Arkansas Gazette, June 9, 1918

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Arkansas Gazette, April 18, 1918

This is an interesting perspective from a very low technology period.

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President Harrison, a member of the Whig Party, was an American military officer and politician who served as the 9th president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841 and had the shortest presidency in U.S. history.

At that time, the area that would first become Russellville was a few buildings two and a half miles to the north.

During the 2019 flood, water backed up into Whig Creek, flooding Car-Mart on South Arkansas Avenue and what is now 420 Dispensary.

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Arkansas River, below Dardanelle Lock & Dam, May 10, 2007

Across from Old Post Road Park and just upstream of the 1830 ferry crossing.

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(A recycled post from 2 years ago)

I was looking at a Norristown Mountain topographical map online in 2022 and noticed a line labeled “Old Indian Treaty Boundary.”

(Wonderful, another internet rabbit hole to explore.)

It turns out it is the boundary for what became known as The Cherokee Agency Reserve. The boundary is roughly drawn on the accompanying Google Maps image.

The Cherokee Agency was the land and property associated with the Federal Government’s agent assigned to the Cherokees.

In the treaty that removed the Cherokee from Arkansas – the May 6, 1828, Treaty with The Western Cherokee – there is a provision related to the agency land:

It is further agreed, that the property and improvements connected with the agency, shall be sold under the direction of the Agent, and the proceeds of the same applied to aid in the erection, in the country to which the Cherokees are going, of a Grist, and Saw Mill, for their use. The aforesaid property and improvements are thus defined: Commence at the Arkansas River opposite William Stinnetts, and run due North one mile, thence due East to a point from which a due South line to the Arkansas River would include the Chalybeate, or Mineral Spring, attached to or near the present residence of the Agent, and thence up said River (Arkansas) to the place of beginning.

Thence began the shenanigans that resulted in this being the last land in Arkansas disputed by the Cherokee.

The agent, one Major Edward DuVal, claimed to have made an actual survey reporting “2998 acres, 3 rods and 24 poles,” considerably less than the 3343.4 acres established later by a government survey.

DuVal, who resided within the bounds of the property, advertised the sale of the land in the Arkansas Gazette early and held the sale on April 22, 1829, with a Joe Parve the highest bidder at $1050. A former agent, Colonel David Brearley, said the property, with all the structures and improvements, was worth 10 times as much.

Besides the land, the reserve contained the following improvements: a new, frame cotton gin and grist mill, 66 x 34 feet; a “good store house” occupied by Walter Webber; “sundry cabins built for dwellings;” a small peach orchard; a “new, unfinished two-story log house,” 50 x 20 feet; a “never failing spring;” and a mineral spring.

The purchaser, Joe Parve, actually bought the land for DuVal.

DuVal was removed early the following year, 1829, as an Indian agent because of improper and unethical abuses of his position. He died on September 15, 1829. In 1832, accounting officers determined that at the time of his death he was actually indebted to the United States in the sum of eleven thousand five hundred and thirty-eight dollars and fifty-four cents.

The reservation in question was purchased by Mr. Duval himself, and remained, in his possession and that of his representatives, until the 26th of April, 1832, when the sale was canceled by the Secretary of War, on the ground that such a purchase ought not to be made by an Indian agent.

United States v Duval (1833)

This was just the first chapter of what would be an over half-century-long issue of the land’s status and whether the Cherokee were ever fully—or even partially—compensated as required by the 1828 treaty.

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In the 1830s, as more settlers moved in, a community encircled on three sides by an oxbow in the Arkansas River became known as “Holly Bend,” named for one of its earliest residents, Holly Brown. Of course, the name was also applied to the bend in the river.

At some point, it got changed, labeled on some maps as Holly Bend—as on this 1890 map—and others as Holla Bend.

I’ve also seen maps showing two small communities a short distance apart on the north side of the river, one labeled “Holly Bend” and the other “Holla Bend.”

The Pope County land bounded by that oxbow that was once north of the river is now south of the river after the Army Corps of Engineers cut a channel across the neck of the oxbow in 1954 to straighten the Arkansas River navigation channel. The land was transferred to the US Department of the Interior in 1957 and is now Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge.

It’s still part of Pope County.

Russellville, Arkansas.

Today’s Arkansas Tech University

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Here is another example of local Russellville pressure five years ago during the public comment period for the new Arkansas Casino Gaming Rules.

January 2019

“Dear Racing Commission,”

“We are writing to you anonymously regarding the casino in Pope County. After several business owners in town wrote letters supporting the casino and their names were exposed by the Democrat-Gazette, they received backlash that could harm their businesses. A small group of people who are against the casino are working hard to intimidate those in favor of it. While we are not willing to include our names or businesses, we would like to share our opinions on the matter.”

“Arkansas has voted to increase the minimum wage and to build a casino in Pope County. These two things could potentially help each other. If my business receives a small increase in business from the casino, it would allow me to raise my employees’ wages. If we do not get the casino that was voted on, achieving higher wages for my employees would be much harder.”

“Raising wages is challenging for small business owners, but the prospect of a casino promises a glimmer of hope. It could make this situation far less difficult.”

___________________________
Notes:

• The letter has been rephrased to make the original writer less identifiable.
• It is thought that the ‘small group of people who are against the casino’ referred to in the letter are involved in the ballot question committee Local Voters in Charge’s current attempt to remove Pope County from Amendment 100.

Arkansas Tech 1965.

Russellville, Arkansas.

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