Timber and commercial canneries were the biggest industries in the county going into the 20th century. By the Great Depression in the 1930s the timber was largely gone, along with many industry-related jobs and the railroad. County residents received aid in the form of jobs, training, and facilities through government-funded New Deal “make-work” programs and projects. In downtown Huntsville, two large barracks and a woodworking shop were built in the city park in 1939 by the National Youth Administration. Working in conjunction with the local school district and the State Vocational School, young men aged 18 to 25 were charged with building a $50,000 grade school as part of a skill-training program.

Electric lights came to downtown Huntsville in 1914, when a dynamo (generator) was installed at the Huntsville Roller Mill. The town was largely electrified by the late 1920s. It took the help of the federal Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to bring power to the rest of the county. To receive $200,000 in funding for the initial construction of 210 miles of power lines, in 1938 residents of Washington County and western Madison County formed the consumer-owned Ozarks Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (now Ozarks Electric). Other towns like Kingston, Clifty, and Marble were served by the Carroll Electric Cooperation. As power lines came closer, eager folks had their homes wired for electricity. When the new gymnasium opened at the St. Paul High School, a newspaper ad for a basketball tournament exclaimed, “REA Lights!”

Many county residents left for work in California and other states during the Depression and World War II, with an additional 2,000 folks leaving in the decade following the war. Beginning in the 1940s roads and highways were built or improved, the work helped, in part, through the efforts of Madison-county native and 36th governor, Orval E. Faubus. Roads helped move merchandise and agricultural products to market and encouraged tourism. Livestock production became a major source of income after the war—first dairy cattle and then beef, followed by poultry as companies like Tyson Foods which relied on local growers to produce chickens and turkeys.

In the 1980s Huntsville was touted as a town on “the edge of an explosion.” A golf course and twenty-acre baseball park were built, a new airport opened, and the local Butterball turkey plant expanded its workforce. Measures were taken to fend off further school consolidation like the construction of a new high school.

“From all this it would seem that Rural Electrification for Madison County is ‘just around the corner.’ Now, let everyone get his shoulder to the wheel and ROLL, because it is going to take all hands and the cook to finish the job.”
Bert Jackson
Madison County Record, May 25, 1938

Today the county remains largely rural and agricultural in nature. In fact, it wasn’t until 2016 that the county’s first stoplight was installed in Huntsville. While neighboring counties generally have a declining birthrate, the county’s birthrate is the highest in the state, going from 10.7 births per 1,000 residents in 2011 to 14.8 births in 2018. Demographics are changing slowly. According to the 2010 census, ninety-three percent of the population was white, with the largest minority population of Latino origin at nearly five percent. Nearly nineteen percent of residents live below the poverty line. Recently there’s been a small influx of folks from Benton County, some of whom are leaving a higher cost of living for cheaper land.

While the timber industry is strong, the county’s largest employers are the Butterball turkey processing plant, the Huntsville School District, and Ducommun LaBarge Technologies, which manufactures circuit boards and electronic assemblies. But businesses are struggling on the Huntsville square. Factors include the relocation of Walmart away from downtown, the US 412 bypass around town, and online shopping. Many residents commute beyond the county’s borders to work, in some ways making the county one large “bedroom community.”

Tourism is on the rise. Miles of winding, scenic roads beckon motorcyclists, especially during the fall. The county’s four rivers—the White, Kings, Mulberry, and War Eagle—have their headwaters near the town of Boston. Along with those, nature-based resources such as Withrow Springs State Park, Ozark National Forest, Kings River Falls, Sweden Creek Falls, and the Ozark Natural Science Center offer places for hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, swimming, canoeing, and education.

“I hope it [business in downtown Huntsville] turns around. We have some good businesses down here—some unique things. I have regular customers that come all the way from Rogers. And they come about once a month, just for all of the little, quirky little shops and because our prices are so much better than the Springdale/Fayetteville areas.”
Pamela Montoya
Madison County Record, November 29, 2018

Settlers began arriving in the late 1820s, generally traveling overland from Missouri or up the Arkansas River to Fort Smith (Sebastian County). Henry King was one of the first. He came from Alabama to scout out possible farm land, only to be killed when his wagon went over a cliff. In tribute, the Kings River was named after him. George Tucker explored the southwest part of the future county in 1827 with the Vaughan brothers, who settled Vaughan Valley near Hindsville in 1831. John Holmesley came with his family in 1828, after rumors spread about him being involved in the theft of a hog. “After hearing the story of his misdemeanor several times, he began to believe it and thought best to find a place to live elsewhere.

Early homes were usually built of hand-hewn logs with puncheon floors (half-round logs, with the flat side up). John Williams, who settled along the White River, was described as “a great trader who dealt largely in horses, slaves, etc.” By 1840 there were eighty-three enslaved workers in the county and 296 by 1860. Most did farm work, but a few were household servants. After the Civil War a little over half of the African-American population decided to stay in the county, many working for their former “owners.” By 1900 only forty-four blacks remained, many living in Whorton Creek Township, southwest of Huntsville.

A new type of settler came in the 1970s. They were young adults, seeking simpler, more meaningful lives by establishing small homesteads and communes. For some of these back-to-the-landers, living off the land was hard. Rural isolation, primitive living conditions, non-stop hard work, a lack of electricity and running water, and inter-group squabbles caused some groups like Yellowhammer, a women’s communal-living farm located near Patrick, to disband after only a few years. Others met the challenges and stayed on their land. Bob and Eileen Billig settled near Pettigrew in 1972 and did odd jobs like sign painting before building a business selling pressed-flower collages. They were part of the Headwaters School, formed in the early 1970s “to provide a balanced educational environment for rural students who were homeschooling.”

“It was in the year 1851 when we arrived in Madison County [from Tennessee] and all this world’s goods that my father and mother possessed when we got there was provision [food] enough to last us three days, one coon dog and 5 cts [cents] in silver. The town of Huntsville . . . contained a few business houses and several residences.”
E. B. “Ben” Hager
From a July 5, 1906, interview by Silas Claiborne Turnbo

 

 

Before Huntsville became the county seat in 1839, county government operated out of a log barn on Evan S. Polk’s farm, close to the present Huntsville square. Six courthouses were built through the years, three of which burned down; one was abandoned due to poor construction. During the early 1900s there was continual talk of moving the county seat to the more populous St. Paul, the beneficiary of the area’s timber boom economy and the county’s only railroad. Some even suggested dividing the county into two. But as the timber industry began to slow in the 1920s, such talk died out. The current Art Deco-style courthouse of brick, concrete, and stone was built in 1939 by the federal Public Works Administration at a cost of roughly $150,000.

Madison County was home to two governors. Elected to represent Madison County during the state’s Secession Convention, Isaac Murphy famously voted against Arkansas seceding from the Union before the Civil War. He was appointed to serve as provisional governor in 1864, in the section of the state held by Federal forces, and later was elected governor statewide for one term. Orval E. Faubus served six terms, beginning in 1955, and is most remembered for blocking the desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School. Both men’s homes were located on “Governor’s Hill,” just east of Huntsville.

The county went “dry” in 1946, meaning that the sale of alcohol was prohibited. In 2012 the group “Keeping the Money in Madison County” gathered enough votes to put the issue on the ballot. An opposing group lobbied against alcohol sales, worried that they would lead to safety issues. To illustrate their point, a wrecked car with a sign, “Your future with alcohol,” was towed around the county. The ballot passed and three new liquor stores opened in 2013.

Today Madison County and local city governments face economic uncertainty. While a highway bypass around Huntsville was hoped to spur business north of town, the results have been mixed. At the county jail in Huntsville, since prisoners can’t be held more than twenty-four hours, the county must pay to house them in neighboring counties. On three occasions voters rejected funding the renovation or construction of a new jail.

“While summer term was in session [in 1836 or 1837] a youth of 17 or 18 years of age was on trial for a serious offense. The trial Judge was in sympathy with the boy. While the court was in session the boy slipped through a crack in the back of the room. The Judge called to the boy saying ‘Run, damn you, run.'”
Oscar S. Johnson
Madison County Record, June 10, 1965

In the 19th century most families grew what they needed to survive—things like corn, hogs, and vegetables. Some farmers grew cash crops such as tobacco and apples, but without easy transportation to get their product to market, they couldn’t make a business of it. The problem was solved in the mid-1880s when a railroad was built through the southern half of the county. By the 1900s turkeys were shipped by the thousands for the Thanksgiving market. In 1929 more than 1,200 birds were gathered “from Kingston to Marble, Alabam, and Huntsville.”

Farmers like Garrett Williams of the Buckeye community planted large-scale apple orchards. In 1903 he had one-hundred acres under cultivation and was putting in eighty more. A nurseryman as well, he grew and sold trees for other growers. He even shipped some of his apples to be exhibited at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The region’s apple industry was so large that in 1907 a newspaper account enthusiastically valued the combined apple crop of Madison, Washington, and Benton counties at $2.5 million. In response, the Four Rivers Mutual Orchard Company near Red Star was organized around 1910. Investors bought thousands of acres of land, hiring locals to clear it and plant orchards. But insect damage and an unscrupulous land buyer forced the company to sell its assets a few years later.

After World War II many residents left, seeking better jobs. An “On the Farm Training” program for veterans began in Huntsville in 1946. It paid the men to learn such skills as how to build fences, deliver calves, clear land, weld metal, and treat cows suffering from milk fever. To further combat population loss and a decreasing economy, county leaders created a development plan. It included such endeavors as developing strawberry fields, establishing a grower’s association, and growing the dairy industry, whose producers sold milk to the Pet Milk plant in Huntsville.

In 1974 Swift Dairy and Poultry Company opened a processing and freezing plant in Huntsville for its Butterball-brand turkeys. Back then, the 200-employee plant processed thirty birds a minute, or 150,000 pounds daily. Now known as Butterball LLC, the plant employs about 650 people and contributes much to the local economy. But the rise of poultry production has its cost. Tired of odor and fearful of water contamination, in 1989 residents near Clifty fought a winning battle against a sludge lagoon filled with poultry waste. In 2018 Butterball agreed to change how it dealt with wastewater, to reduce the unpleasant smell lingering over town.

Today, beef cattle and poultry are the county’s main agricultural industries, with farmers producing eggs and broilers for businesses like Tyson Foods. However some poultry growers have switched to raising beef cattle and harvesting hay, because, they say, the companies think their operations are too far from feed plants and processing facilities.

“As the timber disappeared, the people turned mostly to farming and raising cattle, but since the rugged hills would not support as many farmers and stockmen as it did timber workers, many had to leave and seek a livelihood elsewhere.”
Governor Orval E. Faubus
Ozarks Mountaineer, June 1957

Established in 1833, the Kings River congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was the first known religious group in the county. Since they arrived late in the year and didn’t have time to build homes before winter set in, the congregants set up a campground in a sheltered valley with a large spring, staying in wagons and lean-to structures. The area came to be known as Upper Campground and was used for many church gatherings over the years. Other early churches include the Big Fork Free-Will Baptist Church near Aurora, the (Primitive Baptist) New Hope Church near Kingston, and the Fairview Christian Church near Wesley. Some early preachers were circuit riders, traveling hundreds of miles by horseback to minister to a widespread group of congregants. Baptisms were frequently held outdoors, in a creek or river.

In the 1910s the Reverend Elmer J. Bouher of Indiana undertook a massive project to “improve” the lives of residents in rural Kingston. His “King’s Plan” involved building a church, school, and community building, improving local roads and farming methods, and teaching the principles of health and hygiene at a community medical clinic. Funded in part by the Brick Church in New York and local contributions of money, materials, and labor, the Kingston Community Presbyterian Church was begun in 1922. The project had its detractors, as some folks resented outsiders telling them how to live. Many factors contributed to the gradual decline of the project, including Bouher’s departure and the financial problems of the Great Depression. Use of the church and school buildings ended in 1948. The buildings were torn down three years later.

As religious needs expand, so do religious offerings. Begun in the 1990s, the Madison County Ministerial Alliance is a collaboration of ten to fifteen churches and religious organizations which hosts special religious services and collects food donations for a food pantry and the Pregnancy Center. In 2015, $4,920 was donated to families in need. St. John the Evangelist (Catholic) Church in Huntsville offers a Spanish-language mass for the county’s growing Latino population. The Madison County Cowboy Church was founded in 2010 to “[Serve] God the Cowboy Way.” Featuring a come-as-you-are attitude, the church’s sermons, country gospel music, and family-oriented dances and events may take place around a campfire or at the rodeo grounds. The Land of Infinite Bliss Retreat Center was built near Crosses in 2011 by the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas. The center offers classes on meditation, non-violence training, and Tibetan Buddhism.

“The great event of my visit was the church service on Sunday morning. . . . I preached as well as I could to an audience which included a large proportion of babies in arms and of restless little rascals who insisted on taking a walk in the aisles once in awhile . . .”
Dr. W. R. Taylor, “Our Investment in Arkansas”
Brick Church, Rochester, New York, June 1922

Prior to the Civil War, Madison County had relatively few enslaved workers as compared to several neighboring counties. The enslaved population barely grew from 1840, when three percent of residents were slaves, to 1860 at four percent. Like the rest of Northwest Arkansas, folks had divided loyalties. As war loomed on the horizon, schoolteacher, lawyer, and state senator Isaac Murphy of Huntsville was elected on a Unionist platform to serve at the Arkansas Secession Convention of 1861. He alone voted against leaving the Union. At first his fellow county residents approved of his action, but sentiments changed as the war came closer to home.

His life threatened, Murphy left for Missouri and joined the staff of Union General Samuel Curtis. Murphy made arrangements for his daughters to travel to Missouri as well, but two of them remained in Huntsville, where they were harassed continually. Perhaps their treatment led to the execution of nine men (one of whom survived) by Union soldiers in 1863. The soldier in command was arrested for his actions but the charges against him were later dropped.

While no major battles were fought in Madison County, there were a few small-scale skirmishes. Near war’s end, several hundred folks moved to four fortified “Union Colonies” set up at Huntsville, Richland, War Eagle, and Brush Creek. Meant to offer physical protection and a safe place to farm, the colonies were open to all who pledged allegiance to the United States. Lawless bushwhackers preyed on the county’s citizens even after the war. One legend has it that folks living in a valley near Hindsville were so tired of having their food carried off that they cleared the timber from the top of a hill and planted potatoes and other vegetables. According to the story, raiders never bothered “Tater Hill.”

“Shortly after [the battle at Prairie Grove] the Yankees came to Kings River and commenced their dreadful slaughter of men and horse stealing. Then there was raised in our settlement, independent companies of lawless bands who went about over the country, stealing and robbing every lady without distinction, and then after they got everything in our country, then turned in and burned our houses, turned out widows and orphans in the winter’s snow. They entirely robbed me out, never left me narry a single horse nor nothing that was worth anything.”
Jane Page
Kings River, November 14, 1866

The county is heavily forested, with nearly two-thirds of the land covered by trees, even into the 21st century. A large portion of the southern section of the county is part of the Ozark National Forest, created in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a way to place its valuable hardwood timberland under government protection. The county’s timber industry was made possible when the first railroad branch line was built in the 1880s.

At one time, more lumber was shipped out of Pettigrew than anywhere else in the country. Three generations of the Martin family—Rufie, Orville, and Wayne—worked in the timber industry, cutting whatever wood they could sell and processing it at their sawmill near Pettigrew. Some of their work included white oak for railroad ties and wagon tongues (large poles used to connect a team of horses to a wagon), cherry for Singer sewing machines, and gum for bed rails made by Fulbright Wood Products in Fayetteville (Washington County).

As much profit as the timber industry brought to people and businesses, it also brought hardship. Working the timber was dangerous work and some men were maimed or killed in sawmill accidents. The influx of workers with ready cash encouraged saloons and brothels to spring up in the timber boomtowns. St. Paul’s longtime Frisco railroad agent, Mrs. J.M. Williams, recalled drunken fistfights between hundreds of men erupting on Saturday nights. The wholesale clear-cutting of trees led to soil erosion, which affected farms.

There have been several—largely unsuccessful—attempts to find other valuable resources in the county. Jasper H. Combs claimed that he had found a “long, lost Spanish [gold] mine” and the remains of a smelter on the Kings River, but nothing came of it. In 1918 Carl Wright sunk a sixty-foot mine shaft at Combs, looking for gold. Investors bought stock and the town’s population increased, but the venture failed a few months later. Wright tried again in 1933, paying miners $2 a day to haul, crush, and smelt rock in order to extract the metal. Only a few flecks of gold were found.

Oil and gas drilling tests occurred at Witter, Clifty, Huntsville, and nearby Georgetown from the 1920s to the 1950s. The most successful mining operation in the county was that of the War Eagle Lime Company near Huntsville. It excavated and crushed lime in the 1950s and 1960s for use as an agricultural soil amendment.

The land itself is a natural resource for learning opportunities. In 1964 the NOARK (North Arkansas) Girl Scout Council purchased over 1,000 acres of land just north of Huntsville. When Camp Noark opened three years later, scouts learned such skills as how to take initiative and be self-reliant. As a way to learn resourcefulness, early campers made do with “lashing instead of tables, wood fire instead of stove, lantern instead of electricity, [and] singing instead of TV.” The Girl Scouts-Diamonds Council closed the camp at the end of the 2016 season because of high costs and declining use. However Girl Scout troops, church groups, and others can now rent the facilities, with the fees going to help maintain the camp. At the 15,000-acre Ozark Natural Science Center near Forum, students experience “hands-on and minds-on outdoor science education” by experiencing the “beauty and unique biodiversity of the Ozarks’ natural environment.” Developed by Ken and RuAnn Ewing and a small group of folks in 1989, the center now serves yearly over 3,000 students from Arkansas and Oklahoma. Specialty programs include yoga retreats, a Father’s Day camping weekend, eco-art, and caving.

 

“Green Burgess and Luker [Luke] Carter were killed instantly about noon Tuesday near Wharton when the boiler of a sawmill, which they were operating, exploded. . . . Burgess was blown through the roof of the mill shed and his horribly mangled body fell only a few feet from where he had stood. . . . So terrific was the explosion that the boiler was blown about 25 feet from its base.”
Green Burgess’ obituary
Rogers Democrat, August 26, 1915

 

Water-run gristmills were among the first businesses in the county, grinding corn and wheat. Hawkins Mill on War Eagle Creek and the Withrow Mill at Withrow Springs were both established in the mid-1830s. The first steam-powered mill was built in 1881 by F. M. Sams in Huntsville for $6,400. It produced twenty barrels of flour daily. The Kingston Roller Mill was built by J. D. Basore Sr. and his sons in 1898. It took eight wagons to bring the heavy machinery from Springdale.

When Joel N. Bunch moved to Kingston in 1880, he opened a general store. But the poor roads and rugged terrain kept salesmen away. So he hauled his merchandise from Springfield, Missouri, sometimes taking three weeks to cover the over-200-mile-round trip. He also purchased materials gathered or produced by his neighbors. He sold mink, possum, and fox pelts to fur merchants, plants like goldenseal and ginseng to pharmaceutical companies, and honey and sorghum to his customers. Bunch began the Kingston Spoke Plant in 1907 and made wheel spokes for buggies and wagons for over twenty years. He also established and built the Bank of Kingston in 1911, complete with beautiful wood tellers’ cages and a vault advertised as “Fire, Mob, and Burglar Proof.” Today the building is home to Anstaff Bank.

For a long time the county’s industry and economy were tied to its forests. In 1887 the railroad shipped out 15,000 carloads of railroad ties and props for mine pits, valued at $2 million. One of the biggest players was the Phipps Lumber Company which, at its peak, received hundreds of wagons of lumber, barrel staves, and ties daily at its Pettigrew facility. At Drakes Creek, Noah Johnson manufactured about 40,000 wagon bows annually (woods supports used to hold up the canvas coverings of wagons). The timber industry still plays a role today, with at least seven major sawmills county-wide. The Richland Handle Company started in Delaney in the mid-1950s but moved to Wesley in 1964. It makes handles for such items as garden tools, shovels, and hammers. At St. Paul, Willhite Forest Products produces slats for shipping pallets, lumber for flooring, and railroad ties. The Royal Oak Charcoal plant near Huntsville uses waste slabs from sawmills to make charcoal for outdoor grills.

In 2016 the Huntsville Economic Development Commission created a plan to address local needs, including developing an industrial site, retaining and expanding businesses, and increasing tourism. Over in Hindsville, Arkansas Hemp Genetics had partnered with the University of Arkansas to study hemp flowers, a source of cannabidiol (CBD), a non-addictive substance that some believe has medical potential. But plans for a farm and production facility seem unlikely to come to pass.

“In 1919, [S. D.] Albright was the first man to order trucks to be used in the timber business [in Red Star]. Two GMC service trucks arrived in Pettigrew by train, but nobody knew how to drive them. However, after some practice, the men took the trucks to the woods with visions of returning loaded with wood. Gayle Edwards Eversole told me that instead, they returned with mules hooked to the front of the trucks because the trucks couldn’t pull the load.”
Wayne Martin
Pettigrew, Arkansas, Hardwood Capital of the World, 2010

The county’s first school was said to have been built of logs on Sweden Creek in 1833, near present-day Kingston. Schools in Huntsville and old St. Paul soon followed. At the time there were no state-sponsored schools, only three-month-long, private subscription schools. The private Huntsville Masonic Institute, one of the first colleges in Arkansas, was built in 1855. The Pleasant View Female Seminary was chartered the same year, with five-month terms costing $8 each. The young ladies studied such subjects as history, grammar, spelling, and “mental arithmetic.” The former institution was run by future governor Isaac Murphy while the latter was run by at least two of his daughters. Both institutions closed in 1861 with the outbreak of the Civil War.

The first county school district was formed in Huntsville in 1868 and by 1897 there were 125 districts. In 1879 the county had 4,397 school-age children, but a little less than one-quarter were enrolled, with roughly half that amount (484) attending classes on any given day. There were a number of private and specialty schools during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Huntsville Academy offered grades one through eight as well as training for teachers. Jesse Bird organized the Hindsville Academy and later Bird College, a private high school in Huntsville.

In the 1920s the Kingston school came under the guidance of the Reverend Elmer J. Bouher, who was developing the large, progressive Kingston Community Presbyterian Church to “improve” the lives of local residents, in part through education. As school superintendent, Otto Ernest Rayburn worked hard to create a four-year accredited high school. The Huntsville State Vocational School opened in 1929 and trained students in life skills and trades such as “domestic arts” and agriculture. It was the first school in the county with indoor bathrooms, but there was one problem—the town didn’t have a sewer system. So the students’ first learning opportunity involved digging a hole for a septic system. In 1934 the school wanted to begin a football program, but there was opposition. In protest, students boycotted classes one day, going to nearby Governor’s Hill for a picnic. They won their battle. A team was formed, even though the school didn’t have uniforms or equipment. The players wore their overalls.

Up until 1954 state laws mandated segregation between the races. Shady Grove School District (near Whorton Creek) was created by the Madison County Court in the early 1870s as a “colored school” for the children of those freed blacks who had stayed in the county after the Civil War. But by 1946 there was only one African-American child of school age, and setting up separate accommodation for her would have been costly. So Laverne Cook was quietly enrolled into the Lower Whorton Creek School where by all accounts she was treated like the other students, participating in all school activities for the year she attended.

The state’s large number of small, often rural school districts led, in part, to school consolidation, beginning in 1948. The plan was favored by the county board of education but not by parents, who wanted to keep their community schools. The county’s supervisor of schools received several threats against his life. But, with careful explanation and time, folks began to see the benefits of grouping funds and resources into a few schools. The county went from 122 school districts to two, with only one today. The Huntsville School District is geographically the third-largest in the state. It operates six schools in Huntsville and St. Paul. But enrollment is dropping, with some students transferring to Elkins, Springdale, and Fayetteville schools, all in Washington County.

“The Kingston High School is a school with a soul.  . . . It is earnestly trying to meet the educational needs of a people typically American, in the unhampered environment of the beautiful Ozark Hills.  . . . Its goal is to give to the youth of the mountain sector of Arkansas such an appreciation of beauty, such a thorough knowledge of principles, such a vision of things worth while that, having taken hold of the handles of the plow, they will not look back.”
Otto Ernest Rayburn and W. Gordon Ross
Ozark Life, Kingston, Arkansas, 1925

The county’s vast hardwood forests were a magnet for railroad development. The first to be built into the county was the Fayetteville and Little Rock Railroad (soon purchased and expanded by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, the “Frisco”). In 1886 the initial line ran twenty-five miles southeast from Fayette Junction (Washington County) to Crosses, before pushing on to St. Paul and later Pettigrew by the end of the century. The short-lived Combs, Cass, and Eastern Railroad was built out of Combs by the J. H. Phipps Lumber Company of Fayetteville, to take advantage of a large stand of oak in nearby Franklin County.

The Frisco’s St. Paul Branch was important to the development of southern Madison County. Boomtowns and businesses grew along the line, including the timber and canning industries. Cash crops were shipped out as well, such as watermelon and tomatoes. By the 1930s the nation had entered the Great Depression. Much of the available timber had been cut down and the workers were gone, reducing the need for freight and passenger service. Without revenue, the railroad couldn’t afford to replace its worn-out infrastructure. The last scheduled train ran in July 1937.

In the 1940s portions of Highway 68 (now Highway 412) west of Huntsville had yet to be paved. When the work was finished in 1949, a grand celebration was held in Huntsville. Thousands of residents, visitors, and dignitaries, including Governor Sid McMath, came together for prayers, speeches, a parade, a ribbon cutting, and a homemade lunch on the square for a crowd of nearly 5,000. In later years, Governor Orval E. Faubus, a native of Greasy Creek (near Combs), continued to improve or build area roads and highways, in an effort to make Madison County an important “crossroads” for Northwest Arkansas.

Located on a shaved-off mountaintop at 1,748 feet above sea level, the Huntsville Municipal Airport is the highest airport in Arkansas. It was completed in 1986 with LaBarge Electronics in mind. The manufacturer of high-performance electronics needed a place for potential clients’ to land their corporate jets. Mayor Charles E. Coger led the effort to secure grants and other funding. He and others put in volunteer hours surveying the property, operating a bulldozer, and building a security fence.

“Remember, folks, bring enough [food] for yourself and some for our visitors [at the Highway 68 dedication]. . . . The least we can do for all our visitors is to feed them. That might look like a difficult job, but we know that when a Madison County housewife cooks an ordinary ‘dinner-on-the-ground’ meal, that it will feed at least two families beside her own. All we have to do is for each to do his own little part and there will be a super abundance.”
Orval E. Faubus
Madison County Record, November 3, 1949

Doctors came to Madison County in the mid-1800s, some with college degrees, others having learned their craft by working with experienced physicians. Dr. George Counts started his forty-eight-year practice in Wesley in the late 1890s, visiting his patients first by horseback, then horse-drawn buggy, and later by car. He was said to have delivered two thousand babies. In Pettigrew, Dr. William Henry Mooney charged twenty-five cents to pull a tooth. Like most doctors, he took payment in the form of goods or labor, such as cured hams, horse feed, or a plowed garden. Mooney encouraged his son-in-law, Arthur Barker, to move his drugstore from Kingston to Pettigrew. The Mooney-Barker drug store opened in 1917, offering more than medicine over the years, including gasoline, poultry supplies, a soda fountain, bananas, and pawnbroker services.

Following the rapid rise of Eureka Springs (Carroll County) after the discovery of “healing waters” in 1879, other towns tried to establish their own health resorts. A two-story hotel and several cabins were built at Aurora on Grand Mountain, so patrons could take advantage of the Chalybeate Spring with its iron salts. In 1887 Hugh McDanield planned a hotel and spa at Big Spring near St. Paul, but died before construction could begin.

Beulah Frederick, a trained Red Cross nurse, came to Kingston around 1919 at the behest of the Reverend Elmer J. Bouher of the Kingston Community Presbyterian Church. It was part of his mission to see to the health needs of the community. Frederick taught hygiene to students and childcare to mothers, delivered babies, and ran a children’s clinic. A small health center began operating in 1926 with its first patient, a young man with typhoid. The standard treatment was medicine and three glasses of buttermilk daily. Healthful practices extended to the school as well, which had active exercise and sports programs for boys and girls.

In 1949 voters approved the construction of a county hospital in Huntsville. With the passage of an $80,000 bond issue and donations of construction materials, equipment, and labor, and cash and furnishings supplied through local clubs, the twenty-one bed Madison County Memorial Hospital soon opened. But questions about finances and management plagued the hospital and it closed around 1954. Hometown native Dr. Austin Smith opened a clinic in the building and was largely responsible for reopening the hospital in the mid-1960s. He was on hand in 1980 for groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Huntsville Memorial Hospital. But financial problems persisted. The hospital closed in 1992.

Since then several clinics and health centers have opened their doors including the Boston Mountain Rural Health Center and the Madison County Medical and Surgical Group. The latter was begun by Dr. Tom Whiting in part with community support of $40,000 in fund raisers and funding and equipment from an anonymous benefactor. The Madison County Health Coalition began in 2000 with the goal to “maintain and seek local resources to achieve better health for our community.” A recent campaign featured high school students recording anti-tobacco radio ads. The Madison County Health Unit offers many services such as family planning, vaccinations, public health preparedness, and environmental health issues such as general sanitation, water-well testing, and West-Nile virus surveillance.

“‘Everybody drank likker [liquor] then but nobody got drunk,’ Uncle George continued, ‘My daddy made us kids drink a tablespoonful of whiskey every morning before breakfast to keep the chills off. . . . I didn’t like the stuff.'”
George Hogg Brashears (as quoted by Steele T. Kennedy)
Ozarks Mountaineer, August 1961

Madison County has seen its share of disasters. Major droughts in 1854, 1874, and 1901 caused much hardship and crop destruction. In 1884 sheets of rain fell for six hours, flooding Hock and Cobb creeks. A cabin housing two families was caught in the torrent and floated downstream. While the men were able to escape through the roof, the eight people trapped inside were drowned. In 1886 a heavy snow left twenty-four inches on the ground. Several years later, folks in the Drakes Creek area experienced a “black snow,” where a layer of dirt covered about fifteen inches of white snow. It was so cold that winter that the snowfall didn’t melt until April.

County records were lost each time the courthouse burned. When Huntsville was set on fire by Union forces during the Civil War, the records were taken by the Union Army to Springfield, Missouri, only to be lost or destroyed. Kingston was also destroyed during the war. Much of downtown Huntsville was lost to fire on two other occasions in the early 1900s.

A 1945 tornado caused much devastation in the southern part of the county. In Crosses, only two buildings were left standing. At Japton, two women “were left sitting on a bed [uninjured] after the walls and roof had blown away.” A bolt of lightning hit a tree stump and blasted a large hole in the ground at Mt. Pleasant (near Whitener). In Aurora, nearly all the older buildings were blown down, including the school. At Wharton’s Creek “a valuable brood mare was blown a great distance” and had to be put down because of her injuries. In all, ten people were killed and many injured. Property damage was widespread, with about one hundred buildings destroyed.

“Not a thing could be salvaged [at the Sam Doss homestead in Marble]. The bodies of the mother and [her six] children were scattered promiscuously among the ruins. . . . The wind had whipped the clothing from their bodies, one of the children had been blown to the top of a bush. Keeping a strange watch over the place was the family dog, that walked in circles about the debris.”
Madison County Record, April 19, 1945

Fiddlers contests were popular county-wide during the 1800s and up into the mid-1900s. Musicians competed in categories such as “old time,” stunt, jazz, or classical. Prizes included cash, merchandise, and services such as a sack of tobacco, a set of fiddle strings, or a “haircut, shave, massage, tonic, etc.” In 1926 seventy-seven-year-old John C. Calico of Drakes Creek was awarded the champion-fiddler title for Arkansas. During the 1920s and 1930s folks living in Marble gathered on the banks of the Kings River for fish fries. In 1929 a huge turkey and goose shoot was held in Huntsville, just in time for Thanksgiving. The tradition carried on there and in other communities like Alabam and Kingston for many years.

Rodeos were popular as well and included many offerings. At the two-day rodeo and picnic in Hindsville in 1927 there were speakers, races, ball games, a band concert, barbecue dinners, bronco-busting, and airplane stunt-flying by the Quinn-Willard Flying Circus. Huntsville held its first amateur rodeo in 1949. Organized by the Huntsville Riding Club, the event featured a parade with horse riders and floats and traditional rodeo contests such as calf roping and bull riding. In 1962 the new Sky-High Arena opened on Governor’s Hill. Today’s rodeo offers events for women, including barrel-racing and breakaway-roping.

The Huntsville city park (now Polk Square) was the scene for many community activities during the 20th century. In the 1930s the park was home to turkey shoots, Easter egg hunts, celebrations of local veterans, political speeches, concerts, carnival rides and shows, Farm Bureau picnics, and reunions of former residents. In 1986 the Chamber of Commerce organized “Hawgfest,” a celebration held at the park and other venues. Over the years the event included food such as “Pig-Out Barbeques” and “Hawgdogs” and such activities as outhouse races, a rodeo, a golf tournament, arts and crafts booths, a “Hawgshoot” with muzzle-loading shotguns, music, a 5K run, contests for lip-syncing to songs, “hillbilly hawg-calling,” and the catching of greased pigs. The last festival was held in 2004.

“The canning factory at Delaney is almost completed. . . . A dance was given and two hundred and seventy-five people were present and most all took part in the dance. Even though some were opposed to this gathering, it was a very successful affair . . . there being not a bit of trouble from any cause.”
Madison County Record, April 25, 1925

Madison County became a member of the Ozark Playgrounds Association in the 1920s, a regional group out of Missouri which promoted tourism in the “Land of a Million Smiles.” Newspaper articles touted the charms of the county but also told about the need for better roads. Tourist camps were established in Kingston and Brashears Junction to meet the needs of the motoring public who wanted to stop and camp awhile. Although Huntsville leaders discussed creating such a camp, it appears that one was never built.

In 1957 shooting enthusiast Arlis Coger worked to lure an annual crossbow tournament from Blanchard Springs in north-central Arkansas to Huntsville, donating land on Governor’s Hill for the festivities. Medieval-themed activities included costumed contestants, crossbow shooting, a queen and her court, and a banquet. The Crossbowettes, a high-school girls’ organization, performed archery tricks for an enthusiastic crowd. The tournament moved to Withrow Springs State Park in 1966, where the event’s pageantry lessened over time, only to resume again in the late 1990s as Renaissance festivals gained in popularity. The last tournament was held in 2003.

Much of the county’s tourism is nature-based. Just north of Huntsville, Withrow Springs State Park opened in 1965, following a gift of land from timber baron Roscoe Hobbs. Featuring campsites, picnic areas, trails, and the county’s only public swimming pool, the park was a popular destination. Attendance has declined in recent years, especially with the 2018 closure of the pool because of repair costs. Other outdoor attractions include the Kings River Falls Natural Area near Venus, Sweden Creek Falls near Kingston, and the Ozark National Forest. The forest covers much of the southern part of Madison County, extending through sixteen counties in total.

The county’s small, winding roads through farmland and forests are a great draw for motorcyclists, especially in the fall. A few community events have popped up, including Huntsville’s first “Bluegrass and BBQ” event, which began in 2017. In Kingston, performers play in the downtown gazebo as part of “Music on the Square.” Realizing that tourism should be regionally based, rather than by city or county, Madison County economic development officials joined a 2012 initiative to brand four counties with the slogan, “Explore Northwest Arkansas.” A website includes such Huntsville attractions as the farmers’ market, Oakridge Golf Course, and Mitchusson Park Bike Course, designed for riders to hone their mountain-biking skills. Volunteers helped build several stunt features “designed to mimic natural elements found in the region.”

“The cotton pickin’ government is trying to take us over. . . . It’s already taken over the Buffalo (River). Now they’re trying to work down and take both sides of the Kings River. . . . Now they’re making the area a tourist attraction, so bureaucrats can come in here and lollygag and kick us out. I came out to here to get away from civilization, not to pile up in the middle of the big mucky mucks.”
Al Bergstrom
Arkansas Democrat, May 7, 1979

 

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By 1900 the population had swelled to 12,538, due in part to land speculators and new, out-of-state homesteaders. Timber harvesting joined mining as a major economic force. Large lumber companies and many local individuals bought thousands of acres of timber land. Numerous sawmills and logging camps were set up to harvest and process logs into railroad ties, mine props, barrel staves, pencils, dimensional lumber, equipment handles, furniture, and the like. It wasn’t long before the county’s extensive virgin forests were cut-over.

At the turn of the 20th century, cotton was a primary source of income for area farmers, but boll weevils decimated this cash crop. Other important agricultural products included livestock, wheat, corn, oats, and fruit. But without reliable and inexpensive transportation, these industries failed to thrive as long-term sources of revenue.

Newton County experienced a brief industry boom during World War I, fueled by the need for metals in the manufacture of cartridge and shell casings. Land rich in zinc and lead fostered the establishment of mines in Ponca, Pruitt, and Bald Hill. But a drop in prices and the inability to easily export these resources after war’s end lead to their demise.

The population of Newton County dropped steadily from 1900 to 1960, with an all time low of around 5,700 residents. It began a slow recovery beginning in the 1960s with the influx of newcomers arriving with the back-to-the-land movement. This growth continued in the 1980s.

The county’s rugged geography has had a significant impact on its history and people. The progressive changes brought about in the past 100 years for most of the U.S. were late to arrive. Rural electrification was introduced as late as 1937; the first high-power lines weren’t installed until 1949. The first modern roads did not come until the 1950s, preventing sustained growth in manufacturing and industry.

However, it is the very nature of Newton County’s geographic seclusion which is largely responsible for the preservation of the natural beauty which attracts visitors from all over the world. Today tourism is the county’s major industry. Attractions include dude ranches and the Buffalo River which draws over 800,000 visitors each year. Ecotourism activities like hiking, camping, caving, outdoor cookouts, rock-climbing, and zip-lining in the Ozark National Forest and Lost Valley are popular. Many retirees come to the county to enjoy an easy-going lifestyle and beautiful scenery.

Timber continues to play an important economic role. While production has dramatically decreased over the decades, small-scale sawmills and other wood-product companies are still found amongst the hillsides.

The 2010 census reflects the relative isolation of Newton County. With 8,330 residents it is the 7th least-populated county in the state. Its population density is just 10 people per square mile. The largest city is the county seat of Jasper, with 466 people. Countywide, the median income is about $17,000 per person. More than 8,000 people self-identify as white, 9 as African-American, 90 as Native American, 25 as Asian, and 141 as having Hispanic origin.

Newton County’s rural past is still evident in the small, isolated communities tucked amongst its hillsides and valleys. This way of life is recognized and treasured in many ways, from the designation of the Buffalo as the country’s first National River in 1972 to the creation of the Big Buffalo Valley Historic District at Boxley in 1987. Fayetteville author Donald Harington immortalized the long-gone community of Murray via his mythical and magical “Stay More” novels. In them he blended the speech and manners of rural Newton County with plenty of tall-tales involving six generations of the Ingledew clan.

 

 

“Most everyone became panic stricken, rushing down the main aisle for the door, screaming and shouting. . . . All was in wild confusion and the noise was so loud that it was heard a mile or more away.”

J. Town Greenhaw
(Jasper, AR) Informer, February 28, 1948

There have been several courthouses in Newton County over the years. The first was a log structure, burned during the Civil War. After the war, court was held in several places, including a doctor’s office, a school building, and a saloon. Around 1873 Robbie Hobbs was charged with building a courthouse that would “last forever.” He built it out of cobblestone and coated the walls with mortar, polishing them until they were smooth and hard. Supposedly, a woman picked at the finish one day and made a hole. Some townsfolk, unsatisfied with the quality of the builder’s work, are said to have killed Hobbs.

A Christmas Eve party in the mid 1880s was held in the courtroom, even though a few cracks had begun to appear in the building’s walls. As the people awaited their gifts, someone shouted, “The courthouse is falling!” Panic struck. Some ran into the wood stove, knocking down the stove pipe. Many made a dash for the door while others leaped from the windows. Out on the lawn, women screamed for their children as doctors examined the wounded. Eventually the crowd quieted enough to receive their gifts. Apparently the building was strong enough to last another 15 or so years.

In 1902 land was purchased on the town square to build a new, two-story, limestone-veneer structure. In 1938 the courthouse burned to the ground, possibly as a result of arson. Many records were destroyed. A new courthouse, built by the Works Progress Administration, was begun in 1939 and completed three years later. Billed as fireproof, the Art Deco-style building has a concrete foundation and is made of stone quarried from the Little Buffalo River. It cost $42,000. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Jasper’s courthouse square has been the scene of many celebrations including the Newton County Fair and the dedication of the paving of Highway 7.

 

 

“The enemy, surprised, barely attempted to form and scattered. …They fled in dismay, a race for life. In the charge and in pursuit for 8 miles, 30 were killed, a number wounded, and 8 taken prisoners. 23 heads of horses captured, and some 25 stand of arms, the larger portion of which was destroyed.”

Col. John E. Phelps
Second Arkansas [Union] Cavalry
April 23, 1864

The 1860 census listed 25 enslaved African-Americans for Newton County, less than one percent of the total population. Although there were no major Civil War battles in Newton County, skirmishes, bushwhackers, guerrilla bands, and divided families took their toll. Like the rest of Northwest Arkansas, some residents allied with the Union while others joined the Confederacy. The area’s many caves and isolated valleys hid men and supplied cover for military activities.

Malinda Newberry Logan lived on Kenner Creek near the Hopewell Community. During the war bushwhackers came to her home to steal food. They also ripped open the feather mattresses and rode their horses over them. The bedding was re-stuffed with dried leaves, causing a later band of marauding bushwhackers to remark, “Look here at this damn hog bed.” Malinda heard about a neighboring family who tried to hide their cured meat within a wall. The meat was discovered when grease stains penetrated the wood during warm weather.

The area’s natural resources were vital to regional war efforts. Lead deposits were mined to make bullets. Confederate forces established a saltpeter works at Bat Cave, near the headwaters of the Buffalo River. Saltpeter (potassium nitrate) is used to make gunpowder. It’s often found in the soil of caves heavy with bat and bird droppings. The soil was dug out and removed to wood vats. Water was filtered through and then boiled in large, iron kettles for hours, causing the formation of nitrate crystals. In January 1863 the First Iowa Cavalry destroyed the works, burning and smashing the equipment. The kettles were rescued by locals and put to use for washing clothes and scalding hogs, well into the 20th century. A few still sit in yards today.

The county’s biggest skirmishes occurred in April 1864. During the battle of Whiteley’s Mill (now Boxley), Confederate guerrilla bands, including one lead by Captain John Cecil, fought a scout patrol lead by Captain William Orr of the Second Arkansas (US) Cavalry. Cecil, a Confederate, was Newton County’s former sheriff; his brothers fought for the Union. After two hours of fighting, the Union side withdrew due to lack of ammunition.

A few days later Orr joined with Major Melton and others to search for Confederates whose mission was to disrupt Union supply trains passing through the county from southern Missouri. The Union forces tried to sneak up on the Confederates, who were camped in Limestone Valley, but were spotted by a scout. Still, the Confederate camp was in disarray when it was attacked on either side by Union soldiers, who pursued the fleeing Confederates for eight miles through wooded mountains.

“The only obstacle in raising turkeys in those days was that the woods was full of wild turkey, and my turkeys would mix with them and refuse to return to their home.”

James Villines
History of Newton County, 1950

Early settlers generally raised enough food and livestock to meet their immediate needs. Most farms were small, given the steep and heavily forested hills. Farmers grew clover, sorghum, corn, peas, and beans in the river bottoms and along the mountain “benches,” narrow shelves of land. Larger farms existed in the northeast section of the county and along the river bottoms, where fields of barley, oats, rye, corn, alfalfa, and wheat grew well. Around the turn of the 20th century cotton was the principal crop, but boll weevils took their toll.

Families ground their corn into cornmeal at home or, more likely, took it to their local grist mill, such as the Whiteley Mill in Boxley Valley. Hogs were fattened up and slaughtered in the fall. The dead hog was scalded in a vat of hot water and hung up by its back legs. The hair was scraped off, the blood drained out, and the entrails removed. Then the carcass was butchered. The meat was salted down and hung in the smokehouse for curing. The fat was rendered into lard, the skin fried into cracklings, and the remaining bits turned into sausage and head cheese. “Hog-killing time” was often a time for neighbor to help neighbor. They’d share both work and meat. Children enjoyed playing with the “balloon” made from the hog’s bladder.

In the late 1800s, James “Beaver Jim” Villines grew corn in the rich bottomland of Boxley Valley. But first he had to clear the land of a thick growth of river cane. It was hard work because, after the cane had been dug out, it had to be burned. But the soil was rich and Villines could get 50 bushels of corn or more per acre. He raised turkeys, grew sweet potatoes, and sold seed and plants to his neighbors. Villines was a successful hunter, trapping otter, mink, and beaver. Beaver skins sold for $3 each while high-quality otter pelts went for $20.

Over in Low Gap, Isaac Whishon grew fruit trees and berries on a hillside bench. He was so good at it that he had excess fruit. He purchased an evaporator and began drying fresh apples and peaches. Sometimes he would spread cut fruit to dry on the roof of his home. His wife Cynthia turned the fruit into preserves and fruit butters.

Some farmers ran small-scale beef operations for the cash it would bring. In the early 1900s there were concerns about southern cattle being infected by ticks carrying Texas fever, a contagious and deadly disease. While local cattle might have some immunity, midwestern and northern cattle did not. It was feared that cattle shipped north for slaughter might bring the disease. In 1906 the federal government began a tick eradication program, asking farmers to dip their cattle biweekly in vats of pesticide. While some farmers welcomed the effort, many were against the program, angry about the government’s intervention. In Newton County, tick inspectors met resistance. One inspector noted, “Some trouble here at first, as many refused to dip cattle.” But in 1914 the county was considered free from Texas fever.

“This little church [at Walnut Grove, in the Boxley Valley] has been the scene of worship and weddings, revivals, and funerals for many years. . . . Near the church is a cemetery where our babies, our spouses, our parents, and our grandparents rest in peace.”

Orphea Duty (1969)
Old Folks Talking, 2006

The first churches were small, log structures. As communities prospered, larger, wood-frame buildings were built. These buildings were often shared by churches, schools, and fraternal organizations. They were places where the community gathered for all kinds of events, from revivals to school pageants to fund-raising pie suppers.

Religious activities occurred outdoors as well. Baptisms were held in the Buffalo River and other county streams. In the summer and fall, brush arbor revivals were held under a rough wood structure roofed with brush and leaves. Participants often sat on wood benches to sing, testify, and listen to sermons. Dinners on the ground were social affairs held by the members of a congregation. Sheets and blankets laid on the ground in a long row held all kinds of wonderful food.

Circuit-riding preachers traveled by horseback from one country church to another, preaching to and praying with the locals. Families fed and housed the preachers whenever they passed through their community.

In Lurton, Uncle Dan Hefley tended to his flock at the Lurton Assembly for over 20 years, beginning in 1944. He could baptize up to 40 people a day. When she was young, Hefley’s daughter Lillie often traveled with him by foot or horseback to participate in revivals at Hasty, Low Gap, Jasper, Mt. Judea, and Gum Springs. Some revivals lasted over two weeks. Lillie remembered a few Sundays when her father couldn’t preach because the church’s altar, where he stood, would be filled with people seeking the Lord, wanting to be saved.

“The breaking of the log jam [on the Buffalo River] became a risk for the floaters. . . . As long as the logs are in a jammed stage, a person can run across them with ease, but when they begin to separate, stepping on them causes the logs to turn. This is what happened to my brother [Craft J. Lackey]. When he finally made it to the bank, he lost no time in locating the foreman to tell him that he had no further desire to float logs.”

Daniel Boone Lackey
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 1960

Early settlers in Newton County found virgin forests full of ancient oak, ash, walnut, pine, and hickory. Red cedars lined the banks of the Buffalo River. One amazing cedar tree near Pruitt was about 42 inches in diameter at the ground and around 85 feet tall.

Besides using timber for building homes and barns, wood had commercial value. Local farmers could cut logs or barrel stave bolts for a much-needed infusion of cash. In the Low Gap area, Amos B. Lackey cut cedar trees during the winter in the 1880s. One year he was able to buy luxuries for his family including a metal washboard and clothes wringer for his wife, a set of harnesses for himself, and a “Hot Springs” diamond ring (quartz) for his daughter.

Logging was hard work and held many risks. Portable sawmills and stave mills were set up throughout the county, moving from section to section. Without a railroad line running through the county, transporting logs to market was difficult. Mule teams were used to snake logs out of the woods and haul log wagons over rough roads to neighboring counties and their railroad depots. Beginning in the early 1900s, tens of thousands of red cedar logs were floated down the Buffalo River to be turned into pencils.

The timber woods were soon depleted. After operating out of Boxley Valley for over two decades, the Malnar brothers of Austria left around 1940 once they could no longer find white oaks big enough to turn into barrel staves. By the 1950s most of the first- and second-growth trees were gone. Without reliable timber sales, the local economy faltered. Today many county farmers still use their timber woods to supplement their income, whether by cutting firewood or selling logs to manufacturers.

In 1989 several local environmental groups opposed a large-scale logging operation east of Jasper by Mountain Pine Timber. They were concerned about its impact on water quality, wildlife, and soil conservation. But some residents were in favor of the logging, both for the work the industry would bring and to protect property rights.

The southern half of Newton County is part of the much larger Ozark-St. Francis National Forests. When it was created in 1908, what was then the Ozark National Forest was, for a time, the nation’s only major hardwood timber land protected by the government. Purchasing cut-over land where virgin timber once stood, the U.S. Forest Service aimed to provide a renewable hardwood source for the area’s wood-based industries. Under today’s multiple-use management system, the forests’ 1.2 million acres are used for timber harvesting, recreational activities, grazing, and protection of wilderness and wildlife management areas. Counties receive 25% of revenues from use of resources. Much of these funds come from timber sales.

“We heard a lot about the depression on the radio and in the newspapers, how it was so hard on everybody across the country. But we weren’t bothered by it that much. . . . Maybe out in the eastern part of the county people might have been on welfare, but here in Boxley we had our good farms, and we raised about everything that we needed.”

Orphea Duty (April 1, 1996)
Old Folks Talking, 2006

In the 1930s timber was playing out, jobs were becoming scarce, and a regional drought affected farming severely. In some ways, the Great Depression hurt city folks more than country folks. The latter were used to being self-sufficient, producing their own food and making or repairing much of what they needed.

Cash might be earned by selling animal skins, stave bolts (used in barrel making), or goldenseal roots and ginseng, medicinal plants which grew in the wild. ‘Seal was used as an antiseptic and to stop bleeding while ‘seng was prized in Asia for its believed ability to restore and prolong youth.

But for some, their farms were too poor or their luck too rotten to make things work. They left the county, seeking employment elsewhere. Over in Boxley Valley, Tom and Gracie Fults moved to Ohio while the children of Tim Villines, a former enslaved worker, relocated to Oklahoma.

Some county residents received aid from the federal government. Ernest and Opal Nicholson ran a relief program in Newton County. They worked with several caseworkers to administer to the needs of their clients, many of whom were widows or people with disabilities who had no way to earn an income. Help came in many forms. Some clients were issued beef or canned goods, provided with reading material, supplied with clothing and household necessities, or given funds to purchase windows and screening materials.

A few clients were found jobs at sawmills or driving trucks. Clients received encouragement and advice from the case workers. One child was told “how nice she would look with her face washed nice and clean” while a woman was encouraged to plant flowers “because of the social value to [the] home.” Caseworkers were said to have “accomplished some desirable results by mentioning the nice things which the clients had done and suggesting other improvements.”

Through its many programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) gave employment to a variety of folks. The Federal Writer’s Project hired people to create travel guides and interview settlers and former slaves. In what was then the Ozark National Forest, the Civilian Conservation Corps created miles of trails. The courthouse at Jasper was built by WPA work crews, as was the gymnasium at the Newton County Academy and the Little Buffalo River Bridge, both in Parthenon. In Boxley the crews built concrete outhouses.

“My dad [C. V. Burdine] went from house to house almost day and night for several weeks signing up people as members of Carroll Electric Cooperative so that electricity could be brought into our area. . . . One of Dad’s favorite sales pitches and reasons for wanting electricity . . . [was] to have good lights in schools and churches. That reason just about won everyone—even if they weren’t too interested in getting electricity for their home.”

Kathryn Burdine Wheeler
Rural Arkansas, May 1984

In 1940 when the state population stood at 1.95 million, only 112,050 Arkansans had electricity, mostly in larger towns and cities. While there were several power-generating facilities, distribution was a problem. The federal Rural Electrification Act (REA) of 1936 was meant to improve that situation, along with improving the lives and incomes of farmers struggling with flood, drought, and the Great Depression.

Rural electrification was costly. Farms and homes were spread out, sometimes with just a few potential customers per mile. It often wasn’t profitable for privately owned power companies to take on rural customers. But with REA loans electric cooperatives could be formed, sharing the costs amongst their members. One such co-op is Carroll Electric Cooperative Corporation, incorporated November 1937.

In October 1938, 150 Carroll County customers were able to turn on electric lights in their homes for the first time. Seeing the success of the new venture, neighboring counties, including Newton County, petitioned the cooperative for similar service. County extension agents and volunteers went from home to home, explaining the work of the cooperative and signing up members for $5. Local residents were hired to clear brush and trees from right-of-ways, earning a whopping $2.40 a day during a time when the going daily rate for farm work was about 75 cents or $1.00. Soon utility poles and giant spools of wire were being brought in on big trucks.

Early co-op members were wired for one outlet per house with one drop light in each room. Over in Vendor, young Kathryn Burdine and her family waited anxiously for the electricity to be turned on, pulling on the light-bulb chain every now and then to check. When the electricity finally came one August night in 1940, she thought the folks at church seemed a little self conscious in the brightly lit building.

Electricity allowed Kathryn’s mother to use an electric iron for the first time while Kathryn and her siblings could listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio without fear of running down the battery. Later on, she and a sister saved money from their jobs and, with their brother’s sale of a pig, the three of them were able to buy a refrigerator for their parents. It was such a luxury for her dad to be able to have a thermos of ice water when he worked his farm fields.

In 1948 the REA began surveying the route for a proposed 33,000-volt high-power line to Jasper.

“All this weekend there has been lots of activity around the Town Square when folks have been working like beavers, cleaning up, getting ready for our ‘Big Day.’ . . . Every day we’ve seen folks washing windows, cutting grass . . . and a whole crew, directed by Mayor A.B. Arbaugh were raking leaves on the Court House lawn and sweeping all gutters clean.”

Jessie Lu Abell
(Jasper, AR) Informer, September 1956

Early roads were often maintained by local governments. Able-bodied men armed with shovel, pick, and pry bar were expected to work on their community’s roads four days each year. Those who could afford it hired men to do the job for them. Many of these roads were poorly built, constructed under an elected township road overseer with little engineering or construction experience.

As the automobile gained prominence, road building took on greater importance. The Arkansas State Highway Commission was created in 1913 to address the need for a statewide system of roads. During the first half of the 20th century, Highway 7 was a rough, gravel road. But the need to improve it grew.

Road crews paved the road between Boone County and Jasper first. At the June 1951 dedication of this stretch of highway, onlookers enjoyed a parade and listened to the Harrison High School band. They also heard from speakers such as U.S. Representative J. W. Trimble, U.S. Senator J. W. Fulbright, and Governor Sid McMath and his aide, Orval Faubus. A noon dinner was served complete with “fried chicken, roast pork and roast beef, potato chips, bread, pickles, coffee and cake.” Festivities were paid for by local merchants. Both the Harrison and Russellville chambers of commerce sent car caravans. A similar celebration was held in September 1956 to celebrate the paving work from Jasper on south.

With its completion, Highway 7 became the first paved road to traverse the whole county. It linked Jasper to the larger cities of Harrison in the north and Russellville in the south, with all of their job opportunities, professional services, and shopping choices. The highway wasn’t a boon for all. Small towns like Lurton which once had a booming economy, due in part to the local wood-handle mill, suffered when it was bypassed by the highway.

The road linked Arkansas to Newton County, ushering in many tourism opportunities. Traveling south from Boone County, visitors would have had a chance to visit Dogpatch U.S.A., Paradise Hill with its craft and gift store, the county seat of Jasper, Diamond Cave, Arkansas’ “Grand Canyon,” Lost Valley with its six waterfalls, the Buffalo River and canoe outfitters at Ponca, and the Ozark National Forest. Highway 7 became the state’s first scenic byway in 1993.

Several landslides have damaged the road in recent years. In 2009 an area of highway just south of Jasper collapsed due to heavy rain. A few years later, repair work to fix the earlier damage caused a section of road to collapse again. In 2011 the state proposed changes to enlarge and realign the road and to replace the historic 1931 steel through-truss bridge over the Buffalo near Pruitt. A new bridge is expected to be built, but debate continues regarding the old bridge. While many want it preserved, neither the county nor the National Park Service can afford its maintenance.

“Everything you see here, everything except the tops of those bluffs, would have been submerged beneath a reservoir behind one of two dams the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had planned to build. …Wild rivers, I’m afraid, are a vanishing species.”

Neil Compton
National Geographic, March 1977

“Movin’ out o’ here would mean givin’ up all I’ve got, all I’ve ever had. I hope to stay just as long as the Lord and those Government folks allow.”

Eva “Granny” Barnes Henderson
National Geographic, March 1977

Flowing about 150 wiggly miles east from its headwaters near Boxley towards its confluence with the White River, the Buffalo River has been many things to many people. Native Americans and later settlers used the river for food, water, and transportation. Entrepreneurs harnessed the river’s energy to run mills and float raw materials like cotton, minerals, and red cedar logs (for pencils) to market in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As early as 1897 the U.S. Corps of Engineers looked at making the river navigable through a series of locks and dams, but the cost was too high. In 1936 a dam was proposed for power generation and flood control but never materialized because of the Great Depression and World War II. The Corps revised their plan in 1954, proposing two dams and the construction of Lone Rock Lake. While supported by many locals and members of the U.S. Congress, legislation to dam the river failed repeatedly.

In the late 1950s, Kenneth L. Smith, a University of Arkansas student, began a personal campaign extolling the beauty of the Buffalo through newspaper and magazine articles. His work helped popularize the notion that the river was worth saving in its natural state. U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright obtained an appropriation to fund a survey of the river by the National Park Service, which later declared that, as one of the last free-flowing rivers in the country, it should be preserved.

Dam proponents and opponents geared up for battle. Governmental agencies such as the Corps and Park Service opposed one another’s plans. Local organizations were formed, including the pro-dam Buffalo River Improvement Association and anti-dam Ozark Society, lead by Dr. Neil Compton of Bentonville. In Newton County some citizens wanted the dams for the progress and jobs they would bring, while many who lived along the river wanted neither dams nor a National River.

After many years of struggle, in 1972 the U.S. Congress officially designated the Buffalo a National River, the first in the nation. But opposition to a National Park continued. Many river-valley residents were upset with Park Service plans because it meant that they would be forced to sell their land to the federal government, leaving the homes and farms their ancestors had worked so hard to build.

In later years, Compton came to believe that pollution was the river’s greatest threat. In 2013 the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality awarded a permit to build a major hog farm near Mt. Judea. Concerns quickly grew about the potential for damage to the river from accidental runoff of hog waste. After years of protest and litigation, in 2019 the State of Arkansas agreed to a $6.2 million buyout of the company. The land is now protected under a conservation easement.

 

“No son of mine will ever sit down, fold his hands, and live off the Government. . . . I can’t keep the government from adding taxes and telling me how to run the plant I’ve spent half a lifetime building, but I can teach my sons to get out and hustle for themselves. By golly, the small business is the backbone of America . . .”

I. C. Sutton
Arkansas Gazette, October 16, 1949

Like churches, country stores were the heart of many a community. People collected their mail there and purchased or bartered for goods they couldn’t produce at home. Eggs could be traded for such things as baking powder, sugar, and salt. Store owners also bought animal skins and medicinal plants, selling what they gathered to traveling purchasing agents.

Boxley was named after William Boxley, the merchant who delivered goods to the valley stores and who later operated his own store there. The town of Ponca owes its name to the Ponca City, Oklahoma, Mining Company, which mined lead and zinc ore in the area in the early 1900s. As mining increased in the county, so did blacksmith shops which built and repaired equipment.

In 1929 I. C. Sutton bought a rough turn-handle mill and moved it to Lurton, renaming it the Lurton Furniture Factory. To keep the factory running during the Great Depression, it switched to making barrels and then handles for things like hammers, railroad picks, and axes. World War II bought prosperity to the newly renamed I. C. Sutton Handle Factory, the only war-related business in the county. After the war the business expanded its production to baseball bats, telegraph spade handles, and pike poles used for logging. The business relocated to Harrison in the late 1950s to keep down shipping costs. The move turned Lurton into a ghost town.

The paving of Highway 7 in the 1950s brought some prosperity to the towns along its path. New businesses sprung up. But the highway took away business, too. Some traveled to larger towns in neighboring counties, such as Harrison and Russellville, to conduct their business and do their shopping.

In the 1940s politics was the frequent topic of discussion in Jasper’s two cafés. Pearl’s Café was home to the Democrats while Upton’s Café hosted the Republicans. Today Upton’s is now the Ozark Café, and politics are still discussed.

In 2010 the Jasper Commercial Historic District, including the courthouse, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The simple, rockwork structures were influenced by the availability of the area’s plentiful stone and the town’s relative isolation, free from outside architectural trends. Five of the buildings were built by Gould Jones, a local blacksmith and builder. He constructed a small reservoir in town in the early 1940s to provide water to a tomato-canning factory. The factory was closed by the Arkansas Department of Health when tomato juice was found in local wells.

 

“We seek to create a camp where a boy will have opportunity for instruction and practice in woodcraft skills. We seek to develop physical fitness and resourcefulness to adapt himself to his surroundings and to live out of doors.”

L. M. R. Rogers
Scout Executive, Westark Area Council
Ozarks Mountaineer, September 1955

“Being on staff [in the mid 1960s] was kind of a dream for a teenage boy.  We’d work for four or five hours, then spend the rest of the day in this wilderness playground.”

Jack Butt
Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, May 25, 2003

Camp Orr was developed in the early 1950s by the Westark Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, based out of Fort Smith. Located a few miles northwest of Jasper, along the banks of the Buffalo River, the camp is named after Raymond F. Orr, a Fort Smith industrialist and former Council president who was instrumental in the camp’s development.

When it came time to find a camp site, Orr and a few other men are said to have paddled the Buffalo in search of the perfect spot. Orr purchased parcels of land from local landowners and then sold hundreds of acres to the Council for $15,000.

The first organized camp activities were held in the summer of 1955. Early structures included a trading post, a dining hall housed in a large Army tent, and a 34,000-gallon concrete water reservoir. Today the camp hosts a few thousand campers each summer, making it Newton County’s second largest “town” after Jasper. Troops come from Arkansas and across the country to gain skill in such things as knot tying, fire building, and woodworking.

The camp’s natural resources are plentiful—a river for canoeing, forests for camping and backpacking, rocks for climbing and rappelling, and flora and fauna for studying. The camp even has its own haunting legend, that of Smokey Joe, a former scoutmaster who is said to have lost his sanity after being hit in the head with a rock.

When the Buffalo National River Wilderness Area was established in 1972, the camp found itself within the area’s boundaries, the only Boy Scout camp in America in a national park. At first there was concern over whether or not the camp could remain. Negotiations went on for five years. In the end it was decided that as long as the camp followed National Park Service guidelines, like keeping the road into the property unpaved, it could stay. In 2003 the camp celebrated its 50th anniversary in true camp fashion, with food, fun, and stories around the campfire.

“There is a thrilling slide down Lover’s Leap to a point in the cave where visitors may behold the Pipe Organ . . . The calcite stems, or pipes of the organ, are so tense and delicate that the scale of music can be run by deftly tapping the rigid rock, and the cave is thus made to ring with melody.”

Playgrounds in Arkansas
1920s

Newton County is known for having a significant number of caves: Beauty Cave, Bat Cave, Civil War Cave, Beckham Creek Cave, and Hurricane River Cave. Perhaps the best known is Diamond Cave, located near Jasper. Likely named for the sparkling beauty seen as light glistens off of the cave’s dripping water and many-colored formations, the cavern is thought to have at least 20 miles of passageways.

The cave is said to have been discovered in 1834 by Sam and Andy Hudson, Tennessee migrants who homesteaded nearby. As the story goes, they were out hunting when their dogs disappeared into a hole in a hillside. Venturing into the cave with burning pine knots for torches, they found dogs and bears fighting. After killing the bears the men explored the cave for about three miles and saw its many wonders.

Early visitors explored with the aid of torches. They were guided by the son of one of the discoverers, who charged $2 for a group’s daylong tour. In 1922 W. J. “Jonah” Pruitt bought the cave and made improvements to it and the land. Three years later he sold the property to the Diamond Cave Corporation, maintaining a majority share of the stock. Walkways were created and protective handrails put in place. At first the cave’s electric light came from a gasoline-powered generator. Only one tour group could visit the cave at a time, as there wasn’t enough power to light multiple rooms simultaneously.

The trail through the cave was about two miles long. Fanciful names were given to various passages and formations—Crystal Lane, the Sugar Room, the Auditorium of Rome, the Statue of Liberty, and Fat Man’s Agony (a tight passageway). Baloney Pool owes it name to a tourist who didn’t believe the guide’s word that the water in a pool was deeper than it looked. Crying “Baloney!” he stepped into the pool only to realize the guide spoke the truth.

At various times the park had campgrounds and a bath house, rental cabins, a museum, and the Panther Inn, which sold refreshments and offered a hall for dances and parties. The rollerskating rink, built in 1939, was a popular place for local youngsters, who would often catch a ride to the rink on logging trucks from nearby communities like Deer, Ponca, and Low Gap. At its peak the cave had 10,000 visitors annually. On busy weekends the guides were given hamburgers as they left the cave with one tour group and immediately entered with another, eating on the go.

The cave closed to the public in 1988. In 1995 it was sold to the Mas Suerte Corporation of Texas. At the time the company indicated that it wanted to preserve and protect the cave and the surrounding property. Plans included restoration of native plants and trees and a wildlife refuge. The cave is closed at present.

“Dogpatch is really something else. People in the East think all the creativity and action is on the coasts, but the Midwest comes up with some fantastic ideas—like Dogpatch. It is a fine thing for Arkansas and it doesn’t hurt me either.”

Al Capp
Baxter (AR) Bulletin, May 16, 1968

Al Capp, creator of the “Li’l Abner” comic strip, was approached by a group of Boone County investors for permission to recreate his imaginary town of Dogpatch in the wilds of Arkansas. In 1966 they purchased a 160-acre trout farm near the town of Marble Falls, north of Jasper.

The first phase of Dogpatch cost over $1.3 million. Opened to the public in May 1968, the park featured buggy rides, a miniature railroad known as the “West Po’k Chop Speshul,” a trout farm, Ozark arts and crafts, a honey shop and apiary for bees, 1800s-era log cabins, and various hillbilly characters. Over 300,000 people visited the first year. Adults were charged $1.50, children 75 cents.

Soon there was a change in leadership; businessman Jess Odom gained controlling interest. New rides were added and a campsite developed. A few years later Odom broke ground on the Marble Falls resort, next to Dogpatch. The resort included a convention center, an indoor ice-skating rink, and—surprisingly—ski runs kept white with machine-made snow. Financial problems and mild winters led to the resort’s closure in 1977, the same year Capp retired his comic strip.

An economic feasibility study of the park in the late 1960s suggested that, by its tenth year of operation, the park would see over one million visitors a year. At best it attracted 200,000 annually. Competition with the nearby Silver Dollar City theme park in Branson, Missouri, didn’t help. Times were changing. In 1980 fiscal debt, changes in leadership, a decrease in tourism, and two money-losing summers forced the owners to file for bankruptcy.

Even as it struggled, the park stayed open. It added new attractions and featured country music stars like Reba McEntire. Owners came and went. In an effort to rebrand itself, in 1991 “Li’l Abner” and the other cartoon characters were replaced with a generic Ozarks theme. Dogpatch closed October 1993. A year later the Carr brothers of Boone County bought the property but didn’t do anything with it. Over the years vandals and souvenir hunters took their toll on the former park. The statue of Jubilation T. Cornpone was taken to Branson and may still be there on the bed of a trailer.

In 2005 a father and his teenage son were riding their four-wheelers on the property when the son ran into a steel cable strung across the road and was hit in the neck. There were questions about whether the property’s caretaker, another Carr brother, knew about trespassers and deliberately put up the cable as a deterrent. In 2011 the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld an earlier jury’s verdict to award money to the injured family. As the Carrs didn’t pay the judgment, the Dogpatch property was transferred to the family and their lawyer. Since then, the land has been in limbo. The current owner is anxious to sell.

“They’re mean, wild and stout. . . . A lot of people here would never get a chance to see them if we hadn’t brought them in. I’m just tickled to death with the way they’re doing and with having them here.”

Robert Harrison
Arkansas Gazette, February 11, 1985

Elk once roamed North Arkansas, as evidenced by name of the old Elkhorn Tavern in Benton County, which displayed a pair of elk antlers on its roof. But overhunting in the late 1800s and loss of habitat as prairies were transformed into farmland first reduced, then wiped out, the once-large population.

A century later, hunters petitioned the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to reestablish the elk. When Hilary Jones joined the Commission in 1980 and saw Oklahoma’s successful elk reintroduction, he figured it could work in Arkansas. The Buffalo National River valley near his home in Pruitt seemed ideal.

In 1981 local volunteers brought the first seven elk from Colorado, where the animal was plentiful. The elk were transported in cattle trailers lined with sheets of plywood in order to reduce stress and minimize injuries. More elk were relocated over the next four years. Soon calves were being born. Today the population stands around 450.

The elk are quite a draw. Tourists often line Highway 43 in Boxley Valley to watch for elk, especially in October during the animals’ mating season. They also visit the new Elk Education Center in Ponca. Each year thousands vie for one of a few dozen permits for two five-day hunting seasons.

But not everyone is happy. Some locals have complained about the growing herd and their impact on cattle-grazing land and the region’s plants. There are also concerns about the danger to roadside tourists. A few worry that Boxley Valley is becoming a kind of zoo.

In 2012 several water, wildlife, and conservation agencies and groups sought to halt the U.S. Forest Service’s expansion of elk habitat into Bearcat Hollow, just east of the Newton County line. They claimed that the clear cutting, road building, and herbicide use needed to thin and manage the forest would be excessive and would endanger lands protected by the Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984.

“Usually only about four men could work in a small tunnel [at the Panther Creek Mine].  One man was engaged in wheeling out the waste and collecting the ore worth saving. . . . From the ‘diggings’ a . . . track capable of supporting a small hand gondola car extended some 300 yards to the ore mill.  At the end of the track the mined ore, a combination of dirt, rock, and ore, was dumped in the grill screen grates where it was broken . . . [and] fed to the crusher.”

Walter F. Lackey (1960)
Newton County Times, August 25, 1983

In the late 1850s, lead ore was mined and processed near the mouth of Cave Creek and at the headwaters of the Buffalo River near Ponca and Boxley. Over 18,000 pounds or more of ore was extracted, mainly for making lead bullets for rifles. The process was crude. Ore was dug out by hand from open cuts or shallow shafts. A crude smelter (furnace) made of stone was used to separate the metal from the rock. With the advent of the Civil War came the need for even more lead. The Cave Creek operation was worked by Confederate forces.

Lack of easy transportation limited the growth of mining. In the early days, raw ore and processed minerals were hauled by wagon over rugged terrain and then shipped down the Buffalo River. When railroads came to neighboring counties by the turn of the 20th century, materials were transported by wagon north to Harrison or west to St. Paul for shipment by rail.

By the end of the 19th century zinc mining had surpassed lead mining in importance. Zinc was used as a paint pigment, for battery electrodes, and to galvanize (coat) iron to protect it from corrosion. A 5,200-pound sample of nearly pure zinc from the Panther Creek Mine near Diamond Cave was said to have been sent for display to the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, winning first honors in its class.

The need for zinc further increased by 1915, as World War I was underway in Europe. During this time the Panther Creek Mine produced about 3,000 tons of zinc concentrates. Prices began to decrease in 1917 due to a glut of minerals on the market, the high production costs of refining the ore, the area’s poor transportation options, and the loss of an able labor force as young men were recruited to fight. After the war, North Arkansas mines and their adjacent boomtowns were often abandoned.

Lead and zinc mining occurred off and on over the years, mostly small shovel-and-pick operations. In the 1940s miners were back at the old Confederate mine near Cave Creek, extracting large quantities of zinc and lead ore.

While lead and zinc were the primary materials mined or quarried in Newton County, there are also significant deposits of limestone, sand and gravel, and sandstone, as well as some coal and iron. Between 1895 and 1936 1,500 tons of coal were extracted from two mines in the northeastern corner of the county. Perhaps the first recorded instance of quarrying involved a 45-ton limestone block quarried in 1836 near Marble Falls for the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. A century later, a limestone quarry southeast of Jasper produced an estimated 50,000 tons of crushed rock during the construction of Highway 7.

“We admit we were freshmen, Much greener than the grass, But now we’re glad to say, We’re the sophomore class.”

Thomas Ryker
Newtonian, 1922

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, one-room schools dotted the countryside, serving to educate students in communities and towns. Schools operated for only a few months each year, when the children weren’t needed for farm work. But there wasn’t an avenue for higher learning until October 1920, when the Newton County Academy opened with 144 students. It was part of the Southern Baptist mountain mission school program, dedicated to bringing education and civilizing influences to rural areas. Describing Newton County as “the most destitute field in Arkansas,” the Baptists worked with community leaders to establish the school.

Donations in the form of cash, trees, and sawn lumber were used to build a two-story, native rock building. A girls’ dormitory was built to house out-of-town students as the Academy was, for a time, the only high school in the county. A rockwork gymnasium was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration program. The stage was paid for in part by area businesses in exchange for advertisements on the curtain.

The school offered coursework in music, mathematics, business, Latin, and the social sciences. Student societies focused on literature and religion. Tuition was staggered, depending on the grade the child attended. Seniors paid $4.50 per month, or $36 for the entire session.

Keeping the school going financially was a struggle. Money was still owed for the main building, so some of the school’s land was sold to help pay the debt. Many individuals and groups stepped up to help. Womens’ Missionary Unions in Arkansas and Texas helped fund tuition fees. The women of the Second Baptist Church in Little Rock assisted with dormitory furnishings and clothing. Baylor University in Texas, which directed the Baptist Mountain School program, provided equipment and maintenance.

The state took over the Academy in 1930, switching it to a public school. School consolidation in the 1940s and 1950s forced many of the local schools to close, moving students to larger, more centralized schools. At the Academy, students were transferred to the Jasper Public School district. The last high school class graduated in Parthenon in 1948; the last year of grade school was 1954.

Over the years the dormitory burned to the ground, the school building was dismantled for its rocks, and the gymnasium lost its roof. In the mid 1990s, Beulah Shelton began a campaign to save the gym. Through the donation of labor and money, including state capital improvement funds, the structure was rebuilt and rededicated October 2005. Today it’s used for community functions. The Academy was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

“ . . . by this time Highway 7 had been upgraded considerably and people came from miles around to shake their shaves, get boozed up, and let their hair down.”

Henry Sutton
Mid-American Folklore, 2000

James T. Braswell was born in Carroll County, but lived in Jasper for about 25 years. A carpenter by trade, he also made furniture and musical instruments such as mandolins and violins. On Saturday afternoons in the summer, he led Jasper’s town band from the bandstand next to the courthouse. Braswell was also a songwriter, penning “In the Land of a Million Smiles” in 1925. The song was written on behalf of the Ozark Playgrounds Association, which used it for many years to boost its tourism efforts in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks.

Community picnics were a frequent summer event in the early 1900s. Some picnics were quite elaborate with concession rights sold to the highest bidder. The day before the picnic, underbrush was cleared and booths set up for lemonade, ice cream, fruit, hot dogs, souvenirs, and the like. A horse- or mule-powered wooden “swing” gave round-and-round rides for a nickel. “Happy Jack” Moore of Swain was one of the best-known swing operators. He drew customers in with his singing, dancing, and snappy patter.

In Lurton, the picnic lasted for three days, drawing up to 1,000 people. Folks had a chance to catch a greased pig, dance to live music, or look for coins in a giant pile of sawdust. They could also pay for a ride in an airplane. In the 1930s, Lurton was the scene of some rowdy Saturday-night dances, courtesy of the local loggers and the workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps. As the nickelodeon played Western Swing music, couples courted and moonshine flowed.

Shooting matches were popular. In the early 1900s men and boys in the Low Gap community would lie on the ground with their muzzleloaders propped up on a log and take aim at paper targets tacked onto clapboards. Their rifles had names such as “Old Bangum,” “Yellow Jacket,” and “Old Countabore.” Contestants were given seven shots throughout the day, with the winners being declared after much scrutiny of the shot-up targets. Prior to the event, the contestants chipped in to purchase a steer for about $12. During the match, the animal was slaughtered. The winners received certain cuts of beef, depending on their ranking, with some selling their winnings to others.

In Low Gap, Isaac and Cynthia Wishon where known for their keen enjoyment of visiting with friends and neighbors. Cynthia was a good cook. The noon meal might include dried smoked beef and venison, sauerkraut, apple and pumpkin pies, fried chicken, potatoes, and turnip greens, all washed down with coffee, milk, and spicewood or sassafras tea. While the women gathered to quilt, knit, and share neighborhood news, the men played card games (“pitch” and “seven up”) and pitched horseshoes. Often folks tuned up their instruments to play songs such as “Buffalo Gals” and “Arkansas Traveler.”

“I literally started with a Bible and a prayer. It has not been easy, but I have had the most remarkable answers to prayers. One summer when the drought burned up the gardens, I used nearly all my slender grocery money for the library, and lived on wild roots, wild onions, berries, and the like. But the books kept coming, and that was what I wanted.”

Ted Richmond
Christian Science Monitor, April 5, 1947

Born in Nebraska, James Theodore “Ted” Richmond lived in many places and had several jobs. But he grew tired of living in a fast-paced world, isolated from his neighbors. Eventually he found his way to Mount Sherman, a few miles northwest of Jasper.

With the help of his neighbors, in 1930 or 1931 Richmond cleared some land, built a small log cabin, and started a goat herd. His aim was to establish the Wilderness Library, a place where his neighbors could have access to the knowledge of the world. At first the only book he had to lend was the Bible. But he wrote to friends and publishers and soon books and magazines began arriving.

As word of the library spread, folks made the trek to pay a visit and borrow a book. For those who couldn’t make it, Richmond hauled 60-70 pounds worth of books in a canvas sack along rugged mountain roads and trails. He visited neighbors, sharing books, preaching and praying, and gathering news to bring to the next family on his route. Seeing a need, he began the “Wilderness White Christmas,” gathering and delivering small toys, clothing, medicine, shoes, and other necessities to his neighbors.

The Wilderness Library grew. Shelves of books were placed in schools and churches. A few branch libraries were established, including the Raney Branch further up the mountain from Richmond’s place. In the early 1950s it held about 1,500 volumes, including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Boy Scout Handbook. Light was provided by oil lamps. Borrowers recorded their loans in a notebook. If someone wanted to contact Richmond, he or she could holler for him using an old phonograph horn, hoping that the wind was blowing in the right direction for him to hear.

Richmond knew the value of a good story. He wrote articles about the library, which he sent to newspaper and magazine editors, and went on publicity tours. A few major publications sent reporters to interview him. A 1952 article in the Saturday Evening Post positively delighted in the tale of a backwoods hermit tending to the literary needs of his hillbilly neighbors. The locals weren’t pleased, going so far as to create the Newton County Betterment Group to fight this unfair portrayal.

Years of rough living and poor diet may have taken their toll, along with the arrival of a regional library system in 1944. In 1953, Richmond married longtime friend Edna Gardner of Texarkana, Texas, whom he had met through the Ozark Artists and Writers Guild. Not long after that, Ted Richmond left his cabin and library and moved to Texarkana. He died there in 1975.

“I love it here. . . . You are so close to God you can just see it all around you. The birds sing all the time . . . and you should hear the whippoorwill at night. It’s the most peaceful place in the world.”

Pearl Holland
Tulsa World, June 20, 1965

Today, much of Newton County’s businesses are tourism related. Whether folks are camping in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests or floating the Buffalo River or riding their motorcycles down scenic Highway 7, tourism dollars are important to the county’s economy.

The area’s rivers, especially the Buffalo, have always drawn anglers. For decades, visitors often stopped at the Shady Grove Campground at Pruitt to fish or swim the Buffalo. The camp was established in 1920 by F. A. Hammons. It offered a bathhouse, bathing suit and towel rentals, campsites, a dance hall, and a well-maintained river sandbar. When the new bridge was built in 1931, Hammons built a few rental cabins on the old bridge. Famous artist Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri was a campground regular. A sign at the camp read, “No hard drinks, shouting or unlawful acts allowed.”

For many years Hammons’ step-daughter Pearl McGowan Holland was the camp’s manager. Pearl’s son, Richard, grew up on the river—swimming, fishing, hunting, and exploring caves. At age 16 he quit school to become a fishing guide for tourists for a time. In 1973 the Holland family made a heartbreaking decision. They sold their land along the Buffalo to the National Park Service. They greatly missed the river and the opportunities the campground gave them to meet new people and visit with old friends.

In Boxley Valley in the late 1930s, Clyde Villines and others worked to clear many years of silt and vegetation out of the millpond which fed his grist and flouring mill. He stocked the revitalized pond with fish and built five small cabins to rent to weekend anglers from Harrison and other nearby towns.

Ponca is the headquarters for folks wanting to float a popular stretch of the Buffalo. On spring and summer weekends the river is lined with canoes and paddlers, many transported to the river by either the Lost Valley Canoe Service or the Buffalo Outdoor Center, the area’s two major outfitters. Locals sometimes see it as an “aluminum stream,” both for the canoes and beer cans that float on by.

In 2004 Randal and Debbie Phillips purchased a few of the buildings at the old Marble Falls ski resort next to Dogpatch, and began transforming them into a motorcycle resort complete with motel and restaurant, convention center, campground, and motorcycle-related shops. The Phillips hope to make Newton County the biker capital of Arkansas.

“Several men were lounging around each still, but it was noticeable that none of them were drunk or even drinking. . . . [T]hey probably considered that they were at work, and a man cannot very well get drunk and work at the same time.”

Wayman Hogue
Back Yonder, 1932

For much of the 1800s, making alcohol didn’t require legal permits or taxes. Just the proper equipment, a few sacks of dried corn, and a good supply of water. Aside from the pleasures of home brew, distilling whiskey was a good way to use surplus corn and make some cash.

One of Newton County’s first stills was run by Alfred Carlton at a spring on his father’s homestead near Parthenon. At Henson Creek, John Dale put his still under a rock shelter. For 35 cents a customer could get a large gourd-full of “mountain dew.” Squirrel hunter Tom Reynolds stopped to visit with Dale one day, only to have the stopper from his powder horn pop out as he bent to light his pipe from a cooking fire. After the ignited gunpowder produced a loud bang, Reynolds said, “That White Mule sho do have some kick.”

In 1897 the U.S. government passed the Bottled-in-Bond Act, in part to guarantee that spirits were unadulterated (not diluted or impure). Only legal, government-bonded distilleries were allowed to manufacture and sell alcohol. Revenue stamps were affixed to barrels and bottles to show that the proper taxes had been paid. The taxation caused many distillers to hide their operations from the revenue agents, leading to the rise of moonshining. However, there were two legal distilleries in Newton County. One was Bill McDougal’s distillery near the Big Hurricane Creek.

Over at Bat House Cave at the head of Wells Creek, between Hasty and Yardelle, owners Charles Bethany and Newton Sanders operated their distillery within a natural rock shelter that had a good spring. One way to make whiskey was to soak corn kernels in water for a couple of days and let them sprout. The corn was crushed into bits or “chops” and placed in a wood barrel along with coarse-ground cornmeal to create a mash. After a few days of fermentation the starch in the corn was converted into sugar. The mash was placed in an enclosed metal cooker and heated. The rising steam was trapped in a coiled copper tube or “worm” which was cooled by water. What dripped out as liquid was further cooked and condensed to make whiskey.

The distiller at Bat House was Tom Raney. After fermentation the mash was dumped into a wood trough as hog feed, leading to a few tipsy pigs. Gaugers George Ray and Newt Jones weighed the whisky and placed government stamps on the barrels, proof that the distillery had paid its taxes. The distillery was allowed to make 12 gallons a day.

The distilleries closed in 1917, when Arkansas’ “bone dry” liquor law went into effect, which prohibited the “transportation, delivery, and storage of liquor.” The night Bat House closed, the liquor barrels were stolen from the warehouse. Moonshining continued as national prohibition went into effect in 1920.

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By 1900 the population had swelled to 12,538, due in part to land speculators and new, out-of-state homesteaders. Timber harvesting joined mining as a major economic force. Large lumber companies and many local individuals bought thousands of acres of timber land. Numerous sawmills and logging camps were set up to harvest and process logs into railroad ties, mine props, barrel staves, pencils, dimensional lumber, equipment handles, furniture, and the like. It wasn’t long before the county’s extensive virgin forests were cut-over.

At the turn of the 20th century, cotton was a primary source of income for area farmers, but boll weevils decimated this cash crop. Other important agricultural products included livestock, wheat, corn, oats, and fruit. But without reliable and inexpensive transportation, these industries failed to thrive as long-term sources of revenue.

Newton County experienced a brief industry boom during World War I, fueled by the need for metals in the manufacture of cartridge and shell casings. Land rich in zinc and lead fostered the establishment of mines in Ponca, Pruitt, and Bald Hill. But a drop in prices and the inability to easily export these resources after war’s end lead to their demise.

The population of Newton County dropped steadily from 1900 to 1960, with an all time low of around 5,700 residents. It began a slow recovery beginning in the 1960s with the influx of newcomers arriving with the back-to-the-land movement. This growth continued in the 1980s.

The county’s rugged geography has had a significant impact on its history and people. The progressive changes brought about in the past 100 years for most of the U.S. were late to arrive. Rural electrification was introduced as late as 1937; the first high-power lines weren’t installed until 1949. The first modern roads did not come until the 1950s, preventing sustained growth in manufacturing and industry.

However, it is the very nature of Newton County’s geographic seclusion which is largely responsible for the preservation of the natural beauty which attracts visitors from all over the world. Today tourism is the county’s major industry. Attractions include dude ranches and the Buffalo River which draws over 800,000 visitors each year. Ecotourism activities like hiking, camping, caving, outdoor cookouts, rock-climbing, and zip-lining in the Ozark National Forest and Lost Valley are popular. Many retirees come to the county to enjoy an easy-going lifestyle and beautiful scenery.

Timber continues to play an important economic role. While production has dramatically decreased over the decades, small-scale sawmills and other wood-product companies are still found amongst the hillsides.

The 2010 census reflects the relative isolation of Newton County. With 8,330 residents it is the 7th least-populated county in the state. Its population density is just 10 people per square mile. The largest city is the county seat of Jasper, with 466 people. Countywide, the median income is about $17,000 per person. More than 8,000 people self-identify as white, 9 as African-American, 90 as Native American, 25 as Asian, and 141 as having Hispanic origin.

Newton County’s rural past is still evident in the small, isolated communities tucked amongst its hillsides and valleys. This way of life is recognized and treasured in many ways, from the designation of the Buffalo as the country’s first National River in 1972 to the creation of the Big Buffalo Valley Historic District at Boxley in 1987. Fayetteville author Donald Harington immortalized the long-gone community of Murray via his mythical and magical “Stay More” novels. In them he blended the speech and manners of rural Newton County with plenty of tall-tales involving six generations of the Ingledew clan.

“Most everyone became panic stricken, rushing down the main aisle for the door, screaming and shouting… All was in wild confusion and the noise was so loud that it was heard a mile or more away.”

J. Town Greenhaw
(Jasper, AR) Informer, February 28, 1948

There have been several courthouses in Newton County over the years. The first was a log structure, burned during the Civil War. After the war, court was held in several places, including a doctor’s office, a school building, and a saloon. Around 1873 Robbie Hobbs was charged with building a courthouse that would “last forever.” He built it out of cobblestone and coated the walls with mortar, polishing them until they were smooth and hard. Supposedly, a woman picked at the finish one day and made a hole. Some townsfolk, unsatisfied with the quality of the builder’s work, are said to have killed Hobbs.

A Christmas Eve party in the mid 1880s was held in the courtroom, even though a few cracks had begun to appear in the building’s walls. As the people awaited their gifts, someone shouted, “The courthouse is falling!” Panic struck. Some ran into the wood stove, knocking down the stove pipe. Many made a dash for the door while others leaped from the windows. Out on the lawn, women screamed for their children as doctors examined the wounded. Eventually the crowd quieted enough to receive their gifts. Apparently the building was strong enough to last another 15 or so years.

In 1902 land was purchased on the town square to build a new, two-story, limestone-veneer structure. In 1938 the courthouse burned to the ground, possibly as a result of arson. Many records were destroyed. A new courthouse, built by the Works Progress Administration, was begun in 1939 and completed three years later. Billed as fireproof, the Art Deco-style building has a concrete foundation and is made of stone quarried from the Little Buffalo River. It cost $42,000. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Jasper’s courthouse square has been the scene of many celebrations including the Newton County Fair and the dedication of the paving of Highway 7.

“The enemy, surprised, barely attempted to form and scattered. . . . They fled in dismay, a race for life. In the charge and in pursuit for 8 miles, 30 were killed, a number wounded, and 8 taken prisoners. 23 heads of horses captured, and some 25 stand of arms, the larger portion of which was destroyed.”

Col. John E. Phelps
Second Arkansas [Union] Cavalry
April 23, 1864

The 1860 census listed 25 enslaved African-Americans for Newton County, less than one percent of the total population. Although there were no major Civil War battles in Newton County, skirmishes, bushwhackers, guerrilla bands, and divided families took their toll. Like the rest of Northwest Arkansas, some residents allied with the Union while others joined the Confederacy. The area’s many caves and isolated valleys hid men and supplied cover for military activities.

Malinda Newberry Logan lived on Kenner Creek near the Hopewell Community. During the war bushwhackers came to her home to steal food. They also ripped open the feather mattresses and rode their horses over them. The bedding was re-stuffed with dried leaves, causing a later band of marauding bushwhackers to remark, “Look here at this damn hog bed.” Malinda heard about a neighboring family who tried to hide their cured meat within a wall. The meat was discovered when grease stains penetrated the wood during warm weather.

The area’s natural resources were vital to regional war efforts. Lead deposits were mined to make bullets. Confederate forces established a saltpeter works at Bat Cave, near the headwaters of the Buffalo River. Saltpeter (potassium nitrate) is used to make gunpowder. It’s often found in the soil of caves heavy with bat and bird droppings. The soil was dug out and removed to wood vats. Water was filtered through and then boiled in large, iron kettles for hours, causing the formation of nitrate crystals. In January 1863 the First Iowa Cavalry destroyed the works, burning and smashing the equipment. The kettles were rescued by locals and put to use for washing clothes and scalding hogs, well into the 20th century. A few still sit in yards today.

The county’s biggest skirmishes occurred in April 1864. During the battle of Whiteley’s Mill (now Boxley), Confederate guerrilla bands, including one lead by Captain John Cecil, fought a scout patrol lead by Captain William Orr of the Second Arkansas (US) Cavalry. Cecil, a Confederate, was Newton County’s former sheriff; his brothers fought for the Union. After two hours of fighting, the Union side withdrew due to lack of ammunition.

A few days later Orr joined with Major Melton and others to search for Confederates whose mission was to disrupt Union supply trains passing through the county from southern Missouri. The Union forces tried to sneak up on the Confederates, who were camped in Limestone Valley, but were spotted by a scout. Still, the Confederate camp was in disarray when it was attacked on either side by Union soldiers, who pursued the fleeing Confederates for eight miles through wooded mountains.

“The only obstacle in raising turkeys in those days was that the woods was full of wild turkey, and my turkeys would mix with them and refuse to return to their home.”

James Villines
History of Newton County, 1950

Early settlers generally raised enough food and livestock to meet their immediate needs. Most farms were small, given the steep and heavily forested hills. Farmers grew clover, sorghum, corn, peas, and beans in the river bottoms and along the mountain “benches,” narrow shelves of land. Larger farms existed in the northeast section of the county and along the river bottoms, where fields of barley, oats, rye, corn, alfalfa, and wheat grew well. Around the turn of the 20th century cotton was the principal crop, but boll weevils took their toll.

Families ground their corn into cornmeal at home or, more likely, took it to their local grist mill, such as the Whiteley Mill in Boxley Valley. Hogs were fattened up and slaughtered in the fall. The dead hog was scalded in a vat of hot water and hung up by its back legs. The hair was scraped off, the blood drained out, and the entrails removed. Then the carcass was butchered. The meat was salted down and hung in the smokehouse for curing. The fat was rendered into lard, the skin fried into cracklings, and the remaining bits turned into sausage and head cheese. “Hog-killing time” was often a time for neighbor to help neighbor. They’d share both work and meat. Children enjoyed playing with the “balloon” made from the hog’s bladder.

In the late 1800s, James “Beaver Jim” Villines grew corn in the rich bottomland of Boxley Valley. But first he had to clear the land of a thick growth of river cane. It was hard work because, after the cane had been dug out, it had to be burned. But the soil was rich and Villines could get 50 bushels of corn or more per acre. He raised turkeys, grew sweet potatoes, and sold seed and plants to his neighbors. Villines was a successful hunter, trapping otter, mink, and beaver. Beaver skins sold for $3 each while high-quality otter pelts went for $20.

Over in Low Gap, Isaac Whishon grew fruit trees and berries on a hillside bench. He was so good at it that he had excess fruit. He purchased an evaporator and began drying fresh apples and peaches. Sometimes he would spread cut fruit to dry on the roof of his home. His wife Cynthia turned the fruit into preserves and fruit butters.

Some farmers ran small-scale beef operations for the cash it would bring. In the early 1900s there were concerns about southern cattle being infected by ticks carrying Texas fever, a contagious and deadly disease. While local cattle might have some immunity, midwestern and northern cattle did not. It was feared that cattle shipped north for slaughter might bring the disease. In 1906 the federal government began a tick eradication program, asking farmers to dip their cattle biweekly in vats of pesticide. While some farmers welcomed the effort, many were against the program, angry about the government’s intervention. In Newton County, tick inspectors met resistance. One inspector noted, “Some trouble here at first, as many refused to dip cattle.” But in 1914 the county was considered free from Texas fever.

“This little church [at Walnut Grove, in the Boxley Valley] has been the scene of worship and weddings, revivals, and funerals for many years. . . . Near the church is a cemetery where our babies, our spouses, our parents, and our grandparents rest in peace.”

Orphea Duty (1969)
Old Folks Talking, 2006

The first churches were small, log structures. As communities prospered, larger, wood-frame buildings were built. These buildings were often shared by churches, schools, and fraternal organizations. They were places where the community gathered for all kinds of events, from revivals to school pageants to fund-raising pie suppers.

Religious activities occurred outdoors as well. Baptisms were held in the Buffalo River and other county streams. In the summer and fall, brush arbor revivals were held under a rough wood structure roofed with brush and leaves. Participants often sat on wood benches to sing, testify, and listen to sermons. Dinners on the ground were social affairs held by the members of a congregation. Sheets and blankets laid on the ground in a long row held all kinds of wonderful food.

Circuit-riding preachers traveled by horseback from one country church to another, preaching to and praying with the locals. Families fed and housed the preachers whenever they passed through their community.

In Lurton, Uncle Dan Hefley tended to his flock at the Lurton Assembly for over 20 years, beginning in 1944. He could baptize up to 40 people a day. When she was young, Hefley’s daughter Lillie often traveled with him by foot or horseback to participate in revivals at Hasty, Low Gap, Jasper, Mt. Judea, and Gum Springs. Some revivals lasted over two weeks. Lillie remembered a few Sundays when her father couldn’t preach because the church’s altar, where he stood, would be filled with people seeking the Lord, wanting to be saved.

“The breaking of the log jam [on the Buffalo River] became a risk for the floaters.  . . . As long as the logs are in a jammed stage, a person can run across them with ease, but when they begin to separate, stepping on them causes the logs to turn. This is what happened to my brother [Craft J. Lackey]. When he finally made it to the bank, he lost no time in locating the foreman to tell him that he had no further desire to float logs.”

Daniel Boone Lackey
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 1960

Early settlers in Newton County found virgin forests full of ancient oak, ash, walnut, pine, and hickory. Red cedars lined the banks of the Buffalo River. One amazing cedar tree near Pruitt was about 42 inches in diameter at the ground and around 85 feet tall.

Besides using timber for building homes and barns, wood had commercial value. Local farmers could cut logs or barrel stave bolts for a much-needed infusion of cash. In the Low Gap area, Amos B. Lackey cut cedar trees during the winter in the 1880s. One year he was able to buy luxuries for his family including a metal washboard and clothes wringer for his wife, a set of harnesses for himself, and a “Hot Springs” diamond ring (quartz) for his daughter.

Logging was hard work and held many risks. Portable sawmills and stave mills were set up throughout the county, moving from section to section. Without a railroad line running through the county, transporting logs to market was difficult. Mule teams were used to snake logs out of the woods and haul log wagons over rough roads to neighboring counties and their railroad depots. Beginning in the early 1900s, tens of thousands of red cedar logs were floated down the Buffalo River to be turned into pencils.

The timber woods were soon depleted. After operating out of Boxley Valley for over two decades, the Malnar brothers of Austria left around 1940 once they could no longer find white oaks big enough to turn into barrel staves. By the 1950s most of the first- and second-growth trees were gone. Without reliable timber sales, the local economy faltered. Today many county farmers still use their timber woods to supplement their income, whether by cutting firewood or selling logs to manufacturers.

In 1989 several local environmental groups opposed a large-scale logging operation east of Jasper by Mountain Pine Timber. They were concerned about its impact on water quality, wildlife, and soil conservation. But some residents were in favor of the logging, both for the work the industry would bring and to protect property rights.

The southern half of Newton County is part of the much larger Ozark-St. Francis National Forests. When it was created in 1908, what was then the Ozark National Forest was, for a time, the nation’s only major hardwood timber land protected by the government. Purchasing cut-over land where virgin timber once stood, the U.S. Forest Service aimed to provide a renewable hardwood source for the area’s wood-based industries. Under today’s multiple-use management system, the forests’ 1.2 million acres are used for timber harvesting, recreational activities, grazing, and protection of wilderness and wildlife management areas. Counties receive 25% of revenues from use of resources. Much of these funds come from timber sales.

“We heard a lot about the depression on the radio and in the newspapers, how it was so hard on everybody across the country. But we weren’t bothered by it that much.  . . . Maybe out in the eastern part of the county people might have been on welfare, but here in Boxley we had our good farms, and we raised about everything that we needed.”

Orphea Duty (April 1, 1996)
Old Folks Talking, 2006

In the 1930s timber was playing out, jobs were becoming scarce, and a regional drought affected farming severely. In some ways, the Great Depression hurt city folks more than country folks. The latter were used to being self-sufficient, producing their own food and making or repairing much of what they needed.

Cash might be earned by selling animal skins, stave bolts (used in barrel making), or goldenseal roots and ginseng, medicinal plants which grew in the wild. ‘Seal was used as an antiseptic and to stop bleeding while ‘seng was prized in Asia for its believed ability to restore and prolong youth.

But for some, their farms were too poor or their luck too rotten to make things work. They left the county, seeking employment elsewhere. Over in Boxley Valley, Tom and Gracie Fults moved to Ohio while the children of Tim Villines, a former enslaved worker, relocated to Oklahoma.

Some county residents received aid from the federal government. Ernest and Opal Nicholson ran a relief program in Newton County. They worked with several caseworkers to administer to the needs of their clients, many of whom were widows or people with disabilities who had no way to earn an income. Help came in many forms. Some clients were issued beef or canned goods, provided with reading material, supplied with clothing and household necessities, or given funds to purchase windows and screening materials.

A few clients were found jobs at sawmills or driving trucks. Clients received encouragement and advice from the case workers. One child was told “how nice she would look with her face washed nice and clean” while a woman was encouraged to plant flowers “because of the social value to [the] home.” Caseworkers were said to have “accomplished some desirable results by mentioning the nice things which the clients had done and suggesting other improvements.”

Through its many programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) gave employment to a variety of folks. The Federal Writer’s Project hired people to create travel guides and interview settlers and former slaves. In what was then the Ozark National Forest, the Civilian Conservation Corps created miles of trails. The courthouse at Jasper was built by WPA work crews, as was the gymnasium at the Newton County Academy and the Little Buffalo River Bridge, both in Parthenon. In Boxley the crews built concrete outhouses.

“My dad [C. V. Burdine] went from house to house almost day and night for several weeks signing up people as members of Carroll Electric Cooperative so that electricity could be brought into our area.  . . . One of Dad’s favorite sales pitches and reasons for wanting electricity . . . [was] to have good lights in schools and churches. That reason just about won everyone—even if they weren’t too interested in getting electricity for their home.”

Kathryn Burdine Wheeler
Rural Arkansas, May 1984

In 1940 when the state population stood at 1.95 million, only 112,050 Arkansans had electricity, mostly in larger towns and cities. While there were several power-generating facilities, distribution was a problem. The federal Rural Electrification Act (REA) of 1936 was meant to improve that situation, along with improving the lives and incomes of farmers struggling with flood, drought, and the Great Depression.

Rural electrification was costly. Farms and homes were spread out, sometimes with just a few potential customers per mile. It often wasn’t profitable for privately owned power companies to take on rural customers. But with REA loans electric cooperatives could be formed, sharing the costs amongst their members. One such co-op is Carroll Electric Cooperative Corporation, incorporated November 1937.

In October 1938, 150 Carroll County customers were able to turn on electric lights in their homes for the first time. Seeing the success of the new venture, neighboring counties, including Newton County, petitioned the cooperative for similar service. County extension agents and volunteers went from home to home, explaining the work of the cooperative and signing up members for $5. Local residents were hired to clear brush and trees from right-of-ways, earning a whopping $2.40 a day during a time when the going daily rate for farm work was about 75 cents or $1.00. Soon utility poles and giant spools of wire were being brought in on big trucks.

Early co-op members were wired for one outlet per house with one drop light in each room. Over in Vendor, young Kathryn Burdine and her family waited anxiously for the electricity to be turned on, pulling on the light-bulb chain every now and then to check. When the electricity finally came one August night in 1940, she thought the folks at church seemed a little self conscious in the brightly lit building.

Electricity allowed Kathryn’s mother to use an electric iron for the first time while Kathryn and her siblings could listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio without fear of running down the battery. Later on, she and a sister saved money from their jobs and, with their brother’s sale of a pig, the three of them were able to buy a refrigerator for their parents. It was such a luxury for her dad to be able to have a thermos of ice water when he worked his farm fields.

In 1948 the REA began surveying the route for a proposed 33,000-volt high-power line to Jasper.

“All this weekend there has been lots of activity around the Town Square when folks have been working like beavers, cleaning up, getting ready for our ‘Big Day.’ . . . Every day we’ve seen folks washing windows, cutting grass . . . and a whole crew, directed by Mayor A.B. Arbaugh were raking leaves on the Court House lawn and sweeping all gutters clean.”

Jessie Lu Abell
(Jasper, AR) Informer, September 1956

Early roads were often maintained by local governments. Able-bodied men armed with shovel, pick, and pry bar were expected to work on their community’s roads four days each year. Those who could afford it hired men to do the job for them. Many of these roads were poorly built, constructed under an elected township road overseer with little engineering or construction experience.

As the automobile gained prominence, road building took on greater importance. The Arkansas State Highway Commission was created in 1913 to address the need for a statewide system of roads. During the first half of the 20th century, Highway 7 was a rough, gravel road. But the need to improve it grew.

Road crews paved the road between Boone County and Jasper first. At the June 1951 dedication of this stretch of highway, onlookers enjoyed a parade and listened to the Harrison High School band. They also heard from speakers such as U.S. Representative J. W. Trimble, U.S. Senator J. W. Fulbright, and Governor Sid McMath and his aide, Orval Faubus. A noon dinner was served complete with “fried chicken, roast pork and roast beef, potato chips, bread, pickles, coffee and cake.” Festivities were paid for by local merchants. Both the Harrison and Russellville chambers of commerce sent car caravans. A similar celebration was held in September 1956 to celebrate the paving work from Jasper on south.

With its completion, Highway 7 became the first paved road to traverse the whole county. It linked Jasper to the larger cities of Harrison in the north and Russellville in the south, with all of their job opportunities, professional services, and shopping choices. The highway wasn’t a boon for all. Small towns like Lurton which once had a booming economy, due in part to the local wood-handle mill, suffered when it was bypassed by the highway.

The road linked Arkansas to Newton County, ushering in many tourism opportunities. Traveling south from Boone County, visitors would have had a chance to visit Dogpatch U.S.A., Paradise Hill with its craft and gift store, the county seat of Jasper, Diamond Cave, Arkansas’ “Grand Canyon,” Lost Valley with its six waterfalls, the Buffalo River and canoe outfitters at Ponca, and the Ozark National Forest. Highway 7 became the state’s first scenic byway in 1993.

Several landslides have damaged the road in recent years. In 2009 an area of highway just south of Jasper collapsed due to heavy rain. A few years later, repair work to fix the earlier damage caused a section of road to collapse again. In 2011 the state proposed changes to enlarge and realign the road and to replace the historic 1931 steel through-truss bridge over the Buffalo near Pruitt. A new bridge is expected to be built, but debate continues regarding the old bridge. While many want it preserved, neither the county nor the National Park Service can afford its maintenance.

“Everything you see here, everything except the tops of those bluffs, would have been submerged beneath a reservoir behind one of two dams the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had planned to build. . . . Wild rivers, I’m afraid, are a vanishing species.”

Neil Compton
National Geographic, March 1977

“Movin’ out o’ here would mean givin’ up all I’ve got, all I’ve ever had. I hope to stay just as long as the Lord and those Government folks allow.”

Eva “Granny” Barnes Henderson
National Geographic, March 1977

Flowing about 150 wiggly miles east from its headwaters near Boxley towards its confluence with the White River, the Buffalo River has been many things to many people. Native Americans and later settlers used the river for food, water, and transportation. Entrepreneurs harnessed the river’s energy to run mills and float raw materials like cotton, minerals, and red cedar logs (for pencils) to market in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As early as 1897 the U.S. Corps of Engineers looked at making the river navigable through a series of locks and dams, but the cost was too high. In 1936 a dam was proposed for power generation and flood control but never materialized because of the Great Depression and World War II. The Corps revised their plan in 1954, proposing two dams and the construction of Lone Rock Lake. While supported by many locals and members of the U.S. Congress, legislation to dam the river failed repeatedly.

In the late 1950s, Kenneth L. Smith, a University of Arkansas student, began a personal campaign extolling the beauty of the Buffalo through newspaper and magazine articles. His work helped popularize the notion that the river was worth saving in its natural state. U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright obtained an appropriation to fund a survey of the river by the National Park Service, which later declared that, as one of the last free-flowing rivers in the country, it should be preserved.

Dam proponents and opponents geared up for battle. Governmental agencies such as the Corps and Park Service opposed one another’s plans. Local organizations were formed, including the pro-dam Buffalo River Improvement Association and anti-dam Ozark Society, lead by Dr. Neil Compton of Bentonville. In Newton County some citizens wanted the dams for the progress and jobs they would bring, while many who lived along the river wanted neither dams nor a National River.

After many years of struggle, in 1972 the U.S. Congress officially designated the Buffalo a National River, the first in the nation. But opposition to a National Park continued. Many river-valley residents were upset with Park Service plans because it meant that they would be forced to sell their land to the federal government, leaving the homes and farms their ancestors had worked so hard to build.

In later years, Compton came to believe that pollution was the river’s greatest threat. In 2013 the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality awarded a permit to build a major hog farm near Mt. Judea. Concerns quickly grew about the potential for damage to the river from accidental runoff of hog waste. After years of protest and litigation, in 2019 the State of Arkansas agreed to a $6.2 million buyout of the company. The land is now protected under a conservation easement.

 

“No son of mine will ever sit down, fold his hands, and live off the Government. . . . I can’t keep the government from adding taxes and telling me how to run the plant I’ve spent half a lifetime building, but I can teach my sons to get out and hustle for themselves. By golly, the small business is the backbone of America . . .”

I. C. Sutton
Arkansas Gazette, October 16, 1949

Like churches, country stores were the heart of many a community. People collected their mail there and purchased or bartered for goods they couldn’t produce at home. Eggs could be traded for such things as baking powder, sugar, and salt. Store owners also bought animal skins and medicinal plants, selling what they gathered to traveling purchasing agents.

Boxley was named after William Boxley, the merchant who delivered goods to the valley stores and who later operated his own store there. The town of Ponca owes its name to the Ponca City, Oklahoma, Mining Company, which mined lead and zinc ore in the area in the early 1900s. As mining increased in the county, so did blacksmith shops which built and repaired equipment.

In 1929 I. C. Sutton bought a rough turn-handle mill and moved it to Lurton, renaming it the Lurton Furniture Factory. To keep the factory running during the Great Depression, it switched to making barrels and then handles for things like hammers, railroad picks, and axes. World War II bought prosperity to the newly renamed I. C. Sutton Handle Factory, the only war-related business in the county. After the war the business expanded its production to baseball bats, telegraph spade handles, and pike poles used for logging. The business relocated to Harrison in the late 1950s to keep down shipping costs. The move turned Lurton into a ghost town.

The paving of Highway 7 in the 1950s brought some prosperity to the towns along its path. New businesses sprung up. But the highway took away business, too. Some traveled to larger towns in neighboring counties, such as Harrison and Russellville, to conduct their business and do their shopping.

In the 1940s politics was the frequent topic of discussion in Jasper’s two cafés. Pearl’s Café was home to the Democrats while Upton’s Café hosted the Republicans. Today Upton’s is now the Ozark Café, and politics are still discussed.

In 2010 the Jasper Commercial Historic District, including the courthouse, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The simple, rockwork structures were influenced by the availability of the area’s plentiful stone and the town’s relative isolation, free from outside architectural trends. Five of the buildings were built by Gould Jones, a local blacksmith and builder. He constructed a small reservoir in town in the early 1940s to provide water to a tomato-canning factory. The factory was closed by the Arkansas Department of Health when tomato juice was found in local wells.

“We seek to create a camp where a boy will have opportunity for instruction and practice in woodcraft skills. We seek to develop physical fitness and resourcefulness to adapt himself to his surroundings and to live out of doors.”

L. M. R. Rogers
Scout Executive, Westark Area Council
Ozarks Mountaineer, September 1955

“Being on staff [in the mid 1960s] was kind of a dream for a teenage boy.  We’d work for four or five hours, then spend the rest of the day in this wilderness playground.”

Jack Butt
Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, May 25, 2003

Camp Orr was developed in the early 1950s by the Westark Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, based out of Fort Smith. Located a few miles northwest of Jasper, along the banks of the Buffalo River, the camp is named after Raymond F. Orr, a Fort Smith industrialist and former Council president who was instrumental in the camp’s development.

When it came time to find a camp site, Orr and a few other men are said to have paddled the Buffalo in search of the perfect spot. Orr purchased parcels of land from local landowners and then sold hundreds of acres to the Council for $15,000.

The first organized camp activities were held in the summer of 1955. Early structures included a trading post, a dining hall housed in a large Army tent, and a 34,000-gallon concrete water reservoir. Today the camp hosts a few thousand campers each summer, making it Newton County’s second largest “town” after Jasper. Troops come from Arkansas and across the country to gain skill in such things as knot tying, fire building, and woodworking.

The camp’s natural resources are plentiful—a river for canoeing, forests for camping and backpacking, rocks for climbing and rappelling, and flora and fauna for studying. The camp even has its own haunting legend, that of Smokey Joe, a former scoutmaster who is said to have lost his sanity after being hit in the head with a rock.

When the Buffalo National River Wilderness Area was established in 1972, the camp found itself within the area’s boundaries, the only Boy Scout camp in America in a national park. At first there was concern over whether or not the camp could remain. Negotiations went on for five years. In the end it was decided that as long as the camp followed National Park Service guidelines, like keeping the road into the property unpaved, it could stay. In 2003 the camp celebrated its 50th anniversary in true camp fashion, with food, fun, and stories around the campfire.

“There is a thrilling slide down Lover’s Leap to a point in the cave where visitors may behold the Pipe Organ… The calcite stems, or pipes of the organ, are so tense and delicate that the scale of music can be run by deftly tapping the rigid rock, and the cave is thus made to ring with melody.”

Playgrounds in Arkansas
1920s

Newton County is known for having a significant number of caves: Beauty Cave, Bat Cave, Civil War Cave, Beckham Creek Cave, and Hurricane River Cave. Perhaps the best known is Diamond Cave, located near Jasper. Likely named for the sparkling beauty seen as light glistens off of the cave’s dripping water and many-colored formations, the cavern is thought to have at least 20 miles of passageways.

The cave is said to have been discovered in 1834 by Sam and Andy Hudson, Tennessee migrants who homesteaded nearby. As the story goes, they were out hunting when their dogs disappeared into a hole in a hillside. Venturing into the cave with burning pine knots for torches, they found dogs and bears fighting. After killing the bears the men explored the cave for about three miles and saw its many wonders.

Early visitors explored with the aid of torches. They were guided by the son of one of the discoverers, who charged $2 for a group’s daylong tour. In 1922 W. J. “Jonah” Pruitt bought the cave and made improvements to it and the land. Three years later he sold the property to the Diamond Cave Corporation, maintaining a majority share of the stock. Walkways were created and protective handrails put in place. At first the cave’s electric light came from a gasoline-powered generator. Only one tour group could visit the cave at a time, as there wasn’t enough power to light multiple rooms simultaneously.

The trail through the cave was about two miles long. Fanciful names were given to various passages and formations—Crystal Lane, the Sugar Room, the Auditorium of Rome, the Statue of Liberty, and Fat Man’s Agony (a tight passageway). Baloney Pool owes it name to a tourist who didn’t believe the guide’s word that the water in a pool was deeper than it looked. Crying “Baloney!” he stepped into the pool only to realize the guide spoke the truth.

At various times the park had campgrounds and a bath house, rental cabins, a museum, and the Panther Inn, which sold refreshments and offered a hall for dances and parties. The rollerskating rink, built in 1939, was a popular place for local youngsters, who would often catch a ride to the rink on logging trucks from nearby communities like Deer, Ponca, and Low Gap. At its peak the cave had 10,000 visitors annually. On busy weekends the guides were given hamburgers as they left the cave with one tour group and immediately entered with another, eating on the go.

The cave closed to the public in 1988. In 1995 it was sold to the Mas Suerte Corporation of Texas. At the time the company indicated that it wanted to preserve and protect the cave and the surrounding property. Plans included restoration of native plants and trees and a wildlife refuge. The cave is closed at present.

“Dogpatch is really something else. People in the East think all the creativity and action is on the coasts, but the Midwest comes up with some fantastic ideas—like Dogpatch. It is a fine thing for Arkansas and it doesn’t hurt me either.”

Al Capp
Baxter (AR) Bulletin, May 16, 1968

Al Capp, creator of the “Li’l Abner” comic strip, was approached by a group of Boone County investors for permission to recreate his imaginary town of Dogpatch in the wilds of Arkansas. In 1966 they purchased a 160-acre trout farm near the town of Marble Falls, north of Jasper.

The first phase of Dogpatch cost over $1.3 million. Opened to the public in May 1968, the park featured buggy rides, a miniature railroad known as the “West Po’k Chop Speshul,” a trout farm, Ozark arts and crafts, a honey shop and apiary for bees, 1800s-era log cabins, and various hillbilly characters. Over 300,000 people visited the first year. Adults were charged $1.50, children 75 cents.

Soon there was a change in leadership; businessman Jess Odom gained controlling interest. New rides were added and a campsite developed. A few years later Odom broke ground on the Marble Falls resort, next to Dogpatch. The resort included a convention center, an indoor ice-skating rink, and—surprisingly—ski runs kept white with machine-made snow. Financial problems and mild winters led to the resort’s closure in 1977, the same year Capp retired his comic strip.

An economic feasibility study of the park in the late 1960s suggested that, by its tenth year of operation, the park would see over one million visitors a year. At best it attracted 200,000 annually. Competition with the nearby Silver Dollar City theme park in Branson, Missouri, didn’t help. Times were changing. In 1980 fiscal debt, changes in leadership, a decrease in tourism, and two money-losing summers forced the owners to file for bankruptcy.

Even as it struggled, the park stayed open. It added new attractions and featured country music stars like Reba McEntire. Owners came and went. In an effort to rebrand itself, in 1991 “Li’l Abner” and the other cartoon characters were replaced with a generic Ozarks theme. Dogpatch closed October 1993. A year later the Carr brothers of Boone County bought the property but didn’t do anything with it. Over the years vandals and souvenir hunters took their toll on the former park. The statue of Jubilation T. Cornpone was taken to Branson and may still be there on the bed of a trailer.

In 2005 a father and his teenage son were riding their four-wheelers on the property when the son ran into a steel cable strung across the road and was hit in the neck. There were questions about whether the property’s caretaker, another Carr brother, knew about trespassers and deliberately put up the cable as a deterrent. In 2011 the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld an earlier jury’s verdict to award money to the injured family. As the Carrs didn’t pay the judgment, the Dogpatch property was transferred to the family and their lawyer. Since then, the land has been in limbo. The current owner is anxious to sell

“They’re mean, wild and stout. . . . A lot of people here would never get a chance to see them if we hadn’t brought them in. I’m just tickled to death with the way they’re doing and with having them here.”

Robert Harrison
Arkansas Gazette, February 11, 1985

Elk once roamed North Arkansas, as evidenced by name of the old Elkhorn Tavern in Benton County, which displayed a pair of elk antlers on its roof. But overhunting in the late 1800s and loss of habitat as prairies were transformed into farmland first reduced, then wiped out, the once-large population.

A century later, hunters petitioned the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to reestablish the elk. When Hilary Jones joined the Commission in 1980 and saw Oklahoma’s successful elk reintroduction, he figured it could work in Arkansas. The Buffalo National River valley near his home in Pruitt seemed ideal.

In 1981 local volunteers brought the first seven elk from Colorado, where the animal was plentiful. The elk were transported in cattle trailers lined with sheets of plywood in order to reduce stress and minimize injuries. More elk were relocated over the next four years. Soon calves were being born. Today the population stands around 450.

The elk are quite a draw. Tourists often line Highway 43 in Boxley Valley to watch for elk, especially in October during the animals’ mating season. They also visit the new Elk Education Center in Ponca. Each year thousands vie for one of a few dozen permits for two five-day hunting seasons.

But not everyone is happy. Some locals have complained about the growing herd and their impact on cattle-grazing land and the region’s plants. There are also concerns about the danger to roadside tourists. A few worry that Boxley Valley is becoming a kind of zoo.

In 2012 several water, wildlife, and conservation agencies and groups sought to halt the U.S. Forest Service’s expansion of elk habitat into Bearcat Hollow, just east of the Newton County line. They claimed that the clear cutting, road building, and herbicide use needed to thin and manage the forest would be excessive and would endanger lands protected by the Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984.

“Usually only about four men could work in a small tunnel [at the Panther Creek Mine].  One man was engaged in wheeling out the waste and collecting the ore worth saving. . . . From the ‘diggings’ a . . . track capable of supporting a small hand gondola car extended some 300 yards to the ore mill.  At the end of the track the mined ore, a combination of dirt, rock, and ore, was dumped in the grill screen grates where it was broken . . . [and] fed to the crusher.”

Walter F. Lackey (1960)
Newton County Times, August 25, 1983

In the late 1850s, lead ore was mined and processed near the mouth of Cave Creek and at the headwaters of the Buffalo River near Ponca and Boxley. Over 18,000 pounds or more of ore was extracted, mainly for making lead bullets for rifles. The process was crude. Ore was dug out by hand from open cuts or shallow shafts. A crude smelter (furnace) made of stone was used to separate the metal from the rock. With the advent of the Civil War came the need for even more lead. The Cave Creek operation was worked by Confederate forces.

Lack of easy transportation limited the growth of mining. In the early days, raw ore and processed minerals were hauled by wagon over rugged terrain and then shipped down the Buffalo River. When railroads came to neighboring counties by the turn of the 20th century, materials were transported by wagon north to Harrison or west to St. Paul for shipment by rail.

By the end of the 19th century zinc mining had surpassed lead mining in importance. Zinc was used as a paint pigment, for battery electrodes, and to galvanize (coat) iron to protect it from corrosion. A 5,200-pound sample of nearly pure zinc from the Panther Creek Mine near Diamond Cave was said to have been sent for display to the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, winning first honors in its class.

The need for zinc further increased by 1915, as World War I was underway in Europe. During this time the Panther Creek Mine produced about 3,000 tons of zinc concentrates. Prices began to decrease in 1917 due to a glut of minerals on the market, the high production costs of refining the ore, the area’s poor transportation options, and the loss of an able labor force as young men were recruited to fight. After the war, North Arkansas mines and their adjacent boomtowns were often abandoned.

Lead and zinc mining occurred off and on over the years, mostly small shovel-and-pick operations. In the 1940s miners were back at the old Confederate mine near Cave Creek, extracting large quantities of zinc and lead ore.

While lead and zinc were the primary materials mined or quarried in Newton County, there are also significant deposits of limestone, sand and gravel, and sandstone, as well as some coal and iron. Between 1895 and 1936 1,500 tons of coal were extracted from two mines in the northeastern corner of the county. Perhaps the first recorded instance of quarrying involved a 45-ton limestone block quarried in 1836 near Marble Falls for the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. A century later, a limestone quarry southeast of Jasper produced an estimated 50,000 tons of crushed rock during the construction of Highway 7.

“We admit we were freshmen, Much greener than the grass, But now we’re glad to say, We’re the sophomore class.”

Thomas Ryker
Newtonian, 1922

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, one-room schools dotted the countryside, serving to educate students in communities and towns. Schools operated for only a few months each year, when the children weren’t needed for farm work. But there wasn’t an avenue for higher learning until October 1920, when the Newton County Academy opened with 144 students. It was part of the Southern Baptist mountain mission school program, dedicated to bringing education and civilizing influences to rural areas. Describing Newton County as “the most destitute field in Arkansas,” the Baptists worked with community leaders to establish the school.

Donations in the form of cash, trees, and sawn lumber were used to build a two-story, native rock building. A girls’ dormitory was built to house out-of-town students as the Academy was, for a time, the only high school in the county. A rockwork gymnasium was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration program. The stage was paid for in part by area businesses in exchange for advertisements on the curtain.

The school offered coursework in music, mathematics, business, Latin, and the social sciences. Student societies focused on literature and religion. Tuition was staggered, depending on the grade the child attended. Seniors paid $4.50 per month, or $36 for the entire session.

Keeping the school going financially was a struggle. Money was still owed for the main building, so some of the school’s land was sold to help pay the debt. Many individuals and groups stepped up to help. Womens’ Missionary Unions in Arkansas and Texas helped fund tuition fees. The women of the Second Baptist Church in Little Rock assisted with dormitory furnishings and clothing. Baylor University in Texas, which directed the Baptist Mountain School program, provided equipment and maintenance.

The state took over the Academy in 1930, switching it to a public school. School consolidation in the 1940s and 1950s forced many of the local schools to close, moving students to larger, more centralized schools. At the Academy, students were transferred to the Jasper Public School district. The last high school class graduated in Parthenon in 1948; the last year of grade school was 1954.

Over the years the dormitory burned to the ground, the school building was dismantled for its rocks, and the gymnasium lost its roof. In the mid 1990s, Beulah Shelton began a campaign to save the gym. Through the donation of labor and money, including state capital improvement funds, the structure was rebuilt and rededicated October 2005. Today it’s used for community functions. The Academy was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

“ . . . by this time Highway 7 had been upgraded considerably and people came from miles around to shake their shaves, get boozed up, and let their hair down.”

Henry Sutton
Mid-American Folklore, 2000

James T. Braswell was born in Carroll County, but lived in Jasper for about 25 years. A carpenter by trade, he also made furniture and musical instruments such as mandolins and violins. On Saturday afternoons in the summer, he led Jasper’s town band from the bandstand next to the courthouse. Braswell was also a songwriter, penning “In the Land of a Million Smiles” in 1925. The song was written on behalf of the Ozark Playgrounds Association, which used it for many years to boost its tourism efforts in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks.

Community picnics were a frequent summer event in the early 1900s. Some picnics were quite elaborate with concession rights sold to the highest bidder. The day before the picnic, underbrush was cleared and booths set up for lemonade, ice cream, fruit, hot dogs, souvenirs, and the like. A horse- or mule-powered wooden “swing” gave round-and-round rides for a nickel. “Happy Jack” Moore of Swain was one of the best-known swing operators. He drew customers in with his singing, dancing, and snappy patter.

In Lurton, the picnic lasted for three days, drawing up to 1,000 people. Folks had a chance to catch a greased pig, dance to live music, or look for coins in a giant pile of sawdust. They could also pay for a ride in an airplane. In the 1930s, Lurton was the scene of some rowdy Saturday-night dances, courtesy of the local loggers and the workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps. As the nickelodeon played Western Swing music, couples courted and moonshine flowed.

Shooting matches were popular. In the early 1900s men and boys in the Low Gap community would lie on the ground with their muzzleloaders propped up on a log and take aim at paper targets tacked onto clapboards. Their rifles had names such as “Old Bangum,” “Yellow Jacket,” and “Old Countabore.” Contestants were given seven shots throughout the day, with the winners being declared after much scrutiny of the shot-up targets. Prior to the event, the contestants chipped in to purchase a steer for about $12. During the match, the animal was slaughtered. The winners received certain cuts of beef, depending on their ranking, with some selling their winnings to others.

In Low Gap, Isaac and Cynthia Wishon where known for their keen enjoyment of visiting with friends and neighbors. Cynthia was a good cook. The noon meal might include dried smoked beef and venison, sauerkraut, apple and pumpkin pies, fried chicken, potatoes, and turnip greens, all washed down with coffee, milk, and spicewood or sassafras tea. While the women gathered to quilt, knit, and share neighborhood news, the men played card games (“pitch” and “seven up”) and pitched horseshoes. Often folks tuned up their instruments to play songs such as “Buffalo Gals” and “Arkansas Traveler.”

“I literally started with a Bible and a prayer. It has not been easy, but I have had the most remarkable answers to prayers. One summer when the drought burned up the gardens, I used nearly all my slender grocery money for the library, and lived on wild roots, wild onions, berries, and the like. But the books kept coming, and that was what I wanted.”

Ted Richmond
Christian Science Monitor, April 5, 1947

Born in Nebraska, James Theodore “Ted” Richmond lived in many places and had several jobs. But he grew tired of living in a fast-paced world, isolated from his neighbors. Eventually he found his way to Mount Sherman, a few miles northwest of Jasper.

With the help of his neighbors, in 1930 or 1931 Richmond cleared some land, built a small log cabin, and started a goat herd. His aim was to establish the Wilderness Library, a place where his neighbors could have access to the knowledge of the world. At first the only book he had to lend was the Bible. But he wrote to friends and publishers and soon books and magazines began arriving.

As word of the library spread, folks made the trek to pay a visit and borrow a book. For those who couldn’t make it, Richmond hauled 60-70 pounds worth of books in a canvas sack along rugged mountain roads and trails. He visited neighbors, sharing books, preaching and praying, and gathering news to bring to the next family on his route. Seeing a need, he began the “Wilderness White Christmas,” gathering and delivering small toys, clothing, medicine, shoes, and other necessities to his neighbors.

The Wilderness Library grew. Shelves of books were placed in schools and churches. A few branch libraries were established, including the Raney Branch further up the mountain from Richmond’s place. In the early 1950s it held about 1,500 volumes, including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Boy Scout Handbook. Light was provided by oil lamps. Borrowers recorded their loans in a notebook. If someone wanted to contact Richmond, he or she could holler for him using an old phonograph horn, hoping that the wind was blowing in the right direction for him to hear.

Richmond knew the value of a good story. He wrote articles about the library, which he sent to newspaper and magazine editors, and went on publicity tours. A few major publications sent reporters to interview him. A 1952 article in the Saturday Evening Post positively delighted in the tale of a backwoods hermit tending to the literary needs of his hillbilly neighbors. The locals weren’t pleased, going so far as to create the Newton County Betterment Group to fight this unfair portrayal.

Years of rough living and poor diet may have taken their toll, along with the arrival of a regional library system in 1944. In 1953, Richmond married longtime friend Edna Gardner of Texarkana, Texas, whom he had met through the Ozark Artists and Writers Guild. Not long after that, Ted Richmond left his cabin and library and moved to Texarkana. He died there in 1975.

“I love it here. . . . You are so close to God you can just see it all around you. The birds sing all the time . . . and you should hear the whippoorwill at night. It’s the most peaceful place in the world.”

Pearl Holland
Tulsa World, June 20, 1965

Today, much of Newton County’s businesses are tourism related. Whether folks are camping in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests or floating the Buffalo River or riding their motorcycles down scenic Highway 7, tourism dollars are important to the county’s economy.

The area’s rivers, especially the Buffalo, have always drawn anglers. For decades, visitors often stopped at the Shady Grove Campground at Pruitt to fish or swim the Buffalo. The camp was established in 1920 by F. A. Hammons. It offered a bathhouse, bathing suit and towel rentals, campsites, a dance hall, and a well-maintained river sandbar. When the new bridge was built in 1931, Hammons built a few rental cabins on the old bridge. Famous artist Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri was a campground regular. A sign at the camp read, “No hard drinks, shouting or unlawful acts allowed.”

For many years Hammons’ step-daughter Pearl McGowan Holland was the camp’s manager. Pearl’s son, Richard, grew up on the river—swimming, fishing, hunting, and exploring caves. At age 16 he quit school to become a fishing guide for tourists for a time. In 1973 the Holland family made a heartbreaking decision. They sold their land along the Buffalo to the National Park Service. They greatly missed the river and the opportunities the campground gave them to meet new people and visit with old friends.

In Boxley Valley in the late 1930s, Clyde Villines and others worked to clear many years of silt and vegetation out of the millpond which fed his grist and flouring mill. He stocked the revitalized pond with fish and built five small cabins to rent to weekend anglers from Harrison and other nearby towns.

Ponca is the headquarters for folks wanting to float a popular stretch of the Buffalo. On spring and summer weekends the river is lined with canoes and paddlers, many transported to the river by either the Lost Valley Canoe Service or the Buffalo Outdoor Center, the area’s two major outfitters. Locals sometimes see it as an “aluminum stream,” both for the canoes and beer cans that float on by.

In 2004 Randal and Debbie Phillips purchased a few of the buildings at the old Marble Falls ski resort next to Dogpatch, and began transforming them into a motorcycle resort complete with motel and restaurant, convention center, campground, and motorcycle-related shops. The Phillips hope to make Newton County the biker capital of Arkansas.

“Several men were lounging around each still, but it was noticeable that none of them were drunk or even drinking. . . . [T]hey probably considered that they were at work, and a man cannot very well get drunk and work at the same time.”

Wayman Hogue
Back Yonder, 1932

For much of the 1800s, making alcohol didn’t require legal permits or taxes. Just the proper equipment, a few sacks of dried corn, and a good supply of water. Aside from the pleasures of home brew, distilling whiskey was a good way to use surplus corn and make some cash.

One of Newton County’s first stills was run by Alfred Carlton at a spring on his father’s homestead near Parthenon. At Henson Creek, John Dale put his still under a rock shelter. For 35 cents a customer could get a large gourd-full of “mountain dew.” Squirrel hunter Tom Reynolds stopped to visit with Dale one day, only to have the stopper from his powder horn pop out as he bent to light his pipe from a cooking fire. After the ignited gunpowder produced a loud bang, Reynolds said, “That White Mule sho do have some kick.”

In 1897 the U.S. government passed the Bottled-in-Bond Act, in part to guarantee that spirits were unadulterated (not diluted or impure). Only legal, government-bonded distilleries were allowed to manufacture and sell alcohol. Revenue stamps were affixed to barrels and bottles to show that the proper taxes had been paid. The taxation caused many distillers to hide their operations from the revenue agents, leading to the rise of moonshining. However, there were two legal distilleries in Newton County. One was Bill McDougal’s distillery near the Big Hurricane Creek.

Over at Bat House Cave at the head of Wells Creek, between Hasty and Yardelle, owners Charles Bethany and Newton Sanders operated their distillery within a natural rock shelter that had a good spring. One way to make whiskey was to soak corn kernels in water for a couple of days and let them sprout. The corn was crushed into bits or “chops” and placed in a wood barrel along with coarse-ground cornmeal to create a mash. After a few days of fermentation the starch in the corn was converted into sugar. The mash was placed in an enclosed metal cooker and heated. The rising steam was trapped in a coiled copper tube or “worm” which was cooled by water. What dripped out as liquid was further cooked and condensed to make whiskey.

The distiller at Bat House was Tom Raney. After fermentation the mash was dumped into a wood trough as hog feed, leading to a few tipsy pigs. Gaugers George Ray and Newt Jones weighed the whisky and placed government stamps on the barrels, proof that the distillery had paid its taxes. The distillery was allowed to make 12 gallons a day.

The distilleries closed in 1917, when Arkansas’ “bone dry” liquor law went into effect, which prohibited the “transportation, delivery, and storage of liquor.” The night Bat House closed, the liquor barrels were stolen from the warehouse. Moonshining continued as national prohibition went into effect in 1920.

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Spence, Hartzell. “Modern Shepherd of the Hills.” Saturday Evening Post, 11-8-1952.

Stewart-Abernathy, Leslie. “Cherokee.” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas (accessed 3/2020).

Stroud, Raymond B., et al. Mineral Resources and Industries of Arkansas. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington D.C., 1969.

Suter, Mary. “Rural Electrification.” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas. (accessed 12/2013)

Teter, Rhonda. “Newton County Academy.” Newton County Times, 9-7-2011.

Treiber, Peggy. Newton County slide show, produced on behalf of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, 6/2/1989.

“Tumbling Tumbleweeds” thread [re Jubilation T. Cornpone statue].  (accessed 11/2013; no longer available 3/2020)

“Twilight Trail an Eerie Place,” unidentified and undated news clipping (1950s). Shiloh Museum research files.

Walkenhorst, Emily. “C and H Hog Farms takes state buyout; $6.2M deal cut to preserve Buffalo River.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 6-14-2019.  (accessed 3/2020)

Wallworth, Adam. “Graze anatomy: Do elk crowd cattle?” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 5-9-2010.

Wallworth, Adam. “Newton County signs in sight.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 4-5-2012.

Wallworth, Adam. “Residents hear options on cutting elk numbers.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 7-14-2010.

Whayne, Jeannie. “Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. (accessed 11/2013)

Wilson, Ruth. “Elk returning to native habitat.” Arkansas Gazette, 2-11-1985.

Wood, Mary. “Ozark-St. Francis National Forests.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas.  (accessed 12/2013)

 

Settlers could bring only a limited amount of textiles, tools, furniture, and household goods with them. When they got to their new homestead they had to make nearly everything for themselves, including a house in which to live.

Home. The settler’s first permanent shelter was often a small, square, notched-log structure. Home building was a community affair. Many workers were needed to lift the logs in place. While the heavy work was going on, the woman of the house, and maybe some of the other women, prepared a big dinner, laying out a spread of ham, cornbread, salads, pies, and other tasty foods. Good food, fiddle music, and dancing made house-raising a fun event.

Tools and Household Goods. If a family didn’t bring chairs or benches with them, primitive versions were made from split logs and tree limbs. A puncheon bed made of thick slabs of wood resting on a frame was partially embedded into a corner of the log cabin as it was being built; a post held up the unattached corner. Rope beds used a network of cording crisscrossed through a frame. The rope sagged over time and required retightening, giving meaning to the phrase, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

Wood was fashioned into tableware such as spoons, bowls, and trenchers (plates). Tools and equipment such as yokes for oxen, rakes, and axe handles were made of wood, but the axe head and other metal implements had to be purchased elsewhere. Split-oak strips were woven into baskets and water dippers were made from dried gourds. Cord and shoelaces could be made from strips of rawhide or tanned leather. John Ed Watkins, born in 1854 to early settlers of the upper Crooked Creek Valley (Boone County), recounted that pawpaw bark was used for such things as woven chair seats and bed ropes, and for tying up minnow seines (fish nets).

Lighting. Most of a family’s work was done during daylight hours. Although a fireplace provided some light, it wasn’t enough for reading or task work. Grease lamps were common. A loosely twisted cotton rag or homemade cotton wick was placed in a saucer, hollowed-out stone, or even a turtle shell filled with hog or bear grease. When the exposed part of the wick was lit, it gave a weak light. Good light could be had by burning pine knots, hard, resinous pieces of wood. Tallow candles were made if the family had beef or mutton fat and a metal mold, or took the time to dip wicks repeatedly into liquid animal fat or beeswax. Candles were often saved for special occasions like holidays or visits from the preacher.

Clothing and Textiles. Some of the earliest settlers wore shirts and breeches made from tanned animal skins. Cloth was used for most clothing and was usually made at home. Ready-made cloth like cotton calico and fancy wool suiting was expensive on the frontier. Cotton and flax (for linen) were planted and sheep raised for their wool. The resulting fibers were cleaned, carded (combed), and spun into thin threads and heavier yarns. Some yarns were knitted into stockings and scarves. Others were threaded onto a loom and woven into cloth.

Homespun cloth was used for household textiles like blankets, towels, and sheets and for making clothing. Early settlers to Northwest Arkansas repeatedly mentioned “linsey” and “jean.” Linsey was a lightweight fabric made from wool and sometimes linen or cotton. It was used for making dresses and shirts. Jean was a heavy wool cloth used for men’s work clothing. Women cut clothing patterns themselves. If they weren’t a talented tailor or seamstress, the clothes would be ill-fitting—but they were still worn. Clothing took time to make and storage was limited. Folks might have two sets of everyday clothes and a better set for Sundays.

Shoes. Most shoes were made from home-tanned leather made from the hides of deer, hogs, and cattle. Squirrel leather was sometimes used for young children’s shoes. John Ed Watkins recalled that in his youth shoes were sewn together with flax thread rubbed with beeswax and the soles were nailed on with tiny pegs made of maple wood. Boots were worn in the winter. As they wore down, their tops were cut off to make summer plow shoes. Footwear was greased and polished weekly with a mix of pine tar, tallow, and soot. Children usually went barefoot spring, summer, and fall.

Money. Neighbors shared resources such as candle molds and sorghum mills or traded for the things they needed. But sometimes money was necessary to purchase land, pay taxes, or buy special goods like salt, lead for bullets, ready-made fabric, and metal tools. Folks earned money by selling surplus meat and grain, dried apples, deer hides, homespun cloth, lumber, and marketable herbs like ginseng. They also took on short-term jobs like hauling freight. As communities grew, specialty businesses sprung up. Millers ground corn and wheat, tanners cured leather and fashioned shoes, and blacksmiths shod horses and made tools. Washington County led the way in population growth and town building, with fast-growing professional, industrial, and agricultural sectors.

Some Early Settlers

From left:
Jacob A. Meek, 1811–1882. Came to Dry Creek (Carroll County) about 1836 from Tennessee. Farmer, trader, livestock dealer and mayor of Berryville; raised ten children. Carroll County Heritage Center Collection (S-84-236-24)

Sylvanus and Catherine Blackburn, 1809–1890; 1809–1890. Came to War Eagle (Benton County) in 1832 from Tennessee. Ran gristmill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, and carpentry shop; started first school in area; raised nine children and eight adopted children. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-85-323-36)

Jeremiah Combs, 1788–1867. Came to Combs (Madison County) about 1832 from Tennessee. Farmer; raised twelve children. John D. Little Collection (S-84-18-1)

Sam Van Winkle, 1822–1913. Brought to Van Hollow (Benton County) before the Civil War as an enslaved person from Kentucky. Saw mill operator and orchard keeper; raised three children. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-171)

Lucinda Bloyed Karnes, 1840-1915. Born in West Fork (Washington County); her parents came from Kentucky in 1836. Housewife; raised two children and orphaned nephew. Pody Gay Collection (S-2006-26-7)

Settlers could bring only a limited amount of textiles, tools, furniture, and household goods with them. When they got to their new homestead they had to make nearly everything for themselves, including a house in which to live.

Home. The settler’s first permanent shelter was often a small, square, notched-log structure. Home building was a community affair. Many workers were needed to lift the logs in place. While the heavy work was going on, the woman of the house, and maybe some of the other women, prepared a big dinner, laying out a spread of ham, cornbread, salads, pies, and other tasty foods. Good food, fiddle music, and dancing made house-raising a fun event.

Tools and Household Goods. If a family didn’t bring chairs or benches with them, primitive versions were made from split logs and tree limbs. A puncheon bed made of thick slabs of wood resting on a frame was partially embedded into a corner of the log cabin as it was being built; a post held up the unattached corner. Rope beds used a network of cording crisscrossed through a frame. The rope sagged over time and required retightening, giving meaning to the phrase, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

Wood was fashioned into tableware such as spoons, bowls, and trenchers (plates). Tools and equipment such as yokes for oxen, rakes, and axe handles were made of wood, but the axe head and other metal implements had to be purchased elsewhere. Split-oak strips were woven into baskets and water dippers were made from dried gourds. Cord and shoelaces could be made from strips of rawhide or tanned leather. John Ed Watkins, born in 1854 to early settlers of the upper Crooked Creek Valley (Boone County), recounted that pawpaw bark was used for such things as woven chair seats and bed ropes, and for tying up minnow seines (fish nets).

Lighting. Most of a family’s work was done during daylight hours. Although a fireplace provided some light, it wasn’t enough for reading or task work. Grease lamps were common. A loosely twisted cotton rag or homemade cotton wick was placed in a saucer, hollowed-out stone, or even a turtle shell filled with hog or bear grease. When the exposed part of the wick was lit, it gave a weak light. Good light could be had by burning pine knots, hard, resinous pieces of wood. Tallow candles were made if the family had beef or mutton fat and a metal mold, or took the time to dip wicks repeatedly into liquid animal fat or beeswax. Candles were often saved for special occasions like holidays or visits from the preacher.

Clothing and Textiles. Some of the earliest settlers wore shirts and breeches made from tanned animal skins. Cloth was used for most clothing and was usually made at home. Ready-made cloth like cotton calico and fancy wool suiting was expensive on the frontier. Cotton and flax (for linen) were planted and sheep raised for their wool. The resulting fibers were cleaned, carded (combed), and spun into thin threads and heavier yarns. Some yarns were knitted into stockings and scarves. Others were threaded onto a loom and woven into cloth.

Homespun cloth was used for household textiles like blankets, towels, and sheets and for making clothing. Early settlers to Northwest Arkansas repeatedly mentioned “linsey” and “jean.” Linsey was a lightweight fabric made from wool and sometimes linen or cotton. It was used for making dresses and shirts. Jean was a heavy wool cloth used for men’s work clothing. Women cut clothing patterns themselves. If they weren’t a talented tailor or seamstress, the clothes would be ill-fitting—but they were still worn. Clothing took time to make and storage was limited. Folks might have two sets of everyday clothes and a better set for Sundays.

Shoes. Most shoes were made from home-tanned leather made from the hides of deer, hogs, and cattle. Squirrel leather was sometimes used for young children’s shoes. John Ed Watkins recalled that in his youth shoes were sewn together with flax thread rubbed with beeswax and the soles were nailed on with tiny pegs made of maple wood. Boots were worn in the winter. As they wore down, their tops were cut off to make summer plow shoes. Footwear was greased and polished weekly with a mix of pine tar, tallow, and soot. Children usually went barefoot spring, summer, and fall.

Money. Neighbors shared resources such as candle molds and sorghum mills or traded for the things they needed. But sometimes money was necessary to purchase land, pay taxes, or buy special goods like salt, lead for bullets, ready-made fabric, and metal tools. Folks earned money by selling surplus meat and grain, dried apples, deer hides, homespun cloth, lumber, and marketable herbs like ginseng. They also took on short-term jobs like hauling freight. As communities grew, specialty businesses sprung up. Millers ground corn and wheat, tanners cured leather and fashioned shoes, and blacksmiths shod horses and made tools. Washington County led the way in population growth and town building, with fast-growing professional, industrial, and agricultural sectors.

Some Early Settlers

From left:
Jacob A. Meek, 1811–1882. Came to Dry Creek (Carroll County) about 1836 from Tennessee. Farmer, trader, livestock dealer and mayor of Berryville; raised ten children. Carroll County Heritage Center Collection (S-84-236-24)

Sylvanus and Catherine Blackburn, 1809–1890; 1809–1890. Came to War Eagle (Benton County) in 1832 from Tennessee. Ran gristmill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, and carpentry shop; started first school in area; raised nine children and eight adopted children. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-85-323-36)

Jeremiah Combs, 1788–1867. Came to Combs (Madison County) about 1832 from Tennessee. Farmer; raised twelve children. John D. Little Collection (S-84-18-1)

Sam Van Winkle, 1822–1913. Brought to Van Hollow (Benton County) before the Civil War as an enslaved person from Kentucky. Saw mill operator and orchard keeper; raised three children. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-171)

Lucinda Bloyed Karnes, 1840-1915. Born in West Fork (Washington County); her parents came from Kentucky in 1836. Housewife; raised two children and orphaned nephew. Pody Gay Collection (S-2006-26-7)

Most of a family’s energy and resources went into food production and food preservation for themselves and for their livestock. Each homestead produced a variety of crops, hedging their bets against a catastrophic crop failure and ensuring a wide range of nutrients for their diet.

Gathering Food. Soon after the settlers came they hunted, trapped, and fished for meat to allow their livestock and crops time to grow. Deer, turkeys, squirrels, and rabbits were often targeted, but quail, prairie chickens, opossums, raccoons, wild hogs, and even the occasional bear found their way into the stewpot. Game was usually eaten fresh as it didn’t lend itself to long-term preservation.

Blackberries, huckleberries, walnuts, persimmons, pawpaws (sometimes called Arkansas bananas), gooseberries, wild onion and garlic, sarvis (service) berries, wild crab apples, summer grapes, and chinquapin, hazel, and hickory nuts were gathered from the fields and forests. Greens such as poke sallet, narrowleaf dock, lamb’s quarters, plantain, water cress, hog weed, and wild mustard were important sources of vitamins and minerals. The resin from the sweet gum tree was used as chewing gum.

Wild bees were followed to their hive in the hollow of a tree. Settlers carved an “X” on the “bee tree” to claim it. Or they might relocate the bees to a “bee gum,” a homemade hive made from an upright hollow log threaded with crossed sticks and capped with a lid. Bees were important for their honey and wax and for their ability to pollinate plants.

Maple trees were tapped in early spring as their sap rose. A hole was bored in the trunk and a small piece of hollow river cane was used to funnel the clear liquid into a bucket. Hours of boiling rendered syrup; further boiling produced a thick paste that, when cooled, hardened into a sugar-like consistency.

Growing Food. Corn was the mainstay of the diet, both for people and livestock; acres were devoted to it. Sorghum was grown for the molasses that could be made from it. Other fruits and vegetables were raised in the home garden and orchard. Apples, sweet potatoes and Irish (white) potatoes, watermelons, beans, cabbages, turnips, peaches, peas, collard and mustard greens, pumpkins, and squash were carefully tended. A portion of the crop was allowed to go to seed, to be saved and planted the next year. In the fall, seed potatoes were placed in a straw-lined hole in the ground to keep them insulated from freezing weather.

Easy-to-keep hogs and chickens were the most common livestock on the farm. In the 1840 census of Washington County, 36,000 hogs and 10,000 chickens were counted; there were 7,148 residents. Most animals offered more than their meat. Cowhide was turned into leather while the animal’s milk was churned into butter. Hog fat was rendered into lard and sheep were sheared for their wool. Chickens, geese, and ducks produced eggs and their feathers were used to stuff pillows and mattresses.

Purchasing Food. Most merchandise traveled the same paths as did the settlers—shipped by river and then hauled by wagon to major settlements. One common route was up the Arkansas River to Van Buren. Goods could also be transported on the White River from Jacksonport, Arkansas, or brought down from Springfield, Missouri.

Salt was an important preservative. It was usually purchased, although some settlers were lucky to have on their land natural salt licks, shallow depressions in the ground which filled with brackish (salty) water. A major salt works located west of Fort Smith probably supplied much of the area’s salt. When salt was scarce during the Civil War, families scooped the soil from the smokehouse floor and put it in an ash hopper. Water was poured through and the resulting brine boiled down to extract the salt.

Coffee beans, when available, were purchased green and roasted at home. For families who couldn’t afford the expense of coffee, especially during the Civil War, wheat, cornmeal, or rye was parched (toasted) over a fire and brewed, sometimes with molasses.

Some Early Settlers

From left:
James O. Nicholson, 1824–1915. Came to Gaither (Boone County) in 1852 from Alabama. Farmer and first merchant in Harrison; raised nine children. Boone County Library/J. W. Nicholson Collection (S-87-38-7)

Nancy Stewart Anderson, 1843–1921. Born near Crosses (Madison County); her parents came from Missouri in the 1840s. Housewife; raised six children. James T. Anderson Collection (S-98-1-140)

John and Dorothea Holcombe, 1797–1876; 1808–1874. Came to West Fork (Washington County) about 1839 from Indiana. Preacher, farmer, and platter of Shiloh (now Springdale); raised sixteen children. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-1628) and Susan Chadick Collection (S-2006-175-7)

Adeline Blakely, about 1850–1945. Brought to the Prairie Grove area (Washington County) as an enslaved person about 1852 from Tennessee. Housekeeper. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-1679)

Blackburn H. Berry,1814-1893. Came to Berryville (Carroll County) in 1848 from Alabama. Preacher, merchant, and co-founder of Berryville; raised over eighteen children. Carroll County Heritage Center Collection (S-85-18-10)

Most of a family’s energy and resources went into food production and food preservation for themselves and for their livestock. Each homestead produced a variety of crops, hedging their bets against a catastrophic crop failure and ensuring a wide range of nutrients for their diet.

Gathering Food. Soon after the settlers came they hunted, trapped, and fished for meat to allow their livestock and crops time to grow. Deer, turkeys, squirrels, and rabbits were often targeted, but quail, prairie chickens, opossums, raccoons, wild hogs, and even the occasional bear found their way into the stewpot. Game was usually eaten fresh as it didn’t lend itself to long-term preservation.

Blackberries, huckleberries, walnuts, persimmons, pawpaws (sometimes called Arkansas bananas), gooseberries, wild onion and garlic, sarvis (service) berries, wild crab apples, summer grapes, and chinquapin, hazel, and hickory nuts were gathered from the fields and forests. Greens such as poke sallet, narrowleaf dock, lamb’s quarters, plantain, water cress, hog weed, and wild mustard were important sources of vitamins and minerals. The resin from the sweet gum tree was used as chewing gum.

Wild bees were followed to their hive in the hollow of a tree. Settlers carved an “X” on the “bee tree” to claim it. Or they might relocate the bees to a “bee gum,” a homemade hive made from an upright hollow log threaded with crossed sticks and capped with a lid. Bees were important for their honey and wax and for their ability to pollinate plants.

Maple trees were tapped in early spring as their sap rose. A hole was bored in the trunk and a small piece of hollow river cane was used to funnel the clear liquid into a bucket. Hours of boiling rendered syrup; further boiling produced a thick paste that, when cooled, hardened into a sugar-like consistency.

Growing Food. Corn was the mainstay of the diet, both for people and livestock; acres were devoted to it. Sorghum was grown for the molasses that could be made from it. Other fruits and vegetables were raised in the home garden and orchard. Apples, sweet potatoes and Irish (white) potatoes, watermelons, beans, cabbages, turnips, peaches, peas, collard and mustard greens, pumpkins, and squash were carefully tended. A portion of the crop was allowed to go to seed, to be saved and planted the next year. In the fall, seed potatoes were placed in a straw-lined hole in the ground to keep them insulated from freezing weather.

Easy-to-keep hogs and chickens were the most common livestock on the farm. In the 1840 census of Washington County, 36,000 hogs and 10,000 chickens were counted; there were 7,148 residents. Most animals offered more than their meat. Cowhide was turned into leather while the animal’s milk was churned into butter. Hog fat was rendered into lard and sheep were sheared for their wool. Chickens, geese, and ducks produced eggs and their feathers were used to stuff pillows and mattresses.

Purchasing Food. Most merchandise traveled the same paths as did the settlers—shipped by river and then hauled by wagon to major settlements. One common route was up the Arkansas River to Van Buren. Goods could also be transported on the White River from Jacksonport, Arkansas, or brought down from Springfield, Missouri.

Salt was an important preservative. It was usually purchased, although some settlers were lucky to have on their land natural salt licks, shallow depressions in the ground which filled with brackish (salty) water. A major salt works located west of Fort Smith probably supplied much of the area’s salt. When salt was scarce during the Civil War, families scooped the soil from the smokehouse floor and put it in an ash hopper. Water was poured through and the resulting brine boiled down to extract the salt.

Coffee beans, when available, were purchased green and roasted at home. For families who couldn’t afford the expense of coffee, especially during the Civil War, wheat, cornmeal, or rye was parched (toasted) over a fire and brewed, sometimes with molasses.

Some Early Settlers

From left:
James O. Nicholson, 1824–1915. Came to Gaither (Boone County) in 1852 from Alabama. Farmer and first merchant in Harrison; raised nine children. Boone County Library/J. W. Nicholson Collection (S-87-38-7)

Nancy Stewart Anderson, 1843–1921. Born near Crosses (Madison County); her parents came from Missouri in the 1840s. Housewife; raised six children. James T. Anderson Collection (S-98-1-140)

John and Dorothea Holcombe, 1797–1876; 1808–1874. Came to West Fork (Washington County) about 1839 from Indiana. Preacher, farmer, and platter of Shiloh (now Springdale); raised sixteen children. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-1628) and Susan Chadick Collection (S-2006-175-7)

Adeline Blakely, about 1850–1945. Brought to the Prairie Grove area (Washington County) as an enslaved person about 1852 from Tennessee. Housekeeper. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-1679)

Blackburn H. Berry,1814-1893. Came to Berryville (Carroll County) in 1848 from Alabama. Preacher, merchant, and co-founder of Berryville; raised over eighteen children. Carroll County Heritage Center Collection (S-85-18-10)

The food that the settlers grew, gathered, and harvested had to be preserved for the times when fresh food was limited, such as winter. If not enough food was produced, or something went wrong in the preservation process, the family would be in dire straits.

Drying. Apples were peeled, quartered, and spread on scaffolds or on a roof and allowed to dry in the hot sun for several days. Pumpkins were sliced into rings and hung by a pole near the fireplace. “Leather britches” were made by drying green beans threaded onto strings. Drying food outside had its dangers, as rain and dew had to be guarded against. If needed, an outdoor stone kiln was built to dry food more quickly.

Corn was usually dried on the ear and often stored in corn cribs, slatted structures with plenty of air circulation. Frank Nance of Madison County, who came with his parents from Kentucky in 1857, said that “grittins” were made by rubbing a semi-dried ear of corn over the rough side of a homemade grater made from a piece of metal punctured with many holes. When needed, corn or wheat was pounded into a flour-like meal at home or at a nearby grist mill.

Cold Storage. The natural insulating and cooling properties of the earth and water were used to preserve foods. “Stone jars” (ceramic crocks) of preserved meat or apple and persimmon butters were kept in root cellars or placed in a springhouse, a small structure built over a natural spring or small creek. Stone-lined cellars or straw-lined holes in the ground held hardy foods like potatoes, apples, pears, turnips, carrots, and cabbages. Sometimes milk and other perishables were lowered in a container or a coarse-fiber tow sack into a well, spring, or creek.

Salting and Smoking. Pork was the only meat that the early settlers were able to preserve long term. The meat was dry-cured, meaning that it was packed in salt for several weeks. As the salt pulls the water out of the meat, it deprives mold and bacteria of moisture. Not only does salt keep meat from spoiling, it also enhances its appearance and improves its texture and flavor. Saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sometimes found in caves, was added to the curing mixture. It helped the meat keep its pink color and improved flavor.

Smoking the meat for several weeks over a small fire of apple or hickory wood adds flavor. More importantly, the compounds in the smoke inhibit or kill microbial growth. If left un-smoked, the meat’s surface fats could go rancid, spoiling the meat and producing an off flavor.

Fermentation and Pickling. Surplus food was turned into beverages or ingredients for food preparation. Corn and fruits were fermented and distilled to make whiskey and fruit brandies, while fermented apple juice was allowed to turn into hard cider. Vinegar was made by boiling apple peels and cores (sometimes adding molasses) and letting the mixture ferment. The microorganisms that cause fermentation release vitamins, making the end product more nutritious.

Cabbage was kept by slicing it thinly and layering it with salt in a stone jar covered with a cloth and weighted down with a plate. The salt released the water in the cabbage creating a brine. The top portion of the cabbage stayed crisp while the bottom turned to sauerkraut. To make headcheese, a meat jelly, the head and feet of a hog were first brined in a salt and vinegar solution and then boiled before the meat was picked off the bones, tied up in a cloth, and allowed to set up until firm.

Mealtime. What did the settlers make with the food they grew, hunted, gathered, and preserved? Nearly every meal featured corn—cornbread, cornpones (water and cornmeal baked over an open fire), cornmeal mush, or grits made from hominy, whole kernels of dried corn soaked in lye to remove the hard outer layer. The lime in the lye was important, even though the settlers didn’t know it at the time. It makes corn’s niacin content more nutritionally available, reducing the chance of pellagra, a vitamin-deficiency disease.

Pork was the other mainstay of the settlers’ diets. Fried, boiled, salted, smoked, roasted, or stewed, pork found its way into nearly every meal. Some kind of “sallet” or salad was also served like mustard greens or pokeweed. Sometimes eaten fresh, but more often boiled for a long time with a piece of pork rind or bacon for flavor, creating a delicious “pot likker” in which to crumble cornbread. Beverages included sassafras root or spicewood tea, coffee, apple cider, and milk. Most of the family’s foods were skillfully cooked in iron skillets and kettles over an open fire.

Some Early Settlers

From left:
James and Elizabeth Fancher, 1790–1866; 1800–1891. Came to Osage Valley (Carroll County) in 1838 from Tennessee. Farmer; raised 14 children. Carroll County Heritage Center Collection (S-85-18-14  and S-84-211-159)

Fanny Hill, 1833–1918. Brought to Cane Hill (Washington County) as an enslaved person in 1855 from Alabama. Children’s nursemaid, seamstress, nurse, and land owner. Mildred Carnahan Collection (S-98-2-506)

Peter Mankins Sr.,1776–1887. Came to the Sulphur City area (Washington County) in 1832 from Kentucky. Farmer; raised 11 children and 3 stepchildren. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-1784)

Bradley Bunch, 1818–1894. Came to Osage Township (Carroll County) about 1838 from Tennessee. Justice of the peace and state senator; raised 12 children. Carroll County Heritage Center Collection (S-85-6-36)

Andrew Buchanan,1792–1857. Came to Prairie Grove (Washington County) in 1829 from Kentucky. Preacher and farmer; helped establish Cane Hill College; raised 2 stepchildren. Washington County Historical Society Collection (P-1105)

The food that the settlers grew, gathered, and harvested had to be preserved for the times when fresh food was limited, such as winter. If not enough food was produced, or something went wrong in the preservation process, the family would be in dire straits.

Drying. Apples were peeled, quartered, and spread on scaffolds or on a roof and allowed to dry in the hot sun for several days. Pumpkins were sliced into rings and hung by a pole near the fireplace. “Leather britches” were made by drying green beans threaded onto strings. Drying food outside had its dangers, as rain and dew had to be guarded against. If needed, an outdoor stone kiln was built to dry food more quickly.

Corn was usually dried on the ear and often stored in corn cribs, slatted structures with plenty of air circulation. Frank Nance of Madison County, who came with his parents from Kentucky in 1857, said that “grittins” were made by rubbing a semi-dried ear of corn over the rough side of a homemade grater made from a piece of metal punctured with many holes. When needed, corn or wheat was pounded into a flour-like meal at home or at a nearby grist mill.

Cold Storage. The natural insulating and cooling properties of the earth and water were used to preserve foods. “Stone jars” (ceramic crocks) of preserved meat or apple and persimmon butters were kept in root cellars or placed in a springhouse, a small structure built over a natural spring or small creek. Stone-lined cellars or straw-lined holes in the ground held hardy foods like potatoes, apples, pears, turnips, carrots, and cabbages. Sometimes milk and other perishables were lowered in a container or a coarse-fiber tow sack into a well, spring, or creek.

Salting and Smoking. Pork was the only meat that the early settlers were able to preserve long term. The meat was dry-cured, meaning that it was packed in salt for several weeks. As the salt pulls the water out of the meat, it deprives mold and bacteria of moisture. Not only does salt keep meat from spoiling, it also enhances its appearance and improves its texture and flavor. Saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sometimes found in caves, was added to the curing mixture. It helped the meat keep its pink color and improved flavor.

Smoking the meat for several weeks over a small fire of apple or hickory wood adds flavor. More importantly, the compounds in the smoke inhibit or kill microbial growth. If left un-smoked, the meat’s surface fats could go rancid, spoiling the meat and producing an off flavor.

Fermentation and Pickling. Surplus food was turned into beverages or ingredients for food preparation. Corn and fruits were fermented and distilled to make whiskey and fruit brandies, while fermented apple juice was allowed to turn into hard cider. Vinegar was made by boiling apple peels and cores (sometimes adding molasses) and letting the mixture ferment. The microorganisms that cause fermentation release vitamins, making the end product more nutritious.

Cabbage was kept by slicing it thinly and layering it with salt in a stone jar covered with a cloth and weighted down with a plate. The salt released the water in the cabbage creating a brine. The top portion of the cabbage stayed crisp while the bottom turned to sauerkraut. To make headcheese, a meat jelly, the head and feet of a hog were first brined in a salt and vinegar solution and then boiled before the meat was picked off the bones, tied up in a cloth, and allowed to set up until firm.

Mealtime. What did the settlers make with the food they grew, hunted, gathered, and preserved? Nearly every meal featured corn—cornbread, cornpones (water and cornmeal baked over an open fire), cornmeal mush, or grits made from hominy, whole kernels of dried corn soaked in lye to remove the hard outer layer. The lime in the lye was important, even though the settlers didn’t know it at the time. It makes corn’s niacin content more nutritionally available, reducing the chance of pellagra, a vitamin-deficiency disease.

Pork was the other mainstay of the settlers’ diets. Fried, boiled, salted, smoked, roasted, or stewed, pork found its way into nearly every meal. Some kind of “sallet” or salad was also served like mustard greens or pokeweed. Sometimes eaten fresh, but more often boiled for a long time with a piece of pork rind or bacon for flavor, creating a delicious “pot likker” in which to crumble cornbread. Beverages included sassafras root or spicewood tea, coffee, apple cider, and milk. Most of the family’s foods were skillfully cooked in iron skillets and kettles over an open fire.

Arkansas Gazette. “Emigration.” 2-2-1830.

———. “Emigration.” 10-11-1830.

Benton County Pioneer. “Pioneering in Northwest Arkansas: Memoirs of the Late Miss Margaret Woods.” Vol. 2, No. 2 (January 1957).

Besom, Patty and Bob. “How the Homestead Act Helped Settle the Ozark Hills.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 10-1-2006.

Boyd, Don. “Now and Then.” Ozark Sportsman, May 1972.

Chastain, Elsia Butler. “Memories of Benton County in the Early Nineteen Hundreds.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Summer 1973).

Dick, Everett. The Dixie Frontier: A Social History. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 1948 (1993 reprint).

Dillard, Tom. “Ice, Ice, Baby.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 8-15-2010.

Duncan, Clara and James Boshears. “Meadow Valley School Paper—1934.” Flashback, Vol. 5, No. 2 (April 1955).

Flashback. “The Memoirs of Col. James P. Neal.” Vol. V, No. 4 (August 1955).

Gabler, Ina. “Lovely’s Purchase and Lovely County.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. XIX, No. 1 (Spring 1960).

Hackbarth, Mark Robert. The Effect of Kinship on Land Choice in Washington County, Arkansas 1830-1850. Master of Arts thesis, University of Arkansas, August 1980.

Hogue, Wayman. Back Yonder. Minton, Balch & Company: New York, 1932.

Huffman, Mary Jane Freshour. Unpublished letter, Evansville, Washington County, 2-11-1859. Shiloh Museum of Ozark History research library.

Hutcheon, Harold. “Goose Picking Time.” Washington County Observer, 6-28-1984.

Jines, Billie. “Old Photo Depicts a Once-Annual Job of the Area Being Undertaken.” Springdale News, 12-14-1984.

Kennedy, Steele T. “Nature’s Cooler.” Arkansas Democrat, 7-3-1960.

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Scribner: New York, 2004.

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

McNeil, W. K. Ozark Country. University Press of Mississippi: Jackson, 1995.

Miller, C. J. “Lovely County.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. (accessed 3/2011)

Musgrave, Bonita. A Study of the Home and Local Crafts of the Pioneers of Washington County. Master of Science thesis, Arkansas State Teachers College, 1929.

Neal, Col. James Preston Sr. “Migration and Settlement of My Stepfather and Family: My First Day and First Ramble in the Valley.” Flashback, Vol. V, No. 3 (June 1955).

Neal, Joseph C. “Pioneer Trails to Washington County: From the Early Days to the Eve of the Civil War.” History of Washington County, Arkansas. Shiloh Museum of Ozark History: Springdale, 1989.

Obenchain, Ora. “The Obenchains in Arkansas: Part 1—Viney Grove.” Flashback, Vol. 32, No. 3 (August 1982).

Robison, E. Jane Early and Jeri Robinson-Turner, editors. “Marriage to Columbus Collins.” Flashback, Vol. 42, No. 2 (May 1992).

Seavy, Susan. “A Visit with Harrison and Rosie Collins.” Madison County Record, 9-29-1983.

Sizemore, Jean. Ozark Vernacular Houses: A Study of Rural Homeplaces in the Arkansas Ozarks, 1830–1930. University of Arkansas Press: Fayetteville, 1994.

Springfield-Green County Library District. “Agriculture in the Ozarks.” Community and Conflict: The Impact of the Civil War in the Ozarks.  (accessed 2/2011)

Sutton, Bob E. Early Days in the Ozarks. Times-Echo Press: Eureka Springs, 1950.

Waterman, Todd. “Rail Fences: Their History and Construction.” Bittersweet, Fall 1981.

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

Works Progress Administration. Early Settlers’ Personal History Questionnaire, Historical Records Survey. Interview with J. L. Auslam, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 9-7-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Jonas Gilbert Berry, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 8-4-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Anna Walhquist Canaday, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 7-28-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Lon Garrett, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 8-9-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Charles P. Hudson, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 9-14-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Mary Ann Jameson, recorded by Iuka J. Moore, Boone County, 1-16-1941. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Frank Nance, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 7-13-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with John Orr, recorded by Gussie Garland Norton, Boone County, undated (circa 1940). Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with John S. McCarver Pass, recorded by Jewel S. Hensley, Boone County, 4-2-1941. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Loreta Hester Roberts, Washington County, undated (circa 1940). Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Henry L. Thompson, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 7-26-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with John Ed Watkins, recorded by M. O. Penix, Boone County, 1-30-1941. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with J. R. Withrow, recorded by Samuel M. Auslam, Madison County, 7-19-1939. Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

———. Interview with Laura Tresner Woods, Washington County, undated (circa 1940). Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries.

The thrilling tale of brothers Frank and Jesse James and how they turn to a life of crime after their mother is killed when she refused to sell her property to a ruthless railroad man.

Starring Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, Randolph Scott

Filmed August–October 1938, primarily in and around Pineville, Missouri; also Benton County, between Hiwasse and Gravette.

Carpenters, painters, wagon masters, and extras transformed Pineville, Missouri, into the fictional town of Liberty for the movie Jesse James. Wood planks, painted gray to simulate age, covered concrete sidewalks and hitching posts were installed. At one point, a large flock of guinea hens ruined a dramatic scene. Young boys were paid thirty-five cents per bird to round them up and move them away.

Some of the scenes featuring the fictional St. Louis Midland Railroad were filmed on the Bentonville branch of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway between Hiwasse and Gravette. The Bentonville branch was ideal, because it had little traffic by the 1930s. Frisco rail cars and equipment were re-lettered especially for the movie.

Over $200,000 was spent by the movie company and by an estimated 200,000 tourists, including some from Northwest Arkansas, who came to watch Hollywood stars in action. One story tells of hundreds of University of Arkansas students who neglected their classes to make the drive to Missouri. One young woman, Mary Margaret Bowen, was hoping to get heartthrob Tyrone Power’s autograph, but fainted as a result of the day’s heat and crowd. Luckily for her, Power came to the rescue, carrying her into the coach of the train, “where he patted her wrist and fanned her to recovery.”

 

The complicated tale of a young man, loved by two women, who needs money to improve his farm, only to receive a loan from a man whose son then steals the money.

Starring Gloria Jean, Lance Devro, Louise Larrimer, Walter Kingsford, Mirna Liles, Governor Sid McMath

Filmed September–October 1951 in Cave Springs (Lake Keith), Springdale (Hitchin’ Post Café), and Fayetteville (University of Arkansas).

Viva Ruth Liles of Russellville, Arkansas, produced Wonder Valley (originally titled Seven Wonders), the first movie filmed entirely in the state. Liles hoped to establish a motion-picture production office in Arkansas, saying that movies made here would be less expensive than Hollywood and would showcase the area’s wonderful scenery. Filming and operations for Wonder Valley were based at Lake Keith, a tourism spot in Cave Springs that offered barracks-style buildings and a restaurant for cast and crew.

The film focused on the Wonder family and featured former child star Gloria Jean and actors Lance Devro, John Fontaine, and Walter Kingsford. Actors, crew, and community came together. Kingsford helped with a fundraising auction for the Springdale swimming pool. The Hollywood folks attended a pie supper to raise money for the Cave Springs fire department. Governor Sid McMath had a small role, playing himself. Several Springdale folks were used as extras when a scene was shot at the Hitchin’ Post Café on Emma Avenue. Locals were treated to “rushes” (screenings of unedited film) at the Victory Theatre in Rogers and the Apollo Theatre in Springdale.

Glenn Jones remembers when the film crew came to shoot a scene at Lake Keith. It was “all the locals talked about day and night.” He watched some of the filming but was “bored stiff,” wishing he was out playing in the fields and creeks. After his grandmother bought a “Lake Keith” postcard from an enterprising salesman, stars Gloria Jean and John Fontaine saw him with it and autographed it for him. Young Glenn “wasn’t impressed since [he] had never heard of either of them.”

The film was troubled from the start. Shooting locations and dates didn’t occur as announced. Producer Liles tried to interest local leaders in buying stock in her Wonder State Motion Picture Company to help fund the film’s production. While several thousands of dollars were said to have been raised in Springdale, Fayetteville folks remained skeptical. In October, filming halted when actors and technicians walked off the set, claiming they hadn’t been paid. Liles remarked that those reports weren’t true, as she headed off to Hollywood to raise funds. A few days later the motion picture company filed for bankruptcy. In 1952 the court bankruptcy trustee spoke with Liles who said “it will take considerable money to complete the picture,” but that she would do so.

The film had a few showings in Arkansas, Missouri, and California, and possibly elsewhere. It’s thought that the only known copy of the film was badly deteriorated and no longer exists.

The gripping tale of Civil War soldiers returning to their Ozarks home, only to find that their Confederate neighbors think that they fell in with Union forces during their time away.

Starring John Ashley, John Russell, Myron Healey, Walter Brennan

Filmed May 1971 in and around Winslow, including the Jones Ranch, Devil’s Den, and Lee Creek

After co-producer Robert Hughes paid a visit to his brother in Fort Smith, he was so taken “with the beauty of Arkansas with fall colors” that he decided to make a movie in the area. Script problems for Smoke in the Wind led to the film being made in the spring, rather than the fall.

Several weeks were spent “face lifting” downtown Winslow, including Hugh Smith’s General Store, which was transformed into multiple storefronts such as a boot and saddle shop, livery (horse stable), saloon, feed-and-grain store, and blacksmith shop. The sets were built by the G. H. Construction Company of Fort Smith. Seen in the film is the old Jones homestead, described as a “turkey-trot type home with a full-length front port and central hallway.” It was located on Lee Creek about halfway between Lincoln and Van Buren.

Hundreds of tourists came to watch the moviemaking and visit the set. The first scene filmed, that of a funeral at a country church, was made difficult by moving clouds which continually altered the brightness of the scene. Onlookers stood nearby, cameras in hand. Some of the actors stayed in Fort Smith while others were housed at Mt. Gaylor. Lunch was served in the cafeteria of the Winslow School where, on the first day of filming, the lunchroom workers were busy taking souvenir photos of actors and crew.

The thrilling tale of an Arkansas horse farmer who tries to fight off strip-mining interests, only to seek revenge once family members are killed.

Starring Peter Fonda, Gene Allen Franco, Harry Northup

Filmed October–November 1975 in Springdale (airport, Landmark Mobile Home Park), Fayetteville (Washington County Jail, Brenda’s Bigger Burgers, Swingin’ Door), Wyman, Bentonville (Joe Applegate house), Johnson (limestone quarry), and Greenland.

When news of the movie Fighting Mad was announced, it was expected that 400 extras would be needed for the film, all to be cast locally. Gene Allen Franco of Springdale was cast as star Peter Fonda’s son. The eight-year-old worked on the set from dawn to dark, about four days a week. As a newspaper reporter put it, “Life for [Gino was] a collage of cameras, memorizing lines and hanging around with his friend Pete.”

Seventy-six-year-old Berslie Watson was discovered while having lunch “where the elderly people eat in Springdale.” Director Jonathan Demme “asked if I could ride a bike and run and I said I thought so.” She ran in one scene and was “thrilled to death” that the filmmaker got the take he wanted on her first try.

Third-graders from Washington Elementary School in Fayetteville were used in a scene involving a bus crashing into an autumnal pumpkin display. Jennifer Pinkerton Cook remembers how fun it was that Fonda signed autographs; she still has hers. Local band Zorro and the Blue Footballs played in the background of a scene shot at the Swingin’ Door. Fonda and Demme had seen the band at the saloon and had the group written into the script. They sang “The Bleeding Hearts Inn” and “Cry of the Wild Goose” and were paid $300.

The police are said to have made numerous calls to the cast and crew’s hotels for drunken and disorderly conduct. Rudeness to locals, especially the old Dickson Street crowd, led one person to comment that folks were happy to see them go. When asked about Northwest Arkansas, Fonda said, “We like Fayetteville fine. The people in Arkansas have been very cooperative, from the governor’s office on down. The police and officials here have been very helpful. We would consider coming back.”

The epic tale of two sisters and their families who find themselves on opposing sides during the Civil War.

Starring Stacy Keach, Gregory Peck, Lloyd Bridges, Colleen Dewhurst, John Hammond, Diane Baker, Julia Duffy

Filmed August–December 1981 at over 100 locations, including Fayetteville (University of Arkansas), Winslow, Beaver, Eureka Springs, Lake Wedington, Cave Springs, Elkins, Springdale, Wesley, Prairie Grove, Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, and Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway

Architecture historian Cyrus Sutherland was enlisted to find appropriate buildings for The Blue and the Gray’s many location shots, including the historic Headquarters House, which was actually under siege during the Battle of Fayetteville in 1863. With the help of Hollywood magic, the modern pavement of Fayetteville’s Washington Street disappeared under a layer of topsoil and Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus was transformed into Ford’s Theater, where President Lincoln was shot. The deathbed scene was filmed in an old shoestring plant in Springdale. Legendary UA athletic director Frank Broyles played one of Lincoln’s doctors. The production’s wardrobe, valued at $16–18 million (nearly equal to the film’s budget) was stored in a Springdale warehouse. It included Scarlett O’Hara’s famous green velvet dress (made from curtains) from Gone with the Wind.

The production company appreciated the friendliness and enthusiasm of Northwest Arkansas residents, who allowed their homes to be used as sets and sponsored fishing derbies and dinners for the crew. One day the director, actors, and crew stopped filming to watch Prairie Grove’s homecoming parade. An expensive proposition, as the average hourly production cost was $8,000.

An estimated $11–17 million was spent in Northwest Arkansas. Thousands of folks were employed as actors and extras (the latter sometimes called “atmospheres” by the crew). Cal Kinzer, park historian at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, served as the film’s military coordinator and technical advisor, arranging for about 350 Civil War re-enactors, including the Union Rifles, a local unit.

The miniseries’ premiere was held at the Malco Twin Cinema in Springdale. Several actors attended, including Stacy Keach. A reception was held at the Rodeo of the Ozarks community center. At the theater, Civil War re-enactors fired a gun salute as folks entered.

The suspenseful tale of a lawyer who’s been living in the woods as a hermit and the anthropologist who tries to figure out why, when he becomes the suspect in a missing-child case.

Starring Robert Logan, Kathleen Quinlan, Bradford Dillman, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Patricia Relph

Filmed October–November 1985 in Fayetteville (Markham Hill, University of Arkansas campus), Johnson (post office), and Springdale (jail, municipal law library)

Fort Smith native Mark Stouffer, director, co-writer, and co-producer, wrote Man Outside (originally titled The Tuscaloosan: A Solitary Man) “explicitly for Fayetteville,” calling it “a wonderful place to structure a story.” Members of the legendary country rock group, The Band, had roles in the film, including Rick Danko and Levon Helm.

Many Northwest Arkansas residents were cast, including Springdale businessman Philip Steele, Patricia Relph of the University of Arkansas drama department (she also worked as a wardrobe assistant), law enforcement professionals Larry Fletcher, Bill Wolber, Kaine Garrett, and John Harris, and newsmen Guy Barnes and Mark Remes. During the filming of the courthouse scene, Barnes remembers taking up position “standing close to [the film] producer’s daddy,” thus ensuring that he would be seen on screen.

When lead actress Kathleen Quinlan was told that in one scene she would be running from a wild boar, she said “I will jump from high places, even dive into cold water, but I will not be chased by a wild boar.” Fortunately for her, the boar was played by a 400-pound pet pig. Also in the movie was “Chessie,” a dog who shared a room at the Fayetteville Hilton with her handler and attended a reception for cast and crew put on by the Northwest Arkansas Motion Picture Commission.

The comedic tale of a televangelist whose weekly broadcast is interrupted by rednecks, robbers-turned-hostage-takers, and the various entities struggling to end the crisis.

Starring Bill Paxton, Tim Curry, Annie Potts

Filmed February–April 1987 in Eureka Springs (city auditorium), Green Forest (Billie’s Bar), and Clifty (Clifty Store)

When word went out about needing extras for Pass the Ammo (originally titled Pass the Ammunition), the casting director advertised for singers and dancers as well as folks who were “structurally unique” with “large noses and large bottoms and such.” The filmmakers employed locals as extras and crew and patronized area businesses, hotels, and restaurants, pumping an estimated $2 million into the area economy. The historic city auditorium became the fictional “Tower of Bethlehem” church. Statues and a false stone front were added to the building’s exterior, which was demolished by a tank in the final scenes of the movie.

But not everyone was happy with the movie, a spoof about crooked televangelists. After several local pastors read the script, they denounced it as being full of “nudity, sex, obscenity, perversity, drugs, vulgarity, racism, and violence.” Mayor Richard Schoeninger replied, “If it were pornographic, I would be forced to stop it.” Some criticized that the movie would make “Arkansans and Eureka Springs look backwards and hillbilly.” The Elna M. Smith Foundation, owners of the “Christ of the Ozarks” statue, deplored the movie. Protesters (led by a Foundation employee) picketed cast and crew. To keep it from being filmed, the statue was draped in black plastic “for restoration work.” But early shots taken of the undraped statue made it to the final cut.

Pass the Ammo was never shown in Arkansas due to financial problems which forced the production company to sell the film rights for video release. But local folks worked hard to hold a premiere in Fayetteville, sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Motion Picture Commission. As chairman Philip Steele of Springdale noted, “This movie was shot in Arkansas, using a lot of Arkansas people and we are tickled that it will be shown here. We want our membership to see how exciting the film industry can be.”

An action-packed tale of how the James and Younger brothers and their co-horts turn to a life of crime after being oppressed by Chicago railroad investors and Union soldiers.

Starring Rob Lowe, Bill Paxton, Randy Travis

Filmed December 1993–January 1994 in Fayetteville, Pea Ridge, Winslow, Eureka Springs, Prairie Grove, Chester, and War Eagle Cavern. Railroad scenes featured the Winslow Tunnel, the railcar on Dickson Street used as a branch location of the Bank of Fayetteville, and historic trains operated by the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway and the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad.

About 1,500 folks applied to be extras in Frank and Jesse (originally titled Lone Rider). Some folks were cast because of their beards while others had “matronly appeal, a waspish waist, or long hair that could easily be twisted into a period style.” Mike Whitehead and his family were cast as mourners in one scene. He said, “It was great. It was fun to watch the actors and be part of the action.” Shane McNair of Gentry was part of the sound crew, working twelve-hour days, six days a week, for $300 a week. “The money wasn’t that good, but it was fun.” He enjoyed working with the actors but they were “just . . . co-workers. It was boring after a while.” McNair noted that country musician and actor Randy Travis, who played Cole Younger, often visited with fans and signed autographs.

Catherine Bruce of Fayetteville helped with wardrobe. She said, “In the art of movie making, what you see on the silver screen many times is the result of special effects, hard work, and a bit of magic.” For instance, a vest worn by star Rob Lowe had a red-stained “vest double,” worn after the actor was “shot.” Many props were brought from California, but some were rented or purchased locally. One scene required a kerosene bomb, fabricated in part from dowel rods and a can of beans bought at Walmart. A gallows was built near Goshen at the weekend retreat of Dr. Harvey and Amy Smith. Their log cabin was transformed into Jesse James’ home, complete with period furnishings and a reproduction wood stove from Rogers’ House of Webster.

Fayetteville residents Kenneth Williams and Eric Gordon served as location managers, securing contracts with property owners. “When a film company comes in, fences are removed and buildings altered. We come along behind and make sure everything goes back the way it was before.” Of the company’s time in the area, producer Cassian Elwes said, “It’s been a lot of fun. The people of Arkansas are so warm and gracious. We’ll take home a lot of nice memories.”

Chrystal (1994)

The dramatic tale of a convict returning home after causing a car crash that killed his son and injured his wife, and how he has to face the challenges of reuniting with her while leaving his old drug-dealing ways.

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Lisa Blount

Filmed in Eureka Springs

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Mr. Christmas (2005)

A heartwarming Depression-era tale of a young girl who asks for the perfect gift from Santa, which her father can’t afford.

Starring Jace McLean, Jen Celene Little, Ireland Rose Maddox

Filmed in Eureka Springs

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Elizabethtown (2005)

A romantic tale of a failed shoe designer who is contemplating suicide but is halted by the death of his father, only to meet a friendly flight attendant who helps him come to terms with his life and find love.

Starring Orlando Bloom, Kirstin Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin

One scene filmed in Beaver (Little Golden Gate Bridge)

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War Eagle, Arkansas (2007)

A compelling tale of a high school student with a stutter who relies on his friend (who uses a wheelchair) to help him speak to people, but the two don’t see eye-to-eye about the girl one of them is sweet on.

Starring Brian Dennehy, Mary Kay Place, Luke Grimes, Dan McCabe

Filmed in Eureka Springs, Huntsville, Fayetteville, War Eagle, Berryville, Buffalo National River

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Gordon Family Tree (2012)

The coming-of-age tale about an unfulfilled architect who takes a road trip and builds secret tree houses for the children of the generous folks he meets along the way, and who comes to understand the virtue in doing what he loves.

Starring Corbin Bernsen, Richard Karn, Jennica Schwartsman

Filmed in Fayetteville

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Valley Inn (2014)

A comedic tale of an East Coast college student who finds herself selling Christian books door-to-door in a small town, only to have the quirky but endearing locals show her what’s most valuable in life.

Starring Joey Lauren Adams, Natalie Canerday

Filmed in Hindsville (Valley Inn Café), Springdale (Rodeo of the Ozarks)

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Greater (2016)

 The true story of Brandon Burlsworth and his struggle to become a Razorback football player at the University of Arkansas, before his tragic death at age twenty-two.

Starring Christopher Severio, Neal McDonough, Quinton Aaron, Nick Searcy

Filmed in Springdale, Farmington, Gravette, Lincoln, Fayetteville (Razorback Stadium, Broyles Athletic Center, Old Main), Harrison

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True Detective [Season Three] (2019)

Spanning several decades, a detective investigates a terrible crime committed in the Ozarks involving two children.

Starring Mahershala Ali, Carmen Ejogo, Stephen Dorff, Scoot McNairy, Ray Fisher

Filmed in Fayetteville, Bentonville, Lincoln, Rogers, Springdale, Huntsville (Tugboat’s Place)

Barnes, Guy. “‘Hodge-Podge’ Uniforms Get Careful Research.” Springdale News, 10-18-1981.

———. “Man Outside Story Triumphs.” Springdale News, 10-29-1986.

———. “Motion Picture Wizards Weave Webs of Illusion.” Springdale News, 12-14-1981.

———. “Scenes for Solitary Man Unfold Atop Wooded Hill.” Springdale News, 11-17-1985.

Barr, Michael. “Extra! Extra! An ‘Atmosphere’ Speaks.” [Fayetteville] Grapevine, 11-10-1982.

Bowden, Bill. “Eureka Springs studying moviemaker tax rebate.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1-13-2014.

———. “Hindsville café stars in Arkansans’ movie.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 7-14-2013.

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Busby, Jonathan. “Oscar-Winner Brennan Stars in Movie at Winslow.” Arkansas Gazette, 5-9-1971.

Button, Patrick.  Can Motion Picture Incentives Create a Local Film Company?, academia.edu, 7-17-2014. (accessed 2015; no longer available 6/2020)

Carl, Floyd Jr. “Mostly the truth.” Washington County Observer, 9-11-1986.

Davies, David. “Stories Behind the Scenes Make Memorable Film.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 12-20-1981.

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Gute, Melissa.  “Studio looks to boost film industry in region.” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 2-10-2019.

Hall, Grant. “Film Makers Draw Crowd.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 11-4-1975.

Harrison Daily Times. “Changes in Eureka Script Announced.” 1-23-1987.

———. “Concerns Continue About Eureka Film.” 1-22-1987.

———. “Filming of Movie at Eureka Announced,” Harrison Daily Times, undated news clipping in Shiloh Museum research files. (probably January/February 1987).

Hogan, J. B. “From the Lyric to the UArk: Fayetteville’s Old Movie Houses.” Flashback (Washington County Historical Society), Vol. 58, No. 4.

James, Dena. “Clifty Store ‘Robbed’ for Upcoming Movie.” Madison County Record, 4-9-1987.

Jones, Glenn. Email to Shiloh Museum regarding Wonder Valley, 8-28-2007.

Jones, Matt. “Takeaways from Brandon Burlsworth movie, Greater.” WholeHogSports.com, 8-24-2016. (accessed 6/2020)

Kelley, Ashley S. “Warm Reception: Victory’s First Grand Opening Was to a Packed House.” Rogers Morning News, 9-23-2000.

Kinder, Kevin. “Lights! camera! action!: Valley Inn crew collects, breeds Arkansas movie talent.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 7-14-2013.

Kinzer, Cal. “The Blue and the Gray in Northwest Arkansas.” Flashback (Washington County Historical Society), Vol. 32, No. 4.

Klossner, Michael. “Fighting Mad.” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas. (accessed 4/2015)

Madison County Record. “Pass the Ammo to be Shown in Fayetteville.” 5-25-1988.

Martin, Wayne. Pettigrew Arkansas: Hardwood Capital of the World. Shiloh Museum of Ozark History: Springdale, 2010.

Marts, Kent. “‘Speed, sound; action!'” Benton County Democrat, 3-8-1987.

McNeil, Betsy. “A look behind the scenes of a movie filmed in northwest Arkansas.” Gentry Courier-Journal, 1-26-1994.

———. “Movie Production Involves Numerous Area Workers.” Springdale Morning News, 1-22-1994.

Milton, Mathew.  “Lights. Camera. Fayetteville.” AY Magazine, January 2020.

Northwest Arkansas Times. “Filming of Fonda Movie Set for Area.” 10-14-1975.

———. “New Drive-In Theater Opens Thursday Night.” 8-17-1949.

———. “Opening scenes for Ozark movie completed by production crew.” 10-16-1985.

———. “State Hopes Film’s Success Will Attract Movie-Makers.” 1-31-1982.

———. “Winslow to be Movie Setting.” 4-26-1971.

Palmer, Dorothy. “State’s Film Future Bright.” Arkansas Gazette, 9-21-1981.

Ryburn, Stacy.  “Rockhill Studios opens doors.” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 4-26-2018.

Saunders, Bev. “Frank and Jesse comes to northwest Arkansas.” Gentry Courier-Journal, 1-26-1994.

Sell, Mary Jean. “Making a movie challenges patience.” Eureka Springs Times Echo, 3-5-1987.

———. “‘Our movie’ finally on screen.” Eureka Springs Times-Echo, 6-2-1988.

Shiras, Ginger. “Applause Welcomes Eureka Movie Debut.” Harrison Daily Times, 5-27-1988.

———. “Arkansas Showing of Pass the Ammo Scheduled.” Harrison Daily Times, 5-20-1988.

Smith, Jamie. “Film industry taking notice of Arkansas (updated).” The City Wire, 4-8-2013. (accessed 4/2015)

Springdale News. “Bigger than ‘Masasa:” McLaglen Recaps Filming of The Blue and the Gray.” 11-17-1982.

———. “Playing with Peter Fonda . . . Is Great Pretending.” 10-26-1975.

Sutherland, Cyrus A. “The Blue and the Gray in Northwest Arkansas: Cyrus A. Sutherland’s Story.” Flashback (Washington County Historical Society), Vol. 32, No. 3 (August 1982).

Tributes.com. Viva Ruth Liles obituary. (accessed 4/2015)

Wakefield, Jim. “The Jesse James Movie Train.” Unpublished manuscript, late 1900s.

“We ought to be in pictures . . . motion pictures in Arkansas.” Uncredited and undated news clipping (possibly Northwest Arkansas Times, 1985). Shiloh Museum research files.

Weddington, Randy. “The Blue and the Gray: An Electrifying Experience.” [Fayetteville] Grapevine, 11-10-1982.

It was relatively easy to put up the walls of a log home in a day or two, using just a handful of tools. Most men had a basic knowledge of how to build, but they counted on their neighbors’ skilled assistance. More affluent settlers like John Latta of Washington County relied on his enslaved workers to help build his home.

Home building was a community event. After the homeowner prepared the logs and brought them to the homesite he set the first few courses of timber himself. Then the call went out to neighboring families. While the men and older boys worked, the women prepared food, quilted or sewed, and exchanged news.

Getting to Work

Oak was preferred because it was durable, strong, and readily available. Once a good-sized tree was selected it was chopped down with an ax. Iron and wooden wedges called “gluts” were used to split larger logs. To square up the log, it was laid lengthwise atop other logs to lift it off of the ground. A hewing (cut) line was determined along one side and lightly marked with an ax. The worker stood on top of the log and, taking his chopping ax, deeply scored the side of the log every few inches to the desired depth of the soon-to-be finished side.

Standing on the ground, parallel to the log at one end and slowly moving backwards, the worker carefully swung his heavy broadax, hewing down the line he just scored bit by bit to knock off wood chips and create a flat surface. The log was turned and the next side hewed. Hewing took great strength, control, and stamina.

“Planking” was common in the Ozarks. Not only was it faster to shape only two (opposite) sides of the log for the inner and outer walls, the rough bark left along the top and bottom was thought to better grip the chinking (fill) material. Mules snaked the finished logs from forest to home site.

Sill logs were placed on foot-high stacked stone piers to serve as the base of the walls. Smaller logs used as floor joists were fitted into the sills with mortise joints to hold them into place. While some built their homes close to the ground and used hard-packed soil as their floor, most people secured sawn boards or puncheons, half-round logs, atop their floor joists.

One by one the logs were lifted into place and notched together at the corners, forming the walls. Corner notching was critical. The strength and rigidity of a log wall depends on how well the corners are interlocked. In Northwest Arkansas the half-dovetail notch was the most common notching technique, followed by square notching. The half-dovetail notch was strong and its shape promoted water runoff, thus preventing rot. The projecting ends of the logs were sawed off, squaring up the cabin’s corners.

As the walls grew in height, heavy poles were leaned against them and used as skids. Each log was pushed and pulled up the poles, set on top of the wall, and notched into place. To create the framework for a second floor or loft, or to support the roof system, cross beams were placed across the width of the building. From there the wall could be continued or the roof added.

Finishing the Home

When an opening was needed for a door, window, or fireplace hearth, the height of the opening was determined and the wall built to that level. Two vertical saw cuts were placed in the highest log before another was added. Once the wall was completed, a saw was slipped into the cuts and worked down to the bottom of the desired opening. Wood blocks placed between the gaps in the logs prevented the opening from collapsing. Sawn boards were nailed into either side of the finished opening to create a frame. Some cabins didn’t have windows, as glass was expensive.

The roof system could be made in several ways. One way was to place upright support poles along the middle of the ceiling beams. On top of the center supports sat a long ridgepole running the length of the house. Made of split logs or sawn boards, the rafters formed the diagonal slope of the roof. Placed at intervals, one end of the rafter was secured into the ridgepole while the other end was attached to the wall. Shingles were nailed into strips of wood placed horizontally across the rafters.

Split-wood shingles were made from straight-grained oak. A log was cut into 16-inch lengths and then split into flat blocks. A block was stood on end, a froe blade placed in line with the grain, and a maul was used to hammer the froe down the length of wood, splitting it into shingles. Depending on the size of the house, a thousand or more shingles might be needed.

Chinking made of wood chips or shingles was stuffed diagonally in the gaps between the logs and covered with daubing, usually a lime mortar mixed with clay, mud, or sand. Some builders used only a mortar mix, which wasn’t as weather tight in the long run.

The chimney was often made of stone, either naturally formed or shaped with hammer and chisel to form blocks. Some homes had a stick-and-mud chimney lined with clay. While not ideal, they were relatively easy to put together.

It was relatively easy to put up the walls of a log home in a day or two, using just a handful of tools. Most men had a basic knowledge of how to build, but they counted on their neighbors’ skilled assistance. More affluent settlers like John Latta of Washington County relied on his enslaved workers to help build his home.

Home building was a community event. After the homeowner prepared the logs and brought them to the homesite he set the first few courses of timber himself. Then the call went out to neighboring families. While the men and older boys worked, the women prepared food, quilted or sewed, and exchanged news.

Getting to Work

Oak was preferred because it was durable, strong, and readily available. Once a good-sized tree was selected it was chopped down with an ax. Iron and wooden wedges called “gluts” were used to split larger logs. To square up the log, it was laid lengthwise atop other logs to lift it off of the ground. A hewing (cut) line was determined along one side and lightly marked with an ax. The worker stood on top of the log and, taking his chopping ax, deeply scored the side of the log every few inches to the desired depth of the soon-to-be finished side.

Standing on the ground, parallel to the log at one end and slowly moving backwards, the worker carefully swung his heavy broadax, hewing down the line he just scored bit by bit to knock off wood chips and create a flat surface. The log was turned and the next side hewed. Hewing took great strength, control, and stamina.

“Planking” was common in the Ozarks. Not only was it faster to shape only two (opposite) sides of the log for the inner and outer walls, the rough bark left along the top and bottom was thought to better grip the chinking (fill) material. Mules snaked the finished logs from forest to home site.

Sill logs were placed on foot-high stacked stone piers to serve as the base of the walls. Smaller logs used as floor joists were fitted into the sills with mortise joints to hold them into place. While some built their homes close to the ground and used hard-packed soil as their floor, most people secured sawn boards or puncheons, half-round logs, atop their floor joists.

One by one the logs were lifted into place and notched together at the corners, forming the walls. Corner notching was critical. The strength and rigidity of a log wall depends on how well the corners are interlocked. In Northwest Arkansas the half-dovetail notch was the most common notching technique, followed by square notching. The half-dovetail notch was strong and its shape promoted water runoff, thus preventing rot. The projecting ends of the logs were sawed off, squaring up the cabin’s corners.

As the walls grew in height, heavy poles were leaned against them and used as skids. Each log was pushed and pulled up the poles, set on top of the wall, and notched into place. To create the framework for a second floor or loft, or to support the roof system, cross beams were placed across the width of the building. From there the wall could be continued or the roof added.

Finishing the Home

When an opening was needed for a door, window, or fireplace hearth, the height of the opening was determined and the wall built to that level. Two vertical saw cuts were placed in the highest log before another was added. Once the wall was completed, a saw was slipped into the cuts and worked down to the bottom of the desired opening. Wood blocks placed between the gaps in the logs prevented the opening from collapsing. Sawn boards were nailed into either side of the finished opening to create a frame. Some cabins didn’t have windows, as glass was expensive.

The roof system could be made in several ways. One way was to place upright support poles along the middle of the ceiling beams. On top of the center supports sat a long ridgepole running the length of the house. Made of split logs or sawn boards, the rafters formed the diagonal slope of the roof. Placed at intervals, one end of the rafter was secured into the ridgepole while the other end was attached to the wall. Shingles were nailed into strips of wood placed horizontally across the rafters.

Split-wood shingles were made from straight-grained oak. A log was cut into 16-inch lengths and then split into flat blocks. A block was stood on end, a froe blade placed in line with the grain, and a maul was used to hammer the froe down the length of wood, splitting it into shingles. Depending on the size of the house, a thousand or more shingles might be needed.

Chinking made of wood chips or shingles was stuffed diagonally in the gaps between the logs and covered with daubing, usually a lime mortar mixed with clay, mud, or sand. Some builders used only a mortar mix, which wasn’t as weather tight in the long run.

The chimney was often made of stone, either naturally formed or shaped with hammer and chisel to form blocks. Some homes had a stick-and-mud chimney lined with clay. While not ideal, they were relatively easy to put together.

Life in a single-pen log cabin was cramped, especially for a large family. Eating, sleeping, and other activities all happened in the same space. Furniture and personal belongings, including clothes, were kept to a minimum. In a house with two pens, one served as a general living area while the other held the kitchen and dining room. Folks might sleep in either room or in a loft, if they had one. During summer, doors and windows were thrown open to catch a cooling breeze. When winter winds blew through the chinking, even a blazing fire might not keep the house warm enough.

Changing Times

Early Ozarkers were recyclers. Rather than build new houses, they added onto their existing homes. Cramped single pen cabins soon became dogtrots or double-pen houses. Lean-to rooms made of sawn boards were tacked on for additional space, further obscuring the footprint of the original pens. For added protection from the elements, wide weatherboards made of planked wood were attached horizontally to the home’s exterior.

As families prospered and earned enough cash to purchase milled lumber, they added siding and fancy trim to their home to give it a modern appearance. By the early 20th century many log homes had been transformed, buried deep within the walls of an enlarged, up-to-date house.

If a family built a new home, the old log building was often used as a farm building or for storage. In 1898 abandoned log cabins were pressed into service as temporary homes for the newest settlers to the Ozarks—the Italian immigrants of Tontitown (Washington County).

End of an Era

Log-home construction lessened by the 1880s, especially in the more populated areas of Northwest Arkansas. The availability of milled lumber, cash income, and modern architectural styles prompted the switch to the frame-style housing of today.

It wasn’t until the 1920s and 1930s that another wave of log-building construction began. As New York’s rustic Adirondack architectural style came into vogue nationwide, it was often used for vacation cottages. During the Great Depression, when several area state parks were constructed under the Works Progress Administration, recreational cabins and other structures were built using a simplified Lincoln Log-type architecture, along the lines of the Adirondack style. Impoverished families, especially in rural areas, were sometimes forced to build log homes for shelter. Compared to those of their ancestors, the structures were inelegant and crudely built. The log-building tradition had been lost.

An Icon of the Ozarks

The log cabin has come to symbolize the Ozarks, in both positive and negative ways. It’s been used as a branding tool, a stereotype, and a way to communicate a sentimental sense of a simpler time.

In the mid 1800s stories and images depicting the “Arkansas Traveler” were popular nationwide. The tale made fun of a hapless wanderer coming across a shiftless family and their rude log cabin in the wilds of Arkansas. In the late 1960s investors built the backwoods theme park of Dogpatch over in Marble Falls (Newton and Boone Counties). Based on Al Capp’s hillbilly comic strip “Lil’ Abner,” the park featured numerous log cabins gathered from the surrounding hills. On the 1960s television show, The Beverly Hillbillies, the Clampett family so missed their Ozark home that they built a cabin behind their fancy mansion.

William Hope “Coin” Harvey of Monte Ne (Benton County) may have been the first person in the area to use a log building as a marketing tool. In 1905 he completed a massive log hotel known as Missouri Row as a way to attract visitors to his resort. Over in Western Grove (Newton County) in the 1920s, Mrs. Poort’s Tourist Court featured Adirondack-style cabins made of round logs for visitors. No doubt they were economical to build, but their rustic charm and novelty said “Ozark” to Grace Poort’s customers. For the past few decades the House of Webster in Rogers (Benton County) has used a log cabin as retail space to sell its line of preserves and other food products.

Log buildings can still be found, usually unoccupied, along back roads or preserved at area historical institutions. That they still exist today is a testament to the skilled craftsmen who built these sturdy structures for their families and communities, using a few simple tools and materials gathered from forest and field.

Life in a single-pen log cabin was cramped, especially for a large family. Eating, sleeping, and other activities all happened in the same space. Furniture and personal belongings, including clothes, were kept to a minimum. In a house with two pens, one served as a general living area while the other held the kitchen and dining room. Folks might sleep in either room or in a loft, if they had one. During summer, doors and windows were thrown open to catch a cooling breeze. When winter winds blew through the chinking, even a blazing fire might not keep the house warm enough.

Changing Times

Early Ozarkers were recyclers. Rather than build new houses, they added onto their existing homes. Cramped single pen cabins soon became dogtrots or double-pen houses. Lean-to rooms made of sawn boards were tacked on for additional space, further obscuring the footprint of the original pens. For added protection from the elements, wide weatherboards made of planked wood were attached horizontally to the home’s exterior.

As families prospered and earned enough cash to purchase milled lumber, they added siding and fancy trim to their home to give it a modern appearance. By the early 20th century many log homes had been transformed, buried deep within the walls of an enlarged, up-to-date house.

If a family built a new home, the old log building was often used as a farm building or for storage. In 1898 abandoned log cabins were pressed into service as temporary homes for the newest settlers to the Ozarks—the Italian immigrants of Tontitown (Washington County).

End of an Era

Log-home construction lessened by the 1880s, especially in the more populated areas of Northwest Arkansas. The availability of milled lumber, cash income, and modern architectural styles prompted the switch to the frame-style housing of today.

It wasn’t until the 1920s and 1930s that another wave of log-building construction began. As New York’s rustic Adirondack architectural style came into vogue nationwide, it was often used for vacation cottages. During the Great Depression, when several area state parks were constructed under the Works Progress Administration, recreational cabins and other structures were built using a simplified Lincoln Log-type architecture, along the lines of the Adirondack style. Impoverished families, especially in rural areas, were sometimes forced to build log homes for shelter. Compared to those of their ancestors, the structures were inelegant and crudely built. The log-building tradition had been lost.

An Icon of the Ozarks

The log cabin has come to symbolize the Ozarks, in both positive and negative ways. It’s been used as a branding tool, a stereotype, and a way to communicate a sentimental sense of a simpler time.

In the mid 1800s stories and images depicting the “Arkansas Traveler” were popular nationwide. The tale made fun of a hapless wanderer coming across a shiftless family and their rude log cabin in the wilds of Arkansas. In the late 1960s investors built the backwoods theme park of Dogpatch over in Marble Falls (Newton and Boone Counties). Based on Al Capp’s hillbilly comic strip “Lil’ Abner,” the park featured numerous log cabins gathered from the surrounding hills. On the 1960s television show, The Beverly Hillbillies, the Clampett family so missed their Ozark home that they built a cabin behind their fancy mansion.

William Hope “Coin” Harvey of Monte Ne (Benton County) may have been the first person in the area to use a log building as a marketing tool. In 1905 he completed a massive log hotel known as Missouri Row as a way to attract visitors to his resort. Over in Western Grove (Newton County) in the 1920s, Mrs. Poort’s Tourist Court featured Adirondack-style cabins made of round logs for visitors. No doubt they were economical to build, but their rustic charm and novelty said “Ozark” to Grace Poort’s customers. For the past few decades the House of Webster in Rogers (Benton County) has used a log cabin as retail space to sell its line of preserves and other food products.

Log buildings can still be found, usually unoccupied, along back roads or preserved at area historical institutions. That they still exist today is a testament to the skilled craftsmen who built these sturdy structures for their families and communities, using a few simple tools and materials gathered from forest and field.

When a cabin was built, the community came together to help. Men worked, woman cooked and visited, and children played. To build the walls, long skids made from young trees were angled against the structure. Logs were pushed and pulled up them into place. These logs are planked, meaning that only two (opposite) sides were hewn flat, rather than all four sides. Skill was needed to shape the ends of the logs with an ax in order to join the corners together.

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A chopping ax was used to score the side of the log as part of the first step in shaping it. Once the scores had been made, the wood between them was chipped out and the side made flat with a broadax. The score marks are still visible on this cabin. The door is simple, made with sawn boards.

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Half-dovetail corner notching was the most common form of notching in the Arkansas Ozarks. It created a sturdy corner. Once the logs were in place, chinking materials (big wood chips or shingles; see photo below) were wedged between the logs and covered with daubing, a lime mortar mixed with clay, mud, or sand. Sometimes only a mortar mix was used, which wasn’t as weather tight. In the top photo, the building appears to have interior sheathing made of wide boards. On the exterior, wood sticks were added between the logs to further keep out wind; they may have been daubed over at one time.

 

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The cabin on the left was probably built in the 1850s; the rough addition was added later. The fact that it’s sheathed with sawn lumber in a board-and-batten pattern may indicate a frame structure rather than log. Rather than build a second stone chimney, a metal flue from a wood stove pokes through the roof. Early Ozarkers often added to existing buildings rather than build new.

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In 1930 teacher Mary Guilbeau moved from Dallas to Delaney to establish a private school so rural Arkansas students could learn the classics along with their regular studies. She persuaded the folks in Delaney to donate land and build a log schoolhouse. Guilbeau especially admired the work of woodworker Jimmie Wilson who shaped the logs with a broadax. He’d mark the spot with his big toe and then move back just before the ax fell, whacking the exact spot where his toe had been. Unlike the log buildings of earlier generations, the school was built with round logs and saddle notches at the corners.

The single pen was a one-room structure with a chimney on the gable end. It’s possible that this cabin was built by the Strain family, which settled near the Middle Fork of the White River in the early 1830s. Like most homes at the time, the front door faced the road. Seen above the door are the ends of the floor joists for the second floor or loft. Half-dovetail notches are used at the corners.

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The stick-and-mud chimney with its clay lining was easy to build. Should the chimney catch on fire a long pole, kept nearby, was used to push the burning structure away from the house. The cabin on the left appears to use conventional rafters to support the roof. On the right, logs running the length of the cabin are used. The shingles are nailed directly to them. Overhanging log ends protrude from the building’s corners. Normally they would be trimmed flush with the wall to quickly shed rainwater.

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In 1898 the Maestri family was among the first to settle Tontitown. They were part of a group of Italians who immigrated to Arkansas to begin a new life. They lived in abandoned cabins and outbuildings until they could build their own homes. Some families shared a single home or log barn. Seen above the door are the ends of the floor joists which have been mortised into the logs to create a second floor or loft. Half-dovetail notches are used at the corners. A second door, unusual for a home this size, aided cross ventilation.

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Mrs. Cooksey and another woman built this ramshackle house during the Great Depression, at a time when people made do however they could. While the structure doesn’t show the same level of construction skills as log cabins built a century earlier, no doubt it served as a welcome home.

This impressive four-room structure was built in 1834 in the Vineyard community, not far from today’s border with Oklahoma. It was moved to the battlefield in 1958. Usually a double pen is a single-story building, made of two individual pens with chimneys on either side. In this case it may be that the pens were skillfully connected together, with only a single log wall between them. Latta and his enslaved workers, Dan and Ben, were talented craftsmen who built homes, cabinets, and wagons. The home’s original shingles, cut from unseasoned oak and boiled in tallow (animal fat) to make them water repellent, lasted over sixty years.

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The double doors and chimneys at both ends indicate this building was once a double pen log home. By adding clapboard siding and whitewashing the chimneys, the homeowner has updated the look of his home, making it seem like a newer, frame-style structure.

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The front part of this two-story structure (originally a double pen) was built in 1853 by Jabez T. Hale. It featured four rooms upstairs and four downstairs. In 1926 Linebarger moved it a couple hundred yards to its present location, remodeled it (leaving only one front door), added on a fashionable Adirondack/Craftsmen-style entry, and built a large addition in the rear.

The saddlebag was made of two pens with a single chimney between them. Although the image is faint, there appears to be an arched screen to keep out debris over the top of the chimney, which may actually be two chimneys placed back-to-back. The double front doors are typical of two-pen log buildings. Half-dovetail notches are used at the corners. A log outbuilding stands behind the house.

The dogtrot was made of two single pens connected by a covered breezeway, with chimneys on the gable ends. Various clues indicate this image was taken behind the home—the covered well, the lack of doors, the small chimney (for a wood stove) poking through the roof, and the more-refined picket fence seen through the breezeway.

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The front of this dogtrot house has been sheathed in clapboards in an effort to modernize it, but the walls of the breezeway still show the home’s original log construction. On the porch and in the breezeway are chairs, wood boxes, and a basket, demonstrating how outdoor spaces were used for work, relaxation, visits with neighbors, and storage.

Barns and outbuildings were sometimes built quickly, without the precision that might go into a home. The main floor could be used for sheltering livestock and storing equipment and wagons. The loft was used to store hay. Roofs often extended far beyond the walls to provide additional shelter.

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Some of the logs for this barn may have come from Combs’ first home, built sometime around 1861. His original plan was to build a substantial two-story brick home (which he eventually did), but then came the turmoil of the Civil War. The barn has a mix of planked logs (hewn flat on two sides) and round logs, some still with their bark. The first rows of logs are joined with half-dovetail notched corners; further up some of the logs appear to be saddle notched. These details indicate that different hands worked on this structure over the years. The barn was torn down in the early 1990s.

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While most homes had front doors along the length of the building, the doors to schools and churches were often placed on the short, gable-wall side to better accommodate rows of school desks and pews.  The school was established sometime around 1883 and was also used as a church.  The log building was replaced with a frame structure in 1907.

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Missouri Row was designed by noted Rogers architect A. O. Clarke. Completed in 1905, the building was 46-feet wide, 305-feet long, and used 8,000 logs. It and its sister, Oklahoma Row, built a few years later, were said to be the largest log buildings in the world. The remains of the log portion of Oklahoma Row can be found up the road from its original location near the Beaver Lake boat ramp at Monte Ne.

“A Way of Life in Early Shiloh.” Shiloh Springdale, 1878-1978. Springdale, Arkansas, Centennial Committee, 1978.

“Colorful Ozark Landmark [Latta House] is Saved for Posterity,” unknown undated newspaper, probably mid 1950s. Shiloh Museum research files.

Barnett, Kathryn Robbins. “Our Bella Vista Community Then and Now.” Benton County Pioneer Vol. 16, No. 4 (Fall 1971).

Deane, Ernie. “Pioneer Village Growing at Prairie Grove.” Arkansas Gazette, 5-15-1960.

Donat, Pat. “An Ante-Bellum Home.” Flashback (Washington County Historical Society) Vol. 21, No. 1 (March 1971).

Faris, Paul. Ozark Log Cabin Folks: The Way They Were. Rose Publishing Co.: Little Rock, 1983.

Ford, Edsel. “Park Village: Prairie Grove residents are reassembling log cabins in the battlefield park area.” Arkansas Democrat, 8-31-1958.

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

Lord, Allyn, and the Rogers Historical Museum. Historic Monte Ne. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC, 2006.

Moore, Marjorie. “How the Pioneers Lived.” Flashback (Washington County Historical Society) Vol. 5, No. 2 (April 1955).

Phillips, George H., ed. The Bella Vista Story. Bella Vista Historical Society: Bella Vista, AR, 1980.

Rogers Daily News. “Rural life in county was typical.” 6-29-1976.

Salsbury, Clarice. “Black Oak 41.” School Days, School Days . . . The History of Education in Washington County, 1830-1950. Washington County Retired Teachers Association, circa 1986.

Sizemore, Jean. Ozark Vernacular Houses: A Study of Rural Homeplaces in the Arkansas Ozarks, 1830-1930. University of Arkansas Press: Fayetteville, 1994.

Thompson, Alan. Email to Shiloh Museum staff regarding Latta House, 10-28-2012.

Ulmer, Louise. “Mrs. Guilbeau’s Work and Play School,” Louise Ulmer, Shiloh Scrapbook (Shiloh Museum of Ozark History) Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring 2004).

Wigginton, Eliot, ed. “Building a Log Cabin.” The Foxfire Book. Anchor Books: New York, 1972.

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

Worthen, William B. “Arkansas Traveler.” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas  [accessed 10/2012]