Hortons Bend

Gaither’s for a couple of hours…I stay too long and he’ll find me something to do.” “Good. I need you boys to climb up on the roof and tack a few pieces of tin down…wind got up a little last week.” J.W. was acting antsy by the time Ronnie finished his breakfast and cup of coffee. They both kissed their mom and left so as not to be late for Gaither’s.

    When the boys pulled up Bill Gaither was bent over the engine end of an old Farmall tractor. He looked up when they drove into his yard. Ronnie chuckled to himself that it wasn’t even noon yet but Bill was already covered in grease. They got out of the truck and greeted the hard working farmer. “Morning Bill……you hard at it already.” “Morning Ronnie”….he gave a wary eye towards J.W. and nodded. J.W. stiffened up a little and gave him a nod. “Yessir I am………know anything about diesel engines?” Ronnie strode up to the tractor, “No more than you Bill….what’s she doing?” “Ahhh just skippin’ a little more than usual.” “Have you cleaned out those injectors?” “Bout to get started on that” the farmer replied wiping his hands on the front of his overalls. Ronnie didn’t want to get wrapped up in any tractor work today. “Bill you don’t mind us walking down to the river and looking for a few points?” The farmer shook his head and told them “Go on down but do it today…..once I get my soybeans in I don’t want nobody stomping around on them you hear?” Both boys nodded and ambled out past the gate towards the river’s floodplain.
    “Freshly plowed Ronnie…..no tellin’ what we might find.” Ronnie agreed with his brother “Ten years since it’s been turned over…..can’t never tell. But I guarantee it will be fun!” They both laughed and headed down into the freshly plowed soil. Both men lined up side by side and began staring at the ground. Both had spent a lot of time looking for points and knew that to cover an area systematically they would not miss an area if they paralleled each other. The fresh soil had an earthy smell that one can only know by spending time in the fields. One area in the plowed stretch was darker than any other and had quite a bit of charred material. Ronnie explained to J.W. that it might have been a refuse dump or maybe a hearth area. His brother became excited at the idea of a prehistoric campground. Ronnie was particularly happy when his little brother picked up a burned cazuela sherd. “That is a nice Mississippian sherd…..nice rim…see the little lines? It’s called incising.” J.W. perked up and pointed to the pottery. “I like this pottery Ronnie…..is it rare around here?” Ronnie nodded, “Well yes and no. There’s a lot more like this on the Coosa than in the northern part of the county. What I like is that it shows the presence of the Late Mississippian Indians here on this part of the river.” He paused for a minute and looked at J.W. “You are the first to find this type of sherd here. I never found this type of stuff before. I’m very proud of you today.” J.W. beamed at this and kept an even sharper eye out during their surface hunt.
    They stopped around lunch and walked a short distance to find a small shade tree. J.W. had brought a backpack with some fruit in it for lunch. As they were eating, J.W. asked” Ronnie…when was the last time you been to Horton’s Bend?” Ronnie rubbed his beard and looked at his brother. “Been almost two years now…….I don’t have to tell you that.” J.W. was a little sheepish but continued to ask “Do you plan on ever going back there?” Ronnie paused for a moment “There’s something about that place…..State Archaeologist Office and UGA folks went there ‘bout five years ago and made the paper. They didn’t tell the public much but I think they wanted to keep everything a secret. I don’t think Horton let them look for anything. He may have even run them off. Anyways you know I had a strange feeling when I went down there last…..I wasn’t even collecting…just doing a little cat fishing.” Ronnie stopped and looked at his brother “Don’t you ever go down there without me J.W. ….not even during the day.” J.W. was quick to say” I won’t Ronnie.” The sun was burning down in the field and the heat could be seen off the soil. “It’s a special place that meant something to the Indians….everything is different down there. The soil…the type of rocks. The pottery is