Arkansas Swamp Marker

West of the colonies,

wild and untamed,

lay a vast stretch of wilderness

owned by the French.

To the south, gulf breezes

cooled old New Orleans.

To the north was Canada’s

vast timbered realm.

In between there was Arkansas,

harsh and unyielding.

Caddo and Quapaw

had managed to stay.

In 1803 the French

had to sell it.

The young U.S. bought it

and moved on its claim.

They needed a marker

to anchor their survey.

A marker, in Arkansas’s

dark river swamps.

North from the mouth

of the Arkansas river.

West from the mouth

of the St Francis too.

Robbins met Brown on

the 10^th of November,

in a swamp full of

Cypress and Tupelo gum.

In 1815, they marked

two gum trees.

Base line and meridian

for westward expansion.

In six square mile townships

the new frontier grew.

All measured their boundaries

from an Arkansas swamp.

The settlers came,

moved partly by greed.

The Indians left,

without charity.

Modern surveys confirm it.

The point was the right one.

Those two stately gums

in an Arkansas swamp.

So the West was established,

and new States were added,

by shooting a line to

where Robbins met Brown

at the Tupelo gums

in an Arkansas swamp,

where few folks had been,

and few want to go.

The Louisiana Purchase

of President Jefferson.

Explored by the duo of

Lewis and Clark.

Was mapped and divided

by using two gum trees.

Deep in the heart

of an Arkansas Swamp.

Dennis Price