Faulkner Lifestyle Magazine September 2018

and below the mouth of Cadron Creek on both sides of the
Arkansas River.
And according to the Arkansas Gazette’s Margaret Smith Ross,
it included a few scattered improvements along the banks of
the Cadron Creek.
In “Facts and Fiddlings,” Moore writes that Frenchmen were
the first Europeans of record to come into the area.
Historians reveal that by 1888 Americans were moving into
the area in great numbers. People established homes and farms
on both sides of the Cadron for several miles. A man named
John McElmurry settled in the area in 1810 and began promoting
a town around Cadron Park in 1818.
Some time between March and December of 1819, a tavern
was established at Cadron, and it attracted an assortment of
patrons from the river and surrounding countryside. In 1920,
Cadron became the first county seat of Pulaski County.
Moore writes that a vote in the House of Representatives on
February 23, 1820 voted five to four to remove the seat of
Territorial Government to Cadron.
The bill was sent to the Council (state) where someone
substituted Little Rock for Cadron.
“
Cadron, often called an early town
that would not have failed if it had
not succumbed to the wiles of land
speculators and by trickery.
”
barely missed becoming the capital of the state. That story
is based upon the fact that the House of Representatives
of the Territorial General Assembly on February 23, 1820,
voted five to four to remove the seat of the Territorial
Government to Cadron.
Professor Waddy W. Moore, who was the editor of the
Historical Society’s monthly “Facts and Fiddlings,” writes a
compelling account of land speculators, politicians, and others
who had a hand in shaping the state government of Arkansas.
History reveals that the name Cadron Settlement was given
to a vaguely defined area extending several miles above
The House favored Cadron; the Council wanted Little Rock.
Since neither side was willing to concede the issue, the matter
of relocating the Territorial Government was temporarily
postponed.
Historical stories had a way of coming to life in Professor
Waddy Moore’s American History classes at the University of
Central Arkansas, and students lucky enough to have heard
his lectures recall his intriguing oration often delivered with a
particular flair, accurate to a fault.
Thus, historical accounts have often been manipulated by
unscrupulous, unethical, self-serving individuals or groups that
change the course of the times.
Such was the case of Cadron, often called an early town that
would not have failed if it had not succumbed to the wiles
of land speculators and by trickery. At one point in time,
Cadron’s prospects looked exceedingly bright and its chances
of becoming the capitol of Arkansas quite good.
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