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Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 2 ARKANSAS POST MEMORIAL MAY BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE MENARD MOUND Menard Mound in 1882 (after drawing by H.J. Lewis). At this time its location was stated to be 1/4 mile in direct line from the Arkansas River to Poynter's Post Office and ferry and 7 miles west, by land, of Arkansas Post, on the farm of Napoleon Menard. Strong local and state support for expansion of Arkansas Post National Memorial to include famed Menard Mound was voiced during a public hearing on the subject at the Visitor Center on June 10, 1993. Principal speakers, introduced by Supt. Clark Dixon, were Joan Mitchell, a senior project coordinator for the National Park Service's Southwest Region, based at Santa Fe, NM, and Dr. John H. House, survey archaeologist for the Arkansas Archaeological Survey at University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff. Ms. Mitchell indicated the Menard-Hodges site meets NPS criteria of suitability, availability and accessibility for an extension to the Memorial seven miles distant "as the crow flies", but thirty miles by road. She noted that availability resulted from the gift of the area by the Hodges family to the Archaeological Conservancy, which is holding it in trust until a decision is reached on the mound's future. She and House also credited the Wallace family of Gillett, owner of property surrounding the site, with affording protection from depredation by curio hunters. .. £16 ISL LLwJ 1N JdJbi.it 3 Dr. House described the Menard-Hodges mound area as "one of the most important [archaeological] sites in the United States, although not well-known even locally". An increasing body of archaeological and documentary evidence testifies that the 1686 original Arkansas Post of Henri de Tonti was at the mound when the Arkansas river flowed near its base. During a slide presentation Dr. House cited in particular the memoir of Henri Joutel, one of the survivors of LaSalle's ill-fated colonization bid which had missed the mouth of the Mississippi river and wound up on what became the Texas seacoast. In 1687 Joutel was among those who set out with LaSalle from his Texas base to find their way to de Tonti's fur trading post of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois river. Although LaSalle was killed by members of his own expedition, late In July Joutel and six other survivors reached the south bank of the Arkansas river where they found de Tonti's Arkansas Post. When Joutel returned to France, he wrote an account of his experiences. His description of the Arkansas Post is the key to the argument that the Menard-Hodges site is the Quapaw village of Osotouy. The description of "a little hill where the river does not flood" in another account is "an-essential clue" to location of the [de Tonti] Post near Menard Mound, declared the archeaeologist. Adding importance to Menard Mound as an Indian cultural center was its "unusually large" plaza, designed for ceremonial purposes and comprising some two acres, Dr. House stressed. 1941 Photograph of Menard-Hodges Mound site by Phillip Phillips, Lower Missis sippi Survey, Harvard University. Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 Among the slides of the location as mapped by investigators were those from the Palmer dig for the Smithsonian in 1882-83 with sketches by talented black artist, H. J. Lewis of Pine Bluff, who subsequently was an eastern newspaper editorial cartoonist. Of especial interest to several descendants of that pioneer French family in the audience was the slide of the mound depicting the Menard residence in the background. Other slides included photos of colonial glass, trade beads, and a Mississippian style pot with an animal head enclosing rattles, apparently all removed from the Menard-Hodges area during various digs. One pot related to southern Mississippi and northeastern Louisiana artifacts dated to the 1500s. Dr. House said that Arkansas archaeologists are "very interested" in seeing that the Menard-Hodges Mound area is turned over to the National Park Service as an adjunct to the Memorial. During a question and answer period, it was stated that Senator Dale Bumpers is "most interested" in the transfer and only awaiting the NPS recommendation, if favorable, to introduce legislation for that purpose. Mitchell said, "It is up to the Arkansas congressional delegation as to what happens in the future." A longtime Gillett leader in matters affecting the Post and member of the Grand Prairie Historical Society since its 1953 organization, Ernis Gregory, said chances now would be good for solving the road distance problem from Post to Mound. He cited the fact that DeWitt attorney Claude Jenkins heads a commission dealing with routing the Great River Road through the Delta. Retired Post Superintendent D. L. Huggins queried Mitchell on the renewed interest of the National Park Service in the merger and was told that such projects were not given high priority during the Reagan-Bush years. State archaeologist Eric Peterson wondered if the Memorial is not located in the wrong place and if the Menard site might not, years from now, take precedence and be more completely developed. Others in the audience of some two dozen expressed doubt that would come to pass, given the present significant role of Arkansas Post in state history, the Civil War and other tradition. As to the feeling of Quapaw descendants, Mitchell said NPS has an Office of Indian Affairs which would be consulting with tribal leaders later in the summer. Garner Allen The proposed union of two of Arkansas' primary historical sites, Arkansas Post and Menard-Hodges Mound, was already simmering on the back burner more than fifty years ago. What follows appeared in the DeWitt Era-Enterprise of Thursday, 29 February 1940. Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 5 OLD MENARD MOUND MAY UNFOLD INTERESTING ARKANSAS HISTORY "Old Menard Mound, long one of Arkansas county's prized historical sights, is taking a high-light in present history. Dr. T. L. Hodges of near Hot Springs has bought the Menard Mound and the Cox farm on Little Prairie on which the mound is situated, and he, in company with Dr. Phillip Phillips of Harvard University have been in this section of the state the past week on an inspection of Indian mounds. "They have given special attention to the Menard Mound, which lias long been considered the largest and most important of this section. Dr. Phillips and Dr. Hodges are students of Indian archaeology and are making a special study of Menard Mound..." CORE COMMENTS: The National Park Service report at this June, 1993 hearing brought out: "In 1940 the site was acquired by Dr. and Mrs. T. L. Hodges in order to preserve its historic and archaeological integrity. Since then, part of the property has been farmed, but the remainder has been covered with heavy vegetation, and this is the condition of the site today. There has been little further disturbance of the site by relic hunters in the past 40 years, during which the NPS and the American Museum of Natural History sponsored excavations that located deep and well preserved cultural deposits. The 35 acre site has recently been acquired from the Hodges by the Archaeological Conservancy, a private non-profit group dedicated to preserving significant archeological resources." At the public hearing concerning the expansion of Arkansas Post National Memorial to include Menard Mound (1 to r) Dr. John H. House, Arkansas Ar-chaelogical Survey, UAPB; Eric Peterson, State Archaeologist; Joan Mitchell, South-west Region, National Park Service; Clark A. Dixon, Jr., Superintendent, Arkansas Post National Memorial. Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 6 Recognized in the audience (front row to back) #1 Jennie Allen, Eric Peterson; #2 Danny Slater, D.L. Huggins, J im Best, Buzzy and Barbara Menard, Boots (Ernis) Gregory; #3 Lillie Fuhrman, two unidentified, Elizabeth Gaines. Members of Quapaw Indain Tribe of Miami, Oklahoma at Mound site in November 1992 as participants in the Arkansas Post National Memorial's American Heritage Month celebration which coincided with Columbus Quincentennial activities. Tra-ditional dancers, smoke ceremony and folk tales were filmed to be used in a video production.
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Translation/Transcript | Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 2 ARKANSAS POST MEMORIAL MAY BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE MENARD MOUND Menard Mound in 1882 (after drawing by H.J. Lewis). At this time its location was stated to be 1/4 mile in direct line from the Arkansas River to Poynter's Post Office and ferry and 7 miles west, by land, of Arkansas Post, on the farm of Napoleon Menard. Strong local and state support for expansion of Arkansas Post National Memorial to include famed Menard Mound was voiced during a public hearing on the subject at the Visitor Center on June 10, 1993. Principal speakers, introduced by Supt. Clark Dixon, were Joan Mitchell, a senior project coordinator for the National Park Service's Southwest Region, based at Santa Fe, NM, and Dr. John H. House, survey archaeologist for the Arkansas Archaeological Survey at University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff. Ms. Mitchell indicated the Menard-Hodges site meets NPS criteria of suitability, availability and accessibility for an extension to the Memorial seven miles distant "as the crow flies", but thirty miles by road. She noted that availability resulted from the gift of the area by the Hodges family to the Archaeological Conservancy, which is holding it in trust until a decision is reached on the mound's future. She and House also credited the Wallace family of Gillett, owner of property surrounding the site, with affording protection from depredation by curio hunters. .. £16 ISL LLwJ 1N JdJbi.it 3 Dr. House described the Menard-Hodges mound area as "one of the most important [archaeological] sites in the United States, although not well-known even locally". An increasing body of archaeological and documentary evidence testifies that the 1686 original Arkansas Post of Henri de Tonti was at the mound when the Arkansas river flowed near its base. During a slide presentation Dr. House cited in particular the memoir of Henri Joutel, one of the survivors of LaSalle's ill-fated colonization bid which had missed the mouth of the Mississippi river and wound up on what became the Texas seacoast. In 1687 Joutel was among those who set out with LaSalle from his Texas base to find their way to de Tonti's fur trading post of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois river. Although LaSalle was killed by members of his own expedition, late In July Joutel and six other survivors reached the south bank of the Arkansas river where they found de Tonti's Arkansas Post. When Joutel returned to France, he wrote an account of his experiences. His description of the Arkansas Post is the key to the argument that the Menard-Hodges site is the Quapaw village of Osotouy. The description of "a little hill where the river does not flood" in another account is "an-essential clue" to location of the [de Tonti] Post near Menard Mound, declared the archeaeologist. Adding importance to Menard Mound as an Indian cultural center was its "unusually large" plaza, designed for ceremonial purposes and comprising some two acres, Dr. House stressed. 1941 Photograph of Menard-Hodges Mound site by Phillip Phillips, Lower Missis sippi Survey, Harvard University. Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 Among the slides of the location as mapped by investigators were those from the Palmer dig for the Smithsonian in 1882-83 with sketches by talented black artist, H. J. Lewis of Pine Bluff, who subsequently was an eastern newspaper editorial cartoonist. Of especial interest to several descendants of that pioneer French family in the audience was the slide of the mound depicting the Menard residence in the background. Other slides included photos of colonial glass, trade beads, and a Mississippian style pot with an animal head enclosing rattles, apparently all removed from the Menard-Hodges area during various digs. One pot related to southern Mississippi and northeastern Louisiana artifacts dated to the 1500s. Dr. House said that Arkansas archaeologists are "very interested" in seeing that the Menard-Hodges Mound area is turned over to the National Park Service as an adjunct to the Memorial. During a question and answer period, it was stated that Senator Dale Bumpers is "most interested" in the transfer and only awaiting the NPS recommendation, if favorable, to introduce legislation for that purpose. Mitchell said, "It is up to the Arkansas congressional delegation as to what happens in the future." A longtime Gillett leader in matters affecting the Post and member of the Grand Prairie Historical Society since its 1953 organization, Ernis Gregory, said chances now would be good for solving the road distance problem from Post to Mound. He cited the fact that DeWitt attorney Claude Jenkins heads a commission dealing with routing the Great River Road through the Delta. Retired Post Superintendent D. L. Huggins queried Mitchell on the renewed interest of the National Park Service in the merger and was told that such projects were not given high priority during the Reagan-Bush years. State archaeologist Eric Peterson wondered if the Memorial is not located in the wrong place and if the Menard site might not, years from now, take precedence and be more completely developed. Others in the audience of some two dozen expressed doubt that would come to pass, given the present significant role of Arkansas Post in state history, the Civil War and other tradition. As to the feeling of Quapaw descendants, Mitchell said NPS has an Office of Indian Affairs which would be consulting with tribal leaders later in the summer. Garner Allen The proposed union of two of Arkansas' primary historical sites, Arkansas Post and Menard-Hodges Mound, was already simmering on the back burner more than fifty years ago. What follows appeared in the DeWitt Era-Enterprise of Thursday, 29 February 1940. Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 5 OLD MENARD MOUND MAY UNFOLD INTERESTING ARKANSAS HISTORY "Old Menard Mound, long one of Arkansas county's prized historical sights, is taking a high-light in present history. Dr. T. L. Hodges of near Hot Springs has bought the Menard Mound and the Cox farm on Little Prairie on which the mound is situated, and he, in company with Dr. Phillip Phillips of Harvard University have been in this section of the state the past week on an inspection of Indian mounds. "They have given special attention to the Menard Mound, which lias long been considered the largest and most important of this section. Dr. Phillips and Dr. Hodges are students of Indian archaeology and are making a special study of Menard Mound..." CORE COMMENTS: The National Park Service report at this June, 1993 hearing brought out: "In 1940 the site was acquired by Dr. and Mrs. T. L. Hodges in order to preserve its historic and archaeological integrity. Since then, part of the property has been farmed, but the remainder has been covered with heavy vegetation, and this is the condition of the site today. There has been little further disturbance of the site by relic hunters in the past 40 years, during which the NPS and the American Museum of Natural History sponsored excavations that located deep and well preserved cultural deposits. The 35 acre site has recently been acquired from the Hodges by the Archaeological Conservancy, a private non-profit group dedicated to preserving significant archeological resources." At the public hearing concerning the expansion of Arkansas Post National Memorial to include Menard Mound (1 to r) Dr. John H. House, Arkansas Ar-chaelogical Survey, UAPB; Eric Peterson, State Archaeologist; Joan Mitchell, South-west Region, National Park Service; Clark A. Dixon, Jr., Superintendent, Arkansas Post National Memorial. Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN OCTOBER 1993 6 Recognized in the audience (front row to back) #1 Jennie Allen, Eric Peterson; #2 Danny Slater, D.L. Huggins, J im Best, Buzzy and Barbara Menard, Boots (Ernis) Gregory; #3 Lillie Fuhrman, two unidentified, Elizabeth Gaines. Members of Quapaw Indain Tribe of Miami, Oklahoma at Mound site in November 1992 as participants in the Arkansas Post National Memorial's American Heritage Month celebration which coincided with Columbus Quincentennial activities. Tra-ditional dancers, smoke ceremony and folk tales were filmed to be used in a video production. |
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