If any doubt remained, Hernando de Soto and his party of conquistadors did make it here to what is now the state of Arkansas in 1541. Archaeologists report they've found what they believe to be the remains of a large wooden cross that the Spaniards placed atop a hill in what is now Parkin Archaeological Park in Cross County--just where it should be.
Hernando de Soto and his party of priests and explorers may have been searching for gold, but they found something far more valuable--new souls for Christ and a whole new world that one day would become part of a whole new country to be called the United States of America.
Editorial on 04/27/2016