Trail trees, trail marker trees, crooked trees, prayer trees, thong trees, or culturally modified trees are hardwood trees throughout North America that Native Americans intentionally shaped with distinctive characteristics that convey that the tree was shaped by human activity rather than deformed by nature or disease. A massive network of constructed pre-Columbian roads and trails have 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.
Among the many crooked trees encountered, only a few are Indian trail markers. The casual observer often experiences difficulty in distinguishing between accidentally deformed trees and those ... purposely bent by the Indians. Deformities may occur in many ways. A large tree may fall upon a sapling, pinning it down for a sufficient length of time to establish a permanent bend. Lightning may split a trunk, causing a portion to fall or lean in such a way as to resemble an Indian marker. Wind, sleet snow or depredations by animals may cause accidental deformities in trees. However, such injuries leave scars which are apparent to the careful observer, and these may serve in distinguishing such trees from Indian trail markers
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Jean Baptiste Berard (or Boreaux, as his descendants have it), established his trading post here (Henrietta Twp, Jackson Co Michigan) in 1831, and said he had settled here in 1816; his name was commonly written Battise by the early settlers, and nearby Batteese Lake was named for him.
Jean B. Berard, French-Canadian voyageur, trader & fur trader who migrated to the undeveloped interior of Michigan from Canada, 1816. As a fur trader, he would have been attracted to the Great Lakes& Michigan inland waterways-an economic lifeline for trappers, farmers, & lumbermen. On these waterways, fur traders set their traps, & flatboats traveled to & from carrying crops, logs & pelts.
Berard's travels through Michigan came to a stop when he stepped foot in Henrietta Township. The lush landscape & streams appealed to him.
The wanderer decided to settle down on the east shore of the lake that would bear his name, in Henrietta Township, Michigan, Berard established a thriving business, which historians described as "the earliest trading place in Central Michigan." The business was housed in a log cabin "in which he kept a large stock of goods to swap with the Indians for furs.
He continued to live in this spot "long years after the last Pottawatomi disappeared from the county & became "the last French trader known in Jackson County."
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This boulder marks the site where John Batteese Berrard Built the first Indian Trading Post in Jackson County
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"Water Is Life"
West Branch Red Cedar River's is a tributary to the Red Cedar River.
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