Leaving Clarksville, we headed up Arkansas 103 toward Oark. The road, which winds from the Arkansas River Valley into the Ozarks, contains some of this state's most daunting switchback curves. Looking at the wooded hillsides along this route, it's difficult to visualize a landscape once denuded by timber companies that would cut the trees and move on, not bothering to replant.
"Throughout the Arkansas River Valley, Johnson County has the largest amount of timber," Jennifer Koenig Johnson writes for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. "However, the timber industry provided only a temporary respite of prosperity, eventually declining in the 1930s and leaving many people to seek better opportunities elsewhere. In some cases, towns disappeared because they functioned based on the success of the lumber industry. Starting in the 1930s, the U.S. Forest Service began buying up land that had been cleared, and repopulating it in hopes of returning what was lumbered away."
Johnson County's population declined from 21,062 residents in the 1920 census to just 12,421 people by 1960. Thousands of trees were planted in the area during the Great Depression by Civilian Conservation Corps members who were stationed at Camp Ozone. About 200 men lived at the camp, established in 1933.
We continued north on Highway 103 to where the Mulberry River flows. This tributary of the Arkansas River is among our state's most beautiful mountain streams. When the water is right, canoeists and kayakers are drawn to it like bugs to a lamp. My companions on the trip--Paul Austin of the Arkansas Humanities Council and his son Josh--convinced me to cross the footbridge across the upper Mulberry between Oark and Catalpa. A group of children who had been swimming there were headed back to the highway on this hot day. It was an idyllic scene, like something out of a movie.
We were there in part to see if we could finish the huge burgers at both the Oark General Store and the Catalpa Café & General Store. Oark is the best known of the two rural establishments, but the food is just as good at Catalpa. Highway 103 ends at Oark, but the pavement continues near the banks of the Mulberry on a county road to Catalpa. You'll see signs so you'll know when to turn down a short gravel road to the Catalpa Café. The breakfast menu features everything from homemade biscuits to pancakes to breakfast burritos. Eggs Benedict is served on Sundays. The burgers for lunch and dinner all contain a half-pound of beef. There's also pulled pork, smoked brisket, turkey and several daily specials. There are always several kinds of homemade pies. The Oark General Store, which is popular with bikers, opened in 1890. Its menu also has a selection of half-pound burgers along with homemade pies for dessert.
After completing the burger challenge at Catalpa and Oark--Josh and I finished both burgers, but Paul couldn't handle the second one--we took Arkansas 215 from Oark to where the road intersects with Arkansas 23 (the Pig Trail) at Cass. If there's a more scenic stretch of road in Arkansas, I don't know what it is. Highway 215 runs along the Mulberry for 18 miles between Oark and Cass and is more like a national parkway than a state highway with its scenic overlooks and interpretive panels. The U.S. Forest Service, Federal Highway Administration, state Highway and Transportation Department, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Cass Job Corps Center partnered on the project.
The road was busy on this Saturday since an event known as the Homegrown Music Festival was being held at Byrd's Adventure Center on the banks of the river. Hundreds of people were camping at Byrd's, which has an extensive trail network for ATVs and motorcycles. Once we hit Highway 23, we headed south toward Ozark.
No trip along the Pig Trail would be complete without a stop at Turner Bend. The first Turners moved to the area from Tennessee in about 1830. Elias Turner arrived in 1848, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and was a member of the Arkansas Legislature in the 1870s. In 1900, the first bridge across the Mulberry at this point was constructed. Eleven years later, William Eli Turner built a store at the south end of the original bridge.
The years 1935-36 saw a new bridge built and the original store burn. The Turner family constructed another store just south of the current location. In 1939, Champ Turner (the son of William Eli Turner) married Flora Coleman and took over operation of the store. The store closed during World War II while Champ served in the Army. In 1946, Champ and Flora reopened. They continued to operate it until 1978 when Champ died of cancer. Enter Brad Wimberly, who bought the business from the Turner family in 1981. He moved into the back and started renting canoes. He built the current facility in 1986-87 and has expanded his operations through the years with campgrounds, cabin rentals and other improvements. In August 2011, Wimberly threw a celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the store and his 30th year of ownership.
The completion of what's now Interstate 49 between Alma and Fayetteville in 1999 led to a decrease in traffic on the Pig Trail. But Turner Bend lives on. The Mulberry has continued to increase in popularity as a float stream, and motorcyclists have discovered the Pig Trail.
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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the director of corporate community relations for Simmons First National Corp. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 08/31/2016