The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-03-14

EtIA AlOAit oAA& "
another like the runners in a
relay, and il makes US aware,
grateful, humble TO learn of the
labors. the dangers and the
difficulties which the earlier
torch bearers endured that we
might live in our own days and
pass the flame downward TO
the generations who arc yet to
come.
The history of the Mississip-
ri Gulf Coast is a rich one,
and almost forgotten to the
people who live here. Some of
the greatest American histor-
ians, like Prescott, names
which themselves n almost
forgotten to the average man,
wrote some of their finest pag-
es about the explorations of
the lower Mississippi valley
and the coast. W. call the high
Wav that runs past our door
''The Old Spanish Trail" But
few Of us know why; anymore
than we know why we call
this county Jackson, the next
Harrison, the next Hancock.
In Biloxi there are q few humps
of rusted iron sitting around
which we understand vaguely
were cannons from an old
French ship sunk by a storm in
the colonial days. But we are
very vague about the whole
business. In Back BaV there is
a plaque to show that there
was an early settlement there.
And we tell one another that
our own odd Spanish Fort"
on Krebs lake is one of the
oldest frame buildings in the
Mississippi valley. But these
are scattered scrappets of in
formation, and almost none of
us has any idea of the whole
story, in coherent order. With
a little Imagination we can
guess at that story and sort Of
fill il in with the mind's.eye.
One can visualize the coast
in those long gene days when
the world was young and not
a human soul was here to hunt
in the forests teeming with
deer, turkey, birds, and bear.
Black bass, millions of bass,
spawned and fed in the rush
es of the streams, and broke
the surface with a hungry
sWirling, but no human eye
was there to see them. Then,
perhaps fifteen thousand years
ago, came the first Indian ex-
plorers and settlers, descend
ants of ar earlier adventur-
Gus race which had come into
America from Asia by way OF
Alaska.
For thousands of years the
Indians hunted and fished and
carried on a primative agrlcul-
ture, and lived out their lives
in what must have been con
sidered one of the richest hunt
ing grounds on the continent.
Their graveyard mounds are
scattered through the woods oil
these coast counties to snow
where another people lived out
a whole epoch before our com
ing. There is a certain KIND OIL
rauhlinp rose. indeed, which
botanists know from expert
ence often denotes the site O
an Indian "midden," which |:
the name for an ~overgrowr
village site. In like manner
whenever a hunter comes
across a cluster of crepe-myr
tie trees in an overgroWn clear
ing be can be fairly sure tina
long ago there was a hous'
here, and family life, for TN
myrtle is not a native tree u
our woods but one which be
speaks residence and cultiva
ton.
After thousands of years o
Indian habitation. the Spanisl
explorers came through, sweat
ing. sick with malaria fever
confused and oppressive, bu
determined to win through L
their detectives. Most of then
were what we would call To
day religious fanatics, eapabi
of committing expressions am
eruelties in the name OF reil
zion. but in their own TIM
they were brave men and GOO
Christians, by their own hght'
II ernand o DeSoto cam
through our country, down IN
trail which we speed over 10
day al sixty miles an hour l
glossy new automobiles 70
beat-lto old ones like ours). DE
Soto died near Memphis an
was buried by torohlight on TN
!, Mississippi river. one OF IN
unforgcttable scenes of Amer
lean history.
Ponce De Leone perhaps SAY
u magnificent chain OF Is
lands. our cleaning sand
beaches, and the sheen of ia
pine forests as they must hav
seemed in those days to tn
seafares. And perhaps he 10
landed here in his search te
the fountain of youth whie
led hin at last to fever an
death in Florida.
.
Then, in another rundre
years. came the French e.
plorers, LaSalle and Marquetl
down the river, and Bienvll
and Iberville around the GU
We think of Rienville al
Iberviue as adventures, bl