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Pactolus

Ghost town · Benton County, Arkansas

Cherokee City quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1971, 1:24,000)
Cherokee City quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1971, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Pactolus is a ghost town in Benton County, Arkansas. It is one of 51 former communities in Benton County on the federal names register. No county in Arkansas has more among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Pactolus as a historical populated place on the Cherokee City topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 36.3676° N, 94.5361° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleCherokee City
Elevation1,006 ft
Nearest living townMaysville, AR
Distance to it3.8 miles
GNIS feature ID75952
Coordinates36.36758, -94.53605

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Pactolus today, aerial view
Cherokee City quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1971, 1:24,000)

Left: Cherokee City quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1971, 1:24,000), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Pactolus is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Maysville, AR (population 118), about 3.8 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 1,006 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Pactolus?

Pactolus is in Benton County, Arkansas, at 36.3676, -94.5361.

How many ghost towns are in Benton County?

Benton County, Arkansas has 51 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.