They’ve gone MAD down in El Dorado. And all south Arkansas could benefit if they’re successful.

Everything changed in El Dorado on the afternoon of Jan. 10, 1921, when oil erupted to the surface from the Busey No. 1.

We head from the forestry capital to the oil capital of the state as we continue west on U.S. Highway 82.

We leave Lake Village and soon exit the Delta. We enter the Gulf Coastal Plain and head toward Crossett, the place once known as the Forestry Capital of the South.

It’s hard to beat the rich mix of cultures in the Delta. That’s the focus of the third part of our series on the trip across south Arkansas.

Teach for America students refer to it as the Hamptons of the Delta. We know it as Lake Village. It’s the subject of the second part in the series on our trip across south Arkansas.

We’re on the road again, traveling U.S. 82 from Greenville, Miss., to Texarkana and taking in far south Arkansas. In this first part of the series, we focus on the Lakeport Plantation and Lake Chicot.