Cotton is an agricultural staple in this section of the Mississippi River Valley.
Arkansas' state capital is Little Rock.
Arkansas is a Native American tribal name, meaning "South Wind." It was spelled and
pronounced various ways until the 1881 Legislature ascertained that it be spelled "Arkansas" and
pronounced "Ark-an-saw."
Hernando DeSoto discovered Arkansas in 1541. Explorers Marquette and Joliet visited along the
Mississippi River in 1673 and LaSalle took possession in the name of France in 1682.
Henry de Tonti made the first permanent settlement in what is now Arkansas in 1686 at Arkansas
Post.
General William T. Sherman participated in the civil war battle at Arkansas Post in 1863, which
virtually destroyed the oldest settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley before his infamous
March to the Sea" in 1864.
June 17, 1862, a blast from a Confederate cannon struck the boiler of the Federal ironclad
steamboat "Mound City" on the White River near St. Charles, Arkansas. The explosion of steam
killed 143 Union soldiers aboard the boat. Historians now believe that the incident may have
been the single most destructive shot of the Civil War.
The Arkansas River is the third longest in the nation and the 36th longest stream in the world. It
begins in the mountains of Colorado and flows across Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas before
joining the Mississippi River.
The first night flight of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh was made in April 1923, near Lake
Village, Arkansas.
Ulrich Almer, built the Almer Store, in 1872 in Helena, Arkansas from lumber used in a flatboat
he floated down the Mississippi.
Naturalist James Audubon visited Arkansas Post in 1822 and painted a Traill's Flycatcher, a bird
species that populated the area. Today, the bird is rare and is on the endangered list.
The Dyess Colony was established in 1933 in northeast Arkansas to give displaced farmers a
chance to start over during the Great Depression. More than 500 families settled the new
farmland and paid for their homes from farming profits. The most famous former resident of
Dyess Colony is country singer Johnny Cash.
William H. Fuller produced the first successful rice harvest in Arkansas near Carlisle in 1904.
The state has been the nation's leading rice producer since the early 1960's. John Grisham, one of
the most successful authors of this generation, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on February 8,
1955
The "King Biscuit Time" radio show has been broadcast from Helena, Arkansas since 1941,
featuring nothing but Blues music.
Crowley's Ridge, a 200-mile long series of rolling hills in the midst of Arkansas's great eastern
delta, has been proclaimed one of the great natural oddities of the world. Tree covered and
marked by several recreational parks and towns, the ridge was created millions of years ago by
wind and water erosion. A newly designed national scenic parkway follows Crowley's Ridge
from Piggott to Helena.
Stuttgart, Arkansas holds the World-Championship Duck Calling contest every Thanksgiving
weekend.
Both France and Spain held claims to Arkansas prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
In 1832, Hot Springs became the first federally protected land in the nation, set aside for public
use and recreation. Thus Hot Springs National Park is unofficially the first national park in the
United States.
Pea Ridge, national Military Park is the site of the largest Civil War battle fought west of the
Mississippi River.
The only diamond "mine" in North America and the only diamond-bearing site in the world open
to the public is the Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Farmer John M.
Huddleston discovered diamonds on his property in 1906. It became a state park in 1972 and is
the only diamond field open to the public where "finders are keepers". The largest diamond was
found in 1924 and had an uncut weight of 40.24 carats and weighed 12.42 carats after it was cut.
The "Uncle Sam" diamond sold for $150,000 in 1971.
A Little Rock banquet honoring Colonel Davy Crockett, in 1834, featured bear meat as the main
course.
Arkansas produces more artificial fishing lures than any other state.
The oldest national cemetery is located in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Frontier Judge Isaac C. Parker,
the "hanging judge", is buried there.
Mount Ida, Arkansas is the quartz capital of the world. Quartz crystals, sometimes called "Hot
Springs diamonds" were used extensively during World War II in manufacturing radio equipment
for the U.S. Armed Services.
The Buffalo National Scenic River, designated in 1972, is the first federally protected stream in
the nation. The park covers 95,700 acres and 135 miles of free-flowing water, deep in the
Arkansas Ozarks.
Hope, Arkansas has a reputation of growing the "largest and tastiest melons" in the world. Ivan
Bright made the Guinness Book of World Records in 1985 with his 260-pound watermelon. His
record still stands.
The Ozark Folk Center at Mountain View and is the only state park in the nation dedicated
exclusively to the preservation of the southern mountain culture.
Miss Laura's is a century old former brothel that now serves as Fort Smith's visitor center and is
on the National Register of Historic Places.
The first Wal-Mart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962.
In Texarkana half of post office building is in Arkansas and the other half is in Texas. You can
have a souvenir photo made standing in two states.
Arkansas was a part of Louisiana Territory following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and it was a
part of Missouri Territory until it became the Territory of Arkansas in 1819.
The "Arkansas Traveler" is a humorous dialogue and fiddle tune attributed to Sanford C.
Faulkner in the 1840's. Arkansas artist Edward Payson Washburn illustrated the story in an
1850's painting and it later became famous as a "Currier & Ives" print.
The longest pontoon bridge in the world was built across the Arkansas River near Russellville in
1891 and was used until 1929 when a steel bridge at nearby Dardanelle replaced it.
President Theodore Roosevelt approved the establishment of a 1.7 million-acre Arkansas Forest
in 1907. The name was later changed to the Ouachita National Forest. It is the oldest federally
protected forest in the South.
Sir Henry Stanley, who exclaimed "Dr. Livingston, I presume" at the end of his long search for
the noted missionary in Africa, was living in Arkansas at the start of the Civil War.
South Arkansas oil wells pumped 77 million barrels of crude in 1925 during the "oil boom".
The Old Mill in North Little Rock was only six years old when a movie company filmed the site
for the 1939 classic "Gone with the Wind". The mill is a replica of an 18th century gristmill and
was built to serve as the focal point for a park.
Hattie W. Caraway of Arkansas was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She was voted
into office on January 12, 1932 and served until 1944.
Blanchard Springs Caverns, in the Ozark National Forest, near Mountain View, is ranked among
the ten most beautiful caves in North America.
The World-Championship Cardboard Boat Races on Greer's Ferry Lake, near Heber Springs
features homemade crafts fashioned from corrugated cardboard and tape.
The cenotaph at Abraham Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Illinois was quarried in Baxter County,
Arkansas. The marble monument weighs seven tons.
The last mule drawn streetcar in the nation linked the rail depot to the town of Sulphur Rock,
Arkansas in Independence County.
All of the fifty official wagons used in the American Bicentennial Wagon Train to Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania in 1976 were handcrafted in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The Arkansas wagon is
displayed at the Stuttgart Agricultural Museum.
The knives used in the "Rambo" movies, starring Sylvester Stallone, were designed and crafted
by Jimmy Lile of Russellville, Arkansas.
General Patrick Cleburne, Arkansas's most distinguished Confederate Civil War leader, had a
brother who served in the Union Army.
The birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur is preserved near downtown Little Rock. The site
was a military post when the future commander was born in 1880.
Thorncrown Chapel, designed by noted Arkansas architect E. Fay Jones, is nestled on a wooded
hillside near Eureka Springs, and has been called "the most beautiful little chapel in the world".
The Fordyce Bathhouse in Hot Springs has been restored and now serves as a visitor center for
Hot Springs National Park and as a museum for the thermal bathing industry.
Arkansas has six Civilian Conservation Corps developed parks that still serve the public. They
include: Devil's Den, Petit Jean, Mount Nebo, Lake Catherine, Crowley's Ridge State Parks.
Buffalo Point became a national scenic stream in 1972 and is now operated by the National Park
Service.
The current world-record brown trout, weighing in at forty pounds and four ounces, was landed
on the Little Red River in north central Arkansas in 1992.