Le Poste des Cadodaquious French Fort Specie — Bowie County

Le Poste des Cadodaquious was a small French fort northwest of Texarkana in present Bowie County, founded in 1719 by Bénard de La Harpe on the south bank of the Red River near a Nasoni Caddo village. Recent analysis places the site near Everett or Barkman on the escarpment. The post served as a French trade station limiting Spanish influence and supporting expeditions by Durivage, Mustel, Fabry de La Bruyère, and Pierre A. Mallet. A small French settlement developed from the earliest days; trader Alexis Grappé was important at the fort. Colonial trade folklore imagines abandoned specie and trade goods when the French evacuated after the Louisiana cession. Coordinates approximate the northwest Bowie County escarpment above the Red River.