DeWitt High School - Dragon Yearbook (DeWitt, AR)

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Our own region's History pre-dates That of nation's Arkansas County entered records of history 240 years before the U.S. became a nation. DeSoto first visited the county in 1541. Then after another 145 years, DeTonti's French explorers made the first white settlement in the lower Mississippi River valley at Arkansas Post in 1686. NEAR OLD Arkansas River bed stands a replica of a cross erected by LaSalle and his French companions at Arkansas Post in the latter 1600's when LaSalle proclaimed the area west of the Mississippi, in the name of his king, as belonging to France. He and his men held the first known religious service in the region (top left photo). At top right is pictured the oldest well west of the lower Mississippi River, put there by early French settlers. Plaque at immediate left tells more French history. Above, one of the park’s beautiful lakes.

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 1 -S I r DHS YOUTHS walk paths that early French walked in 1600's 5' ■;v . ABOVE, BEAUTIFUL lake at Arkansas Post National Memorial south of DeWitt, where Arkansas River's course once passed. At right, students read plaque telling part of Post's ancient history. First came the Spanish, then French explorers LaSalle, Joliet, Marquette, De- Tonti and others. The Post settlement gradually grew into a town, but after being destroyed during the War Between the States, it dwindled away. It continued a post office until the 1930s, however. The Post was the scene of a major Civil War battle in Arkansas in January, 1863. V Up 4

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Symbols of Americana — How it was then . . . 10