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The Long King Letterbox LbNA #46610

Owner:Boots Tex
Plant date:Apr 15, 2009
Location:
City:Livingston
County:Polk
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Yertle
Last found:Jan 17, 2016
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Apr 15, 2009
Long King, principal chief of the Coushatta Indians (the name means “White Cane People”) in Texas during the first three decades of the 1800s, was referred to as the mingo or chief above all other Coushatta chiefs in Texas. He lived in Long King's Village, the middle village of the three most significant villages the Coushattas established in Texas. Long King's Village was in what is now Polk County near the junction of Tempe Creek and Long King Creek, about two miles east of Lake Livingston State Park. (Tempe was a later Chief of the Coushatta.) If you drive from here to Livingston on FM 1988 you will cross Tempe Creek, then Long King Creek, as well as the Long King Trace, identified by a small blue and white sign on the right side of the road. On September 27, 1830, José Francisco Madero was appointed general land commissioner of Texas. On January 14, 1831, he arrived in Texas and announced that he would begin issuing land titles in the Trinity River area. In April 1831 he took a census of the Alabama and Coushatta Indians in Texas. In his report on the census he wrote that Long King was the principal chief of the Coushattas. In 1882 L. W. Currie, Presbyterian missionary to the Alabama-Coushatta Indians, wrote in a report to the Office of Indian Affairs that the Polk County Indians informed him that Long King had served as a Coushatta chief. Long King Trace, Long King Creek, and Long King's Village were all named for this prominent Coushatta chief; all three landmarks are mentioned frequently in the field notes of original Polk County land surveys. Though the date of Long King's death is not available in Alabama-Coushatta tribal records, he probably died around 1838, since after this year there is no mention of Long King as principal chief of the Coushattas. Colita emerged as Long King's successor, but that’s another story.Note that the image on the stamp and logbook is that of the modern Chief of the Coushattas, Oscola, dressed in traditional dress, since there are no photos of Long King. This box was placed with the permission of park personnel and is properly permitted.

Directions:
Lake Livingston State Park, in Polk County, is located 1 mile south of Livingston and 75 miles north of Houston. From Hwy 59, go 4 miles west on FM 1988, then .5 mile north on FM 3126 to Park Road 65. Pay fee and get map at Entrance Station.

To the box:
Drive to the first intersection and turn right. Go about 1/3 mile and turn left toward the park store. Keep right and make the horseshoe turn around the picnic area. You’ll see a footbridge on the left. Park across from the footbridge and walk past it to a hike/bike trail on the left that is protected from motorized traffic with a 4 foot post. From the post, walk down the trail for 115 steps to a short stump on the right side of the trail. Continue 16 more steps to a medium pine tree that has a small pine tree growing next to and behind it. Walk off-trail about 7 steps to another medium pine tree. The box is behind it covered with a rock and sticks.