Continued..... Other steam boats brought more families to the area, among them men who would leave their mark on the development of western Arkansas - Samuel Rutherford, Captain William DuVal, lst Lieutenant B. L. Bonneville, and a young enlisted man, Aaron Barling. A later arrival was an eastern-educated lawyer, Alvert Pike - later an author, explorer and military commander. Expanding population split the five original territorial counties into several other counties. By late 1820, the area containing the fort overlooking the Arkansas River had been placed in the new and smaller Dorsey County which was soon remained to honor Congressman H.K. Crawford. The U.S. abandoned the fort at Belle Point in 1824 and built a new fort more than 50 miles upriver near the mount of the Verdigris River. Despite the loss of the fort, the area continued to grow. With statehood, and the gradual flow of thousands of Indians to the unprotected western border of Arkansas, area settlers feared more hostilities. They petitioned the federal government for a new fort in the area. Both Fort Smith and the newer settlement across the river at Van Buren competed for the new fort. But Captain John Rogers sold 300 acres of his property adjacent to the site to the federal government and secured the facility. Work began on the fort in the summer of 1838, using stone quarried form the bluff at belle Point. The population of the village of Fort Smith in 1840 was about 500 people, and the community was incorporated on December 24, 1842. Fort Smith was becoming a small city. The 1848 discovery of gold in California prompted a gold rush the following year. By the spring of 1849, hundreds of prospectors had arrived in Fort Smith. Local resident John Dillard, led a train of about 400 wagons out in April, and several smaller trains left later in the year. The wagon rush west resumed in the following spring. ** Next to come..."The New County is Formed" Carolyn (Parsons) Smedley http://www.geocities.com/angelears1 angelears@alltel.net "Angelears are there to listen... Then hears the person's soul"... Psalms 18:24