LOUISIANA PURCHASE MONUMENT
N 34° 38.741 W 091° 03.122
15S E 678530 N 3835477
Designation: LOUISIANA PURCHASE MARKER:
Marker Type: Stone Monument.
Setting: driven into the ground.
Stability: Mark of questionable or unknown stability.
N 34° 38.741 W 091° 03.122.
Altitude: 184'.
Waymark Code: WMMP7
Location: Arkansas, United States
Date Posted: 08/19/2006
Views: 172
LISTED HERE.
http://www.unm.edu/~creelbm/pages/benchmark/benchmarks_ancient.html
Documented History (by the NGS)
1/1/1965 by CGS (MONUMENTED)
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1965 (RAT) THE STATION IS A GRANITE MONUMENT ABOUT 1-1/2 FEET THICK AND IS ABOUT 3 FEET ABOVE WATER LEVEL AT THIS TIME. IT IS THE TAKE OFF POINT FOR PHILLIPS, LEE AND MONROE COUNTY SURVEYS AND HAS THE FOLLOWING INSCRIPTION- THIS STONE MARKS THE BASE ESTABLISHED NOV. 10 1815 FROM WHICH THE LANDS OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE WERE SURVEYED BY THE UNITED STATES ENGINEERS. THE FIRST SURVEY FROM THIS POINT WAS MADE TO SATISFY THE CLAIM OF THE SOLDIERS OF THE WAR OF 1812 WITH LAND BOUNTIES. ERECTED BY THE ARKANSAS DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. SPONSORED BY THE LANGUILLE CHAPTER. IT IS LOCATED IN A SWAMPY AREA ABOUT 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF MARVELL, 7 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MONROE AND ABOUT 850 FEET WEST OF A DIRT ROAD. TO REACH FROM THE JUNCTION OF U.S. HIGHWAY 49 AND STATE HIGHWAY 1 AT THE NORTHWEST EDGE OF MARVELL. GO NORTHWEST ON HIGHWAY 49 FOR 3.5 MILES TO A FORK. TAKE THE RIGHT FORK AND GO NORTH ON A GRAVELED ROAD FOR 1.9 MILES TO A SIDE ROAD LEFT. TURN LEFT AND GO NORTHWEST ON A DIRT ROAD FOR 2.75 MILES TO A SIDE ROAD RIGHT. CONTINUE NORTHWEST ON THE DIRT ROAD 2.05 MILES TO TRIANGULATION STATION LOUISIANA ON THE RIGHT AND THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE MARKER 850 FEET WEST OF THIS POINT. DUE TO DEEP WATER, THE TRAVERSE CONNECTION FROM TRIANGULATION STATION WAS MADE WITH ELECTRONIC EQUIPTMENT. THE DISTANCE BEING 839.50 FEET AND 255.88 METERS.
Welcome to Arkansas - where the journey to the West began. The initial point for all official surveys of the vast Louisiana Territory is located in a headwater swamp at the corners of what became Lee, Monroe, and Phillips counties in Arkansas. From this initial point, surveyors began their work of chains and compasses. Every legal description of the lands contained in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 depended on measurements taken from this point.
This was the first major survey west of the Mississippi River to employ the rectangular survey or grid system set out in the Land Ordinance of 1785.
President Thomas Jefferson commissioned two explorers, William Dunbar and George Hunter, to explore and document the southern portion of the Purchase lands. Much of their journey through Arkansas was along the Ouachita River. Their northern counterparts were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Without the survey of the Louisiana Territory, lands west of the Mississippi could not have been given to veterans of the War of 1812. Without the survey, there could have been no land sales to pioneer farmers and town-builders. Without the survey, Native American history would be far different. The Louisiana Purchase, surveyed from a swamp near modern Brinkley, Arkansas, helped shape the United States.
Today, the survey's starting place is a National Historic Landmark, an Arkansas Natural Area and an Arkansas State Park. During the Arkansas Bicentennial Commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase in 2003, civic groups across the state will remember - through community events, museum exhibits, school programs, and many other activities - that Arkansas is where the journey began.
Visit this site often to learn more about our state's plans and how everyone can be a part of the Commemoration.