But
the storekeepers at Van Buren, a town seven miles from Fort Smith
around a bend of the Arkansas River, maintained that their goods were
cheaper and better than those for sale at the Fort. They cried from the
housetops that the road westward from Van Buren was a better road. Be
that as it may, white-topped wagons rolled out of both towns—westward
through Indian Territory—that spring of 1849.
With
loud "gee-haws" and the crack of whips, the emigrants from Van Buren
followed, first the Arkansas River, then the north bank of the South
Canadian River, to Chouteau's Fort where they crossed to the south bank
and met the Fort Smith contingent toiling up on the road from the
Choctaw and Shawnee villages.
