USA > Arkansas > Johnson County > Johnson County, Arkansas, the first hundred years > Part 2
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Many of the Cherokees were still in Arkansas in 1832, even though the treaty for lands in the Indian Territory had been
16
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
granted in 1828 and "belonged sacredly to the Indians as long as grass shall grow and waters run". But within a few years they were gone from the Arkansas Country-all gone- and now nine decades have passed and almost every trace of them is gone. And those sturdy woodsmen too, who forged their way into the wilderness of this Indian country, are gone. Yet, compared with the ages, it has been but a day of time, and the populace of the present are but the "Early pioneers."
An old Rock-House, how old no one knows, ages perhaps, for nature in the forming left it there, is jutting in the hillside at the erest of the little mountain of Stillwell, eleven miles up from the river, and almost directly north seven miles from Clarksville. The formation of the mountain at this place is in the curve of a horse shoe with this wigwam shaped rock in the center of the curve, facing the east. From the peak, this solid rock spreads and drops in waves a hundred feet to the two grotto entrances. These two compartments are separated by a column of solid circular stone. Inside of one of the rooms is a mortar down in the stone floor, perhaps twelve inches deep, the place where the Squaw pounded her corn. On the walls, protected from the wear of the weather, are clearly chiseled figures of birds, reptiles, frogs, et cetera.
Down the hill two hundred feet away a spring of chalybeate water flows the year round. And at the foot of the incline, not many rods removed, laves Spadra Creek around the hill. Thus it would seem that the plan of the "Great Spirit" was to provide a place of comfort and safety for some chosen clan of his primi- tive children.
In the same neighborhood with the Rock House is another interesting formation, known as Wolf's Glen. This is located three miles to the east on Redlick mountain. Wolf's Glen is one of the local sight seeing spots, with gorges and glens, an ideal place for wolves, bears or wild cats in the days gone by. A story that there was an old Indian lead mine in this locality, has come down for three or four generations. It was said that Indians used to bring lead bullets down Spadra Creek and sell them. Many individuals have at times endeavored to locate the spot, if there be one, but nothing concerted was ever done, and no one now gives credence to the story. But an interesting
17
THE INDIANS
phenomenon occurred north of the entrance of Wolf's Glen about the time of the California Earthquake in April, 1906-no one knows the exact time, for no one was there, but a circle cover- ing one-third of an acre of the surface soil dropped three feet, leaving a terrace of broken earth around. Many persons who chanced to go there saw this but no one seemed curious, nor was any explanation ever made.
For seventy-five years after the Indians were gone, arrow points of all sizes and kinds could be found in many places in the county. Especially were they numerous north and south of Clarksville along the banks of Spadra, thus giving silent evi- dence that the place was an old battle ground.
Dr. John Lothers whose home is two miles east of Lamar, is a centenarian and he remembers many of the Indians by name, among them Chief Geo. Guest, whose village was at Spadra. He remembers, when a child, that he visited Spadra a number of times with his father, and many Indians were there. He said he used to watch the Indian Squaws pound their corn in the mortars for the making of bread. The mortar was made by scooping a hole in a hard wood stump or in a large stone. They were ten or twelve inches deep, in the shape of a well, and measured six or eight inches in diameter. The corn was put into this and pounded with a pestle. The pestle was made from a
limb of a "quick growth post-oak". The larger end was charred, and then made smooth by a sandpapering process, only they used the real sand or some rough surface available in the forest. When the pestle was smooth and of oval shape, to conform with the bottom of the mortar, it was ready for use. They made a sieve from cane (which grew in abundance along the creeks and low places), and with this they separated the pulverized meal from the husks.
Dr. John Lothers was the son of Dr. Jesse Lothers. They were among Clarksville's first citizens and physicians.
Mrs Polly Ward, mother of A. F. Ward and Mrs. Effie Dunlap of Clarksville and Mrs. Elmina Garrett of Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma, and who is ninety-eight years of age, came to John- son county with her father, William Collins, when a child. They came by boat to Spadra and from there went across the Mulberry Mountain on pack mules by way of Indian trails. They settled
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
on Mulberry Creek and many Indians were their neighbors. Chief Charley White-Eye was often at their house and was some- times a guest at dinner.
The late Mrs. Lucy Brashears Meers, of Clarksville, was born in a little Indian hut, surrounded by a plum-tree thicket on Horsehead Creek, almost a hundred years ago. Her father, Jesse Brashears, gave an Indian a horse and saddle for his squatter's claim to the humble home.
David Ward secured property one mile south of Clarksville in 1828, from an Indian whose name was Key. It was at this place on the west bank of Spadra Creek that a clan was located, the Clan of Chief John Jolly, In this village, it is said, that Gen Sam Houston, the Governor of Tennessee, the liberator of Texas, and the governor of Texas, et cetera, and his Indian wife, Tahlihina, spent a year. Rev. Anderson Cox, the father of Mrs. Volney Howell, told Mr. and Mrs. Howell that this was true, and other persons of integrity whose assertions cannot be doubted, have as- sured that Sam Houston came from Tennessee when he resigned as Governor, to the Cherokees West on the Arkansas. His- torians state that he went west of Arkansas to the Cherokee Na- tion where he spent three or four years, before going to Texas in 1832. Notwithstanding the Cherokees were granted land in the Territory in 1828, we find from many sources that a large number of them were still in Arkansas in 1832. The Missionaries did not move Dwight Mission until that year. Mr. Washburn said the Cherokees were still in Arkansas in 1832. Gen. Houston doubtless went with old Chief Jolly and his niece, Tahlihina Rogers, who was an orphan and the daughter of James Rogers, and the Indian wife of Gen. Houston, to Webber Falls, where he and his life time friend, old Chief Jolly, went into business to- gether. A story beautiful enough for fiction relates that Gen. Houston did not leave the Cherokees and go to Texas, where his great life-work lay, until he, broken hearted, had buried Tahlihina.
From a newspaper story, told back in the eighties by one Judge Brewer, a grayhaired Cherokee, and published at Tahlequah, Indian Territory, and from other articles given the caption of Sam Houston, the following story is gathered:
Sam Houston was born in Virginia in March of 1793. In childhood he His mother removed to east Tennessee, where they lived
was left fatherless.
neighbors to the Cherokee Indians. Samuel was fond of the Indians. He attended school with them and became attached to one little girl, whose name
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THE INDIANS
John Houston, a relative of Samuel, came to Johnson county also and died here, leaving a family whose descendants are residents of the county at this time.
On the east of Spadra Creek from Chief Jolly's village, was their burying ground. This grave yard, even after fifty years, was of some proportion, but the tides of time have flattened many of the mounds and the plow of progress has turned under the soil many more, therefore today but few are left. This necropolis, across the stream from the habitat of the Indian, is typical of their suspicion, true to their apothegn-that from across the water the spirits of the dead cannot come back and torture the living.
was Tahlihina Rogers. He assisted her with her lessons and she was his apt pupil. But finally the day came when Samuel was sent away to College. While he was gone the Cherokees moved to Arkansas. His urse was finished, but in school he had made new friends, and among them Gen. Andrew Jackson. He fought under this old hero and was greatly esteemed by him. After practicing law for a time, Samuel Houston was elected to Congress and served two terms. Then from that body he was transferred by vote of the people, to the gubernatorial chair. While in that position he married a lady of beauty and accomplishment, and no young man in the country seemed so clearly on his way to highest honors: But the scene changed, the clouds did not gather in warning-they came as thunderbolt, for on the day of that brilliant wedding they separated. It is said that she confessed her love for another, and he having married her because of her fitness as a wife for his career, did not possess that lover's attribute to forgive. He re- signed his high position and withdrew from his home and from Tennessee. Up the Arkansas river, we are told, he came, finding his way to Spadra Bluff and thence up the creek to the village of Old Chief John Jolly. Chief Jolly was the uncle of Tahlihina and had kept her in his home since she became an orphan in early childhood . When evening came and the clan gathered around, Tahlihina saw the handsome stranger and he was introduced as Sam Houston, she timidly offered her hand, and as their eyes met, he inquired: "Tahlihina, do you know me?" With a faint smile on her lips she softly answered: "I once knew you, a long time ago." Then she slipped away, and
that was the last she said to him for many weeks. Tahlihina had read in the newspapers of the great man that he had become and the beautiful woman who was his wife. When she could, she always avoided meeting him, and if by chance she came face to face with him, she hastened away. As time passed on the old Chief, her uncle, began to inquire as to the length of Houston's visit. Then the Chief was told that he did not expect to return to Tennessee ,nor to his wife . He later wrote Mrs. Houston, advising her to secure a divorce. This, she was said to have done, and then married the man
of her choice. After this Tahlihina softened a bit, and became friendlier toward the man whom she had always loved. Tahlihina was said to have been a fair maiden, whom providence had endowed with a rich transparent beauty, peculiar to the mixture of Caucasian and Indian blood. Her locks were of flowing black, and her movements were agile and graceful. Her mark was true and her shot was sure. She possessed a great feminine nature within. Yet, without, in the face of danger, she was unafraid.
Whether Gov. Houston and Tahlihina were married in Arkansas or after
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
Mrs. Rachel Butts remembered when a child that the grave of Chief Bull Frog was marked conspicuously by a ladder reach- ing from the head of the grave upright into space, that the spirit of the Chief might thereby be guided in the right direction to the happy hunting ground. Bull Frog Valley in Pope county, received its name from the leader of the Bull Frog clan.
Abraham Laster, one of the county's representative citizens of pioneer days, purchased an Indian Council-house on lower Horsehead. He detached the door and took it to his place up the creek, at Harmony. Today that door, though perhaps a hun- dred years old, is the one which J. M. Laster, a son of Abraham, uses at the entrance of his smoke-house. There is nothing un- usual about it except it is hand plancd, and the nails are the old four sided kind, or "cut nails". The hinges are quite large On the inside, protected from the weather the preservation is perfect,
they removed to a point near Webber Falls, I. T., is not clear. Rev. Cox said that Sam Houston and his Indian wife, Tahlihina, lived on Spadra for a year. Col. J. S. Houston, a distant relative of Samuel, said that he hunted along the river in Johnson county. Others said he was here for a while. Historians say he was west of Arkansas, and true, later he was, but also he was west on the Arkansas. The majority number of the Cherokees did not leave Arkansas until 1832. Therefore, sometime between the time of Samuel Hous- ton's arrival in 1828 and the above date, Chief John Jolly and his clan removed to Webber Falls, for it was there that the Chief and Governor Houston went store. Tahlihina a
into a partnership was helper
in this business. They were married, and Gov. Houston built a little hut, crude and pic- turesque, at the foot of the hills near Webber Falls, secluded and out of the way among sumac bushes, black jack, and cottonwoods, and a brook, clear and rippling flowed only a few paces beyond. There they lived
and were happy for one brief year. And it is reported that Samuel Houston on more than one occasion said that he would not exchange his life there for the presidency of the United States, nor for the wealth of millions. But on one day Tahlihina was taken ill, her husband was away at Fort Gibson. On his return she did not recognize him, nor did she ever again, for Tahlihina died. He buried her by the side of the stream. (which later was christened "Tahlihina"), and left a stone to mark the spot. And on that stone was chiseled, "Tahlihina Sleeps Here."
It was then, that this gentleman with handsome physique, commanding mien, and great executive ability, left the Cherokees and went to Texas, and his great lifework. Only two years later he was made Commander-in-chief of the Army of Texas, which he eventually lead to victory. He was twice elected the president of Texas, and later, when that country became a state of the Republic, he was for twelve years a Senator to the National Capital. Many honors conferred upon this great man are not mentioned here-but they belongs to the history of Texas.
General Houston married the last time, Miss Margaret Moffit Lea of Ala- bama, in 1840. They were the parents of eight children. General Houston died in 1863.
In after years the body of Tahlihina was exhumed and moved to the National Cemetery at Ft. Gibson, where a marble stone tells, in part, her story.
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THE INDIANS
bat the outside that has faced the summers' suns and winters' snows, is porous, much like a sponge and can be chipped off in bits, being quite brittle.
At one time the Osages, Kickapoos, Foxes and Sac Indians were all at war with the Cherokees and Chief Red Fox of the Sacs is said to have been killed in the vicinity of where Knox- ville now stands.
One Indian cemetery was north of Lee Springs near Spadra Creek. In that cedar thicket a number of graves are still visible.
On Horsehead Creek another burying ground, while aban- doned is still plainly visible. It has been said that a Chief of some renown was buried here and his friends built to his honor a monument in the shape of a wide plank fastened to an upright scaffold, on which were written his deeds of valor.
For many years Indians came back to Arkansas, some to hunt, some to care for the graves of the dead, and for many other reasons. Some of them were friends to the white settlers. As late as forty years ago a squad of them returned and spent one night at the cemetery south of Clarksville. They built a camp- fire and danced and sang and maneuvered after the fashion of a ceremony unknown to the persons who watched them from across the creek some distance away.
But no Indians come back any more, for none are left who feel a tie of sentiment or friendship. They are gone, and strange to say, there is doubtless not one place, nor one stream in John- son County that bears the nomenclature of their euphonic tongue.
THE PIONEERS
The Osages, who held the territory of Northeast Arkansas prior to the coming of the Cherokees, were a nomadic and wild tribe of Indians, therefore no white persons ventured to live among them. Nor during the period extending from 1813 to 1828, when the "Upper Arkansas" was the Cherokee Nation, did many white persons come. No lands could be claimed by any but the Indians and therefore only a few hunters or adventurers cared to come. Mr. Washburn mentioned settlers McCall and McBee, one or two others and a few half-breeds. But with no degree of certainty can the orthography or dates of the arrival of white persons before 1828 be given. But as soon as the Cherokees were granted a nation in the Indian Territory and this country was opened for settlement the influx began. For the first half dozen years before the day of the steam boats on the Arkansas when the river must be ascended in a Keel-boat, which meant much labor and many difficulties, and when there were no roads at all, the accession was not so rapid. But it is safe to say that the number of persons who had previously visited this prime- val forest were sufficient to spread the news of the splendid op- portunities here, for a surprising number came and brought their families as early as 1828. Not even half of them, can be traced back so far. But we do learn with mor or less accuracy that the following persons were here: Wesley Garrett, William Collins, Thomas and Phillips Madden, David and Augustus M. Ward, Geo. L. Lemon, L. N. Clark, J. L. Cravens, James Wilson, and Abraham and Aaron Clark. Hon. James Wilson, Esq., was said to be a reporter for the Gazette as early as 1828.
Within the next two years two dozen or more names have been recorded in one way or another: Rufus C. Sadler, Joseph Jinkins, Jesse Brashears, Hugh Gilbert, Abraham Smith, Joseph James, Finas Williams, James Shepard, Wm. D. Reed, Abraham and Fredrick Laster, Ray Mash, Jack Rollins, John Arbrough, Webster McCalister, Wm. Baskin and Daniel Conner. Most of the above pioneers took out land grants. In the list of the first
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THE PIONEERS
grants given in the old records, the names of two women appear, Rachel Crawford, 1829 and Nancy Roberts, 1830.
Many settlers did not secure the grants to their claims as early as they would have done, on account of the nearest office being located at Fayetteville. To go there necessitated a long, hazardous trip over mountain trails, fraught with many diffi- culties and dangers.
Gen. Albert Pike, one of Arkansas' first citizens, distin- guished poet and statesman, taught school in a log cabin on Piney Creek, while he resided at the home of Abraham Smith in 1833. The names of Thomas Marnie, Gabriel Christman and James Mckinney have sifted through the years, as it were, as early "school masters.". Few of the pedagogues made their homes here or even elsewhere. They usually arrived in a neighbor- hood, solicited subscriptions for a school, and when the term was over passed on to another point, and so on through the country. Even though of a nomadic class, most of those early instructors are reputed to have been honorable, and in most instances gave satisfaction.
During the first few decades after this country was opened for settlement more immigrants came from Tennessee than any other state. However, Kentucky, Virginia and the Carolinas were well represented. And in a proportionate pro-rata all the other states of the East and North gave to this new state a citi- zenship.
By the time Arkansas was admitted into the Union in 1836, Johnson County had been founded, cabins were not so far apart, and forest trees had been felled and fields put into cultivation. Communities were forming themselves together in a geniality of spirit, organizing churches, lodges, politics, etc.
The territorial county seat was Spadra, or Spadra Bluff, as it was called while located east of the creek. It was here that most of the immigrants landed. However the confluence of each of the smaller streams of the county attracted a goodly number.
Steam boats were now taking the place of the old keel-boats of a decade before. The Tom Bowlin, commanded by Capt. J. Smith, and the William Parsons were plying the Arkansas river as early as 1835. The James O'Hare, commanded by Capt. Stewart, was another of the early steamers.
24
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
A representative number of the first settlers came over land but with the slow progress of the oxen, the marshy roads and swollen streams, with uncertain weather, made this mode of travel quite tedious and often hazardous. And many times there were no roads at all, the traveler would have to widen the trail with his hand ax in order to proceed. A double team of mules or horses could not be used through the country as the oxen were. The oxen, slow and patient, would work their way with cloven feet over places where the horse and mule would sink too deep for progress. However, the "pack mule" was quite dependable and could follow the trailways without much difficulty. This method was resorted to by not a few of those sturdy woodsmen. Often if there were not enough mules to carry the household effects and the family too, the family followed the mules on foot.
The most comfortable and satisfactory mode of traveling, and the one by which the majority came, was in the wonderful new boats then being made-a boat manipulated by steam and one that could easily go up stream as well as down. One family or more, as they chose, would occupy a small room on the boat. Each family furnished their own beds and cooked their own meals. The Tom Boland, after many successful and profitable trips up the Arkansas, was finally wrecked beyond repair on a shoal in the river not very far from Spadra.
Spadra Bluff, Pittsburg at the mouth of Cabin Creek, and Morrison's Bluff were the three popular landing places.
Every boat brought immigrants. Usually some relative or friend who knew of the possible arrival of the new-comers, would meet them with a conveyance. The most pretentious of these carriages was a two wheeled cart drawn by oxen-a safe and sure way, for almost without fail the passengers were thus de- livercd safely to their destination. In other cases, especially be- fore so many roadways were cut the faithful pack-mule followed up the trail. Whatever was the way they came, it really mattered not, since some friendly cabin in the forest was opened to them with genuine welcome. Alongside of each humble home were one or two fields, fenced with rails, cut from the trees in this forest and put up in rick-rack fashion. A few of these old rail fences are still standing, but the time is not far distant
25
THE PIONEERS
when they will be gone entirely. This primitive folk had never heard of the modern wire fences, nor even of fenceless districts. But they were progressing, nevertheless, for already some of the wealthier citizens were building houses of lumber cut by saw mills. As many as a half dozen such buildings were in the county as early as 1837, and machinery to separate the staple from the seed of the cotton, called a "Cotton Gin", had proved a success, and the old method-the long and tedious way of picking the seed from the lint by hand, was past.
Grist mills too, made to grind the corn, were indeed an im- provement over the small hand mills for home grinding, to say nothing of the wonderful progress over the primitive way, used by the Cherokees, of pounding their grain with mortar and pestle. The first grist mills were the water power kind. Hugh Gilbert was the owner of one on Piney Creek as early as 1833. J. W. Patrick, near that same period, built one on upper Spadra Creek. The old mill-race, the deep ditch by the side of the creek, which turned the rush of the waters direct against the big wheel of this mill, is visible today. Wiley Harris also had a grist mill on Other mills of the same na- Piney sometime in the late thirties.
lure were built inland and run by horsepower. The grinding
was done cheaper if the customer furnished the horses. This mill was built with two levers fifteen or twenty feet in length. To each end of these, horses were hitched to turn the mill. The water-grinders, however, had more power and before saw-mills were introduced for cutting lumber for flooring, doors, etc. to these mills were attached sash-saws. These saws were manipu- lated by two men. They were identical in construction as the gang-saw of today used for cutting marble. The old sash-saw was a single process, while the gang-saw is, as the word implies, used in "gangs" and will cut several stones at once.
As early as 1840, Abraham Clark was operating a saw mill at the confluence of Piney Creek.
When an early immigrant appeared at one of the landing points, his first thought was to find some level acres of land near a spring of water, if possible, on which to build his home and grow his crops. With a virgin forest everywhere he had not far to go to find logs with which to build his cabin. These logs were usually hewn, or in other words, cut so that they were flat
.
26
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
on four sides. The openings between the logs were filled with
wet earth. Sometimes the "womenfolks" pasted newspapers on the walls to add to the cleanliness and beauty of the home. The large fireplaces were inside of chimneys of considerable pro- portions. Sometimes the early chimneys were built up by stack- ing small logs in a square, slighty shaped, to make the flue, and then covering the whole with a mud, usually made from clay. But Johnson county had few of this kind for stones are generally plentiful and therefore some splendid chimneys built in those days, are still in excellent condition. At this time there are a number of old log houses standing, but they are fast disappearing. Within the next few decades they will be gone entirely. There were no stoves and wood was the only fuel. No other fuel was needed, for all the wood anyone could want was within reach of every family's door. In most cases two rooms were built to the house and some times more, but usually two chimneys were put up. one for the "front room" and one for cooking in the kitchen. There were great hooks hanging from a fastening in the flue of the kitchen fireplace, on which to swing the pots. The squaw The had her earthen pots, but the white settlers those of iron. house-wife also had a skillet with four little legs and a heavy iron lid for the baking of bread. Potatoes were baked in hot ashes
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