As he traveled upstream from Fort Smith, Nuttall noted “a considerable stream of clear water” entering from the north. This was the Illinois River. All “the other rivers flowing into the Arkansa from the north” were similarly clear.” This passage also includes the first mention of the salt resources of northeastern Oklahoma. Lottinville (pg. 188) notes: “The salt springs on the Neosho or Grand, about which we will learn more from Nuttall subsequently, provided the equipment, when abandoned, for a salt works operated…near the Illinois, seven miles above its mouth. It was about to begin production when Nuttall passed by on the Arkansas.”