BENTONVILLE, Ark.— A proposed limestone quarry outside of Lowell concerns the Trail of Tears Association and Cherokee Nation according to letters sent to the county’s planning board.
The quarry is planned 900 feet from a part of the trail located on Old Wire Road, north of Lowell.
One of the letters, dated Dec. 1, 2018, was sent by Trail of Tears Association President Jack Baker. In the letter he states the road is a “rare gem” for Arkansas.
“It has excellent integrity and retains the physical characteristics of an early 19th-century roadbed,” he wrote.
Because of that, the segment is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The road was also in use for the Butterfield Stagecoach Line and for travel for both the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.
The segment of the trail would be used in transportation, meaning numerous dump trucks would drive over it daily.
