Ouachita River in Camden

Hernando de Soto, governor of Spain at the time, began exploring different places in Arkansas around three hundred years ago.  He spent some time in 1542 on the Ouachita River (Wash-i-taw) at Tah-ne-co (now called Hot Springs).  Then he traveled southward along the river.

The French followed in 1681 when Robert La Salle voyaged down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.  He claimed the Mississippi River Valley for France.  La Salle's First Lieutenant, Henri de Tonti, established what is now Arkansas Post.  This later became the first settlement in Arkansas.  The Cadans or Cadeadequis Path, an important Indian trail, ended at the Arkansas Post and began near present-day Camden.  The Ouachita River territory was claimed for France in 1703 by Jean Baptiste Bienville.  An Indian village where white hunters and trappers were also located, was named Ecore a' Fabre on a 1720 map created by the French.

All of France's holdings in the Mississippi Valley and the Ouachita Region was ceded to Spain in 1763.  This was done in the Treaty of Paris.  The Spanish Governor of the Louisiana Province, Don Esteven Miro, ordered in 1780 that a permanent settlement should be made at Ecore a' Fabre.  A trading post was built by a Spanish Army Captain, Jean Juan Filhoil.  He, his bride, his soldiers, and seven childless couples were the first permanent, white settlers.

The Spanish gave the Ouachita Region back to France in 1800.  This same year, a 35 ton carrier, "The Gillette," and a 90 foot boat, "The Miro," were two large keel boats that managed to navigate the Ouachita River.

Three years later Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States at the time, bought the Mississippi Valley Territory from France.  This famous deal was the Louisiana Purchase.  In 1819 the Tate brothers came to Ecore a' Fabre and were the "first agricultural settlers."  Two years later, John Nunn became the first settler to come to Ecore a' Fabre by wagon..The "Leopard" was the first steamboat to reach Ecore a' Fabre.  This occurred in 1822.  Ecore a' Fabre was renamed Camden in 1844 ("Ouachita...").