Arcane Arkansas History: August 2013

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Silver Mine Near Yellville?

This is a legend that has existed among the residents of Marion County, Arkansas, for many years. Legends are usually very hard to find an original source for, so it is interesting to see in print something one has only heard about. Attached to this legend has been another about the Yocham Silver Dollar that cannot be confirmed. The legend is such in Dillard/Davenport family history that a letter to Frank and Ted Dillard from “cuz” G.W. dated 3-21-41 mentions the silver mine. To quote “Frank what have you found with the MR(?) hope you and Baz can find the silver mine. Let me no if you realy locate anything.”

The article below was another of those "finds" I made that distracted me while doing research for my project.

The Mountain Echo

Wednesday, October 23, 1935

“Back years ago, it was said that an old Indian had made a statement that there was silver enough in sight of Yellville to shoe every farmer’s horse in the county- that his tribe once worked the mine and from it they could see all over the town of Yellville, but they finally filled up the mine and abandoned it.

Rev. Paul Jones heard this story when he was only a boy and never forgot it. A short time ago he sold his property in Yellville, and was looking for a small tract of land near the town where he could make a home. Mr. J.A. Lefevers owned a small tract of land near the town and offered to sell it to Mr. Jones. He went to look it over, and from the porch he could see all over the town, and near the house there was a sink hole or depression that looked as it had been an opening and filled up. He remembered the old Indian’s story, and doubtless visions of wealth rolled up before him. He bought the place and moved to it. A few days ago he leased a part of the land, embracing the sink hole to Messrs. Geo. Buntz, Frank Still and Geo. Smith and they are working it with good indications of ore.

Fine rosin Jack, running a high per cent of metallic zinc has been found on the land, and this, perhaps was what the Indians found and thought it was silver.

At any rate the place is well located and worth the money Mr. Jones paid for it for a home. Whatever ore he may find is only velvet.”

This scan of an antique postcard depicts a horse-drawn wagon on the bridge at Yellville- probably the one over Crooked Creek. Note the man laying on his back at the top of the bridge girders. There are four figures seated in the wagon, a man standing next to the wagon on the bridge and another man standing on the rail of the bridge.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

John Wilkes Booth- Stone County Clerk?

While doing research for my PowerPoint on Arkansas History, I was often distracted while reading through the microfilm copies of my local papers. I included some of those stories in my slideshow, since they qualified for my subject about unusual Arkansas history.

The following story was published in the Baxter Bulletin, the paper for Mountain Home, Arkansas. It is interesting to note that conspiracy theories about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln probably started with his death and were repeated well into the early part of the 20th century.

The Baxter Bulletin

May 13, 1927

Believes Booth Escaped

Some Think Lincoln’s Assassin Was Clerk of Stone County

“Old Pioneers of Mountain View do not believe that Wilkes Booth was captured, slain and buried in the sea after the assassination of President Lincoln, but that he and Julius E. Andrews, first elective clerk of Stone County were one and the same person. Andrews appeared in Stone County in 1774 (1874?), as a mysterious unknown. He was well educated and admitted he was an actor. Running for the office of County Clerk, he was elected. Shortly after his election, William Goodman, a citizen of the county, who knew Booth, identified Andrews as Booth, and shortly after this, Andrews left, after defrauding the county of some $2,000 of scrip. Bob Ginn of Mountain View still has two pieces of the scrip which he issued.”

Reprinted from Baxter Bulletin May 13, 1927

Microfilm reel Baxter Bulletin #6, Feb. 12, 1926 (Vol. 25, #7)- May 3, 1932 (Vol.31, #23) Baxter County Library, Mountain Home, Arkansas

Photo source: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/booth.html

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Ozark Café

Ozark Café

There are many local eateries in the state of Arkansas, but how many have the claim to fame of being over 100 years old?

Established in 1909, the Ozark Café has made its home on the Jasper town square for more than a century. Visitors to the cafe cannot miss the local memorabilia on the tables, walls and even the ceiling.

The eatery has expanded from one small building on the square to encompass almost one entire side of the square.

In the past, visitors would see locals seated at tables outside playing dominoes, a favorite past time in many small towns in the Ozarks. Visitors can still pull up a rocker or bench and “sit a spell” and enjoy the local scenery.

The drive to and from Jasper is scenic and makes the trip as worthwhile as the atmosphere and food served at the Ozark Café.

For more information about the Ozark Café including its current menu please visit:

The Ozark Café online

Panoramic photo by Bonnie Dillard

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Arcane Arkansas

Arcane Arkansas

Scan of vintage post card "New State Capitol, Little Rock, Ark."

Arcane- meaning known by few, obscure

I began this as a project for my college Arkansas History class. Not being a native, but having lived here all of my adult life, I found the most interesting aspects of Arkansas history to be those that are not usually found in history books. The history and folklore one learns by simply listening to local storytellers, historians and natives as well as by reading back issues of local newspapers on microfilm was far more appealing.

Most states have their own unique and even odd stories. Arkansas is no exception. From truly unique state and federal parks to interesting and even humorous town names and its own ghost stories, and legends, Arkansas has a unique and interesting history for those who want to look beyond the history books.

Arkansas is not only beautiful, it is diverse in terrain with mountains, prairies, delta, farming, and forest lands. Bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Ouachita Mountains to the west, the lands in between contain nearly all the natural resources a small nation would need to survive on its own.

Arkansas can list natural gas, oil, bauxite (for aluminum), timber, rice, soybeans, wheat, cotton, natural spring water, beef, pork, fish, chicken and turkey among its exports.

In a reprint of The WPA Guide to 1930s Arkansas, the introduction by Elliott West mentions the fact that, not only was Arkansas the smallest state west of the Mississippi River, but also the most geographically diverse with four distinctive regions; the Ozark plateau, the Mississippi Alluvial plain, the Ouachita Mountains and the coastal plain of the southwestern part of the state. Even much larger, sprawling states do not have the state’s geographic diversity. With such a range of terrain, it is hard not to find an area of Arkansas to enjoy, whether one wants to live there or just visit.

An active participant in the American Civil War, members of the Arkansas militia fought for both Union and Confederate forces. Arkansas is participating in the four-year sesquicentennial commemoration of the conflict with a series of events.

The best part of the history of an area is often the things that most people don’t know because they are not in our history texts. Often folklore, with basis in fact, it is fun to read about what the locals know because they have lived in the area all their lives. I have attempted to separate fact from fiction even though the fiction is what drew me to the story in the first place. It is true that the facts can be stranger than fiction.

I hope to bring to you stories that will not only inform but entertain. I found that this project has extended far beyond the research I originally did for an Arkansas History class into a full-blown obsession.

The Old Cotter Bridge

R.M. Ruthven Rainbow Arch Bridge

aka "Cotter Bridge"

Declared Arkansas' first National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1990, the bridge was built in 1930. replacing the ferry crossing that sometimes had as many as 100 cars waiting to pass. Designed by Marsh Engineering Company of Des Moines, Iowa- it is the only bridge designed by that company to be built in the state. Built at a cost of $500,000- the bridge was finished 6 months ahead of schedule using local labor for the construction. Upon its completion in 1930, the bridge was dedicated on November 11 and 12 in a ceremony attended by over 6000 visitors from seven of the nine states traversed by Highway 62.

A toll bridge at first, residents had to be threatened with retracted funding to use the bridge as they continued to use the free ferry crossing to avoid paying the toll. In 1938, when Carl Bailey, former Cotter resident and Missouri-Pacific conductor was elected governor, one of his first acts was to repeal the tolls because residents continued to argue the toll since the bridge was the only way in and out of Cotter. The April 6, 1938 Mountain Echo newspaper “Governor Signs Toll Bridge Bill” article details the signing of the bill abolishing toll bridges. The final paragraph mentions the Cotter Bridge and “Many local people took advantage of this fact to drive across the bridge last Sunday.”