The locality of this town is on the south
aide of the Arkansas River, about fifty miles below Little Rock,
and equidistant above the Post of Arkansas, on a handsomely
elevated bluff bank, the first that presets itself in ascending
this noble river. This bluff, and the plain several miles in
its rear, are covered with lofty pine of the finest quality,
which, taken in connection with a large Cypress a few miles above,
and adjacent to the river, which is surrounded by four or five
saw-mills, presents, perhaps, the greatest facilities for
building, that can be found west of the Mississippi.
For twenty miles above and below this
site and on both sides of the river, are to be found the most
fertile, wide, and continuous bottoms of land that this river
furnishes, principally above high-water mark, affording to the
cultivator of the soil, a prospect for the growing of cotton, as
well as the productions necessary for the sustenance and comforts
of life, not to be surpassed. The Bayou Bartelmew, which
runs through this county parallel to the Arkansas river, a few
miles south of this place, is clothed with rich bottoms,
sufficient to sustain a dense population. This stream
already claims a flourishing and increasing settlement.
