[16] The waters of Little Red River are gathered from creeks heading in Van Buren, Searcy, and Stone counties. The main stream traverses Cleburne and White counties; it is navigable by small boats for about fifty miles. The route of the party from Illinois Creek to White River lay through the present counties of Pope, Van Buren, the north-west corner of Cleburne, and the adjoining portion of Stone; they probably crossed Little Red River near Clinton, seat of Van Buren County. The permanent occupation of this region by whites dates from the removal of the Cherokee (1825), and little record remains of earlier settlements. Harding's (Harden's) Ferry was near the present Stone-Independence county boundary; the proprietor's house stood on the right bank of the river, ten miles above Batesville, seat of Independence County.--ED. [17] The treaty specified Shield's Ferry, on White River, as the locus of the north-eastern corner of the Cherokee reservation. A bold headland on the south side of the river, five miles above Batesville, still known as Shield's Bluff, is pointed out by residents as the point where the Cherokee line began. This bluff rises about six hundred feet above the river.--ED. [18] The geographical position of the sources of White River is accurately given in the text, but the statement is surprising, that "the average direction of its course is nearly due east parallel to the Arkansas." From its origins in Washington and Madison counties, in north-western Arkansas, the river flows north, entering Barry County, Missouri, and traversing Stone and Taney counties before leaving that state. In Arkansas, its direction is south-east to the confluence with the Black, and thence almost south to the Mississippi. The sources of Black River are in Reynolds and Iron counties, Missouri; its course is nearly south.--ED. [19] Nuttall's Travels, p. 65.--JAMES. _Comment by Ed._ Page 98 of our reprint. [20] The confluence of White river with the Mississippi, has been said to be "situated fifty miles above the mouth of the Arkansa." It has also been asserted, that its bifurcation is at "about thirty miles above its junction with the Mississippi." See _Schoolcraft's_ View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, p. 248-253. There is, however, little reason to fear, that errors of this sort, upon a subject so familiarly known, will obtain general currency. In the same work, the length of White river is said to be thirteen hundred miles.--JAMES. [21] This road crossed White River a few miles, perhaps ten, below Batesville. The St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad follows the line of the old road, although somewhat to the eastward. The site of Davidsonville was chosen in the autumn of 1815; it was at the mouth of Spring River (see _post_, note 26). The town was seat of Lawrence County until 1829; but after the removal of the court to a rival village, it declined and became extinct.--ED.