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Trail trees or trail marker trees are hardwood trees throughout North America that Native Americans intentionally shaped with distinctive characteristics that convey that the tree was shaped by man rather than deformed by nature or disease. A massive network of constructed pre-Columbian roads and trails has been well documented across the Americas, and in many places remnants can still be found of trails used by hunters and gatherers. One unique characteristic of the trail marker tree is a horizontal bend several feet off the ground, which makes it visible at greater distances, even in snow. Even today, modern hunters look for horizontal shapes while hunting deer, elk and moose. A Dr. Janssen noted in 1941: These distinctively shaped trees have been photographed and documented in the Great Lakes Region by scientists and historians since the early 1800s. ==Examples of documented trail marker trees== A trail marker tree on the border of Mettawa and west Lake Forest, Illinois was one of eleven similarly shaped trail marker trees, all oaks, in a long line that helped lead Native Americans on a less traveled trail of the area from the Highland Park area on towards west Lake Forest and Mettawa towards the Chain of Lakes and Antioch, and finally directing them on to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. This trail marker tree was visited by several Native American elders, the DAR, and documented and photographed by Raymond E. Janssen, PhD in 1934. The trail tree known as the white oak trail marker tree was one of 11 in the Highland Park, Illinois area that led northwesterly and had been photographed and documented going back to the 1800s. The trail tree known as first oak trail marker tree near Monterey, Tennessee is one of two trail marker trees on private property near Monterey, Tennessee. The town of Monterey was originally named Standing Stone. Traditional American Indian ceremonies are still held to honor the standing stone in Monterey. The trail tree known as marker tree in Gilmer County, Georgia is a traditional oak trail marker tree located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains The trail tree known as white oak marker tree in Traverse City is a traditional trail marker tree and has been protected by the people of Traverse City, Michigan for decades. This tree is in Traverse City Park, one of two that stood in the park. This remaining tree has been protected by the local historians. There have been ceremonies performed at the tree and a chain link fence has been erected to protect this treasured landmark. The trail marker tree in White County, Indiana is one of two enormous white oak trail marker trees in White County, Indiana, and is estimated to be over 350 years old. These trees are on private property, cared for and protected by the homeowners and assisted by the community out of respect to the Native Americans. In an article published by The Indiana Historian, September 2001, a Miami Elder and Teacher spoke “that there are fewer than a handful of these “Trail Trees” left in Indiana today. These special gifts were made for our People as they journeyed to find their way back home to the loved ones in the circle. Intentionally bent, this magnificent tree still stands.”〔The Indiana Historian, September 2001〕 In regards to this historic tree, an American Indian in White County named Buffalo Heart referred to the ancient tree as 'Grandfather' and recounted numerous trail marker trees throughout White County from her childhood. Much of the early research in this area in Indiana was by historian Marilyn Abbott, according to Madden and Dold in the 175th Anniversary of White County. The trail tree known as trail marker tree in Michigan was shaped in 1930 at the direction of park designer Herbert F. Larson Sr. by two Ojibwe men: "When Larson asked the two Indian men to retrace the old trail, Larson would have insisted (by his known interest in Ojibwe culture), that they mark the trail in Indian fashion rather than by cemented rock stanchions or metal regar."〔Otchingwanigan, Earl and Christie (9/2/2011). Native American Indian Trail Marker Trees: Collaborative Evidence Concerning Two Recently Discovered Trees in Iron County, Michigan. pp. 3-4.〕 There is a trail tree known as the trail marker tree in Highland Park, Illinois. Large trees that exhibit deformed growth and distinctive forms bent in a vertical plane are sometimes labeled ''trail trees'', ''marker trees'', ''thong trees'', or ''signal trees'' by enthusiasts. Historically, these unique trees were commonly known as ''Indian trail trees''. Proponents of trail tree lore claim these unique forms are culturally modified trees used to mark trails or important places. Distinctively bent trees have long been noted throughout the Temperate Deciduous Forest of eastern North America. The extent to which indigenous peoples used such trees as navigational aids, and whether such trees were formed by anthropogenic or natural means is controversial. There was a bent pecan tree in what used to be a preferred Comanche campsite because of the abundance of water and food sources including buffalo, deer, turkey, pecans, plums and fresh grass for the their ponies. It is a Comanche Marker Tree located in Gateway Park in the city of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. Chairman Wallace E. Coffey of the Comanche Nation signed a Comanche Proclamation April 26, 1997 which reads in part, "NOW THEREFORE, I, WALLACE E. COFFEY, Chairman of the Comanche Indian Tribe, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution of the Comanche Indian Tribe, hereby proclaim and recognize the historic status of the INDIAN MARKER TREE. I further call upon all Comanche Tribal Citizens of the State of Texas to observe this occasion with suitable ceremony and prayer. In Comanche Country, U.S.A. Given under my hand and the Seal of the Comanche Indian Tribe, this 26th day of April, 1997. Signed Wallace E. Coffey, Chairman". This was the first of many Comanche Marker Trees to be officially recognized by the Comanche Nation. Unfortunately, one year after the proclamation was signed on Memorial Day in May 1998, the winds of a severe thunderstorm brought down the top portion of the tree. Steve Houser, founding member and past president of the Texas Historic Tree Coalition (TxHTC), as well as the tree's consulting arborist worked with numerous plant pathologists who made every attempt to revive the tree- going so far as to provide an "IV" of small pecans grafted to the base of the tree trunk. Sadly, their efforts failed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Trail trees」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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