At this point 200 years ago–in mid-February 1819–Nuttall was still at Arkansas Post, seeking a boat to take him upstream, up the Arkansas River (:100).
In about a week he’ll depart, and, a little over two months later, on April 24, 1819, he’ll arrive at the garrison at Belle Point (Fort Smith).
That means we are only a couple of months away from our first tour of the year, exploring the country he saw and recorded in his journal.
Our first of three spring field trips will be on Saturday April 27, 2019, which will put us just a few days past the anniversary of Nuttall’s arrival 200 years ago.
We will explore, as he did, nearby prairies–Massard, Cedar, and Long–and riparian and bottomland forests along the Poteau River. It is too early to say how the spring will unfold, if wildflower blooms will be early or late, but here is some of what you may see:
“From this prairie [Massard], and more particularly from a hill which partly traverses it, the mountains of the Pottoe appeared quite distinct, the Sugar-loaf on the east, and the Cavaniol…on the west side of the river…The extensive and verdant meadow, in every direction appeared picturesquely bounded by woody hills…and lacked nothing but human occupation to reclaim it from barren solitude…(:161).
“The whole plain was, in places, enlivened with Sysirinchium anceps [blue-eyed grass], producing flowers of an uncommon magnitude; amidst this assemblage it was not easy to lose sight of the azure larkspur, whose flowers are of the brightest ultramarine; in the depressions also grew the ochroleucous Baptisia, loaded with papilionaceous flowers, nearly as large as those of the garden pea (:161).
Please join us as we explore the once, present, and future of this landscape.
Registration is now open online at Kiamichi Technology Center:
http://bis.ktc.edu (Once there, search for Nuttall).