Jacksonport, Arkansas: Its Rise and Decline

Jacksonport, Arkansas: Its Rise and DeclineAuthor(s): Mabel WestSource: The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Winter, 1950), pp. 231-258Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40037896 .

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JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS; ITS RISE AND DECLINE

By Mabel West*

Heber Springs, Arkansas

EARLY DAYS IN JACKSON COUNTY Jackson County, in northeast Arkansas, was laid off

from Independence County on November 5, 1829.1 It had, as its formation, 1500 square miles and a population of 333. 2

The first court session in Jackson County was held at the home of Thomas Wideman near Li tch field on May 3, 18303 Maps of early Arkansas disagree about the exact location of this little town 4 but historians, journalists, and old Jackson County settlers say Litch field was located two miles southeast of the present town of Newport where the Rock Island Railroad crossed Village Creek.5 There the county seat remained until July 9, 1838, when an electic-n was held to select commissioners who were to locate a desirable place to which the seat of justice could be transferred. This was done and on July 8, 1839, court was held at Elizabeth.6 The site of this town now lies in the bed of the White River about one and one-half miles north of New- port.7 When Elizabeth became the county seat the population of Jackson County numbered 1,540s

From 1835 to 1862 many changes were made in the area of Jackson County as well as changes in the location of its county seat. On October 23, 1853, White County was

*The author is a graduate of the College of the Ozarks and she holds the M. A. in history from Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas.

xLaws of Arkansas Territory (Little Rock, Arkansas: J. Steele, printer, 1835), pp. 146, 147.

2W. E. Blevins, Makers of Jackson County (N. B. N. P. 9.) 3Tackson County Court Record, Book 1. 1830, p. 2. * Tanners Map of Eastern Arkansas, dated 1838, shows Litchfield northeast

of present Newport while Colton's Map of Arkansas, dated 1862, shows Litch- field southeast of Newport.

5Weston Arthur Goodspeed, editor, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas (Chicago, Nashville, Tenn., and St. Louis, Mo.: The Good- speed Publishing Co., 1889), p. 832; Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, May 25, 1947, Special Features Section, p. 1; Personal Interview with Mr. Lee J. Jones of Tacksonport, December 27, 1949.

6Jackson County Court Docket, July 9, 1838, pp. 23, 24; July 8, 1839, p.47. 7"A Bit of Arkansas Church History, Christian Observer, 131:9, December

1, 1943. 8Weston Arthur Goodspeed, etfitor-m-chief, The Province and the States, (Maai-

son, Wisconsin, The Western Historical Association, 1904). Vol. VII, p. 78.



2^2 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

formed from Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski Counties.9 On November 8, 1836, more territory from Independence was added to Jackson County,10 and on January 10, 185 1, all of St. Francis County lying west of the Cache River was given to Jackson County.11 On January 6, 1852, all books, records, and papers were ordered removed from Elizabeth "to or within one mile of the Town of Augusta" where court was first held on April 12, 1852. 12

Jacksonport was made the county seat on July 11, 1853, and on October 10, witnessed its first court session.13 When a county boundary change was made in 1862, forming Woodruff County from Jackson County in the final formation of the latter, Augusta became the county seat of Woodruff County.14

Jacksonport is located where the Black River pours its murky waters into the White. The surrounding territory was discovered in 1822 by an old trapper, Obediah Cart- wright and his Indian companion, Leauteau. The town was laid out in 1833 by Thomas Tunstall, a Kentuckian, who reached Jacksonport via New Orleans in his boat, the Wil- liam Purson, one of the first steamers ever to ply the waters of the White River.15 Shortly after his arrival, Tunstall together with a Samuel Reid, opened the first store in this region.16

Jacksonport, incorporated as town in 1852, 17 owed its livelihood to its advantageous location near two rivers that were able to carry steamboats the year around. This was the reason Jacksonport was able to forge ahead of her sister city of Batesville whose river traffic was often stalled in dry summer months.18 Jacksonport early became the point of

^Dallas T. Herndon, Annals of Arkansas' (Little Rock, Arkansas and Hop- kinsville, Kentucky: The Historical Record Association, n. d.). Vol. 2, p. 724.

10Weston Arthur Ooodspeed, editor, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, p 89.

^Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas (Little Rock, Ar- kansas: Lambert A. Whitely. State Printers, 1851), p. 107.

12Jackson County Court Record, Jan. 16, 1852; p. 194; April 12, 1852, p. 199. ™ltnd., July 12,, 1853, p. 257: Oct. 10, 1853, p. 261. 14W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County pp. 13, 14. ™Ibid., pp. 36-39. lbWeston Arthur Goodspeed, editor, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of

Northeast Arkansas, pp. 836, 839. 17Weston Arthur Goodspeed, editor-m-chief, The Province and the States, Vol.

VTT, p. 167. ^Batesville Weekly Record, Batesville, Ark., Aug. 10, 1939, "Batesville's

Sister City Hasn't Fared So Well in March of Progress," p. 3. Batesville is on the White River, above the Black and White River junction, in Independ- ence County.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2~~

transfer for boat cargoes going to up-river points as well as a shipping center for a vast Ozark hinterland.19 Wagon trains, loaded with farm products, game and hides and pulled by yokes of oxen, came out of the mountains from points as far north as Springfield and West Plains, Mis- souri.20 Trade of this sort had grown tremendously since 1818, when Henry Schoolcraft, traveling down White River as far as Poke Bayou (Batesville) observed that skins, meat, and honey were freighted down the river in canoes and loaded on larger boats at the Great North Fork of the White River or the mouth of the Black, and exchanged for salt, axes, blankets, knives, iron pots, and other articles, so important to the hunter and trapper.21

19W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, pp. 37, 38. 20Batesville Weekly Record, Batesville, Ark., Aug. 10, 1939, p. 3. 21Henry R. Schoolcraft, Journal of a Tour Into the Interior of Missouri and

Arkansas, 1818 and 1819 (London: Printed for Sir Richard Phillips and Co., by W. Lewis, 1821), p. 40.



2~ , ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

TRANSPORTATION ON THE WHITE AND BLACK RIVERS

The White and Black Rivers have been important fac- tors in the progress of early Northeastern Arkansas and the White has been rightfully classed among the state's principal rivers. The latter, once known as the Unica or Nika, was named for its remarkably clear waters.1 Featherston- haugh, who made a journey through Arkansas in 1834, said the river was at that time scarcely known outside its own territories but he classed it as "one of the most important and beautiful rivers of North America."2 Rowing against the current proved a slow and toilsome process to the early adventurers who explored it by canoe.3

Rising in the Ozarks of Northwest Arkansas, the White River swings northward to Missouri and back again through Northeast and Southeast Arkansas. Flowing through some six hundred miles4 of mountain and plain regions, it reaches the Mississippi a few miles above the mouth of the Arkansas. Important Arkansas tributaries of the White River, besides the Black, are the Little Red which empties its water near Gregory southeast of Judsonia, and the Cache which reaches the White at Clarendon southeast of De Vails Bluff. Im- portant White River towns are Calico Rock, Batesville, New- port, and De Vails Bluff.

The Black River rises in Southeast Missouri and flows eighty miles5 to reach the White at Jacksonport. One of its main tributaries is the Strawberry River which meets it near Dowdy. Some of the principal towns on the Black River are Pocahontas, Black Rock, and Powhatan.6

A survey of the two rivers in 1870 disclosed the average width of the White as five hundred feet from Au-

xFred W. Allsop, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas (n.p., The Grolier Society, 1931}. Vol. i: to. 46.

2G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Excursion Through the Slave States (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1844), p. 89.

a Thomas Nuttal, Journal of I ravels Into the Arkansas Territory During the Year 1818 (Philadelphia: Thomas H. Palmer, Publisher, 1821.) p. 65.

4Fay Hempstead, Historical Review of Arkansas, (Chicago: Lewis Publish- ing Co., 1911), Vol 1, p. 374.

Hbid. 6 See map on page 53 of Thesis by the author.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2TC

gusta to Jacksonport and four hundred feet from Augusta to De Vails Bluff. The average width of the Black River from Jacksonport to Powhatan measured two hundred and fifty feet.7

In the middle of the last century when many river towns depended heavily upon river traffic, a severe drought could cause much distress to towns on the Arkansas River. But the White River was always able to carry its boats in dry as well as in wet seasons,8 mainly because of the numerous springs that gush forth in the Ozarks and drain to the White River.

Steamboating began early on the White-Black River system. The first steamer to brave the waters of the White was the Waverly, which landed at Elizabeth in 1831. The second was the William Pur son, which stopped at Jacque's Creek near Jacksonport in 1833.9

By 1855, handsome freight, mail, and passenger steamers were coming to Jacksonport at regular intervals. New Orleans was represented by such boats as the Buena Vista and the John Swasey with N. Owen as captain,10 and the Celeste operated by Captain Pat Wheat in the Black River trade.11 Famous Memphis boats stopping at Jacksonport were the Commercial, the R. P. Walt, the Belle Lee, the Mary Lee, and the Producer.12 The Jesse Lezear and the Sanga- mon arrived at Jacksonport on Tuesday and Friday morn- ings from Memphis and Napoleon13 and made connections with a four-horse coach to Batesville.14 One of the most handsome Memphis boats on the White River was the Josie Harry captained by the popular Milt R. Harry with P. P. Pease and Hugh Smith serving as her accommodating first and second clerks. Her stateroom was first class and

' Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Oct. 21, 1870, p. 4. 8Personal Interview with Mr. Dallas T. Herndon of Little Rock, Dec, 1949. 9W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County (n.p., n.n.), pp. 36, 39. loJacksonport Weekly News, Jacksonport, Ark., Dec. 29, 1852, pp. 2, 3. 11Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Dec. 29, 18)70, p. 4 12W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, vv. 38, 39. 13This notorious gambling town at the mouth of the Arkansas River should

not be confused1 with Batesville which has also been known as Napoleon as a result of a mistake made by an early land survey map of Arkansas. Josiah H. Shinn, Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas (n. p., Genealogical and Historical Pub- lishing Company, 1908), pp. 108, 146. See also Tanner Map of Eastern Ar- kansas. 1841, p. 5.

14The Tribune and True American, Jacksonport, Ark., Uct. Li, its^b, p. 6.



2~fi ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

all her furnishings were up to date.15 Steamboats similar to the Josie Harry provided space for household goods and livestock. Mrs. Mildred Wilmans Dorsey, a former Jackson County resident, recalled how her family, when moving from Brandenburg, Kentucky, to Jacksonport, around i860, sent their negro nurse to the lower deck twice a day to milk the cow in order to provide nourishment for the children. At Napoleon they transferred to a smaller boat right in the middle of the river, cow, horse, and all.16 Important mail steamers were the Sam Ham, the Julie Dean,11 and the Osage which came up from Memphis and Little Rock about three times a week,18 and the Chickasaw of the Memphis and White River Packet Company whose captain was the popular Ed Postal. This boat made connections at Jacksonport with the Goodrich Bros, line of the Black River and with the Lady Boone for the upper White.19

These boats played a great part in the lives of all Jack- sonport people, the young as well as the old. Mr. W. E. Bevins recalls with poignant vividness his boyhood experi- ences with steamboats at Jacksonport.

"... One of the most fascinating occupations of my boyhood was watching the steamboats. We had two mail steamers, side-wheelers, up-to-date, with all kinds of accommodations for passengers and freight, and I have seen nine steamers loading and unloading at once. One packet from Louisville, one from St. Louis, two from Memphis, two from Upper Black River, and two from New Orleans. I have seen one of the last, 'The Seminole,' with a load of fifteen hundred bales of cotton."20

"I have seen boats loaded till the guard rail was under water; dressed deer and bear meat topped the local freight, and wild turkeys hung from the upper deck."21

15Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Sept. 11, 1883, pp. 1, 8. 16Newport Independent, Centennial Edition, Newport, Ark., Sept. 10, 1930,

Mildred A. Dorsey, "Jackson County As It Used to Be," p. 7. 17 W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, pp. 37-39. "Weekly Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, May 23, 1871, p. 3. 18Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Kock, Sept. 11, 1883, p. 8, 20W. E. Bevens, Remimscences of a Private (n. p., n.n.), pp. 5, 6,. 21 W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, p. 38.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2~j

A boat's whistle as it came around the bend south of the town was a gathering signal for those who were interested in seeing the steamer and any boat aroused as much attention as a circus.22 A boat's arrival meant fresh oranges, bananas, and oysters for the children and new dresses for the ladies, made especially for them in Louisville,23 the style center of the South.

Boat sinkings were fairly common occurrences. Some steamboats ran aground while others hit trees or snags. In 1870, the United States survey boat, City of Forsyth, made an extensive study of the White and Black Rivers. In Black River, according to Col. Livermore, the chief en- gineer, and John S. Tennison, the boat's captain, there were 11,936 trees, 2,019 snags, and two wrecks. In White River from Jacksonport to De Vails Bluff there were 2,015 trees and 839 snags.24 In December, 1870, the /. F. Allen, a keel- boat loaded with eighty bales of cotton, struck a bar a few miles above Jacksonport and was sunk. The cargo remained afloat long enough for men in flatboats to recover it.25 Also in December of 1870, the steamer Batesville sank on a down trip from Pocahontas. Her 475 bales of cotton were lost 26 but the steamer was floated and repaired.37 In the fall of 1 87 1, the Ella Hecht, after colliding with a snag, sank in the Black River two miles above Jacksonport. The owner, Levi Hecht of Pocahontas, had $30,000 worth of merchan- dise on the steamer which was itself valued at $5,000 with no insurance.28 In December, 187 1, the Celeste of the Mem- phis and Little Rock Packet Company struck a snag near Pine Bluff and was sunk. It was valued at $12,000 and insured for $8,ooo29 Near the turn of the century the Bryan hit a tree near the mouth of the Black River. Owing to the fact that the tree remained lodged, the steamer did not sink immediately. A message was sent to the Mary Joyce at New- port and she hastened upriver to the rescue. In a field on

22Personal Interview with Mrs. B. W. Hafner of Newport, Aug. 27, 1949. 23Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens of Newport, Feb., 1950. 24Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Oct. 21, 1870, p. 4. zsibid., Dec. 11, 1870, p. 2. ZQIbid., Dec. 29, 1870, p. 4. 27 Ibid., Oct. 4, 1874, p. 1. ^Weekly Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Oct. 17, 1871, p. 3. ?8Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Dec. 31, 1871, p. 4.



2og ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the west side of the White River, opposite Jacksonport, there is an old hog's chain, the only remains of a boat that burned there just after the turn of the century. It was loaded with 500 bales of cotton.30 A Captain Warner of White River fame, later recalled that "it took a pilot with his wits about him" to handle the boats on the White River.31

Probably the most popular men around Jacksonport were the captains with the pilots running a close second. Even today the older people of Jacksonport may be heard speaking in affectionate tones of Cap'n Harry, Cap'n Bate- man, and Cap'n Matthews. Albert Cravens, Thead Riley, Will Kinman,32 and John Brown were some of the best known pilots. Brown died in Jacksonport in March, 1876, after an attack of pneumonia.33

Ranking in importance with the steamboats, but con- siderably less popular, were the wharf boats, flat boats, barges, and ferries. One of the best of Jacksonport barges was the Fashion, owned by Captain Silas Daugherty. It served the people above Jacksonport who were not always served by the steamers.34 Ferries changed hands often and the rates differed from year to year. In 1858, William W. Tunstall paid thirty dollars into the Treasury of Jackson County for ferry privileges at Jacksonport and he entered into bond at the sum of $25O.35 In 1865, the standing rate for ferriage across the White, Black, and Cache Rivers was as follows :

"For Each Man and Horse in high waters 50 cts. in Low Waters 25 cts.

For Each Footman in high waters 20 cts. in Low Waters 10 cts.

For Each Single Horse in high waters 25 cts. in Low Waters 20 cts.

For Each 4 Horse Wagon and Team in high waters $2.50 in Low Waters $2.00.

For Each 2 horse Wagon and Team in high waters $2.00 in Low Waters $1.50.

30Personal Interview with Mr. Lee J. Jones of Jacksonport, Dec. 27, 1949. 31Baxter Bulletin, Centennial Edition, Mountain Home, Ark., June 26, 1936,

"Steamboat Days on the Upper White River," p. 14. ^Ibid. 33Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, March 28, 1876, p. 4. ^Tribune and True American, Jacksonport, Ark., Oct. 13, 1855, p. 3. 35 Jackson County Court Record, Jan., 1858, p. 537.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2~g

For Each Carriage or Cart in high waters $1.50 in low waters $1.00.

For Each Cattle per head in high waters 10 cts. in Low waters 6 cts.

For Each Hog or Sheep pr. Hd. in high waters 10 cts. in Low Waters 5 cts."36

*Hbid., July, 1865, pp. 574, 575.



2 .o ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

NEWSPAPERS AT JACKSONPORT

Jacksonport had a number of newspapers during its halcyon days. A paper would flourish for a year or two and then cease publication and another would spring up. The first, the Jacksonport Weekly News with J. W. Cobb as publisher, appeared in 1852. It kept up a lively correspondence with other papers and carried many advertisements. In fact, a single issue might contain two or three identical advertisements on separate pages. This paper gave full sup- port to the Whig Party.1

The Tribune and True American, published in 1855 by P. Mead Benham and A. B. Morse, was courageous enough to advocate a United America at a time when many felt a disunited one would be more desirable. It supported no party but was devoted, it said, "to the Dissemination of Pure American Principles, Agriculture, Commerce, and Literature."2

In i860, The Jacksonport Herald was started by Lynn and Gill but ceased publication when its editors went to war.3 Two other papers sprang up during the perilous war years. These were the Stars and Stripes and the Reveille. The former, published by the Union Army on wall paper, first appeared in December of 1863. Editor W. W. Granger, as- sistant surgeon of the Third Missouri Cavalry, had his printing office at the southwest corner of Main and Adams where the papers were sold for ten cents a copy. Editor Granger used his column mainly to remind Arkansas rebels, experiencing the first bitter fruits of Reconstruction, that rebels had no right to complain after they had lost and when a forfeit was demanded of them.4 The Reveille started publication in the spring of 1864, but was forced to discontinue after the second issue because of a lack of available paper.5 Boats coming to Jacksonport brought Memphis, New Or- leans, and Little Rock newspapers and presented them at

jacksonport Weekly News, Jacksonport, Ark., Dec. 29, 1852, pp. 1-4. 2Tribune and True American, Jacksonport, Ark., Oct. 13, 1855, pp. 1-4. 3Fred W. Allsopp, History of the Arkansas Press for a Hundred Years and

More (Little Rock, Ark.: Parke-Harper Publishing Company, 1922), pp. 203, 204, ±Stars and Stripes, Jacksonport, Ark., Dec. 1, 1863, p. 1. ^Reveille, Jacksonport, Ark., May 3, 1864, p. 2.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2 . j

the offices of the Stars and Stripes and of the Reveille where the most important war news could be printed and made available to all in and near Jacksonport. Transients passing overland through Jacksonport brought to the editors news of important battles.6

After the war Lynn and Gill sold their newspaper business to J. W. Siler who called his paper the Statesman. The paper, even though Republican enjoyed a great amount of popularity.8 Siler sold the Statesman around 1870 to John P. Fagin and M. McCannany who changed the name of the paper to the Dispatch after May, 1871. Publication of the Dispatch was suspended around 1880.9

A second Jacksonport Herald, edited by Tom T. Ward, began publication about 1870. However, when Jacksonport' s death rattle became so clear and unmistakable, several years later, he moved his business to the thriving little town of Newport.10 Michael William Connally, once editor of the Memphis Commercial- Appeal and the Memphis Scimitar, claimed that he was a typesetter and reporter on a Jack- sonport paper before Newport sprang up.11 This was probably Ward's Herald or perhaps James W. Siler 's Statesman.

John H. Page of the Sikeston (Missouri) Star came to Jacksonport in 1887 where he set up a printing office and published the Jackson County Democrat, the town's last newspaper. His printing outfit was made up of an old army press, some second-hand type, a piece of an old tombstone used as an ink slab, and a reglet made from parts of a billiard table.12 Page was everything from editor to janitor since he had only one helper who came once a week. His paper was discontinued in 1888 "for want of sustaining patronage" and the machinery was moved to Perryville.13

The Tribune and True American and the Democrat

QStars and Stripes, Jacksonport, Ark., Dec. 8, 1863, pp. 1-2. 7Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Sept. 4, 1869, p. 3. 8Ibid., Sept 26, 1869, p. 3. 9Fred W. Allsopp, History of the Arkansas Press for a Hundred Years and

More, pp. 203, 204. 10John H. Page, Political Reminiscences, Arkansas Gazette Magazine, 7-3,

Aug. 20, 1933. 1:1Fred W. Allsopp, History of the Arkansas Press for a Hundred Years and

More. pp. 203, 204. 12 1 bid. 13Page, op. cit., pp. 3, 8,.



2 42 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

probably had more influence on the business of the town than the other newspapers. The editor of the Tribune appointed himself as champion of the proposed Jacksonport line of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad14 while Page was encouraged to come to Jacksonport mainly to fight New- port in the county seat battle.15

^Tribune and True American, Jacksonport, Ark., Oct. 13, 1855, p. 2. 15Page, op. at., pp. 3, 8.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 24.Q

JACKSONPORT AT ITS PEAK, 18601870 a. Growth of Jacksonport Business

Jacksonport' s citizens, in the placement and construction of their business houses and improvements, followed the practice of the average early American river city in the use of lumber and in locating business near the river. The sidewalks were of plank, and built high, to keep flood waters from running over them.1 The principal business houses were along the river front on Jefferson street. There was a two-story brick building known as the Jesse A. Paine Dry Goods Company. Then came a barber shop.2 Near it was L. L. Moore's Dry Goods Store3 followed by the Wolff- Goldman Store.4 A livery stable was located near the corner of Main and Jefferson5 followed by Bach's Sa- loon,6 some office buildings, the Tunstall Hotel, and three warehouses.7 On Jefferson, opposite the L. L. Moore Store was the Paine Warehouse,8 then came the Dwindell Build- ing occupied by Hull's Grocery, followed by a billiard hall, a saloon, and some office buildings.9.

Other business places not on Jefferson Street were the Wood's Hotel, the meeting place of drummers and boat crewsmen, on Washington Street,10 the Tebb's School House on Redman Street, 1X the Adler Store12 and the Beven's Drug Store on Adams Street,13 the Courthouse on the Ave- nue,14 and the County Jail on Dillard Street.15

Jacksonport saw very early the need of a Courthouse

aJohn H. Page, "Political Reminiscences," Arkansas Gazette, Magazine, 7:3, Aug. 20, 1933.

2W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County (n.p., n.n.), pp. 40-42. 3Jackson County Deed Record, Book J, 1860, p. 121. 4Jackson County Real Estate Assessment Record 1897, p. 203. 5Jackson County Deed Record, Book J, 1860, p. 105. 4 Jackson County Real Estate Assessment Record 1897, p. 203. 7W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, pp. 36, 40-42. 8Jackson County Deed Record, Book I, 1859, p. 70. 9W. E.. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, pp. 40-42. 10Jackson County Deed Record, Book T, 1874, p. 441, and a Personal In-

terview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens of Newport, Feb. 22, 1950. "Jackson County Deed Record, Book S, 1872, p. 13. *sIbid.. Book T. 1860. d. 145. 19 Ibid., Book I, 1859, p. 95. ^Ibid., Book T, 1872, pp. 140-141; Jackson County Real Estate Assessment

Record, 1933, p. 46. 15 Jackson County Deed Record, Book J, 1860, p. 137.



s,am ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and in 1861 a special tax was levied on all taxable property in the county for the purpose of obtaining necessary funds for its construction."16 Owing to the war and other adversities, most of which were financial, the building was not entirely completed until some ten years later. Once construction stopped altogether only to be taken up again. Bricks were obtained from the brick yard located across the street from the Courthouse.17 The original contract price was $40,000 but by the time the payments were completed it had cost twice that much.18 Fireproof vaults were added in 1887.19 The building was constructed by Col. J. A. Schnable of Jacksonport,20 who claimed that he was the man who put the rope around the neck of John Brown of Harper's Ferry and Pottawatomie fame.

There were no banks in Jacksonport. Merchants kept money safes in their stores which were guarded at night. Robberies were few, especially when one considers the chances for such at that time.21

Cotton and corn proved profitable to farmers near Jacksonport. The rich sand and gumbo soil produced, around i860, eight hundred pounds of cotton per acre. This rated, in fiber quality, in the New Orleans market, equal to the Mississippi cotton and a little better than the Tennessee cotton.22 Most of the cotton sent out from Jacksonport went to New Orleans. Farmers received from five to seven cents a pound.23 Early cotton gins near Jacksonport were owned by Col. C K. Dill24 and P. D. Williams.25 There were no cotton gins in Jacksonport until years after the town had begun to decline.26 After the county seat was moved to Newport, the old Courthouse at Jacksonport was

16Jackson County Court Record, April, 1861, p. 191. 17Batesville Weekly Record, Batesville, Ark., Aug. 10, 1939, "Batesville's

'Sister City' Hasn't Fared So Well in March of Progress," p. 3. 18Weston Arthur Goodspeed, editor Biographical and Historical Memoirs of

Northeast Arkansas (Chicago, Nashville, Tenn., and St. Louis, Mo.: The Good- speed Publishing Co., 1889), p. 832.

19Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock. Oct. 8. 1887. p. 3. 20Page, op, cit., p. 3. 21Batesville Weekly Record, Batesville. Ark.. Aug. 10. 1939. p. 3. 22David Dale Owen, First Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of the North-

ern Counties of Arkansas (Little Rock, Ark.: Johnson and Yerkes, 1858), pp. 215, 216.

23Personal Interview with Mr. Lee T. Tones of Jacksonport, Feb. 24, 1950. 24Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Jan. 5, 1871, p. 4. 25Ibid., March 12, 1870, p. 2. ^Personal interview with Mrs. B. W. Hafner of Newport, Sept. 30, 1949.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE o A - ^45 o A

used for some time as a cotton gin.27 Flood waters, washing out as much as two or three hundred acres of corn and cotton per family, often proved disastrous to farmers near the two rivers.28

Like the typical Southerners of the ante-bellum days, the early settlers of Jacksonport were much against public school systems. They engaged private tutors for the children and sent their young ladies to seminaries in Memphis and other southern towns.29 Instruction in certain of the fine arts could be obtained in Jacksonport for a Mr. Turner from Virginia taught music to private pupils.30 Later, through the tireless efforts of Frank Doswell, a lawyer from Virginia, public instruction was started for the poor children and eventually schools of that type were provided for all the children.31 Early primary and intermediate school teachers were Mr. Tebbs and Mr. Boyce.32

Several county roads came into Jacksonport from surrounding towns, helping her business growth. They were necessary for the farmers who hauled cotton, livestock, and game to town and for the school children who lived outside Jacksonport but attended her schools. Elgin, Poca- hontas, Batesville, and Grand Glaize were connected by roads.33 They also ran to Oil Trough in Southern Independ- ence County.34

b. Social Life at Jacksonport

The social life of Jacksonport often centered around the steamboats. An excursion, on a chartered boat, captured the interest of the whole town even though only a limited number of people were allowed aboard. The number of passengers depended upon the number of life preservers available.35 "The arrival of a big steamboat was always the oc- casion for much social activity. The popular officials enter-

27Personal Interview with Mr. Lee T. Tones, Feb. 24, 1950. 28Personal Interview with Mr. J. W. Jones of Jacksonport, Dec. 27, 1949. 29W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, pp. 43, 44. 30Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens, Feb. 22, 1950. 31 W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, pp. 43, 44. S2Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens, Feb. 22, 1950. 33Jackson County Court Record, July, 1865, pp. 573, 574. 34Personal Interview with Mr. JLee J. Jones, Feb. 24, 1950. 35Personal Interview with Mr. Lee J. Jones, Dec. 27, 1949.



2.g ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tamed the local young people with feasts and dancing. . ."36 The white and gold wood works, the hanging lamps, and the fine furniture on the fancier steamers produced a favorable atmoshpere for these festivities. Tables with cakes, jellies, and candies interested the younger children.37

Dances, balls, and other social gatherings were often held on the second floor of the Courthouse. Even though Jacksonport was predominantly Methodist, there were a number of Episcopalians and they sponsored masked balls each year in the Courthouse on Tuesday night before Lent.38 The Hon. A. H. Garland (successful candidate for governor) visited Jacksonport in 1874, and was taken to the brilliantly lighted Courthouse where a large crowd gathered to hear him speak.39

Fish fries and hunting were the favorite out-of-door sports, and eames were always plentiful. One young man who lived a few miles from Jacksonport rode into town one day to buy a stovepipe hat so that he could be counted among the elite in the town's social circle. On his way home he became so absorbed in helping his dogs chase a bear that he lost his hat. "With that hat lost," he said, "I gave up trying any more to be anything and came on home contented to be a bear hunter."41

Weddings were events of much interest and activity. Often Jacksonport's leading ladies were invited to New Or- leans or Louisville to attend the nuptial of some young belle.42 At home, a wedding - any wedding - gained the interest of all the people simply because everybody knew everybody else and one person's affairs was the business of any person who cared to make it such. When Tom T. Ward of the Herald and Miss Belle Harbison were married at Jack- sonport, J. P. Fagin of the Statesman the town's favorite humorist, announced that he was also in the market. Some

*°W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, p. 39. "Newport Independent, Centennial Edition, Newport, Ark., Sept. 10, 1930

fiklred A. Dorsey, "Jackson County As It Used to Be," p. 7. 38Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens Feb. 22, 1950. 39Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Oct. 4, 1874, p. 1. 41S. W. Stockard, The History of Lawrence, Jackson, Independence, and Stone

Counties of the Third Judicial District of Arkansas (Little Rock, Ark.; Arkansas Democrat company, 1904), pp. 56, 57.

*aW. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, pp. 39, 40.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2 * j

persons expressed a belief that he would probably remain there.43

After the Civil War, the Northerners who had chosen Jacksonport as their home were not included in the town's social circle. Yankee men, said the Jacksonport people, had enormous feet and their wives did not know how to wear evening gowns.44 This attitude, on the part of the Jackson- sonport people, was probably a result of a number of things, chief of which was the bitterness felt by a losing people, and the mental rebellion against the Reconstruction rule of Powell Clayton, a native of Pennsylvania, who was governor of Ar- kansas from July 2, 1868, until March 17, 1871, and man- aged during those gloomy years to hold Arkansas in subjec- tion.45 Clayton made an unexpected visit to Jacksonport in June of 1870 and made a short, informal speech to a small crowd gathered at the Woods Hotel.46

43Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, May 12, 1871, p. 4. 44Personal Interview with Mrs. B. W. Hafner, Aug. 27, 1949. 45Dallas T. Herndon, Annals of Arkansas (Little Rock, Ark., and Hopkms-

ville, Ky.: The Historical Record Association, n.d.), Vol. 1, p. 183. 46Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, June 12, 1870, p. 3.



2ig ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

JACKSONPORT IN THE CIVIL WAR

On May 5, 1861, Jackstmport sent forth 120 of her

young men to the defense of their country. The company, called the Jacksonport Guards, went to the Presbyterian Church to receive their flag which had been made for them

by the ladies of Jacksonport. After a presentation speech by Miss Mary Tom Caldwell, the young men departed with the blessing of their friends and boarded the steamer Mary Patterson for Memphis. Their leader was Captain A. C. Pickett, a lawyer and a veteran of the Mexican War.1 As the steamer approached Grand Glaize, the soldiers learned that the people of that little town had a Yankee nailed in a box ready for shipment to President Lincoln. The mysterious man had appeared in Grand Glaize a week previous and since he was somewhat noncomittal about his status, the citizens of the little town refused to take any chances and held him prisoner. Before crating him, however, they in- dulged in some preliminaries that must have been most hu- miliating to the unlucky fellow. They shaved one side of his head and face so that the President would have no trouble in discerning his gift from Grand Glaize. The Jacksonport Guards, suffering from patriotic fever, made haste to get the box and pushed it hurriedly down the street to the boat where they planned to hang the prisoner to the jackstaff. Their plans miscarried, however, due possibly to the inter- cessions of the Captain, and at Memphis the man was of- fered his freedom, but he refused to leave his prison until he reached Cairo, Illinois, thinking perhaps that he was safer in his box while in enemy territory.2 In 1863, the loyal newspaper, the Stars and Stripes, in an editorial on South-

1W. E. Bevens, Reminiscences of a Private (n.p., nn.), pp. 6, 7. The Jack- sonport Guards later became Company G, _ First Arkansas Regiment Infantry, C. S. A. and saw service in the following

_ places: Manassas (first battle),

Blockade of the Potomac at Evansport, Shiloh, Farmington, Miss., Corinth, Perry- Wile, Ky., Chickamauga Missionary Ridge Tenn., Ringgold Gap, Ga., 74 days Battle from Dalton to Atlanta, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta Jonesboro, Ga., Spring Hill, Tenn., Franklin, Tenn., Nashville, and Bentonville, N. C. The United Confederate Veterans of Arkansas, 1907), pp. 67-68.

2Mrs V. Y. Cook; 'Farewell to Jacksonport Guards," Confederate Women of Arkansas in the Civil War, 1861-1865, Memorial Reminiscences (Little Rock, Ark.:



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE OAri

ern tyranny had this to say concerning the Grand Glaize prisoner :

"We know of, and can name a man, now serving in this Army, [Third Missouri Cavalry], who within twenty miles of Jacksonport, was, by rebels now, living, BOXED UP ALIVE and shipped on a steamboat, addressed to "A. Lincoln," Washington, D. C, for being suspected of Unionism. Luckily and strangely too, he was not smothered, as intended, and after five days' imprisonment in his box, was taken out at Mem- phis, and lives to fight the inhuman devils who thus maltreated him."3

In July, 1 86 1, Jacksonport sent forth almost two hundred more of her young men to the war. They were mus- tered in with William K. Patterson,4 another Jacksonport lawyer,5 as their colonel, and were in one of the regiments of General Pat Cleborne's division. Their flag was made also by the ladies of Jacksonport but they received a different one after being reorganized at Corinth.6

In March, 1862, after the Battle of Pea Ridge and Elkhorn Tavern, Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, Federal, traveled eastward down the White River in another move of his plan to take Little Rock.7 He reached Jacksonport in June and led a skirmish there against the rebels.8 Major-General T. C. Hindman, who was sent to Arkansas in May, 1862, to raise an army and organize the Trans-Mississippi De- partment for the Confederacy," sent the gunboat Maurepas, with Joseph Fry, Lieut. Comdg., up the White River to capture or destroy supplies at Grand Glaize and Jacksonport

&Stars and Stripes, Jacksonport, Ark., Dec. 8, 1863, p. 2. ^Record of the Confederate Veterans of Arkansas, Muster Roll, No. 32, Ar-

chives of Arkansas. Those Jacksonport soldiers were Co., G., Eighth Arkansas Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, and saw service at the following places: Rich* mond, Ky., Shiloh, Corinth, Murfreesboro, Tenn., Decatur, Ala., Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., Ringgold Gap, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and Franklin. Surrendered with General Johnston's Army April 26. 1865.

5W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County (n.p., n.n.,) o. 43. 6Dallas T. Herndon, The Arkansas Handbook, 1941-1942 (Little Rock: The

Arkansas History Commission, 1942), p. 114. 7David Y. Thomas, Arkansas in War and Reconstruction, 1861-1874 (Little

Rock, Ark.: Arkansas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1926), pp. 135-140.

8Robert N. Scott, editor, The War of the Rebellion, (Washington, D. C: Government Printing Office, 1881-1901), Union Report, Series I, Vol. XIII, p. 428.

eDallas T. Herndon, The Arkansas Handbook, 1937-1938 (Little Rock, Ark.: Parke-Harper Company, 1938) p. 64.



2-Q ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and to threaten enemy communications with Batesville. Those orders were carried out10 and after a frontal attack Curtis retreated "beyond the Little Red River and ulti- mately to Batesville"11 and Colonel Albert G. Brackett of the Ninth Illinois was forced to retreat from his camp at Jacksonport because his two rifled 6-pounders were too small to attack the Maurepas which had three 68-pounders and two 18-pounders.12 On June 17, on its return trip down the White River, the Maurepas met the Federal ironclad boats the St. Louis and the Mound City, at St. Charles13 in Arkansas County, south of Clarendon. There the Maure- pas and two transports, the Eliza G, and the Mary Patterson, the boat that carried the Jacksonport Guards to Memphis, were sunk in an attempt to blockade the river.14 Fry, who had been formerly an officer in the United States Navy, was later taken prisoner by the Federal forces.15 The cautious and timid Curtis, who could be rightfully called "the McClel- land of the West," thus hampered in his move toward Little Rock was too slow in reaching his objective. On September 10, 1863,16 the forces of General Frederick Steele, moving westward from Helena and De Vails Bluff, gained control of the capital city17 and thus Arkansas became one of the first rebel states to fall to the Union forces.

The main troubles of Jacksonport citizens during the war came from Jayhawkers and Union soldiers quartered in their homes.18 A Miss Caldwell, possibly the same young lady who presented the flag to the Jacksonport Guards, remem- bered only too vividly the harshness of war.

"One night . . . the jayhawkers came and we heard their horse-hoofs knocking against the kettles in the back yard. The Yankees took our house for their hos- pital . . . They took our house, and all we had. They ac-

loScott, op. cit., Confederate Report, Series I, Vol. XIII, pp. 34, 35. "Thomas, op. cit., p. 142. 12Scott, op. cit., Union Report, Series I, Vol. XIII, p. 97. 13Thomas, op. cit., p. 143. 145cott, op. cit., Uontederate Keport, Series 1, Vol. XI 11, p. 929. ™Ibid., p. 105. lflDallas T. Herndon, Annals of Arkansas (Little Rock, Ark., and Hopkins-

ville, Ky.: The Historical Record Association, n.d.), Vol. 1, p. 183. 17Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel, Battles and Leaders

of the Civil War, (New Yor^: the Century Co., 1884-1888), Vol. 3, p. 457. "Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens, Dec. 1, 1949.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2c\

cused me of poisoning the well. . ,"19 After the Battle of Pea Ridge, Lt. Green Brandenburg,

of Co. G., Thirty-Second Arkansas Regiment, Infantry, C. S. A.,20 wrote to Josephine Robinson of Jacksonport that he was being dismounted and that he was sending her his horse. This was the beginning of much trouble for Miss Robinson for the Yankees saw the horse and wanted him. Once she sat on the horse all day to keep the enemy from taking him.21

The Robinson family gave much to the aid of the Con- federacy. Miss Robinson knitted socks and underwear for the soldiers and her friend, Miss Pink Weatherly, smuggled the socks, and nine pair of underwear, all of which she wore under her dress, and some valuable papers through the enemy lines. Miss Robinson's father gave $12,000 in gold to the Confederate government. "It was all we had left," she recalled in later years, "but we gave it so proudly and gladly/'22

The flags of the Jacksonport veterans were returned to them after the war. The flag of the Jacksonport Guards was sent to the Arkansas Room of the Confederate Museum in Richmond, Virginia, where it is now displayed.23 Both flags of Co. G., Eighth Arkansas Regiment, are in the State History Museum at Little Rock.

19S. W. Stockard, The History of Lawrence, Jackson, Independence, and Stone Counties of the Third Judicial District of Arkansas (Little Rock, Ark.: Arkansas Democrat Company, 1904) p. 72.

20Records of the Confederate Veterans of Arkansas, Card 4713, Archives of Arkansas.

21 Josephine Robinson Brandenburg, "Personal Recollections," Confederate Women of Arkansas in the Civil War, 1861-65, Memorial Reminiscences, p. 122. After the war, Miss Robinson married Lt. Brandenburg.

22Ibid., pp. 121, 122. 2SCatalogue of the Confederate Museum (Richmond, Va. : Ware and Duke.

Printers 1905), p. 229.



2-2 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

THE DECLINE OF JACKSONPORT a. Railroad Competition With River Traffic

After the war, the Jacksonport people, like other people of the South, faced the problem of rebuilding their homes and their towns. One of the first big problems that faced Jacksonport was the construction of a railroad. Pro- posed construction of a railroad had been before them prior to hostilities. In 1855, a State Board of Commissioners had been appointed to select a possible route for the Cairo and Fulton Railroad. P. Mead Benham endeavored to spur his fellow townsmen to action in his editorial in the Tribune and True American.

"Now is the time for all to come up and work; the people demand it ; the age in which we live demands it. Shall we not keep pace with our sister states of the West? Are we not more than fifty years behind them in all that constitutes the greatness of the State ? We say this road Must be built! This road once built and the 'Rubicon' is passed."1

The Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company had been incorporated by the Arkansas General Assembly on January 12, 1853. In February, 1853, President Pierce approved an Act of Congress which had granted land to the States of Missouri and Arkansas to aid in the construction of the railroad.2 The proposed route was from Cairo, Illinois, through Pocahontas and Jacksonport in Northeast Arkansas, and from there to Little Rock and on across the state to Fulton, in Hempstead County, just north of Texarkana, and from there to the Rio Grande.3 When the company petitioned Jacksonport for a land grant to be used for side-tracks and a depot, plus a $25,000 bonus for the extension of tracks through the town, the leading men met and concluded that since Jacksonport was so important commercially, the rail-

^Tribune and True American, Jacksonport, Ark., Oct. 13, 1855, 2 Message of Jblias N Lonway, Governor Arkansas, to Both Houses of the General Assembly, Nov. 4, 1856 (Little Rock: Printed at the True Democrat Office, 1856), p. 20.

8 James r. Henry, Kesources of me state of Arkansas (JLittle Kock, ArK.: Price and McClure, Printers, 1872, pp. 60, 61.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2-^

road would eventually be obliged to build a line through there and they voted against the bonus.4 Out of that meeting came the first strains of Jacksonport' s death knell for in 1872 the railroad company, without further dealings with Jacksonport,5 laid tracks at a point three and one-half miles down the White River from Jacksonport. There, after a depot was built, Newport sprang up and began to rival the proud little town to the north.6. By this time the Cairo and Fulton was known as the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad, because of a consolidation in March, 1868, with the St. Louis and Iron Mountain of Missouri.7

After the railroad was built at Newport, Jacksonport's business began to decline. The people of Jacksonport decided that their town might not be eternal after all. Thus, in 1882, they voted in favor of a railway and the Brinkley to Jackson- port road was undertaken.8 This road had once been an old log highway in Woodruff and Monroe Counties and had been purchased by Martin and Thompson of Augusta who extended the road from Brinkley to Jacksonport.9 This railroad, also called the Batesville and Brinkley Rail- way, because the company had once planned to extend it on to Batesville,10 Was a narrow guage and reached Jack- sonport via Newport.11 At Newport it made connections with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern just east of where the Newport Rice Milling Company now stands. At Jacksonport it was extended to the White River in order to compete more effectively with the river transportation.12

Lumbering became important to Jacksonport after the railroad was built there. The principal timber was black, white, and post oak, sweetgum, black walnut, hickory13

4 John H. Page, "Political Reminiscences," Arkansas Gazette Magazine, 7:3, Aug. 20, 1933.

5Personal Interview with Mrs. 1. b. Stephens ot Newport, .Feb. 22, 1950. 6W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County (n.p., n.d.), pp. 47, 48. 7Dallas T. Herntfon, The High Lights of Arkansas History (Arkansas His-

tory Commission, 1922), pp. 95-97. The Missouri Pacific Railroad that runs through Little Rock, Kensett, Newport, and Walnut Ridge was known until 1917 as the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern.

8F. J. Nevins, Seventy Years of Service, p. 31. 9 Page, op. c%t., p. 3. 10Personal Interview with Mr. Lee J. Tones of Jacksonport, Feb. 24, 1950. "Page, op. cit., p. 3. ™lbid. 18David Dale Owen, First Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of the North-

ern Counties of Arkansas (Little Rock, Ark.:) Johnson and Yerkes.



2CA ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

cottonwood, pecan, red and black gum, and cedar.14 Much of it was used locally for telephone poles, bridges, and bridge piling, and railroad ties.15 Rough lumber went out from Ny- sell's Saw Mill,16 located at the river's bend, to Newport and was transferred there to the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern for points north.17

b. The Jackson County Seat Battle

By 1883, the rumors of Jacksonport' s rapid decline were so strong that the Arkansas Gazette sent a reporter to investigate the town. He reported in an optimistic vein that Jacksonport was not even sleeping. Many of the old residents who had left were "looking back/' he said, and the saw mills and factories18 that had been suspended were expected to start anew. "It will be only a question of time/' he reported, "when Jacksonport will be herself again, and then only a short while is needed to carry her on to ever- lasting greatness/'19 Four years later in a court session in Jacksonport, the Hon. Frank Doswell said that the county seat removal was a thing of the past.20

Other adversities plagued Jacksonport at this time. In February, 1882, twelve of the remaining business establishments and residences were swept away in a fire that started in the back of the Dillard store room. In a short while it had spread through the store and the Dillard's residence, T. S. Stephen's Livery Stable, Howard's Butcher Shop, and the Diamond and Red Stores. In the middle of the fire the engine broke down and the flames could not be prevented from crossing Main Street where Joyce's Drug Store, Mrs. W. H. Watkin's residence, and two other dwell- ings were destroyed. Most of these establishments were not insured.21 A week previous Jacksonport had suffered one of her worst floods. Business was completely suspended

14Personal Interview with Mr. J. W. Tones of Jacksonport, Dec. 27, 1949. 15Personal Interview with Mr. Lee J. Tones, Feb. 24, 1950. 16Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens, Feb. 22. 1950. 17Personal Interview with Mr. A. L. Lindsey of Newport. Feb. 22, 1950. 18The only things in Jacksonport that could possibly be classed as a factory

were her hoop mill and her brick kiln. 19Daily Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Sept. 25, 1883, p. 6. 20Ibid., Oct. 8, 1887, p. 3. ^Ibid., March 2, 1882, p. 1.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2qj-

and the people passed away their time wading, boat rid- ing, and grumbling. The stock were taken to the few high places about town and piked out.22 Floods were common around Jacksonport. Packing household goods and moving out just ahead of rising waters became second nature to Jacksonport families, especially in the spring when some people would move out as often as five times.23 A skiff, or any type of small boat, was a necessity as the streets were often completely under water.24

Jacksonport' s population began a gradual decline soon after the railroad was built at Newport. The census for Jacksonport and Newport for the year 1870 through 1900 are as follows :

Year Newport Jacksonport 1870 .... 769 1880 683 656 1890 1,571 421 1900 2,866 265 These figures seem to discourage the beliefs that Jack-

sonport had, around i860, 2,50c26 or more people. No Cen- sus figures of Jacksonport in i860 are available. Batesville, Jacksonport' s sister city, had 670 people in i860 and even though Jacksonport was the greater steamboat town and a better trading center, there is no reason to believe that she was so far ahead of Batesville, in i860, in population figures.27 In fact, in 1870, two years before Jacksonport began to decline, Batesville had 881 people, 112 more than Jacksonport.28 Little Rock reported a population of only 3,727 in i860, and according to the United States Census Bureau, was the only town in Arkansas that could boast of having over 2,000 people at that time.29 So it seems reason-

22Ibid.. Feb. 28, 1882, p. 2. 23Personal Interview with Mrs. B. W. Hafner of Newport, Aug. 27, 1949. 24Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens, Dec. 1, 1949. 25Personal Correspondence of the author, letter from United States Bureau

of the Census, March 7, 1950. 26W. E. Bevens. Reminiscences of a Private (n.p.. n.n.). dp. 5. 6. 27Joseph C. C. Kennedy, Supt. of Census, Population of the United States in

1860 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1864), pp. 18, 19. 2SFrancis A. Walker, Supt. of Census, The Statistics of the population of

the United States (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), Vol. 1, p. 35. 29Kennedy, op. cit., pp. 18, 19.



2-g ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

able to conclude that Jacksonport never had over 800 or 900 people.

In 1887, John H. Page of the Sikeston (Missouri) Star was invited to Jacksonport to fight their county seat battle with Newport. Page, once having seen the town, decided it was no place for a young, ambitious journalist, but the people were so insistent and promised such loyal sup- port that he finally decided to stay at least one year.30 To fight the county seat war, Page established the Jackson County Democrat. Page said of the Jacksonport people "loyalty seemed to be their great virtue. They seemed loyal to the town and everything connected therewith."

"They were hanging on to the old town like grim death, and unwilling to give up, although they could see Newport growing in even greater proportion than the decline of Jacksonport. . . Their jealousy of New- port was distinct and unconcealed. In fact some seemed to have hatred for Newport, and all that was in it, save some of the old citizens who had moved there/'*1

c. Newport Becomes the County Seat An election held in Jackson County on December 29,

189 1, decided in favor of the removal of the county seat.32 In April, 1892, a Courthouse was ordered built in New- port at the cost of $44,i69,33 and on December 30 of the same year the court records and archives were ordered removed from Jacksonport to Newport.34

By this time most of Jacksonport's population had been absorbed by Newport and no more improvements, save one, were made at Jacksonport. This one improvement was the construction, in 1909, of the long delayed levee.35 On June 30, 1900, the Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railway Company had taken over the Jacksonport and Brinkley Rail- road and on March 24, 1904, leased it to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific.36 It was then rebuilt to standard gauge.

30Page, op. cit., p. 3. 31Fage, op. cit., p. 3. 35JJackson County Court Record, Vol. 1, JNov. 9, 185*1, p. 5/5*. sslbid., Vol. J, April 18, l»yz, p. 8t>. ^Ibid., Dec. 30, 1892, p. 211. ^.Personal Interview with Mr. Lee J. Jones ot Jacksonport, Dec. Z7, !V4y. 36Nevms, op. at., pp. 31, 38.



JACKSONPORT, ARKANSAS, ITS RISE AND DECLINE 2--

Flood waters washed out much of the track between New- port and Jacksonport in 1927 and in 1928 this portion of the railway was abandoned. Jacksonport's depot had burned in 1926 and had not been rebuilt.37 In 1941 the remaining portion of the track, from Newport to Brinkley, was abandoned.88 Abandonment was requested by the Rock Island for it could compete neither with trucks in hauling cotton, cottonseed, and livestock nor with the automobile in transporting passengers, and in addition, timber was be- coming increasingly scarce along the route.39 The old Jack- sonport courthouse was selected around 1920 as the County's Home for the Poor. Jacksonport, in 1944, lost her school through consolidation with Newport.40 Jacksonport's population has remained fairly stable since 1900. There were 215 people there in 1940 but all the business places except one small stofe and a Post Office, are gone. The houses, for the most part, are old and weather beaten. The front yards are unkept and cotton is often grown even with the back doors.

With the first wave of migration to Newport came the complaints and ridicule of the old settlers who were left behind. They could not understand how their aristo- cratic townsmen could select a place like the upstart and malodorous Newport for a future home, yet these critics eventually moved there.41

In Newport today there is an old saying that "you cannot be anything in Newport society unless you or your parents were from Jacksonport." The Jacksonport people form an exclusive minority in Newport. At the Methodist Church they congregate in the third pew.42 This feeling of pride and exclusiveness is caused partly from the errone- ous belief, common in Newport as well as in Jacksonport, that the latter once lacked only one vote from being made the capital of Arkansas. Most of the other old towns of Arkansas claim the same distinction but only Cadron, an old ghost town located in that part of Faulkner County that was formed from Pulaski, ever gave Little Rock grave com-

37Personal Interview with Mrs. Lee J. Jones, Dec. 27, 1929. s* Arkansas Gazette, .Little JKock, Jbeb. 14, 1941, p. 21. 39Personal Interview with Mrs. A. L. Lmdsev. Feb. 22. 1950. 4OPersonal Interview with Mrs. J. W. Jones, Dec. 27, 1949. 41Personal Interview with Mrs. B. W. Hafner, Aug. 27, 1949. ±Hbid.



2-g ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

petition for the capital site.43 Prominent Jacksonport people in Newport today are the Bachs, Robinsons, Branden- burgs, and Stephens. The Bachs came to Jacksonport direct from Germany.44 John Robinson was a surveyor in Jack- son County around 1833, a Brandenburg was treasurer from 1872 until 1874,45 and Jacksonport had a Stephens for sheriff around 1890.46

Other famous names at Jacksonport were Logan, Webb, Tunstall, Waddell, and Gardner. A. H. Logan was county clerk from 1848-1852, treasurer from 1852-1856, and sheriff from 1856-1862. J. H. T. Webb was sheriff from 1844-1846, and judge from 1950-1952.47 The Tunstalls, Waddells, and Gardners were plantation owners.48

Jacksonport, like much of the lower Mississippi Val- ley,49 was settled mainly by people from Virginia, Carolina, and Tennessee. Her people were "not rude, uncultivated, uneducated people, as many have been led to believe, but descendents of the highest type of citizenship of the older states."50

43Personal Interview with Mr. Dallas T. Herndon of Little Rock, Dec, 1949. 44Personal Interview with Mrs. B. W. Hafner, Aug. 27, 1949. 45Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Arkansas, Uct.

1, 1882 (Little Rock, Ark.: Mitchell and Bettis, 1882), p. 120. 46Personal Interview with Mrs. T. S. Stephens, Feb. 24, 1950. ^Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Arkansas, p. llv. 48 W. E. Bevens, Reminiscences of a Private, pp. 5, 6. 49Frederick Jackson Turner, The Frontier in American History (New York:

Henry Holt and "Company, 1920), p. 192. 50W. E. Bevens, Makers of Jackson County, p. 2.



Jacksonport, Arkansas: Its Rise and Decline

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