René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle passed through the area on two expeditions, in 1682 he buried an engraved plate and cross and claimed the land for France. La Salle’s associate, Henri de Tonti, established a trading post called “Poste de Arkansea,” the first European settlement west of the Mississippi in 1686.