March 1, 1972

President Richard Nixon signed Public Law 92-237, which made the Buffalo River of Arkansas the first designated “National River” in the National Park System. This environmental victory was due to the efforts of Neil Compton’s Ozark Society’s vigorous and eventually successful campaign to stop the construction of the two dams on the Buffalo River (Gilbert and Lone Rock) that were proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The date of the signing was 100 years to the day after President Ulysses S. Grant had signed the bill creating Yellowstone National Park.