The first national park (a reserve)

Written By Kari Campbell

George Washington

Abraham Clark

Roger Sherman

John Morton

Stephen Hopkins

Robert Erskine

Andrew Ellicott

It’s a great time to get out and explore any of our 424 national parks. Did you know that the work of surveyors was instrumental in the establishment of these parks?

As highlighted in other blogs, surveyors were crucial to the development of our country, and their work started even before we had a country. Thomas Jefferson saw the need to explore and map the western part of the continent, and he was the first president to send surveyors and explorers to map the land.

William Dunbar

One of these surveyor-explorers came to his profession circuitously. William Dunbar was born in 1749 into an aristocratic family near Elgin, Scotland. His father was Sir Archibald Dunbar, 4th baronet of Northfield and Duffus. William was the first son born to Archie’s second wife. He was serious and quiet, unlike his half-brothers who were rugged outdoorsmen. Upon his father’s death, William inherited 500 pounds (£116,673.51 today), while one of his half-brothers inherited everything else, including the title of Baronet.

William Dunbar, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In the spring of 1771, William Dunbar struck out for the New World, landing in Philadelphia where he became a merchant. Soon he realized that real wealth lay in property and soon acquired a grant of land near Baton Rouge. His surveying and engineering background provided the right skill set for developing his plantation. He invented a screw press and introduced the square baling of cotton and came up with the idea of manufacturing cottonseed oil.

During this time, he also continued surveying – both for the US and for the Spanish government. He was appointed by Spanish governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos to establish the line of demarcation between Spain and the United States in 1798. Dunbar was also appointed surveyor general of the Natchez District.

In 1799, Daniel Clark, the US consul for New Orleans, introduced Dunbar via letter to Vice President Thomas Jefferson, saying “for Science, Probity & general information [Dunbar] is the first Character in this part of the World.” Soon after, Jefferson and Dunbar began a lifetime correspondence.

Carey, M. (1814) Missouri territory formerly Louisiana. [S.l] Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

Louisiana Purchase Exploration

When Jefferson became president, a top priority was exploration of the 530 million acres of land he’d just acquired from France in 1803 -- the Louisiana Purchase. In 1804, Jefferson wrote to Dunbar charging him with assembling the first scientific expedition into the southern territory of the Louisiana Purchase.  This was just one of the exploratory ventures that Jefferson sanctioned – Lewis and Clark explored the northern regions of the Purchase; Zebulon Pike surveyed the Rocky Mountains and the southwestern areas; Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis explored along the Red River.

Jefferson assigned George Hunter, a Philadelphia chemist (and also a Scot) to be second in command. Hunter was an experienced explorer, having previously investigated the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. The new undertaking, called the “Grand Excursion,” was expected to be similar in scope as the Lewis & Clark expedition. Unfortunately, the planned trip would take the party into land claimed by Spain, and Spain wouldn’t issue passports. More important, the Osage Chief Great Track threatened to kill Americans who invaded Osage land (which stretched from the Missouri river to the north, the Mississippi to the east, and the Arkansas to the south, including nearly all of what is now Oklahoma). The entire venture had to be scaled back – no more “Grand Excursion”, but rather, an in-depth exploration of the Ouachita River.

Ouachita (Washita) River

Dunbar suggested to Jefferson that a survey of the Ouachita River, one of the major tributaries along the lower Red. It was already known that there were many “curiosities” along that route. Jefferson consented to the change.

King, N. (1804) Map of the Washita river in Louisiana from the Hot Springs to the confluence of the Red River with the Mississippi. London: R. Phillips. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress,

The scientific background of both Hunter and Dunbar ensured that the curtailed expedition would make up in depth what it may have lacked in breadth. On October 16, 1804, the group, including Hunter and his teenage son, Dunbar, two enslaved people owned by Dunbar, a servant and thirteen soldiers set out from St. Catherine’s Landing on the Mississippi River. The venture would take nearly two years and provided Americans with the first scientific study of the landscapes and the animal and plant life of early southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana.

The detailed expedition notes described a region in which European and Native American inhabitants reaped the abundant natural resources along the rivers and in the lands beyond. Grazing land, forests, minerals, herds of buffalo, lakes and rivers all provided a rich environment for the settlements Jefferson hoped would thrive and help establish the country he envisioned.

A view of the Hot Water Cascade at Arlington Lawn. NPS Photo/Mitch Smith

Through the people they met, Dunbar and Hunter heard about, then explored the area now known as Hot Springs National Park. Nearly 50 hot springs bubble out of the ground in the area, rising from rainwater that fell more than 4,000 years ago. This rainwater percolated 6,000-8,000 feet into the earth where it is superheated by surrounding rock before rising and emerging at 147ºF. Soon after Dunbar and Hunter’s report, more and more people began moving to the area for the health benefits of the hot springs (which were thought to cure everything from arthritis to rheumatic disorders, skin rashes, swelling joints, and sore muscles) and the area soon became known as the American Spa.

The “real” first national park  

The Arkansas Territorial Legislature recognized the national importance of the hot springs and requested in 1820 that the springs and adjoining mountains be set aside as a federal reservation. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson signed legislation to set aside asking “four sections of land including said springs, reserved for the future disposal of the US which shall not be entered, located or appropriate for any other purpose whatsoever.” This means that Hot Springs National Park is actually the oldest national park, predating Yellowstone by 40 years.

Our system of national parks was founded just 60 years after the country itself was founded. These incredible places exist for exploration and enjoyment, and 16 are free of charge. July is a great time to get out and explore these irreplaceable national treasures during Parks & Recreation Month. Many of the trails, boundaries and camp sites feature Berntsen markers that have been used in national parks since the early 1970s

Kari Campbell
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