03-29-2007, 04:10 PM
PINE BLUFF - There is no more Lake Pine Bluff. It is now Lake Saracen.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made the name change Thursday at its meeting in Little Rock after a request from the city council and mayor of Pine Bluff and after a recommendation by the AGFC staff.
The name is for a chief and hero of the Quapaw tribe who lived in the Arkansas more than 200 years ago. He is buried at Pine Bluff.
The renaming of the 500-acre lake is part of an extensive development on the lakefront which is adjacent to downtown Pine Bluff. A multi-use pavilion is to be built, along with hiking trails and other facilities. The site is close to the AGFC's GovernorMikeHuckabeeDeltaRiversNatureCenter.
According to information from the Old State House museum at Little
Rock, Saracen, the last remaining chief of the Quapaw Indians, who became a local hero following a daring rescue of two captive children, died at the age of 97 in 1832. Saracen's rescue of a French trapper's two children, kidnapped by a band of Chickasaws, has been credited for helping to strengthen the bond between the Quapaw Indians and white settlers in the area.
As Saracen retold the story later, the children's mother came to him shortly after the kidnapping to ask for his help. He agreed to help her, saying: "When the stars shall reach the place in the heavens that marks the hour of midnight, your little ones will be safe at home again."
Saracen then paddled his canoe across the river and crept into the Chickasaw's camp while they were asleep. After grabbing the babies, he shouted "O-guah-pah!" which was the Quapaws' war cry. The sudden noise startled the sleeping Chickasaws and they scattered in confusion, allowing Saracen to escape with the children.
In 1825, Saracen and his tribe grudgingly sold their land for approximately $1 per 1,000 acres and moved to the Indian Territory, where they were very unhappy and faced starvation. Saracen asked for and was granted permission by Arkansas territorial Governor John Pope to return to Arkansas with about 40 Quapaw families, the remnants of his tribe.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made the name change Thursday at its meeting in Little Rock after a request from the city council and mayor of Pine Bluff and after a recommendation by the AGFC staff.
The name is for a chief and hero of the Quapaw tribe who lived in the Arkansas more than 200 years ago. He is buried at Pine Bluff.
The renaming of the 500-acre lake is part of an extensive development on the lakefront which is adjacent to downtown Pine Bluff. A multi-use pavilion is to be built, along with hiking trails and other facilities. The site is close to the AGFC's GovernorMikeHuckabeeDeltaRiversNatureCenter.
According to information from the Old State House museum at Little
Rock, Saracen, the last remaining chief of the Quapaw Indians, who became a local hero following a daring rescue of two captive children, died at the age of 97 in 1832. Saracen's rescue of a French trapper's two children, kidnapped by a band of Chickasaws, has been credited for helping to strengthen the bond between the Quapaw Indians and white settlers in the area.
As Saracen retold the story later, the children's mother came to him shortly after the kidnapping to ask for his help. He agreed to help her, saying: "When the stars shall reach the place in the heavens that marks the hour of midnight, your little ones will be safe at home again."
Saracen then paddled his canoe across the river and crept into the Chickasaw's camp while they were asleep. After grabbing the babies, he shouted "O-guah-pah!" which was the Quapaws' war cry. The sudden noise startled the sleeping Chickasaws and they scattered in confusion, allowing Saracen to escape with the children.
In 1825, Saracen and his tribe grudgingly sold their land for approximately $1 per 1,000 acres and moved to the Indian Territory, where they were very unhappy and faced starvation. Saracen asked for and was granted permission by Arkansas territorial Governor John Pope to return to Arkansas with about 40 Quapaw families, the remnants of his tribe.