Spanish & KGC in the ozark mountains.

[sqaush]

That is a knarly mess! Have you ever metal detected it?

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[orangeman]

No have to get a metal detector. But this tree is right next to a county road. As big as tree is and as bad as it is twisted and mutilated it's gotta be way old. The tree is a good two feet through it's an oak. The road is about 70 years old. What happened to the tree the rest around it are normal trees. But then again they ain't near as old.

 

[orangeman]

The leaves fall I'm going to get better pictures of the last tree.

 

[Chadeaux]

As big as tree is and as bad as it is twisted and mutilated it's gotta be way old. The tree is a good two feet through it's an oak. The road is about 70 years old. What happened to the tree the rest around it are normal trees. But then again they ain't near as old.

White oaks were commonly used by Native Americans because of their fire resistance when they are healthy.

Most early secondary roads in this country began as game trails, evolved into "traces" or paths traveled by Native Americans then later adapted by whites and settlements sprang up along them. Easier to build a road along these paths because they left where you were and went where you wanted to go --- thus you can often find these bent trees along old roads. Well, I've heard stories that some outlaws learned about the bent trees and saw it as a convenient way to mark things ... their trees differed a bit to be sure, but only to the trained eye and that was on purpose.

 

[orangeman]

Awesome. Good to see some locals. I've seen several trees lately that seem to be markers down near me in the Boston mtns by lake fort smith park

. A big part of the Boston and Ozarks was reservation land 200 years ago give or take. There is a lot of they're history left if we learn what to look for. The Cherokee still come to Richland creek and a few other places to have ceremony's every year. The trail of tears that we read about didn't go through here this was the destination.

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Orangeman.
Search the ground around that tree for pointer stones or stones laid out as a trail.
Trees like those, that survived the saws of the first cutting of the virgin timber here in Arkanss, (only two areas here in AR were saved back then as protected as virgin timber by the government) were left behind, not because they were important, but rather that they were less profitable than the large straight ones.
Your area may be in a protected area. If so the ground around them may have escaped destruction by loggers and you might find stone markers near them.
Those trees may be the only markers of size to mark KGC trails and carved in stone markers.
Other men have seen the oddities without your knowledge to link them to a trail. One of the most important trees on my old site pointed to two stones that I found and logged into evidence and a few years ago, I discovered that the county road crew pushed both stones while making a drainage ditch.
They are gone to history only documented on my map.
I hope that you, also, can find something carved in stone while they are still in place, before modern man moves them without ever knowing what they have done.
Trust your instincts.

#/80{>~

 

[Chadeaux]

Trees like those, that survived the saws of the first cutting of the virgin timber here in Arkanss

Many did survive, even here in southeast Arkansas. Do you know why? Many of the old loggers were convinced from stories they heard from Native Americans (as well as handed down from other loggers) that there was "medicine" in these trees ... magical, mystic, etc.

That was the first reason that many were left alone during the harvesting of timber.

The second had to do with the physical unpredictability of how the twisted wood would fall when cut. Modern machinery put an end to that though.

I've seen trees in northeast Louisiana that were cut just above the second bend (where the tree again began to grow vertically) and the bottom of the trees were left intact.

 

[orangeman]

The growths that can be found on a few trees is what I'm trying to wrap my head around. Are they man Madeline how do they make them.

 

[Mark60]

looks like a burl wood knot, have one near my site except it's at the base, possibly a marker ?

 

[orangeman]

. Here's another unusual looking tree. I know where there is a white oak similar in size and shape in the woods can't get a good picture of the oak till leaves fall. Pretty thick around it.

 

[Chadeaux]

The growths that can be found on a few trees is what I'm trying to wrap my head around. Are they man Madeline how do they make them.

looks like a burl wood knot, have one near my site except it's at the base, possibly a marker ?

Hmm... I have a tree with a famous KGC member's face (confederate general)
looking out over what is supposed to be an Indian burial ground.

 

[orangeman]

How did they twist up a tree and get a burl to grow how they want it to look.

 

[Chadeaux]

Don't know, you'll have to ask Albert Pike ... it was his face.

I've also seen - actually passed it today and shocked the guy who was with me when he saw it - a bald eagle on the side of a tree. I know it's a bald eagle because of the shape, size, feathers (yes, that much detail) and white head and beak. He is "walking" up the side of the tree.

Truth is, we're not as smart today as those folks were back then who had to rely on their ability to live in the wild and understand how the natural world worked.

 

[miboje]

Truth is, we're not as smart today as those folks were back then who had to rely on their ability to live in the wild and understand how the natural world worked.

You are so right about that, Chadeaux. What's sad is that in my family only two generations ago that knowledge still existed. My grandmother knew so much, and I was too young to realize that it would be lost when she passed.

 

[orangeman]

I guess I need to pay more attention to what I do find. Didn't realize that people could make living sculptures with bark and all.

 

[orangeman]

That burl looked like it might have a snake in it on the lower right. When the leaves are off I'll go back and get good picture it to check out.

 

[Chadeaux]

Face is twice the height of a man off the ground, and overlooks what appears to be an Indian burial ground with quite a few mounds. Is in southwest Arkansas.

Here is the eagle ...

This tree was cut by someone who wanted to let others know that he understood what it was (I believe it was a prayer tree). Everything else on this tract of land was cut to the ground.

Prayer trees: For the Ute, they would bend trees in certain ways and pray over them during their vision quest. They believed that, from that time forward, every time the wind blew through the leaves of that tree, their prayers were carried anew to the creator.

 

[orangeman]

Chateaux them are amazing pictures and the trees are unbelievable. It would be some thing to know how they did that kind of stuff.

 

[Mark60]

That burl looked like it might have a snake in it on the lower right. When the leaves are off I'll go back and get good picture it to check out. View attachment 1365293

heres a some of my trail trees that has led me down my path to ??, this one has a lot of directions to follow.. the large knob on this one points straight to my owl shown on my thread.., Pitchfork or turkey track?.. not sure if this burled base is a marker or not but its close to everything else.., all in southwest Missouri

 

[Chadeaux]

Nice pics Orangeman and Mark60. However, our trees are probably not Spanish in origin.

The trees would have to be at least 400 years old, and I don't think any of these are.

If they aren't Native American modifications, then they are most likely "Hoot Owl Trees" ... either KGC or outlaw made.

So, what do we look for to decide if they are one or the other? Believe it or not, height. Native American bent trees are likely less than 5 feet from the ground to the bend. In later years, some were bent higher and referred to as "Horse and Rider Trees".

The trees in Mark60's post are too high up to be Native American, as are my face and eagle. The pitchfork tree is interesting though for reasons I may discuss later.

BTW, What you don't see in the tree with the eagle is a black severed hand (clinched) pinned to the tree with a knife stuck through it. The knuckles are at the top and the cut at the bottom.