it seem plausible. There are many French names around here, plus Pawhuska is sister-city to Monteblaun in France.(Neat story there). The Deer Crk/Bryson Paddock excavations are posted on line. Evy, it seems like sometimes when OU does a summer excavation for the students, there may be opportunities for the public to volunteer. I've been sorely tempted :wink:

Sorry for hijacking your thread fossis, but there is something about those Oklahoma road trips that get my mind to wandering. Then next thing you know, I'm out of the truck, and down on the river, or in the woods

Y'all have a good weekend!

fossis · Oct 16, 2010

Mental Granny said:
Jeff an I use to drive around it an wish! It is fenced off high chain link and all over grown if you didn't know it was there you'd just think it was a circle of over grown weeds. He had a friend archy at OSU a proff. He has taken groups in to do their thing an they still take some. I wish I could remember the guys name ? I think I would if I heard it!

Carl LOVE ALL YOUR PICS!!!!

Thanks, Evy.

Fossis..........

fossis · Oct 16, 2010

naturegirl said:
Hi rginn Thanks for the info, that's the first I've heard of that possibility, I think because one source will get quoted over and over again making it seem like the one idea is what happened. Plus the Osage being notorious for thier warring make it seem plausible. There are many French names around here, plus Pawhuska is sister-city to Monteblaun in France.(Neat story there). The Deer Crk/Bryson Paddock excavations are posted on line. Evy, it seems like sometimes when OU does a summer excavation for the students, there may be opportunities for the public to volunteer. I've been sorely tempted Sorry for hijacking your thread fossis, but there is something about those Oklahoma road trips that get my mind to wandering. Then next thing you know, I'm out of the truck, and down on the river, or in the woods

Y'all have a good weekend!

Highjack away, good info. :thumbsup:

I was invited on a few 'digs', while working for Gloria Farley, but having back trouble, I had to decline, but I did record Indian sites for the state for a while, they furnished the maps, & i sent them back with the info.
After i hit a few yard sales today, i'me in Nature's Backyard myself. :thumbsup:

HH, Fossis............