Show I De Sotos Soto's Futile Quest for Gold f Brought Exploration of Arkansas Aransas Arkansas was one of the earliest of the Mississippi states to be ex ex- ex- ex The first white man to touch Arkansas soil was Hernando Hernando Her Her- nando dc do So Soto to the Spanish explorer explorer explorer ex ex- ex- ex who discovered the Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi sippi river In May 1541 he came cameto carpe to a river so broad that he called caned it it in Spanish the Rio Grande or great river The Indian name for tor forthe forthe the stream father of waters has come down to us however as Mississippi De Soto crossed the river to the Arkansas side For nearly a year the last year of his life lie De Dc Soto traveled over what is now Arkansas through a avast avast avast vast wilderness inhabited by wild animals and equally wild savages Beginning near the mouth of the White river De Soto went up the western shore of the Mississippi beyond the mouth of the St. St Francis river then journeyed southwest until he came to the Arkansas river riv riv- er There is a tradition that he was defeated in a battle with the Indians Indians Indians In In- near where Jacksonport now stands and and that he was compelled to turn north again Learning that there were mountains mountains mountains moun moun- I to the northwest he continued toward northeast Arkansas where he hoped to find gold traveling through swamps and dense forests forests forests for for- ests and crossing mountain streams Disappointed in not finding gold he turned south passed over the Boston Boston Boston Bos Bos- ton mountains crossed the Arkansas Arkan Arkan- sas river near Dardanelle Rock and came into the land of the Cayas Here De Soto fell seriously ill and anda a friendly Indian chief brought him to a lake of very hot water where he was healed This lake was doubtless the now famous Hot I Springs On Ouachita river near the springs De Soto and his party found salt which the Indians gathered and sold to their neighbors The ex explorers explorers explorers ex ex- ex spent the winter of 1541 a severe one in an Indian village on the Ouachita De Sotos Soto's faithful interpreter Interpreter interpreter in In- Juan Ortiz died Disheartened Disheartened Dis Dis- heartened by not finding rinding gold and losing so many of his men 1 De e Soto I resumed his journey south in the I spring of 1542 He followed the Ouachita Ouachita Oua Oua- I chita to the Red river and then I went downstream to the pi pt Exposure brought on a fever and De Soto died his survivors burying him in the great river he had discovered Spain profited little by the explorations explorations explorations ex ex- ex- ex of De Soto Through her I negligence the Mississippi valley r had remained unsettled for tor nearly a century and a half But while Spain slept the French were active After securing the lands bordering on the St. St Lawrence river France had pushed southward along the Mississippi I |