Prior to the American Civil War , area roads were few and undeveloped . Access from other regions was by horseback , wagon , or stagecoach on what became known as Old Wire Road , after the US Army ran a telegraph line from St. Louis , Missouri , to Fort Smith , Arkansas , in 1859 . In the late 1830s , the Trail of Tears , over which many Cherokee and other tribes moved on their way to Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory reservations , formed part of the roadway that would later be the Wire Road
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Pea Ridge, Arkansas