Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Curtis Varnell: Stories of everyday people bring Arkansas’ past to present
History begins at our own back door, writes Curtis Varnell, Ph.D. “As we travel up and down the roads of our region or walk through our forests, we see reminders of our ancestors. Chimneys, foundation stones, old railroad tracks, occasional cans or bottles, and once tame flowers tangled in the meadows mark places where our ancestors struggled to eke a living from the earth. All of these have a story, as do the pictures we have scattered in old boxes — tales of the lives of people that came before us.
“The River Valley is full of such tales; the stories of our forefathers and the lives they lived,” he continues. “Few people realize that Sam Houston, George Catlin, Washington Irving and probably Wyatt Earp traveled up the Arkansas River, passing by and perhaps stopping at the busy port at Roseville. Benjamin Bonneville, an early explorer and as famous in his time as Lewis and Clark, journeyed through and mapped our region and future president Zachary Taylor served in Fort Smith for an extended period of time. Jack Titsworth, an early settler, had a life and adventures that compared with that of Davy Crockett.
“Beyond that are the stories of the hard-working men and women that go to work every day and complete the thousands of tasks necessary to support and raise their families. Paris, Booneville, Scranton, Charleston, Magazine and the many small communities scattered in the River Valley are full of such people,” Varnell writes. “The results of their efforts are everywhere; the small business that stands on the corner, the beautiful church down the block, the daffodils and hedges marking where homes once stood, and the deserted cemeteries scattered across the region.
“Ours is the history of the farmers who once raised cotton and corn in the bottoms and on the hillsides and of those who later ran dairy farms and then built chicken houses for the poultry industry — the stories of coal miners, lumberjacks and railroad men, the stories of the pants factory, Cloyes Gear, Ace combs, Today’s kids, and even further back, the shake mills and gins that formed the economic basis for our area.”
Varnell’s weekly column, The Timepiece, will step in to fill the void left in these pages by Tom Dillard, who retired at the end of 2022. Varnell promises The Timepiece will “explore the history, geography and culture of the region. It will tell the stories of ordinary people in an ordinary world in the hope of preserving the stories of our past. The more we understand local history, the more we understand about ourselves. We cannot know where we are going if we don’t know from where we came.”
Here is Varnell’s first column in these pages:
BUILDING ARKANSAS
Travel throughout the region, and you will see structures that were built by the CCC or the WPA. These include Cove Lake, Spring Lake, Petit Jean Mountain lodge and cabins, Waldron’s home economics and agriculture buildings, Devil’s Den State Park headquarters plus dozens of bridges and roadways. Few remember how these structures, enjoyed as they are by thousands, came to be or how much the jobs meant to the economic recovery from the Great Depression.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began in 1933 to provide young unemployed men badly needed jobs while, at the same time, developing very needed improvements in our country’s natural areas. The Works Progress Administration did much the same things but was more oriented to older men with families to support. Both provided millions of jobs to people who lacked the means to support their families.
The CCC workers actually lived and worked on site. The young men were housed in camps consisting of 200 men and the support people that directed them. In Arkansas, there were 77 of these companies, and they undertook 106 projects. Many of the buildings and trails still remain as a testament to the work they accomplished. The craftsmanship of the projects amazes me. Petit Jean’s Mather Lodge and cabins are beautiful, with large log structures framing rooms containing awesome rock fireplaces and waxed hardwood floors. Similar structures are found in nearly every state park that exists. Many of the hiking trails I enjoy were carved out of dense forests, lined with native stone, and stairstepped for our use. For this labor, the CCC worker received $30 a month plus $25 sent back home to support his family. Remnants of the old camps can be seen on Arkansas 7, on Nebo Mountain, and at Camp Shiloh near Russellville.
My grandfather worked for the WPA. The WPA is best known for the building of roads, bridges and government buildings. My grandfather and many other local men constructed the road up to Magazine Mountain along with Cove Lake and its buildings. Most of the employees worked 32 hours per week and received about the same pay as the CCC workers. Though cheap labor, it was often the only source of cash for the families of the workers, and they were glad to get the jobs. My grandfather and several relatives would get up early, prepare breakfast and put the leftovers in a lard bucket for lunch. They then walked together up the valley to Red Bench Road, down Red Bench to what is now Arkansas 109, and caught the worker bus there which would take them on to the work site. They often had to carry a lantern to light their way as they went to and from work.
Most of the public buildings have a monument stone which tells when the structure was built and what group is responsible. It is astounding how many buildings and structures built by these men are still standing.
Taking a teacher group to Petit Jean State Park, I saw the beautiful monument that honors the workers of these programs. Life-sized, the monument shows a very muscular and handsome young man holding an ax, a determined look on his face, gazing into the heavens. Pointing at the statue, I exclaimed: “My grandfather worked for the WPA, and that is his statue. People say I look just like him.” The statement was greeted with howls of laughter and more than one “in your dreams.” Such is the life of we unappreciated teachers!
Dr. Curtis Varnell is a longtime teacher in the area, the author of several books on local history, a regular columnist on that topic and the science and social studies coordinator for the Guy Fenter Education Service Cooperative at Branch. Email him at curtis.varnell@wscstarfish.com.