Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
1
ARKANSAS AND THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
Brown and Robbins, Surveyors
In case you have been playing Rip Van Winkle and don't know, this is the
Bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase.
There were two main events that affected Arkansas!
The first event, chronologically was the official American trip of exploration
into the territory up the Wachita (Ouachita) River to the Hot Springs here.
One might call it the "Southern Voyage of Discovery." On October 16,
1804, William Dunbar and Dr. George Hunter began their trip. This was the
same time Lewis and Clark were starting their more famous "Voyage of
Discovery."
But the most important event was the surveying and marking the INITIAL
SURVEY POINT in southeast Arkansas. It is from this point that lands
within the Purchase area were surveyed. As the Arkansas logo for the
celebration states, "The Journey Began in Arkansas." Without that survey
point, no western lands could have been purchased, claimed or developed.
Show logo
The idea for an Arkansas commemoration of the bicentennial of the
Louisiana Purchase officially started in 1996 with a small group of
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
2
representatives from the Arkansas Secretary of State's office, the Dept. of
Arkansas Heritage, the Dept. of Parks and Tourism, and AETN. From this
small group came the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Committee of
Arkansas. This 54 member committee is comprised of representatives of
about 25 different agencies, groups, and associations. I was included as the
DAR representative the summer of 2001. I'm thrilled to tell you that there
are more plans for promoting and educating about Arkansas' part in the
exploration and settlement of the Purchase lands than just a big celebration
party - although there will be one of those too.
I won't go into the whys and wherefores of the Purchase. That is another
whole history lesson. It is enough to say that Napoleon needed money for his
war with England, and didn't need to fight the Americans for the territory.
(Show picture)
The cost of the Purchase was $15,000,000.
The sale of the Territory for that price came to 2-3 cents (less than 5 cents)
an acre. It contained what would become the states of: Arkansas, Iowa,
Missouri, and Nebraska, plus parts of Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma,
Louisiana, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North and South Dakota. Some
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
3
add the corners of Idaho and New Mexico. It encompassed the area bounded
on the East by the Mississippi, on the West by the Rocky mountains, on the
North by the 49th parallel (decided by the 1818 treaty with England) and on
the South by the Gulf of Mexico.
Now a little background.
When war with England seemed to be imminent in 1811, the government
used land bounties as inducements for recruitment. The Act of May 6, 1812,
made it possible to award these bounties after the war by establishing three
Military Tracts of two million acres each in Michigan, Illinois, and the
Louisiana Territory. These Military Tracts were to be divided into townships
of six miles square and each township divided into thirty six sections of 640
acres each.
The procedure of dividing land into townships was established by the Land
Ordinance of 1785 (passed by the Congress under the Articles of
Confederation) which divided the land of the Northwest Territory (now the
Old Northwest Territory and made up of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
and Wisconsin.) Again, that is another whole history lesson.
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
4
The Military Tract in the Louisiana Territory lay in the eastern area of what
is now Arkansas. By 1814 there were calls from veterans for the military
tracts to be opened up. As none of them had as yet been surveyed, President
James Madison asked the General Land Office to do so as quickly as
possible. In order to do so in the Arkansas Military Tract, a survey meridian
had to be established.
Are there any surveyors in the group? If not that makes me the expert.
According to the Dept of Int. NPS, Nat Reg. Historic Places, " to establish
an initial point it was necessary to survey a permanent north south line or
meridian and cross it with an east west baseline, the junction representing
the INITIAL POINT."
Two men, Joseph Brown and P.K. "Prospect" Robbins were sent to establish
that survey meridian identified as the 5th Principal Meridian. On October 27,
1815, Robbins and Brown and their crews went down the Mississippi to the
area to be surveyed. Robbins and one group went as far as the Arkansas
River and set a post at that junction. That was where they would begin
working north. On the same day, the other crew under Joseph Brown set a
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
5
post at the confluence of the Mississippi and the St. Francis Rivers and
began to run a line west.
These men and their crews labored through that rough country.
The land was described as "briers and swamps and briers aplenty." They
faced all kinds of dangers, and were exposed to heat and cold, rains and
snows, disease and accidents, all far from civilization. They came in the Fall
and Winter to avoid mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers, and snakes. There were
no roads only an occasional Indian trail. They had no cabin to come home to
- only a tent with fellow workers. They had to haul the heavy measuring
chains and equipment as well as all their supplies. (No Global Positioning by
satellite, no Holiday Inns or McDonalds, back then.) In addition to the chain
men and axe men there were hunters in the party to provide food for the
workers.
They had to carry all their supplies with them. A typical party of 6 took 8
barrels of flour, 3 barrels of salt pork, 3-4 bushels of white beans, 10 pounds
of tea, 60 pounds of coffee, 150 pounds of dry sugar, 2 bushels of dried
apples, 25 pounds of oatmeal, 5 pounds of soap, salt and pepper, and any
other articles they could afford.
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
6
Their life style was primitive with only a tent for shelter. Their covers were
mackinaw blankets. They carried water from the nearest stream in buckets.
If they washed they did so in a small basin. A few cooking utensils and a
gun to hunt with were about the only non-surveying tools they could carry
on the pack mules they brought.
The land was described as "briers and swamps and briers aplenty." The two
surveyors and parties finally met on November 10, 1815. At this point they
set a post and marked (blazed) two "witness" trees. [Robbins' notes read,
"Intersected Baseline 26 miles & 30 chains West of Mississippi where set a
post corner... from which a gum 18 in di. bears N.61 E dist 44 link & a Do
18 in. di. S 70 W. dist 10 L." Transcript of field notes of the Fifth Principal
Meridian P.K. Robbins 27th Oct. 1815]
Robbins continued to run the 5th Meridian on up to the Missouri River and
Brown continued the Baseline on west to the Arkansas River in Little Rock.
Their crews went on and marked out the first four townships. One can count
the townships from the Initial Survey Point clear up to the Canadian border.
Have you ever wondered as you flew over the great midwest, why when you
looked down the land was a checkerboard? It is because of the survey
pattern set up.
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
This marker post and the witness trees over time became lost. When in the
early 1920's (over 100 years later) there was a disagreement over some
property lines in the area, surveyors Tom Jacks and Eldridge Douglass were
sent to resurvey the site. After searching, they finally found the gum trees,
(the witness trees) that originally had been marked. The long lost Initial
Survey Point had been found.
Enter the DAR!!!
Mrs. David Wall, Historian of the L'Anguille Chapter, DAR of Marianna,
Arkansas recognized the significance of the Initial Survey Point, and with
the support of the Arkansas State Society sponsored the placing of a marker
on the site. The event was planned for November 10,1925, the 110th
anniversary of the establishing of the site by Robbins and Brown. However,
heavy rains flooded the area and the site and the monument had to sit in the
town park of Marianna until the area dried up enough to place it. The event
was finally held October 17,1926, the 111th anniversary of the beginning of
the survey. Loaded on a log wagon, the stone marker was moved and placed
at the site.
7
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
8
Mrs. Anna H. Cordell, reported to the Arkansas State DAR Conference,
February 24-25, 1926, "This ...Marker...is a beautiful boulder of Arkansas
granite 4 feet high, 3 feet wide and weighs 3,300 pounds - original cost was
$140.00 but the freight and labor charges will probably add another $100.00
to the cost when it is permanently set in a concrete base." (Arkansas
Historical Markers book by Louise Kellogg.)
The text of the marker reads:
"This stone marks the base established November 10, 1815, from which the
lands of the Louisiana Purchase were surveyed by United States Engineers.
The survey from this point was made to satisfy the claims of the soldiers of
the War of 1812 with land bounties. Erected by Arkansas Daughters of the
American Revolution by: L'Anquille Chapter."
The area is now the Louisiana Purchase State Park. The area was set aside in
the 1970's. Highway 362 leading to the park from Hwy 49, is on the base
The area is now the Louisiana Purchase State Park. The area was set aside in
the 1970's. Highway 362 leading to the park from Hwy 49, is on the base
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
9
line as is Base Line Road in southern Little Rock. And Our Marker is a
National Historical Landmark. (Dept. of Int. NPS)
The State Park is located in a tract of headwater swamp, an area that seldom
floods deeply, yet rarely dries up. This habitat was once common in the
eastern part of Arkansas before the days when swamps were drained and
cleared. It is host to many plants and animals not found elsewhere in
Arkansas.
Since the Survey site is in a headland swamp, the ecology of the area also is
being stressed. In the last two hundred years the passenger pigeon and the
Carolina parrot have disappeared and the bird voiced tree frog is in danger. I
know, most of you prefer warm fuzzy kittens or a good hunting dog to things
that live in a swamp, but you also know that they are important and must be
understood and protected. This lesson is also being stressed to school
children.
The Park has no buildings and is not staffed, but a handicapped accessible
board walk was constructed out to our historic marker. Informative wayside
Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase Talk Brown and Robbins #2
exhibits are located along this board walk. For the Bicentennial, the park is
getting a face lift and is being improved.
10