LITTLE ROCK — Thirty years ago this month I took a job with the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, and I have been a keen fan of our state park system ever since. I was not hired under the best of circumstances, as I was recruited to rebut the charge that the department was insensitive to its historically significant properties.
A few months before I was hired as the department's first historian to work in the planning office in Little Rock, a furious debate had erupted over plans to build a square-dance pavilion at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park in Washington County. The late Jerry Russell of Little Rock, who in 1977 was the fearsome founder and leader of the Civil War Roundtable, mounted a scorching attack on these plans to "desecrate the sacred grounds where gallant soldiers fought and perished."
In the end the pavilion was built - but the debate had sensitized state parks officials to the fact that PrairieGrove was far more than a traditional recreation park. As the planner for historical parks, I worked to rid the park of such incompatible features as a small but expensive herd of deer and a collection of armored vehicles from World War II and Korea.
Occasionally I chaffed at the difficulties encountered in trying to improve management of historical resources within the parks system, but for the most part I was amazed at what a fine network of state parks Arkansas had even 30 years ago. The underpaid employees were dedicated and hard-working. Gov. Dale Bumpers had made revitalizing the parks a major priority, and Gov. David Pryor followed suit. While progress was made, the system remained underfunded for years until adoption of the oneeighth percent sales tax for conservation passed in 1996.
Last year the state parks department opened a spectacular new lodge at Mount Magazine State Park, near Paris in Logan County. Mount Magazine is thehighest peak in Arkansas, rising to 2,753 feet above sea level.
The English naturalist Thomas Nuttall, who observed Mount Magazine during his solitary foray up the Arkansas River in 1819, the year Arkansas Territory was created, described Magazine as "a magnificent empurpled mountain : apparently not less than 1,000 feet high, forming a long ridge or table :. From its peculiar form it had received the name of the Magazine or Barn by the French hunters."
A few days later Nuttall, after picking off 50 ticks, wrote in his journal that a better vantage point showed that Magazine mountain was "almost inaccessibly precipitous." Nuttall used the occasion to make a sketch of the mountain, which he would later use to illustrate his book.
Despite its steep walls, American Indians left much evidence of occupation atop the mountain, but settlers did not tackle the mountain until after the Civil War. In 1878 the area on the western end of the mountain now known as Dripping Springs was settled by T.M.C. Birmingham. Other early settlers were Ben Benefield, Thomas Cameron and Friedrich August Morsbach.
Morsbach, a German immigrant andUnion Army veteran of the Civil War, homesteaded 80 acres on the northeastern edge of the mountain. The area where Morsbach farmed is now known as Mossback Ridge.
In 1900, O.M. Ellsworth recorded a plat for the "Town of Mount Magazine," located on the western end of the mountain. A large hotel, the Skycrest Inn, and a dance pavilion were built to accommodate the growing number of visitors. The Skycrest had the distinction of having outdoor toilets that were perched on cliffs - and anchored by cables to trees. Coming later was the Buckman Inn, which offered a large swimming pool.
Tourists found it easy to take the train to the base of the mountain, but getting to the top involved a tortuous ride up a steep and winding dirt road. When automobiles arrived on the scene, farmers often made extra money by hitching their mules to stalled vehicles and pulling them to the top.
The effort was worth it for Arkansans who needed a respite from the unrelenting heat of the summer. While the daytime temperatures were not appreciably lower, visitors appreciated the cooler evening air and reliable breezes.
Developments atop the mountainwent bankrupt during the Great Depression. The golf course fell into disrepair, and trees grew where an airstrip had been planned. In 1934 the federal government acquired the mountain under the Resettlement Administration, and it was turned over to the U.S. Forest Service for management. The Civilian Conservation Corps undertook several developments atop the mountain, including building a lodge, restaurant, cabins, campsites and picnic areas. The lodge burned in 1971.
In 1989 the Forest Service issued a special use permit to the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, and work began on developing a new state park. On May 16, 2002, Gov. Mike Huckabee officially dedicated Mount Magazine State Park.
The new lodge is one of the most imposing public buildings in the state, with all 60 rooms having stunning southern views across the Petit Jean River Valley. Alas, it does not have any outdoor toilets perched on the cliffs.
Tom W. Dillard is the founding editor of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture (www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net), and head of the special collections department at the University of Arkansas Libraries in Fayetteville. E-mail him at tdillar@uark.edu.
Travel, Pages 93 on 10/07/2007