canebrakes

Settlers find canebrakes in Arkansas.

Perhaps the earliest settlement on the present site of Batesville was that of the Trimbles and Laffertys in 1810. Traveling over the old Native American trails, a group of white men arrived at the mouth of the Polk Bayou and established the first white settlement. James Trimble, accompanied by John L. Austin, Henderson S. and Lorenzo Dow Lafferty, came overland from Kentucky driving a herd of stock cattle before them and stopped at the mouth of the Poke Bayou. There they found vast canebrakes, providing a fine winter pasture. In the spring of 1811, John Trimble, father of James Trimble, accompanied by his brothers and their families, left Kentucky in keelboats. Traveling up the White River, they landed at the mouth of Polk Bayou and there joined the settlement.