Tree Manipulation/ Wood Structures: What Is The Evidence?

[Guest lightheart]

Wow WSA that is really amazing!

[WSA]

One fairly consistent feature in the E. mountains, especially along ridge lines, are what I'd always heard described as Indian "marker trees."  These are fairly old oaks, typically. It wasn't until I had reached a fairly advanced age that I realized some of these, even accounting for the much slower growth rate of mountain habitats, wouldn't be quite old enough to have seen regular migratory Indian travel. So, I wonder about them.

 

To describe them generally, they are trees that look as if they had been bent over with a weight placed on them at an early age. There would be a couple of feet of vertical growth from the root up, and then the trunk would take a dramatic bend, up to 90 degree or more, and then grow out from that direction.  Otherwise they are healthy. What I'm describing is not just a case of a tree taking a sideways growth track to reach light...these all have severe dog-legs. And like I said, you can spot them fairly often on ridges, especially in the Blue Ridge where the Appalachian Trail runs. Many of the sections of the modern A.T. of course tracked footpaths used far back in antiquity by Natives and others up and down the E. seaboard, but for purposes of our discussion here, I raise it as another possibility. 

 

I don't have a photo of what I'm talking about, but if this rings any bells with anyone, and especially if you have a photo of one, please let us hear from you.

Edited July 16, 2014 by WSA

[LeafTalker]

I don't have any photos of what you're describing, WSA -- and I agree, that picture was amazing! -- but I do have a comment on the "X" formation and its meaning. 

 

I've heard a First Nations person (I forget her exact affiliation) say that the X symbol has two meanings -- "friend" and the opposite of friend (something like "keep out") -- and that the BF use the symbol in similar ways. 

 

This site explains that "crossed arrows were the symbol of friendship":

 

http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-american-symbols/friendship-symbol.htm

 

If you find a small X near a gift you've left, I'm convinced that's a sign of friendship. There's more doubt in my mind about larger X formations made of entire trees. I can say, however, that I have investigated several areas lying on the opposite side of a big X and lived to tell the tale. (I don't really recommend pushing into territory marked that way; but if you do it with no thought of harming the maker of the symbol, or exposing him to the world, it's very unlikely you'll be challenged.) 

[Guest]

I found this X a couple days ago. Looks like a old marker with new sticks
Anyway when I am out I am always looking for tree manipulations and have quite a few pictures of different ones. I hope to sort them and do something with them one day. Even if most can be explained away,(kinda like submitted reports)there are some that intrigue me. Keep em coming folks!

[David NC]

Here is one. It is found in the Uwharrie national forest here in NC. There is an article about them by UNC charlotte Urban Institute. The article is The mystery of the trail trees.

[Guest WesT]

Hey WSA, feast your eyes on this

 

I have no idea, probably telling me not to cross the river because they're hunting over there. Now if I had left a case of beer, a pack of smokes, and a girlie magazine, it might mean "party is across the river and you're invited"  heehee  All jokes aside, this will continue to be a work in progress and I'll see where it leads. I left a very large chuck of raw salt on the picnic table this past Sunday. I'll go back in a couple weeks and see if anything is different.

 

JKH, it's one thing to do a drive-by type investigation into an area of interest and quite another to spend years at the same location to document the changes that occur.  When all of this came crashing down on me 2 years ago I used to ask myself all the time if they were gone or do they come back from time to time. I don't ask myself that dumb question anymore. Thank you for sharing as well!

Edited July 17, 2014 by WesT

[bipedalist]

Actually there IS something very significant in the vine choked pics, specifically it is something I have attributed to

Bigfoot in my brief research experience and that is there are several planar X's of a smaller nature toward the left of central. If you look closely you will see that the triangular empty spaces of the X's are equilateral and perfectly symmetrical as recorded on that angle/perspective anyhow. BF seems to admire their handiwork & constructs from multiple perspectives & in fact toy around with that element believe it or don't!?!

Edited July 17, 2014 by bipedalist

[Guest WesT]

Well I didn't want to bring it up.... but... since you did bipedalist here's what really got me wondering about the vine choked tree.

 

I noticed only the center twist had branches coming from it and it reminded me of this

 

 

and that is the backside of this where it bends

 

 

I'm no expert, but it seemed odd that branches were growing out of the center twist only.

 

[WSA]

WesT....Haaaaahhhh, guess there is more to it than just the stories I'd heard. An impressive gallery of photos, thanks for showing me the obvious.  I was particularlyinterested in how they think they were made, the "thong tree" technique was fascinating, but I wonder how much evidence there is for that?  I'll definitely need to look closer at it. Thanks again.

Actually there IS something very significant in the vine choked pics, specifically it is something I have attributed to
Bigfoot in my brief research experience and that is there are several planar X's of a smaller nature toward the left of central. If you look closely you will see that the triangular empty spaces of the X's are equilateral and perfectly symmetrical as recorded on that angle/perspective anyhow. BF seems to admire their handiwork & constructs from multiple perspectives & in fact toy around with that element believe it or don't!?!

I do see what you mean....if one sees it enough times, coincidence becomes a more remote possibility each time. Hmmm..... 

[Guest lightheart]

That tall one that looks like an A interests me. There is a large snapped cedar that looks just like an A in my area with one branch hanging through the bar of the A. Just down from that there is a twenty foot horizontal tree balanced on two y forks on either end. This is about 12 to 15 feet off the ground and the bar is perfectly horizontal. It is not too far back in there. I will take a closer look tomorrow.

I have been observing the tree structures at least two or three times per week for about 9 months. Placement sometimes changes over night or within a few days. Right now all I am focusing on is what they do with sticks, branches, and trees. There is a wealth of information available just in the tree manipulations.I think.

[Guest WesT]

It is the selectivity of only certain trees in an area that are the most interesting to me. Ice and wind just don't discriminate to that extent.  What I'm also interested in knowing is what possibility is there for certain otherwise normal tree specimens to just grown in an arc? Sort of like scoliosis of the spine? Reaction wood in trees is typically due to physical forces (witness the asymmetrical limbs/trunks on trees near ridgelines, showing clearly the direction of prevailing winds), but do some species just....for no apparent reason....bow over?  I need to look into that.   Of course, even if true, that wouldn't explain trees that are clearly "pinned" by wood that did not obviously fall from above. It als won't explain the trees that bow on a  short timeframe...like overnight!

 

I just saw this post WSA and there was a debate on Facebook a while back about tree bows. A guy came on and claimed there was disease that caused it and said he's seen acres of them like that. Long story short, the guy that posted the tree bow pics emailed the Arbor Day Foundation, showed them his pics, and asked if there was a disease that caused them to bow to the ground like that. 

 

They responded that the bowed tree was most unusual and there is no known disease in trees that would cause them to do that. If there's anyone out there that doubts that, then contact the Arbor Day Foundation and just ask.

[WSA]

That comports with what I know about young trees as well WesT. I've cut a lot of them in my time, and at one point was making good pocket change cutting saplings (hickory and ashe mainly) for walking sticks to sell. You get a nice cross-section when you lop those off as close to the ground as you can, and later when you work them by hand with draw knife you see the growth rings up close and personal. In selecting trees, I would walk miles and scan hundreds. You just don't see a random, bent tree all that often...at least not in the woods I was working. I'd sometimes spot deformed examples...ashe especially like to grow sideways, then up, and that makes for a nice handle if you can get it to season without checking...but truly bowed, healthy trees are uncommon outside of areas of wind/ice events...and then you've got scores of them.  Most of the ones I HAVE spotted like that show no outward sign of disease or deformity. Reaction wood (which is what we are talking about if it is not outside mechanical force) just doesn't happen absent obvious things like parasitic reactions (gall wasps, viruses, etc.) or gradual pushing/pulling forces of other trees, rocks or asymmetrical growth. In those cases, the outwards signs are fairly obvious to diagnose. 

 

The only (and I mean only) alternative explanation I can come up with for random bowed trees is that an ice or wind event came and bowed over many  trees, but the one you find is the only one that couldn't rebound to an upright position. I'm not real invested in believing that to be likely though.

[Guest WesT]

Thanks for the additional insight WSA.

 

Back to the Indian trail markers, I did some snooping around and found these interesting pics.

 

 

 

 

What's wrong with these pics you might ask? Young trees. Meaning this type of tree manipulation is still taking place to this day.

 

Here's the source of the pics. Link

 

 

[Cotter]

^Yeah, I've come across young trees like that as well.  And bowed trees, there's a big one on my way home from work up a valley, sometime I'll try to snap a pic.

 

I find it hard to believe that any BF reside permanently around my parts, but I do think they use it as some sort of travel corridor.

 

It would make more sense that these markers are in areas that BF do not spend a lot of time in, no?  (if they are residents there, why would they need the markers?)

[WSA]

Nice find WesT....but I think that person is indulging in some flights of fancy. Those young saplings would be too young to have been bent by members of native tribes, obviously, unless this practice is still going on.  Also, looking for alignments between natural objects is not that hard to do. After all, any two objects within your view can be connected by a straight line.

 

It does raise the question of what is/does distort young trees like those, and I guess you could come up with many proposals. Some trees do tend to just grow weird directions. As I said earlier, lots of ash trees seem to grow out sideways, and then jog straight up. The terminated growth node at the junction is a little rotten spot. It is almost like this is its preferred growth pattern.  Sometimes I imagine it could be a rock placed on the top of the tree (by whom, or what?) and then the end rots out from under the rock, while a branch shoots up to become the leader.  A little poking around at those sites might yield a clue, but tough to know from photos.

 

I used for the handle on my screen door for many years at my house in Birmingham a loop of dogwood I found long ago in Fairfax County, Va. It was the most remarkable thing... it was about a 3/4" round/section of a sapling. It went up, made a complete 1/2 circle and grew straight again.  Dogwoods are also notorious for eccentric growth, but that one was a real poser.