The old general store in Oil Trough, a small crossroads in the White River Valley of Arkansas. The location gets its unusual name in the early 1800s when whites arrived in the area “bottom,” or valley floor, which was covered by a dense canebrake thicket inhabited by bears. The newcomers killed of the bears and rendered the oil from their fat into troughs made from tree trunks. Originally called Pleasant Island, Oil Trough is now a fertile agricultural area. Photo by Carol Highsmith, 2020.