Three years before Fayetteville was founded, Henry Tanner produced A New American Atlas in 1825 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The atlas included 32 maps covering most of America as it existed at that point. The above portion is from the second edition of the map of North America.
Present-day northwest Arkansas was still held by the western Cherokees, and the eastern boundary of their land is shown extending from Point Remove to the White River.
The map also shows a parallel trace line approximating the route that Major Stephen H. Long followed in surveying the west during 1819-20. Long’s master map of that expedition became a hallmark for printers of the day, and showing Long’s route on the map leant it a voice of authority.
Other notes: Tanner spells “Arkansa” without the final “s,” one of the three most common spellings. “Arkansas” and “Arkansaw” could also be found during this time period. This map is relatively early in its use of the name Ozark Mountains, and map refers to the Ouachita Mountains as “Massern Mount.”
The White River’s northern bend is misplaced and should bend up into Missouri before coming back south to where Fayetteville would be started three years later. Several later cartographers relied on the same incorrect alignment of the river into the statehood period, but a survey of the state cleaned that discrepancy up for future mapmakers.
(The digital version of this map is from the David Rumsey Map Collection and copyright © 2000 by Cartography Associates. Images may be reproduced or transmitted, but not for commercial use. For commercial use or commercial republication, contact carto@luna-img.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.)