Heavener-Runestone.Com

The Amazing Heavener Runestone

And The Home

For the Fantastic Truth about What it Really Is

Dr. Lee W. Woodard at the Heavener Runestone

Photographs of author copyrighted by Lee W. Woodard, 2009

This Web Site is of great importance concerning Heavener, Oklahoma Runestone Monument, and its vital relationships with these other involved matters:

(1) Local theories about its origin (Including late great Gloria Farley's Alf Monge and Richard Nielson derived ideas) that led to its becoming surrounded by Heavener Oklahoma Runestone Park and Recreation Area (Previously was STATE Park, but now controlled by city of Heavener); And even though I have a Post Columbus conviction about this very important monument-- I call herein for changing name of that park to, "Gloria Farley Runestone Park," in order to better honor her at that site;

(2)Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle's nearby March 19, 1687, grisly, brain-blasted, murder location-scene, which also involved bloody gore of night-time hatchet murders of three others (Nephew of La Salle, Crevel Moranget, and La Salle's two longtime Native American assistants Saget, and Nika);

(3) Recognition and many evidences that La Salle's two separate 1686-1687 desperate expeditions with 16-20 others extended well beyond Texas and into Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas (As marching Northeastward from Matagorda Bay, Fort Saint Louis, and sunken ruins of La Salle's ship, La Belle --Both now being excavated and preserved by State of Texas Archeologists); Indeed! La Salle reached Heavener and beyond, as Marching toward hoped for help from French of Illinois and Canada);

(4) Recognition that French History Professor, Dr. Ert J. Gum (of Oklahoma French-Indian heritage)--Via testimony of acclaimed Stephen F. Austin State University History Professor, Dr. Archie McDonald-- also interpreted death location for La Salle as near Heavener (Dr. Gum thought it was probably in region of nearby Cameron OK, which also --significantly, as later discussed--is near unto what is known as the James' Fork of Poteau River);

[ THE LASALLE MURDER CASE, by Archie P. McDonald, PhD, Texas Escapes Feb.3-9 2002, http://www.texasescapes.com/ ]

(5) Van Buren, Arkansas Fairview Cemetery "Mystery Grave-Crypt," in which was buried in Spring of 1687 remains of La Salle Expedition's screaming murder victim, Etienne Liotot, and silently-dying-from-bullet-into-heart, Pierre Duhaut;

(6) Petit Jean's Mountain Grave, near Morrilton, Arkansas, and in State Park, in which was buried on Saint Jean (John) Baptist Day (June 24) 1687, remains of La Salle Expedition drowning victim, young French Noble, "Petit Jean" (Some would say, Petite Jeanne) De Marne (or, Marle); I have thus identified the actual history from which came the old Arkansas oral legends about "Petit Jean;"

Numerous pictures and illustrations and extensive discussions of all of those historic sites and archeological relics are in this web site.

This Web Site is intended as a copyrighted, comprehensive, reasonably scholarly, educationally valuable treatment of the six items mentioned above, and much more.

I also supply near the bottom of this Web Page a reasonably extensive bibliography of sources consulted and/or cited within this web page and/or within my books concerning The Heavener Runestone, Rene Robert Cavelier De La Salle, and Petit Jean's Mountain Legends.

I can also handle book order information and questions re my books:

"7 NOMS" at Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died,

Secret La Salle Monument and Historical Marker, and

Petit Jean's Mountain: The Origin of The Legend.

All of those books are interrelated, and are all vitally involved with the Heavener Runestone Monument.

Those books vitally involve the last years and murder of Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle and at least six others of his 1687 expedition, which tragedy-filled expedition certainly reached beyond Texas and into Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas. --Prior to some of the Expedition members fleeing down the Arkansas River to Petit Jean Mountain and to Mississippi River Arkansas Post, followed by flight to French connections in Illinois and Canada, and return to France. 

All my books are now inclusive of updated information, since initial publication.

Pictured Below: Gloria Farley (From her Book Cover, In Plain Sight)

--And Below Also: Eddie Hurst at The Runestone: "The Legend Endures."

This Web Site is dedicated to the Late Gloria Farley (Who rescued The Heavener Runestone from ruin), and to Former Park Superintendent, The Late Eddie Hurst, and to former Park Superintendent Vickie Hurst, And to Former Assistant Superintendent, Lester Rowland.

This picture of Eddie Hurst was used in my book, "7 NOMs" at Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died, as a tribute for Eddie, and with blessings of his widow, Vickie Hurst, and permissions from photographer, Kodey Toney and Fort Smith Arkansas' Southwest Times Record newspaper.

Below: The House That Hides The Runestone Monument: Located in Poteau Mountain Ravine Near Heavener, Oklahoma.

Elsewhere in this Web Site I feature my sketch of the full-sized monumental stone. The relatively little house now holding the Memorial Stone prohibits taking photos of the entire object. A much larger facility is needed via State and Federal and/or Private Foundation Funds for what is indeed one of the most important historical sites and archeological relics to be found in the entirety of French Colonial America.

Now For More of,

The Truth About The Amazing Heavener Runestone

by Dr. Lee W. Woodard

What I say herein has been gleaned from my own discoveries about the amazing and highly important historical site and archeological relic known as The Heavener Runestone.

In 1983, I moved to Heavener, Oklahoma and soon became well acquainted with that local monument.

Concerning Picture Below: You Can Disregard, for now, the small, unclear text. It will later be presented in normal sized script. This is a page from my year 2003, "7 NOMs" At Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died. I wanted this picture that I took in year 2000 with Daughter, Jennifer in front of the background of the cliff surrounding the Heavener Runestone, and with my old sketch superimposed, in order to show in approximate scale the Runestone size and surrounding rocky terrain. During rainy seasons, a water fall cascades off the cliff in the background.

The Runestone Setting: Fall View From Long Lake Hill Toward Poteau Montain. Approximate Location of Runestoneis marked by an arrow head at Western edge

Below: Runestone Setting: Spring View From Back Yard of Author, Circa 1984. Gloria Farley's home was at left side of this photo. She lived across the street from our back yard Approximate location of Runestone is marked by an arrow head near where a roadway ascends the mountain.

Below: Yet Another View, During Fall, When Gloria Farley's Beautiful Maple Tree Was Showing Well. The Runestone Monument is nestled in a rocky ravine in the upper area of this Photo, near where the visible roadway reaches the skyline. This picture was from about 1984-1985, With Christine Houser, Jennifer Woodard, Melissa Woodard, and Mary Kay Woodard. This picture was taken after Sunday Morning Church, When we were on our way to Mena, Arkansas to enjoy a catfish dinner, and viewing of beautiful Fall foliage. Christine Houser and Jennifer Woodard were then and still are best friends.

Below: A View off the Mountain From near the park office, which is near the runestone monument

Part I: The Truth Sought by C. F. Kemmerer, 1923

C. F. Kemmerer Below

I learned that a Heavener, Oklahoma school teacher named C. F. Kemmerer entered the first known written discussion of the monument.

Below I picture his actual letter sent to the Smithsonian Institution, dated March 24, 1923, when Oklahoma was less than 16 years old, this side of Indian Territory status.

At that time, even though located only about 2 miles from downtown of little city of Heavener, the Runestone rested in boulder-strewn, brush and tree and briar surrounded, rattlesnake infested wilderness.

The few who had chanced upon it during 1800's and early 1900's wilderness walks or hunting expeditions thought that some strange markings upon it were connected with an old "Indian Rock." After all, even before U. S. governmental and military, "Trail of Tears," enforced removal of Choctaw Indians from their native lands in Mississippi to this remote wilderness commencing in 1830's, it was already an "Indian Territory." --With some French Indian mixtures. --So most of relatively few who viewed the monumental boulder, till time of C.F. Kemmerer, marveled somewhat at it, but dismisssed it as an Indian oddity not now decipherable. --But C. F. Kemmerer, educated school teacher that he was, knew that it appeared toi nclude a genuine linguistic "riddle" and that it should be decipherable.

Below are photographs of Kemmerer's actual two page letter, which I purchased from the Smithsonian Institution:

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution, Purchased by Lee W. Woodard

Of interest, how Mr. Kemmerer called the Runes: " ... curious characters which none of us were able to decipher" and hoping the Smithsonian might " ... assist us in solving the quotation riddle."

On another sheet Kemmerer drew the Runes as he saw them, not noticing in lichen filled grooves chisel marks that indeed are present, and not noticing fine-lined, highly eroded, heavily-lichen-covered, peripheral engravings to which I will direct attention. He also did not notice the not quite as sharply defined, short stroke runic "S" that I picture and discus later in this Web Site. Additionally, he did not draw the Runes like they are actually spaced upon the monument. He drew for the Smithsonian:

Courtesy Smithsonian Institution & Purchased by Lee W. Woodard

Part II: The Smithsonian Initial Admission of Uncertainty

One official at the Smithsonian internally responded with handwritten statement as follows:

Smithsonian Permissions Granted and Purchased by Lee W. Woodard

I am not yet quite certain about the identity of the Smithsonian official who gave the initial assessment for their "Mr. Bryant." The signature is a bit difficult. Maybe I will decipher it later, or else contact Smithsonian about it. For now, let it suffice to call him or her, "L. S." which appears to have been initials for the name.

Since the handwriting is also a bit hard to read, I am typing it below:

"Mr. Bryant:

"It occurred to me

that the characters submitted by

Mr. Kemmerer were

runes and upon looking

further into the matter I find

that they are typical runes,

the second and eighth characters of the

Scandinavian runic alphabet

the others of the Gothic runic

alphabet. Read from left to

right the runes correspond

to our letters as follows

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

                gj o m e d a t    I am not

comptetent to decipher the inscrip-

tion. He may be referred to

Dr. Herman Collitz, Prof. Germanic

Philology, Johns Hopkins Univ.

Baltimore Md.

Apr. 7, '23 L. Ste *****?"

"L. S." pinpointed what has alwaysbeen a substantial interpretation problem: The second and eighth (as they had been presented) runes --from left to right-- are from a different runic alphabet. Actually,L. S.should have been presented with nine runes, but C. F. Kemmerer, like many to follow him, overlooked the short stroke perpendicular runic "S" that is next to right hand side of the runic "M," as I later picture, illustrate, and dsicuss.

I believe that the Rune Writer made that short stroke "S" to enable more than one message within the inscription. If one neglects it, one reading is as above: "Gjome's Date" (Or, "Valley," if the last rune is taken as an "L," as mentioned by others.).

In 1687, some Germanic or Scandinavians or English-Irish, could very well take the runes, "Gjome" as sounding out --or even as one proper 1600's spelling of "Jim" or"Jimmy," or as in French, "Gemme." Back to such as that later, but before leaving what "L. S." of Smithsonian said, I believe the atypical second and eighth runes were deliberately chosen because they can be taken in more than one way, and especially because they also were used for alphanumeric dating and Church Calendar symbols. Old Alf Monge, discussed later, was on the right track about that potential for such runes, even if he was off by 500 or so years!

Part III: What Dr. Herman Collitz, Professor of Germanic Languages at Johns Hopkins University Did to Muddy The Water

Dr.Herman Collitz, Professor of Germanic Languages at Johns Hopkins University was next consulted. On another sheet of paper he granted that the 8th from left rune can also, insome cases (especially when read from right to left), have value of our "L." Prof. Collitz responded as below:

From Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Permisssions to Lee W. Woodard

Professor Collitz made only hand written notes. He designated the eight runes presented him as "Gothic Runes."He suggested that the 2nd from left rune appears most likely to be "i" or "J." He showed the eighth from left Rune as either "L" or "T."

If the right side ending is DAL, that is proper Scandinavian spelling for what we would translate as, "Dale" or "Valley," but he also recognized potential for DAT, without recognition of peripheral engravings --which I later picture and discuss-- that could signify an ending on that right side of, "Date" or "Dates."

Since I have identified --after years of study-- the Rune Engraver as La Salle Expedition member James or Jimmy (French, Gemme) Hiens, in 1687, one could think that Hiens may have been saying, "Gjome's (Jim's or Jimmy's) Valley (or, Date)." I believe he did intend that as to a portion of his message; however, he especially intended something else, involved with numerical value for first rune on the left, as I later discuss.

Below: Some Samples of Runic Alphabets

The underlined letters below are like unto some of the runes found in Eastern Oklahoma runic inscriptions.

It should be kept in mind that one can cast English, German, French, or Scandinavian etc. messages into runic format, simply by substituting appropriate runes for the alphabetic characaters of the other language.

The Heavener Runestone Monument uses Runes to cast FRENCH messages. For instance, French, "Gemme" (English, "Jimmy") can be expressed by runes GJOME, as I am in midst of discussing, via the Smithsonian correspondence.

Prof. Collitz made no mention at all that back around 650 A.D. the 2nd from left Rune, could in much more rare likelihood be an "L."--As with Architect Richard Nielson's ideas (discussed later).

Although not taking the matter as far as he could have, Professor Collitz, had he been heeded by Oklahoma historians, epigraphers-paleographers, and archeologists, could have set folks on the right road to resolution of the Heavener Mystery Monument. What Dr. Collitz showed is most readily recognized as supporting, "Gjome --Jim's (or Jimmy's)-- Valley (or Date)."

Since that memorial monument is loacted on early French named Poteau Mountain (French Outpost-Settlement, or Encampment Mountain), should not Oklahomans have searched historical records for someone named Jim or Jimmy (French, Gemme) with early French Colonial America connections, as possibly involved here?

As a matter of fact, "Jimmy Hiens" of La Salle's 1687 tragic expedition was the Rune Engraver, as I evidence in multiple ways in my books, including picturing his initials within his own engravings.--But I believe "Jimmy's valley" was not his only intention with that inscription, as I shall be elaborating additionally.

The amazing thing about usages of runes, of the special blend that Jimmy Hiens used, is that more than one set of messages can be marked for reading.

Being of academic inclinations and heritage, in 1983-1985 I consulted numerous previous assessments of the runic script and possible translations. One problem is that there were varieties of runic alphabets that changed over the centuries and within various geographical locales.

Part IV: Oslo University Runic Languages Professor, Dr. James Knirk Calls it "Inauthentic" (As to Pre-Columbus Viking Rune Potential)

Among others that I contacted, and from whom I have personal correspondence, was famous Oslo Norway University Runic Languages Professor, Dr. James Knirk (Who was also at that time Director of the Viking Museum in Oslo). He told me that he was at that time the world's only University Professor actually offering a university course for study of ancient runic languages. (I think he has since retired from those positions).

After all, should not we scholarly sorts consult so-called world class experts involving such? Dr. Knirk said concerning the Heavener Runestone that he was absolutely certain that the Oklahoma Runes did not derive of any Pre Columbus Rune Users. And, he said that the Heavener Runes are "Inauthentic," as to any recognition of having beenengraved by anyone of the genuine era (circa 300 A.D.-1300 A.D.) of Rune usages by Viking sort explorers.

The "Authentic" "Inauthentic" approach to runic inscriptions is fraught with radical and improper ways of thinking. The Oklahoma folks were suckered into accepting that way of thinking, which has caused much needless complication of the search for the truth.

In 1959 an Oklahoma Historical Society meeting was convened in Heavener by Gloria Farley, in her home, in connection with a visit at Heavener by Frederick Pohl, who had written a book arguing for Pre Columbus Viking Visitations to the East Coast of America. Mr Pohl was quoted in thefollowing way, as I told it on page 88 of my book, Secret La Salle Monument, and as I also quoted from the Oklahoma Historical Society Journal:

""Mr. Pohl Made the following statements:

...To be genuine they [Heavener Runes]

would have to have been carved

over 1,000 years ago....

...That although the stone

would be of much local interest,

if carved after about A. D. 1,000,

it would not be by someone

who used such an alphabet

and hence could not be

a genuine rune stone."

--George H. Shirk, President

of the Oklahoma Historical Society,

"Report on The Heavener 'Rune Stone'"

Chronicles of Oklahoma, Autumn, 1959."

Now, I say that Fred Pohl and Dr. James Knirk were both guilty of some "either/or" thinking that does not compute properly. additionally, Fred Pohl was misleading Gloria Farley and George H. Shirk.

To give you a parallel, I can write messages in an ancient variety of Greek that is now archaic. Let us say that I was on a secret mission with a famous American general and about fifteen others, way out in the wilderness of Russia. Before the thawing of the Cold War. The famous general was a bit --maybe more than a bit-- on the crazy side. A mutiny develops. The famous general and at least six of his companions were murdered within about six weeks, in two different places. I saw it all. I believed that I ought to set up some sort of memorial about what I had witnessed. Someone later may want to know where and when the murderous rampages took place. --But Iwas in a foreign country. Some of those foreigners were chasing me and my comrades. If the foreigners were to find out any time soon exactly who had been killed and where and when, they might have better captured me and some of my remaining comrades. --So I decided to engrave my memorial marker in that archaic Greek to try to veil it for a while to some of those foreigners.

Now, was that archaic Greek engraving that I did "inauthentic" and worthless? I don't think so!

Now, returning to Dr. Knirk. He might grant that therewere known usages --sometimes fad like usages of runes-- among soldiers during and somewhat also after the "Thirty Years War" of the 1600's. Dr. Knirkmight well call those 1600's usages"inauthentic." --Because he has only counted authentic users to have been those for whom rune usages were more historically appropriate, during circa 300 A.D. to 1300 A.D. That, in my opinion is a very improper conlusion. Soldiers and explorers were sometimes using runic messages to convey and conceal very important information. --Which is precisely what I say was involved with the Heavener Runestone Monument. I am not about to grant Knirk --or Frederick Pohl-- an unchallenged privilege of calling those Heavener Runes "Inauthentic."

Dr. Knirk also told me in personal correspondence that he was not yet ready at that time to agree with my claim that the Heavener inscription includes encoded dates. I had told him that some dates were conveyed in the Heavener inscription via usages of some atypical runic forms and some related peripheral markings.

On the other hand, Dr. Knirk has never seen the actual Heavener Runestone. --At least he had not when he and I corresponded. All he had seen were hand drawn or typed representations conveyed to him by writings of the late Alf Monge. Thoserepresentations were not drawn to scale. Theydid not even show proper spacings and groupings of letters within that inscription, and did not include recognition of those very important French Connected Word Marker Lines (That I later picture and discuss).

Knirk's assessment (such as it was) was not even based upon study of actual, high quality photographs, and not informed by on-site scrutiny. Dr. Knirk certainly has never looked carefully upon the actual relic, nor at the great deal of highly eroded, yet still recognizable (with careful scrutiny) peripheral engravings and other evidences to which I call attention.

THERE ARE HIGHLY ERODED AND HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT PERIPHERAL ENGRAVINGS THAT ACCOMPANY THOSE MOST OBVIOUS DEEPLY ENGRAVED RUNES. They are eroded by 322 plus years of wear and tear. They are, nevertheless, still adequately recognizable and understandable for those with enough academic and intellectual integrity to properly peruse and study and reflect. In what follows below I picture and illustrate part of that which I am describing.

When I corresponded with Dr. Knirk, I also did not yet have any of my books completed for sending to him. Truth is, I don't think he really wanted to consider what Jimmy Hiens did, or even may have done, with runes and peripheral doings in 1687. His specialty and interest was only for circa 300 A.D. - 1300 A.D. Rune relics.

Unlike Knirk, and most others who have ever vetured opinions about the Heavener Runestone, I have taken well into the hundreds of photographs of the actual monument, and closeups of many tiny, engraved details, under many differing lighting conditions, even when that protective, glaring, partially obstructive, plastic shield had been removed (For replacement due to vandalism). --Or else when I was otherwise permitted to enter glass or plastic protective shield.

Some of those highly important, finely-engraved, and often-highly-eroded details are indeed difficult to discern. They sometimes are much better recognized when one is inside that glaring plastic shield, and when viewing them and photographing them in a variety of lighting conditions.

Part V: Did Frederick Pohl's Polling of Five Other Scholars Lead to Despair, About Finding The Truth About the Heavener Runestone?

Below, I am inserting part of pages 127-128 from my year 2000 publication, Secret La Salle Monument in order to summarize some past ideas and much previous confusion that has been manifested about the Heavener Runes:

"Frederick Pohl, about 1960, consulted several recognized and distinguished Scandinavian and runic scholars, who looked at representations of the eight major runes, as presented to them, apart from the Monument. (So nearly as I know, none of them came to Heavener and studied the actual Monumental Memorial.) Those scholars were not even close to any unanimity! They issued varying findings, as follows:

"No recognizable word or words or personal name"--Sievert Nielson Hagan, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania."

"Give attention to that" or, "to this" (reading GAOMEDAT)--Haakon Hougen, Larwick Norway, who says that in an old Norwegian song, "Draumkedet" ("Dream Song") from Telemark, gaume in the old dialect means "attention.""

"Sun Dial Valley" (reading GNOMEDAL), and "Demon" (reading in reverse, LADEMONG, with meaning suggested from the French)--Carl Christian Jenson, Brooklyn, New York."

"G. Nomedal"--Aslak Liestol, Universitets Oldsaksamling, Oslo Norway."

"Give Supplication God Man Before Day Has Set"--Erich Stirnemann, Los Angeles, California, who says that this translation was obtained by "assuming that each rune speaks out the full name of the rune." 1.

[1. Frederick Pohl, Atlantic Crossings Before Columbus, p. 54 ]

I then went on to say in that earlier book of mine:

"Interestingly, all but one of those scholarly attempts to make sense of the Monument recognized at least some French influence! Maybe that should have led others to search French history, as did I!? At least Three fifths of the scholars also suggested taking the problematic second rune as an atypical, "N," and I am going to prove that this was the Runic Author's intention, as to French left-right reading. Just keep in mind that he also chose that controversial 2nd Rune precisely because he was aware--well aware--that there is that substantial minority who might see, GJOM(m)E, his own name!"

" ... "From the right, "Demon," from the French, is indeed of possible (if not also of probable) relevance!"

As to the right to left reading, especially, "The 7 Demons" is certainly of possible relevance. From right to left one can use the peripheral French script "es" that is engraved to left of Runic "L" (the far right side Rune) to form "les" and that can be completed with Runic DEMON G (=7),to form French, "les demons 7." --"The 7 Demons." --And James Hiens thought things had become very hell bent and demonic and that such resulted in the deadly violence, and at least seven murders, as others of the Ill Fated Expedition even put into writings.

IT SHOULD BE KEPT IN MIND THAT ONE REASON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BANNED USAGES OF RUNES by their clergy, was the way that mysterious messages, with more than one reading involved, and often with readings also from right to left, could be concealed. --So claimed Alf Monge in his book cited below and listed in the bibliography at the end of this page.

Part VI: Gloria Farley, Military Monge, Architect Nielson, And Bureaucrats Come Up With An "Official" Solution Not Supported by Any Appropriate University Folks

From my widespread academic acquaintances with American and World History, and Ancient Linguistics (pursued all the way to related doctor's degree) I could not readily accept the ideas being propagated about it by State of Oklahoma bureaucrats, at the Heavener Runestone Park. --Bureaucrats who were dominated by ideasof the late Gloria Farley. --Ideas which were actually never fully her own.

What she propagated during her earlier efforts --as an admirable and very important defender and promoter of that runestone-- were, in the first place, the ideas of a World War II Military Intelligence Officer and cryptic message decoder named Alf Monge.

Military Officer Monge said in circa 1960-1967 that the Rune Message was nothing more than an expression of a date, using Scandinavian Runes that were typical of a style of alphabetic forms used in circa 1000 A.D.

He said that Roman Catholic alphanumeric Church Calendar symbols were in this case expressed by Runes that were equivalent to Latin forms that were normally used by the church clerics. --Carved by some unknown Scandinavian explorer on a date told with those Heavener Runes as November 11, 1012 A.D.

[Alf Monge & O. G. Landsverk, Norse Medieval Cryptology in Runic Carvings. Glendale, California: Norsemen Press, 1967]

The Church does have tables of alphanumeric symbols for expressing dates, and I believe the Heavener Runes do include, secondarily some dating symbols, but not from 1012 A.D. --And the Heavener Message is for much more than just entering a date or dates, as I soon shall tell.

[One place where one can find charts of and explanation of those "Golden Numbers and Dominical letters" for expressing Church Calendar dates--Other than in Monge's book referenced above-- is nearthe front of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer]

The last time I visited the Runestone, they were still honoring --with the sign pictured below-- the once-accepted ideas of Monge, which Gloria Farley mainly preached and paraded at the Park for about 15-20 years.

--But, Alas! Monge's ideas have now beenrelegated to a very minor transition-phase, now abandoned.

Below: With my year 2000 Secret La Salle Monument and Historical Marker in hand, (The first book ever written entirely about the Heavener Runestone) I pointed out to Daily Oklahoman Special Features Reporter, the late Ralph Marsh, that world's best runeologist, Dr. James Knirk, Rune Professor at Oslo Norway University, and Dr. Herman Collitz, Germanic Languages Professor of Johns Hopkins University, and many more doctoral linguists consulted, and the vast majority of Sample Rune Scripts all say that the letter to which I was pointing should beeither "J" or "N," not "L."--So why commit to Arhitect Nielson's "Glome Dale" as a so-called "Official Interpretation?"

Later on (circa 1987-1990), Mrs. Farley, a State of Oklahoma Social Worker, abandoned Alf Monge's viewpoints.

She then suggested to Oklahoma Bureaucrats and anyone else who would listen to her, interpretations she derived from what an architect named Richard Nielson proposed.

According to Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (As of October, 2009)

""In recent years, this idea [Alf Monge's Interpretation] has lost ground among local defenders in favor of the engineer Dr. Richard Nielsen's proposal (in Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, Vol. 15, 1986, page 133) that a Viking explorer hastily reversed the last letter and substituted a letter from the then-extinct Gothic alphabet in the second position. According to this interpretation, the inscription reads "GLOME DAL" -- the "Valley of Glome.""

--I only quote from Wikipedia because it consistently is near the top of online search directories about such items as The Heavener Runestone. --So it may be easier for some to find what some "history academicians" say about Monge's and Nielson's ideas.

I must also tell you that there are behind-the-scenes editors and guardians of Wikipedia with very biased viewpoints and improper academic outlooks and/or ethics. They have consistently either refused to allow mention of my ideas, or else have misrepresented them, including incorrectly spelling my name and not even naming my involved books, nor allowing mention of this most extensive of all web sites about The Heavener Runestone. --So I recommend taking whatever one reads on Wikipedia as often suspect. --But what they say about Monge and Nielson above is reasonably accurate, as far as it goes.

This is current, considerably far out, academically-unaccepted viewpoint paraded by bureaucrats at the Park. In my book, "7 NOMs", I have one chapter entitled --as to those two above-pictured signs about ideas of Monge and Nielson along the Park's trail to the Runestone, "A Pitifully Misled State." Maybe I was thus a bit harsh?

I also pointed out elsewhere in that book that the bureaucrats parading these ideas to the public, as if they are well-accepted, well-referenced-and-documented, accurate history, is to substantial degree trying to promote a public hoax with taxpayer money.

On the other hand, they could avoid such accusations, if they referenced both Monge's and Nielson's ideas as two theories, about which most University History and Linguistic Professors are highly skeptical, and not neglecting to mention also my varying, well-referenced-documented-and-published ideas.

Architect Nielson said that one of the Runes (2nd from left) that most of us say is "N" from one direction, and "J" from another (Runes can read from both left - right and right - left) is instead an "L" from a very early Scandinavian or Irish Rune user.

Within that stance, Nielson speculated, with practically no supporting data --and in a strained manner of trying to justify a supposed Pre Columbus "Viking" context that simply was not actual the historical setting-- that the inscription is naming a land claim, "Glome Dal" (Glome's Valley) from about 650 A.D. -- 750 A.D.

Nielson, I say, is to substantial extent even more wrong than Monge. --Certainly more wrong as to what is the actual historical era involved. --Certainly also more wrong as to the off-beat idea of interpreting the second from left Rune as an "L,"which is at odds with what vast majority of linguistic professors identify as either "J" (a "J" which sometimes has function of a vowel "I" or "A") or "N."

Gloria Farley referenced Nielson's stance in the one chapter that she devoted to the Heavener Runestone in her book, In Plain Sight. For her part --even though she has had many pamphlet-like publications, and has been featured in many newspaper and magazine articles-- so nearly as I know, Gloria never published anything that has been more than one chapter's worth of details about it. --And always merely adopting or adapting the ideas of someone else, like Miltary Officer Monge or Architect Nielson.

[Gloria Farley, In Plain Sight: Old World Records in Ancient America. Columbus, Georgia: ISAC Press, 1994]

For decades, till her death a few years ago, Gloria Farley championed those ideas (not endorsed by any really prestigious university related professors). She managed, nevertheless, to impress Local and State Bureaucrats.They in turn publicized and set up a related Park (Heavener Runestone Park and Recreation Area), which was based upont hose weakly supported viewpoints. --And they have suggested to the public those very weakly supported ideas about that monument, seemingly as if they are well accepted facts.

I have heard them say, of the most current of what Mrs. Farley and Oklahoma bureaucrats have set forth, "This isThe Offical Interpretation." Since no major Oklahoma or National or International university-related hitorians, archeologists, and linguists are willing to endorse that interpretation, How "official" could or can it be?

Now, both Gloria Farley and bureaucratic supporters meant well. Furthermore, as inaccurate as were the ideas she received from Monge and Nielson, both she and the Oklahoma bureaucrats that were swayed by her did serve very important purposes.

The Heavener Runestone is indeed a very important Runic Memorial Monument. --And Gloria Farleyand her bureaucratic friends rescued it from ruin by naive local folks who loved to write or scratch their own initials upon it, or loved to chip off a piece of it, if they could do so.

Let me be very clear. Gloria Farley was a very great lady who rescued a great and very important runic memorial monument from ruin. She did so when she was being often rdiculed. She did so when no doctoral level historians, archeologists, and linguists were stepping up to help clarify matters. For that, she must forever be honored at that site. I would even suggest that the name, Heavener Runestone Park and Recreation Area should be changed to: "The Gloria Farley Runestone Park."

Having said that, I must also be very clear, Alf Monge, Richard Nielson, and Gloria Farley were mistaken as to the age and derivation of the exceedingly significant runic inscription on that Internationally Important Monument.

Part VII: The French Connection The Sensible Search For Truth

The Runestone does include an important memorial message. It does involve genuine users of Runes and genuinely significant runic message. It isnot from idle, prank-like scribbling, by someone of late 1800's or in early years of 1900's, perhaps copying runesfrom a near modern book, as some have supposedly said. [Including the article on the Heavener Runestone in Online Free Encylopedia, Wikipedia, last time I checked] --But it does not derive of Irish or Scandinavian explorers during Pre Columbus "Viking" times. Monge, Nielson, and Gloria Farley were very mistaken about those caims.

It derived instead from a known, historically-described, very brilliant German, one who knew Germanic, English, Latin, and French--and probbly Spanish languages. (Varying degrees of proficiency). He knew how to use Normandy French Runes to express Normandy French messages involving some very significant and tragic, very dramatic and memorable, violent and bloody Early American and French Colonial History. --But that is getting ahead of my sequential discoveries.

I could not readily accept Gloria Farley's Alf Monge and Richard Nielson derived historical ideas and linguistic conceptions, which ideas have not been granted as plausible by any American University based history and/or linguistic professors. Not even ANY major, prominent doctoral level Oklahoma historians or linguists have been willing to say that this admittedly impressive runic monument was created by any Pre Columbus explorers.

As a consequence, I began, as a historian and linguist, with recognized academic graduate school level credentials and experiences, to search earliest preserved and known history recorded via Spanish and French explorations to this general region during years1500-1900. Maybe, I thought, there are some historical records that may have been overlooked that might somehow tie into such a monumental looking, stone-engraved "billboard."

I started with earliest known Spanish expeditions into this general area. --Looking at records involving adventures of Cabez de Vaca, De Soto, Coronado, etc. I do believe Cabeza de Vaca came into this area in early 1500's, (That is another story! --mentioned somewhat in my Petit Jean's Mountain book), but I found no indications that he or any others of those early Spanish explorers could be involved with the Heavener Memorial Monument.

When I eventually dug into the oldest French historical records about visitations to the southern regions of our nation, I started finding all sorts of historical records, and even very old geographical place names, that suggested that this memorial monument is Normandy French. --And vitally related to the tragic exploratons of Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle during 1684-1687.

Such geographical place names as "LeFlore" County, "Fourche Maligne" and "Poteau" Rivers, "Poteau" Mountain, "Ouachita" Mountains, "Fourche Jacque (Jack Fork)" "Fourche Gemme or James (James' Fork)" "Cavanal," "Sucre Loaf (Sugar Loaf)," "Sans Bois," "Arkansas," etc. Mountains and Rivers are all of locally ancient French and French Indian derivations.

If even many prominent geographical place names of this area are French, from way back in locally misty past, might not that Runestone (from locally misty past) on "Poteau" Mountain--French Outpost-Encampment-Settlement-Mountain-- derive of early French Colonial presence in this region? --Especially might not Normandy (Norse Man portion of France) French Runes and monumental-memorial message be symbolically and historically appropriate? --Especially to veil an important Normandy French Memorial Monument from Spanish soldiers, who were known to have been chasing and capturing French intruders upon terrain claimed by New Spain?

Additionally, I discovered that the Rune Engraver used special engraved marker lines (that I will soon picture) to segregate the mainNormandy French Rune words comprising the main message.

The rune engraver also left engraved indications that his name was "Jimmy (or, James) Hiens," who was indeed a brilliant, well educated Germanic member of La Salle's 1686-1687 French Colonial American Expeditions to this region.

Compare my picture and illustration immediately below it.

RE the two images below, Top One is an Untouched Photograph.

The Lower One is Touched UP to show how "JH" (Jimmy --French Gemme--Hiens) showed his initials (Elsewhere he spelled it out), and how he represented "De Leo-Toe" (Lion is French, Leo, and thus symbolizing and sounding out French,"de Liotot") and D' Eau (Eau meaning stream or river, and thus symbolizing and sounding out French, "DuHaut") --Naming and Mapping death place for Etienne Liotot and Pierre Duhaut. Jimmy Hiens' Leo and Eau symbols are in keeping with the way those names are pronounced in French.

Furthermore, I (as doctoral levelexperienced linguist and paleographer), found that the big bold runes of the Heavener Monumentare accompanied by smaller, peripheral, fine-lined engraved data (much of it now practically, but not completely, eroded beyond obvious recognition). I even found maps to highly tragic and memorable murders that took place in Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas. --But that is still getting a bit ahead of myself.

Just a quick word for now bout the atypical second and eighth runes. For now, just clarifying the second one (from the left), which almost everone sees as "J" or "N."

Dr. James Knirk said that the usage of those atypical runes at those two spots, instead of what should have been in accord with the other six, is of itself indication of Post Columbus Era. With that I have no quarrel.

I do add, however, that the brilliant Germanic member of the La Salle 1687 Tragic Expedition, Jimmy Hiens, well knew he was mixing alphabetic types. He had available and knew well both alphabetic runic styles. HE DELIBERATELY wanted that second rune becaause there would be possibility of seeing BOTH "GJOME"(Jimmy, French "Gemme," HIS OWN NAME) and "G (As "7") NOMs" (= 7 Names or persons). He wanted his own name recognizable by appropriately educated folks, but he also marked out with French Connected Marker Lines, the Monumental Message about "7 NOMs" murdered and that he wanted memorialized.

One reason I am certain that Hiens well knew more than one variety of runic alphabetic characters is because of what he demonstrated within his other runic engravings found in such places as Webber's Falls, Oklahoma, Shawnee, Oklahoma and Poteau, Okalhoma, etc. --But I won't now picture and discuss those other relics that I attribute also to Jimmy Hiens because they are outside the reasonable scope of this Web Page.

Part VIII: Francis Parkman Leads To Texas Talking Trash About La Salle's 1686-1687 Journeys And Death Place

For you Texans, please pardon the "Texas Talking Trash." It derives of my many visits to Texas, and seeing those road signs that used to say to those who would do roadside littering: "Don't lay that trash on Texas." --And to some degree I do believe that Francis Parkman laid some trash on and for Texas when he suggested what he did about the death place for La Salle. I mentioned that in my year 2000 Secret La Salle Monument And Historical Marker, as below:

"Exemplifying Past Errors:"

"The locality of La Salle's assassination

is sufficiently clear, from a comparison

of the several narratives; and it is also indicated

on a contemporary manuscript map,

made on the return of the survivors to France.

The scene of the catastrophe is here

placed on a southern branch

of the Trinity [River]."

--Francis Parkman, 1869,

La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West,

p. 270."

I then immediately remarked at that same place, before presentation of other evidences:

"The map which accompanied the narrative of Father Anastasius Douay was so grossly inaccurate and brief as to be of practically no value [or at least was of very limited value]; the map of Henri Joutel is much more accurate; it does have the proper number of rivers represented, but it was confused as to how those rivers flowed; and it thus misled [most] past scholars into thinking La Salle did not go North of the Red River."

"--Lee W. Woodard."

I should also have immediately mentioned in that earlier publication that the map that accompanied Henri Joutel's 1713-1714 Journal does also show in reasonably clear fashion that he and other survivors, although starting out on a supposed northeastward track, part of the time traveled to "a lower latitude,"when they were led by Native Guide from the region of murder victims Etienne Liotot and Pierre DuHaut to Arkansas Post.

[Compare Joutel's entries for July 16-17 of 1687, as in The La Salle Expedition To Texas, The Journal of Henri jouitel 1684-1687, Edited by William C. Foster, translated by Johanna S. Warren (Austine, Texas: Texas State Historical Association, 1998) p. 260]

Close examination of the actual course of the Arkansas River between Fort Smith-Van Buren, Arkansas to Arkansas Post shows that the river at times flows northeast, even though on eventual southeastern course into the Mississippi River at Arkansas Post. --And that map within that 1713-1714 Journal can be seen as reasonably well in harmony.

At Below Left: A Picture of a sizable La Salle Monument at Navasota, TX, quoting 1800's historian Francis Parkman, who speculated with very poor reasoning that La Salle May have been slain near that geographical site. Beneath that is picture of an Indianola, TX Monument on Gulf Coast of Matagorda Bay, near Victoria, TX (Where La Salle built his flimsy "Fort Saint Louis") giving same incorrect information. My first wife (now deceased) and my older daughter Melissa were pictured looking at the incorrect information.

In a very strongly related matter, I found that both the old French and Spanish historical records strongly suggest that during 1686-1687 La Salle and 16-20 companions made two trips into Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas. --And that this Famous and Infamous Normandy French Expedition Commander (initially landing on Gulf Coast with perhaps 200 or more) was murdered not far from Heavener, Oklahoma, on March 19, 1687.

It is practically incredible that most past historians mainly bought into the very mistaken and factually unsupported notions of famous 1800's historian Francis Parkman about La Salle. --Highly mistaken and unsupported Ideas that La Salle probably only reached the Navasota-Brazos River junction during his 73-day, final, desperate march northeastward from Matagorda Bay Texas toward French Illinois, during January 7 to March 19, 1687.

That highly mistaken placement in Southeastern Texas for the death of La Salle would mean that he supposedly traveled only about 125-130 crow-fly miles inland in 73 days of desperate marching northeastward toward French Illinois! --Less than 2 miles per day net! --Along a route he had just traveled a few months previous. --While companions were entering eyewitness written records in journals about how the hard-driving La Salle was driving them ever onward!! --Which hard-driving marching even contributed to his assassination, per his French Lieutenant, Henri Joutel, in his famous Journal of La Salle's Last Voyage.

Truth is, historical records covering his previous explorations suggest that La Salle typically would march 10-12 --or more-- net miles per day, and sometimes about once a week would rest a day or so, especially when he had pack horses that he needed to feed and rest, as was so concerning his last journey.

Such mileage was also typical for other accomplished explorers of American wilderness, such as La Salle's own companions who eventually fled from Van Buren, Arkansas River Valley regions down the Arkansas River to Arkansas Post following La Salle's murder.

Truth is, when La Salleleft Matagorda Bay Fort Saint Louis on January 7, 1687, he and about 16 companions marched northeastward toward French Illinois for about 450 "crow-fly" miles inland before this famous French Expedition Commander was murdered near Heavener, Oklahoma.

Part IX: Dr. Ert J. Gum, French History Professor Also Said La Salle Died in Eastern Oklahoma

I am not the only historian to have suggested that La Salle died in Eastern Oklahoma, instead of in Southeast Texas.

Dr. Ert J. Gum was a native Oklahoman of Native American and French heritage. He held a PHD degree in French History via Louisiana State University. He also taught French history at University level.

Dr. Gum once delivered a lecture at and hosted by Stephen F. Austin State University inthe 1960's. --A lecture wherein he told his audience, including long time history professor, Dr. Archie McDonald (who had been a doctoral classmate with Ert J.Gum at Louisiana State Univeristy). --Told his audience that he thought La Salle likely was murdered near Cameron, OK.

Dr. McDonald personally told me in E Mail communications that he has vivid memories of Dr. Gum making that assertion about death place for La Salle. Something similar is mentioned by Dr. Archie McDonald in an Article that is available online as, "The La Salle Murder Case."

[See THE LASALLE MURDER CASE, by Archie P. McDonald, PhD,

http://www.texasescapes.com/ Feb.3-9 2002,

In that article Professor Dr. McDonald wrote:

About thirty years ago, historian Ert J. Gum, professor of French history at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, reported at a meeting of the East Texas Historical Association that a search of French records had convinced him that the foul deed had been done in eastern Oklahoma.

I was unaware of Dr. Gum's studies and lectures until well after I had come to my own independent conclusions. He and I, as two different doctoral level historians, independently arrived at our convictions via our studies of old French and Spanish records.

Dr. Gum's suggestion of La Salle's death as probably having happened near Cameron, Oklhoma (about 17 miles northeast of Heavener) was a good guess. --Likely based upon La Salle's known, historically documented rates of marching, and in view of his northeastward trek that his companions describe in historical records. (Dr. Gumdid not ever get around to issuing more detailed and documented data because of fatal heart attack, not so long afterward to that lecture.)

Part X: Henri Joutel's Rocky Bluffs and High Mountains Not Anywhere in East Texas Northeast of Matagorda Bay.

One of La Salle' scompanions (Lieutenant Henri Joutel) wrote his own extensive, diary-like, written and published, Journal (available in at least two different English translations). He wrote that the last march of La Salle took the expedition, after about six weeks of travel, through some difficult-to-negotiate --or even to detour--"rocky cliffs"and "a high mountain."

In my 2002 book, Secret La Salle Monument, p. 184, I wrote the following about such:

"Difficult to Reconcile

with an Assassination Near Brazos-Navasota or Trinity Rivers"

"FROM HENRI JOUTEL'S 1713-1714 Edition of His Journal:

"[February] the 19th., we traveled along the Tops of the Hills, to avoid the Bottoms, and found a Difficulty to get down, by reason of the Rocks we met with at the End of them, and a River we were to cross."

"...The 23rd....we went on to encamp...on the bank of a rivulet, and at the foot of one of the highest Mountains in the country...."

"We went on the 24th, and encamped on the Edge of a Marsh...perceiving how difficult and dangerous it was to cross that Marsh.

"The 28th...we went on and encamped [again, considerable farther along the way!] at the Foot of the high Mountain I have spoken of..."

[--Henri Joutel, 1713, Journal, p. 96-99]

In my year 2000 introduction of those words from Joutel, I wrote:

"--Where down there in East Texas was that Mountain, near River and large Marsh, which took several days to get through and around!? That describes places in Ouachita Mountains, but not in East Texas. What Joutel described was a large swampy area, in a valley, North of the Red River." ----Year 2000 Secret La Salle Monument quotation

Difficult rocky clifs and mountain, not far northeast of marshy land, is a description of terrain that is found absolutely nowhere northeastward from Matagorda Bay Texas, till one crosses the Red River into Southeastern Oklahoma. Period! I have personally criss-crossed that East Texas terrain many times and have often checked with local residents all over East Texas. There are no difficult to negotiate rocky clifs till one is on the northern side of the Red River.

See picture of Devil's Backbone Mountain, below, which one encounters not far north of Red River, on the way northeastward from Matagorda Bay to Heavener, OK. and Van Buren, Arkansas.

Coprighted Photograph, Lee W. Woodard, from his book, "7 NOMs" At Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died.

Part XI: Pierre Meunier's Mexican Courtroom Testimony

Dr. Gum also may have been swayed, as certainly was I, by sworn Spanish Mexican Court Room testimonial records of Pierre Meunier, a La Salle Expedition Member. Meunier had been with and sometimes awol from La Salle's Expeditions during 1686, and till or at the latter's death in 1687. (Meunier had absconded from the first La Salle Expedition, which had reached all the way to modern day Van Buren, Arkansas during 1686.)

Eventually, Meunier was captured by the Spanish about 1689-1690, when he had migrated back toward the Gulf Coast and south of the Red River. In his sworn testimony, he described the place where he and La Salle's expedition members had gone with La Salle in 1686-1687. He told in an officially recorded and transcribed Mexican Tribunal appearance that it was about 40 leagues (some 100 or so miles)"the other side of" (North of) the Red River. That would point to the possibility of Cameron, Okalhoma area, when one takes into account the northeastward trek of La Salle. I am thus supposing that Dr. Gum recognized and interpreted such data, in the similar way that I have.

Part XII: The French Geographical Name Context

Additionally, some of the old French geographical place names of this region can be seen as suggested by direct involvements with La Salle Expedition participants and tragic events. --As I have already suggested somewhat. For instance, French, Ours-Chateau (equaling, "Bear Fortress") --corrupted to "Ouachita" --Mountain --Such place described by Henri Joutel when he mentioned La Salle tracking bears, encountered near high mountain and rushing streams typical of Ouachita Mountains (Compare Devil's Backbone Picture, Above, which is near what is still known as "Bear Mountain");

Fourche Maligne River. (Fork of WickednessRiver) --An apt description of a river at which La Salle and three others were viciously and with much bloody gore murdered).

Near unto Cameron, OK is also Fourche Gemme (French for "Jimmy's" or "James' Fork" --of or relating unto James) of Poteau (French Outpost Dwelling Encampment Place) River. James Hiens not only accompanied La Salle to the death regions, he also remained --lived-- in that same region for a number of years after La Salle was murdered. I'm certain that Dr. Ert J. Gum recognized, as did I, that "James' Fork" very possibly derived that name from James Hiens' influential historical presence in that area.

Part XIII: Pierre Talon And The Paw Paw Patch

Yet again, there was the young French Expedition member named Talon, who was one of the few who survived the tragedies of 1686-1687, and who had lived with Native Americans in the assassination region from 1686-1690 or so, till eventually being captured by the Spanish about 1690.

Talon, some years later, when released by Spanish Officials unto French Officials and Military Officers, under careful and extensive questioning and debriefing, testified that La Salle's assasination region (Where some estranged La Salle Expedition could still have been living with --at time of Talon's interrogation-- Native Americans), where he personally had lived for about four years, and which also was near the big river where Duhaut and Liotot were murdered and buried, featured trees which produced a banana like fruit, which was good to eat.

[Robert S. Weddle, Editor, La Salle, The Mississippi, and The Gulf: Three Primary Documents --page 232 within coverage of "the Talon Interrogations" mentions the banana-like fruit.]

He was describing what the French and Indians around Sallisaw area and far Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas have called "Paw Paw" trees.

It so happens that between Matagorda Bay and Fort Smith-Van Buren of Arkansas River Valley, one does not encounter very prominently Paw Paw trees till one arrives in region of Arkansas River Valley in Eastern Okalhoma. As a matter of fact, between Heavener and Van Buren, Arkansas is a community named "Paw Paw." --Because of many such fruit trees found in that Arkansas River botom place! Look it up on "Google Earth" under Paw Paw, OK to verify what I say!

Part XIV: The Van Buren Connection: The Burial Crypt for Murder Victims Etienne Liotot and Pierre Duhaut

The Heavener Runestoneis a 1687 Normandy French Runestone Memorial Monument. --Telling some details about the 1687 Eastern Oklahoma & Western Arkansas murders of Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle& others. La Salle & three others were murdered down the hill a few miles --perhaps about 7.5 miles-- from the Heavener Runestone. Pierre Duhaut & Etienne Liotot were murdered some 50 miles Northeast of the Heavener Runestone Monument & buried 1/2 mile from Arkansas River in so-called "Van Buren Mystery Grave," still standing at Fairview Cemetery on Log Town Hill in Van Buren, AR (Pictured below).

Henri Joutel [Editor, Henry Foster, La Salle Expedition to Texas: The Journal of Henri Joutel 1684-1687, p. 196] made an estimate that La Salle had been murdered "forty leagues more or less of travel" [maybe 90-100 miles] short of the primary Cenis Native American Villiages that had been his destination for getting rested and resupplied for traveling on toward French Illinois and Canada. I don't believe that this particular Joutel estimate is to be seen as precisely accurate because he mentioned that he did not keep accurate daily journal entries during that portion of the very difficult times following La Salle's assasination. Additionally, he mentioned taking a route from where La Salle had been murdered that was not direct. Part of the time they traveled mainly north before veering to the northeast. One reason for that was to avoid some of the muddiest and most swampy terrain that is encountered if one were to travel straight northeast from Heavener to Van Buren.

Etienne Liotot and Pierre Duhaut were mentioned as murdered by Jimmy Hiens and a young man known as "Ruter"on May 8, 1687 at or near one portion of the Cenis settlements, near a major river that has to be seen as the Arkansas River at Van Buren, Arkansas.

Van Buren Crypt for Pierre Duhaut & Etienne Lotot

Photographs Coprighted 2004-2009 by Lee W. Woodard

(Sometimes called by others "Van Buren's,  Fairview Cemetery 'Mystery Grave.'" It predates that modern city and that Cemetery by about 132 years. The incoming settlers, commencing about 1819, used that ancient French and Indian burial site for developing a "modern" cemetery. That practice of using ancient French and Indian burial places was often duplicated in this region. --As for instance, at the nearby Paris Indian Mound, Adair County, OK Cemetery Site. In that latter named place, incoming settlers even buried folks on top of that large, flat-topped, ancient, hallowed, Native American Burial Mound Site.) Opposite end of the "Mystery Grave" is below.

Near top of this burial stoneare triangular shapes in accord with runic script.

The similarity of Runic script for "DeSoto" and "DeLioto" (sounded without final "T," in keeping with how non French people hear French "Liotot") are as below, demonstrating that even in written runic format, as well as phonetically, it was easy for early 1800's incoming migrants to Arkansas to think French Indians were saying that this grave involved someone connected with"D'Soto," instead of involving "D'Lioto."

Runic message of opposite end of Van Buren Crypt is recognizable as runic, but it is so eroded from more than 322 years of weathering that it is problematic for reading. I think I can see remnants of runes that named Duhaut and Liotot. There are, for instance, remnants of triangular shapes typical of Runic "D" and "E,"and "L" and "T" which near modern day folks incorrectly thought may have been remnants of Masonic emblems, which also involve some triangular shapes.

That crypt is completely unique. --Absolutely none like it in any cemetery in Eastern Oklahoma or Western Arkansas. It was crafted of Native Sandstone, quarried from nearby escarpment.

It was placed in an "eyeballed" sunshine-sunset East-West Alignment during Spring of 1687. --Because one of the expdition journal writerssaid that they had only one defective, broken compass. Note, therefore, how the modern graves are aligned more precisely East-Westby modern era geographical surveying equipment.

That grave long predates those post 1819 modern platted and laid outgraves. It was also crafted for holding two bodies in wilderness conditions where it was not very easy or convenient to dig graves, so that sandstone crypt --which did previously also have a large rock slab on top of it--would help protect shallow grave of human remains.

Part XV: The Involvement of "7 Noms" and Mapped Death Places

The Heavener Runestone is directly related to the Van Buren Crypt. The former reads in French (at least as to one of multiple intended interpretations), via boldly engraved Normandy FRENCH (note emphasis) Runes &affiliated fine-lined peripheral engravings (latter almost completely obliterated by 322 plus years of wear & tear):

"7 NOMs E' DATes." (7 Names & Dates --and probably indicating that 3 dates are involved). (See also sketch & pictures below). The Heavener Memorial Monument, like unto all of the anciently named French geographical place names of that geographical context, is of old Normandy French connections.

Below: One of My Photographs With The Primary Normandy French Reading Superimposed

Below I present a year 1983-2009 copyrighted closeup picture wherein some of the engraved word & directional marker lines are plainly present & yet visible, as shown also later in some of my hand written sketches.

Below I am pasting a pictorial illustration concerning that photo above, along with some related text from my 2003 Publication, "7 Noms" at Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died

There are four marker lines. --Three along top and one along the bottom of the runes. The rightmost marker line is not visible in this photo, but it can be seen in some of my larger photos and in my sketches.

The first of the three top side marker lines (Made more obvious in following hand drawn illustrations) is slanted above and directly into the left most rune (segregating it as a single digit letter, word, or numeral).

The 2nd from left marker line is below and to the right of the 3rd from left rune, and is not involved with the main top side left to right reading French words-messages.

The third marker line (which is the 2nd of the top side ones) is at the top right side of runic "NOMs."--Which is a recognizable French word, "Names or Persons." That marker line is also at the upper left side of the runic "E" (which looks like our "M"). The 4th marker line is on the right side of that runic "E" (More obvious in other pictures and illustrations). Those two marker lines on either side of that runic "E," along with an obvious, still recognizable, apostrophe to right of that "E" segregates it, as a French word unto iteself. --Making an abbreviation of French, "et" (Equals our "&") --Therefore one French message is, from the left, "7 NOMs & ...." --With DAT or DAL to right of those three French words. More on that later.

Mrs. Farley called those French Connected Marker Lines "Natural Protuberances." No way! Were we at the Stone right now, and inside that glaring protective shield, I could show you that beside each of those embossed, pencil thick protuberances, there are knife and chisel marks. The Monument Author carefully chiseled and ground away stone on either side of 5/16th Inch Wide Marker Lines to mark various French Words and other significant data.

In my first book, I took the stance that the First Rune bore merely an Alphabetic Value of G. It possibly did originally have that aspect, in 1686, when La Salle was laid up within that area sick for some six weeks, and seemingly near death. GNOME DATes, in that 1686 Context, would have involved a Memorial Monument for La Salle, in light of his supposedly Near Death Condition. Various Markings told the observant Reader of Runes that the GNOME Meaning, Buried Treasure Data, involved (or, was going to involve) singular [Normandy French] NOM, Et [his] DATes. The involved NOM and birth and death dates were those of D La Salle.

I won't fully demonstrate, dismiss, or discuss that reading for now. What Jimmy Hiens lastly intended, other than "Gjome's," -- "Jim's" or "Jimmy's (French, Gemme's) Dale," was "7 NOMs Et [one or more] Dates."For now,  just note that those French Connected Marker Lines are there for important purposes. --Among other reasons, to mark out French Word Groupings. They are also illustrated in my hand drawn sketch that I later picture.

The photograph and illustrations above were from good exposures for revealing Marker Lines, above 1st from left rune and below 3rd from left; and for showing Runic "S" (perpendicular slash mark to right of 4th from left rune), and for showing marker line extending out of chicken or rooster head at left side of partially visible runic "E,"with that marker line extending up to top of horsehoe shaped, now barely visible, fine-lined, engraved map of an Arkansas River bend.

Below: The Short Stroke, Perpendicular Mark Which isRunic "S," Next to Runic "M," Picture Taken When Lester Rowland was installing a new protective shield. Lester alerted me about that job because he knew I wanted some pictures when that shield was to be removed.

Mapped Below: The Horsehoe Shaped River Bend, at the top of one of those marker lines, across which were buried "D' Eau" (Sound of French "DuHaut")and "D' Leo" (Sound of French"D' Liotot")

If you are reasonably observant, and if you were at the Heavener Runestone, and if that glaring protective shield did not mess you up too much, you might see, as do I that there is a still fine-and-eroded-lined engraved chicken head backed up against the partially visible runic "E." That symbol can represent the French name, "Juchereau." There were some folks using that name that were associated with La Salle and the French that soon followed him into French Colonial America. --But I believe that the "Juchereau" in this case means, "Roosting Place," as also in "Final Resting, or Burial Place" for "D' Eau" (DuHaut) and "D' Leo" (D' Liotot). They are being represented and named in this portion of the runestone monument, and a marker line comes out of the head of that roosting chicken and goes to the top of a mapped river bend. Below is a closeup of a just barely visible cross (Visible inside the Protective PlasticShield, where I was when Ralph Marsh photographed me). And at the top of that marker line is a slash mark, representing a river bend crossing, that is located to the Noretheast, which is the direction and proper representation of the directions to the Van Buren Grave-Crypt. Furthermore, there are two faintly visible engraved crosses across that Runestone mapped horseshoe shaped river bend, at a place that properly reflects the placement of the Van Buren Arkansas crypt on Log Town Hill in Van Buren. Within these photos also are several engraved lines of a stream flowing over the engraved roosting chicken. "Stream" in French, is "eau." With Runic DE we thus can recognize, "D' Eau," the way French name "DuHaut" is pronounced.

That shorter perpendicular marking is for making plural "NOMs" --And notice the marker line at far right side of this photo. It extends to a fine-lined, engraved, mapped,horseshoe-shaped-bend, exactly like the one at Arkansas River at Van Buren, AR. --The place where is located the Burial Crypt for Duhaut & Liotot.

"Liotot" became corrupted in oral traditions preservedby French Indians during late 1600's & 1700's. As a consequence, someearly 1800's incoming settlers thought the French Indians were talking about "De Soto" (So says a bronze plaque inadvisedly attached to the stone crypt) involved with that 1687 crypt La Salle Expedition survivors crafted for Duhaut & de Liotot (pronounced, "d' Leoto").Desoto never reached beyond Hot Springs of Arkansas during the early 1500's.

Previous interpreters completely ignored such fine-lined engraved important peripheraldetails involved with the boldly engraved runes.

Past analysts especially erred when they ignored those engraved marker lines, which, as word separators, delineate from left to right Normandy French runes reading,"G (as numeral 7) NOMs E' DATes."

The "es"is engraved between runic "A T," in Latin-English-French alphabetic characters. Look closely at the picture at the left for"ES"engraved in smaller, more eroded characters than the larger runes. --Located on left side of right side rune, about 2/3 way up the perpendicular shaft. (Compare illustration below) That is for saying that when the runic message is read from left to right, "ES" pluralizes runic DAT into Normandy French DATes.

Photographs AboveLeft & Below & Illustration below copyrighted by Lee W. Woodard, 2000-2009.

Notice in the large photograph, & in my sketch, an apostrophe beside segregated middle rune, on right side toward top. The runic form that looks like an English "M" is Normandy French "E'," with the apostrophe abbreviating French "ET," (equaling our "&")

Below: A page from my book, "7 NOMs" at Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died, showing peripheral engravings interlaced with the big and bold runes to provide name of La Salle as one of the 1687 memorialized, murdered,"7 MOMs." --With his death place told as "3 Leagues to Ouest" (= about 7.25 miles west). --Which is near juncture of Fourche Maligne (Wicked Fork) River with Poteau River.


PLEASE Disregard the ? Marks above. This was caused by inability of the Yahoo Web Site to handle my arrow symbols. Eventually I will resolve that problem.

From right to left, the runic "T" becomes "L" as part of "LA" of "La Salle," which I here illustrate & which I more fully & better picture, illustrate, &explain in my books. Runic messages often read from right to left.

This message has both left to right, and right to left readings, as I delineate in my books.

For the Rune Engraver, north is at the left side of this monument, south at the right side, east at the top, and west at the bottom. --In keeping with the actual positioning of the relic, when viewed from the engraved face. --Not placement of north at top, as with most modern maps. In that era mapmakers sometimes did as does this

This sketch was drawn & first Coprighted by Lee W. Woodard, 1983 and again in 2009.

memorial monument does as to mapped directions. Therefore, the word marker & directional lines that are engraved on the monument (as to three on top of Runes) are pointing to the Northeast, at the correct angle across the Arkansas River to location where Duhaut & Liotot were murdered and buried. --At and across horsehoe-shaped bend in Arkansas River at modern day Van Buren, AR.

My earliest writings about the monumental directional indicators stand corrected in my most recent publications. The bottom marker line points to southwest, possible to show that La Salle &/or someone(s) else were buried in that direction. --Or the lower marker-directional line may be saying that these victims had traveled to this place from the Gulf Coast from the southwest, as indeed they had.

My 1983 sketch, above, showed the perpendicular rune for "S" next to (on the right side of) the 4th from left rune, but I did not at first quite realize the full significance of it. So I initially translated & typed French "NOM"as singular"Name." The correct reading is French "NOMs" ("Names"). --And the initial "G" is thus alphanumeric "7" (in keeping with its alphabetic-placement numerical value)

Left side picture below is untouched. Right side is where I have penciled in highlighting of upper left hand side French Connected Marker Line. It comes down into this "X-Looking" Runic "G," showing it as a letter or numeral unto itself. I also highlighted some encircled engraved "7's,"which help to alert observant ones that the numerical value of "G" is of major importance.
Note also that an engraved marker line segregates that "G=7" as an entity standing alone. Note also in the in-color photo above that the "M" looking "E'=French et (&) is likewise segregated by the engraver.

Rune users & some other people, such as church cleric users of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, have often used alphabetic forms as numerals, when the context warrants, as it does here.

Part XVI: What Gloria Farley Reportedly Wanted Kept Quiet: The La Salle Bust That She Had in Her Possession, And Had Copied in Plaster of Paris

Engraved also on the Runestone Monument are directional markers & barely visble maps to where La Salle was murdered, not in Texas, but approximately at French named Fourche Maligne ("Fork of Wickedness") River juncture with Poteau River.

In my books and below I picture a small stone bust of La Salle that was reportedly found near that "Wicked Fork" about 25-30 years ago. Gloria Farley showed me that actual sculpted bust when I was visiting in her home (We were neighbors) sometime during 1983-1985.

Not long before her final decline in health, I was told that she took a small stone carved bust to have it copied in Plaster of Paris. A friend told me that he saw her at the involved copy place, and said he heard her telling those making the copy --Telling them in strictest of terms-- not to tell anyone about it. At least that is what my friend told me he thought he heard the great lady say.

Before Mrs. Farley reportedly came back to pick up the Plaster of Paris replica, my friend told me he had an opportunity to make some pictures of the replica. He did so and he sent several of his picturesto me via E Mail, wanting to hear my response to them.

Now, I believe Gloria surely must have known --by that date--that the bust below pictured was of La Salle. --But why make a copy? Why not just keep the actual article under wraps? She was reportedly trying to keep her knowledge secret.

At that time my first book was already in print and Gloria was reportedly disturbed about what I had written. Reporters who were interviewing me were checking with her about what I claimed, and they were then telling me, or else were telling in print, what Gloria thought about what I had written. (We did not communicate face to face). She was always given the opportunity of supplying the last word in those artcicles. --That is, till I answered those last newspaper words with my newer book. --Merely in the interest of my ideas receiving a completely fair and proper hearing.

You can read the actual newspaper articles covering those dialogues in my book, "7 Noms." Anyway, at the time Gloria was reportedly having that bust copied, she knew that I was saying that La Salle had died in that region and that I was saying that the Runestone Monment was from 1687, not from Monge or Nielson's Pre Columbus suggested eras.

I won't speculate as to what this great ladymay been thinking and why she may have wanted a copy of that bust, and why she reportedly wanted it kept quiet for a while.Thing of it was, she had shown it to me many years earlier, and she had asked me back then, "What do you think this is?" --When at that time I still was not yet certain about the derivation of that bust. Maybe she forgot that she had shown it to me many years ago?

Beneath my picture of the La Salle 1687 bust --which shows him as in death--(as preserved in plaster of paris copy) is my photo of a 1684 wood carving of La Salle, from which I have removed his era popular wig that covered his bald head.

The similarity of the bust and that picture is undeniable. Someone from 1680's left a bust of La Salle in the region where he was ambushed and shot to death.

The bald head below includes an etched Normandy French Coat of Arms

La Salle's Nephew Crevel Moranget & Native American assistants Nika & Saget were hatchet murdered at night on March 17, 1687 near Wister, Oklahoma. That evil murder place is down the hill about seven miles below the memorial monument.

La Salle was ambushed & shot in the head on March 19, 1687 when he arrived to look for the other three, that he had hoped were still alive.

The actual 1687 crypt, holding remains of Duhaut & Liotot, still stands at Van Buren, Arkansas, as pictured above.

Those two of La Salle's men (who had beenthe March 17-19 1687 murderers of La Salle, Moranget, Saget, and Nika)were shot to death at that Van Buren burial site about a month or so after the other four victims had been murdered at "Wicked Fork." That Arkansasplace is about 50-60 miles northeast of the Heavener Runestone memorial monument. --And that location is mapped on the Heavener Runestone, which I better document, explain, picture, & illustrate in my books.

Actual French eyewitness descriptions of these murders exist & are referenced in my books.The historical eyewitness writings are mainly via Lieutenant Henri Joutal & Roman Catholic Cleric, Anastasius Douay, who were among the few of La Salle's tragic expedition who survived it. More than 200 perished. --None with more insane rage& bloody violence than those referenced on the Heavener Runestone & at the Van Buren Crypt.

In the Spring of 1687 at least seven were victims of gory hatchet murders & gunshots in the Wicked Fork (Maligne Fourche) & Poteau River & Van Buren, AR regions.

No wonder the big, bold, yet secretive runic memorial monument at Heavener, was crafted by one of the muderer's, James (Jimmy, French Gemme) Hiens, a brilliant native of Germany & England.

Runes were used partly because they were a fad in the 1600's, but especially because James Hiens, the 1687 monument engraver, wanted to try to veil the information from Spanish soldiers who were actively trying to capture these French, who were considered to be unlawfully trespassing upon Spanish terrain.

These very important historical monuments, graves,and archeologogical relics were notc reated by any Pre Columbian Scandinavian or Irish. Oklahoma beaureaucrats have been (even if unintentionally or naively) misleading people visiting the Heavener Runestone Park. They have also (some with deliberated intentions) tried to ignore my published interpretations of years 2000-2009, not even referencing my related books at that site, even though I am the only person who has published entire books devoted to the monument. Maybe this Web Site will help them to reconsider what they should be doing at that very historic site.

Part XVII: The Petit Jean's Mountain Grave State Park Connection

Below is my picture of the grave of Petit Jean de Marne or de Marle (historical records have variance as to that name, which was, of itself,likely an alias, as even the legends suggest). That rocky-palisade-surrounded grave from Saint Jean (John Baptist) Day, June 24, 1687, is described in actual French historical eyewitness accounts, including one written by one of two presiding priests at the funeral (Anastasius Douay). I tell that fantsatic story in my book, Petit Jean's Mountain: The Origin of the Legend. That actual La Salle Expedition historical source for the old Arkansas oral legends about Petit Jean was unknown in modern era till I discovered and announced it.

I summarized the Petit Jean Saga in this manner at http://www.petit-jean.org/ which thus far is just my starter page and is not yet a fully developed separateWeb Site:

"Dr. Lee W. Woodard found French records about young French Noble, Petit Jean De Marne & beloved friend(s). Petit (Or Petite) Jean landed at Matagorda Bay Texas in 1685 with Rene Robert Cavelier De La Salle & about 200 souls. Endured agony at Fort St Louis, TX & in wilds of E. TX, E. OK, & Western Ark. After [reportedly] being forced to take part in bloody brawls that took 7 lives, fled down ARK River with 6 others. Drowned on Saint Jean (John) Baptist Day, June 24, 1687. He (Or she, as in legend) was lovingly prepared for burial by Native Americans. Funeral was led by two Catholic priests [Fathers Jean Baptist Cavelier --brother of La Salle-- & Anastasias Douay] on East End of Petit Jean Mountain. A lover [apparently and/or reportedly, Barthelemy] stayed nearby while others fled to France. Eyewitness French friends recorded true story. Newly updated book about this awesome epic of tragedies & love is "Petit Jean's Mountain: The Origin of the Legend," ISBN 97809702349-1-0. Available for $12.00 plus $5.00 shipping-handling."

Additonally, via helpfulness of a friend, and former Petit Jean Mountain resident,Don Higgins, I record in that updated book an 1878 Western Immigrant newspaper artcile. It reports in a very beautiful manner the oldest yet discovered glamorized legend of Petit Jean. --And it is remarkably in accord with the actual historical records about De Marne (perhaps, Marle) of the La Salle Expedition. That book, Petit Jean's Mountain: The Origin of the Legend makes for a fantastic story that could readily be made into a film. --For that matter, so could the stories of La Salle and Jimmy Hiens.

Above my picture of "Petit Jean's" Grave. Below, a beautiful picture looking off Petit Jean Mountain (toward nearby Arkansas River) from near that grave site. --Used via permission of PhotographerOuida Cox. The likely place where "Petit Jean's" body was retrieved from drowning is marked with an arrow head. The burial site, as described both by ancient legends andby Father Anastasius Douay --One of the presiding priests at the burial-- was surrounded by rocky palisades (in keeping with the legendary grave site pictured above). That grave site is just to the lower right side of what is shown in this photograph.

For more detailed information, consult my books.

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Bibliographical Sources (English Only) Consulted And/Or Cited

Adwan Alex. Vikings legend, Tulsa World, (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Section G, p. 1, --An article concerning Lee W. Woodards claim that the Heavener Runestone dates to 1687 La Salle Expedition tragedies.

American Heritage. A Treasury of American Heritage: A selection from the first five years of the Magazine of History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1960.

Barker, Nancy Nichols. Brother to the Sun King: Philippe, Duke of Orleans. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.

Blair, Marcus, Runestone Legend Endures, Southwest Times Record of Fort Smith, Arkansas, May 19, 2000, Section G, p. 1 An article concerning Lee W. Woodards declarations that the Heavener Runestone dates to 1687 La Salle Expedition, With Contrary Statements of Gloria Farley.

Bolton, Herbert Eugene, ed. Spanish Explorations in the Southwest: 1542-17O6. Original Narratives of Early American History. General editor, J. Franklin Jameson. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1963.

Bossu, Jean-Bernard. Jean Bossus Travels in the Interior of North America: 1751-1752. Translated and edited by Seymour Feiler. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.

Bowman, Bob. MANY PLACES OF LA SALLES MURDER, Web Site Content Copyright 1998-2007, Texas Escapes, July 31, 2007

Chesnel, Paul. History of Cavelier de La Salle, 1643-1687: Explorations in the Valleys of the Ohio, Illinois, and Mississippi. Translated from the French by Andree Chesnel Meany. New York: Putnam, 1932.

Coulter, Tony. La Salle and the Explorers of the Mississippi. World Explorers series. New York: Chelsea House, 1991.

Cox, Isaac Joslin, Ed. The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle. 2 vols. Austin, Texas: Pemberton, 1968.

Davis, Mracellus L., Colonel, A Legend of Petit Jean, Western Immigrant, October 17, 1878. As reproduced in Dardanelle Arkansas Post Dispatch, February 1, 1940, And as transcribed by Don Higgins, a former resident of Petit Jean Mountain, and supplied to Lee W. Woodard.

Delanglez, Jean. The Discovery of the Mississippi. Chicago: Loyola University, 1945.

"Franquelin, Mapmaker." Mid-America 25 (New series, vol. 14), No.1 (January, 1943): 29-74.

Delanglez, Jean" La Salle's Expedition of 1682 Mid-America 22 (New series, vol. II, No.1 (January, 1940): 275-298.

Delanglez, Jean. Some La Salle Journeys. Chicago: Institute of Jesuit History, 1938.

The Journal of Jean Cavelier: The Account of a Survivor of La Salles Texas Expedition, I684-I688. Translated and annotated by Jean Delanglez, S.J. Chicago: Institute of Jesuit History, 1938.

De Vorsey, Louis, Jr. "La Salle's Cartography of the Lower Mississippi: Product of Error or Deception?" The American South. Vol. 25 in series "Geosciences and Man Edited by Richard L. Nostrand And Sam B. Hilliard. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966. 14 vols. (Of 24 Intended).

Dufour, Charles L. Ten Flags in the Wind: The Story of Louisiana, New York: Harper & Row, 1967.

Dunn, William Edward. Spanish and French Rivalry in the Gulf Region of the United State) I678-I7O2: The Beginnings of Texas and Pensacola. Bulletin No. 1705, Studies in History No. 1. Austin: The University of Texas, 1917.

Eccles, W. J. France in America. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

Enriquez Barroto, Juan. "The Enriquez Barroto Diary." Translated by Robert S. Weddle in Robert S. Weddle, ed., La Salle, the Mississippi) and the Gulf: Three Primary Documents.

Farley, Gloria. In Plain Sight: Old World Records in Ancient America. Columbus Georgia: ISAC Press, 1994.

Folmer, Henry. Franco-Spanish Rivalry in North America) I524-I763. Glendale: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1953.

Forbes, Jack. Apache, Navaho, and Spaniard. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.

Foster, William C., Ed. The La Salle Expedition to Texas: The Journal of Henri Joutel) I684-I687. Edited with an introduction by William C. Foster. Translated by Johanna S. Warren. Austin: Texas StateHistorical Association, 1998.

French, Benjamin Franklin. Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida: Historical Memoirs and Narratives, I527-I7O2. Second series. Historical and biographical notes by B. F. French. New York: Albert Mason, 1875.

Gaither, Frances. Fatal River: The Life and Death of La Salle, New York: Henry Holt, 1931.

Galloway, Patricia K., ed. La Salle and His Legacy: Frenchmen and Indians in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Jackson Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1982.

Gerard, David. Ancient Carving may solve modern question, Muskogee Dailey Phoenix, (Muskogee, Oklahoma), September 8, 2001, p. 3A. An article concerning Lee W. Woodards claim that the Heavener Runestone dates to the 1687 La Salle Expedition tragedies.

Gilmore, Kathleen. "An Archeological Footnote to History," With collaboration of H. Gill-King. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 60 (1989): 303-324.

Gilmore, Kathleen. The Keeran Site: the probable site of La Salles Fort St. Louis in Texas. Office of the State Archeologist Reports, No. 24. Austin: Texas Historical Commission, 1973.

Gilmore, Kathleen. "Treachery and Tragedy in the Texas Wilderness: The Adventures of Jean L'Archeveque in Texas." Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 69 (1998): 35-4-6.

Giraud, Marcel. A History of French Louisiana, 3 vols. Vol. I. "The Reign of Louis xiv, 1698-1715, Translated by Joseph C. Lambert. Revised and corrected by the author. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1974.

Gum, Ert J., PhD, LA SALLE AND THE HISTORIANS, East Texas Historical Journal, Volume VII, Number 1, 1969, p. 5-12.

Hardison, T.W. A Place Called Petit Jean. Morrilton Arkansas: Carden Bottoms Publishing Company, 1955, Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Arkansas.

John, Elizabeth A. H. Storms Brewed in Other Mens Worlds: The Confrontation of Indians, Spanish, and French in the Southwest, 1510-1795. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1975.

Johnson, Fran. New Theory Offered on Heavener Runestone, Daily News & Sun (Poteau, Oklahoma) March 29, 2000, p. 1. An article about Lee W. Woodards declarations that the Heavener Runestone derives of 1687 La Salle Expedition tragedies, With Contrary Statements of Gloria Farley.

Joutel, Henri. Joutels Journal of La Sales Last Voyage. Intro. By Darret B. Rutman. New York: Corinth Books 1962.

Joutel, Henri. The Last Voyage Performd by de La Sale. Facsimile Reprint of 1714 Edition, First Published in French 1n 1713. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1966.

Latter Day Saints Family Search (www.familysearch.org) for Baden-Wuerttemburg Germany Listings for Hiens, International Genealogical Index, Batch Number M923883, 1546-1716, Source Call No. 1346020.

Le Clercq, Chretien. First Establishment of the Faith in New France. 2 vols. Translated and annotated by John Gilmary Shea. New York: John G. Shea, 1881. First published in French as Premier etablissement de la foi dans la Nouvelle France, Paris: 1691.

Lockridge, Ross F. La Salle. New York: World Book Company, 1931.

Marsh, Ralph. Runestone Ideas Clash Heavener Words a land claim or map to assassination site? Daily Oklahoman, (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) May 3, 2000. An article concerning Lee W. Woodards claim that the Heavener Runestone dates to 1687 La Salle Expedition tragedies, with contrary statements by Gloria Farley.

McDonald, Archie P., PhD. THE LA SALLE MURDER CASE. An Article featured in Texas Escapes.Com, February 2002.

McRill, Leslie A. The Heavener Enigma: A Rune Stone, Chronicles of Oklahoma 44, No. 2 (Summer, 1966): 125-126.

Minet, Jean Baptist. Journal of Our Voyage to the Gulf of Mexico, trans. By Ann Linda Bell, in Robert S. Weddle, ed., La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf: Three Primary Documents

Monge, Alf and O.G. Landsverk. Norse Medieval Cryptology in Rune Carvings. Glendale California: Norseman Press, 1967.

Moraud, Marcel. Last Expedition and the Death of Cavelier De La Salle, 1684-1687. Rice Institute Pamphlet 24, No. 3 (July 1937): 143-167.

Osler, E.B. La Salle. Ontario Canada: Don Mills: Longmans Canada Ltd., 1967.

Parkman, Francis. La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West. New York: Modern Library Paperback Edition, 1999.

Pohl, Frederick J. Atlantic Crossings Before Columbus. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961, Pages 45-51.

Shirk, George H. Report on The Heavener Runestone, Chronicles of Oklahoma, No. 38: (Autumn 1959), p 363.

Terrell, John Upton. La Salle: The Life and Times of an Explorer. New York: Weybright and Talley, 1968.

Turner, Lucille Price. The Legend of Petit Jean. Van Buren Arkansas: The Press Argus, 1970.

Turner, Marguerite. Petit Jean: A Girl, A Mountain, A Community. Morrilton Arkansas, 1955.

Veach, Damon. Author claims stone marks La Salles grave, Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)August 23, 2000.

Walton, Rod. Claim creates a ripple in Runestone theory, Tulsa World (Tulsa, Oklahoma) Section A, p. 17, May 3, 2000. An Article concerning Lee W. Woodards claim that the Heavener Runestone dates to 1687 La Salle Expedition tragedies, with rebuttal ideas of Gloria Farley.

Weddle, Robert S. The French Thorn: Rival Explorers in the Spanish Sea. College Station: Texas A & M Press, 1991.

Weddle, Robert S. La Salles Survivors, Southwestern Historical Quarterly 75, No. 4 (1972) 413-433.

Weddle, Robert S. Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle College Station: Texas A & M Press, 1999.

Weddle, Robert S. La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf: Three Primary Documents, Ed by Robert S. Weddle, Mary Christine Morkovsky, and Patricia Galloway. College Station: Texas A & M Press, 1987.

Weddle, Robert S. The Wreck of the Belle, the Ruin of La Salle. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2001.

Wedel, Mildred Mott. J. B. Benard, Sieur De La Harpe: Visitor to the Wichitas in 1719, Great Plains Journal.

Wolf, Jr., Henry. Henrys Journal, Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) 2000, p. 2 Editorial about Lee W. Woodard claim that La Salle died near Heavener, Oklahoma, contrasted with Henry Fosters idea that the death location was probably near Navasota, Texas.

Woodard, Lee W. Secret La Salle Monument and Historical Marker. Sallisaw Oklahoma: La Salle Monument.Com, 2000.

Woodard, Lee W. Petit Jeans Mountain. Sallisaw Oklahoma: La Salle Monument.Com, 2001.

Woodard, Lee W. 7 MOMs At Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died Sallisaw, Oklahoma, 2003

What We Do

We want people to learn the fantastic truth about the Heavener Runestone Memorial Monument and related historic sites and archeological relics.

Why continue inaccurate childhood fantasies about Pre Columbus Vikings arriving at this interior American wilderness? The truth is much better.

This monument is connected with actual tragic history that is described in actual French & Spanish historical records. It is related to Matagorda Bay archeological remnants of "Fort Saint Louis," which are located a few miles northwest of the La Salle Monument at Indianola of Matagorda Bay of Gulf of Mexico.

My copyrighted photo from 1987 is below. 

 La Salle Monument at Indianola of Matagorda Bay, on Gulf Coast of Texas, near where La Salle landed with about 200 others in January of 1685, in tragic failed effort to establish a French Colony. Only about 12 individuals survived that failed colony. It was while attempting in desperation to hike overland from Matagorda Bay to French Illinois & Canada that the murders transpired that are memorialized by the Heavener Runes.

Invloved also are the State of Texas resurrected ruins of La Salle's  ship, La Belle, sunken ruins pictured below within a coffer dam in the Gulf of Mexico.  

The photograph below was given to the author by one of the Texas archeology team members in 2001.

It also directly involves, as previously mentioned, that completely unique 1687 burial crypt (see my photo) at Van Buren Arkansas' Fairview Cemetery.

Connected also in a strong way is Petit Jean's Grave at the Arakansas State Park on Petit Jean Mountian near Morrilton, Arkansas.

We also accept orders for Dr. Lee W. Woodard's books. His books show & tell the true stories of the 1687 Heavener Runestone, The 1687 Van Buren Grave Crypt, and the 1687 grave for drowning victim, Petit Jean. SEE "CONTACT US."

SEE ALSO ADDITIONAL NOTES & PICTURES UNDER OUR LINK, "SERVICES."

Book Order Information

We are currently making all of Dr. Woodard's books available at discounted prices. --With $6.00 shipping & handling added, as follows:

'7 NOMs' at Wicked Fork Where La Salle Died" ISBN: 0-9702349-5-3 (Our most recent book) is now discounted to $25.00 (plus $6.00 Shipping);

Secret La Salle Monument and Historical Marker ISBN: 0-9702349-0-2 is now discounted to $16.00 (plus $6.00 Shipping); and this year 2000 book includes Post Publication Insert that corrects & clarifies early inaccuracies & omissions of that book;

Petit Jean's Mountain: The Origin of the Legend ISBN: 0-9702349-1-0 is now discounted to $12.00 (plus $6.00 shipping), and it also includes Post Publication update via an insert.

We accept money orders or checks. You can contact the author via information at  the link, "Contact Us."