FORT SMITH — Fifty years later, the foundation stones of the first Fort Smith establishment continue to draw the eyes of residents and visitors alike.
Located on the south end of the Fort Smith National Historic Site at the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers, the large, light-colored stones served as the building foundations of the first Fort, said Loren McLane, FSNHS park ranger and historian.
"The first Fort here is one of the most popular spots here on the Fort Smith National Historic Site's grounds," he said.
The exact location of the first Fort wasn't known until archeologists uncovered the foundations in late 1962 and 1963, McLane told the Southwest Times Record.
"People here wanted to establish this as a national historic site, but it couldn't be established until the first Fort was found," he said.
Area archeologist and Fort Smith native Clyde Dollar performed preliminary excavation work in January 1959 before he started digging deeper to reveal the Fort's history, McLane said. Dollar, who would later serve as a historical consultant for the Richard Harris film, "A Man Called Horse," soon was joined for those early excavations by National Park Service officials, he said.
"It was these findings and the ones done a little later that revealed the establishment of the first Fort," McLane said. "Those were exciting discoveries."