Home is are the Hunter Hunters…
Aug 15th, 2008 by Mickey
Home Is the Sailor
Home is the sailor, home from sea:Her far-borne canvas furledThe ship pours shining on the quayThe plunder of the world.
Home is the hunter from the hill:Fast in the boundless snareAll flesh lies taken at his willAnd every fowl of air.
'Tis evening on the moorland free,The starlit wave is still:Home is the sailor from the sea,The hunter from the hill.
A.E. Housman
Final Day Report
Our final day began roaming the back roads of the SE Missouri just south of Cape Girardeau. Bob’s friend, Lester Goodin, guided us through this breadbasket part of Missouri.
This land area has large farms that go on for miles along the west side of the Mississippi River. Only two groups of people have lived here in the past. The Indians occupied this area until 1825 (Woodland, Osage, Shawnee, Delaware) and the farmers from about 1830 onward. These farms are now owned by the original settler families who were given these lands from Land Grants issued by President Andrew Jackson in the early 1830’s. Thus, information about the land, trees, and Indian artifacts is known by the family members.
Lester took us to see a Bur Oak Tree located on one of the old home sites where some of the original trees are still standing (much of the land has been cleared for farming). The Bur Oak is 15 ft in circumference, the largest tree we have seen yet. The tree has been bent in the direction of 045 degrees but its main pointer arm broke off years ago and is no longer available for inspection.
The location of the Bur Oak tree and its possible relationship to the occupation of this land by the Indians and their migration through the area you may find interesting.
Two miles northeast of the tree is the probable crossing point on the Mississippi River for the Benge Trail of Tears. The route, as currently understood, goes very nearby this location heading in a north westerly direction. To the southwest of the tree is the Towosahgy Woodland Indian site and to the northeast is the Wickliffe Woodland Indian site. These three sites can be seen in the image. The tree is in the middle with Wickliffe to the north and Towosahgy to the south. There is only 20 miles distance between the two Woodland Indian sites, both dating to the same time frame, and the tree is located almost on a bearing line between them.

To the north where the Wickliffe site is located, is the place where the Ohio River joins the Mississipi River. At this junction point, the Trail of Tears Water Route came down the Ohio and then followed the Mississppi for a distance. Just north of this river junction, the Northern and Hindebrand Trail of Tears Routes which crossed the Mississippi near the Trail of Tears State Park.
The image shows the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. At this place, you drive from MO across a bridge to land in Illinois briefly, then turn right and crossover the Ohio River to land in Kentucky - three states in a matter of minutes.
After leaving this very interesting part of the country, we headed SE for the barn which made for a long 14 hours day. On the way home we passed through Chattanooga, TN along the Tennessee River where the Trail of Tears Water Route began.
Thirteen days on the road is a long time, but the people we met, the sites we saw and the things we learned made for an exciting time that we will never forget nor tire of repeating.
Don


We were disappointed to find the site was not being maintained to honor the Osage. This will have to be corrected.

The area of the Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument was once a lush valley 35 million years ago with large Sequoia Trees growing. Volcano eruptions covered the area with ash and mud and buried parts of the trees and other living creatures. These trees [and bees] died off but through chemical reactions with the soil, they petrified. Some of these trees are very large as seen in the pictures.




