Sleuthing for the legendary "Broad Arrow" mark

There was a once a simple three groove mark cut into the large White Pines of New England...
The mark was originally cut into the bark of any Eastern White with a diameter of over two feet. It was cut in order to designate the trees as property of the English king for the masts of his ships. It dates from 1711 until 1776 when the mark ceased to be cut. I have recently heard rumors of the mark sill in existence on trees within small stands of old-growth White Pine, but have yet to find one myself. They are incredibly rare...

The history of such a marking is rich with pre-revolutionary riots, the birth of state slogans, rebellious tree poaching, domination of the high seas, and tales of still-living colonial relics. However, I'm not posting to inform you, but to ask for help. I'm writing a short article on the subject and would love to see one of the Broad Arrow marks myself. I've recently had a break in the case and believe I have a shot at tracking one of these big trees down, but before I head out into the deeper woods on marginal, out dated directions, I'd like to open the hunt here.

I've heard a few claiming: "I saw one once", or "somebody said they were around here" or "she found one in 1938", but not much more than that to go on... which just adds more curiosity to the search.

Is there anyone at all who knows anything at all about the Kings Broad Arrow mark and where it may be found today? Have you seen or heard of one yourself? Lets track one down!

The math:
With a growth factor of five, an Eastern White would have to be a minimum of 363 years old today to bear the mark. It would be a tree of over six feet in diameter!

Happy hunting,
-Russ

a reply to: Batan

Vast swaths of New England was deforested. I think half of the original forests on the east coast didn't exist by the 1850s.
I'd check if the area you are looking at is old growth or at any time was farm land. For it to have been marked it would have already needed to be large and straight I would think.

I'm sure it's possible but is it probable?

I wish you luck; it sounds like an interesting mystery.

What State are you looking in?

a reply to: Batan

I first heard about these markings from an old metal detecting friend of mine, Robert, rest his soul.

He'd dug-up an old iron peg on the beach not far from me which had it, he told me it was referred to as 'crows feet', and that it meant that it was property of the king.



Here's a little on the subject - The Admiralty Arrow

Robert was an interesting guy with lots to tell, the only guy I ever met who had a room full of buckets containing rusty old canon balls undergoing reverse electrolysis.

i has to wonder if the mark would still be identifiable ?

Make sure you learn about the connections these types of marks and others have to hidden loot....before you give out locations.

The Native Americans, at a place called Hok-Si-La, would gather sap for syrup. They would scar the tree all the way around, and, because the people enjoyed syrup from the Box Elder (Acer Negundo) instead of the Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum)... they needed to cut a lot. You can still find the scar on some very old Box Elders, but, you have to look up 20 feet to see the scar now... as the tree healed, it grew taller over the years... what was once ground level is now in the canopy.

a reply to: Identified

I'm searching mostly in Maine, but if there are better clues that lead elsewhere, I'll go and look there. New Hampshire and Mass just don't have the remote forests that Maine still has--especially Mass.
Yeah, I read in "Not Without Peril" that there was a hurricane in the 1930s that literally blew down a massive percentage of tall trees--after that, many people never expected the old marking to be seen again, but the writer of the book goes on to tell of a lady hiker who finally did find one in a blow down in 1938.
That was a long time ago now...
The hunt goes on however... And I have reason to believe I know where one could be...
-Russ

a reply to: ignorant_ape

It is (still identifiable)--from what I can gather. It would be hard to see of course and I've even heard of people possible refreshing the marks, but the deeper scaring and bark growth can be seen beyond the refresher.
I have not seen one yet and don't know if I ever will, but I'm guessing if you find a straight 400 year old White Pine, there's a good chance of finding some kind of mark.
I'll send more e-mails today and see what happens...
happy hunting,

a reply to: Batan

I've even heard of people possible refreshing the marks

i has been in a situation - looking for a " special mark from antiquity " - only to realise - that the proffusion of ones i found - were all modern forgeries

YMMV

but good luck

a reply to: ignorant_ape
True, but it is hard to fake centuries of bark growth on a tree scar.
Also, with the way White Pines grow, it is very unlikely that any mark would be too far off the ground--distorted yes, but not way up the trunk.
I've continued to send plenty of e-mails to the NPS, Nature Conservancy and Forest Service, but am turning up little. Its ok though, I do still have reason to believe these marks are still out there. Anybody on ATS got anything?

Ok, so I found 5 surviving trees with the broad arrow mark in one location and one possible candidate in another location. They are pretty cool, but I'm keeping the locations mostly on the DL. They ARE out there though... maybe only five or six left, but they are out there and it only took about 30 e-mails and about as many hours to find them.
Thanks for the help

a reply to: Batan

Cool find. Glad you had some success what with this being the needle in the haystack kinda thing. 30 hours, huh? Seems you had some good tips to find something pretty rare in a relatively short amount of search time. Be interesting to hear how you eventually found them.

I'd never heard of this so thanks for the little history lesson there.