1815 Louisiana Purchase Survey – Object #4

In the middle of this Eastern Arkansas swamp is the Louisiana Purchase Monument sitting at the point where the baseline party and the fifth principal meridian party crossed on November 10, 1815 [photo dated July 11, 1967]

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<p>Four men wade up to their knees in the swamp near the Louisiana Purchase survey marker. The two men on the left wear hats. The man in the center is facing away from the camera and looks back, smiling. The fourth man on the right wears a white t-shirt and pants and smiles at the camera. In the background are cypress and other trees.</p>

Photograph of a group of people in the swamp of Monroe County, Eastern Arkansas, around the marker commemorating the Louisiana Purchase survey.

Transcript

Text accompanying the photographs reads β€œIn the middle of this Eastern Arkansas swamp is the Louisiana Purchase monument sitting at the point established where the base line party and the fifth principal meridian party crossed on November 10, 1815.”

Questions:

What do you observe these men doing in a swamp?

How do you think Robbins and Brown were able to survey this swamp in the early 1800s?

How do you think this swamp might have changed in one hundred years?

Citations

J. N. Heiskell photograph collection (UALR.PH.0100), UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture