The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1908-04-03
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TO COLLECT RELICS
Scientists will Investigate the
Life and Habits Of Former
Louisiana Inhabitants.

etic Uduho vi tue pEOtuiuout
streams of Louisiana, and par
ticularIy its denseIy wooded
swamps and cane brakes were the
hunting and fishing grounds of
the aborig.nes who peopled this
continent at the time of its
discovery. Everywhere relics of
their occupancy are being un-
earthed along the great streams,
and mounds used as burial
grounds are found on the high
lands contiguous to the valleys.
Ancient Natchitoches seems to
have been a favorite trysting
place for several tribes of the
Indians. The cemetery of that
city was the site of a fort erected
by the earlier settlers as a safe
guard against the inroads of the
savage tribes that dwelt through
out this section of Louisiana.
In fact the cemetery seems to
have been once used as the burial
ground of the Indians. Excava-
tons have brought to light flint
arrow and spear heads and por-
tions of the weapons and rough
tools of the former ssvages. The
relics belonging to the natives
seem scattered over q wide scope
of the country.
At the site here mentioned, it
is q part of history that the
remnant of the Natchez tribe
made their last stand and were
virtually wiped out of existence.
1t was but a short time ago
when this writer carried to the
Journal, of Shreveport, a number
of relics of pottery plowed up in
one of the fields of the j. T.
Clark place, near Irma, but o
short distance from his present
place of residence.
Such discoveries but emphasize
the proposed investigation by the
Academy of Natural Science into
the habits. customs and manner
of life of the nomadic tribes of
aborigines that dwelt amid the
forest Businesses of the tangled
wildwoods and hunted and fished
along the streams and bayous of
this section.
There are many old settlers
who could furnish valuable clues
that would lead to reliable and
interesting information touching
the earlier inhabitants of the
hills and valleys of Louisiana.
This work would prove of alb
sorbing and enticing interest to
the scientific explorer after relics
and other interesting data con-
nected with the people who were
its occupants, mayhap centuries
before the white man trod its
soil and his advanced civilization
drove them westward, until they
have become almost extinct in
their struggles to stem the tide of
the higher civilization and their
intermingling and intermarriage
with the descendants of the
Angl Saxon race.
The records in the court house
at Natchitoches contain docu-
ments that date back nearly a
Century snd. q half, and are
replete with Interesting data con-
nected with the earlier days of
this republic, and are calculated
to throw considerable light on
the period when this land was
q comparative wilderness. They
relate many of the incidents Of
that period; the settlement of the
country; military expeditions infs
the Businesses of the forest and
cane brakes, and other interest
ing incidents connected with that
remote period.
This Information il recalled
and published to throw some
light upon the proposed investi-
| cation, and in the hope that il
may prove of vslue and assistance
| 20 tho ecieut;sts who NAV conduct