PINEVILLE The county seat of McDonald county, Pineville township, on Elk river, 20 miles from Grand river, 325 miles from St. Louis, 240 from Jefferson City, and 100 from Van Buren, Arkansas. It was first settled by J. D. King, and then called Marysville; in 1850 the name was changed to Pineville, and the county seat located here by H. R. and S. Elkins, in the fall of 1857. There is one stage route from Fort Scott, Kansas, to Bentonville, Arkansas, passing through Pineville; distance 85 miles. It contains one Lyceum, the Pineville Academy, one Masonic Lodge, Yancey No. 148, four churches, viz: M. E. Church, Cumberland Presbyterian, Methodist Protestant, and Missionary Baptist, two hotels, one wagon shop, three blacksmiths, six stores, one flouring mill, four saw mills, three lumber yards, one boot and shoe manufactory, and one cabinet maker. Rutledge, the former county seat is six miles distant; Enterprise 17 miles north-west; Looneisville, 15 miles north-east; White Rock Prairie, five miles south; Bethpage, 12 miles north; Erie, 10 miles north. Average price of cultivated lands, $10 to $25 per acre, uncultivated $5 to $15. Timber, pine in abundance, oak, walnut, sycamore and cherry; mineral, lead, which has been found in various portions of the county. Chief products, wheat, corn, oats, rye, tobacco and apples, which are shipped by means of flat boats down the Elk into Grand and Arkansas rivers, to Fort Gibson and Van Buren, and immediate points. The boats are sold at $1,50 per foot, which is considered advantageous and profitable. The boats are bought chiefly by the Indians for ferry purposes. The Senecas, Cherokees, and Creeks, inhabit this portion of the territory through which the rivers Elk and Grand flow. It very often occurs that on the annual payments to the several tribes of Indians living on those rivers, that speculators make a handsome profit by sending down empty boats, which they purchase, having plenty of money, as each Indian is ambitious to own either one or two boats for his own exclusive use. County Sheriff, P.T. Lauderdale. County Judge, T.R. Rodgers. (Missouri State Gazetteer..., 1860)