Archaeological Investigation at the Marshall Powder Mill (41HS17), Confederate States of America 1863-1865, Harrison County, Texas: 1994 Season

The Northeast Texas Archeological Society, in conjunction with the East Texas, Dallas, and Tarrant County archeological societies, reinstated archaeological investigations at the Marshall Powder Mill (41HS17) in 1994 following several years of delicate negotiations with the landowner about the value of preserving this archaeological site. The Marshall Powder Mill manufactured gunpowder, small arms and cannon, and refurbished weaponry, and was one of several arsenals that served the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate States of America from 1863 to 1865. None have been thoroughly investigated archaeologically, however, thereby ignoring a major aspect of the Confederacy\u27s war effort, and an important industrial enterprise. Building foundations, earthworks, roads, and an artificial channel race remain essentially undisturbed within the Loop 390 corridor and the privately-owned portions of the site; the eastern one-third of the site has been destroyed by a modern lumber mill. Although the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, there is no concerted plan for preservation of this Civil War military-industrial complex. Little historical documentation exists as to the number and types of buildings, their locations, or the activities that were conducted at the Marshall Powder Mill. The single map in the National Archives was captured by Federal troops in 1864, and only indicates a few of the buildings and none of the earthworks. Apparently the Confederates were concerned with security, and the commander, Major George D. Alexander, destroyed or removed all records prior to Federal occupation of the site in 1865. Therefore, the archaeological remains speak the clearest about the Marshall Powder Mill\u27s buildings and their functions, and may be the only sure means of reconstructing the layout and design of the arsenal, as well as ancillary fortifications, buildings, and structures around Marshall that date to the Civil War period

Reconstruction of the Part Vegetation on the Headwaters of the Piney Creek Watershed in Houston and Trinity Counties, Texas

The National Forests and Grasslands of Texas began a project in 1994 for ecosystem management involving multiple disciplines in an holistic approach to resource inventories. We first began with an intensive archival study of the forest acquisition files and the General Land Office (GLO) files in an effort to identify the western limits of the longleaf pine at the time of initial Anglo-American settlement ca. 1850. Vegetation information was gleaned from this work along with an understanding of the historical occupation of the area, aided by plotting this information onto USGS 7.5\u27 maps overlain by the historic Tobin landownership maps. We have since narrowed our focus from the mosaic of a broad area, to the headwaters of the Piney Creek watershed, an area rich in prehistory and history. Archeological survey has provided data for prehistoric occupations dating to the Early Ceramic period (ca. A.D. 500). More recent deed records, and subsequent landline surveys, have data on witness trees in the 1830s, 1860s, and 1890s, and then again after the Forest Service acquired the land in the 1930s, offering an opportunity to study specie composition over a 100 year period. This study on specie composition, tree density, and basal area, provides preliminary indications that fire suppression in the historic period significantly altered the forest composition

The Distribution of Passenger Pigeon on Caddo Sites in the Trans-Mississippi South

Following up on the discovery of 10 passenger pigeon elements from one bird in a Caddo burial feature (Burial 52) at the Mitchell site (41BW4) on the Red River in Bowie County, we have documented the distribution of passenger pigeon on Caddo sites in the Trans-Mississippi South. To date, we have identified 10 Caddo sites dating between ca. A.D. 1160-1710 with passenger pigeon bones, along with two Woodland period sites (generally predating ca. A.D. 800-900) in the region. These sites range as far east as the Saline River basin in Southwest Arkansas, as far west as the George C. Davis (41CE19) and Spike (41DT16) sites in East Texas, as far north as the Spiro site (34Lf40) in eastern Oklahoma, and as far south as the McLelland site (16BO236) in Northwest Louisiana, primarily situated in the Pineywoods. As Jackson and Jackson have noted, the passenger pigeons found on Caddo sites appear to reflect a “southward and westward extension of their range during the Late Woodland period (ca. A.D. 700-1000) that continues into the Caddo era (ca. A.D. 1000-1500), likely reaching East Texas sometime shortly after A.D. 1000.

Mapping Big Data: A Data-Driven Market R

To discover the shape and structure of the big data market, the San Francisco-based startup Relato took a unique approach to market research and created the first fully data-driven market report. Company CEO Russell Jurney and his team collected and analyzed raw data from a variety of sources to reveal a boatload of business insights about the big data space. This exceptional report is now available for free download. Using data analytic techniques such as social network analysis (SNA), Relato exposed the vast and complex partnership network that exists among tens of thousands of unique big data vendors. The dataset Relato collected is centered around Cloudera, Hortonworks, and MapR, the major platform vendors of Hadoop, the primary force behind this market. From this snowball sample, a 2-hop network, the Relato team was able to answer several questions, including: • Who are the major players in the big data market? • Which is the leading Hadoop vendor? • What sectors are included in this market and how do they relate? • Which among the thousands of partnerships are most important? • Who’s doing business with whom? Metrics used in this report are also visible in Relato’s interactive web application, via a link in the report, which walks you through the insights step-by-step

The Original Distribution of Bois D\u27Arc. Part I: Texas

Early historical explorations of the American frontier discuss many tree species and their uses, yet rarely mention bois d\u27arc (Maclura pomifera). Several important early expeditions sent by President Thomas Jefferson into the southwestern frontier provide the first evidence for the natural and culturally influenced range of the species. Bois d \u27arc was important in the trade of Native Americans, specifically used for bow wood. As early as 1804, John Sibley and Merriwether Lewis reported to President Jefferson about bois d \u27arc, drawing on information derived from transplanted saplings and reporting that the source was ca. 300 miles away (i.e., along the Red River?). John Sibley, a temporary United States Indian Agent along the Red River in the early nineteenth century, reported a source of bois d\u27arc wooden bows among the Caddos of the Red River. With these bows they conducted a lively trade among Plains and southeastern Indian groups

Southwestern Pottery and Turquoise in Northeastern Texas

Rare and often questionable occurrences of southwestern pottery and turquoise artifacts have been reported in northeastern Texas. These artifacts may mark major interaction networks. Both southwestern pottery and turquoise artifacts have been found at the Sanders site, which is located in the core distribution of these erratics

Silica Froth: An Indicator of Thatch Artchitecture

Archaeological reports of silica froth are noted from Kansas to Texas, and are usually interpreted as evidence of burned grass- or cane-thatched buildings. However, many archaeological excavations in the Caddoan region fail to mention this material. Does this reflect idiosyncratic factors in the formation of silica froth, lack of expertise on the part of excavators/analysts, or differential recovery techniques? Archaeological and experimental data indicate that Caddoan houses frequently left silica froth as a residue when they burned. The implications are that archaeologists may be missing this key architectural item and that silica froth may be used to infer the presence of a house in the absence of traditional features such as post molds

Native American Integration in 19th Century Anglo-American Society: An Archaeological Perspective from Northeastern Texas

This paper will examine the phenomenon of Native American-Anglo-American integration on the frontier of Northeastern Texas during the 19th century. First, a brief overview of the historic setting will be presented on where and how this integration took place and who were the primary players. Second, we discuss the material cultural manifestations of this interaction, and what problems it presents for interpreting the archaeological record. Finally, we conclude that what have been previously described and defined as typical 19th century Anglo-American frontier homesteads of Northeastern Texas warrant a different interpretive perspective, and in fact, many of these typical first wave pioneer Anglo-American homesteads may actually represent mestizo occupations

Can\u27t Live With \u27Em Can\u27t Live Without \u27Em: An Analysis of the Trial Court\u27s Authority to Hear and Decide Child-Related Claims in North Carolina Post-Baumann

In Baumann-Chacon v. Baumann, decided in May 2011, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held for the first time that trial courts have the authority to enter orders related to child custody and child support before a husband and wife have separated. The Baumann court carefully distinguished its decision from the holding in Harper v. Harper, a 1981 case in which the court held that the wife’s pre-separation custody and child support claims should have been dismissed. The Baumann decision raises some interesting questions about the limits of the trial court’s ability to enter orders protecting the interests of children when those interests conflict with the rights of parents. Part I of this Article discusses the historical background of the role of fault in divorce and other domestic claims in the United States and North Carolina. Part II analyzes the Court of Appeals’ decision in Harper and the state of the law following the Harper ruling. Part III analyzes the Court of Appeals’ decision in Baumann. Part IV considers how North Carolina’s approach to pre-separation child custody and support claims compares to the law in other states. Finally, Part V discusses the implications and application of Baumann for North Carolina practitioners