Volume 1, Number 2 - Winter 1961


HISTORICAL ROADS OF THE WHITE RIVER VALLEY
THE DUBUQUE - OSAGE ROAD
By Elmo Ingenthron

The Dubque - Osage road is one of the oldest roads in the upper White River region. It was opened for travel about 1830 by William Sneed, his son Charles and a neighbor, John Boyd. The Sneeds came from Kentucky and settled on White River near the mouth of Bear Creek prior to the above date. While living on White River they located a claim of several thousand acres of good land on Osage River located in what is now Carroll County, Arkansas. With the aid of their slaves they had cleared several acres of land on the new claim and had grown a crop of corn before removing from White River to their new claim on the 0sage in Arkansas. The Sneeds and Boyds with the aid of their slaves opened the Dubuque - Osage road. This road facilitated moving to their new claim and gave them access to the Dubuque boat landing for marketing products and obtaining supplies. John Boyd, one of the teamsters, is commonly given the honor of having driven the first team over this road into Carroll County, Arkansas.

This historical road began at what was later the steamboat landing on White River near Dubuque, Arkansas Can extinct settlement near Lead Hill) and ascended the divide between East and West Sugar Loaf Creek for some two miles where it tumed west across West Sugar Loaf Creek. From near that point the road ran in a westerly direction and ascended the flood plains of Carroilton Hollow: thence across the divide to a point on Bear Creek about one half mile above the confluence of Charley Creek and Bear Creek. The road then ascended the flood plains of Bear Creek in a southwesterly direction to the confluence of Bear Creek and the Barren Fork of Bear Creek. At that point it ascended the main divide between the two

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streams, later known as Dubuque Ridge, and followed it in a southwesterly direction crossing present day highway U. S. 65 some two miles southeast of Burlington. From there the road ran in a southwesterly direction by way of Lick Branch, to a point near present day highway U. S. 62 some two miles east of Alpena, Arkansas. The road then passed through the Alpena region and continued in a southwesterly direct ion to Old Carroliton and on to the Osage valley.

The old Dubuque - Osage road was built about the same time as the Fallen Ash Military road and intersected it in the general region of Carrollton, Arkansas. The Dubuque - Osage road and the Fallen Ash Military road were of great importance in the settlement and development of the upper White River valley. The Boyds and Sneeds likewise contributed much to the growth and development of the region.

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