Article
QUOTE
The Rock Pile Mountain dismay
Nov 28, 2006 04:30 PM CST
(Photo: Galen Culver, KFOR-TV-DT)
GALEN CULVER REPORTING
BEAVER'S BEND, Okla. -- When you grow up in a certain place and you get used to things being a certain way, a sudden change can bring a shock to the system. A case in point is with a mountain man from southeast Oklahoma and a McCurtain County historical site that most people have never seen.
He's been through these woods dozens of times. Steve Due knows the steep trails and remote hogbacks of McCurtain County better than just about anyone.
"First time I was here was in 1952," recalls mountain man Steve. "And there hadn't been any dam built or any new roads of any kind."
When someone mentions Rock Pile Mountain on the forest side of Broken Bow Lake, Steve can either point it out or, given enough time and patience, he can take you to the mysterious rock piles left by Indian tribes of old.
"It's some kind of pre-historic site," says Due. "And what its purpose is, I don't know. It's possible that it was a burial mound. It's possible that it was a religious site."
Overlooking the Mountain Fork River, Steve thinks either the ancient Caddo or the more recent Choctaws piled up a line of several rock mounds; probably as burial sites.
The place was so remote that no one really bothered them, but on his most recent visit that had changed.
"What they've done there is beyond me," exclaims Due.
Steve Due and another local historian, Luis Stiles, could only find one mound left. The rest were gone with the hillside. They were swept away to make room for a new radio tower.
"But I do know one thing," he says. "They oughtn't to have built that thing if there was any chance of ruining artifacts."
Steve and Luis take a few measurements of the mounds that are left. They note some recent excavations. Then take a last look. Luis visited this spot fifty years ago. Steve visited it more recently.
"I came back in here about 15 years ago," Due says.
Both are familiar with how quickly their world is changing. They know now those changes can even reach as high as Rock Pile Mountain.
Near Beaver's Bend in McCurtain County I'm Galen Culver for NewsChannel 4. Is this a great state or what!
Steve Due is a retired Defense Department contractor. Luis Stiles runs a museum near Broken Bow. Neither can recall any formal study of what was beneath the mounds on Rock Pile Mountain.
Nov 28, 2006 04:30 PM CST
(Photo: Galen Culver, KFOR-TV-DT)
GALEN CULVER REPORTING
BEAVER'S BEND, Okla. -- When you grow up in a certain place and you get used to things being a certain way, a sudden change can bring a shock to the system. A case in point is with a mountain man from southeast Oklahoma and a McCurtain County historical site that most people have never seen.
He's been through these woods dozens of times. Steve Due knows the steep trails and remote hogbacks of McCurtain County better than just about anyone.
"First time I was here was in 1952," recalls mountain man Steve. "And there hadn't been any dam built or any new roads of any kind."
When someone mentions Rock Pile Mountain on the forest side of Broken Bow Lake, Steve can either point it out or, given enough time and patience, he can take you to the mysterious rock piles left by Indian tribes of old.
"It's some kind of pre-historic site," says Due. "And what its purpose is, I don't know. It's possible that it was a burial mound. It's possible that it was a religious site."
Overlooking the Mountain Fork River, Steve thinks either the ancient Caddo or the more recent Choctaws piled up a line of several rock mounds; probably as burial sites.
The place was so remote that no one really bothered them, but on his most recent visit that had changed.
"What they've done there is beyond me," exclaims Due.
Steve Due and another local historian, Luis Stiles, could only find one mound left. The rest were gone with the hillside. They were swept away to make room for a new radio tower.
"But I do know one thing," he says. "They oughtn't to have built that thing if there was any chance of ruining artifacts."
Steve and Luis take a few measurements of the mounds that are left. They note some recent excavations. Then take a last look. Luis visited this spot fifty years ago. Steve visited it more recently.
"I came back in here about 15 years ago," Due says.
Both are familiar with how quickly their world is changing. They know now those changes can even reach as high as Rock Pile Mountain.
Near Beaver's Bend in McCurtain County I'm Galen Culver for NewsChannel 4. Is this a great state or what!
Steve Due is a retired Defense Department contractor. Luis Stiles runs a museum near Broken Bow. Neither can recall any formal study of what was beneath the mounds on Rock Pile Mountain.
