Natural Steps, Arkansas

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Natural Steps(population 127 at 2000 census) is located in Pulaski County, Arkansas, just 11 miles west of Little Rock along the Arkansas River.

The small town was named after "two perfectly parallel vertical walls of sandstone, twenty feet apart, that jut out from the disintegrated soft slates, prominent conformity, descending step like, fifty-one feet from the top of the bank, where they first show themselves, to the edge of the lowest water-mark of the Arkansas River and can be seen running their course beneath the stream. These form a conspicuous landmark to boatman and travelers on the Arkansas River, and are known under the name of the "Natural Steps". Beginning in 1822, the local “Natural Steps” provided a convenient stop for Little Rock (Pulaski County) visitors to disembark for their hike to the mountain."

Natural Steps was first written about by David Dale Owen (Principal Geologist) in his Second Report of a Geological Reconnaissance of the Middle and Southern Counties of Arkansas (1859) ordered by Ellas N. Conway, Governor of Arkansas. He wrote, "In sight of the Pinnacle (now Pinnacle Mountain State Park) on the Arkansas River, near the mouth of the Big Maumelle, are "The Natural Steps" I found to be forty feet above the Arkansas River, at its stage when I examined and sketched them, on May 30th, 1859, but they are fifty-one feet above low-water mark." "Seen from the River at a little distance, they have a wonderfully artificial appearance, looking like steps laid by regular masonry, and form, indeed, not only a remarkable feature in the landscape, but also a striking and unequivocal instance, of which Arkansas furnishes several, of strata tilted nearly on edge."

"During early European explorations and the colonial period, local Native Americans, from about 1500 to the late 1700s, were the Tunica and the Quapaw." A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory During the Year 1819, written by naturalist Thomas Nuttall. "Thomas Nuttall found few Native Americans in the area in 1819."

In the 1940's, residents of Natural Steps began to dynamite the steps in search of legendary gold lying beneath the massive stones. The legend is, a Confederate Gunboat was sunk at the steps so the Union troops, that just claimed Little Rock, couldn't take possession of the Confederate gold on board. The thought being, the steps would be the marker for where the gold laid and the Confederates could come back later and claim it. Three Confederate soldiers are buried in the Natural Steps Cemetery, whose lives were lost during the sinking of this gunboat. No gold was ever found in the 1940's and the steps were partially destroyed from the dynamite.

Most of the natural steps still stand today and the steps are still used as a marker for river runners.

Sources

David Dale Owen: Second Report of a Geological Reconnaissance of the Middle and Southern Counties of Arkansas (1859)

Thomas Nuttall (naturalist): A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory During the Year 1819.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park: http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1248