Between my east bank and west bank adventures at Toad Suck, I visited another local attraction — Cadron Settlement Park. It’s also an Army Corps of Engineers site, and like Toad Suck, doesn’t really amount to much.
Cadron was the first white settlement in Central Arkansas, founded in 1819 by John McElmurry where Cadron Creek empties into the Arkansas River. He built a blockhouse as a tavern and post for his fur trading with the Cherokee Indians. At its peak, perhaps six families lived in the area. In 1834, during the Trail of Tears forced immigration of eastern Indian tribes, about 700 Cherokees were stranded here when the water in the river became too low for boat travel. Many of them died of cholera. By that time, McElmurry was dead and the community was in ruins.
In 1976, a replica of McElmurry’s blockhouse was constructed on the site. I remember this building from visits with my older daughter several years ago. We were able to go inside and climb around and pretend like we were defending it from hostiles. That building was burned down by vandals in 1992. A second reconstruction was built in 1998, but this building is locked and boarded up to keep out the idiots.
There used to be a marker along the river stating that the last Confederate troops in Arkansas crossed near here at the end of the Civil War, but I didn’t see it on this visit. Perhaps the vandals burned it too.
Apart from the blockhouse, there isn’t much to the park. A road climbs a nearby ridge where there’s an overlook. The Arkansas River runs generally west to east across the state, but it makes a large loop to the south just north of Toad Suck. Cadron Settlement is just below where the river bends to the south. (To put it more simply, in case you care, the river is running from right to left in the photos below.) One of the hills in the background of this photo is the spot from which I took the pan below. I was facing almost directly west.
In the distance (if you enlarge the panorama), you can see Petit Jean Mountain where we camped for the next four days. Here’s a zoomed shot in which you can see it better.
You can barely make out a large flock of Ring-billed Gulls on the sandbar.
This shot was taken right at the mouth of Cadron Creek where it enters into the river.
And, in case you can’t identifyÂthat large wet area immediately in front of your car …
