Question about bent tree markers

[Chadeaux]

I'll take your Word for it. That Flute was driving me crazy at the Beginning of the Vid. & drove me away.

I agree ... couldn't stand it myself. Played with the mute button an awful lot.

 

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[Chadeaux]

this ones not as Pronounced, or it's the angle
of the google camera. but besides trees that are bent like they are Pointing in the woods

View attachment 1411789View attachment 1411805

I counted at last 3 maybe 5 the other day that were curved like this
as i was driving home from the store. & all were near the same thickness,
Curved like that, and within maybe 500 feet of each other.
Driving 55 I probably missed some.

The area really never had people other then Miners stripping the land so

and there is a tree something like this , but with 2 going up on it there also

View attachment 1411801

and the area is an embankment going down along side the road.
so no doubt it was never used land.

I'm sure in Some cases people did Bend trees.
as a Kid I used to tie knots in small easily tied trees.
Never remembered where or went back to see if they Grew.
Just thinking nature does the same thing at times

The marks have to be there. Smee showed some of them in his post back in 2006 (the thread I cited). I've also seen others, but coring a tree can only go so far in determining the age. Whether it was done by humans or not requires looking for the right markings.

BTW, the tree in Smee's example isn't an Indian Marker Tree, it's actually related to John Morrell ... but created the same way, just a bit taller. Had a "hollered out" spot on the top.

 

[Chadeaux]

Important to look for 90 degree bends, but that's not always going to make it a trail tree.

Look for indentations from something foreign to the tree, not the normal striations that occur from bending. If it is a trail tree there will be definite indications top and bottom ... hip is the lowest bend and should show signs of something having been placed there to form the bend (usually a forked stick). Somewhere near the last upright (single upright usually a directional marker, multiple uprights most often denote a location - campsite, spring, etc.) you should find markings on the top of either another forked stick from the top or (most often) a ligature mark from a bit of rawhide used to tie the tree down.

It doesn't take generations for a tree to take on that shape, that is it didn't require 10 years of dedication to the tree.

There was a literal highway system in place before the whites arrived here, the trees were often the exit signs along the traces.