There is an Indian mound - or was - in West Carroll Parish, located east of Oak Grove on the Jewel Head farm where Highway 2 crosses the Macon River to Lake Providence. According to Mr. Head, this mound was about 60 high and covered nearly one acre. He employed Henry Tyson to clear land and level this mound so the area could be cultivated. This took place some fifteen or twenty years ago (1951 or 1955). Mr. Tyson uncovered an iron casket, without seams on either side or bottom, indicating it was made in a mold several centuries before. When the lid was removed the remains faded like ashes; however, they were able to tell it was a white man with grey, reddish hair. He had on an apron with the Masonic emblem. The buttons on his coat indicated an officer of some army. This casket was reburied with no one knowing the age, where he came from, or who was in it. Mr. Head believes this type casket was once made in England. It was narrow at the head and feet, wide at the shoulders, to exactly fit the man. Several have speculated that the man was with an expedition on the Mississippi River and died in the vicinity of Lake Providence. The Indians, being friendly, allowed his comrades to bring him across the swamp, no doubt dry at the time, and bury him in their burial ground, where high water never came. Joe Kelly, who viewed the remains in the casket, believed the man was the husband of a rich heiress, who came to this area where she had acquired a large tract of land . He saw this land record in the Clerk of Court Office, and he could be right about the man in the casket. No one will ever know for sure. Several years later while the highway department was building a new road along Macon River, graves were unearthed with mussel shell in them. These were on the edge of the old mound, and Mr. Head believes these were Indian graves as they were filled the depth of several inches with mussel shells, used probably for preservation. We will never know what history this mound or those at Poverty Point held as many have been completely destroyed, but one thing we can be sure of, the Indians were here many hundreds of years before the white man came
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 14:29:27 +0000
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