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Section 3 of 6 · 6 entries
The river
It will not stay where it is put.
The Arkansas moves sideways across its own floodplain, abandoning bends and cutting new ones, and everything built here stands on ground the river laid down and then left behind. A cut bank reads as a section through that work. The terraces are the only level, reliably dry land in the valley, which is why the towns are on them.
Everything in the river
The channel that will not stay put
A river of this size moves sideways across its own floodplain, abandoning bends and cutting new ones, and the old channels are still legible in the fields.
Cut banks, and what they show
On the outside of a bend the river is eating into its own deposits, and the exposed face is a readable section of everything it laid down.
Terraces, and why the towns sit on them
The flat steps above the floodplain are former river levels, and they are the only ground here that is both level and reliably dry.
The Poteau confluence
Two rivers meeting is why this spot and not another one a mile away.
Sand and gravel
The riverbed is itself a resource, dredged and sold, which is a quieter industry than coal but a longer one.
Belle Point
The bluff at the confluence where the first fort was placed, which is the origin of everything after it.