Fern Springs
The following article was transcribed and donated
by Fran Warren
Van Buren Press
Crawford County, Arkansas
June 4, 1881
FERN SPRINGS
These springs derive their name from the great quantity of ferns
growing
around them. They are situated in Franklin County between the
waters of Mill
Creek and Hurricane Fork of Mulberry, 8 miles north of Pleasant
Hill and 10
miles north of Mulberry Depot on the railroad, and 18 miles northeast
of Van
Buren.
These springs have been know for many years by hunters and stock
raisers.
Occasionally a family have spent the summer there, and invariably
benefited.
The land around these springs is now owned by Mark H WAGONER,
of Pleasant
Hill. He has made these springs a summer resort for himself and
family, for
the past two years and has there a comfortable dwelling, intending
this
summer to make additional improvements for the benefit of person
wishing to
make the place a resort. Other families have built homes the last
summer.
Mr. WAGONER is anxious that others should go there and build houses,
and
will charge nothing for the land to build on. The springs run
out of the
bank of a small ravine on the side of a hill. The surroundings
are open
woods in every direction, with ground sloping to the south. There
is a
circulation of air from every direction. The land in this vicinity
is broken
and not well adapted for cultivation, although around the springs
small
patches can be cultivated in gardens.
About half a mile north of the springs is a gulf or deep hollow
that is
called the Devil's Mountain or Devil's Home. No person has seen
the old coon
lately, and but few persons desire to go into his premises. The
gulf is
nearly round. On the top it is about 400 yards in diameter; 300
or 400 feet
deep, the sides, in many places are perpendicular. There is a
small outlet
on the west side drainage goes into Mill Creek. The place is much
resorted
by ravens, buzzards, hawks, cranes, and other birds, during hatching
time.
Five miles east of the springs are the noted White Mountains,
where hunters
and others, for curiosity and past time, frequently resort. From
the
mountain looking south, the serpentine course of the Arkansas
River can be
seen; and further south, the range of mountains, running west,
can be seen
50 miles.
The main spring at this place is clear, pure, cold water, running
out of
pure white sand. Fifty yards above it is a chaybeate spring, and
other
springs around. Two and a half miles northeast is a very fine
chalybeate
spring, on what is known as Irish John's place.
The land, in this vicinity is nearly all vacant and is either
government or
railroad land, and can be homesteaded at $1.25 per acre, and the
railroad
land can be bought at the lowest price. Here there is a good summer
range
for stock. The timber in this vicinity is White Post and Black
Oak, with
some Pine. There is not much undergrowth and there are no mosquitos;
no
miasmatic influences to produce sickness. These springs can be
made one of
the most desirable resorts for summer that can be found in any
place in the
valley of the Arkansas River. Good wagon roads can be made in
any direction
from the springs. There are no high mountains to climb or go down.
There is
now, a good road from Pleasant Hill, and persons going to the
springs can go
by rail to Mulberry Depot, and from there, conveyance can be had
to the
springs. An Old Settler.