AMASDA Reports that Relate to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas
Center Valley (Fort Chaffee, Sebastian County, Arkansas) AMASDA Report #3327
by W. J. Bennett, Jr., Jeffrey A. Blakely, Robert Brinkman, Isenberger …(1995)

(AMASDA = "Automate Management of Archeological Site Data in Arkansas")

This is only a Very small excerpt from this report. We hope to have more soon.
Submitted by Lynn

For anyone who has access to any of these reports through the Army Corp of Engineers, OG&E, Arkansas Highway Dept or the University of Arkansas, we would be more than happy to transcribe and post them here. The are public records but very hard to find. There are others that relate to Sebastian Co but not particuliary to the Ft. Chaffee area. There are many surnames and dates in these studies.

~Page 48~

Chapter 4. The Land is Filled: 1850-1860

Introduction
The decade of the 1850s saw a steady and rising influx of settlers to the study area. Initially, these people appear to have squatted on the lands and only later to have acquired valid title to their lands. By the late 1850s, as settlement progressed, it seems that title was acquired at the time of arrival. This chapter describes the expanding settlement of the region in the 1850s and ends with a discussion of the land and its people in 1860.

Settlement of the Study Area
The SLP Tract Books record the official dates on which land was acquired as well as the various methods of payment used. For the decade of the 1850s there were two methods of payment for lands purchased from the government land offices. One, of course, was cash. Up until 1854 the price of all land at thee offices was $1.25/acre, but with the passage of the Graduation Act of 1854, land was discounted to a greater and greater extent depending upon how long it had been on the market. Thus, for the period when most of the land within the study area was taken, prices for identical lands could vary from township to township according to the year the township was opened for purchase. No doubt this fact had some effect on which lands were taken in which townships and when. Township 7N Range 30W was opened in 1828, Township 6N Range 30W and Township 7N 29W were opened in 1843, and Township 6N Range 290W was opened in 1848.

The second method of payment was through the use of a land warrant. As discussed above, land warrants were issued to veterans and, in certain cases, to their heirs in appreciation for military service between 1785 and the 1850s, as well as to Native Americans in payment for confiscated lands. If one was granted such a warrant it could be used as payment for almost any lands at any land office. Since these land warrants were transferable, a market place was created and prices for these warrants established since their cash value was less than their value in open lands. Thus, supply and demand powered the marketplace and prices fluctuated.

Oberly calculated the market price of land warrants between May 1847 and November 1861. The price varied between about $0.60 at the beginning of the Civil War to almost $1.20 in August 1854. Thus, for the entire period up to the Civil War, purchasing bounty land warrants on the open market at the going price was the economically logical thing to do when purchasing fully priced lands (Oberly 19900:108-109). However, the effects of the Graduation Act must also be considered in that certain lands in the study area were being offered at a fraction of the $1.25/acre standard price by 1857. In addition, the State of Arkansas was selling Swamp Lands at the same time and at a reduced rate. All these factors are reflected in the sale of lands in the study area. The following listing indicates by whom and how land was obtained in the study area prior to 1861.

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(For more information on each indiviual, click on their name - IF it has been linked to another page.
We hope to have more of the individuals information shortly)
Location Year Sold Price/Acre or Warrant Type Year Offered Purchaser
S/SE 32 7N 29W 1851* Choctaw 1873 David Beebe
Lot 1 5 6N 29W     1848  
Lot 3 5 6N 29W     1848  
Lot 7 6 6N 29W 1851* Choctaw 1848 Thomas Kersey
Lot 8 6 6N 29W     1848  
W/SW 19 7N 29W 1852* 1850 Warrant 1843 James Cardin
NE 31 7N 29W 1853* 1847 Warrant 1843 John R. Steele
S/NE 36 7N 30W 1857 $0.25 1828 James R. Willburn**
NE/NE 36 7N 30W     1828  
E/NW 32 7N 29W 1857 $0.75 1843 Jenral C. Morgan
SW/NW 32 7N 1857 $0.75 1843 Obadiah Lairamore
SW/SE 35 7N 30W 1858 $0.125 1828 Adam A. Gann
S/SW 35 7N 30W 1858 $o.125 1828 Adam A. Gann
NE/SW 35 7N 30W     1828  
NW/SE35 7N 30W     1828  
E/NW 36 7N 30W 1858 $0.125 1828 Robert Gann
SW/NW 36 7N 30W     1828  
NW/SW 36 7N 30W 1858 $0.125 1828 Abram T. White
NWSW 12 6N 30W 1858 $0.75 1843 Frederick Coleman
SE/SE 33 7N 29W 1858 $0.75 1843 James P. Purl
SW/SE 34 7N 29W     1843  
S/SW 34 7N 29W     1843  
SE 31 7N 29W 1858 1847 Warrant 1843 John King
SW 31 7N 29W 1858 1855 Warrant 1843 John King
NW/NE 32 7N 29W 1858 $0.75 1843 Jenral C. Morgan
Lot 2 5 6N 29W 1858 $1.25 1848 Peter Pinnell
Lot 4 5 6N 29W 1858 1850 Warrant 1848 Peter Pinnell
NE/SE 35 7N 30W 1859 $0.125 1828 Abram T. White
SE/NE 35 7N 30W     1828  
NW/NW 36 7N 30W 1859 $0.125 1828 Robert Gann
NW/NE 36 7N 30W     1828  
E/SW 36 7N 30W 1859 $0.125 1828 Charles R.J. Kellam
S/SE 36 7N 30W 1859 Choctaw 1828 James Bobo
Lot 1 1 6N 30W     1843  
Lot 6 1 6N 30W     1843  
Lot 6 2 6N 30W 1859 $0.75 1843 David N. Carden
SE/NW 12 6N 30W 1859 $0.75 1843 Frederick Coleman
NE/SW 12 6N 30W     1843  
NW/SW 32 7N 29W 1859 $0.75 1843 Obadiah Lairamore
S/SW 32 7N 29W 1859 $0.75 1843 William J. Webb
NE/SE 33 7N 20W 1859 $0.75 1843 Francis D. Wilburn
N/SW 34 7N 29W     1843  
NE/SW 33 7N 29W 1859 $1.25 1843 John Jones
NE/SE 32 7N 29W 1859 $1.25 1843 John Jones
NW/SW 33 7N 29W        
SE/SW 29 7N 29W 1859 $1.25 1843 Samuel G. Cardin
SE/SE 30 7N 29W 1859 $0.75 1843 Samuel G. Cardin
NW/SE 6 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 Luna A. Booth
SE/SW 6 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 Luna A. Booth
Lot 5 6 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 Thomas Kersey
Lot 6 6 6N 29W     1848  
Lot 1 6 6N 29W 1859 $1.25 1848 Obadiah Lairamore
Lot 6 4 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 Milton L. Lairamore
Lot 5 5 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 Peter Pinnell
Lot 7 5 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 John H. Lairamore
Lot 8 5 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 John H. Lairamore
N/SW 5 6N 29W 1859 $1.00 1848 George M. Kersey
S/NE 36 7N 30W 1860 $0.125 1828 James R. Willburn**
NE/NE 36 7N 30W     1828  
NE/NE 11 6N 30W 1860 $0.75 1843 Lewis W. Ferguson
NW/NW 12 6N 30W     1843  
Lot 5 1 6N 30W 1860 $0.75 1843 Mack S. Goin
Lot 10 1 6N 30W 1860 $0.75 1843 David N. Cardin
SW/NW 33 7N 29W 1860 $1.25 1843 John Jones
Lot 6 6N 30W 1860 $0.75 1843 Elias Graves
Lot 3 6N 29W     1848  
Lot 9 4 6N 29W 1860 $1.25 1848 John H. Lairamore
Lot 3 5 6N 29W 1860 $1.00 1848 Peter Pinnell

*Graduation Act not yet in force
**This land was originally purchased by Willburn in 1857 at $0.25/acre, and then in 1869 cancelled and repurchased at &0.124/acre by Willburn using the lower rates allowed by the Graduation Act for land open for sale for 30 years.