A large portion of the land seen from this vista
was farmed or logged-over and came under the management of the Ouachita
National Forest in the late 1930s. Under the Weeks Law of 1911 and
the Clarke-McNary Act of 1924, the Forest Service acquired these
cut-over, burned-over timber tracts and worn-out farms for future
timber production and watershed protection for the American public.
Through careful management, these lands returned to shortleaf pine
and hardwood forests. Today's Forest Service manage the land for
a broader rang of public uses including recreation, range, timber,
watershed and wildlife.
The Homestead act of 1862 opened lands in public domain to private
ownership. All a homesteader has to do was claim up to 160 acres,
live on it for five years, and make improvements. They could then
file for a land patent and it would become their property.
Many tried to homestead acreage in the Ouachita Mountains and found
that the land they cleared could not continue to produce enough
to support a family after several years. The incredible toil of
the homesteader in the Ouachita Mountains often resulted in financial
and physical ruin. Land capable of growing beautiful pine-hardwood
forests could not produce crops. Ruins of these abandoned homesteads
can be found many places in the Ouachita National Forest.
The valley of Holson Creek to the northeast was an area of early
settlement. A few of the pioneer homesteads remain along the creek
which winds toward Wister Lake. Holson Valley Road follows this
valley from U.S. Highway 271 to U.S. Highway 270-59, passing Cedar
Lake Recreation Area. Poteau Mountain and Blue Mountainlie to the
distant right. U.S. Highway 271 stretches northeast toward the town
of Poteau.
