Down by the Old Mill Stream

Down by the Old Mill Stream

Online Exhibit
Van Winkle Mill, Van Hollow (Benton County), early 1900s

Van Winkle Mill, Van Hollow (Benton County), early 1900s. Marilyn Larner Hicks Collection (S-90-10-39)

Imagine a time when there were no grocery stores. A time when people lived in the hills and hollows of the Ozark Mountains, growing crops and raising livestock in order to survive. Corn was important because it fed people and animals. It could be traded for other goods or turned into alcohol. Millers were important, too. In 1846 the State of Arkansas passed an act exempting millers from “serving on juries, working on roads, and in the performance of [normal] military duty.”

Today we think of gristmills as romantic old places, but once they were a major part of many rural communities. They provided families with an easy way to grind their grain (grist), brought folks together to trade news and gossip, and often functioned as a post office and mercantile store. According to Ozark folklorist Otto Ernest Rayburn, a trip to the mill was often a family occasion. Some folks traveled miles, hunting for meat and camping at the mill while waiting to have their grain milled. Dances might be held, marriages performed, doctors consulted. On Saturday afternoons at one mill in Madison County, fish trapped in the millrace after the gates were closed for the Sabbath were auctioned.

Folks could grind their grain at home, but it was a difficult, time-consuming process. One type of homemade mill involved tying a heavy maul to one end of a pole which was balanced on a forked limb pushed into the ground. When the free end of the pole was moved up and down, the maul fell into a hollowed-out tree stump full of dried corn. Having a community mill made a lot of sense.

Roller mill machinery, probably salvaged after a fire, War Eagle Mill, 1920s-1930s. Mrs. Gene Layman Collection (S-90-36-2)

Early gristmills were simple affairs—a building, a source of water such as a stream or spring, and a water wheel to channel the energy of the flowing water and use it to turn one millstone upon the other. A few mills, like Engel’s Mill near Farmington, were powered by mules or oxen on a treadmill. Local hardwood was used for the building and the water wheel. The belts that ran on the pulleys were made of home-tanned leather. Many millstones were quarried locally, but the stone wasn’t as good as that imported from France.

The miller’s job wasn’t easy. He hauled heavy sacks of grain, worked round-the-clock during harvest time, and worried about fire and flood. Dams, millponds, and milling equipment needed constant maintenance and repair. In payment for his work, the miller took a portion of grain (the “toll”) from each milling job. We don’t know why, but area mills seemed to change hands often. Some families, such as the Basores of Carroll County, specialized in gristmills, building new mills and improving old ones before moving on to the next challenge.

The Civil War was hard on mills. Unlike other area commanding officers on both sides of the conflict, Confederate General Ben McCulloch believed that mills should be destroyed. He wrote, “Every man who is a patriot and sound southern man will be the first to put the torch to his own grain or mill rather than have them left to aid the enemy.” In 1862 McCulloch ordered the burning of Fayetteville’s steam mill which produced 10,000 pounds of flour daily. The owners pleaded for the removal of their equipment but were denied. Mills which escaped destruction were often captured, the grain bought or seized to feed the troops. During the occupation of the Rhea Community, miller William Rhea showed on which side his sympathies lay. He charged the Confederates 2½¢ a pound for flour while the Federals were charged double.

After the war old mills were rebuilt and new ones begun. Many were powered with steam engines which didn’t require the flowing water of a water mill. But they did need lots of wood to fire the boiler. At Rhea’s Mill, the men supplying the wood to fire the boilers were paid 25¢ a day and received free flour and meal and wholesale prices at the owner’s mercantile store. The mill workers had a similar deal, but received $2 a day.

Milling began to change in the 1880s with the invention of the roller mill. Corrugated metal rollers and other advanced processing equipment ground flour finer and faster than the old millstones. With the coming of the railroads new markets opened up. Area farmers looking to make a profit used agricultural innovations to plant more acreage in soft winter wheat and corn. Some mills went into the flour business in a big way. In the early 1900s the Berryville Milling Company imported wheat from the North to mill and market.

Gristmills had their own brands of flour, often poetically named. At Johnson they offered “Cream of the Harvest” and “White Dove.” Over in West Fork “Jersey Lily” was a favorite while Kingston had “Pride of Arkansas.” At Osage Mills Dr. Philo Alden wrote of his “Gold Dust” brand flour, “A bride’s best dower, and when she’s through the making, her bread is light and sweet and white, and shows a perfect baking.” Some mills used their water and steam power to saw timber, card wool, and gin (process) cotton. A few mills even operated a government distillery. Having different business ventures made running a mill more profitable and kept customers coming back as the needs of the community changed.

The early 20th century saw a decline in gristmills. Railroads and the automobile made it easier to get ready-made flour to the stores, diets were more varied, and fewer folks were growing grain for home use or sale. New food-safety laws forced some mills to change to milling animal feed only. A few millers held on into the 1960s and 1970s, but one by one the mills went away—burned down, washed away, tumbled down, and forgotten. Today only the War Eagle Mill keeps on grinding.

Left: Fayetteville Roller Mills advertisement,1904. (S-87-323-1) Right: Flour sack label, Springdale Milling Co., circa 1920.

Left: Fayetteville Roller Mills advertisement,1904. (S-87-323-1) Right: Flour sack label, Springdale Milling Co., circa 1920. Sue K. McBryde Collection (S-89-114-63)

Van Winkle Mill, Van Hollow (Benton County), early 1900s

Van Winkle Mill, Van Hollow (Benton County), early 1900s. Marilyn Larner Hicks Collection (S-90-10-39)

Imagine a time when there were no grocery stores. A time when people lived in the hills and hollows of the Ozark Mountains, growing crops and raising livestock in order to survive. Corn was important because it fed people and animals. It could be traded for other goods or turned into alcohol. Millers were important, too. In 1846 the State of Arkansas passed an act exempting millers from “serving on juries, working on roads, and in the performance of [normal] military duty.”

Today we think of gristmills as romantic old places, but once they were a major part of many rural communities. They provided families with an easy way to grind their grain (grist), brought folks together to trade news and gossip, and often functioned as a post office and mercantile store. According to Ozark folklorist Otto Ernest Rayburn, a trip to the mill was often a family occasion. Some folks traveled miles, hunting for meat and camping at the mill while waiting to have their grain milled. Dances might be held, marriages performed, doctors consulted. On Saturday afternoons at one mill in Madison County, fish trapped in the millrace after the gates were closed for the Sabbath were auctioned.

Folks could grind their grain at home, but it was a difficult, time-consuming process. One type of homemade mill involved tying a heavy maul to one end of a pole which was balanced on a forked limb pushed into the ground. When the free end of the pole was moved up and down, the maul fell into a hollowed-out tree stump full of dried corn. Having a community mill made a lot of sense.

Roller mill machinery, probably salvaged after a fire, War Eagle Mill, 1920s-1930s. Mrs. Gene Layman Collection (S-90-36-2)

Early gristmills were simple affairs—a building, a source of water such as a stream or spring, and a water wheel to channel the energy of the flowing water and use it to turn one millstone upon the other. A few mills, like Engel’s Mill near Farmington, were powered by mules or oxen on a treadmill. Local hardwood was used for the building and the water wheel. The belts that ran on the pulleys were made of home-tanned leather. Many millstones were quarried locally, but the stone wasn’t as good as that imported from France.

The miller’s job wasn’t easy. He hauled heavy sacks of grain, worked round-the-clock during harvest time, and worried about fire and flood. Dams, millponds, and milling equipment needed constant maintenance and repair. In payment for his work, the miller took a portion of grain (the “toll”) from each milling job. We don’t know why, but area mills seemed to change hands often. Some families, such as the Basores of Carroll County, specialized in gristmills, building new mills and improving old ones before moving on to the next challenge.

The Civil War was hard on mills. Unlike other area commanding officers on both sides of the conflict, Confederate General Ben McCulloch believed that mills should be destroyed. He wrote, “Every man who is a patriot and sound southern man will be the first to put the torch to his own grain or mill rather than have them left to aid the enemy.” In 1862 McCulloch ordered the burning of Fayetteville’s steam mill which produced 10,000 pounds of flour daily. The owners pleaded for the removal of their equipment but were denied. Mills which escaped destruction were often captured, the grain bought or seized to feed the troops. During the occupation of the Rhea Community, miller William Rhea showed on which side his sympathies lay. He charged the Confederates 2½¢ a pound for flour while the Federals were charged double.

After the war old mills were rebuilt and new ones begun. Many were powered with steam engines which didn’t require the flowing water of a water mill. But they did need lots of wood to fire the boiler. At Rhea’s Mill, the men supplying the wood to fire the boilers were paid 25¢ a day and received free flour and meal and wholesale prices at the owner’s mercantile store. The mill workers had a similar deal, but received $2 a day.

Milling began to change in the 1880s with the invention of the roller mill. Corrugated metal rollers and other advanced processing equipment ground flour finer and faster than the old millstones. With the coming of the railroads new markets opened up. Area farmers looking to make a profit used agricultural innovations to plant more acreage in soft winter wheat and corn. Some mills went into the flour business in a big way. In the early 1900s the Berryville Milling Company imported wheat from the North to mill and market.

Gristmills had their own brands of flour, often poetically named. At Johnson they offered “Cream of the Harvest” and “White Dove.” Over in West Fork “Jersey Lily” was a favorite while Kingston had “Pride of Arkansas.” At Osage Mills Dr. Philo Alden wrote of his “Gold Dust” brand flour, “A bride’s best dower, and when she’s through the making, her bread is light and sweet and white, and shows a perfect baking.” Some mills used their water and steam power to saw timber, card wool, and gin (process) cotton. A few mills even operated a government distillery. Having different business ventures made running a mill more profitable and kept customers coming back as the needs of the community changed.

The early 20th century saw a decline in gristmills. Railroads and the automobile made it easier to get ready-made flour to the stores, diets were more varied, and fewer folks were growing grain for home use or sale. New food-safety laws forced some mills to change to milling animal feed only. A few millers held on into the 1960s and 1970s, but one by one the mills went away—burned down, washed away, tumbled down, and forgotten. Today only the War Eagle Mill keeps on grinding.

Left: Fayetteville Roller Mills advertisement,1904. (S-87-323-1) Right: Flour sack label, Springdale Milling Co., circa 1920.

Left: Fayetteville Roller Mills advertisement,1904. (S-87-323-1) Right: Flour sack label, Springdale Milling Co., circa 1920. Sue K. McBryde Collection (S-89-114-63)

The Miller’s Tale

Many mills use water power to run their machinery. Water from a spring or stream is gathered into a millpond. The water is held back by a dam [1] with a sluice gate [2]. When the sluice gate is opened, water is released into a chute-like flume [3] or a pipe [4] and travels to the water wheel or turbine.

Water for an overshot wheel [5] falls down into the wheel’s buckets, causing it to turn. On a breastshot wheel [6], water comes in level with the wheel’s center. An undershot wheel [7] works directly in the stream where water is diverted into a small channel. An undershot wheel is easier to build than an overshot wheel, but it isn’t as effective. A turbine [8] works like a small water wheel, but it sits flat in the water. It can work even when the water is low.

Some mills are powered by steam engines [9]. Burning wood heats water in a boiler, making steam. Steam pressure forces pistons to move, which then move other machinery. Exhausted steam leaves through a tall flue pipe or chimney [10]. The power turns a driveshaft which then turns the gears, pulleys, and belts [11] attached to the mill’s machines, making them work.

Grain is channeled into the center hole of a pair of grooved millstones [12 and 13]. The bedstone (on the bottom) stays still while the runnerstone spins on top. The thickness of the meal or flour depends on how close the stones are to one another.

In a roller mill, grains of wheat are first sent to the scourer [14] to be cleaned before being crushed between the roller’s [15] corrugated metal bars.

The crushed grain travels to the different machines by way of elevators [16], chutes which contain small cups attached to long belts. The grain may go through another roller before it goes to one or more bolters [17] which sift the flour into different-sized particles.

The final product is packaged into sacks [18]. Flour is finely ground; meal is more coarse. Chops (crushed corn) and shorts (leftovers from milling wheat) were fed to livestock.

Photo Gallery

Villines Mill Photo Gallery

Located in Boxley (Newton County), the Villines Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. View architectural drawings of the mill (2.8 MB pdf document).

Johnson Mill and Villines Mill Architectural Drawings

Johnson Mill (Washington County) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. University of Arkansas architecture students created scale drawings of the mill in 1985. View the scale drawings (3.3 MB pdf document).

Villines Mill, aka Boxley Mill (Newton County) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Drawn on behalf of the Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, in 1986. View the scale drawings (2.8 MB pdf document).

Credits

“Account Books of the Cane Hill Mill.” Flashback, Vol. 15, No. 5 (November 1965).

Allen, Eric. “Remembering the Old Boxley Mill.” Arkansas Gazette, December 5, 1971.

Banton, Margaret. “Farmington City Hall Honors Ms. Shepherd with Reception.” Farmington Enterprise, February 19, 1987.

Banton, Margaret. “History of Farmington” series.  Prairie Grove Enterprise, June 6, 1986; June 19, 1986; June 26, 1986; July 3, 1986.

Basore, George W. “The Flour Mills of Berryville and Carroll County in the Early Days.” Carroll County Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXXXV, No. 3 (September 2000).

Basore, George W. “Memoirs of an Early Northwest Arkansas Millwrightseries. Carroll County Historical Quarterly, Vol. XVII, No. 4 (Winter 1972) and Vol. XVIII, No. 1/Vol. XVIII, No. 2 (Spring/Summer 1973).

Belknap, Lucile McWilliams. “Old Mill Was Center of Rootville Community Life.” Undated article, Shiloh Museum research files.

Blackburn to Lee deed, April 20,1857. Washington County Archives Land Records, 1834-1991.

“Boxley Mill Gets Roof, Other Repair.” Newton County Times, Septebmer 28, 1989.

Braswell, O. Klute. “The  True and Legendary Story of Yocum…Carroll County, Arkansas.” Carroll County Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. XIV, No. 4; Vol. XV, No. 1 (December 1969; March 1970).

Cain, William B. “Water Powered Hawkins Mill in Service for 100 Years,” Carroll County Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. XXVI, No. 4 (Winter 1981-1982).

Campbell, William S. One Hundred Years of Fayetteville: 1828-1928. 1928. Reprint, Fayetteville: Washington County Historical Society, 1977.

“Cave Springs.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 14, 1960.

Cave Springs Memories. Cave Springs Library Board, circa 1995.

“County’s Oldest Landmark Succumbs in Flood.” Madison County Record, June 15, 1944.

Croley, Victor A. “Marble Falls Has Had Many Names.” Arkansas Gazette, 1968.

Dillard, Tom W. “Gristmill Once as Numerous as Kernels on an Ear of Corn,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 4, 2007.

“Dogpatch Grist Mill Dedicated to Worker.” Marshall Mountain Wave, August 24, 1989.

“Early Mill Operated Near Farmington; Land Where Town Stands Platted in ’70.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 14, 1960.

Fisher, Sarah. “Inn at the Mill Celebrates 10-year Anniversary,” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 12, 2001.

“From the North Arkansas Fair Catalogue and Premium List, 1910.” Carroll County Historical Quarterly, Vol. VI, No. 3 (September 1961).

Funk, Erwin. “War Eagle Flour Mill Destroyed by Fire 1924.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 7, No. 5 (July 1962).

Gearhart, George. “Reminiscences of Old Anderson Township and its People.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 3, No. 3 (April 1953).

“Great Water Damage to Farms and Crops.” Madison County Record, June 15, 1944.

“Gristmill.” Old Sturbridge Village. http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/waterpower/grist.html. (page no longer available, 2019)

Hazen, Theodore R. “Flour Milling in America: A General Overview.”

Hazen, Theodore. “The Index Page of Mill Restoration.”

“Historic Waterwheel is Rejuvenated.” Eureka Springs Flashlight, September 1983.

History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1889.

“Hosea M. Benbrook, Oldest Male Citizen Knew Clay Helbert,” Northwest Arkansas Times, September 8, 1941.

Hudson, James F. “Settlement Geography of Madison County, Arkansas.” Master’s thesis, University of Arkansas, 1976.

Hudspeth, Cora Smith, and Alice Smith Doss. “Hawkins Mill at Dry Fork.” Carroll County Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. XXXI, No. 3 (Autumn 1985).

Hughes, Michael A. “Wartime Gristmill Destruction in Northwest Arkansas and Military-Farm Communities.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. XLVI, No. 2 (Summer 1987).

Inn at the Mill

Jines, Billie Allen. “From Cannon to Cave Springs – In Two Different Ways.” Cave Springs Scene, November 19, 1970.

Johnson, Mary Ellen. The Johnson Family: The Johnson Mill, A Tradition. Self-published, circa 1992.

Johnston, Dorothy M. History of the Rhea Community, Washington County, Arkansas. Self-published, 1987.

Johnston, Harold L. “Rhea.” Lincoln Leader, April 10, 1969.

Keesee, Irene. “The Jolly, Johnson Miller.” Ozarks Mountaineer, Vol. 23, No. 1, February 1975.

Lackey Walter F. History of Newton County, Arkansas. Point Lookout, Missouri: School of the Ozarks Press, 1950.

Lancaster, Zoe L. “War Eagle Mill.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Summer 1975).

Leung, Felicity. Grist and Flour Mills in Ontario, National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Environment Canada. 1981.

Lemke, Walter J. “The Old Mill at Cane Hill.” Flashback, Vol. XI, No. 4 (November 1961).

Lof, Eric and Larry. Boxley Grist Mill. Self-published pamphlet, circa 2005.

Logan, Coy. “Mills.” Carroll County Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXXXV, No. 1 (March 2000).

Lynch, Bobbie Byars. “Early Mills of Washington County.” Flashback, Vol. 25, No. 1 (February 1975) and Vol. 25, No. 2 (May 1975).

Lynch, Bobbie Byars, ed. Shiloh-Springdale, 1878-1978. Springdale: Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, 1978.

“Marble City and Newton County, Arkansas, 1891.” Unidentified/undated newspaper clipping, Shiloh Museum research files.

McConnell, F. M. “History of the Middle Fork.” Flashback, Vol. XV, No. 2 (April 1965.)

McMurry, Neva Barnes. “Stark’s Nursery Shed.” Washington County Observer, July 29, 1982.

“Milling is Part of Cane Hill’s Past.” Unidentified newspaper, July 25, 1974. Shiloh Museum research files.

Neal, Lisa. “Johnson’s Water Mill.” Springdale News, December 16, 1985.

Nixon, Jennifer. “Mill Gives Guests History and Luxury.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, circa 2005.

“North Arkansas Milling Company.” Eureka Springs Times-Echo, July 6, 1990.

Norris, R. E. IV. “Yocum and the O’Neal Family.” Carroll County Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. XXXII, No. 3 (Autumn 1986).

“Old Marble Falls Mill and Settlement Belong to the Past.” Ozarks Mountaineer, Vol. 4, No. 3 (November 1955).

“‘Old Mill’ Named to National Register of Historical Places.” Boone County Headlight, October 10, 1974.

Oliver, M. E. “Eventful History of Arkansas’ Old Hawkins Water Mill.” Ozarks Mountaineer, April 1959.

Payne, Ruth Holt. “Memorabilia of Early Mills.” Flashback, Vol. 13, #1 (February 1963).

Piercy, Maud, and Emmaline Rife. “Early Mills in Benton County.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Fall 1982).

Poorman, Forrest. “The Tandy K. Kidd Home and Mill.” Flashback, Vol. 40, No. 4 (November 1990).

Rayburn, Otto Ernest. “Going to Mill.” Ozark Country. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1941.

“Reactivates to Preserve Cane Hill Waterwheel.” Prairie Grove Enterprise, March 22, 1990.

Read, Julia S. “Farmington First Called Engel’s Mill.” Fayetteville Daily Democrat, June 11, 1936.

Robinson, Deborah. “September 8 Event to Highlight Mill Restoration.” Northwest Arkansas Times, August 30, 1990.

Russell, Conrad. “History of the Cane Hill Mill.” Flashback, Vol. 26, No. 2 (May 1976).

“Scenes of Our Heritage: Scroggins Mill.” Cave Springs Scene, July 22, 1971.

Scogin, Linda. “Canehill Mill Full of History.” Northwest Arkansas Times, April 17, 1990.

Shiras, Tom. “Century Old Mill Grinding on Every Day.” Southwest Times Record, August 15, 1937.

Sines, Helen N. “Savoy, Yesterday and Today.” Flashback, Vol. V, No. 2 (April 1955).

Stamps, Carl. “Grist Mills and Water Mills on Osage Creek.” Carroll County Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXVIII, No. 3 (Autumn 1983).

Steele, Phillip. “History of the Johnson Mill.” Ozark View, Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 1993).

Steele, Phillip. “Johnson’s Mill.” Flashback, Vol. 26, No. 2 (May 1976)

Sutton, Leslie. “Echoes of a Lost and Quieter Time.” Northwest Arkansas Times, January 5, 1977

“This Was Carroll County.” Harrison Daily Times, February 21, 1992.

Vaughan, Ardella. “History of Marble Falls.” Boone County Headlight, April 11, 1968.

Waits, Wally. “The Hawkins Mill.” Madison County Musings, Vol. III, No. 1 (Spring 1984).

War Eagle Mill

“War Eagle Water Mills Go Back to 1838.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 4, No. 6 (September 1959).

“W. H. Rhea, Rhea’s Mill Merchant, Totals His Losses Before and After the Battle of Prairie Grove.” Flashback, Vol. 6, No. 4 (July 1956).

“White River Mills of West Fork.” Washington County Observer, September 1, 1983.

Whittemore, Carol, ed. Fading Memories II: Stories of Madison County People and Places. N. p. 1992.

Wilson, Charles Morrow. “Mills of the Gods.” Farm and Ranch, December 22, 1928.

Wilson, Jaunita. The History of Cincinnati, Arkansas, 1836-1986. Siloam Springs, AR: Siloam Springs Printing, 1986.

Winn, Robert G. “West Fork Grist Mill of 1900.” Undated/unidentified newspaper clipping, Shiloh Museum research files.

Following the Crop

Following the Crop

Online Exhibit

Fruit label, ca. 1940. Dr. Lloyd O. Warren Collection (S-84-269-19)

Agriculture has long been a major economic force of Northwest Arkansas. Early pioneers grew crops to feed their families and livestock. With the arrival of the railroads in the late 1800s farmers grew additional produce and shipped it to market.

By the 1930s researchers had introduced new farming practices to improve crop yields. Commercial canning plants opened. More and more laborers were needed to pick and process the 24,000 acres of crops in Washington, Benton, and Madison Counties.

Financial hardship during the Great Depression led people across the nation to pack up their belongings in second-hand cars and “follow the crops,” traveling from town to town picking whatever crop was in season. In Northwest Arkansas strawberries were harvested first, followed by green beans, tomatoes, peaches, other berries, cherries, grapes, and apples. Entire families labored long hours in the fields. Those who were too young, too old, or too ill waited at the side of the field for the rest of the family to finish work.

Farmers couldn’t provide much in the way of good housing and medical care. Migrant laborers camped by their cars or lived on the farmer’s property in poultry houses or sheds. Host communities worried that folks without regular access to health care might bring diseases like tuberculosis to their area.

Fruit label, ca. 1940. Dr. Lloyd O. Warren Collection (S-84-269-19)

Agriculture has long been a major economic force of Northwest Arkansas. Early pioneers grew crops to feed their families and livestock. With the arrival of the railroads in the late 1800s farmers grew additional produce and shipped it to market.

By the 1930s researchers had introduced new farming practices to improve crop yields. Commercial canning plants opened. More and more laborers were needed to pick and process the 24,000 acres of crops in Washington, Benton, and Madison Counties.

Financial hardship during the Great Depression led people across the nation to pack up their belongings in second-hand cars and “follow the crops,” traveling from town to town picking whatever crop was in season. In Northwest Arkansas strawberries were harvested first, followed by green beans, tomatoes, peaches, other berries, cherries, grapes, and apples. Entire families labored long hours in the fields. Those who were too young, too old, or too ill waited at the side of the field for the rest of the family to finish work.

Farmers couldn’t provide much in the way of good housing and medical care. Migrant laborers camped by their cars or lived on the farmer’s property in poultry houses or sheds. Host communities worried that folks without regular access to health care might bring diseases like tuberculosis to their area.

Strawberry pickers, Springdale, May 1939. Dr. J. Lawrence Charlton, photographer. Dr. J. Lawrence Charlton Collection (S-86-15-14)

“[The pickers came earlier than expected] . . . they scared the cows and my Dad got flustered when we were not ready for them. We got the platform scales set up and leveled and Dad put the change into Mom’s muffin pan and we were in business. Dad paid two cents a pound for the picking. . . .”

Jeff Moser, who grew up on a farm in Cave Springs during the 1940s-50s
March 2008

“If you have ever seen migrant farm workers in the field in the past, you are certain to have noticed one thing: how hot, tired, neglected babies and small children have struggled out the weary day while their mothers assisted in the harvest of strawberries or beans.”

Billie Jines, columnist
Springdale News, 1960s

“The migrants were just like us, just hard-working people that got in the field about 5 a.m. and worked hard till about 1 p.m. . . . [They] would generally pick a few roasting ears from the corn to take home with them; Dad never said anything to them . . . as we had plenty.”

Jeff Moser, who grew up on a farm in Cave Springs during the 1940s-50s
March 2008

A Camp is Built
Map adapted from the Springdale News, April 23, 1942

Map adapted from the Springdale News, April 23, 1942

With the growing need for farm laborers, local business leaders and politicians wanted to provide good housing and health care to attract workers to the area. The Springdale Chamber of Commerce, working with U.S. Representative Clyde T. Ellis, approached the government for help.

In 1941 the U.S. Farm Security Administration agreed to place a migrant labor camp in Springdale. The $80,000, 40-acre camp would provide low-cost housing for the traveling farm workers who picked the crops or worked in the packing sheds and canning plants. The nearest labor camp was in Texas.

The camp was built in the southwest part of town, bounded by  Caudle Avenue on the north and South Powell Street on the west. It had a community building, a medical clinic, a nursery, offices, a home for the camp’s manager, bathroom and laundry buildings, a playground and picnic area, and 200 wood cabins with canvas (later metal) roofs. Each 14-by-14-foot cabin could hold up to five people, for a total of 1,000 migrant workers.

The Farm Workers Shelter opened its doors on April 27, 1942. Organizers predicted that the camp would bring a “better class of labor.” The camp was open from April to November and included an on-site placement office to help workers find jobs.

Cabins could be rented for 10 cents a day or up to $2.50 a week, if the unit had electricity and a small kerosene stove. During the 1943 season 1,302 people (including 328 families) stayed at the camp; the average stay was 44 days.

The government ran the camp until 1948 when it was sold it to the City of Springdale. As part of the sale the City agreed to keep the camp open for the next 20 years.

“The purpose of the camp is to build community betterment; to rehabilitate the farm worker; to rebuild worn out bodies in the clinic; to refuel exhausted human machines by better food, housing and clothing; to rebuild confidence with self government and personal dignity; to look to a rejuvenated younger generation through education and training to conserve human ideals.”

A. D. Stewart, regional director, Farm Security Administration
Springdale News, April 30, 1942

“I remember that the labor camp was always clean and neat and was always kept up and the people were friendly and they went a long way to helping the farmers of the area as they could not have made it without them.”

Jeff Moser, who grew up on a farm in Cave Springs during the 1940s-50s
March 2008

“The place has a fence around it and they turn out the lights at 9 p.m.; this makes me feel like a prisoner.”

17-year-old Texas migrant worker
Springdale News, 1960s

“About 75 percent of the people in the labor camp are residents of Arkansas. There are no Mexicans or Negroes and these types of workers are not encouraged to come here.”

Springdale News, 1960s

A Camp is Built
Map adapted from the Springdale News, April 23, 1942

Map adapted from the Springdale News, April 23, 1942

With the growing need for farm laborers, local business leaders and politicians wanted to provide good housing and health care to attract workers to the area. The Springdale Chamber of Commerce, working with U.S. Representative Clyde T. Ellis, approached the government for help.

In 1941 the U.S. Farm Security Administration agreed to place a migrant labor camp in Springdale. The $80,000, 40-acre camp would provide low-cost housing for the traveling farm workers who picked the crops or worked in the packing sheds and canning plants. The nearest labor camp was in Texas.

The camp was built in the southwest part of town, bounded by Caudle Avenue on the north and South Powell Street on the west. It had a community building, a medical clinic, a nursery, offices, a home for the camp’s manager, bathroom and laundry buildings, a playground and picnic area, and 200 wood cabins with canvas (later metal) roofs. Each 14-by-14-foot cabin could hold up to five people, for a total of 1,000 migrant workers.

The Farm Workers Shelter opened its doors on April 27, 1942. Organizers predicted that the camp would bring a “better class of labor.” The camp was open from April to November and included an on-site placement office to help workers find jobs.

Cabins could be rented for 10 cents a day or up to $2.50 a week, if the unit had electricity and a small kerosene stove. During the 1943 season 1,302 people (including 328 families) stayed at the camp; the average stay was 44 days.

The government ran the camp until 1948 when it was sold it to the City of Springdale. As part of the sale the City agreed to keep the camp open for the next 20 years.

“The purpose of the camp is to build community betterment; to rehabilitate the farm worker; to rebuild worn out bodies in the clinic; to refuel exhausted human machines by better food, housing and clothing; to rebuild confidence with self government and personal dignity; to look to a rejuvenated younger generation through education and training to conserve human ideals.”

A. D. Stewart, regional director, Farm Security Administration
Springdale News, April 30, 1942

“I remember that the labor camp was always clean and neat and was always kept up and the people were friendly and they went a long way to helping the farmers of the area as they could not have made it without them.”

Jeff Moser, who grew up on a farm in Cave Springs during the 1940s-50s
March 2008

“The place has a fence around it and they turn out the lights at 9 p.m.; this makes me feel like a prisoner.”

17-year-old Texas migrant worker
Springdale News, 1960s

“About 75 percent of the people in the labor camp are residents of Arkansas. There are no Mexicans or Negroes and these types of workers are not encouraged to come here.”

Springdale News, 1960s

The Workers
Paying strawberry pickers on the Kendle Sigmon farm,  Springdale, June 1960.

Paying strawberry pickers on the Kendle Sigmon farm, Springdale, June 1960. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-1129)

At dawn farmers picked up their workers—from young children to elderly grandparents—and delivered them to the fields or packing sheds where they labored long, hot hours. Early afternoon saw the workers back at camp, cooking, cleaning, and resting.

Their cabins were tiny. Some were without gas or electricity; none had plumbing so water was fetched from pumps. Toilet, bathing, and laundry facilities were centralized and shared by many.

Following the crop took its toll on laborers and their families. Because they were constantly on the move, children missed school and fell behind in their grade levels. Field work didn’t pay much. Many families scraped by, relying on donations of food, clothing, and medical care. Health problems for some folks came about because they didn’t realize the importance of, or have access to, good nutrition and cleanliness.

Most people were glad to see the laborers return each year. Farmers needed their crops harvested. Merchants had goods and services for sale. Churches wanted to minister to the needy. However, as welcome as the laborers were, there often was an economic, class, and educational gulf between them and the local community.

Omer Bynum with his granddaughter Rhonda Walton, 1957.

Omer Bynum with his granddaughter Rhonda Walton, 1957. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2001-82-327)

“As volunteers rock babies in the nursery or play with older children, the question each one asks is—What will become of this child? Must he, too, be a migrant? If so, must he live under these same unsanitary, crowded conditions and face the same insecurities and the same isolation from school, church and community?”

Cassandra Stockburger, state director
Division of Home Missions, National Council of Churches, 1957

“[A teacher] . . . related one child telling that her mother had sold her wedding rings to buy medicine for their baby. She also said children telling of one of their parents leaving home was not unusual.”

Ruth Ann Snipes, journalist
Springdale News, August 6, 1965

“There never is much time for food for breakfast: a piece of bacon and white gravy poured over heavy skillet-fried biscuits or pieces of loaf bread.…Babies are fed hurriedly from the mother’s plate and then, if lucky, are given a bottle of canned milk to drink on the way to the field where big sister, age three or four, will mind them at the edge of the field. . . .”

Cassandra Stockburger, state director
Division of Home Missions,  National Council of Churches, 1957

The Workers
Paying strawberry pickers on the Kendle Sigmon farm,  Springdale, June 1960.

Paying strawberry pickers on the Kendle Sigmon farm, Springdale, June 1960. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-1129)

At dawn farmers picked up their workers—from young children to elderly grandparents—and delivered them to the fields or packing sheds where they labored long, hot hours. Early afternoon saw the workers back at camp, cooking, cleaning, and resting.

Their cabins were tiny. Some were without gas or electricity; none had plumbing so water was fetched from pumps. Toilet, bathing, and laundry facilities were centralized and shared by many.

Following the crop took its toll on laborers and their families. Because they were constantly on the move, children missed school and fell behind in their grade levels. Field work didn’t pay much. Many families scraped by, relying on donations of food, clothing, and medical care. Health problems for some folks came about because they didn’t realize the importance of, or have access to, good nutrition and cleanliness.

Most people were glad to see the laborers return each year. Farmers needed their crops harvested. Merchants had goods and services for sale. Churches wanted to minister to the needy. However, as welcome as the laborers were, there often was an economic, class, and educational gulf between them and the local community.

Omer Bynum with his granddaughter Rhonda Walton, 1957.

Omer Bynum with his granddaughter Rhonda Walton, 1957. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2001-82-327)

“As volunteers rock babies in the nursery or play with older children, the question each one asks is—What will become of this child? Must he, too, be a migrant? If so, must he live under these same unsanitary, crowded conditions and face the same insecurities and the same isolation from school, church and community?”

Cassandra Stockburger, state director
Division of Home Missions, National Council of Churches, 1957

“[A teacher] . . . related one child telling that her mother had sold her wedding rings to buy medicine for their baby. She also said children telling of one of their parents leaving home was not unusual.”

Ruth Ann Snipes, journalist
Springdale News, August 6, 1965

“There never is much time for food for breakfast: a piece of bacon and white gravy poured over heavy skillet-fried biscuits or pieces of loaf bread.…Babies are fed hurriedly from the mother’s plate and then, if lucky, are given a bottle of canned milk to drink on the way to the field where big sister, age three or four, will mind them at the edge of the field. . . .”

Cassandra Stockburger, state director
Division of Home Missions,  National Council of Churches, 1957

Lending a Hand
Mennonite volunteer, 1958.

Mennonite volunteer, 1958. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-1900)

There were many civic, business, and religious organizations which helped meet the needs of the migrant laborers over the years. Among those lending a hand were the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, the non-denominational Home Missions Council of North America, the Home Mission Service of the Baptist Church, the United Church Women of Springdale, the Voluntary Service Team of the Mennonite Central Committee, the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Washington County Health Department, and the Northwest Arkansas Area Migrant Committee.

A variety of aid programs were offered over the years. Volunteers and paid staff provided health care, nursery programs, education, recreation, relief, and religious services. There were adult literacy classes, Sunday School, and educational classes for children. A mothers’ club allowed women to socialize and make handicrafts such as rag dolls. Area dentists treated patients and taught proper tooth care. Doctors and public health nurses gave immunization shots and treated illnesses.

Children took field trips to the library, the fire department, and the swimming pool. They played board games, horseshoes, and volleyball and learned skills like sewing and woodworking. A teenage club was set up in one cabin while a church operated a clothing supply center in another.

The nursery school featured child-sized furniture, drinking fountains, and toilets. Plenty of nutritious food and nap times were offered to help the children gain weight and lose chronic colds.

Serving afternoon snacks at the Day Care Center, July 6, 1966. Luella Hayes (left) and Ima Jean Lindstrom.

Serving afternoon snacks at the Day Care Center, July 6, 1966. Luella Hayes (left) and Ima Jean Lindstrom. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 7-6-1966)

“Though they live here and work here, some for extended periods, we do not know them and they do not know us.  This project is designed to break down those barriers between us and to aid, if we can, in making their stay with us a pleasant and profitable one.”

Eva Reder, president, United Church Women of Springdale
Springdale News, circa 1957

“Oh goody, we have something somebody didn’t give us!”

Young migrant girl learning to sew a blouse and skirt
Springdale News, May 5, 1967

“We usually try to spend about three evenings each week in the camp playing baseball, drawing, painting, square dancing, and other children’s activities.”

Young labor camp volunteer, circa 1957

“In the normal classroom they are the low achievers, the failures, and they know it. We are trying to give each of them the chance to succeed at something this summer, to get the feeling of having done something well. Once this happens, they have something to build another success upon.”

Mike Zotti, deputy superintendent of curriculum and special services, Springdale Public Schools
Arkansas Gazette, August 6, 1967

Lending a Hand
Mennonite volunteer, 1958.

Mennonite volunteer, 1958. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-1900)

There were many civic, business, and religious organizations which helped meet the needs of the migrant laborers over the years. Among those lending a hand were the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, the non-denominational Home Missions Council of North America, the Home Mission Service of the Baptist Church, the United Church Women of Springdale, the Voluntary Service Team of the Mennonite Central Committee, the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Washington County Health Department, and the Northwest Arkansas Area Migrant Committee.

A variety of aid programs were offered over the years. Volunteers and paid staff provided health care, nursery programs, education, recreation, relief, and religious services. There were adult literacy classes, Sunday School, and educational classes for children. A mothers’ club allowed women to socialize and make handicrafts such as rag dolls. Area dentists treated patients and taught proper tooth care. Doctors and public health nurses gave immunization shots and treated illnesses.

Children took field trips to the library, the fire department, and the swimming pool. They played board games, horseshoes, and volleyball and learned skills like sewing and woodworking. A teenage club was set up in one cabin while a church operated a clothing supply center in another.

The nursery school featured child-sized furniture, drinking fountains, and toilets. Plenty of nutritious food and nap times were offered to help the children gain weight and lose chronic colds.

Serving afternoon snacks at the Day Care Center, July 6, 1966. Luella Hayes (left) and Ima Jean Lindstrom.

Serving afternoon snacks at the Day Care Center, July 6, 1966. Luella Hayes (left) and Ima Jean Lindstrom. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 7-6-1966)

“Though they live here and work here, some for extended periods, we do not know them and they do not know us.  This project is designed to break down those barriers between us and to aid, if we can, in making their stay with us a pleasant and profitable one.”

Eva Reder, president, United Church Women of Springdale
Springdale News, circa 1957

“Oh goody, we have something somebody didn’t give us!”

Young migrant girl learning to sew a blouse and skirt
Springdale News, May 5, 1967

“We usually try to spend about three evenings each week in the camp playing baseball, drawing, painting, square dancing, and other children’s activities.”

Young labor camp volunteer, circa 1957

“In the normal classroom they are the low achievers, the failures, and they know it. We are trying to give each of them the chance to succeed at something this summer, to get the feeling of having done something well. Once this happens, they have something to build another success upon.”

Mike Zotti, deputy superintendent of curriculum and special services, Springdale Public Schools
Arkansas Gazette, August 6, 1967

Closing the Camp
Arkansas Employment Security Division officials visiting the labor camp, September 8,1967.

Arkansas Employment Security Division officials visiting the labor camp, September 8, 1967. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 9-1967-21)

The number of laborers staying at the camp rose and fell over the summers and through the years. Bumper crops might bring many workers, but crop failures or a slow-down in jobs forced families to move down the road to the next opportunity. By the 1960s a new threat was on the horizon—automated bean pickers. Increased mechanization meant that some crops could be picked more cheaply and effectively by machines than by people. Camp attendance began to drop.

When the City of Springdale received the camp from the federal government it promised to run it for 20 years. In July 1968 the decision was made to close the camp at the end of the summer and sell the remaining 160 cabins, only 40 of which were still occupied.

Rather than running a labor camp, the Springdale Housing Authority wanted to build a 170-unit low-income housing development on the camp’s land, using federal funds to secure the 40-year loan. Groundbreaking on Phillips Plaza, named after Springdale’s mayor, Park Phillips, began in the fall of 1969. By May 1971 the first renters were living in the $2-million-dollar project.

Today much of the camp exists only in memories and photographs. A few of the old cabins may still stand as outbuildings in area yards and fields. The camp’s old community building, which once held the nursery school for migrant children, was moved to the southern part of the property. It serves as a Head Start school, continuing the structure’s long tradition of sheltering youngsters in need.

Children at the day care center, September 19, 1967.

Children at the day care center, September 19, 1967. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 9-1967-3)

“[The migrant ministry workers] . . . wonder if the scarcity of migrant workers at the Labor Center this year may mean that the workers are beginning to settle into permanent locations.  . . .They only know that approximately 90 per cent of the 3,000 acres of beans in this area are being picked by machine this year. And they just don’t offer a ministry program to machines.”

Billie Jines, columnist
Springdale News, July 8, 1963

“[The Housing Authority units would] . . . relieve some of the pressure for local housing needs, especially for the lower income folks, and provide adequate living conditions when in some cases the housing has been substandard.”

Charles Sanders, editor and columnist
Springdale News, October 16, 1969

“We picked green beans, tomatoes, strawberries . . . it was hard . . . I got too hot sometimes.  . . .There was times it was really good, we’d come home from picking beans and go get some ice cream [on Emma Avenue]. [The camp was] …okay. We were satisfied that we had food to eat and a roof over our heads.  . . . It was an adventure for us kids.”

Glenda Emery Wright, who was 13 years old when she lived in the camp in 1946
April 2008

Closing the Camp
Arkansas Employment Security Division officials visiting the labor camp, September 8,1967.

Arkansas Employment Security Division officials visiting the labor camp, September 8, 1967. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 9-1967-21)

The number of laborers staying at the camp rose and fell over the summers and through the years. Bumper crops might bring many workers, but crop failures or a slow-down in jobs forced families to move down the road to the next opportunity. By the 1960s a new threat was on the horizon—automated bean pickers. Increased mechanization meant that some crops could be picked more cheaply and effectively by machines than by people. Camp attendance began to drop.

When the City of Springdale received the camp from the federal government it promised to run it for 20 years. In July 1968 the decision was made to close the camp at the end of the summer and sell the remaining 160 cabins, only 40 of which were still occupied.

Rather than running a labor camp, the Springdale Housing Authority wanted to build a 170-unit low-income housing development on the camp’s land, using federal funds to secure the 40-year loan. Groundbreaking on Phillips Plaza, named after Springdale’s mayor, Park Phillips, began in the fall of 1969. By May 1971 the first renters were living in the $2-million-dollar project.

Today much of the camp exists only in memories and photographs. A few of the old cabins may still stand as outbuildings in area yards and fields. The camp’s old community building, which once held the nursery school for migrant children, was moved to the southern part of the property. It serves as a Head Start school, continuing the structure’s long tradition of sheltering youngsters in need.

Children at the day care center, September 19, 1967.

Children at the day care center, September 19, 1967. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 9-1967-3)

“[The migrant ministry workers] . . . wonder if the scarcity of migrant workers at the Labor Center this year may mean that the workers are beginning to settle into permanent locations.  . . .They only know that approximately 90 per cent of the 3,000 acres of beans in this area are being picked by machine this year. And they just don’t offer a ministry program to machines.”

Billie Jines, columnist
Springdale News, July 8, 1963

“[The Housing Authority units would] . . . relieve some of the pressure for local housing needs, especially for the lower income folks, and provide adequate living conditions when in some cases the housing has been substandard.”

Charles Sanders, editor and columnist
Springdale News, October 16, 1969

“We picked green beans, tomatoes, strawberries . . . it was hard . . . I got too hot sometimes.  . . .There was times it was really good, we’d come home from picking beans and go get some ice cream [on Emma Avenue]. [The camp was] …okay. We were satisfied that we had food to eat and a roof over our heads.  . . . It was an adventure for us kids.”

Glenda Emery Wright, who was 13 years old when she lived in the camp in 1946
April 2008

Photo Gallery

Credits

“Church Women Hear Facts on Local Schools.” Springdale News, May 3, 1957.

“City Obtains Migrant Labor Camp in 1948.” Springdale News, November 30, 1962.

City of Springdale, Arkansas. Ordinance No. 310: An Ordinance Governing the Migratory Labor Center of the City of Springdale, Arkansas.

“City to Open Labor Center.” Springdale News, April 15, 1948.

Clark, Caroline. “Camp for Migrant Workers.” Oklahoma Ranch and Farm World, May 10, 1959.

Clark, Caroline. “Migrant Farm Workers.” Arkansas Gazette, October 13, 1957.

Collins, Anna Schwegler. Conversation or email correspondence. April 14, 2008.

“Construction Work on Labor Center Started.” Springdale News, July 10, 1941.

Deane, Ernie. “A Real Helping Hand for Little ‘Nomads.’” Arkansas Gazette, July 16, 1961.

Dozier, Kathleen. “Coordinated Effort, Sleeping Children Greet Guests at Center.” Springdale News, July 11,1966.

Edgmon, Jim. “Labor Camp Operation Explained.” Springdale News, 1960s.

“Farm Labor Camp Probably Located on Park Avenue.” Springdale News, March 13, 1941.

“Farm Labor Center Has Biggest Year.” Springdale News, November 21, 1946.

“Farm Products Bring Dollars, Labor Shortage Relieved by Center.” Springdale News, December 3, 1942.

“Farm Workers Shelter is Dedicated Saturday by FSA Officials.” Springdale News, April 30, 1942.

“FSA Investigating Migratory Labor Problem.” Springdale News, February 13, 1941.

Henry, Earlene Brown. Conversation or email correspondence. March 13, 2008.

“Housing Authority to Get Appraisal for Labor Center Property.” Springdale News, December 3, 1968.

Jines, Billie. “The Way I Heard It.” Springdale News, August 9, 1960; July 8, 1963.

Jones, Mary John. Conversation or email correspondence. April 14, 2008.

“Labor Camp Dedication Saturday; Ready for Works Monday.” Springdale News, April 23, 1942.

“Labor Camp is Now Open; 100 are Registered.” Springdale News, March 13, 1949.

“Labor Camp Offered for Sale.” Springdale News, December 18, 1947.

“Labor Camp Registered 1,302 People.” Springdale News, October 21,1943.

Lankford, Martha Reder. Conversation or email correspondence. March 17, 2008.

Northwest Arkansas Area Migrant Committee Project (MG-50D67), Washington and Benton Counties. “Migrant Health Project Annual Report.” 1966-67.

“Migrant Labor Center to be Auctioned Into Oblivion.” Springdale News, July 24, 1968.

Migrant Ministry Committee of the United Council of Church Women of Springdale, Arkansas. “Statement on a Ministry to Migrants.” Circa 1957.

“Migratory Farm Labor Camp Here Certain.” Springdale News, May 15, 1941.

Minutes of the Northwest Arkansas Area Migrant Committee and the Migrant Ministry Committee of the Arkansas Council of Churches. Springdale, May 18,1964 (S-94-157).

Moser, Jeff Moser. Conversation or email correspondence. May 2008.

Murphey, Sara. “A Note on a Different Type of ‘Labor Camp.’” Arkansas Gazette, August 6, 1967.

Northwest Arkansas Area Migrant Committee Project, Washington and Benton Counties. “Annual Report, Migrant Health Project.” 1963-64.

“Nursery School Opens at Farm Labor Center.” Springdale News, May 23, 1946.

Report by an unknown camp counselor, circa 1957 (Shiloh Museum manuscript MS #42 5-6A).

Smith, Guy P. Jr. “Springdale Labor Camp.” 1990s.

Snipes, Ruth Ann. “Migrant Assistance Grows in Scope, Annual Dinner Slated to Aid Programs.” Springdale News, May 5,1967.

Snipes, Ruth Ann. “Migrant Ministry Aided.” Springdale News, September 28, 1967.

Snipes, Ruth Ann. “United Church Women Help Migrant Children Keep Up In School.” Springdale News, August 6,1965.

Stockburger, Cassandra. Letter to Maxine Bowman. Division of Home Missions, National Council of the Churches of Christ, February 8, 1957 (S-92-132-6:3 A-B).

Stockburger, Cassandra. “Springdale Finds an Answer.” Migrant Ministry, Division of Home Missions, National Council of Churches, circa 1957.

Tripp, Ray. Conversation or email correspondence. March 28, 2008.

Wilson, Mary Emery, and Glenda Emery Wright. Conversation or email correspondence. April 16, 2008.

Young, Susan. “Migrant Camp Remembered.” Northwest Arkansas Morning News, May 18, 2004.

From the Atolls to the Ozarks

From the Atolls to the Ozarks

Online Exhibit
Introduction

Rona Masha, guest curator

 

The Marshallese community’s many celebrations reflect our culture and traditions. We have adapted to life here in the Arkansas Ozarks which we have found to be very different from life in the chain of islands called atolls which form the Republic of the Marshall Islands, west of Hawaii. We have Americanized our traditional dress and we prepare our traditional food using local substitutions. We have adapted to the English language, making both Marshallese and English our official languages. Other adaptions include adjusting our time management for school and work.

Our migration from the atolls to the Ozarks began when John Moody moved to the United States to go to college. He came looking for education and for a new home because of the damage done to the Islands between 1946 and 1958, when the United States conducted sixty-seven nuclear tests on or near Bikini and Enewetak Atolls. Because of this damage, the U.S. made a Compact of Free Association with the Marshallese, letting them come here to begin a new life. Around 1986 Mr. Moody moved to Springdale to work for Tyson Foods. He married a local woman and told family and friends of the opportunities here in Northwest Arkansas. Many came to live and work here. Today Springdale is home to the largest Marshallese community outside of the Islands. Even though we have new challenges to adjust to, we still hold on to tradition, family, religion, and respect.

Kemem—The Kabua family celebrating Tamiko’s first birthday, May 2016. Courtesy Heather Butler and Kay Dye, photographers

A few of the events we love to celebrate are Palm Sunday, Combine, Kemem, and May Day/Jemenei (Constitution) Day.

Palm Sunday is one of the many holy days that we celebrate. We come together for prayer, worship, eating, and singing and dancing.

The Combine is a time when Marshallese church groups from all over the United States—and even the Marshall Islands—come together for worship. We honor our dignitaries with marmars (leis or necklaces), sing and dance, and give away clothing and other gifts.

Kemem celebrates a baby’s first birthday. The nuclear tests affected the health of the Marshallese. Because of the radiation from the bombs it was rare for a baby to survive its first year of life. When a child reached its first birthday, the family had a great celebration to show gratitude for their child’s achievement.

May Day/Jemenei (Constitution) Day acknowledges the day our constitution was signed on May 1, 1979, our first step towards independence as a nation. We celebrate with parades, speeches, pageants, sports competitions, and, as always, lots of food.

During our celebrations you will see us acknowledge the important people in our community such as pastors and their wives, sponsors, and those who help the Marshallese community politically. We always start our events with prayer. Our food is typically barbequed chicken and rice along with other side dishes. We have special performances where we do praise dances called biit (pronounced “beat”) and sing songs from the Buk in Al (Book Hymnal) or just songs in English or Marshallese. People are usually dressed in special clothing we call “uniforms.” These matching shirts and dresses are made of fabric from Hawaii with a bright, island-style print.

Jemenei Day—Tabitha Kerong (left) wears a traditional wut (headband) while her sister Anna wears a modern adaptation, May 2016.

Jemenei Day—Tabitha Kerong (left) wears a traditional wut (headband) while her sister Anna wears a modern adaptation, May 2016. Courtesy Heather Butler and Kay Dye, photographers

The Ozark adaptions that we make for our celebrations are reflected in our uniforms, wuts (a wut is a headband; pronounced “woot”), and food. In the Islands our dress was plain and simple, but in the Ozarks our uniforms are modern and updated, designed with more sparkles and sequins. But now the influence of our new culture has changed our dress in the Islands to this modern style. Wuts have gone from being handwoven from pandanus and coconut tree fibers to being made from things like artificial flowers. The leis which we use to honor our special guests have changed like our wuts and can include modern materials. Our food is different from the traditional food because we don’t have the same ingredients. In the Islands our food comes from the natural resources all around us like fresh fish, breadfruit, and coconut, but in the Ozarks most food is store-bought. The dishes may not taste exactly the same, but they are still great.

I have presented this information about Marshallese celebrations with great honor and respect for my culture. I hope you will share in knowing how important our culture is to us, as I believe all people’s cultures should be honored, celebrated, and remembered. For we, the Marshallese community, have traveled here to settle in the Ozarks, bringing our culture, respect, families, religion, and traditions.

Introduction

Rona Masha, guest curator

 

The Marshallese community’s many celebrations reflect our culture and traditions. We have adapted to life here in the Arkansas Ozarks which we have found to be very different from life in the chain of islands called atolls which form the Republic of the Marshall Islands, west of Hawaii. We have Americanized our traditional dress and we prepare our traditional food using local substitutions. We have adapted to the English language, making both Marshallese and English our official languages. Other adaptions include adjusting our time management for school and work.

Our migration from the atolls to the Ozarks began when John Moody moved to the United States to go to college. He came looking for education and for a new home because of the damage done to the Islands between 1946 and 1958, when the United States conducted sixty-seven nuclear tests on or near Bikini and Enewetak Atolls. Because of this damage, the U.S. made a Compact of Free Association with the Marshallese, letting them come here to begin a new life. Around 1986 Mr. Moody moved to Springdale to work for Tyson Foods. He married a local woman and told family and friends of the opportunities here in Northwest Arkansas. Many came to live and work here. Today Springdale is home to the largest Marshallese community outside of the Islands. Even though we have new challenges to adjust to, we still hold on to tradition, family, religion, and respect.

Kemem—The Kabua family celebrating Tamiko’s first birthday, May 2016. Courtesy Heather Butler and Kay Dye, photographers

A few of the events we love to celebrate are Palm Sunday, Combine, Kemem, and May Day/Jemenei (Constitution) Day.

Palm Sunday is one of the many holy days that we celebrate. We come together for prayer, worship, eating, and singing and dancing.

The Combine is a time when Marshallese church groups from all over the United States—and even the Marshall Islands—come together for worship. We honor our dignitaries with marmars (leis or necklaces), sing and dance, and give away clothing and other gifts.

Kemem celebrates a baby’s first birthday. The nuclear tests affected the health of the Marshallese. Because of the radiation from the bombs it was rare for a baby to survive its first year of life. When a child reached its first birthday, the family had a great celebration to show gratitude for their child’s achievement.

May Day/Jemenei (Constitution) Day acknowledges the day our constitution was signed on May 1, 1979, our first step towards independence as a nation. We celebrate with parades, speeches, pageants, sports competitions, and, as always, lots of food.

During our celebrations you will see us acknowledge the important people in our community such as pastors and their wives, sponsors, and those who help the Marshallese community politically. We always start our events with prayer. Our food is typically barbequed chicken and rice along with other side dishes. We have special performances where we do praise dances called biit (pronounced “beat”) and sing songs from the Buk in Al (Book Hymnal) or just songs in English or Marshallese. People are usually dressed in special clothing we call “uniforms.” These matching shirts and dresses are made of fabric from Hawaii with a bright, island-style print.

Jemenei Day—Tabitha Kerong (left) wears a traditional wut (headband) while her sister Anna wears a modern adaptation, May 2016.

Jemenei Day—Tabitha Kerong (left) wears a traditional wut (headband) while her sister Anna wears a modern adaptation, May 2016. Courtesy Heather Butler and Kay Dye, photographers

The Ozark adaptions that we make for our celebrations are reflected in our uniforms, wuts (a wut is a headband; pronounced “woot”), and food. In the Islands our dress was plain and simple, but in the Ozarks our uniforms are modern and updated, designed with more sparkles and sequins. But now the influence of our new culture has changed our dress in the Islands to this modern style. Wuts have gone from being handwoven from pandanus and coconut tree fibers to being made from things like artificial flowers. The leis which we use to honor our special guests have changed like our wuts and can include modern materials. Our food is different from the traditional food because we don’t have the same ingredients. In the Islands our food comes from the natural resources all around us like fresh fish, breadfruit, and coconut, but in the Ozarks most food is store-bought. The dishes may not taste exactly the same, but they are still great.

I have presented this information about Marshallese celebrations with great honor and respect for my culture. I hope you will share in knowing how important our culture is to us, as I believe all people’s cultures should be honored, celebrated, and remembered. For we, the Marshallese community, have traveled here to settle in the Ozarks, bringing our culture, respect, families, religion, and traditions.

Some Artifacts from the Exhibit

RELIGIOUS BOOKSJeje Ko Rekkwojarjar (Spiritual Writings of the Bible) and Buk in Al Kab Tun Ko (Book Hymnal of Songs) used by the Masha family at Anij Emman Church, Springdale. The latter contains traditional Christian hymns translated into Marshallese.

WUT (Headband)—Wuts are headbands worn by women and girls. They are often made of plant fibers like coconut and pandanus and can be decorated with colored fringe, cowry shells, or woven flowers. Some wuts show a modern influence, using synthetic elements like Koosh® balls (seen here).

WOTJE (Ear Rose)—These small flowers are presented as gifts to women and young ladies. They are worn on the ear and come in many colors to match the wearer’s outfit.

DEEL (Fan)—These fans are made from shredded, dyed, and plaited (woven) pandanus leaves. They are used to tap out a rhythm in traditional Marshallese dances and as fans for cooling.

MARMAR (Necklace or Lei)—Money leis are given to honored guests at celebrations and to pastors at church services. They are made of ten one-dollar bills taped together. Flower leis are usually given to guests of honor, to those who have helped with a celebration, or to recognize special accomplishments like school graduations. Candy leis are often given to men and children. They may be homemade (left) or commercially made and imported from Hawaii (right).

Items courtesy of Heather Butler, Sandy Hainline-Williams, and the Masha Family.


KEMEM T-SHIRT—Worn by a young guest at the celebration of Malachi Marty’s first birthday, Springdale, 2016.

CLOTH—The members of a Marshallese church often wear matching “uniforms” during special celebrations and events. After a color and pattern have been selected, bolts of fabric are shipped from Hawaii. Each family gets a length of cloth to turn into dresses for women and girls and shirts for men and boys. By using the same fabric, a congregation’s clothing looks similar, but each family’s seamstress adds design elements such as ruffles, banding, and inset fabrics to make the uniforms unique to her family.

SHIRT and DRESSJepta uniforms worn by Yotina and Jacob Masha, Springdale, December 2008. Jeptas are teams that form in the months before Christmas. They learn new songs and dances for a fun-filled competition held on Christmas Day.

DRESS—Made by Esry Samuel for her granddaughter, Rona Masha, Springdale, 2016. Sequins, rhinestones, and sparkly fabrics demonstrate a modern influence on a traditional-style dress.

FLAG-DANCE DRESS—Made by Jola Kaious and worn by a contestant in the Miss Jemenei Day pageant, Springdale, May Day, 2016. Dresses like this one are worn during special events to perform the traditional Marshallese Flag Dance.

JAKI (Mat)—Made from pandanus leaves which are shredded and woven together. Mats are used to sleep on and to sit on when eating a meal.

Items courtesy of Marshallese Consulate General Carmen Chong-Gum, Sandy Hainline-Williams, Joe Kaminaga, the Masha Family, and the Dr. Joseph Bates Outreach Clinic Arkansas Department of Health.

Rona Masha was a ninth-grader living in Springdale when she created this exhibit in 2016. She was a member of Girl Scout Troop #5132, the only Marshallese troop within the organization. For her 2016 Silver Award project, the first ever for a Marshallese Scout, Rona created this exhibit to acknowledge the Marshallese community and the unique celebrations that occur throughout her life.

The Silver Award is the second-highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. The award signifies the Scout’s involvement with the community and identifies her as a girl who can finish what she starts. Being engaged with the community develops personal growth for one who sets her standards high.

This project was a pleasure for Rona to direct and an honor to represent the Marshallese community. She believes all cultures and their celebrations are to be valued. She is grateful to the Springdale community and the Shiloh Museum for giving her this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Rona Masha was a ninth-grader living in Springdale when she created this exhibit in 2016. She was a member of Girl Scout Troop #5132, the only Marshallese troop within the organization. For her 2016 Silver Award project, the first ever for a Marshallese Scout, Rona created this exhibit to acknowledge the Marshallese community and the unique celebrations that occur throughout her life.

The Silver Award is the second-highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. The award signifies the Scout’s involvement with the community and identifies her as a girl who can finish what she starts. Being engaged with the community develops personal growth for one who sets her standards high.

This project was a pleasure for Rona to direct and an honor to represent the Marshallese community. She believes all cultures and their celebrations are to be valued. She is grateful to the Springdale community and the Shiloh Museum for giving her this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Good Eats

Good Eats

Online Exhibit
Community fundraising dinner at Elm Springs, 1952. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection/McRoberts, photographer (S-85-20-64)

Community fundraising dinner at Elm Springs, 1952. Identified in the photo, from right: Sue McCamey, Goldie Routh, Ronnie Routh, Nolan McCamey, Tom Bain. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection/McRoberts, photographer (S-85-20-64)

In the early 1800s folks living in Northwest Arkansas produced and prepared nearly all of their own food. Settlers hunted game animals like deer and turkey, gathered wild fruits and honey, raised chickens and pigs, and grew such vegetables as corn and greens for the family table. Food preparation was an all-day event over a fire. There wasn’t a lot of variety in the homesteader’s diet, especially in wintertime. The “three M’s” in the Ozarks were meat, meal (corn meal), and molasses.

During the 1870s G. B. Jones made “maple sugar cakes.” A camp was set up near a stand of sugar maple trees on the family homestead west of Sulphur Springs. The sap was collected in early spring and boiled down in a big iron kettle until thick, then poured into molds to cool. Most of the finished cakes were taken to Neosho, Missouri, and sold.  But a couple of the nicely browned cakes found their way into Jones’ pocket as a treat for his girlfriend.

With large food processors such as Pillsbury and Campbell’s soups beginning to produce quality, low-cost products, by 1900 half of the food eaten by most Americans came from the store. Further time-savers were soon introduced including self-service grocery stores, quick-frozen foods, packaged mixes, and frozen dinners. Eating out became popular as well. As roads opened up it became easier to ship luxury goods such as sugar and coffee to the frontier. Convenience items like tinned food began arriving mid century as canning technology improved. Further variety was possible in 1881 when the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad began steaming through the Ozarks. Refrigerated railroad cars allowed perishable meat, fruits, and vegetables to be shipped nationwide. The rise of convenience food meant that traditional foodways declined. By the 1970s local newspapers were featuring articles about old-timers making apple butter or molasses the old-fashioned way. Preserving food for home use was no longer commonplace.

A. Q. Chicken House menu, circa 1950

A. Q. Chicken House menu, Springdale, circa 1950.

Today we purchase “home-cooked” meals in grocery stores, have pizzas delivered, and eat fast food in our cars. But the popularity of home cooking is increasing. Julia Child helped start the trend in the 1960s with her cooking show, “The French Chef.” Now there are many food-related magazines, television shows, and specialty stores to tempt our taste buds. Americans are rediscovering good food.

Coming Together
Amos Howard family with their dessert, Springdale, 1891. Guy Howard Collection (S-71-5-3)

Amos Howard family with their dessert, Springdale, 1891. Guy Howard Collection (S-71-5-3)

Think food is used only to nourish our bodies? Think again! We use food to celebrate, to stereotype people, to express love or compassion, to treat ourselves, to compete or make money, to remember our roots, to garner compliments, and to come together as a community. Our tastes in food have changed over time depending on where we live, what we can afford, and what’s in fashion.

Church members often gathered for “dinners on the ground.” Blankets were laid on the grass and then piled with a bounty of delicious foods. Lucile Dees McVay attended such dinners during the late 1920s and 1930s at the annual Decoration Day at Wedington Cemetery. Every woman brought her specialty, whether it was homemade bread, deviled eggs, or candied sweet potatoes. Young Lucile waited patiently by her mother’s salmon cakes until the blessing was said–then she helped herself! Canned salmon was so expensive that these treats were rarely made at home.

There’s something about food that has made us come together over the years. Neighbors gathered for community events such as house raisings, funerals, and school functions. During John Quincy Wolf’s youth in the 1870s Ozarks, women came together to prepare food for the men building a house. When the dinner horn was sounded promptly at noon everyone came running to partake of the fried ham, preserves, pumpkin pie, hog jowls, biscuits and cornbread, cabbage, sausage, turnips, coffee, and greens.

Handwritten recipe. Alice Ruth Collection

Handwritten recipe. Alice Ruth Collection

Families gathered for celebrations such as holidays, birthdays, and weddings. When Wayman Hogue was growing up in the late 1800s, a wedding was held at his home in the Ozarks. A dozen chickens were fattened with corn and lots of cakes, custards, pies, and light [white] bread were made. Tables placed end-to-end in the yard held three boiled hams. The hams’ skin had been removed and large round dots of black pepper added as decoration. Coffee was expensive so sassafras tea was served.

Picnics were fun occasions for friends and family. Betty Greathouse of the Greathouse Springs community southwest of Springdale liked having big picnics in her yard. Sawhorses were placed under the old sycamore tree and outfitted with wide boards and overlapping tablecloths. Family members fried chicken and guests brought covered dishes of food. One of the community elders said the blessing, “usually profound and well spoken.”

Tidbits
Members of the Springdale Woman’s Civic Club, February 1953. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection/McRoberts, photographer (S-77-9-22)

Members of the Springdale Women’s Civic Club, February 1953. McRoberts, photographer. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection (S-77-9-22)

Every region of the country has dishes that it’s known for. When Charles Morrow Wilson grew up in Fayetteville in the early 1900s, typical Ozark fare included Johnny cakes, home-cured pork, Injun spareribs (a stew made with salt pork, sweet potatoes, green peppers, and corn), sweet potato puddings, hog jowls with cowpeas, and turnip greens with “pot likker,” the juice left behind after the greens and salt porkwere cooked in water.

During Wayman Hogue’s childhood in the Ozarks, “old man Adams” was the local barbeque expert. Families contributed sheep, goats, hogs, and calves to the annual Fourth of July celebration. Ditches were dug about 20 feet long and filled with oak and hickory. The evening before the big day Adams and his crew hung the carcasses from long poles and began cooking the meat.

Gregory-Robinson-Speas Recipe Book, circa 1930.

Gregory-Robinson-Speas Recipe Book, circa 1930. Mira Leister Collection

Cooking techniques and recipes were often passed from mother to daughter. In the 1910s county extension offices formed to bring “practical demonstrations” in agriculture and home economics to rural communities. Home Demonstration clubs hosted university specialists who taught scientific canning techniques, nutrition, and other homemaking skills. Canned goods not only provided food for the family, it was a good way to earn extra income.

Food was used for charitable purposes such as raising money for schools and community buildings. At box suppers and pie suppers men vied with one another to bid on the food prepared by the prettiest girl or the best cook. Bringing gifts of food to a new or struggling family was common. In Alpena a “pounding” was held for the preacher and his family. Church members brought eggs, fruit, coffee, canned goods, garden produce, sugar—whatever they wished—often in one-pound amounts.

Food can identify people in many ways. In Tontitown, the community’s early Italian roots are proudly expressed in the spaghetti served at the annual Grape Festival. But food is offensively used by some to stereotype people, such as linking traditional Ozarkers to possum or African Americans to watermelon.

Community fundraising dinner at Elm Springs, 1952. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection/McRoberts, photographer (S-85-20-64)

Community fundraising dinner at Elm Springs, 1952. Identified in the photo, from right: Sue McCamey, Goldie Routh, Ronnie Routh, Nolan McCamey, Tom Bain. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection/McRoberts, photographer (S-85-20-64)

In the early 1800s folks living in Northwest Arkansas produced and prepared nearly all of their own food.  Settlers hunted game animals like deer and turkey, gathered wild fruits and honey, raised chickens and pigs, and grew such vegetables as corn and greens for the family table.  Food preparation was an all-day event over a fire. There wasn’t a lot of variety in the homesteader’s diet, especially in wintertime. The “three M’s” in the Ozarks were meat, meal (corn meal), and molasses.

During the 1870s G.B. Jones made “maple sugar cakes.” A camp was set up near a stand of sugar maple trees on the family homestead west of Sulphur Springs. The sap was collected in early spring and boiled down in a big iron kettle until thick, then poured into molds to cool. Most of the finished cakes were taken to Neosho, Missouri, and sold.  But a couple of the nicely browned cakes found their way into Jones’ pocket as a treat for his girlfriend.

With large food processors such as Pillsbury and Campbell’s soups beginning to produce quality, low-cost products, by 1900 half of the food eaten by most Americans came from the store. Further time-savers were soon introduced including self-service grocery stores, quick-frozen foods, packaged mixes, and frozen dinners. Eating out became popular as well. As roads opened up it became easier to ship luxury goods such as sugar and coffee to the frontier. Convenience items like tinned food began arriving mid century as canning technology improved. Further variety was possible in 1881 when the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad began steaming through the Ozarks. Refrigerated railroad cars allowed perishable meat, fruits, and vegetables to be shipped nationwide. The rise of convenience food meant that traditional foodways declined. By the 1970s local newspapers were featuring articles about old-timers making apple butter or molasses the old-fashioned way. Preserving food for home use was no longer commonplace.

A. Q. Chicken House menu, Springdale, circa 1950

A. Q. Chicken House menu, Springdale, circa 1950.

Today we purchase “home-cooked” meals in grocery stores, have pizzas delivered, and eat fast food in our cars. But the popularity of home cooking is increasing. Julia Child helped start the trend in the 1960s with her cooking show, “The French Chef.” Now there are many food-related magazines, television shows, and specialty stores to tempt our taste buds. Americans are rediscovering good food.

Coming Together
Amos Howard family with their dessert, Springdale, 1891. Guy Howard Collection (S-71-5-3)

Amos Howard family with their dessert, Springdale, 1891. Guy Howard Collection (S-71-5-3)

Think food is used only to nourish our bodies? Think again! We use food to celebrate, to stereotype people, to express love or compassion, to treat ourselves, to compete or make money, to remember our roots, to garner compliments, and to come together as a community. Our tastes in food have changed over time depending on where we live, what we can afford, and what’s in fashion.

Church members often gathered for “dinners on the ground.” Blankets were laid on the grass and then piled with a bounty of delicious foods. Lucile Dees McVay attended such dinners during the late 1920s and 1930s at the annual Decoration Day at Wedington Cemetery. Every woman brought her specialty, whether it was homemade bread, deviled eggs, or candied sweet potatoes. Young Lucile waited patiently by her mother’s salmon cakes until the blessing was said–then she helped herself! Canned salmon was so expensive that these treats were rarely made at home.

There’s something about food that has made us come together over the years. Neighbors gathered for community events such as house raisings, funerals, and school functions. During John Quincy Wolf’s youth in the 1870s Ozarks, women came together to prepare food for the men building a house. When the dinner horn was sounded promptly at noon everyone came running to partake of the fried ham, preserves, pumpkin pie, hog jowls, biscuits and cornbread, cabbage, sausage, turnips, coffee, and greens.

Handwritten recipe. Alice Ruth Collection

Handwritten recipe. Alice Ruth Collection

Families gathered for celebrations such as holidays, birthdays, and weddings. When Wayman Hogue was growing up in the late 1800s, a wedding was held at his home in the Ozarks. A dozen chickens were fattened with corn and lots of cakes, custards, pies, and light [white] bread were made. Tables placed end-to-end in the yard held three boiled hams. The hams’ skin had been removed and large round dots of black pepper added as decoration. Coffee was expensive so sassafras tea was served.

Picnics were fun occasions for friends and family. Betty Greathouse of the Greathouse Springs community southwest of Springdale liked having big picnics in her yard. Sawhorses were placed under the old sycamore tree and outfitted with wide boards and overlapping tablecloths. Family members fried chicken and guests brought covered dishes of food. One of the community elders said the blessing, “usually profound and well spoken.”

Tidbits
Members of the Springdale Woman’s Civic Club, February 1953. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection/McRoberts, photographer (S-77-9-22)

Members of the Springdale Woman’s Civic Club, February 1953. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection/McRoberts, photographer (S-77-9-22)

Every region of the country has dishes that it’s known for. When Charles Morrow Wilson grew up in Fayetteville in the early 1900s, typical Ozark fare included Johnny cakes, home-cured pork, Injun spareribs (a stew made with salt pork, sweet potatoes, green peppers, and corn), sweet potato puddings, hog jowls with cowpeas, and turnip greens with “pot likker,” the juice left behind after the greens and salt porkwere cooked in water.

During Wayman Hogue’s childhood in the Ozarks, “old man Adams” was the local barbeque expert. Families contributed sheep, goats, hogs, and calves to the annual Fourth of July celebration. Ditches were dug about 20 feet long and filled with oak and hickory. The evening before the big day Adams and his crew hung the carcasses from long poles and began cooking the meat.

Gregory-Robinson-Speas Recipe Book, circa 1930.

Gregory-Robinson-Speas Recipe Book, circa 1930. Mira Leister Collection

Cooking techniques and recipes were often passed from mother to daughter. In the 1910s county extension offices formed to bring “practical demonstrations” in agriculture and home economics to rural communities. Home Demonstration clubs hosted university specialists who taught scientific canning techniques, nutrition, and other homemaking skills. Canned goods not only provided food for the family, it was a good way to earn extra income.

Food was used for charitable purposes such as raising money for schools and community buildings. At box suppers and pie suppers men vied with one another to bid on the food prepared by the prettiest girl or the best cook. Bringing gifts of food to a new or struggling family was common. In Alpena a “pounding” was held for the preacher and his family. Church members brought eggs, fruit, coffee, canned goods, garden produce, sugar—whatever they wished—often in one-pound amounts.

Food can identify people in many ways. In Tontitown, the community’s early Italian roots are proudly expressed in the spaghetti served at the annual Grape Festival. But food is offensively used by some to stereotype people, such as linking traditional Ozarkers to possum or African Americans to watermelon.

Photo Gallery
Credits

Arnold, Eleanor, editor. Voices of American Homemakers: An Oral History Project of the National Extension Homemakers Council. Metropolitan Printing Service, Inc., 1985.

Hill, Ethel D. “Women’s Cash from Canning.” Arkansas Countryman [Fayetteville, AR], April 12, 1928.

Jones, W. G. “Sugar Cookies.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 5, No. 5 (July 1960).

Hogue, Wayman. Back Yonder. New Rochelle, NY: Knickerbocker Press, 1932.

McNeil, W. K.  and William M. Clements, editors. An Arkansas Folklore Sourcebook. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1992.

McVay, Lucile Dees. “Dinner on the Ground.” March 1999. Shiloh Museum research files.

White, T. A. Jr. “Memories of Greathouse Springs.” Ozarks Mountaineer, March-April 1985.

Wilson, Charles Morrow. The Bodacious Ozarks: True Tales of the Backhills.  New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1959.

Wolf, John Quincy. Life in the Leatherwoods: An Ozark Boyhood Remembered. Little Rock: August House, 1988.

Healing Waters

Healing Waters

Online Exhibit

Map of historic springs in Northwest Arkansas

Where Do Springs Come From?

In Northwest Arkansas, the geologic layer known as the Springfield Plateau contains large areas of porous soil and rock. Rain passes through easily, down to a level called the “zone of saturation.” The zone is a place where water completely fills every opening in and around rock and soil, much like water fills the empty spaces in a bowl full of marbles. The upper surface of this zone is the water table. Below are aquifers, bodies of saturated rock through which water passes easily.

Springs can form on hillsides where a water table, an aquifer, or a water-filled underground passageway intersects with the slope of the land. Gravity causes the water to flow out and down the hillside. Springs can also form when pressure from the earth forces groundwater up to the surface, like when water is pushed out of a soft plastic bottle as it is squeezed.

Many springs produce fresh water, perfect for drinking. Some springs have a high mineral content, a result of the water dissolving the rock it passes through. For instance, limestone dissolves into calcium carbonate while dolomite dissolves into calcium magnesium carbonate. Minerals can color and flavor the water or, like sulphur, make it smell bad. Some minerals create carbon dioxide bubbles, making the water fizzy.


The Rise of Health Resorts and Mineral Springs

The belief in the healing properties of mineral water has been around since ancient times. Although there were spas in colonial America, they gained in popularity before and after the Civil War, when nationwide prosperity filled many with the desire to travel. A growing interest in the healing arts and faith cures, coupled with increasingly affordable railway fares, caused people, especially the well-to-do, to flock to natural, healthful settings like mountains and mineral springs.

As with patent-medicine advertising, mineral-water promoters made fantastic, sweeping claims. Springs were said to alleviate a host of illnesses including rheumatism, catarrh (inflammation of mucus membranes), tuberculosis, hay fever, diabetes, dyspepsia (indigestion), asthma, jaundice, malaria, paralysis, neuralgia (intense nerve pain), gout, cancer, dropsy (excess fluid in tissues or body cavities), and “female troubles.”

Health resorts latched onto new scientific and technological advancements as a way to promote their offerings. As the wonder of electricity became available commercially during the late 19th century, electrotherapy and electromagnetism treatments came into vogue. Some springs were deemed “electric” for their supposed ability to magnetize metal. When chemist Marie Curie discovered the element of radium in 1898 and coined the word “radioactivity,” radioactive water became fashionable and was purportedly found in spring after spring.

While many physicians and the public shared a belief in the healing powers of mineral waters, there were naysayers. Some felt that cures were often the result of the rest and recreation received during treatment. The earliest, most popular health resort in America was at Saratoga Springs, New York, beginning in the early 1800s. In Arkansas, the first bathhouse at Hot Springs was built in 1830. It wasn’t until the 1880s that health resorts began operating in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks.


Healing Waters in the Arkansas Ozarks
Lithia Spring, Sulphur Springs (Benton County), early 1900s.

Lithia Spring, Sulphur Springs (Benton County), early 1900s. Courtesy Bob Besom

In 1879 tales of miracle cures at what would become Eureka Springs spread like wildfire. Eureka’s immediate fame and fast-paced prosperity caught the eye of several area communities blessed with mineral springs. Health resorts began springing up in the early 1880s, touting their healing waters in hopes of attracting travelers—and their pocketbooks. Medicinal springs were big business. Over in western Benton County, speculators in Cherokee City moved to nearby Eldorado after Cherokee City’s prospects went bust after 1882. And when much of Eldorado washed away during a flood a year or two later, many of the same entrepreneurs moved to the newly booming town of Siloam Springs.

The success of these communities depended on transportation. For instance, when Siloam Springs began touting its waters and building hotels in the early 1880s, it was banking on the likelihood of a railroad coming through. The town’s population quickly swelled, only to drop when no railroad came. After the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf Railroad finally steamed into town in 1893, the population rose once more.

To help convince the public of a spring’s health benefits, a water sample was analyzed and the results advertised, with the claim that certain springs would cure specific ailments. Town boosters promoted the springs through newspaper stories, advertisements, and souvenir photographs. Testimonials from satisfied patients were sent to newspapers throughout the country in an effort to lure health seekers.

There was some rivalry between spring communities. For example, an 1880 letter in the Fayetteville Democrat noted that the countryside around Siloam Springs was more attractive than other area springs. There was also backlash over all the hype. In an 1882 edition of The [Harrison] Times, one wit quipped, “The water in the Court House well is either developing remarkable medicinal qualities, or else there is a dead cat in it.”


The End of an Era

Unfortunately, the rise of Northwest Arkansas health resorts coincided with the end of the nation’s interest in “taking the waters.” Many factors contributed to bring this about. By the 1890s the scientific method of systematic observation and experimentation was being applied to all sorts of scientific and social issues, leading people to question the folk wisdom of “healing waters.” The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was designed to protect consumers from dangerous ingredients and false advertising. It included regulations regarding how mineral water could be promoted.

The 1910s saw major advances in the science and standards of medical care, leading to the professionalism of medicine. Reliance on natural cures faded by the end of World War I, when the cause and treatment of diseases were better understood and new medicines were being developed. With the increasing affordability of the automobile came a desire to travel to new places, without having to rely on the railroads’ set destinations or timetables. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, financial difficulties faced by would-be travelers helped end the era of healing waters.

Still, the allure of the waters continued. In the 1940s, visitors to patients at John Brown University Hospital in Siloam Springs would sometimes bring a jug of spring water, believing it better for the patient than city tap water. In 1957 Sulphur Springs leadership was considering a $100,000 project to build a modern hotel and bathhouse to fill the needs of health seekers and tourists. Nothing came of it. In later years the town received requests to send bottles of lithia mineral water far and wide, to folks hoping to cure their ailments.


Springs Today

Today, water quality throughout the Ozarks is threatened. Water sources are being contaminated with pollutants from farms, industries, and residences. The Giardia parasite, which causes intestinal problems, is also a problem. Signs warning against drinking the water are posted at several public springs.

Area mineral springs are also threatened by fading memories of their whereabouts or lack of resources to protect and restore them to their glory. However, in the tourist town of Eureka Springs, many springs are well-maintained and easily accessible to visitors.

Map of historic springs in Northwest Arkansas

Where Do Springs Come From?

In Northwest Arkansas, the geologic layer known as the Springfield Plateau contains large areas of porous soil and rock. Rain passes through easily, down to a level called the “zone of saturation.” The zone is a place where water completely fills every opening in and around rock and soil, much like water fills the empty spaces in a bowl full of marbles. The upper surface of this zone is the water table. Below are aquifers, bodies of saturated rock through which water passes easily.

Springs can form on hillsides where a water table, an aquifer, or a water-filled underground passageway intersects with the slope of the land. Gravity causes the water to flow out and down the hillside. Springs can also form when pressure from the earth forces groundwater up to the surface, like when water is pushed out of a soft plastic bottle as it is squeezed.

Many springs produce fresh water, perfect for drinking. Some springs have a high mineral content, a result of the water dissolving the rock it passes through. For instance, limestone dissolves into calcium carbonate while dolomite dissolves into calcium magnesium carbonate. Minerals can color and flavor the water or, like sulphur, make it smell bad. Some minerals create carbon dioxide bubbles, making the water fizzy.


The Rise of Health Resorts and Mineral Springs

The belief in the healing properties of mineral water has been around since ancient times. Although there were spas in colonial America, they gained in popularity before and after the Civil War, when nationwide prosperity filled many with the desire to travel. A growing interest in the healing arts and faith cures, coupled with increasingly affordable railway fares, caused people, especially the well-to-do, to flock to natural, healthful settings like mountains and mineral springs.

As with patent-medicine advertising, mineral-water promoters made fantastic, sweeping claims. Springs were said to alleviate a host of illnesses including rheumatism, catarrh (inflammation of mucus membranes), tuberculosis, hay fever, diabetes, dyspepsia (indigestion), asthma, jaundice, malaria, paralysis, neuralgia (intense nerve pain), gout, cancer, dropsy (excess fluid in tissues or body cavities), and “female troubles.”

Health resorts latched onto new scientific and technological advancements as a way to promote their offerings. As the wonder of electricity became available commercially during the late 19th century, electrotherapy and electromagnetism treatments came into vogue. Some springs were deemed “electric” for their supposed ability to magnetize metal. When chemist Marie Curie discovered the element of radium in 1898 and coined the word “radioactivity,” radioactive water became fashionable and was purportedly found in spring after spring.

While many physicians and the public shared a belief in the healing powers of mineral waters, there were naysayers. Some felt that cures were often the result of the rest and recreation received during treatment. The earliest, most popular health resort in America was at Saratoga Springs, New York, beginning in the early 1800s. In Arkansas, the first bathhouse at Hot Springs was built in 1830. It wasn’t until the 1880s that health resorts began operating in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks.


Healing Waters in the Arkansas Ozarks
Lithia Spring, Sulphur Springs (Benton County), early 1900s.

Lithia Spring, Sulphur Springs (Benton County), early 1900s. Courtesy Bob Besom

In 1879 tales of miracle cures at what would become Eureka Springs spread like wildfire. Eureka’s immediate fame and fast-paced prosperity caught the eye of several area communities blessed with mineral springs. Health resorts began springing up in the early 1880s, touting their healing waters in hopes of attracting travelers—and their pocketbooks. Medicinal springs were big business. Over in western Benton County, speculators in Cherokee City moved to nearby Eldorado after Cherokee City’s prospects went bust after 1882. And when much of Eldorado washed away during a flood a year or two later, many of the same entrepreneurs moved to the newly booming town of Siloam Springs.

The success of these communities depended on transportation. For instance, when Siloam Springs began touting its waters and building hotels in the early 1880s, it was banking on the likelihood of a railroad coming through. The town’s population quickly swelled, only to drop when no railroad came. After the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf Railroad finally steamed into town in 1893, the population rose once more.

To help convince the public of a spring’s health benefits, a water sample was analyzed and the results advertised, with the claim that certain springs would cure specific ailments. Town boosters promoted the springs through newspaper stories, advertisements, and souvenir photographs. Testimonials from satisfied patients were sent to newspapers throughout the country in an effort to lure health seekers.

There was some rivalry between spring communities. For example, an 1880 letter in the Fayetteville Democrat noted that the countryside around Siloam Springs was more attractive than other area springs. There was also backlash over all the hype. In an 1882 edition of The [Harrison] Times, one wit quipped, “The water in the Court House well is either developing remarkable medicinal qualities, or else there is a dead cat in it.”


The End of an Era

Unfortunately, the rise of Northwest Arkansas health resorts coincided with the end of the nation’s interest in “taking the waters.” Many factors contributed to bring this about. By the 1890s the scientific method of systematic observation and experimentation was being applied to all sorts of scientific and social issues, leading people to question the folk wisdom of “healing waters.” The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was designed to protect consumers from dangerous ingredients and false advertising. It included regulations regarding how mineral water could be promoted.

The 1910s saw major advances in the science and standards of medical care, leading to the professionalism of medicine. Reliance on natural cures faded by the end of World War I, when the cause and treatment of diseases were better understood and new medicines were being developed. With the increasing affordability of the automobile came a desire to travel to new places, without having to rely on the railroads’ set destinations or timetables. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, financial difficulties faced by would-be travelers helped end the era of healing waters.

Still, the allure of the waters continued. In the 1940s, visitors to patients at John Brown University Hospital in Siloam Springs would sometimes bring a jug of spring water, believing it better for the patient than city tap water. In 1957 Sulphur Springs leadership was considering a $100,000 project to build a modern hotel and bathhouse to fill the needs of health seekers and tourists. Nothing came of it. In later years the town received requests to send bottles of lithia mineral water far and wide, to folks hoping to cure their ailments.


Springs Today

Today, water quality throughout the Ozarks is threatened. Water sources are being contaminated with pollutants from farms, industries, and residences. The Giardia parasite, which causes intestinal problems, is also a problem. Signs warning against drinking the water are posted at several public springs.

Area mineral springs are also threatened by fading memories of their whereabouts or lack of resources to protect and restore them to their glory. However, in the tourist town of Eureka Springs, many springs are well-maintained and easily accessible to visitors.

Major Springs and Health Resorts

Eureka Springs — Carroll County

“Our facilities enable us to give expert electrical treatment . . . and massage, in all their forms. . . . We also give the radiant bath, which has proven so efficient an improvement upon the Turkish and Russian baths; also, in connection with our treatment, all forms of tub baths—needle, sitz, leg, etc., with or without massage, as indicated.”

Eureka Sanitarium Company
1897

According to sworn testimony, in 1856 Dr. Alva Jackson was out in the woods, recovering a wounded hunting dog, when he came upon a trickle of water. Jackson’s son, who had sore eyes, was told to bathe them with spring water and was cured. Thinking he had found a fabled spring which “performed great cures,” Jackson dug out gravel and mud and discovered a smooth stone basin. Soon he began treating patients with this miracle liquid.

In May 1879 Judge Levi Saunders of Berryville used the Basin Spring’s water in hopes of curing his erysipelas, a bacterial disease which causes fever and inflamed patches on the skin. Within five weeks his health was improved. News of his amazing cure spread quickly. By the Fourth of July, twenty or so families had come seeking treatment. Sensing a town in the making, Saunder’s son suggested the name “Eureka,” from the ancient Greek word meaning “I have found it!” Soon hotels, bathhouses, businesses, and homes were rising from the hillsides. By the 1880 census, the resident population was listed as 3,000. More springs were found and named, including Arsenic, Dairy, East Mountain, Catalpa, Magnetic, Harding, Oil, Crescent, Sweet, and Iron. Some provided fresh water; others were believed to have healing properties.

In L. J. Kalklosch’s lengthy 1881 history of the town, he included “A Few Hints to Visitors.” He recommended they purchase walking sticks and cups to carry in their pockets, to watch for confidence men, to drink from each spring, and to visit all places of interest, while remembering, “there are places you should not visit” (saloons). Most importantly, visitors were not to condemn the springs if they weren’t cured.

The first health seekers came by horse or carriage, but town leaders knew a railroad would ensure growth and prosperity. In 1883 the Eureka Springs Railway came to town, connecting with the Frisco Railway at Seligman, Missouri, 18.5 miles away. The track was expensive, costing around $25,000 per mile. One-way fares were grossly inflated at $1.75.

The town flourished. The springs were enhanced with elaborate masonry enclosures. Expensive, multistory hotels catered to the wealthy while others found lodging in boarding houses. Bathhouses offered massages and various kinds of water and steam baths. Private doctors and sanitariums treated the infirm. The Magnetic College and Sanitarium opened in 1900 near Magnetic Spring, where the water was said to cure addiction to patent medicines, which contained alcohol and narcotics like cocaine, heroin, and morphine.

By 1904 the town’s water was bottled under the Ozarka label. Each month 25 to 30 railcars of water and flavored beverages were shipped out. In 1956 the Eureka Springs Water Company, which owned the Ozarka brand, shipped over 300 million gallons of water, with only half coming from Eureka; the rest came from Hot Springs. The company changed hands in 1967 and operations were moved out of state. Now Ozarka water comes from Texas.

Protection of the town’s water and its reputation was important. An ordinance passed around 1880 warned that “all persons washing their person or clothes in or above the basins of all public springs shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.” In 1920 several people were diagnosed with typhoid fever. Tests proved the water to be unsafe. Seeing the need to reassure the public, a tax was levied to improve and protect the town’s water. Several electronic water-treatment towers were installed at area springs at a total cost of $17,000.

Eureka’s importance as a spa town faded in the 1910s. Many of the grand buildings were repurposed or fell vacant for a time. Over the next few decades artists and writers began trickling in; many more came in the 1970s and 1980s. Eurekans came to realize that they had something special. In 1970 the Eureka Springs Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Eleven years later a city commission was established to maintain city-owned parks and springs. Tourism is the town’s main business today. Art galleries, music festivals, spa retreats, outdoor recreation, Victorian architecture, religious and historical attractions, wedding venues, and beautiful springs draw a diverse crowd.

“When people came here in the summer time, quite often they would bring their servants. They all would meet at Harding Spring—the Negro Spring—drink the water, and have songfests. It was beautiful music. . . . Most people in town were afraid of the blacks. That’s just how it was in the South.”

Virginia Tyler
January 6, 1997
Arkansas Historical Quarterly
Summer 1997

Eureka Springs Photo Gallery

Eureka Springs, Arkansas, circa 1880

Basin Spring with billboard, candy factory, Thornton’s store, and a building under construction, circa 1880. A town quickly formed around Basin and the other springs. Sensing a business opportunity, O. D. Thornton became the town’s first merchant in July 1879, offering groceries, hardware, and notions like calico cloth, which he cut with a pocketknife. Lockwood W. Searcy Collection (S-77-66-24)


Arsenic Spring with wood water trough, early 1880s. Early health seekers would have found the springs in their most natural state—small flows of water coming through the hillside. Visitors navigated the steep, rugged terrain as best they could. In the 1880s and 1890s elaborate rockwork or wood structures were added to many springs to improve access and beautify the town. F. F. Fyler, photographer. Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library Collection (S-83-325-38)


Sweet Spring (formerly Spout Spring), Eureka Springs, Arkansas,  1895.

Sweet Spring (formerly Spout Spring), 1895. Spout spring was once used for baptisms. The Waldrip brothers built the masonry wall around the spring in 1885. The water was used for drinking as well as for a laundry and bathhouse. Gray’s Studio, photographer. Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library Collection (S-83-325-106)


Cincinnati House, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, early 1880s.

Cincinnati House, early 1880s. Visitors stayed in hotels, boarding houses, or in private homes, depending on their desired level of service and price. Like many of Eureka’s buildings, the Cincinnati, a small boarding house managed by J. T. Alexander, was built into the steep hillside. It was in operation in 1881 but by 1884 it was either renamed or no longer in business. F. F. Fyler, photographer. Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library Collection (S-83-325-40)


Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs, Arkanas, late 1880s

Crescent Hotel, late 1880s. Built by the Frisco Railroad and wealthy investors of the Eureka Springs Improvement Company, the $294,000 luxury hotel opened in 1886. After the decline of tourism in the early 1900s, the building was home to a girl’s school and later a bogus cancer clinic. Today the newly restored Crescent markets itself as “America’s Most Haunted Hotel.” Gray’s Studio, photographer. Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library Collection (S-83-325-105)


Basin Spring Bath House with attendants, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 1903.

Basin Spring Bath House with attendants, 1903. The Eureka Springs Water Company of St. Louis began shipping Basin Spring water in 1880, running pipes down the hillside. The company filled their barrels at night to allow for daytime use by the spring’s health seekers. It also ran the Basin Spring Bathhouse. Eugene Smith, photographer. (S-86-122-44)


Bathing room, Palace Hotel and Bath House, Eureka Springsd, Arkansas, 1910s–1920s.

Bathing room, Palace Hotel and Bath House, 1910s–1920s. Built for George T. Williams in 1901, the Palace Bath House offered water baths and showers, Turkish steam baths, and massages. It had a cafe, laundry, and barbershop and, for a time, operated as a brothel. Customers at today’s spa can enjoy a steam or a massage. Eugene Smith, photographer. (S-86-122-43)


Mrs. O. W. Coleman at Harding Spring, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 1920s.

Mrs. O. W. Coleman at Harding Spring, 1920s. There was a small African-American presence in Eureka in its early years, including residents who worked as barbers, brick masons, and Crescent Hotel maids. While some African Americans came for health reasons, others came as the servants of white health seekers. Racial segregation led to separate churches, hotels, schools, neighborhoods, and even springs. For a time, Harding was the only spring African Americans were allowed to visit. The rock wall to Mrs. Coleman’s right was part of an electronic ultraviolet water treatment system. It was added in 1921, after water from the town’s springs was deemed unsafe for drinking. Eureka Springs Historical Museum Collection (S-99-66-372)

Siloam Springs — Benton County

“The most renowned spring gushes from a limestone bluff…and of the curative powers of its waters we do not want any better evidence than we have, while within a few feet we have one of the finest Chalybeate [iron] springs in the state, and further up the valley . . . we have an oil spring . . . Now we do not expect to rival (in numbers) Eureka . . . But we think we are able to exhibit some as remarkable cures as any of them, and besides we have a much more attractive surrounding county than any of the springs named.”

Fayetteville Democrat
May 29, 1880

Eureka Springs’ instant success as a health resort must have factored into John Valentine Hargroves’ plan in 1880 to capitalize on the many springs found in the little community of Hico, on the western border of Arkansas. Soon a town site was laid out, plots of land were sold, and eager folks moved into the area. About that time Dr. H. Perry recommended to a patient that he drink the water of a certain spring to ease the pain he felt while eating and drinking. Perry named the water source “Siloam Spring” after a Bible verse instructing a man to “wash in the pool of Siloam” to heal his eyes.

The town of Siloam Springs was incorporated in 1881, with every expectation that a railroad would soon be built to it. But the railroad didn’t come. In 1881 the population was over 2,200; by 1890 it had dropped to 821. Business leaders labored hard to get the needed railroad. Working with the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf Railroad, they donated land for the depot and track right-of-way and promised $20,000. December 1893 saw the first rail passengers into town. Like its neighbor Sulphur Springs, Siloam offered many amenities for visitors including several city parks, paths for strolling, band concerts, hotels and restaurants, and an active Chautauqua hall.

Over twenty springs were said to be located within town. An 1898 newspaper article proclaimed the health benefits of the town’s waters and climate as helping those who suffered from a variety of ailments, including jaundice, chronic skin diseases, rheumatism, constipation, paralysis, hay fever, asthma, and malaria. Springs such as Twin, Siloam, Seven, and Spout offered fresh, pure water, said to be good for flushing the disease-causing impurities from a person’s body. Iron Spring was the only mineral spring, although one of the Twin springs was said to contain trace amounts of arsenic. When Helen “Johnnie” Johnson worked as a nurse at John Brown University Hospital in the 1940s, visitors would sometimes bring a jug of spring water to aid a patient’s recovery.

Although Dr. S. T. Carl argued the need for a sanitarium, one was never built. Nor was there a bathhouse in town. Siloam’s water was for drinking, not for medicinal bathing. Even as “taking the waters” fell out of fashion in the 1910s, the town continued to attract visitors. Tourism finally slowed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Today the springs and their parks are part of a revitalizing downtown. The annual Dogwood Festival is held at City Park, while both parks are favorite photo-taking destinations for high school seniors and prom-goers.

“I came here fifteen years ago suffering with dropsy and heart trouble. Couldn’t walk a hundred yards without sitting down and panting like a lizard. When I came, I was just a ‘witchy old woman’. . . In a month’s time I was very much improved, and in two months I was climbing all over the mountains with my gun, hunting.”

G. Salisbury
Siloam Springs Democrat
December 23, 1898

 

Siloam Springs Photo Gallery

Siloam Spring, Siloam Springs, Arkansas, mid 1880s.

Siloam Spring, mid 1880s. In 1882 a stone wall was built to house the pipework needed to channel the spring’s water into three spouts. The wall was redesigned by 1897 and remains today, although little water flows from the spring. J. E. Suttle, photographer. Siloam Springs Museum Collection (S-83-302-80)


Twin Springs, Siloam Springs, Arkansas, early 1890s.

Twin Springs, early 1890s. The sign on the tree warns of a $5 fine for a person washing their hands or face in the water. Clean water was important to combat the spread of disease and protect the town’s health-based industry. Protective reservations restricting development were often placed around springs. Siloam Springs Museum Collection (S-83-302-79)


Twin Springs, Siloam Springs, Arkansas,1900s.

Twin Springs, early 1900s. Rockwork from the 1880s may still form a portion of the spring’s enclosure, which was redesigned into an arc shape around 1900. The low wall in front kept Sager Creek from flooding Twin Springs. Little water flows from the springs today. Bob Besom Collection (S-82-193-30)


Band concert, City Park, Siloam Springs, Arkansas, circa 1910.

Band concert, City Park, circa 1910. Sunday afternoons were a time of rest and relaxation, which included strolls through the parks and carriage rides in the country, including day trips to nearby Dripping Springs and its 77-feet tall waterfall (now part of Natural Falls State Park, Oklahoma). Bernice Freeze Collection (S-83-145-6)


Twin Springs Park, Siloam Springs, Arkansas, late 1910s.

Twin Springs Park, late 1910s. The park was once called the “Isle of Patmos” after the Greek island where the apostle John received a vision. The garden and a nearby vine-covered rockwork fountain were installed around 1913. The garden still exists, as does a newer fountain. Maggie Smith Collection (S-83-115-33)

Sulphur Springs — Benton County

“There was a time in the history of this section when the people drank more whisky than water. Now they drink more water than whisky.”

Sulphur Springs Journal
August 28, 1908

In the late 1870s, a few cabins were built to house health seekers visiting the Limestone (later called Iron, Nitre, and Lithia) and White Sulphur Springs located on the Whinnery family farm. When Charles H. Hibler of Missouri saw the valley in 1884, he decided to build a health resort. Using his father’s money he bought the property, sought investors, laid out the town site, and built the Park Hotel and bathhouse. Additional mineral springs were found and Hibler built a park to showcase the waters. According to local advertising, white sulphur water was good for liver problems and black sulphur for malaria, while lithium soothed the nerves and alkaline magnesium helped with intestinal issues.

What would eventually become the Kansas City Southern Railroad arrived in 1891. For a time Sulphur Springs was the end of the line; when the railroad built further south a few years later, visitors followed the line to Siloam Springs and its health offerings. In the 1899 Dun Rating Book, which assessed business and financial information, the town was proclaimed the “neatest, most cleanly kept town in Benton County.” Sulphur Springs was the third most popular resort in Arkansas, after Eureka Springs and, further south, Hot Springs.

Advertisements proclaimed the town as “The Jordan River of Arkansas” and its waters as “Fountains of Youth.” Excursion trains were a weekly event, delivering thousands of visitors each summer. There were many amusements for guests, including assemblies held as part of the national Chautauqua movement, aimed to educate and entertain adult audiences. In the early 1900s the town had eleven hotels, three sanitariums, and numerous doctors.

Working-class coal and lead miners from southwest Missouri came to Sulphur Springs for day excursions. Wealthy investors sought a more exclusive clientele, one which would stay for a longer time. In 1909 Oscar Kihlberg and the other the organizers of the Sulphur Springs Resort and Bath Company opened the grand, five-story, 100-room Kihlberg Hotel with a gala banquet and formal ball.

As the health era faded in the 1910s, the town rebranded itself. The Ozark Colony was formed in 1921 as a self-supporting home colony. Folks were encouraged to build homes, plant fruit crops for income, and engage in various cultural endeavors. The Burger Bathhouse with its hot sulphur water baths was a draw in the 1930s. But the town’s population continued to decline. The springs and many of the original downtown buildings, including the Kihlberg, still stand today. The Burger Bathhouse now houses the Sulphur Springs Community Museum.

[The] “medicinal waters of Sulphur Springs are unexcelled, the place is essentially a health resort and will be such when its several less favorite sisters [other resorts] cease even to lay claim to the honor.”

Sulphur Springs Record
July 16, 1910

Sulphur Springs Photo Gallery

Entrance to the city park, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, 1900s

Entrance to the city park, 1900s. The park held three of the town’s four mineral springs. Visitors could enjoy the plunge (swimming pool), a baseball lawn and tennis grounds, bathhouses, and promenade grounds. The park is still used today for play, barbeques, and impromptu yard sales. Mrs. Bobbie Kennard Collection (S-86-121-26)


Pavilions for the black sulphur, white sulphur, and magnesia springs, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas,circa 1912.

Pavilions for the black sulphur, white sulphur, and magnesia springs, circa 1912. A lithia spring, said to strengthen the muscular and nervous systems, is located on the north end of the park, across Butler Creek. The construction of a nearby water tower in the 1970s has impacted the spring’s water flow. Bob Besom Collection (S-82-170-64)


Mountain View Hotel (formerly the Kihlberg Hotel), Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, mid 1910s.

Mountain View Hotel (formerly the Kihlberg Hotel), mid 1910s. The Kihlberg changed hands several times before John E. Brown bought it and opened a Christian school. A fire in 1940 destroyed the top half of the building. In later years the structure housed the Wycliffe Bible Translators and was part of the campus of the Shiloh Farms Community, a self-sustaining, non-denominational Christian organization. Bob Besom Collection (S-82-213-61)


Boating on Lake LaBalladine, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, circa 1910.

Boating on Lake LaBalladine, circa 1910. Butler Creek was dammed to form a small lake. A boathouse was built and folks liked to dive off the dam. The high ground at the center of the lake was known as Amusement Island and included a roller skating and dancing pavilion. Benton County Historical Society Collection (S-83-116-81)


Griffin Drug Store and sanitarium, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, circa 1910.

Griffin Drug Store and sanitarium, circa 1910. In 1909 Dr. John Morse Griffin and his wife Emma formed the Sulphur Spring Sanitarium Company to treat the infirm. They also formed the Sulphur Springs Mineral Water Company to bottle and ship mineral and carbonated water. Mrs. Bobbie Kennard Collection (S-86-121-25)


Burger Bathhouse sign, 1930s–1940s, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

Burger Bathhouse sign, with intentional misspellings for “tubbed” and “rubbed,” 1930s–1940s. Frank and Ann Burger built their bathhouse in the 1920s, offering hot and cold black sulphur-water baths, salt rubs, massages, and electric treatments. Frank attended the men while Ann helped with the women. Hazel McGowen Stotler Collection (S-96-80-281)


Visitors at the magnesia and white sulphur springs, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, 1920s

Visitors at the magnesia and white sulphur springs, 1920s. In 1924 evangelist John E. Brown of Siloam Springs bought most of Sulphur Springs, including the city park, to form a campus for John Brown University, a four-year vocational college. Two years later it was reorganized as a women’s college, but closed in 1928. Jim Buckley Family Collection (S-86-192-1)

Other Notable Springs

Benton County
Cherokee City

Cherokee City lies along the western border of Benton County, next to what was Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The town site was surveyed in 1880 and over the next two years the area boomed as a summer resort, based on its springs. A hotel was erected, as were small, quickly built structures to meet the lodging needs of health seekers.

In 1882 resident John D. Hood described Cherokee City as thriving, with a population of around 300 to 400. “People visit [the medicinal spring] from all parts of the United States for their health.” Of the area, he said, “The people all look healthy and the society is good.”

For whatever reason, Cherokee City’s health industry quickly went from boom to bust. The town survived for a time as a frontier trading post and as a supplier of whisky to the neighboring Indian tribes. Just a few dozen folks live there today.

“. . . we turned our course south taking the line road for Cherokee City, another of the watering places of Benton county. Eight miles over a fine road and some nice country brought us to the Cherokee City springs, where we found plenty of water and forty or fifty campers. This is a pleasant place. Mr. Rich is the owner of the land and general proprietor of the place. Lots were to be laid off on the following Monday and put on the market.”

Fayetteville Democrat
July 24, 1880

Eldorado

In 1879 Ambrose T. Hedges homesteaded a number of acres in what would become Eldorado. He transferred the property to the Eldorado Spring Town Company in 1880. It seems likely the investors were hoping to mimic the success of Eureka Springs. And naming the place after the legendary Spanish city of gold was sure to impress. Company president Dr. C. F. Baker had the spring’s water tested. A trace amount of arsenic was found which, at the time, was thought to have healing properties.

Land was platted and lots were sold. Various businesses and several doctors moved to town. A six-room boarding house was built and, as the town grew, a multistory hotel was added to the hillside. Water was bottled and shipped out. New springs were dug at the base of the hills and walled with stone. Advertisements were sent to large newspapers on the East Coast. A post office was established under the name Pactolus, as Arkansas already had a town called El Dorado. The population grew to 1,500 in 1883. In 1883 or 1884, water from Spavinaw Creek flooded the valley town, destroying most of the buildings and causing many residents to move away. In the early 1900s the post office closed and the large hotel was torn down. Today only a few fragments remain of Eldorado.

“There are fifty two houses completed, ten in course of construction, about fifteen or twenty tents and a population of about three hundred and fifty. . . . The place gives many evidences of success.”

Fayetteville Democrat
July 24, 1880

Electric Springs
Electric Springs Hotel, Rogers, Arkansas, circa 1890.

Electric Springs Hotel, circa 1890. The hotel was built in 1888 by the Frisco to encourage passenger traffic to Rogers. Guests were driven from the depot in carriages to “Horsely’s Hotel,” run by William Horsely. The building was torn down in the early 1940s. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-4812)

Electric Springs was laid out in 1881, with over 550 lots for building, just northeast of the new town of Rogers. In 1888 the San Francisco-St. Louis Railway Company (the “Frisco”) saw the commercial potential of a spring located near its Rogers railroad depot. In hopes of providing business for the railroad, the Frisco built a large hotel. Several cottages were also erected.

As the wonder of commercial electricity became available during the late 19th century, electrotherapy and electromagnetism treatments came into vogue. The spring may have been named to cash in on the popularity of electric medicine or because of its reputed ability to magnetize metal. In 1897 a St. Louis chemist analyzed the water and declared it good for “sties [inflamed swelling of the eyelid], carbuncles [a severe boil in the skin], boils, internal abscess, glands, liver diseases, scrofula [glandular swelling], rheumatism, indigestion and constipation.”

Electric Springs, Rogers, Arkansas, circa 1910

Electric Springs, circa 1910. N. B. Morton was known as the “Mayor of Electric Springs.” He sold spring water to the citizens of Rogers. His belief in its curative properties was so strong that he said that if the water didn’t cure a body, “something else must be lacking.” Tom P. Morgan, photographer. Bonnie Hanks Collection (S-2000-40-2)

For a time the resort was so popular that visitors came year after year. A horse-drawn carriage ran daily from downtown to the spring. In 1903 the Cottage Hotel was built. Two years later Lena Fuller, a nurse, and Dr. W. L. Leister opened the Electric Springs Sanitarium, conducting it “as a resort for the scientific treatment of diseases.” Leister was an Eclectic physician and medical author. Eclectic medicine developed in the late 19th century as a reaction to traditional medicine’s “barbaric” use of such treatments as purging and bloodletting. It used botanical remedies and other substances to treat patients, along with physical therapy.

While the hotel and sanitarium are long gone, the springs’ stone wall and concrete basins can still be seen along the south side of Highway 12, near Lake Atalanta, about one mile northeast of downtown Rogers.

[The Electric Springs Sanitarium] “ . . . is located in a wooded valley surround by mountains, whose sides are covered with beautiful forestry. It is isolated, yet hard-by electric springs—three phenomenal streams of medicinal cold water spurting from the base of West Mountain. An ideal retreat, all in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, in a climate cooler in summer than a hundred of miles further north, and warmer in winter than western Texas.”

Dr. W. L. Leister
The Eclectic Medical Journal
May 1905

Park Springs
Park Springs, Bentonville, Arkansas, early 1900s.

Field Bohart with friend, early 1900s. The rock-covered spring is seen at top center. A metal pipe discharges water near the end of the bridge. In later years, a sign proudly announced the spring’s radioactivity. Monte Harris Collection (S-86-319-10)

Two small “therapeutic” springs were discovered near downtown Bentonville in the 1890s. In 1910 A. T. Still opened the 42-room Park Springs Sanitarium. An ad in a psychiatric medical journal touted the sanitarium as the “Carlsbad of America,” offering to treat “nervous, mild, mental cases and drug habitués.”

J. D. Southerland purchased the building in 1913 and turned it into the Park Springs Hotel, a summer resort where families could “escape the hot weather in the cities.” Southerland also owned the short-lived interurban, a type of streetcar that provided passenger service from the Frisco depot in Rogers to downtown Bentonville and the hotel.

The Alienist and Neurologist, May 1910.

The Alienist and Neurologist, May 1910.

Park Springs was promoted as having radioactive water which could treat diabetes, rheumatism, and diseases of the stomach, kidney, and bladder. Treatment involved “drinking, inhalation of steam or vapors, douches, irrigation of accessible organs” and external application by shower, water pack, or bathing. A 1920s advertisement promoted the water’s combination of radium and lithium, describing the taste as “simply delicious” and that “one can drink all one wants without injury.” It goes on to say that radium “is conceded by the medical profession to be one of the greatest curative elements ever discovered.”

Rendering of the Park Springs Sanitarium by the St. Louis architecture firm of Matthews & Clarke, circa 1910. A. O. Clarke designed many notable area buildings including Missouri Row, a log hotel at Monte Ne. Although the resort included springs named Elixir and Lithia, it rarely advertised itself as a health destination. Tom Duggan Collection (S-2008-5-1)

Southerland experienced financial troubles and sold the property to George and Clara Crowder, who operated the resort until 1924. Over the years the building was used for nursing homes and Christian colleges. It was torn down in the 1960s or 1970s. Park Springs Park is located at 300 NW 10th Street. The 18-acre park includes the springs, a playground, a small pavilion for gatherings, and the Burns Arboretum/Nature Trail.

Boone County
Elixir Spring

“The town at present contains 100 neat, commodious and comfortable business houses and residences, all of which are filled by a sturdy and moral people, most of whom are receiving lasting benefits from the many health-giving springs. The main springs are well protected by large reservations or parks, all of which are covered with a dense growth of native timber and are guarded with the jealous eyes of the citizens.”

Elixir Bugle
March 24, 1883

Elixir Spring lies in the pine-covered hills of Elixir Valley. It was discovered high up on the mountainside under a large bluff, by a farmer looking for stray cattle. He drank the water, found it soft and sweet tasting, and continued to drink, day after day. Much to his surprise, he was cured of a stomach ailment. Sharing the news of his discovery in Harrison, several men decided to invest in a health resort.

In 1880 the town was laid out into 129 blocks with roughly 1,000 lots. Homes and businesses were erected, including three large, three-story hotels built into the hillsides—the Singletary, the Ladd, and the Stillwell. Within a few years the town boasted hundreds of residents. The Elixir Bugle newspaper was established and the Elixir Institute began holding classes in September 1882. Additional springs were discovered and named, including Medica, Sulphur, and Tonic.

To ensure its success, Elixir leaders worked to bring a railroad to town. Surveying parties came and marked right-of-ways, building up residents’ hopes, but nothing came of it. The town was too far off the beaten path. Folks began to move away and the school closed. By 1892 Elixir Springs was nearly a ghost town.

“I was brought to the Springs in a helpless condition with heart disease. My treatment was Elixir water. In three months I could walk and my health was restored.”

Rachel Willis of Oregon, Arkansas
Elixir Bugle
May 5, 1883

Madison County
Aurora

In the early 1880s, the chalybeate (iron) springs on Grand Mountain were found to have medicinal properties. A two-story hotel was built, along with a few small log homes. During the summer, tents were erected beneath the trees. Stone steps were laid around the spring to afford health seekers a place to sit while they took the water.

In the late 1920s Jim Parker, whose family owned the spring, wrote that “Pure mountain air and rest beneath the shade of the trees gave relief from chills and malaria fever, and many lame-backed old men insisted that the water was a sovereign remedy for kidney troubles.” It’s unclear how long the hotel lasted, but the Parker family retained their old house near the spring, saying, “Who knows but this place may again have value as a health resort?”

Today the hotel is long gone but the spring remains. It’s located on private property on the side of a steep hill, protected by a small, stacked rock enclosure. Stone steps, now buried under years of soil and leaves, once gave visitors access to the water. For many years a dipper was kept at the spring for passersby. Just below the spring is a concrete-block trough. Water from the spring drips into it, depositing dissolved iron, seen as a reddish-brown substance.

St. Paul

In 1886 Hugh F. McDanield began building a railroad east from Fayetteville to St. Paul, to take advantage of the area’s vast timber resources. On a mountaintop south of town stood a tall sandstone rock formation called “Chimney Rock.” Three springs were found near the outcropping, at the base of several large boulders.

When McDanield learned of the springs he had the water tested and was told they had medicinal qualities. He decided to build a hotel like the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, hoping to turn St. Paul into a tourist destination. Such an elegant hotel “would add a touch of polish to the rawness and clamor of the busy new town.” Bluegrass seed was sown, a thirteen-acre game preserve was set aside, a road was begun, and blueprints for the hotel were drawn by a St. Louis architect. Three railroad carloads of pipe meant to carry water from the springs were delivered to the foot of the mountain, but McDanield’s death in 1888 ended the venture. The pipe lay there for years, rusting away. Remnants of it could still be seen in the 1960s.

“Oh! how all blossoming things would revel if planted and cared for here! What hanging gardens of delight could be made on this mountain side!  . . . I hope and wish that every word I have heard of Mr. McDanield’s plans for this mountain may be true, and that they may perfectly succeed. I think that it is not only well calculated for a summer resort from the crowded cities, but for a winter resort for invalids and others wishing to escape northern winters, and for a resting place for the over-worked and world-weary.”

St. Paul Republican
November 12, 1887

 

Newton County
Tom Thumb Spring
Tom Thumb Spring, Newton County, Arkansas

Hackler or Hatfield family at Tom Thumb Spring, 1950s. During the 20th century the Hackler family got their water supply from the spring; the Hatfields lived nearby. In 1961 Rev. C. H. Hatfield wrote, “This spring is not as bold as it used to be, but its mineral content is great.” Benton County Pioneer, November 1962.

David Wilbur Beck’s ambition was to be a physician and to have a health resort. In the early 1840s he learned of a group of explorers from the Gaither Cove community in Boone County who had traveled to a remote spring just over the Newton County line to collect water to treat an outbreak of malaria. While there they met a small man who went by the name of Tom Thumb, who was taking the waters for an ailment.

Sensing an opportunity, Beck hired men at 25 cents per day to build a dormitory near the spring for summer visitors. Beck also built a dog-trot log building; one side was for his family, the other for his doctor’s office. The Becks lived as squatters, hoping to eventually claim the land from the government. One summer Beck’s wife became ill and died of malaria. Beck remarried but his second wife was not enthusiastic about the resort, telling him that “she would not be part of bathing dirty old men for them to try to regain their youth.” Sometime during or after the Civil War bushwhackers raided the property, burning 70 cottages, yet sparing two open-roofed bathhouses and the dormitory. The Becks then abandoned their land.

In the mid 1870s Dr. Thomas Jayland of New York began squatting near the spring. A botanist and a Quaker, Jayland administered his herbal medicines for free. At its peak the population at the spring reached around 400 to 500 folks, with most camping for a short time while they took the waters. He told visitors they were welcome to build houses and that he would give them their home site, once he received his land patent. Several cabins belonged to doctors and preachers.

Although Jayland was said to be adverse to money, in 1880 he sold his homestead near the spring to a Mr. Brisco, whose brother ran the health spa. Jayland went back on his promise to deed the land to the homebuilders, claiming that God wouldn’t like his gift to the world to be commercialized. This angered folks and many left. One night Jayland’s cabin was doused with oil and set on fire. The doctor escaped and moved away. By 1883 only a few souls lived at the spring. Today the spring is enclosed, serving as a water supply for the owners of the property.

Tom Thumb Spring
Tom Thumb Spring, Newton County, Arkansas

Hackler or Hatfield family at Tom Thumb Spring, 1950s. During the 20th century the Hackler family got their water supply from the spring; the Hatfields lived nearby. In 1961 Rev. C. H. Hatfield wrote, “This spring is not as bold as it used to be, but its mineral content is great.” Benton County Pioneer, November 1962.

David Wilbur Beck’s ambition was to be a physician and to have a health resort. In the early 1840s he learned of a group of explorers from the Gaither Cove community in Boone County who had traveled to a remote spring just over the Newton County line to collect water to treat an outbreak of malaria. While there they met a small man who went by the name of Tom Thumb, who was taking the waters for an ailment.

Sensing an opportunity, Beck hired men at 25 cents per day to build a dormitory near the spring for summer visitors. Beck also built a dog-trot log building; one side was for his family, the other for his doctor’s office. The Becks lived as squatters, hoping to eventually claim the land from the government. One summer Beck’s wife became ill and died of malaria. Beck remarried but his second wife was not enthusiastic about the resort, telling him that “she would not be part of bathing dirty old men for them to try to regain their youth.” Sometime during or after the Civil War bushwhackers raided the property, burning 70 cottages, yet sparing two open-roofed bathhouses and the dormitory. The Becks then abandoned their land.

In the mid 1870s Dr. Thomas Jayland of New York began squatting near the spring. A botanist and a Quaker, Jayland administered his herbal medicines for free. At its peak the population at the spring reached around 400 to 500 folks, with most camping for a short time while they took the waters. He told visitors they were welcome to build houses and that he would give them their home site, once he received his land patent. Several cabins belonged to doctors and preachers.

Although Jayland was said to be adverse to money, in 1880 he sold his homestead near the spring to a Mr. Brisco, whose brother ran the health spa. Jayland went back on his promise to deed the land to the homebuilders, claiming that God wouldn’t like his gift to the world to be commercialized. This angered folks and many left. One night Jayland’s cabin was doused with oil and set on fire. The doctor escaped and moved away. By 1883 only a few souls lived at the spring. Today the spring is enclosed, serving as a water supply for the owners of the property.

Washington County
Salem Springs

Salem Springs was first settled in the early 1830s, before Arkansas statehood. Located along the border of then Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), it served as a trading post for many years. It was renamed Sexton in 1882 with the establishment of a post office. At that time promoters boasted about the healing powers of the town’s three springs which emerged from a bluff and were channeled ten feet down to the valley floor via a wood trough. The water from each spring was said to have been a different temperature, although they were all within a few feet of one another.

Boosters claimed that the springs were equal or superior to other medicinal springs and that Sexton’s location was better in many ways than that of Eureka Springs and Siloam Springs. The springs were said to help cure “scrofula, rheumatism, scald head, dyspepsia, liver complaint and cancerous affectation.” According to an 1882 news article, Mrs. Deal of Humboldt, Kansas, ” . . . commenced using the water in September last, and a few weeks ago the cancer all came out and is rapidly healing up.”

At first, health-seekers camped near the spring in the summertime. Then Russell Bates built a two-story hotel for those taking the waters and enjoying the “invigorating Ozark Mountain air.” He later sold the hotel to Ben Fields. The town, which had hopes of being the next Eureka Springs or Siloam Springs, began to fade away in the early 1900s after being bypassed by two railroads. Today the spring still flows down the bluff into a plastic trough, but all that’s left of Sexton is one old home.

“Reverend Gamaliel Bryant of Goshen . . . could hardly walk when he went to Salem . . . and to convince us that he had been greatly benefitted he jumped up and cracked his heels together like a lad of 16, although he is some 65 years of age.”

Fayetteville Democrat
June 21, 1883

 

Sulphur City

Springhouse at Sulphur City, 1922. The sulphur spring was located on the bottom level of the structure, within an open-air pavilion. This configuration likely helped vent the water’s strong smell. Over the years the springhouse was used as a community building. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-721)

Located near the Middle Fork of the White River, the Sulphur City community was first called Mankins after a local family. Hearing the news of Eureka Springs’ prosperity, entrepreneurs renamed the town Sulphur Springs, only to change it to Sulphur City when they discovered the former name was taken. Promoters said the spring was good for gout, dyspepsia (indigestion), cancer, rheumatism, and other ailments.

Expecting prosperity, a springhouse and guest cottages where built in the early 1880s. North of the spring the land was sectioned into 24 blocks, each with 12 lots. Dr. John C. Carter prepared to administer bloodletting and other treatments to patients at his nearby office. A “large and beautiful park” and a hotel to be supplied with spring water was planned for, but never built. Remarking on the lack of progress, George Van Hoose, the Sulphur City correspondent for a Fayetteville newspaper, wrote, “The timbers of the hotel remain growing in the forest.”

At the spring, water first trickled into a triangular basin which was so small, that only one foot could be bathed at a time. The basin was eventually enlarged to hold about five gallons of water, taking an hour or so to fill. Below, a bathing “tub” was carved from rock.

The resort never took off. Patients would have had to travel ten or more miles by horse from Fayetteville or Elkins over rough country roads. The spring produced little water, perhaps another reason for the resort’s failure.

Today a tumbled stone wall and scattered rockwork can be found in the woods along County Road 57, just east of the Whitehouse Road intersection, across from the Sulphur City Baptist Church. Water still seeps from the spring, leaving a whitish residue on the ground and a strong, sulphurous smell in the air. Dr. Carter’s office has been relocated to the grounds of the Shiloh Museum.

“The spring is of the kind generally known as the ‘white sulphur’ because of the white deposit left by the water upon any surface over which it flows.  The water is very strongly impregnated with gas, as is evidence by the marked odor perceived on approaching the spring . . . About a quarter mile [away] . . . is located what has been known as the ‘Selzer Spring,’ which is reported to be valuable, especially in cases of female trouble.”

Fayetteville Democrat
January 19, 1882

Sulphur City—Washington County

Springhouse at Sulphur City, 1922. The sulphur spring was located on the bottom level of the structure, within an open-air pavilion. This configuration likely helped vent the water’s strong smell. Over the years the springhouse was used as a community building. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-721)

Located near the Middle Fork of the White River, the Sulphur City community was first called Mankins after a local family. Hearing the news of Eureka Springs’ prosperity, entrepreneurs renamed the town Sulphur Springs, only to change it to Sulphur City when they discovered the former name was taken. Promoters said the spring was good for gout, dyspepsia (indigestion), cancer, rheumatism, and other ailments.

Expecting prosperity, a springhouse and guest cottages where built in the early 1880s. North of the spring the land was sectioned into 24 blocks, each with 12 lots. Dr. John C. Carter prepared to administer bloodletting and other treatments to patients at his nearby office. A “large and beautiful park” and a hotel to be supplied with spring water was planned for, but never built. Remarking on the lack of progress, George Van Hoose, the Sulphur City correspondent for a Fayetteville newspaper, wrote, “The timbers of the hotel remain growing in the forest.”

At the spring, water first trickled into a triangular basin which was so small, that only one foot could be bathed at a time. The basin was eventually enlarged to hold about five gallons of water, taking an hour or so to fill. Below, a bathing “tub” was carved from rock.

The resort never took off. Patients would have had to travel ten or more miles by horse from Fayetteville or Elkins over rough country roads. The spring produced little water, perhaps another reason for the resort’s failure.

Today a tumbled stone wall and scattered rockwork can be found in the woods along County Road 57, just east of the Whitehouse Road intersection, across from the Sulphur City Baptist Church. Water still seeps from the spring, leaving a whitish residue on the ground and a strong, sulphurous smell in the air. Dr. Carter’s office has been relocated to the grounds of the Shiloh Museum.

“The spring is of the kind generally known as the ‘white sulphur’ because of the white deposit left by the water upon any surface over which it flows.  The water is very strongly impregnated with gas, as is evidence by the marked odor perceived on approaching the spring . . . About a quarter mile [away] . . . is located what has been known as the ‘Selzer Spring,’ which is reported to be valuable, especially in cases of female trouble.”

Fayetteville Democrat
January 19, 1882

Sights and Sounds from Area Springs
Credits

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