calsfoundation@cals.org
August 20, 2011
In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, led the second French expedition into what is now Arkansas. Traveling down the Mississippi River as far as present-day Arkansas County, his group stopped at the Quapaw village of Kappa. Before departing, La Salle erected a column bearing the coat of arms of Louis XIV and a painted cross. Though La Salle was never to return to Arkansas, La Salles associate Henri de Tonti did establish the French trading post known as Arkansas Post.