USA > Arkansas > Biographical and historical memoirs of western Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 18
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self, embracing an area of 120 miles east and west, and from sixty to 100 miles north and south, which to the astonishment of the stranger has never been traversed by a railroad. This belt of counties is not inferior in natural advantages to any part of the United States; it is susceptible of a dense population, and presents an inviting field for the home seeker, farmer, mechanic, manufact- urer and capitalist. Its fertile lands, navigable river, numberless clear creeks and springs of pure water, its immense forests of valuable timbers, and the vast coal fields extending from the eastern boundary of Yell County to the western border of the State; its rapid increase in agricultural prod- ucts, to say nothing of its undeveloped mineral wealth, are a sure guarantee that railroads now
*The paragraphs descriptive of Yell County and its resources are partially condensed from a paper prepared by Hon. W. D. Jacoway. of Dardanelle.
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projected to cross this region will be constructed and in running order in the near future.
Yell County is admirably supplied with wa- ter courses. Of navigable streams it has the Ar- kansas River on the northern and eastern bound- ary; the Petit Jean, which enters the county on the west side and flows in a northeasterly direc- tion through the county into the Arkansas River at the northeast extremity, and the Fourche La Fave River, which enters the southwest portion and flows in a northeasterly direction diagonally across the southern part. Of the non-navigable streams which are tributary to the above named rivers are Dutch, Spring, Chickalah, Prairie, Delaware, Cedar, Piney Mill and numerous other creeks in the interior of the county, all of which have their winding ways through valleys of as productive lands as may be found in the State.
As shown by the records of the United States land office at Dardanelle, there are now in Yell County about 240,000 acres of land subject to homestead entry. There are in addition about 35,000 acres in the county which constitute a part of the grant of the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad Company, most of which, for agricultural purposes, is unsurpassed for fertility, and a part of which is valuable for its extensive timber tracts. All of the tillable lands of the county are suscept- ible of the highest state of cultivation. The soil in the river and creek bottoms is exceptionally rich, and it is impossible to estimate the real value of these lands when railroads now projected are com. pleted through the county, and the valleys are occupied by a class of energetic practical farmers. The hills or uplands throughout the county possess surprising fertility. The surface of the county is undulating and broken. About twenty per cent is mountains, the tops and slopes of which are tillable. Fifty per cent is in uplands, thirty per cent is level, most of it alluvial. a small portion prairie. About twenty per cent of the whole is improved, but a small per cent of the lands of Yell County is subject to overflow. The peculiar geographical location of the county renders it free from cyclones or other destruct- ive storms. The seasons are favorable, the
county is not affected by droughts, the crops are not damaged by ravaging insects, and the re- sult is, the good farmer always reaps a bountiful crop. Cotton, corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, sweet and Irish potatoes, beans, peas, timothy, red- top, millet and clover do well and yield abun- dantly. When properly cultivated the average yield of cotton in the uplands is from 400 to 1,000 pounds per acre, and the bottom lands from 500 to 1,500 pounds per acre. Corn yields from thirty to sixty bushels, oats from forty to seventy bush- els per acre, potatoes from 200 to 300 bushels per acre. The soils are capable of producing much better crops than are raised under the present sys- tem of farming so common in Arkansas.' A lack of speedy transportation to market has caused the people of this county to neglect the cultivation of fruits except for home consumption. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, cherries, grapes, raspberries, strawberries and gooseberries all grow to perfection and yield abundantly. Much of the soil is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of fruits, berries and grapes. Melons and vegetables of all kinds grow readily and yield largely. It is conti- dently predicted that before many years Yell County will be known as one of the most famous fruit and wine-producing localities in the Union. Railroad facilities only are wanting. The "cotton craze" has seriously affected all other interests, notwithstanding the fact that grains and grasses can be raised as easily and as abundantly as in Kentucky and Tennessee. Stock raising has been much neglected, and only during the past few years has attained much importance.
The timbers of Yell County present an almost inexhaustible source of wealth, and offer induce- ments to the manufacturer which can rarely be found in any country. The principal varieties of timber in the river and creek bottoms are cotton- wood, gum, elm, sycamore, ash, white, red, black, post, willow and burr oaks, black locusts, pecan. mulberry, cherry and walnut. On the uplands and in the creek bottoms, the hickory, many varie- ties of the oak, dogwood, buckeye, holly and other growths are in vast quantities. The mountains and ridges are crowned with immense forests of
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yellow pine, which in the near future, will give re- newed energy and an activity to the lumber in- terests of the county. But little can be said of the mineral wealth of Yell County, as no organized efforts have been made to develop the same, but enough is known to indicate very clearly that there are vast fields of lead and iron in the county, and that coal, which is now only mined for home con- sumption, can be had almost anywhere. It is be- lieved that gold and silver abound in paying quan- tities, and the day is not far distant when Yell County will be classed as one of the most profitable mining counties in the State. An approximate chemical analysis of some of the coal of Yell County has been reported as follows: "Moulder's Prairie Coal" Branch -Volatile matter 28.5, water 11.5, gas 17; coke 71.5, fixed carbon 66.5, red ashes 5; total 100. J. A. Daker's and B. Howell's coal, Section 32, Township 6 south, Range 21, eighteen to twenty-two inches thick- Volatile matter 14.4, water 3, gas 8.4; - coke 88.6, fixed carbon 78.6, dark red ashes 10; total 100. The outerop of coal near Moulder's has some fossil plant in the roof-shales, belonging both to the family of calamites and ferns, but the coal openings being filled with water, both the shales and the coal were difficult of access. These coals belong, in all probability, to the same horizon as the coal at the base of the Carrion Crow Mountain.
The evidences of the economic geology of the county having been sufficiently indicated for the purposes of this description, the picturesque topo- graphical features of the county's geologic forma- tion now claim attention. This county is divided by more elevated lands into three beautiful and productive valleys, among the richest, agricultur- ally, in the State. These are known, from the streams which have given them their names, as the Arkansas, the Petit Jean and the Fourche La Fave Valleys. The pleasant and popular summer resort known as Mount Nebo, is situated on the Magazine Mountain, six miles west of Dardanelle, at an al- titude above the Dardanelle (Arkansas) Valley of 1,470 feet, and as a natural summer resort has no superior on the continent between the Blue Ridge and the Rocky Mountains. Nebo Mountain does
not look like other mountains; it is simply a lofty, grand and sublime elevation, which at a distance has the appearance, from every point of the com- pass, of a huge ethereal dome, which gradually slopes from its base to its summit. Upon the top there are about 1,000 acres of level land, finely timbered and tillable, and abounding with number- less chalybeate springs of cold water. Soft water is had in great quantity at almost any point on the summit by digging or boring ten or twenty feet. It has been only a few years since Mount Nebo be- gan to attract attention as a summer resort. It is now a handsome village above the clouds, with a commodious and comfortable hotel, patronized by hundreds of guests every season, and numerous cottages. Many of the springs have been substan- tially and handsomely improved for the conven- ience and comfort of visitors. A beautiful drive- way is laid off bordering the precipice all around, which will soon be extended to a distance of about six miles, the entire length of which, in every direc- tion, presents to the eye scenery and landscapes of the grandest and most beautiful character. Mount Nebo has telephone connection with Dardanelle, and a daily mail. The road from Dardanelle is macadamized, and is in itself a pleasant drive. A line of coaches makes close connection with the Dardanelle & Russellville Railroad. This interest has been developed almost wholly through Darda- nelle influence and primarily upon Dardanelle cap- ital. Capt. Joseph Evins is credited with having discovered the possibilities of Mount Nebo, and having taken the steps leading to its development; and he did not stop here, but from first to last has been Nebo's most enthusiastic and untiring pro- moter. He was the first to pre-empt land on the mountain, and it was his devoted influence that led others to secure summer homes there, and capital- ists of Little Rock to erect Nebo's great aereal hotel. The beauty. grandeur and sublimity of the scenery at Mount Nebo beggars description; it is an ever-changing panoramic view, and an admirable blending of the lovely, picturesque and sublime. From any and all points of this stupendous won- der the beholder's eye never tires, but with a gay and happy heart, electrified with feelings of love,
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pleasure and admiration, commingled with rever- ential awe, he drinks deep at the fountain of nat- ure's choicest splendors. There are neither dews nor fogs at Mount Nebo. The purity and medic- inal virtue of the waters, the delightful tempera- ture and the cool, bracing breezes are unexcelled anywhere, and serve to make it a charming place to sojourn during the summer. Persons who are afflicted with asthma, dyspepsia, malarial disorders, or general debility, can be permanently cured in one season, and those who are suffering from de- bility, or exhaustion, on account of overtaxed mental or physical labor, will be restored to their usual strength and vitality in an incredibly short time. The pure chalybeate waters, the cool brac- ing atmosphere, combined with the magnificent scenery, have an invigorating and exhilarating in- fluence, purify the blood, give a healthy appetite, build up the system and restore general good health. The social features of Mount Nebo are pleasant and genial, and the visitor can but feel at home; whether the stay is of long or short duration, it can but be regarded as a continuous May-day picnic, an unbroken season of undisturbed pleas- ure. This mountain seems to be peculiarly the home of the apple, the berries native to this lati- tude, and especially of the grape. Wine mannfact- ured there is of superior quality, and apples grown there have taken the premium over Benton and Washington County apples at the Fort Smith fair. The soil on the mountain produces vegetables in great variety and profusion. The Fourche La Fave Mountains, in the southern past of the coun- ty, are lofty and picturesque, and heavily timbered. The Magazine Mountain forms a most remarkable headland where it terminates, on the Arkansas River, opposite the site of old Norristown. This is known as the " Dardanelle Rock." This rock is composed of ferruginous sandstone, dipping at an angle of forty degrees toward the river. The bear- ing of the comb of the ridge, which is coincident - with the strike-line of the strata, is west 10° north. Layers on the summit are of a pale red color, tinged by oxide of iron. On the north slope the rock is laid off with numerous concentric hard ferruginous veins, disposed in rows of rectangular and trian-
gular figures with great regularity, giving to the surface a tessellated appearance. The elevation of the Dardanelle Rock above the road which winds around its base is 250 feet, and about 280 feet above the Arkansas River. At an elevation of from 80 to 100 feet above the base of the main ridge, and half a mile northwest of the point of the Dardanelle Rock, a strong chalybeate spring issues from the crevices of the ferruguious sand- stone. From the summit of the Dardanelle Rock there is an extensive prospect: The Magazine Mountain is in full view, bearing away to the west- southwest; the Petit Jean to the south over and be- yond which some of the highest peaks of the Four- che La Fave range are visible in the far distance bearing a few degrees east of south; the Arkansas River washing its base on the north, with the ferry landing on the opposite shore, and level farming lands seen behind in perspective; the Arkansas River like a bright line, winding its way among them and conducting the eye to the site of Darda- nelle. From a single point on the Arkansas River, the outline of the Dardanelle Rock on the south- east exhibits a distinct profile, to be remarked on attentive observation by any one who may be ascending the river, all the features of a human face and the partial outlines of a head being rep- resented. The Dardanelle Sulphur Springs, ten miles west of Dardanelle, at the base of the Maga- zine Mountain, together with a tract of 700 acres of land in the Chickalah Valley upon which they are located, are owned by a company in New York. The springs have been elegantly fitted up, and a hotel and cottages have been erected for the aecom- modation of health and pleasure seekers. Judg- ing from the following analysis of the waters of these springs, Dr. Owen, late State geologist, pro- nounced them for health-giving purposes, not in - ferior to the celebrated White Sulphur Springs of Virginia: Bicarbonate of soda; bicarbonate of lime; bicarbonate of magnesia; chloride of sodium; only a trace of sulphates; a small quantity of free sul- phuretted hydrogen; probably a trace of sulphuret of alkali. The northwest spring contains some oxide of iron: Many remarkable cures have been effected by these waters, and with railroad facili-
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ties this will become a noted resort. At an eleva- tion of 370 feet above Danville, and about two and a half miles from that village, is a remarkable cha- lybeate spring. From the large quantity of carbon- ate of the protoxide of iron present it bas a most powerful deoxidizing effect, instantly blackening nitrate of silver without even the addition of am- monia, and it blackens also chloride of gold and tincture of campeche. Its temperature was found by Prof. Owen to be 62°, the temperature of the air being 79º Fahrenheit. It is a saline chalybeate, containing as its principal ingredients the bicar- bonates of the protoxide of iron, lime and magnesia, sulphate soda and chloride of sodium. There are in this and other parts of the county several other mineral springs which have not been analytically examined by competent authority. The time will doubtless come when most of them will be exten- sively known, and sought from afar by people for whose peculiar afflictions their waters will have been found to be beneficial.
About 1820 Gov. Miller, of the then Territory of Arkansas, and Col. D. Brearley, Indian agent, made a trip over the Territory and took the census of the Cherokees. In their journey Agent Brear- ley bought the possession of a French hunter, Joe Peran, who was domiciled near the Point of Rocks, then known as "The Dardonnie" (in English "sleep-with-one-eye"). The sound of the name and the peculiar surroundings of the place recalled to mind the Strait of Dardanelles, which induced the agent to change the name and call it Darda- nelle, and at this point he established the agency of the Cherokees. After the census, by a call through the agent, every village sent up a dele- gate to a council held at this agency, at which the Cherokees decided to confine themselves entirely to the north side of the Arkansas River, and at the same time voted delegates to visit the Presi- dent and have their decision put in treaty form. In the winter of 1822-23 this delegation ac- companied their agent to Washington City. The bounds of the nation were then fixed. Maj. Du- val succeeded Col. Brearley as Indian agent, but the latter returned to Arkansas in the winter of : 1-27-28, to tend to the removal of the Creek In- |
dians west of the Territorial line, and with him came his son, Joseph H. Brearley, as commis- sary to the Indians. The latter, in 1831, became a permanent citizen at Dardanelle. On his way up, in 1827, he had stopped a short time at Darda- nelle, where he had found white inhabitants very few. Pearson Brearley, his brother, was then liv- ing there, also John Wade (his hireling), and the Widow Greenwood and her son and daughter, Radford and Malinda. The Cherokees were in hearing distance on the opposite bank of the river, but the nearest white neighbors south of the river were eleven miles above-James, Henry and King Stinnett, Maurice Brown and Isaac Hensley. Nine miles below, on the Lake Bayou, were Asa and Birt Wicker, and at the "Big Fields " were two or three families, and Nick Beatty and the Car- dons were farther down the river. At Chickalah, nine miles back, was Brown, a blacksmith. In the spring of 1828 the Cherokees, by treaty, ex- changed the land on the north side of the Arkan- sas for the greater portion of the Lovely purchase, which at the time was thickly inhabited by whites, who were thus summarily ejected therefrom, and scattered to various parts. Many came this way, among whom were the Morse family, who squatted near Dardanelle Rock until the land surveys could be completed, so that they could locate. In the year 1830 the Cherokees finished moving off, in the fall of which year the United States surveyor, H. L. Langham, completed several townships on the north side of the river. The land on the south side had already been surveyed. At this date furs and peltry still retained princely power with the trader (merchant) as a "legal tender."
The Indians, who occupied the territory now composing this county, immediately before its set- tlement by the whites and for some time thereafter were intruding bands of Cherokees, the territory in fact belonging to the Choctaws at the time. Rogers, a Cherokee chief, settled in or near what is now the site of the town of Dardanelle about 1790, with a band of Cherokee hunters and war- riors. Some time thereafter Chickalah, another chief, settled at the site of the village which bears his name. Dutch, also a chief of a branch of the
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same tribe, made his headquarters on Dutch Creek, now so called, about three miles above Danville. He included in his hunting jurisdiction all that portion of the Fourche valley, now in Yell County. These Indians cleared little patches of land in common, which they cultivated separately, each one's share being designated by corner-stones, some of which are to be seen in the neighborhood of Danville. So far as can be learned, these In- dians were peaceable, never having engaged in any wars among themselves or with the whites, but oc- casionally they were called upon to resist the as- saults of the Osages, a warlike tribe living near Fort Smith. One of the earliest settlements in the interior of the county was made in Riley Township, on the Petit Jean River, above Danville. The first permanent settlement was in 1829 by Elijah Baker. Josiah Hart came in 1830. The Rileys came in 1831. In 1836 Abraham McCearly settled on Spring Creek, three miles northeast of Danville. There were several settlers in that part of the county before Col. McCearly. William J. Parks, Joseph Gault and William D. Briggs were early near Bluffton. These persons, some of whom are men- tioned above, entered land in what is now Yell County prior to 1845. Some of them were among the early settlers, others were probably never per- manent residents: J. W. H. Huthmance, 1843; Richard T. Banks, 1840; George Bryant, 1836; John H. Petitts, 1839; Philip Madden, 1839; Thomas R. Shannon, 1830; John Nick, 1831; John Webster, 1830; Eli Paschal, 1836; Nicholas Beatty, 1836; Asa Wicker, 1839; Francis Beatty, 1830; John E. Metcalf, 1839; John Deck, 1830; Pierre Peat, 1830; Allen Summers, 1830; Francis Peat, 1830; Louis M. Smith, 1839; Michael Hynam, 1838; Joseph Buschell, 1837; James P. Rogers, 1837; Louis E. Moulder, 1830; James Carden, 1839; Samuel Ward, 1830; John McAllister, 1839; Jesse Low, 1837; William C. Wilson, 1837; Alex- ander Barnhill, Jr., 1830; N. Mars, 1830; Joseph D. Combs, 1836; George B. Steel, 1837; Daniel Gilliland, 1830; William Brown, 1838; Gabriel Barnaby, 1830; Elijah Baker, 1836; Richard Wicker, 1837; John S. Gibson, 1838; Washington Meeks, 1830; Margaret Slover, 1830; Elijah J.
Howell, 1838; Thomas Johnson, 1839; Thomas Skillen, 1839; Joseph Gibson, 1838; Samuel H. Johnson, 1839; Charles H. Fitch, 1839; James S. Barrow, 1839; Nicholas Baremon, 1840; James S. Baremon, 1839; Jonathan Limboeher, 1840; Clai- borne Wicker, 1838; John B. Barmore, 1839; Rachel Wicker, 1839; Joseph Valkenberg, 1840; Jenkin Williams, 1830; Samuel Norris, 1837; Pear- son Brearley, 1831; George Douglas, 1831; John J. Morse, 1830; Cyrus T. Smith, 1836; John Hill, 1842; Hardin George, 1843; David B. Gilliland, 1844; James S. Jones, 1844; William Jones, 1844; Gilbert Moren, 1841; Claiborne Collier, 1843; William F. McClure, 1843; Joseph Green, 1838; Joseph James, 1839; Philemon Williams, 1839; John Critchfield, 1839; Malachi Ford, 1840; John McCray, 1840; Joseph Gwinn, 1840; John Mc- Creasie, 1844; Redmond Rogers, 1839; Burk John- son, 1838: William Collin, 1839; William M. New- ton, 1838; John H. Miller, 1842; W. H. X. New- ton, 1838; Alexander Byrd, 1839; Samuel Pryor, 1839; John Powers, 1840; John Walker, 1839; Horace Witt, 1839; Eli Crow, 1839; Ezekiel Boggs, 1839; John Boggs, 1842; Hiram Gill, 1839; James P. Rainor, 1840; Neriah Morse, 1839; Sallie Hall, 1830; Henry Evins, 1829; Henry Stinnett, 1834; Nathaniel Burkhead, 1837; William M. Reasoner, 1838; Isaac Hunley, 1836; John Wilson, 1830; Jefferson Van Horn, 1838; Samuel M. Hays, 1839; James L. Hardway, 1844; Samuel H. Balch, 1843; Reuben L. Stinnett, 1844; John F. Balch, 1844; James B. Crain, 1841; William M. Nunnelly, 1844; Thomas Hicks, 1841; Abraham Flaning, 1841; Peter Pinkston, 1843; Thomas Morse, 1838; Rus- sell Bryant, 1838; John Franklin, 1838; James L. Garner, 1842; Joseph McGrady, 1829; William H. Haines, 1843; Henry Haney, 1843; John Haney, 1840; Elizabeth Crow, 1841; John James, 1840; Andrew J. Hays, 1840; Robert Cunning- ham, 1840; Enoch S. Hazens, 1840; James Mad- den, 1840; Amasa Howell, 1840; John A. Wheeler, 1840; Robert M. Roberts, 1840; Nehemiah Crav. ens, 1841; Cravens & Clark, 1841; Aaron Garrett- son, 1844; Augustus M. Ward, 1843; John Mc - Kay, 1844; Rufus C. Sadler, 1844; James Murphy, 1844; Lucinda Murphy, 1840; Dooney M cDaniel,
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1840; Francis A. Skelton, 1840; Daniel Johnson, 1839; James Morrison, 1837; Laban C. Howell, 1837; M. M. Knight, 1843; James McBride, 1841; G. C. Sadler, 1841; Henry George, 1841; Daniel Crownover, Sr., 1840; Isaac Mears, 1841; Daniel Crownover, 1841; James H. Taylor, 1844; William H. Peevy, 1841; Allen Williams, 1841; Dial Me- Duff Peevy, 1843; Hugh McBride, 1841; William Witt, 1841; Gabriel E. Hays, 1841; James Will- iams, 1843; John Howell, 1841; Thomas Garvey, 1841; William Aikman, 1841; James A. Hughes, 1841; George Baldwin, 1841; D. Wallace, 1841; Taylor Polk, 1844; John Riley, 1840; Joseph Hall, 1841. Some of the persons above named each took up several claims in different parts of the county. White men located earliest along the Arkansas River, but general settlements began in the interior. The valleys were most fertile and most easily accessible, and furnished homes for the pioneers as they do to day for the leading farmers, planters and business men of the county. The war put a stop to the progress of settlement throughout the county, but the year 1866 saw en- terprise again planted here, and the gradual return of former and the incoming of new settlers fol- lowed with increasing rapidity. The first marriage in this county was that of Pierce. M. Butler, of South Carolina, to Miss Duval-her father then being Indian agent. This marriage took place on the lake eight miles below Dardanelle, at the tem- porary residence of Mr. Duval. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Cephas Washburn, in 1838 or 1839. The bridegroom became the most dis- tinguished of all the South Carolinian governors. He was killed in a charge at the head of a South Carolina regiment during the Mexican War.
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