A Walk in the Woods

 

 

We rarely credit the Sioux or the Osage with an accurate and useful knowledge of his land and country. Let us say that you were told that you would be parachuted into a heavily forested area in the Rocky Mountains (hopefully one not currently burning) on a fully cloudy day (so that you could not see the sun or the stars) and that after landing if you were to walk due northwest for about fifty miles you would come to a town, but if you walked in any other direction it was more than 300 miles to human habitation ( I know there is no spot like that --but just pretend). You have limited food and water but only enough to get you fifty miles. You have no compass , watch or means of telling time. In parallel with this little survival experiment we are going to drop a full blood Sioux Indian raised in the tribe in 1808 ( yes we can do that--it is US that is making up the game).

Now I'm gonna tell you--your still going to be out there in the woods wondering which way is Northwest and our friend the Sioux is already back in his wigwam with Minne-ha-ha watching UT beat Virginia Tech on TV (yes, we can do that too)

So how did the Sioux find his way out and you missed all the clues? The Sioux in his childhood would have been carefully taught how to tell the cardinal directions of the compass with little things like:

1. The tips of evergreen trees have a tendency to incline slightly to the east.

2. Gum resin oozing out of coniferous trees on the south side of the tree leave clear amber deposits, those on the north side are cloudy and grey.

3. Wild goldenrod tips point gently to the north.

4. Leaves of a number of plants such as prickly lettuce, rosin wood and prairie dock align themselves north to south.

5. If you hear the mating call of the loon or the wild duck you have it made. These birds always mate on the western shore of lakes or streams.

6. Flying squirrels and pileated woodpeckers always cut their nesting holes on the east side of a tree trunk.

So there you have it. See the Indian ain't so dumb at all. No, I didn't use the moss on the north side of trees because all we Sioux know that it is not too reliable. Now if I wanted to really test you I would have got a Blackfoot or a Crow Indian---the Sioux are really plains Indians.