 After the Louisiana Purchase, the United States established the "Sulphur Fork Factory" (trading post) where the Sulphur River enters the Red River.In the years following Arkansas statehood, settlers began flowing steadily into the area and the Caddo population was greatly diminished.In 1889, Seventh Day Baptist minister, 'James Franklin Shaw' and his followers were seeking an area to establish a new colony and in 1890, they chose a site along the Texarkana, Shreveport and Natchez Railroad, where a small timber line ended at 'Fouke's Sawmill'.