Under instructions of Jefferson Davis, U.S. Secretary of War, Lieutenant A.W. Whipple (later Major General, U.S. Army) made the first railroad survey from Ft. Smith to the Pacific Coast in 1853. With H.B. Mollhausen, artist, Jules Marcou, geologist, and other scientists in the party, they crossed here on August 10 from camp a few miles east near Shawnee Town.