President Thomas Jefferson purchased the vast territory of Louisiana from France in 1803, doubling the size of the United States. The new land was an unmapped wilderness.

A survey of the new lands, undertaken in 1815, led to the exploration and settlement of the American West. That survey began in what is now Arkansas - in a headwater swamp at the corners of Lee, Phillips and Monroe counties.

The people of Arkansas take great pride in their state's history as part of the Louisiana Purchase and the starting point for the surveyors who explored and mapped the frontier. The initial point of the survey is now Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park, where visitors can walk a convenient boardwalk through the swamp, experiencing the sights and sounds of the wilderness much as the original surveyors did.

Arkansans will celebrate the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase throughout 2003. Join us in Arkansas - or here at the official web site of the Arkansas Bicentennial Commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase. Welcome.