Hiram Day patented 80 acres of land atop a 50 foot tall bluff overlooking the Arkansas River in 1840.

This gave the heavy guns (the "Lady Baxter" on the old State house lawn and a 9 inch gun) plunging fire from their elevated gun position over a 2,000 yard reach of the Arkansas River into the thinly protected roof of any gunboat trying to run past that fortification.