East to Brinkley

The Cache River begins near the Arkansas-Missouri border and winds south through the Arkansas Delta, emptying into the White River near Clarendon. Powerful business, agricultural and political interests wanted to channelize the river in the 20th Century. The battle to halt those efforts was an ongoing news story from the 1970s into the 1980s, when the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge was established. The refuge encompasses land along the Cache and the nearby Bayou DeView from Grubbs in Jackson County down to Clarendon, the Monroe County seat.

"North of Grubbs, the Cache River exists at present as little more than a ditch or series of ditches," Guy Lancaster writes for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. "However, the area south of Grubbs is nationally known for preserving bottomland hardwood forests. ... In February 2004, the ivory-billed woodpecker, previously thought extinct, was rediscovered in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. In May 2013, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Nature Conservancy began work on restoring the original route of the Cache River near Clarendon, announcing the completion of the first phase of the project in July 2014."

Driving east on U.S. 70, one crosses the Cache River at Brasfield, moving from Prairie County into Monroe County. That begins a stretch of roadway that locals call "the dump," an area built high above the bayous, creeks and flood-prone woods and fields below. The road, a recipient of heavy truck traffic when construction zones or accidents slow traffic on Interstate 40, is in a constant state of disrepair. This is beautiful, wild country, the home of giant cypress trees and tupelo gums.

Monroe County has been hurt from a population standpoint by the mechanization of agriculture. From the 2000 census to the 2010 census, the county lost almost 21 percent of its population, the most of any county in Arkansas. The old railroad town of Brinkley is bleeding residents, having dropped from 5,725 in 1970 to 3,188 in the most recent census. The city was named for Robert Campbell Brinkley of Memphis, who headed the Little Rock & Memphis Railroad. The town was incorporated in 1872 on what was considered the highest point between the White River and Crowley's Ridge. It had been the site of a camp for railroad construction workers known as Lick Skillet since it was said that workers went to bed only after the last skillet from dinner was licked.

The Cotton Belt Hotel was built in 1883, and the town grew rapidly until a tornado destroyed much of Brinkley on March 8, 1909. Almost 60 people were killed, and hundreds more were injured. Newspaper reports at the time said just 15 of the almost 1,000 homes in Brinkley were left standing. The town bounced back because railroads diverged in seven directions from there. A publication from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program states: "Short line routes such as the Brinkley & Marianna, the Batesville & Brinkley and the Arkansas Midland fed timber and agricultural products into major markets through the Cotton Belt and Rock Island systems. Through connections and trackage agreements, Brinkley also served the White River and Helena divisions of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, later the Missouri Pacific. Finally, the Rock Island added the old Memphis & Little Rock to its revised and expanded Arkansas Division, which lured tourists from Memphis to the resorts at Hot Springs."

Rock Island had a coal chute at Brinkley. One resident said in a memoir that "noise was an outstanding feature of life in Brinkley. ... Bells clanged and whistles blew and freights banged through the town at all hours of the night." By 1911, there were 10 Rock Island, four Cotton Belt and two Arkansas Midland passenger trains stopping each day. An average of 500 passengers a day passed through the depot at the junction of the Rock Island and Cotton Belt tracks. A new depot opened in September 1912. The Brinkley Argus reported: "The waiting rooms are equipped with the newest and most modern furniture, and a private waiting room for the ladies opens out from the white department. The building is entirely fireproof, being modern in every sense of the word." A week later, former President Theodore Roosevelt arrived on a special train and gave a speech at the depot.

In May 1914, businessman Gus Rusher began construction of a three-story, 60-room hotel that was completed the following January at a cost of $60,000. The opening banquet on Jan. 28, 1915, was attended by business and political leaders from as far away as St. Louis, Memphis, Little Rock and Hot Springs. The Hotel Rusher was considered one of the finest hotels in the state.

As automobile travel increased following World War II, passenger trains were abandoned. The Rock Island declared bankruptcy. The Hotel Rusher was renamed the Malmar in the 1960s, and its new owner converted part of the building to apartments. A pool hall and liquor store took over what had been the lobby and dining room. In 1981, Stanley and Dorcas Prince restored the hotel and renamed it the Great Southern Hotel. They also acquired the abandoned passenger depot next door.

The old hotel building now houses Low's Bridal & Formal, which sells thousands of wedding dresses a year to customers from across Arkansas and surrounding states. The business started in 1977 and moved into the former Hotel Rusher in 1997. The adjoining depot is now home to the Central Delta Depot Museum.

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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 04/29/2015

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