People coming from Tennessee or Mississippi were challenged by the swampy lowlands of eastern AR to the settlers. SW of Arkansas was Spanish owned (Texas) Oklahoma was Indian territory and not open to white settlement So AR was off the beaten path and sometimes viewed as undesirable or a wasteland.
In the SW part of Arkansas, the Red & Oauchita rivers also served as migration routes. Flatboat- rafltlike boat used for floating downstream. Keelboat- boat with a rounded bottom and keel to keep it going straight. To go upstream had to be pulled by men/horses or pushed along with poles.
Southwest Trail ran from se Missouri through central AR and on to the Red River settlements to Texas.
Fugitive- outlaws on the run from justice. Why would they choose AR? They were fairly sure no sheriff was going to find them in its wilderness. However, there were probably never as many outlaws in AR as some of the stories and legends claimed.
Most of the rest were scattered along the Mississippi River. (Helena and W. Memphis) If you were one of those settlers along the Mississippi River… Why would you chose to settle there? Water source, food source, trade and travel, other settlers.
Although the hunter’s family may have a garden they did not think of themselves as farmers.
They also hunted deer, elk, beavers, wildcats, wolves, and huge flocks of passenger pigeons (breed of bird in N.America that became extinct in the 1800s from excessive hunting).
Cotton was most common in AR River Valley and along the Miss. River in the SE … the rivers allowed for easy transport to the markets in New Orleans.
Many small farms would also grow some vegetables and fruit trees for the family’s use If given the choice would you be a Farmer or a Hunter? Why?
None of these became important crops in the early years because each of them required a skill or market that had not yet been developed in AR.
Arkansans suspected some connections between the weather and disease. This was before knowledge of germs and insect-borne diseases. Malaria- mosquito borne chronic illness characterized by chills and fever. Yellow fever- a lethal mosquito-borne disease that swept through the South periodically during the 1800s.
Malaria was always present but yellow fever swept through like epidemics.
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