The drive along U.S. Highway 70 from North Little Rock to West Memphis is a step back in time. The heavy traffic on Interstate 40 can be seen for much of the route, but things are slower on the old road to Memphis. I wasn't in a hurry as I drove east for the first day of the Arkansas Historical Association's annual meeting. Headed to a gathering of people interested in this state's history, it seemed natural to take the road a bit less traveled.
It's also far less stressful than dealing with the big trucks and construction zones on Interstate 40. An added benefit is that Highway 70 takes you directly past some of the state's best restaurants--Murry's for steaks and catfish just west of Hazen, Craig's for barbecue in DeValls Bluff, the Riverfront for catfish where U.S. 70 crosses the Cache River at Brasfield.
Passing the truck stops at Galloway, stress levels begin to go down immediately while gazing at the giant cypress trees that fill the oxbow known as Hills Lake. The road flattens and the Grand Prairie spreads out on either side as tractors prepare fields for planting. Cotton once was king here, but soybeans and rice (along with some corn and milo) now rule. Abandoned cotton gins are a familiar sight along the route. Lonoke, Carlisle and Hazen all are laid out along what once was a busy railroad line, a line now gone.
Lonoke is the largest of the three towns with 4,245 residents in the 2010 census. It's the only county seat in the state that shares a name with its county. Lonoke was named by two civil engineers who surveyed the right of way for the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad. They were impressed by a massive red oak tree that stood isolated on the natural prairie. Lonoke was incorporated in January 1872, and Lonoke County was created from portions of Prairie and Pulaski counties in April 1873. The three-story brick courthouse was built in 1928. The rice industry had taken off by then. Soybeans joined the agricultural mix in the 1940s. Fish farming also became important after the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission built what was then the world's largest fish hatchery in 1928. The Joe Hogan Fish Hatchery continues to operate, surrounded by privately owned fish and minnow farms operated by the Anderson family and others.
Carlisle, which had 2,214 residents in the 2010 census, was founded by Samuel McCormick and his wife, L.J. They settled there in 1872, and Carlisle was incorporated in 1878 as the railroad brought in settlers anxious to break up the Grand Prairie grasslands and farm the area. The Memphis & Little Rock Railroad, later to become the Rock Island, ran along Main Street and made it easy to move products to market. President Teddy Roosevelt stopped on a train trip to speak from a caboose there in 1905. Seven years later, President William Howard Taft did the same before getting in a car to view the surrounding rice fields.
Headed east out of Carlisle, Lonoke County gives way to Prairie County. Hazen, with a population of 1,468 in the 2010 census, was named for Dr. William Cogswell Hazen, who came from Tennessee in 1854 and died in 1872. The town was surveyed in 1873, and Hazen's widow deeded the first tract of land for the city, which was incorporated in 1884. Prairie hay and dairy products were shipped by rail to Little Rock and Memphis before rice took over. The city's stucco-and-brick depot has been restored and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The next stop in Prairie County is the old White River port of DeValls Bluff. It had just 619 residents in the 2010 census, but its history is rich. With the support of the local Arnold Family Foundation, numerous interpretive panels and markers have been erected to explain the activities there during the Civil War. Boats often could not reach Little Rock on the Arkansas River due to low water, but they could make it up the White River to DeValls Bluff, where materials could then be transported by rail to the capital city. That made DeValls Bluff a key point during the war. The population swelled to between 1,500 and 2,000 people.
During much of the 20th Century, prior to the construction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' reservoirs across the state, DeValls Bluff was a favored recreational spot for well-to-do families from Memphis and Little Rock who owned cabins or houseboats along the White River there. Barbecue pilgrims still make the trip to DeValls Bluff for meals at Craig's, and there has been increased activity in the old downtown with the opening of a sporting goods store known as The Bottoms and a restaurant named Boondocks.
The bridge over the White River takes the traveler into the eastern reaches of Prairie County. Biscoe has fewer than 400 people but was a regular stop during the years I worked for the Delta Regional Authority and made a weekly commute to Mississippi. That's because its Martin's Grocery had sausage biscuits and good coffee each morning. The community once known as Fredonia was incorporated as Biscoe in 1909 in honor of landowner John Biscoe. During the Great Flood of 1927, almost 2,000 refugees filled the town. The Biscoe schools were consolidated with DeValls Bluff in the 1960s. The DeValls Bluff schools were, in turn, consolidated with Hazen at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.
Next week, we cross the White River at Brasfield and head toward Brinkley, Forrest City and West Memphis.
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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas' Independent Colleges and Universities. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 04/22/2015