Pate Dillard

By: Doretha Dillard Shipman

(Printed in the Mt. Echo Newspaper, Yellville, Marion Co, AR)

<Thursday Jan 25, 2001 Mt. Echo> I have been asked to repeat some of the old stories which were written many years ago. I ran across one written about my daddy, Pate Dillard, when once upon a time a young boy interviewed him and here are some of the things our neighbor boy, Bill Goeke, found out about him at the age of 83 and still plugging along (the following was written in June of 1976):

"Pate Dillard doesn't work much anymore. No more does he work in a sawmill or down at Rush in the zinc mill. He doesn't run a ferry across the Buffalo anymore. Today he just works a small garden, feeds the birds in his back yard, plays dominoes and most of all he reminisces about the past.

Pate was born Aug. 22, 1893, on Clabber Creek in south Marion County, one of 14 children. Two died in infancy, but the rest lived full lives. All are dead now, except for Pate and two sisters, Alice Smith and Rosie Davenport.

The first job Pate remembers is 'plowing in stumpy, rocky ground when I was 12 with a mule-pulled double shovel plow."

"Never one prone to attend school, 'I couldn't stand being penned up all day,' he says, Pate finished three years in school near Gilbert and started his fourth. He never finished. But with his small, amount of school, Pate took care of all of the family's business and built a good business in various fields.

He was involved in many jobs during his many years of employment. He worked in his father's sawmill, ran a store, worked in zinc in Rush and was the first Chevrolet dealer in Yellville in 1927. He ran a ferry across the Buffalo on Hwy. 14 for nearly 20 years, built two zinc mills, plus several houses, floated a houseboat from Hwy. 14 to Augusta on the White River and lived off the river for two months. He has made rail road ties, whisky barrels and coffins and most recently worked in the Mull store until cataract surgery forced him to retire at 80.

One of Pate's most lucrative businesses was dealing in land. Some people feel that Pate was the first per son to realize the true value of land in Marion County. His profits would seem to prove this. At one time Pate owned over 1,500 acres 'using all the money I could invest in land.' At one point he owned land that connected some way for over five miles along the Buffalo River from the Water Creek swimming hole to Buffalo Point beach.

The depression, and later the National River, got most of his land. He lost 700 acres in the depression when banks foreclosed on the mortgages, but sales to the government proved to be worth the oft-thought-foolish purchase of land. For example, he bought one-fourth interest in 80 acres in 1927 for $125. He sold it last month for $8,000. He bought a full 80 acres for $50 and sold it for $18,400 last year. His best deal was 80 acres underneath the present Hwy. 14 bridge which he bought for $750. The only improvement to the land was the building of a house. He sold it for $101,500 in 1975.

Although he had to sell most of the land he owned to the government, Pate holds no grudge against the government's river naturalization project. 'It's a good deal, Farming has nearly quit on the river. It protects the river from becoming commercialized and keeps its natural beauty. It also puts millions of dollars into circulation,' he states.

To be continued next week folks, a bear story is in the makings of Bill Goeke's writings about my dad.

<Feb 1, 2000> Here are more memories I promised you for this week. In conclusion of Bill Goeke's story, who used to be our neighbor here in the Old Dillard Settlement, and as he looked back on some of Pate Dillard's life he lived once upon a time, he states::

"Pate lives alone now. His wife, the former Cora Davenport, whom he married April 8, 1916, died Oct, 21, 1962. Cora bore him four children, one of whom died at the age of 6 from appendicitis. Three children, Myra, John and Doretha, are still alive, though, besides 10 grand children and 15 great grandchildren. John and Doretha both live within two miles of their father, while Myra lives in Little Rock, but Pate refuses to move out of his home and live with them.

'I'd rather live here, It's been my home and I'm still able to take care of myself. I'd just be an unneeded burden to my family if I moved in with them,' he says. Pate has seen many changes in Marion County over the years. 'When I was

teenager there weren't three houses between here Mull) and Yellville. There were trees two to four feet thick everywhere. More people are coming in, though Some of them are good, but some are really bad. Some are selfish and not neighborly. Others are very friendly and help new folks move in. When I was young, my dad, who was a carpenter, would donate about $20 worth of lumber, help them clear land and things like that to help newcomers get started in their new home. Today neighbors don't help new comers at all. It ain't right,' he says.

Wildlife was different, too. 'Squirrels, deer and turkey were 100-to-1 what they are now. You didn't need a hunting license, you just killed whatever you needed. But wasteful hunting, plus shortage of timber and food, severely cut back on wildlife,' he says".

One of Pate's favorite pastimes is to tell stories about past experiences and pranks he has pulled. Pate is a big prankster, He has many stories, but his favorite is a prank he pulled on his lifelong friend Whit Davenport.

"Whit and I were walking in the woods. We had been walking for several hours and got tired. Whit spotted a cave up on a hill just big enough for us to crawl into. We crawled in and went to sleep. I woke up first and crawled out to look around. I'd walked a little ways when I noticed a little hole just big enough to stick my head in. I knew it was connected to the cave where Whit was sleeping, so I decided to scare ole Whit. I stuck my head in and went, GRRROWWLLL, just like a bear. Then I jumped up and went back to the cave as fast as I could to see Whit's reaction. I barely got there when Whit came running out of the cave as fast as he could, his eyes bugging out, his hair almost standing on end. I said, "Whit, Whit, hit war only me.' All he could say was, 'Bear, bear!' I thought he was going to kill himself running down that mountain before he stopped.'

Does Pate have any regrets about his life? 'I wish I'd read the Bible more (he's worn out four Bibles already). I didn't read it near as much as I should have,' he says.

What can he tell young people of today to help them? 'Love God with all your might and heart and soul and love your neighbors as you would yourself. Also, don't worry about anything. Keep the worry off your mind. If you get to worrying about something, you can't think of anything else to do.'"