A splash of history

LITTLE ROCK — The White River streams through the history of Arkansas and the Three Rivers area, whispering its stories of the past as it winds its way down through Izard, Independence, Jackson and Woodruff counties.

As it flows past communities like Calico Rock, Batesville, Oil Trough, Jacksonport, Newport and Augusta, tales of steamboats plying the river and memories of young boys fishing for their supper ripple through the waters.

The river splashes on every page of history of the Three Rivers area, anchoring many communities along the way and governing their everyday lives. From the days when American Indians flourished along the river to the times of bustling trade centers, the White River has always been a scene of lively activity, the center of life.

Before the first permanent European settlers set up camp and later built homes, American Indians lived and thrived along the White River. The fertile river valley was hospitable to crops and teemed with wildlife. It sustained the lives of the first inhabitants much as it did for those to come. Towns along the river tell their own tales of the lives of their original inhabitants as well as the history that followed.

CALICO ROCK

Calico Rock, with its picturesque Main Street, sits on the north bank of the White River. Today tourists come to shop there, to enjoy fishing and other outdoor pastimes, and to hear the stories of how the calico-colored rock formations along the river bank gave the town its unique name. The White River made all of this a reality.

First known as Calico Landing, CalicoRock had its beginnings as an important steamboat landing on the Upper White River. Located where the White River meets Calico Creek, the landing for many years was the most-used docking site north of Batesville. Steamboats, keel boats and paddle wheelers came up the White from as far south as New Orleans with their supplies and passengers to Calico Rock.

Residents of surrounding communities met the steamboats to purchase the merchandise; some traded cotton grown on the banks of the river. This cotton then was taken back down the river.

At the turn of the century, the route of the river became the way the rails were laid along the north bank of the river. Population boomed and prosperity flowed because of the railroad right there along the river.

Just as the river was the reason Calico Rock came into being, it was also a factor that led to much destruction in the town. Flooding was quite common in Calico Rock before dams were built upstream. The floods of 1916, 1919 and the famous flood of 1927 were particularly devastating, causing ruin that could never be completely righted.

The flood of 1927 did turn up some interesting history, though. The famous explorer Hernando DeSoto was said to have passed along the banks of the White River in 1541, and the 1927 flood uncovered some Indian burial grounds that held gold coins dating from before the time DeSoto was said to have traveled through the area.

Crossing the White River has been part of everyday life for residents of Calico Rock for decades. Before the bridge was built across the river, residents and visitors alike got back and forth across the river on a ferry. The pillars that secured the ferry are still in existence and can be seen along the train tracks.

BATESVILLE

On its way to Batesville in Independence County, the river passes communities and settlements like Boswell, Mount Olive, Sylamore, Allison and Guion.

These communities have their own stories to tell, perhaps similar to the happenings in Mount Olive, now a shadow of what it once was - a bustling river port town.

Years ago Mount Olive was a busy river port where goods were shipped to and from the county seat of Izard County. Livestock, lumber and produce left Mount Olive for markets in Batesville and beyond, and staple goods were returned to the community by boat.

Change was on the horizon, however, as the steamboat was replaced by the railroad. The Iron Mountain Railroad laid rails along the path of the White River around the turn of the 20th century, and that quickly became the preferred method for shipping goods and for traveling. The riverport died, and in its place was the train depot, which was even busier than the river port had been.

Though the White River lost importance there as a means of transportation, it still provided fertile ground upon which to grow crops, which continued to be raised in the community.

The White River no doubt was the main reason why Batesville was the second settlement in Arkansas. A major shipping point on the river way back in the days before Arkansas became a state, Batesville was known as a port of entry into the Upper White River.

Naturally the first permanent inhabitants of what came to be known as Batesville situated themselves along the river, taking advantage of the productive land and abundance of wildlife just as the Osage had done before them. Poke Bayou, one of the river's many tributaries, had a small collection of homes in the very early 1800s.

As the population grew, the town was laid out but had to be relocated numerous times up to higher ground because of flooding from the river.

Steamboat transportation began on the Upper White River in the early 1830s, and Batesville became the major shipping port in the southeastern Ozarks region. Soon Batesville was a center for steamboats, andthe local citizens owned a great many of them.

The hustle and bustle on the White River slowed with the building of locks and dams in the area and was then halted with the coming of the railroad, but the White River is still an important natural resource for Batesville.

OIL TROUGH

The White River is a contributing factor to Oil Trough's name and its past.

When the first permanent settlers arrived from the east they found stands of trees fed by the White River and bears roaming around.

The cane growing along the White River made good habitat for the plentiful wildlife in the area, and the limestone caves up in the hills housed the big black bears. Frenchmen and later those coming from Tennessee and the Carolinas slew the abundant creatures and filled all available containers with the bear oil. They fashioned troughs from the ample trees and put them on White River boats headed to New Orleans and other parts of the country. The riverboat men began calling the area the Oil Trough Bottoms, hence the name Oil Trough.

Flooding from the river has become fairly common over the years. One flood came in the in the early 1940s; the next one came in 1982 and wasn't as bad as the one 40 years before. A flood a few years ago had the townspeople on edge because the many levees built around the farms have changed the course of the water.

JACKSONPORT

The White River has been the single most important factor in the past and present of Jacksonport. As its name implies, it was the principal port of Jackson County for countless years. Today the old courthouse along the riverbank serves as a museum housing thousands of pieces of history relating to life along the White River. The Mary Woods No. 2, the last steamboat to ply the White River, is secured on the river as a testament to the influence of the river.

What came to be known as the community of Jacksonport was for many years a notable location from its spot on the White River, just north ofits confluence with the Black River.

Cartwright and Leauteau camped at Jack's Creek, now Jacksonport, in 1822. Captain Thomas Todd Tunstall, the grandfather of Jacksonport, came along in 1834. The first riverboat pilot to venture up the White River, he established a river port for his boat and laid out the town of Jacks Port.

The community soon became a thriving town as the last main stop on the White River. The town swelled to 1,000 residents, and some of the boats that docked at Jacks Port held up to 200 passengers.

The thriving steamboat landing town of Jacksonport replaced Augusta (now in Woodruff County, also on the river) as the seat of Jackson County.

Because of its strategic river location, Jacksonport saw quite a bit of action during the Civil War. It was easily accessible to both the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers and was used as headquarters by five war generals. Both Union and Confederate armies occupied the city during the war.

Along with the historical restored courthouse at Jacksonport, the Mary Woods No. 2, now permanently moored on the banks of the White River, tells the story of the importance of the White River to the area.

The Mary Woods No. 2, a paddle-wheeler used to push hardwood log barges over the White, Cache and Mississippi Rivers, was built in 1931 for the Woods Lumber Company and was originally used on the Mississippi River.

The Woods Lumber Company bought the White River Lumber Company at Clarendon and moved the Mary Woods No. 2 south to the Monroe County town. For 36 years, the boat pushed barges of logs to a river sawmill at Clarendon.

The steamboat became the property of Potlach in 1960, and in 1967 she was replaced by a more modern vessel. She was donated to the state parks system to be moored at the White River in Jacksonport and made her last trip up the White River on her own power.

Renovation on the vessel began in 1969, with the boat being transformed into an 1890s river boat, and the Mary Woods No. 2 was opened in 1976 as a floating museum.

In 1984, the vessel took on water as the result of a ruptured line, and she ended up at the bottom of the White River 12-foot channel with 100 tons of water in her hull. She was rescued and repaired and reopened as a museum - all the historical documents had been rescued before she sank under the water - in 1985.

The White River has inflicted some devastation upon Jacksonport. It flooded Jacksonport in 1927 and again in 1983. Today's residents remember riding boats over the top of houses during the 1983 disaster.

Jacksonport's significance as a port on the White River waned with the onset of rail traffic, as it was bypassed by the railroad. Later it was replaced as county seat by Newport a few miles down the river.

Today the White River at Jacksonport is the site of the well-known Portfest held every June, and another festival, Jacksonport River Trails Day, recognizes the importance of the river.

NEWPORT

The White River in the area that is now Newport supported and sustained the lives of Native American tribes like the Quapaw, Choctaw and Accansea. This area was especially significant for the original occupants because the Ozarks began to flatten out into the Mississippi Delta and made it easy for vast herds of buffalo to cross.

Long before it was recognized as the new port of Jackson County, the town was calledTidwell's Landing in honor of Roland Tidwell, who operated a ferry across the river. Newport's significance was elevated when the railroad came through in the 1850s, giving the town a big trade boost with two forms of transportation.

The rich soil of the White River area contributed to the growth of the town as it was easy to raise cotton and timber, and Newport eventually became the seat of Jackson County as trade moved from Jacksonport to Newport.

The White River also contributed to the pearl and pearlbutton market that centered in Newport in the early 1900s.

The river has also dished up some destruction at Newport. The flood of 1916 led to the construction of a $500,000 levee two years later, and of course the effects of the flood of 1927 were felt here as well.

AUGUSTA

Augusta was an important stop along the White River years ago as it welcomed boats from Memphis and New Orleans carrying a wide assortment of goods to what is now Woodruff County. The land around the river has always been fertile, and just as in the days when the river was the only highway into the sparsely settled frontier, Augusta is an agricultural area. These days grain storage is common along the river, and barges still haul cotton, rice and soybeans over the river.

Augusta's river landing made it easily accessible to Union troops during the Civil War. The presence of troops there during the war wrought much destruction upon the town.

The construction of a bridge over the White River at Augusta in the 1930s opened up another highway, U.S. 64. This was the last section of the highway not served by a ferry.

Cities and communities along the White River all have a common thread running through them. Down through the years they have been home to Native Americans, important river ports and places where the railroad wanted to locate. As the transportation highway has changed from the river to the rails to the paved road, the White River's role has also evolved. Now it attracts a great many tourists who come to fish its waters and enjoy the beautiful display of nature that can only be seen along the riverbank.