Barred, for me, that would have been an interesting seminar to attend. There is no doubt there have been changes to the landscape over time. There are two historic locations along rivers that are known as the "Big Timbers": one in what is now Western Kansas and the other in Southeastern Colorado. The Kansas location is along the Smoky Hill, and the Colorado location is along the Arkansas. In first person narratives from the 1800's, each is known for the fact that the rivers are destitute of trees for probably several hundred miles, except for these specific locations. These are noteworthy in that, in each case they were well known landmarks for early travelers on the plains. Most descriptions talk about the trees that grew along the tributaries of the larger rivers. I don't have an explanation for this pattern; I am merely passing on the observations of early travelers to the area. In the case of the Colorado location, most of the big trees were eventually cut down to use as building materials. They may have been cut to build Fort Lyon, but I don't recall. In the eastern part of Kansas, there were Indian people living along the Missouri river and it's tributaries. They used a lot of the timber for their own buildings/ earth lodges, for scaffolding, tipi poles, etc. It was common to strip cottonwood for feeding horses in the winter. In that area today, there are places with lots of trees and places where you have large cultivated fields. As you stated, in many areas with larger trees such as cottonwoods, you would also have things like plum, chokecherry and dogwood. Two summers ago I was with my son and a friend collecting plums and chokecherries in western Kansas, along a tributary of the Smoky Hill. There was no shortage of arrow making material. CC
