Last Sunday Barry Bruton and I went exploring in the Three Forks area. In 1819 this was a happening place, with four trading posts in operation. We weren’t sure what we would find or how close to the the river we would be able to get. We were actually able to get down near the mouths of both the Grand and Verdigris Rivers where they enter the Arkansas, only a mile or so apart. No trading posts there today; it is all soybean fields. But there is still a major port, so there is that connection. It is a bit hard to imagine the giant cane fields and bustling trading posts that Nuttall described.
From Tamara Pittman (via Facebook): I wish they would let it grow wild. Would give anything to see how it looked.
From Barry Bruton (via Facebook): “If the confluence of the Verdigris, Arkansa, and Grand rivers, shall ever become of importance as a settlement, which the great and irresistible tide of western emigration promises, a town will probably be founded here, at the junction of these streams; and this obstruction in the navigation of the Verdigris, as well as the rapids of Grand river, will afford good and convenient situations for mills, a matter of no small importance in the list of civilized comforts.”
Pretty insightful words from Nuttall. The dam that supplies water for the lock on the navigation channel is right at ‘Verdigris Falls’ as he calls it, best we could tell.
