Butterfield Trail was in operation from 1858 to 1861. Upon its establishment, AR 22 was one of the original 1926 Arkansas state highways. AR 22 ran from Fort Smith to Dardanelle along a routing very similar to the modern-day routing of AR 22. On July 14, 2015 the highway was linked to Future I-49 in Barling. In June 2019 a proposal was made under the Connecting Arkansas Program-2 for US$25 million to be allocated to the improvement of sections of AR 22 between Fort Smith and Charleston. On March 20 of the same year, the highway was officially designated by the AHTD as the True Grit Trail. The name comes from the 1968 novel, True Grit by Charles Portis. Frank Ross, father of the protagonist Mattie Ross, travels along Highway 22 from Dardanelle to Fort Smith. National Register of Historic Places Three original segments of Highway 22 remain intact and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The New Blaine segment was listed in 2003, the Barling segment was listed in May 2007, and the Yell County segment was listed in 2008. All three listings are contained within the Arkansas Highway History and Architecture Multiple Property Submission, which preserves history from Arkansas's highway building era between 1910 and 1965. Barling The Old Arkansas 22, Barling Segment is a historic section of roadway in Barling, Arkansas. Now named Mayo Drive, it consists of a stretch of concrete pavement, two lanes wide, in the northwestern part of the city. It extends north from the current alignment of Highway 22 until it reaches a sharp curve, where the pavement narrows significantly, before continuing westward to rejoin the highway. This stretch of pavement was constructed in 1928 by the Koss Construction Company, and is longest section of surviving pavement of the early alignment of Highway 22. New Blaine Old Arkansas Highway 22 is a historic roadway section in New Blaine, Arkansas. It consists of an S-shaped section asphalt, in length, built in 1930 by Cook & Ransom and the Schultz Construction Company to carry Highway 22. This section was bypassed by the present alignment in the 1960s. It is now designated as part of Arkansas Highway 197, the AR 197 Loop, and Rainbow Loop, and continues to provide the primary access to the town center. Yell County One surviving element of the original alignment survives in Yell County west of Dardanelle; it