We kind of got off on a tangent here with bois d'arc hedge trees so this is my Segway into a survey I did at least 25 years ago on a narrow constricted loop of a tributary entering the Red River on the Oklahoma side.
Because of the narrowness and restricted access to this deeply entrenched loop it had never been plowed or developed. The area was a forest of ancient bois d'arc with diameters of 4 to 5 feet and resembled very much (in my mind) an old mature pecan grove with little undergrowth.  That was the only thing like it I could compare it to.  This little remnant ancient forest was breathtaking and I will never forget it.  The trees must have been at least 150 years old.  And yes Terrance, single old trees were also always associated with Removal Period farmsteads around Lake Eufaula in Eastern Oklahoma on surveys I did there.  

Charles D. Neel
Vice President

Red River Archaeology, LLC
10100 North Central Expressway, Suite 160
Dallas, TX 75231
Office: 214-741-2252
Cell: 214-478-4424

________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of WEIK, TERRANCE [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2015 8:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Selective bibliography - ICOMOS Documentation centre

I had a similar experience with these trees. The bois d¹arc (³bodocks² in
the local lingo) were effective site location markers when I was doing a
survey in search of 19-20th c. northern mississippi tenant farmer
homesites at a plantation called Strawberry Plains (which was reclaimed by
an audubon chapter and reforested). They were usually right next to the
wood frame houses I found. I often found the trees in clusters or
sometimes in looser scatters and would follow them until I found the house.

Terrance  Weik
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of South Carolina




On 6/26/15, 8:04 PM, "David Parkhill" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Yes, bois d'arc  was used as fence post among other choices items.
>Indians and early pioneers used thorns for needles along with mesquite
>trees. Indians also used Bois d'arc for bows. If you can find the write
>up by Bill Holm he shows plots on his maps where the Indians took very
>young saplings along with them on the War Trail, in West Texas. The
>camping spots shows part of the Comanche War Trails  which are many. A
>very dear friend of mine made some of the most beautiful bows which were
>valued by his friends.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>Barbara Hickman
>Sent: Friday, June 26, 2015 4:04 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Selective bibliography - ICOMOS Documentation centre
>
>Linda, this anecdotal, but it seems a good example. My grandfather
>(1863-1951) used bois d'arc  along some property lines here in central
>Texas in lieu of barb wire. He is said to have thought 'bodark' was more
>effective at keeping cattle inside the property than wire. It grew
>quickly into an almost impenetrable hedge.
>
>David T. Parkhill
>Avocational Archaeologist
>
>Barbara J Hickman
>Archeologist III
>Archeological Studies Program
>Environmental Affairs Division
>Texas Department of Transportation
>125 East 11th Street
>Austin TX 78701
>512-416-2637
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kate
>Johnson
>Sent: Friday, June 26, 2015 3:58 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Selective bibliography - ICOMOS Documentation centre
>
>Linda,
>
>I read a couple papers that describe the use of osage orange hedge
>specifically as fencing and meant to distinguish specific boundaries.The
>3rd footnote to the second paper (Hewes & Jung 1981) also references
>several sources that note the use of ditches alone or ditches plus fence
>/ hedge as being used to demarcate legal property boundaries. Hopefully
>one of these sources can be of use!
>
>
>
>* Hewes, L. 1981. Early fencing on the western margins of the prairie.
>Annals of the Association of American Geographers 71 (4):499­526. Hewes,
>L., and C. L. Jung. 1981. Early Fencing on the Middle Western Prairie.
>Annals of the Association of American Geographers 71 (2):177­201.*
>
>Footnote from Hewes & Jung 1981:
>
>Herbert G. Schmidt, *Agriculture in New Jersey* (New Brunswick: Rutgers
>University Press, 1973),  p.73, cites ditches as legal enclosures as
>early as 1730. Lewis Cecil Gray, *History of Agriculture in the Southern
>United States to 1860*, Vol. 1 (New York: Peter Smith, 1941), p. 540,
>refers to the occasional use of ditches and sod fences supplemented by
>small post and rail fences on the embankments. Stevenson Whitecomb
>Fletcher, *Pennsylvania Agriculture and** Country Life, 1640-1840*
>(Harrisburg:
>PennsylvaniaHistorical and Museum Commission, 1950), p. 87, cites the use
>of ditches with hedges in 1778. See also John A. Warder, *Hedges and
>Evergreens: A complete Manual for the Cultivation, Pruning, and
>Management of all Plants suitable for American Hedging; especially the
>Maclura, or Osage Orange* (New York: Orange Judd Company, Agriculture
>Book Publishers,Press, 1858),  pp. 174, 195, 201.
>
>Best wishes,
>Kate
>
>On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 2:35 PM, Linda Derry <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>
>> Histarchers,
>>
>> I need your help. There is a cemetery in our archaeological park that
>> was established by the Alabama legislature in 1851 but we can't find
>> any legal records that describe the boundaries.  However there are
>> historical records (newspaper reports mostly) that say that the
>> cemetery was "surrounded by a ditch" and a few years after it was
>> created, an osage orange hedge was planted just inside the ditch.
>>
>> Today, the ditch is still very apparent, and there are a few  aged
>> osage orange trees too.
>>
>> Our attorney has told us he does't think that he can use the ditch as
>> evidence of the boundary, because of the word "surrounds" since, as he
>> says, "its like saying that  the Indians surrounded the fort  and that
>> doesn't imply  they were establishing a boundary."  A fence he would
>> accept, and he may consider the osage orange, but he doesn't seem to
>> think we can protect the ditch from our neighbor's bulldozers.
>>
>> So, I am turning to you for help.  Are there other examples of
>> graveyards that were enclosed by ditches, or documented  evidence that
>> ditches were used as boundary markers.  I'm trying to argue that
>> historically ditches were just as real as fences in establishing
>>boundaries.
>>
>> Linda Derry
>> Site Director, Old Cahawba Archaeological Park Alabama Historical
>> Commission
>> 719 Tremont Street, Selma, AL 36701
>> office:  334/875-2529
>> park:  334/ 872-8058
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>
>--
>*Katharine Johnson*
>PhD Candidate, Dept of Geography
>Geospatial Data & Web Development Specialist Map and Geographic
>Information Center Connecticut State Data Center University of
>Connecticut [log in to unmask]
>http://geomorphology.uconn.edu/research-group/kate-johnson/
><http://uconn.academia.edu/KatharineJohnson>
>Talk. Text. Crash.
>
>
>[Talk. Text.
>Crash.]<http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/traffic/safety/share-ro
>ad/distracted.html>