Date of Visit: 21 March 2024
Smackover, AR
67º partly cloudy
I wish I could report that park 26, the halfway point in my journey, was a celebration. I can’t. Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources turned out to be the most difficult park to date. No, not physically difficult, as we all know that goes to my fall off Mount Nebo, but emotionally difficult, yes. For those not in the know, in the 1920s south Arkansas experienced an oil boom. Murphy Oil became the most successful corporation formed during the early days of oil extraction in Arkansas and continues today, though now based in Houston, TX. Today, petroleum continues to be a leading industry in south Arkansas, along with timber, rice, and cotton.
I knew going in that the museum would cover the science of oil, and I did learn something new. Even before drilling technology existed, people made use of oil. As oil forms underground, if its migration is not stopped by solid rock, it moves through porous rock and eventually reaches the surface and forms oil seeps. Oils seeps and other geographic markers provide speculators the clues necessary to know where to drill. Beyond the science of oil and bromide, the museum offers extensive exhibits on life in Smackover in the 1920s, especially life in the oil fields. No surpise, this life meant hard work and lots of danger to both people and the land.
I spent an hour inside reading display after display that generally put the petrochemical industry in the best light (there’s a display that reads “All’s Well that Ends Well”). My shoulders grew heavy as I realized there would be no information on climate change at all. They lightened slightly when I turned to read about conservation projects bringing some of the land decimated by older technologies back to life. However, in the end, I left the building heartsick.
Outside the museum, the park features sample derricks and drilling rigs used from the 1920s through today. Wandering through the path, I took pictures more out of duty than feeling compelled to capture the moment, and I wrestled with myself. I know that the oil boom and the continued industry brought/bring some financial wealth to the state (and we are a poor state, no question). I know that this is part of our history as Arkansans, and that the actions from a hundred years ago were taken without the knowledge of what we know today. However, I can’t get past the fact that the museum offers no information about the repercussions of the industry’s current and continued actions. This left me wondering, again, about how the state decides what goes into a park and what gets left out.
Next up: South Arkansas Arboretum