What began as an Indian footpath became a major migration route for settlers into the Arkansas Territory by 1819. This road bypassed the swamps of eastern Arkansas and skirted the Ozark plateau, and by 1830, twenty-four thousand settlers had come to Arkansas by way of the Southwest Trail. Some of the trail's segments in Independence County are among the best preserved in the state, and the route has also been known as Old Military Road, the National Road, the “Arkansaw” Road, Red River Road, the Chihuahua Road, and the Natchitoches Trace.