The principal stimulus for this marked change is believed to have been the onset of a drier climate around A.D. 1200. This change adversely affected the ability of northeast Oklahoma villagers to produce crops, eventually causing them to move downstream toward the Arkansas River Valley where summer rainfall remained dependable for growing corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. However, this increase in population placed more demand on the available soils and resources, creating ecological and social stresses that Spiro leaders could not resolve. It is thought that this eventually brought about the decline of these leaders’ political and religious power, thus undermining the Spiro society’s high level of organization and cultural development. By A.D. 1450, the Spiro site was abandoned. And, by 1719, when eastern Oklahoma was first visited by Europeans, the natives were bison hunting, part-time farmers of a tribe now part of the Wichitas. Today, barges laden with Oklahoma grain, coal and oil travel down the Arkansas River to eastern manufacturing cities and ports. From distant places come equipment parts, fertilizer, asphalt, pulp products and steel needed by Oklahoma’s farms and businesses. Ten miles west of Fort Smith, Arkansas, all river traffic passes through one of the locks and dams on the Arkansas River Navigational Canal, just a short distance from the Spiro Mounds site. Even today, the Spiro area is important in trade, commerce, and travel, and the mounds stand as silent monuments to a people who, for their day, attained levels of technical, artistic, commercial, political and religious achievement that rival our own. [Illustration: {Arkansas River 10 Navigational Canal}] Although still an enigma in many ways, the Spiro Mounds have yielded much information. The thousand year record of the mounds provides us with valuable insights about this land, its resources and climate. They are lessons which can be applied today as Oklahoma’s towns grow rapidly and industry increases in size and scope. As we already know, a two-year summer drought can seriously drain water reserves and create political problems among northeast Oklahoma communities. What will happen if, instead of two years, this region undergoes a 20-year drought? The record of the past shows us that this is possible. Perhaps the long-term consideration of present practices can make use of the legacy of knowledge gained about the Spiro people. Present-day Oklahomans may feel as secure as prehistoric Oklahomans at Spiro, but current demands on the Arkansas River Basin are greater. We must find a better solution than our predecessors, whose intriguing artifacts and mounds are all that remain. _Spiro Mounds Park and current activities_