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The records of Tunica County, Mississippi stolen during the war by Federal
soldiers have been ordered by General Thomas to be returned.
[Memphis Daily Avalanche - April 13, 1867 - Transcribed and Contributed by: Frances Cooley]
Where De Soto Saw the Mississippi
From The New Orleans Times Pleaune
Jackson, Mississippi - Dr. Dunbar Rowland has just returned from Tunica County, where he located the point at which
Hernando De Soto first saw the Mississippi River, and which spot it had been determined to mark with a $30,000
monument bearing an inscription of this important historical fact.
For a great many years the city of Memphis has claimed this distinction, but Dr. Rowland investigated and states
positively that to Council Bend, Tunica County belongs the honor.
Going to Tunica County, he struck what is known as the Helena Trace in the southeast corner of Tunica and Tate
Counties, across the Coldwater River, and followed it to the Mississippi River, being guided by the narratives
of the men who were with De Soto on his wonderful march across the country from Tampa, Florida, in 1541.
These men kept a daily account of the country through which they passed, describing the topography in such a way
that it cannot be mistaken.
The route is located by several Indian Mounds, some of them of enormous size and towering far above high water
mark in that low, flat country. The Mounds were found by Dr. Rowland without any trouble. One Mound of huge proportions,
the summit being about one acre in circumference, and surrounded by several smaller mounds built in a circle, was
easy to locate through the diaries kept by De Soto's reporters. On top of this mound it is proposed to build the
monument.
Kansas City Star - June 18, 1920 -- Transcribed and contributed by: Frances
Cooley