July 24, 1687

Survivors of the La Salle expedition reached Arkansas Post (Arkansas County) after being shipwrecked on the coast of Texas and after René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was murdered by one of his own men. Though the mission of the expedition, establishing fur-trading posts along the Mississippi River, ultimately failed, it did open the great waterway for development and established friendships with Arkansas Native Americans, who would assist and support the French colonial settlers in the area for more than 100 years.