I'm headed north on Arkansas 9 with baseball historians Jim Yeager and Mike Dugan on a hot September morning. I think about how this rural stretch of Perry and Conway counties has changed since the days when I accompanied my father on this road as he sold athletic supplies to high schools. That was more than 50 years ago.
For much of the 20th century, this was an area of small farms, many of which were owned by the descendants of German and Italian immigrants.
Writing about Perry County for the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Lynda Suffridge notes: "The economy, built largely on agriculture and timber, suffered from the Dust Bowl-like conditions and the fact that most marketable timber had been stripped from the mountains of the county. The area suffered another blow at the beginning of World War II when most young men were drafted into military service and able-bodied older workers migrated west, primarily to California, in search of high-paying, war-driven industrial jobs. Many never returned."
The outmigration continued after the war. In fact, Arkansas lost a higher percentage of its population than any other state from 1940-60. Perry County's population declined from 9,905 in 1920 to 4,927 in 1960. Conway County's population declined from 22,578 in 1920 to 15,430 in 1960.
Lumber companies, using capital supplied by Northern investors, had moved into this area during the period of Arkansas history known as the Big Cut, which lasted from the 1880s until the 1920s. In the era before sustainable forestry, those companies left the land devastated ecologically. Erosion became a big problem.
"Among the early lumber companies in Perry County was the Fourche River Lumber Co. in Bigelow in 1902, which employed 300-400 workers," Suffridge writes. "By 1905, the Fort Smith Lumber Co. owned thousands of acres in Perry County and built mills near the railroads. By the early 1920s, the companies closed, and the boom was over. The Civilian Conservation Corps employed local citizens for work projects during the Great Depression. This encouraged people to stay in the area. ... Migration to California to find work in the late 1930s and early 1940s was so extensive that the region around Fresno and Dinuba in California became known as Little Perry County."
The situation was much the same in Conway County.
"In the 1930s, local farmers, like those throughout the South, were trying ... to offset their losses due to the perpetually low price for cotton," according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "People became concerned with the number of acres left abandoned after the demise of cotton farming and sought ways to put that land back into production. Eventually, the Central Valley Soil Conservation District--Conway, Faulkner and Van Buren counties, as well as parts of Pope and Cleburne counties--was formed to encourage soil and water conservation. This was one of the first districts in Arkansas. It was granted a state charter on Feb. 16, 1938.
"Two CCC camps operated in Conway County during the Depression years. Company 1781 was active at Petit Jean Mountain from 1933-38 and built and maintained facilities at what was Arkansas' first state park. Company 3789 carried out work such as terracing and sodding pastures under the supervision of the conservation district. The camp closed in 1937."
The trip along Highway 9 is different these days. In Perry County, the highway passes through pine forests owned by private companies, and through parts of the Ouachita National Forest. We drive into Conway County between Perry and Oppelo. Just north of Oppelo, the Arkansas River bottoms are filled with row crops. For a few miles, it resembles the Delta.
We cross the Arkansas River, go over Interstate 40 at Morrilton and find ourselves back in rolling countryside as we pass through Solgohachia and Birdtown. The area was once dotted with dairy farms, but the era of small dairy operations is over. Beef cattle now reign.
Winthrop Rockefeller moved to Arkansas from New York in 1953 and began buying large tracts of land atop Petit Jean Mountain so he could create a model ranch. Rockefeller's practices changed the way cattle were raised in the area.
"Beef cattle became an increasing part of the rural scene in the counties west of Little Rock after World War II," the late C. Fred Williams of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock wrote in a history of Arkansas agriculture. "Prior to that time, few landowners raised cattle exclusively, although most homesteads had a few head of livestock, including milk cows. The state's climate didn't favor the beef industry. Extreme heat and humidity in the summer months and parasites such as ticks, mosquitoes and screw worms presented serious challenges to cattle. Most ranchers didn't engage in scientific breeding to improve herd quality, and a high percentage of their animals lived on open range.
"Cattle raising changed dramatically after the mid-1950s when Rockefeller arrived in Arkansas. One of his first actions was to introduce Santa Gertrudis cattle in the state, a breed specifically developed in south Texas to thrive in the region's hot weather and survive multiple pests. Not only did Rockefeller import new cattle, he also started a scientific breeding program that included an annual bull sale featuring prize-winning animals. In short order, other cattlemen began their own experiments in raising blooded stock and improving their offspring through genetic breeding."
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 10/12/2019