Delta Trails
Introduction
A land of rivers, the Delta covers the eastern third of Arkansas. Major cities include Helena, Blytheville, West Memphis, Brinkley, Clarendon, Stuttgart and Lake Village. When the Gulf of Mexico receded from the Delta its geological deposits were removed by rivers and replaced by deep layers of sand, silt and clay. Flat bottomlands characterize the area and today, it is a major agricultural region. Powerful rivers, the Arkansas, White and Mississippi, flow through the area and often cause floods.
Natural vegetation includes cypress and tupelo trees that live in lakes and swamps that are permanently flooded. Oaks, hickory and pecan trees grow well in the Delta. The pecan trees are often grown in orchards and provide a marketable good.
The Delta is a wildlife paradise (migratory birds like ducks and geese winter somewhere in the Delta of Arkansas, Mississippi or Louisiana). For this reason, Arkansas is considered a favorite place to hunt ducks during season.
Many people that live in the Delta rely on farming. The first white settlers of the Delta farmed, as did the Quapaw Indian tribe that predated European settlement. The explorer, Hernando DeSoto, toured the Delta with his army in the winter of 1541 and examined the crops of the American Indian. One of the first European settlements settled west of the Mississippi River was Arkansas Post along the Arkansas River in the Delta (near present-day Gillett). It was maintained by both French and Spanish until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 gave it to the United States.
Cotton was considered a main cash crop of the Delta during the 1800s. African-American slaves were brought in to work on farms and plantations. The largest percentage of slaveholders lived in the Delta prior to the Civil War. After the Civil War decimated the state, black and white alike turned to tenant farming and sharecropping. Hardy souls along the river lived in houseboats and were called "river rats." In the late 1800s, immigrants arrived in the Delta. Chinese, Italians, Swiss and Poles were among the groups to work in the Delta. Many of their descendants are found in the area today.
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