Wahin'wakpa

Wahíŋ Wakpá, “flint river” in Lakota, is a name for the Arkansas River. Rising in the Rocky Mountains, the river flows east across the plains, its valley offering water and a route through a dry region. Indigenous peoples including the Cheyenne, Kiowa and Lakota had their own names for its waters. During the nineteenth century traders travelling the Santa Fe Trail followed parts of the Arkansas valley between Missouri and New Mexico.