Arkansas, The Natural State

Location: Arkansas, United States
Surnames/tags: arkansas us_history

Contents 1 Welcome to Arkansas 2 The Origins of a State 2.1 Pre-European Arkansas 2.2 Euro-American Period 2.3 Territory and Statehood 2.4 Civil War and Reconstruction 2.5 The Twentieth Century 2.6 The Twenty-first Century 3 State Emblems, Symbols and Mascots 3.1 State Nicknames, Official and Unofficial 4 New Deal Projects 4.1 Depression Era Post Office Art 5 Military and War 5.1 Revolutionary War 5.2 Civil War 5.3 World War I 5.4 Ships 5.5 Military Disasters 5.6 WWII Internment Camps 5.6.1 Notables From the Relocation Camps in Arkansas 6 Tall Tales, Legends, Hauntings, Sightings, Things That Go Bump in the Night 7 Pages of Interest 8 Black Sheep, Outlaws and other Scoundrels 9 Fictional Counties of Arkansas 10 Sources and Resources 11 Recommended reading 12 Sources

Welcome to Arkansas

Arkansas State Counties

Arkansas 13 Dec 1813	Ashley 30 Nov 1848	Baxter 24 Mar 1873	Benton 30 Sep 1836	Boone 9 Apr 1869	Bradley 18 Dec 1840
Calhoun 6 Dec 1850	Carroll 1 Nov 1833	Chicot 25 Oct 1823	Clark 15 Dec 1818	Clay 24 Mar 1873	Cleburne 20 Feb 1883
Cleveland 17 Apr 1873	Columbia 18 Dec 1852	Conway 20 Oct 1825	Craighead 19 Feb 1859	Crawford 18 Oct 1820	Crittenden 22 Oct 1825
Cross 15 Nov 1862	Dallas 1 Jan 1845	Desha 12 Dec 1838	Drew 26 Nov 1846	Faulkner 12 Apr 1873	Franklin 19 Dec 1837
Fulton 21 Dec 1842	Garland 5 Apr 1873	Grant 4 Feb 1869	Greene 5 Nov 1833	Hempstead 15 Dec 1818	Hot Spring 2 Nov 1829
Howard 17Apr 1873	Independence 20 Oct 1820	Izard 27 Oct 1825	Jackson 5 Nov 1829	Jefferson 2 Nov 1829	Johnson 16 Nov 1833
Lafayette 15 Oct 1827	Lawrence 15 Jan 1815	Lee 17 Apr 1873	Lincoln 28 Mar 1871	Little River 5 Mar 1867	Logan 22 Mar 1871
Lonoke 16 Apr 1873	Lovely 31 Oct 1827	Madison 30 Sep 1836	Marion 25 Sep 1836	Miller 22 Dec 1874	Mississippi 1 Nov 1833
Monroe 2 Nov 1829	Montgomery 9 Dec 1842	Nevada 20 Mar 1871	Newton 14 Dec 1842	Ouachita 29 Nov 1842	Perry 18 Dec 1840
Phillips 1 May 1820	Pike 1 Nov 1833	Poinsett 28 Feb 1838	Polk 30 Nov 1844	Pope 2 Nov 1829	Prairie 25 Nov 1846
Pulaski' 15 Dec 1818	Randolph 29 Oct 1835	Saline 2 Nov 1835	Scott 5 Nov 1833	Searcy 13 Dec 1838	Sebastian 10 Jan 1851
Sevier 17 Oct 1828	Sharp 18 Jul 1868	St. Francis 13 Oct 1827	Stone 17 Apr 1873	Union 2 Nov 1829	Van Buren 11 Nov 1833
Washington 17 Oct 1828	White 23 Oct 1835	Woodruff 26 Nov 1862	Yell 5 Dec 1840

County Formations

The Origins of a State

Pre-European Arkansas

Archaeologists have found evidence of habitation in the area of the Mississippi River as early as 9500 BC. Native populations began to grow between 5000 and 4000 BC.

Caddo, Quapaw, Osage, Tunica - Biloxi and Cherokee Indians have shared Arkansas bounty and surrounding areas over time, along with several other smaller tribes.

Euro-American Period

LA Purchase Global View.

• 1541 - June 18 - Hernando de Soto of Spain was the first known European of record to explore Arkansas, the Mississippi River Valley and lands east of Florida.
• 1673 - July - French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette travel the Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas River. Warned by the Quapaw (Arkansas) Indians of hostile tribes farther south they turn back. In July 1674 turning back to the north, they reached the Quapaw villages of "Akansae" or "Kappa" near the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers.
• 1682 - Mar 13 - Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reaches the Arkansas River on his way to the mouth of the Mississippi. He visits a Quapaw village and claims the land in the name of King Louis XIV.
• 1686 - Henri de Tonti, joined La Salle in 1674, founded Arkansas Post, the first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi River Valley. It served as a trading post, a way-station for Mississippi River travel, and the home of a Jesuit mission for a few years.
• 1721 - A group of 1,300 half-starved colonists - whites and black slaves - abandons Arkansas Post after John Law's Mississippi Company bubble collapsed also creating a chaotic economic collapse in France.
• 1762 - France cedes the Louisiana Territory, including Arkansas, to Spain, but French soldiers continue to man Arkansas Post.
• April 17, 1783 - Colbert's Raid on Arkansas Post
• 1800-1802 - The district was retroceded to France, under the terms of the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800) and the Treaty of Aranjuez (1801). In 1802, King Charles IV of Spain published a royal bill on 15 October, effecting the transfer and outlining the conditions.
• 1803 - The formalized the transfer ceremony was conducted at the Cabildo in New Orleans on 30 November 1803, just three weeks before the formalities of cession from France to the United States pursuant to the Louisiana Purchase.
• 1812, The Act of - changing the District of Louisiana to Missouri Territory, provided for a Territorial legislature consisting of nine members, and empowered the governor to lay off that part where the Indian title had been extinguished into thirteen counties. The county of New Madrid, as then formed, extended into the Arkansas territorial limits, “down to the Mississippi to a point directly east of the mouth of Little Red River; thence to the mouth of Red River; thence up the Red River to the Osage purchase,” etc. In other words it did not embrace the whole of what is now Arkansas.
• 1813 December 13 - the County of Arkansas, Missouri Territory, was formed, and the county seat was fixed at Arkansas Post.
• 1815, January 15 Lawrence County was formed.
• 1818 - The Quapaw cede their lands between the Red and Arkansas rivers. Clark, Hempstead and Pulaski Counties, December 15, 1818.

Territory and Statehood

Tanner Map of 1832.

• 1819 - March 2 - Arkansas, which has been part of Missouri Territory (est. June 4, 1812) since 1812, is detached and made a territory. November 20: Arkansas Gazette, founded by William Edward Woodruff, the first newspaper in Arkansas, published. The first Territorial Governor was James Miller.
• 1821 - October 25 - The capital moves from Arkansas Post to Little Rock
• 1822 - March 16 - The Eagle, first steamboat to ascend the Arkansas River, arrives at Little Rock.
• 1830 - May 28 - Congress establishes the boundary separating Arkansas from Indian Territory to the west.
• 1832-1839 - Removal of the "Five Civilized Tribes" of Indians from the Southeast through Arkansas to Indian Territory.
• 1836 - June 15 - Arkansas became the 25th state with Little Rock as its capital.
• 1846 - Disillusioned by the collapse of two state-chartered banks, legislators ratify a constitutional amendment barring any banking institution from being established in the state.
• 1858 - Edward Payson Washburn paints The Arkansas Traveler.
• 1859 - February 12 - Signing of legislation ordering all free Negroes out of Arkansas by the end of the year.

Civil War and Reconstruction

Arkanasas Civil War Postcard

• 1860 - On the eve of the Civil War, Arkansas has a population of 435,450, of whom 111,115 are black slaves and 11,481 are slave owners.
• 1861 -
  • February - Provisional Confederate Constitution is adopted (Confederate Constitution Day). Arsenal at Little Rock, AR occupied by State Troops
  • May 6 - A convention votes to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. The first of some 60,000 Arkansas residents join the confederate troops, but some 9,000 whites and more than 5,000 blacks fight on the Union side during the war.
• 1862 -
  • Mar 7-8 - Battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas. A Confederate advance north is rebuffed.
  • August 2 - Skirmish at Jonesboro, AR
• 1863 -
  • July 25 - Skirmish at Brownsville, AR and Williamsburg, KY
  • September 10 - Federal troops occupy Little Rock.
• 1864 -
  • A unionist convention abolishes slavery in Arkansas and adopts a new constitution for the state.
  • Skirmish at Benton, AR and Pleasant Hill, MO
• 1866 - August - Ex-Confederates sweep control of the legislature and pass laws denying blacks the right to sit on juries, serve in the militia, or attend white public schools.
• 1867 - March 2 - Congress passes the Reconstruction Act, which voids the government of Arkansas and nine other southern states.
• 1868
  • March 13 - A new constitution adopted by referendum enfranchises Negroes and disenfranchises ex-Confederate soldiers.
  • June 22. Arkansas re-admitted to the Union. November. Governor Powell Clayton declares martial law in much of the state; a mostly black militia battles the Ku Klux Klan.
• 1871 - Completion of a railroad between Memphis and Little Rock.
• 1872 - University of Arkansas opens in Fayetteville.
• 1874 -
  • May 15 - Month-long " Brooks-Baxter War" between rival claimants to the governorship ends when President Ulysses S Grant orders the forces of the former to disperse.
  • October 13 - Ratification of a new constitution restoring the franchise to all whites and guaranteeing full civil rights for blacks ends the Reconstruction era.
• 1887 - Bauxite discovered southwest of Little Rock; peak output is reached by 1918, by which time almost all US Bauxite is being mined in Arkansas.
• 1891 - Jim Crow legislation segregates railroad coaches and waiting stations.
• 1892 - Adoption of a constitutional amendment imposing a poll tax restricts the electorate.
• 1898 - The Democratic party adopts whites-only primary elections.
• 1899 - Bauxite mining began in 1899 and Arkansas soon led all other states in production.

The Twentieth Century

• 1904 - Near Ulm, William H Fuller grows a 70 acre stand of rice, establishing one of the state's leading crops.
• 1906 - August 1 - Diamonds found near Murfreesboro, which becomes the site of the only diamond mine in the United States.
• 1909 - Lumber production is the state's leading industry.
• 1915 - The General Assembly of 1915 enacted a statewide game and fish law and created the Game and Fish Commission.
• 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic Approximately 7000 Arkansawyers died from the Flu.
• 1920 - Over 40 percent of land under cultivation is in cotton, the state's leading crop.
• 1921 -
  • The first radio station, WOK in Pine Bluff, began broadcasting in 1921.
  • January 10 - Discovery of oil near El Dorado triggers a boom; Arkansas is fourth among states in oil in 1924, but production peaks in 1925.
• 1926 - Prison break at Tucker in Pine Bluff leaves 4 inmates dead.
• 1927 - The Mississippi River floods one-fifth of the state. In largely agrarian Arkansas, the Flood of 1927 covered about 6,600 square miles, with thirty-six out of seventy-five Arkansas counties under water up to thirty feet deep in places. In Arkansas, more people were affected by the floodwaters (over 350,000), more farmland inundated (over two million acres), more Red Cross camps were needed (eighty of the 154 total), and more families received relief than any other state (41,243). In Arkansas, almost 100 people died, more than any state except Mississippi. In monetary terms, the losses in Arkansas (totaling over $1 million in 1927 dollars for relief and recovery) surpassed any other affected state. Flood of 1927
• Flood of 1937 - "A cold, rainy January in 1937 set the stage for one of the worst floods—if not the worst—in Arkansas. Corrective action undertaken during the preceding ten years kept Mississippi River levees along Arkansas’s border from breaking, however, thereby preventing a repeat of the Flood of 1927. Nevertheless, eleven Arkansas waterways overflowed, inundating or otherwise affecting seventeen adjacent counties. Eleven additional states flooded, from West Virginia to Louisiana, affecting 1.5 million people in 196 counties and submerging 8,141,182 acres (12,721 square miles) along the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. This natural calamity shattered all previous disaster records, excluding World War I, according to the American Red Cross." Flood of 1937
• 1953 - Television station KATV in Little Rock went on the air in 1953
• 1955-1967 - Orval E. Faubus was the first Arkansas governor to be elected to six terms (1955-67).
• 1957 - President Eisenhower had to send US troops to help African Americans attend Central High School in Little Rock.
• 1967 - Winthrop Rockefeller became the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction.
• 1968: In a special session in February, the General Assembly passes 67 bills, including a freedom of information act and the state's first general minimum wage act. In November, Arkansans ratify Amendment 53, authorizing kindergartens in the state's free public schools.
• 1969: The University of Arkansas establishes a multi-campus system.
• 1970: Dale Bumpers of Charleston is elected governor, promising to rid Arkansas of "the old machine and the money machine."In February, a federal judge declares the Arkansas prison system unconstitutional.
• 1974: Dale Bumpers successfully challenges J. William Fulbright in the Democratic primary and wins election to the U.S. Senate. David Pryor of Camden is elected Governor. University of Arkansas Law School professor William J. Clinton loses his race for the Third District Congressional seat.
• 1975: Following the end of the Vietnam conflict, significant numbers of Vietnamese immigrants are relocated to Camp Chaffee, near Fort Smith, where many eventually settle. On October 11, Professor William Clinton marries Hillary Rodham.
• 1976: Professor Clinton is elected attorney-general, advocating victim compensation, the rights of the elderly, tough ethics laws for public officials, tighter oversight of utilities and opposing the twenty-five-cent pay phone call.
• 1978: Attorney-General Bill Clinton is elected governor.
• 1980: Arkansas is ranked in the top five states in percentage of population over the age of 65, due to the "Retiree Movement."In May, the Federal government informs Governor Clinton that Camp Chaffee will house 120,000 Cuban "Freedom flotilla"refugees. Bill Clinton is defeated by Frank White, once a Democrat, in his bid for a second term as governor.
• 1982: Arkansas' "creation science"law is overturned in Federal District Court; Bill Clinton is re-elected governor.
• 1983: The Quality Education Act is passed by the General Assembly; education once again becomes a widely-discussed issue within Arkansas.
• 1984: Voters approve Amendment 63 giving statewide officials four-year, rather than two-year, terms. Clinton is re-elected governor.
• 1986: Clinton again is re-elected, this time for a four-year term.
• 1988: The Mississippi Delta Commission is created with the mission of investigating and improving Delta life.
• 1990: Governor Clinton wins a fifth term as governor. Latinos are Arkansas' the fastest growing minority population. Tyson Foods of Springdale is the largest broiler chicken processor in the nation.
• 1991: On October 3, Governor Clinton announces he will run for the presidency of the United States. Lt. Governor Jim Guy Tucker becomes acting Governor in Clinton's absence. October 18 sees the last issue of the Arkansas Gazette, the "oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi."
• 1992: Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States. Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker becomes governor.
• 1994: Jim Guy Tucker is elected governor; Sharon Priest is the first woman elected to the office of Arkansas Secretary of State.
• 1996: Republican Tim Hutchinson is elected to the U.S. Senate, the first of his party in over 100 years to represent the state in Washington. Governor Tucker resigns his office in July and is succeeded by Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee. In November, Bill Clinton wins re-election to the Presidency.
• 1997: Ceremonies at Little Rock Central High School mark the fortieth anniversary of the desegregation crisis.
• 1998: Mike Huckabee is elected Governor.

The Twenty-first Century

• 2000: Arkansas returns a Republican majority in the Presidential vote.
• 2002: Bentonville based Wal-Mart is identified as the world's largest corporation.
• 2008: Mike Huckabee runs for President of the United States. He is defeated in the primary elections. The first black is elected President of the United States: Barack Obama

State Emblems, Symbols and Mascots

• State motto: Regnat Populus ("The People Rule"), adopted: 1907
• State anthem: "Arkansas" by Eva Ware Barnett, adopted: 1987
• State historical song: "The Arkansas Traveler" by Sanford Faulkner, adopted: 1987
• State songs: "Arkansas (You Run Deep In Me)" by Wayland Holyfield and "Oh, Arkansas" by Terry Rose and Gary Klass, adopted: 1987 Words and Download of Songs
• Demonym Arkansan, Arkansawyer (1881 by Arkansas Code 1-4-105), Arkanite (2009), Arkie

Type	Symbol	Year
American folk dance	Square dance	1991
Beverage	Milk	1985
Bird	Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos	1929
Butterfly	Diana fritillary butterfly Speyeria diana	2007
Floral emblem	Apple blossom Pyrus malus	1901
Fruit and vegetable	South Arkansas vine ripe pink tomato Solanum lycopersicum	1987
Gem	Diamond	1967
Grain	Rice Oryza sp.	2007
Grape	Cynthiana grape Vitis aestivalis	2009
Cooking vessel	Dutch oven	2001
Insects	Honey bee Apis mellifera	1973
Mammal	White-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus	1993
Mineral	Quartz	1967
Musical instrument	Fiddle	1985
Nut	Pecan Carya illinoinensis	2009
Rock	Bauxite	1967
Soil	Stuttgart	1997
Tree	Pine tree Pinus taeda	1939
Dinosaur	Arkansaurus fridayia type of bipedal coelurosaur dinosaur	2017

State Nicknames, Official and Unofficial

The Natural State (Official)

This nickname was officially adopted by the legislature in 1995 and is intended to highlight the "...unsurpassed scenery, clear lakes, free-flowing streams, magnificent rivers meandering bayous, delta bottomlands, forested mountains, and abundant fish and wildlife." This nickname replaced the official Land of Opportunity nickname following the slogan, Arkansas Is a Natural, which was used to promote tourism and outdoor recreation.

Land of Opportunity

This was the official state nickname of Arkansas prior to the adoption of The Natural State in 1995. Adopted in 1947, this nickname served for 38 years.

The Wonder State

This nickname served the state of Arkansas as the official nickname from 1923 to 1947. This name was adopted by concurrent resolution of the legislature to promote Arkansas' abundance of natural resources and to replace the nickname, the Bear State, which was so widely in use and, it was feared, gave a false impression of the state.

The Razorback State

Though not official, Arkansas is very often referred to as the Razorback State in reference to the athletic teams of the University of Arkansas. A razorback is a thin, long-legged wild hog resident in the state of Arkansas

The Hot Springs State

This nickname is in reference to the world-famous hot springs of Arkansas. A related, though less known, nickname was The Hot Water State.

The Bowie State

This nickname, along with The Toothpick State, references the famous knives that were in use in the Arkansas territory. The Bowie knife was first crafted by blacksmith/knifesmith James Black, to Jim Bowie's specification. It was said that a Bowie knife had to be sharp enough for shaving and heavy enough to use as a hatchet. It had to be long enough to be used as a sword and wide enough to paddle a canoe.

The Toothpick State

Another large knife, made by Arkansas blacksmiths/knifesmiths and referred to as an Arkansas Toothpick, was similar in heft to a Bowie knife, but longer and designed for throwing. Used by Confederate soldiers, the nickname for Company K 5th Arkansas Regiment, commandered by Captain Lucius P. Featherston

The Bear State

This is the earliest known nickname for Arkansas, first seen in print in 1858. Undoubtedly, Arkansas was referred to as The Bear State by early settlers who found the territory home to many bears, particularly the American black bear Ursus americanus. This nickname was pronounced, "Bar" State.

New Deal Projects

Depression Era Post Office Art

Town, County	Location	Artist	Depicts	Mural
Benton	Saline County Courthouse, 200 North Main	Julius Woeltz	Bauxite Mining
Berryville	Berryville Post Office, 101 East Madison Avenue	Daniel Olney	Farmer and wife flanking a plow and guitar
Clarksville	Clarksville Post Office, 200 West Sevier Street	Mary May Purser	The mail coming to town
Dardanelle	Dardanelle Post Office, 103 North Front Street	Ludwig Mactarian	Industrial, agricultural, and transportation activities related to cotton
De Queen	De Queen Post Office, 105 North 4th Street	Henry Simon	Men restocking a stream and surrounded by wildlife
DeWitt	DeWitt Post Office, 221 West Cross Street	William Traher	A rice field flanked by an African American quarter of the town and a residential area
Heber Springs	Heber Springs Municipal Building, 102 East Main	H. Louis Freund	A pioneer family in the middle of clearing a field
Lake Village	Lake Village Post Office, 206 South Cokley Street	Avery Johnson	Deer and other wildlife beside Lake Chicot
Magnolia	Farmers Bank & Trust Operations Center, 220 East Main	Joe Jones	Farmers threshing wheat
Monticello	Monticello Economic Development Commission, 211 West Gaines	Berta Margoulies	Growing tomatoes
Morrilton (relocated)	Morrilton Post Office Conway County Courthouse, 112 South Moose Street	Richard Sargent	Men taking a break from bringing in the hay
Nashville	Nashville Post Office, 220 North Main Street	John T. Robertson	Peach farming
Paris	Paris Post Office, 206 North Elm Street	Joseph P. Vorst	The industries of Paris: cattle, coal, and cotton
Piggott	Piggott Post Office, 116 North Third Avenue	Daniel Rhodes	Mail leaving by plane
Pocahontas (relocated)	Pocahontas Post Office (Historic) Arkansas State University Museum, Jonesboro	H. Louis Freund	River traffic in Pocahontas
Siloam Springs	Siloam Springs Post Office, 101 South Broadway	Bertrand Adams	A zinc mine, lumber mill, and farmers bringing in hay
Springdale	Shiloh Museum, 118 West Johnson	Natalie Henry	Fruit and poultry industries
Van Buren	Van Buren Post Office, 2741 Fayetteville Road	E. Martin Hennings	Pioneer family along the Arkansas River
Wynne	Wynne Post Office, 402 Merriman Avenue East	Ethel Magafan	Cotton pickers

Military and War

CSS Arkansas, Confederate Ironclad

Revolutionary War

On April 17, 1783, British-sympathizing Native Americans and British nationals carried out an attack upon the Spanish garrison based at Arkansas Post on the Arkansas River. This attack was considered the only battle of the American Revolution to be fought in what is now Arkansas.

Civil War

Camp Butler Prisoner of War Camp

World War I

Arkansas in the Great War

Ships

Ships of Arkansas

Military Disasters

Titan II Missile Explosion site

WWII Internment Camps

• Internment Camps in the United States

About 425,000 captured Axis troops were sent to the United States for internment in more than 500 camps. Nearly 23,000 captured troops, mostly Germans and Italians from Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps, were sent to POW camps in Arkansas.

• Camp Joseph T Robinson in North Little Rock (Pulaski County) for Germans
• Camp Chaffee in Fort Smith (Sebastian County) for Germans
• Camp Dermott in Dermott (Chicot County) for Germans
• Camp Monticello in Drew County housed Italians,
• Magnolia (Columbia County) area for Italians
• The Stuttgart Army Air Field in Stuttgart (Arkansas County) housed German and Italian POWs.
• Rohwer, Deshea County, for Japanese-Americans
• Jerome, Drew County, for Japanese-Americans

"As you may already know, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, my (second generation American) family and I were summarily rounded up from our Los Angeles home and sent off to an internment camp half way across the country. These were essentially prison camps with sentry towers and machine guns pointed at us. Our only crime was looking like the enemy. " - George Takei email 29 Nov 2017 promoting Allegiance

Notables From the Relocation Camps in Arkansas

• George Takai (April 20, 1937 -) Actor, author, activist, Rohwer internee, best known as Captain Hikaru Sulu from Star Trek (1966–69). Since his parents refused to take a vow and did not "pass" the loyalty questionnaire, the family was later transferred to Tule Lake War Relocation Center.
• Violet Kazue de Cristoforo (1917–2007), a Japanese American poet. Jerome and Tule Lake internee
• Takayo Fischer (born 1932), an American stage, film and TV actress. Interned at Jerome and Rohwer
• George Hoshida (1907–1985), a Japanese American artist who made drawings of his experience during his incarceration in three internment camps. Interned at Jerome and Gila River
• Lawson Fusao Inada (born 1938), an American poet. Interned at Jerome Internee and Granada
• Mary Yuriko (Nakahara) Kochiyama (1921-2014), a Japanese American human rights activist, interned at Jerome
• Roy Hiroshi Matsumoto (1913-2014), a United States Army soldier and inductee of the U.S. Army Rangers Hall Of Fame and the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame, interned at Jerome
• George Nakano (born 1935), a former California State Assemblyman, interned at Jerome
• Joe M Nishimoto (1919-1944), a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of Honor, interned at Jerome
• Henry Yuzuru Sugimoto (1900-1990), Japanese-born artist. interned at Jerome and Rohwer
• Mary Tsuruko (Dakusaku) Tsukamoto (1915-2006),a teacher, community activist, and civil rights activist, interned at Jerome
• V. Vale (born 1942), publisher, author, musician, interned at Jerome
• Kiyoshi Conrad Hamanaka (1919-2010), a theatre, film, and television actor, interned at Jerome
• Aiko Abe Louise (Yoshinaga) Herzig-Yoshinaga (1924-2018), political activist, interned at Jerome, Manzanar and Rohwer
• Ruth Aiko Asawa (1926-2013), Japanese American sculptor, interned at Rohwer
• James Susumu Ishida (1943-2006), actor best known for his role as T. Fujitsu, Marty McFly's future boss in Back to the Future Part II in 1989 interned at Rohwer
• Janice Hatsuko Mirikitani (1941-2021), current poet laureate of San Francisco; co-founded with her husband, the Rev. Cecil Williams, the Glide Foundation (Glide Memorial Church is featured in the Will Smith film The Pursuit of Happiness). Glide empowers San Francisco's disadvantaged members of society through extensive outreach and advocacy efforts, interned at Rohwer
• Taitetsu Unno (1929-2014), Buddhist scholar, lecturer, and author; interned at Rohwer and Tule Lake War Relocation Center
• Grayce Ritsu (Kaneda) Uyehara (1919-2014), Japanese-American social worker and activist, interned at Rohwer

Tall Tales, Legends, Hauntings, Sightings, Things That Go Bump in the Night

Arkansas Traveler
Hauntings of Arkansas

Crescent Hotel & Spa Eureka Springs, Carroll, Arkansas listed as the most haunted hotel on numerous lists.

The St. Francis County Museum listed as haunted.

Lost Louisiana Mine The Lost Louisiana Mine is an American legend about buried Spanish treasure that has been sought since the Victorian era, primarily in Arkansas’s Ouachita and Ozark mountains regions. The legend’s core narrative is that a Spanish expedition concealed a rich gold mine in the wilderness of Spain’s Luisiana colony (hence the name), and in returning to New Orleans, all but one of the party was killed by Indians.

Crop Circles discovered on June 10, 2003, in a wheat field near Knobel (Clay County); On May 26, 2004, a “pinwheel” formation with seven arms was reported in a Peach Orchard (Clay County) wheat field; On June 14, 2007, another crop circle appeared, this time in a field near Delaplaine (Greene County). Rense.com Arkansas Crop Circles with photos

The Three Sisters Fictional story set in Arkansas. The tale has made its rounds across the globe, each telling set to that specific locale. (The story caught the attention of my brother, who like Mikey, doesn't like anything, let alone anything pertaining to Arkansas, liked this story. "I found something for your Arkansas page!" Jester-173 09:58, 22 February 2018 (EST))

Pages of Interest

• United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
• Governors of Arkansas

Black Sheep, Outlaws and other Scoundrels

• John William "Bill" Dark was born in Arkansas sometime around 1835. He was a bushwhacker in north-central Arkansas during the Civil War. He gained a reputation as a cruel and ruthless plunderer who preyed on citizens of Searcy, Izard, and Van Buren Counties.
• William M. Doolin was born in Johnson County, Arkansas around 1858. He was an American bandit outlaw and founder of the Wild Bunch. He was one of the state's earliest-known wild men of the west who rode with the infamous Dalton Gang. Labeled "the most cold-blooded robbers in the West".
• Ned Huddleston also known as Isom Dart, "Black Fox" and the "Calico Cowboy". He was born a slave in Arkansas around 1849. He became a notorious Wyomning Territory Outlaw.
• James Brown Miller - also known as "Killin Jim", "Killer Miller" and "Deacon Jim". Was born on October 25, 1861 in Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas. He was an American outlaw and title-holder gunfighter of the American Old West. He is said to have killed 12 people during gunfights. He got the nickname "Deacon" because he did not drink or use tobacco. He advertised as a professional assassin, and before his outlaw career was a Texas Rangers.
• Nathaniel Reed was born on March 23, 1862 in Madison County, Arkansas. Also known as "Texas Jack", he was a 19th century American outlaw responsible for many stagecoach, bank and train robberies throughout the American Southwest. He is claimed to have been the last survivor of the "47 most notorious outlaws" of Indian Territory.

Fictional Counties of Arkansas

Bogan County - A fictional county as portrayed in the movies White Lightning and Dark Night of the Scarecrow.
Deeson County - A fictional county in southwest Arkansas near the intersection of Highway 71 and Interstate 82 as portrayed in the movie Smokey and the Bandit. The real Highway 71 and Interstate 82 is in Texarkana.
Green River County - fictional county in Arkansas portrayed in the series Supernatural. Sam and Dean were arrested in Little Rock (Pulaski County), but were sent to Green River County Detention.

Sources and Resources

• E-Reference Desk
• Henri de Tonti
• John Law (economist)
• Third Treaty of San Ildefonso
• Treaty of Aranjuez (1801)
• Arkansas Territory
• Officer Down Memorial Page
• Profile of Arkansas Resource Page US Civil War: War Between the States
• Governors of Arkansas
• NetState- Arkansas
• Arkansas toothpick
• Arkansas Genealogy
• Arkansas Deaths between between 1935-1961
• American Indian
• University of Arkansas Central - Post Office Murals
• Encylopedia of Arkansas - Post Office Art
• Victory Ships built by the U.S. Maritime Commission during World War II
• he Great Arkansas Post Office Tour
• Arkansas Genealogy and History Guide

Recommended reading

The People Books by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear Native Amercian fiction based on archealogical finds.

Let Us Build Us a City: Eleven Lost Cities of Arkansas by Donald J. Harington (Non-fiction reads like a novel, a TRUE romanse of Arkansas.

"They'll do to tie to!": The story of the Third Regiment, Arkansas Infantry, C.S.A by Major Calvin L Collier USAF Ret. Evidently re-issued as "They'll Do to Tie To!": The Story of Hood's Arkansas Toothpicks, same author. Recommended for any CW or History buff.

To the Stars by George Takai autobiography

Arkansas in Ink: Gunslingers, Ghosts, and Other Graphic Tales, edited by Guy Lancaster and illustrated by Ron Wolfe

Encyclopedia of Arkansas Music

Arkansas Heritage

Sources

• Wikipedia contributors. "Rohwer War Relocation." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 13 Feb 2023.
• Wikipedia contributors. "Jerome War Relocation." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 13 Feb 2023.
• Arkansas Heritage, Historic Arkansas Museum, Collection & Research, Arkansas History Timeline. "Arkansas History Timeline." Accessed 16 Feb 2023.
• Wikipedia contributors. "List of Arkansas State Symbols." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 16 Feb 2023.
• Ware, Dave. Encylopedia of Arkansas (CALS). "Official State Nicknames." Accessed 16 Feb 2023.
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