Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

On one of the early expeditions to explore, map, and understand the wilderness that spread out for thousands of miles to the west, President Thomas Jefferson authorized both the Lewis and Clark expedition to the North West, and the Freeman Curtis Expedition to explore land and find the headwaters of the Red River. Both trips were authorized and begun in 1806. While the Lewis and Clark expedition was successful, the Freeman Curtis Expedition was thwarted by spies and intrigue.

Spain which controlled all the southwestern lands in the Southwestern part of this country at the time was tipped off of the pending exploration and had a military force intercept it in East Texas and rather than start an armed conflict, the expedition turned back and returned to the Louisiana territory which had just been purchased from France in 1803 bringing into the U.S. 828,000 square miles of territory for $15,000,000.

While the Red River Expedition was greatly overshadowed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Northwest, it had some success in mapping the lower part of the Red River Valley, gained some idea of the Native American tribes living there and the general landscape. President Jefferson had intended that this expedition find the head waters of the Red River and if possible, a trading route to Santa Fe. He had hoped they would contact the various tribes of Native Americans, collect the flora and fauna, map the terrain and topography, and assess the land whether it was suitable for settlement.

On April 19, 1806, a 24-member party set out on two flat bottom barges and one pirogue from Fort Adams, near Natchez, Mississippi. Due to his own intent for personal gain, a U.S. general, James Wilkerson of Louisiana sent a secret message to the Spanish officials of the Red River Expedition, which caused it to be intercepted on July 28, 1806, about 615 miles upstream near New Boston, Texas. Being heavily outnumbered and with instructions not to start any armed conflict, the expedition returned down river to Louisiana.

In the summer of 1806, General James Wilkerson dispatched Lt. Zebulon Pike to conduct an expedition to explore the Southwest. General Wilkerson did this without the consent or knowledge of President Jefferson. Here the intrigue begins.

General Wilkerson was governor of the territory of Louisiana and commanding officer of the U.S. Army was at the same time on the payroll of the Spanish government. By the time of the Pike Expedition, Wilkerson had, in collusion with Aaron Burr, concocted a scheme to establish an empire in the South West which would be made up of the trans Appalachian states and conquest of Mexico.

Was Lt. Pike a willing accomplice in the scheme duped by his superior officer just an ambitious young man duped by his superior officer? The answer to that is moot. But Burr’s and Wilkerson’s part of the scheme are not. The gest of this plot was for an armed conflict to break out between the United States and Spain would create such a distraction and allow them to create another country in the central part of the country while the warring nations were busy elsewhere.

Among the new discoveries the Freeman Curtis Expedition made in their aborted trip was Osage orange, or Bois D Arc trees which were native to a large section of North Texas, Eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. Its official name is Madura Pomifera, but is also known as Horse Apple, Bodark, Yellow Wood, and Naranjo Chino. This is a deciduous shade tree that grows from 40 to 60 feet tall. It is fast growing but has shallow roots.

It became known as an excellent hedge because of its fast growth and thorns. It has been difficult to determine exactly where its native home is because of all the subsequent planting in hedge rows.
During the depression, and the dust-bowl era, thousands of miles of hedge rows of Bois D Arc trees were planted to help control wind erosion.

One report that the invention of barbed wire came as a result of someone seeing the effectiveness of the Bois D Arc thorns in the hedge rows that had been planted. The saying describing this type of hedge became, Horse high, Bull strong, and Hog proof! Meaning that horse could not jump over, a bull could not push its way through nor could a hog. Because of the green sap and hard wood, the trees provided strong and durable fence posts that were highly resistant to rotting and lasted a very long time.

An interesting story that I’ve written about elsewhere, but will also record here is that Captain Boggess, CSA, who was one of the founders of Saint Jo, previously named Head of Elm, was in charge of supplies of his Confederate Regiment during the war, came and bought the land for which he surveyed and established this town in Montague County, Texas.

He also owned a trading post at Spanish Fort, on Red River about 15 miles north of Saint Jo. He benefitted from the flourishing business of selling supplies to the drovers who were driving longhorn cattle up to the markets in Kansas. He related in an article in the Saint Jo Tribune that during Comanche attacks on this remote settlement, the only place he found to be safe from rifle fire was behind a Bois D Arc door that he had installed in his building. His refuge provide safety because he knew that Bois D Arc wood was very hard and would no shatter upon being struck by bullets.

Later in life, when he closed his business in Spanish Fort and built a new home back in Saint Jo, but he had this same Bois D Arc door placed as the front door of his new home. Then according to this same newspaper account, upon his death, he requested that this same door be placed over his coffin upon his burial.

Possibly he intended to protect his mortal body from any coyotes, or other wild animals digging it up with the protection of this bullet proof door. No mention is made of why he chose to do this. His passing was mourned by pioneers, from the governor and other politically powerful, the movers and shakers of Texas, and was reported in the Tribune.

For more details and use of Bois D Arc wood and products, or about General James Wilkerson and Aaron Burr, use Bing or Google to read the extensive information regarding this unusual wood and men.

Just Sayin...RJS

EZ Fishing Loc: College Ward, Utah

Great history lesson RJS.

Fredfish Loc: Prospect CT.

Fascinating RJ, thanks for the history lesson.

dec341

Good stuff. Welcome to the history cannel. Lewis and Clark lost only one man and that was due to natural causes. An Indian girl helped guide them to the Pacific. She had a son by one of the men. When they returned she gave up the child to go with the father and be raised as an American. Wonder what ever happened to him. When they reached the ocean the only had fish to eat. Couldn't wait to get back east and find red meat. Is this all true or did I just dream it. Your comments?

bottomcoon Loc: Tahlequah, oklahoma

Good lesson RJS. We used Bois D Arc post on the farm. Most of the time the barb wire was attached to the post with bailing wire because when the Bois D Arc post (which was always crooked) dried out it would literally spit out the staple. Thanks for the memory.

Sport Loc: Sacramento county north. California

Thank you Robert. Good read. I read a cute novel years ago. A fictional expedition of the Louisiana Purchase. "Embarrassment of riches". I don't remember the author. I do remember it was amusing.

Frank romero Loc: Clovis, NM

This is what I like to read. I have always been interested in history. Thanks for posting Mr Samples

Glenn R. Loc: Southern Illinois

Very nice post and history!!

To add:

From the internet:

(Early French explorers named the Osage orange (maclura pomifera) tree “bois d'arc,” meaning “wood of the arc,” because its younger branches were used for making strong and resilient bows.)

Actually, selfbows, English longbows,
and those of recent history are made from a stave, split from a trunk. The outer growth rings of the tree (hardwood, not the sapwood) become the back of the bow and the inner rings become the belly of the bow. Osage is one of the unique woods that has both tremendous strength under tension and compression, the two forces at work as the bow is arced. And what a glorious yellow /gold color when first cut. As the wood ages it continues to darken, eventually becoming a deep dark brown. The trick is letting the wood dry slowly by sealing the ends of the log or stave so as not to lose moisture too rapidly. If the wood has too much moisture while bending and filleting the bow a set will occur, and too dry the wood will break. For most bow woods a common moisture level is 8% to 12%. Once the bows target weight is reached and limbs tillered the wood is sealed to always keep this moisture content in the bow.

Primitive man (Stone Age) without modern tools and having to rely on smaller trees split with deer antler or stone were made as (backward) bows in which the outer part of the tree became the belly and had an oval cross section. There are several good examples in history museums around the world.

Anyone interested in primitive bow building would be well served to purchase the bowyers bibles (a 4 book set) and is one of my favorite collections.

Glenn R. Loc: Southern Illinois

I hate spell check!!! Lol

Above I put in the word “tillering” several times and spell check kept changing it to “filleting”. I guess it snuck it back in again when I wasn’t watching 🧐

GlsJr40 Loc: Dallas, Tx.

There is a book "Sacajawea" by Anna Lee Waldo that chronicles the life of the Indian girl that was interpreter/guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition. Sacajawea was the teenage wife of Toussiant Charbonneau. Toussaint was a French trapper that was familiar with the Indians and, long story short, won Sacajawea in a gambling game from one of the Indians that had owned her after she had been captured from another tribe earlier.

Toussaint became aware of the planned Lewis and Clark expedition and applied to join the expedition with his wife, Sacajawea, as an interpreter since she was familiar with multiple tribes of the Western area of the country though which they would be traveling. Actually she was just an interpreter, not a guide. However, she ended up being critically important to the success of the expedition due to her knowledge of the areas through which they would be travelling, and her ability to communicate and barter for food and necessities. Toussaint was mostly just excess baggage. In today's parlance, he would probably be considered the black sheep of the family.

In the early stages of the expedition, Sacajawea gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, and the trip was halted for a couple of days so she could recover from the childbirth. As time passed William Clark became very fond of the baby and used the nickname "Pomp" for his name. About twenty or so miles southeast of Billings. Montana is a large rock beside the Yellowstone River that he named Pompeys Pillar. Also, on the face of one of the sides is an engraving with William Clark's name and the date July 25, 1806. He had given the name Pompey's Pillar to the monument. This was on the return trip back from the West coast.

The expedition eventually returned to the St. Louis, Mo. area at it's conclusion. Supposedly, Jean Baptiste was sent to be educated in England by a benefactor (?). At that time the record of Toussaint and Sacajewea becomes somewhat confusing. There seems to not be any clear history of what happened to either. As for Sacajewea, it is believed that she lived a long life, but her grave site is in debate - some think it's on the Wind River Reservation, but others think differently. This book doesn't reveal what happened to Toussaint and Jean Baptist (Pomp), It discusses some of the conjecture but admits that few additional facts are known. This book has been very engrossing to read, but takes a while. With all the bibliography, footnotes, etc., it's about 1400 pages of small print. I'm sure there is a number of other publications that document the expedition, but I haven't done any real investigative research.

I do have a geneology chart tracing the Charbonneau family from the time of the immigration of Oliver Charbonneau from France to Montreal, Canada in 1659. Toussaint was a fifth generation decendant of Oliver. I'm an eleventh generation decendant of Oliver. However, I decended from Toussaint's uncle (his dad's older brother). Over the years the spelling of the Charbonneau name has gone though about 50 variations, probably because we were mostly poor uneducated people, Ha! No royalty, no landowners - just humble hard working citizens. Today, our family and known relatives spell the name Sharbono - same pronunciation being spelled more anglicized. There are quite a few people with the same name with various minor difference in spelling. Most are in the St. Louis, Mo. area, or in the Northwestern states such as Montana, Washington, etc.

Well, you did solicit comments - right.?

GlsJr40 Loc: Dallas, Tx.

Mr. Samples, I enjoyed your story on Bodark (better known as Bois D Arc). I know it is great for a number of applications as you mentioned. To me, I love fishing around the Bois D Arc tree tops in the impounded lakes. I fish principally for crappie and the tree tops provide a choice habitat. I usually fish in Lake Lavon, northeast of Dallas. There are still numerous tops remaining after over 60+ years of the lake being impounded. I can tell you for certain it takes a while for Bois D Arc to weather away. I believe I have also heard it being called 'iron wood' and I can surely understand why.

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Thanks for the tip. I have ordered the book you mentioned, and it should be here this week. Thanks again. Those are the kind of stories i really enjoy. Just Sayin...RJS