Transportation

Transportation. . , River Highway , Davidsonville was located on a wedge- shaped piece of land formed by the confluence of the Black, Spring, and Eleven Point rivers, placing it in the midst of the transportation and trade superhighways of the era. Boats traveled up and down the Black River enroute to the Mississippi River, and from there had access to world markets.

Goods were shipped on flatboats, keelboats, and open cargo rowboats. As a river port, the town provided landing areas for freight and passengers, as well as a variety of support services. Near the water were warehouses to store and ship goods, and boat storage and repair facilities.

The Southwest Trail , Travelers by land used the matrix of primitive roads that made up the Southwest Trail, a passage that began in St. Louis, crossed diagonally through the state to Little Rock, and continued on to Washington and the Red River in the southwest. A spur trail led to Davidsonville, where travelers could find blacksmiths, stables, inns, taverns, and the postal stop.

Travelers came on horseback or in wagons pulled by horses, mules, and oxen. Ferries, such as Hix's Ferry at the Arkansas-Missouri border, aided road travelers in crossing the rivers.

[Photo captions]: , Settlers arrived in Arkansas along the Southwest Trail. (Emigrants Crossing the Plains, Felix Octavius Carr Darley, c.1869, Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. Collection of Early Californian and Western Pictorial Material, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.) , Small boats shipped goods to and from the port at Davidsonville. (Encampment of the Travellers on the Missouri, Karl Bodmer, 1834.)