Volume 8, Number 1 - Fall 1982
Early Railroading in the Ozarks
by Penelope Willard
"History of Railroading in the White River Valley" was the program of the Sunday, 12 meeting of the White River Valley Historical Society at The School of the Ozarks College Center Cafeteria.
Patrick Haitte, public relations manager of the Burlington Northern Railroad, traced the rise and fall of railroading in this area and provided many anecdotes of the trials and tribulations of train traffic during this era.
He realized when he looked at the map that the White River Valley coincided with the Ozarks and there weren’t many railroads in the Ozarks.
By stretching the area to include Northern Arkansas and southwest Missouri he could add to our local White River Line of the Missouri Pacific and the ex Iron Mountain Line.
This area reflected a lot of the trends that resulted in the completion of the entire United States railroad system.
Southwest Missouri and northeastern Arkansas is a land of mountain railroading.
The building was exciting but also very expensive due to the fact initial construction involved moving lots of dirt and rocks, building bridges and transporting labor forces.
Railroading came in waves, each one coming in, breaking and receding.
The first wave was the Transcontinental. In the 1860’s and 70’s everything was going to the Pacific, Missouri-Pacific, St. Louis and San Francisco.
The panic of 1873 broke that wave. Locally in the 80’s the Frisco felt it would never reach San Francisco so they took a left turn at Monett and went to Texas.
Other localized railroad builders were realistic and settled for connecting river-ports and other short lines.
The panic of 1873 wiped out speculators. The wave of the 80’s brought serious builders, financing railroad construction rather than stock manipulation.
This wave was broken with the 1893 depression. Then the final wave was the end of the 19th century through 1907, filling in the gaps between routes.
The greatest railroad mileage was at the beginning of World War I.
The final wave was the managers who could make money serving needs and hauling goods.
Mr. Haitte detailed the overall development of railroad systems as they were reflected in the White River Valley.
The first railroad in the area was the Frisco to Fort Smith.
The St. Paul branch to Fayetteville, built in 1880, was largely a logging line, carrying cross ties.
The North Arkansas Railroad went from Seligman to Eureka Springs primarily to carry passengers.
Their sound engineering is still visible in the bridges and cuts of the right of way across Table Rock Lake.
In the 1880’s a train ride was exciting and dangerous. There was no ballast, the ties were hand cut, the rails light, the equipment light.
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Travel was in wooden coaches with wood stoves and oil lamps. Fragile coaches derailed turning into tinder as the stoves and lamps caught fire.
The golden age of railroading was the first 15 to 20 years of this century but the highways were improving, the traffic base was shrinking as the timber was cut and the strikes of 1920 took their toll.
The tide began to recede for the short line. The St. Paul was the first to go in 1937.
The Northern Arkansas died in a big strike of 1946. Although the trains are fewer, the romance of railroading is still there in the passing freights with cars from all over the country.
Editor’s Note: Our thanks to Penelope Willard who wrote the follow-up article for the newspapers narrating the text of the speaker at the Sept. 12 meeting.
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