Despite unknowns, pioneers came

"Hang up the fiddle and the bow;
Get down the shovel and the hoe!"

Ouachita Mountain Neighbor, Mena , Ark., Aug. 24, 1993, article by Cleo Tucker.

There was a time in the beginning of pioneer days when the settlers began their migration from Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky to the Ouachita's. They entered this land by trails through the mountain gaps, using hand-drawn maps handed to them by scouts, hunters and others who had been here.

There were many reasons for leaving their established ways of life in the east for the uncertainty of a frontier life. These early pioneers came from over-crowded conditions back east to get a new start in life after setbacks or failures. These people brought with them the ideas, customs and a way of living from their old homes and adapted them to a life on the frontier.

These pioneers moved into the mountain valleys of the Ouachitia's.  Here they found virgin timber standing large and tall, creeks, streams and an abundance of large game. A large variety of vegetation could easily be found, either standing in groups covering hillsides, or bordering creeks and along the pebble streams that wound their way among overhanging trees.  Climbing muscadine and wild  grapes thrived in the rich woodlands.  Many of the wild plants were used for medicinal purposes as well as food. (plantain, crushed and mix with oil can be used as an insect repellant) it did not take long for the pioneer to know they had found a place they could call home.  Through the government they became landowners by homesteading.

Building homes
The pioneers picked out a spot of ground and, with their wagons and teams and a few livestock they had brought with them they set up camp and began building their small log cabins.  Using large logs from the virgin trees nearby and smaller trees for the barns and pens, they built their homes.  At night, the livestock was put in large pens made of oak poles or split rails that kept them safe from the wild animals that roamed the mountainsides.  At the same time, they cleared a piece of land forro their gardens and field crops.  This type of work was sometimes done in the late fall and winter so that by the spring, the fields could be cleared and readied for the first planting.  The men and women worked.  The children and the old alike did their share, caring for the livestock or helping plant corn, wheat, oats, cotton and other field crops.  This was the start of the first families who settled in the Ouachita mountain valleys.

As the years passed pioneers came.  More cabins had to be built, causing more of the fine timber to be cut.  More land had to be cleared.  By this time, small settlements began with blacksmith shops, wagon yards, stores, cotton and grist mills, small schools and churches.

Turbulent times
The year 1861 was perhaps the most turbulent in the history of this area. It was in the early morning hours on April 12, 1861, that the long and bloody Civil War broke out. The young men were called to serve.  This brought about hardships on the women and the children left behind. The women and children who were unable to care for their small farms moved to nearby settlements until after the war and their men returned home.   Others who could, stayed on their farms.  Many farms were left idle and grew over.

At the end of the war, more young men came to the Ouachitas, taking land as their war bonuses.  The local young men returned to their farms with wives and children, all working to restore their log cabins and reclear the fields.  They fixed the barns and rail fences, planted, cared for the livestock and renewed their lives. The pioneers worked and hunted together, and as more years passed more settlers moved in, and gradually turned into small towns and more farmland was needed.  Small sawmills were brought in to cut the logs into lumber for stores, homes and log cabins. Forest opened up and the fields were dotted with fruit trees and varieties of grapes and berries.

The train comes
New towns were founded along the railroad line and even the timberland of the forest had to give in for a right of way.  As the lines were built, there was need for more timber for the use of cross ties.  So the remaining virgin timber was again hit by workers, who went out with cross saws and more land cleared.  The original little old log cabins were replaced by homes of lumber that was cut by the sawmills. By this time, most of  the land had been taking up and homesteading was over.  The towns became the center of business.  Sawmills sprang up all over the country.

1) The railroad reached Norman (initially called Womble) and Caddo Gap in 1904.
2) A lot of land in Montgomery County was converted to forestry land during the depression.  Abandon homesteads in Montgomery County, many on Ouachita National Forest land, often near a spring or creek, can be recognized by careful observation.   Look for old hand dug wells covered, fruit trees, blackberry and dewberry vines, large shade trees e.g. post, water and red oaks, black walnut, stone walls, mounds of rock where maybe a chimney, fireplace or old grave may have been situated.  Stones were often moved to level the ground.  In the spring daffodils and day lilies are observed in fields where homes once stood and on National Forestry land. National Forestry employees leave the old homesteads undisturbed.

 

Why and how did they travel through the mountains to get to this area of Arkansas? If you have any ideas about this subject please let me know and I will add the information. Also what form of transport and route the pioneers used?

Montgomery County ArkansasGenWeb Project
Montgomery Co. Genealogical Resources

USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation.