De Soto's route through Wilcox County can still be followed today

De Soto enters Indian village on horseback.

Most historians agree that Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto traveled through present-day Wilcox County in October 1540. His expedition visited at least two ancient Indian villages in Wilcox County, and these Spaniards had many dealings with the county’s native inhabitants. Many readers may be surprised to learn that you can still travel along the same route that De Soto traveled through Wilcox County nearly 500 years ago.

Much of what is known about De Soto’s path through Alabama can be found within the pages of “The Final Report of the United States De Soto Expedition Commission.” This report was published in 1939 and was based on a study commissioned by Congress to trace De Soto’s route through America. This commission of experts based their report on official Spanish accounts of the expedition, diaries and archeological evidence.

Another great source on De Soto’s expedition is a book called “Dead Towns of Alabama” by W. Stuart Harris, which says that De Soto visited the Indian villages of Humati and Uxapita, both in present-day Wilcox County, on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 in 1540. Humati is believed to have been located on the west bank of the Alabama River, just north of Camden. Uxapita is believed to have been located at the mouth of Pursley Creek, at its junction with the Alabama River, eight miles southwest of Camden.

What’s perhaps even more interesting is that you can get into your automobile today and drive modern highways along the same route that De Soto traveled during his time in Wilcox County. According to an Alabama Highway Department report titled, “Indian Trails to Interstates: The Story of Alabama’s Road System” by Don Dodd and Gary Reeves, De Soto and his men usually followed the route of least resistance. In most cases, this meant that they followed Indian trails that had existed for hundreds of years before De Soto arrived in America.

According to Dodd and Reeves, to follow De Soto’s route through Wilcox County, you must first get on State Highway 41 at the Dallas-Wilcox County line. From there you would travel south along Highway 41 to Camden through Pebble Hill all the way down to Dry Forks. You would then take Wilcox County Road 12 from Dry Forks through Coy to Lower Peach Tree before crossing into Clarke County.

While I was unable to determine exactly when “The Story of Alabama’s Road System” was published, I believe that it came out in the mid-1970s. With that said, if you look at an up-to-date map, you’ll see that you’ll have to take County Road 13 at Dry Forks to get to County Road 12, leading into Coy. You’ll also note that there is no bridge over the Alabama River at Lower Peach Tree, which makes it impossible to cross that point by automobile. (De Soto and his men didn’t have this problem because they were highly skilled at fording rivers without the aid of bridges.)

According to Dodd and Reeves, most of these old Indian trails followed prehistoric animal trails between animal shelters and natural supplies of food and water. These ancient animals, which included deer, elk and bears, would “traverse the forest not by compass but by an inner instinct which leads them always the right way – to the lowest passes in the mountains, the shallowest fords in the rivers, the richest pastures in the forests, the best salt springs, and the shortest practicable lines between remote points. They travel thousands of miles, have their annual migrations backwards and forwards and never miss the best and shortest routes.”

The Indians used these animal trails to search for food and water and because these trails offered the least resistance to travel. When pioneer settlers moved into early Alabama, they widened these Indian trails by cutting the trees on both sides of the trail to make room for wagons and stagecoaches. Years later, these widened wagon roads were covered with layers of crushed rock and, when the automobile came along, many of them were paved, producing the modern, improved roads that we enjoy today.

In the end, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of old Indian trails, so please let me hear from you if you have any more information about other Indian trails in Wilcox County. Chances are, we travel along these old trails all the time, but just don’t realize it. No doubt there were many other Indians trails in Wilcox County aside from those used by early explorers like De Soto.