Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas

An article in the Washington (Arkansas) Telegraph first attributed the invention of the bowie knife to James Black of Washington (Hempstead County), who claimed to have made a knife for Jim Bowie. Black’s knives, embellished with silver plating, became the most copied of all bowie knives. The connection of these knives to Arkansas, and the state’s reputation for the use of the blade, inspired alternative terms to “bowie knife.” “Arkansas knife” and then “Arkansas toothpick” were used synonymously for the bowie knife in the antebellum period. The state’s reputation suffered because of its association with violence and the “toothpick,” and some people called Arkansas the “toothpick state.”