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A monthly
column
Sept/Oct
2002
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The History of Devil's Den State Park
The geologic history of rocks in evidence at Devils Den State Park near Winslow, Arkansas, begins about 320 million years ago, during the Mississippian time when most of Arkansas was covered by an ocean. The nearest land was near the Arkansas-Missouri border.
No one can agree on where the area got its name. Speculation is rampant. The ever popular folk writer, Earnie Deane, had one of the most unusual and interesting theories. He wrote in his book Arkansas Place Names in 1986: The name, Devils Den, apparently originated during early white settlement in the vicinity. Pioneers were said to have heard the roar of the devil in at least two caves thereabouts.
Others have come up with more commonplace ideas, but naturalist Brent Daugherty researched available literature and visited with people in the area and came up with this:
Bordered by Indian Territory, the mountainous region of Northwest Arkansas was considered as a region being very rough, rugged and having many steep areas. During the mid-1800s Washington was Arkansas most populated county for a short period of time. Fayettevilles southern route was primarily the Butterfield Overland State route. This route skirted west of the present park, passing through the community of Strickler. From there it wound southward along Lee Creek to the army post Fort Smith. Due to the proximity of the Indian territory, a number of lawless men hid in the inaccessible areas of the Lee Creek drainage. In fact, some sources reveal this area was infiltrated with outlaws. Gradually the mountainous region throughout the Lee Creek valley became known as the Devils Den area. This is as plausible as any other theory.
For millions of years before it earned that name, the area lay underwater, its caves and crevasses slowly carved from the sandstone, siltstone and shale commonly found there. Today fossil fragments from this undersea world are found in the limestone deposits.
Archeological evidence shows man has only lived in the area for a bit more than 10,000 years. These early first settlers were nomadic Indians, hunters and gatherers who had the place to themselves for centuries. They lived in the caves, wore paths through the thick forests, drank from the streams and slaughtered the animals. Being nomadic they might remain in one cave for a very short time before moving on to settle in another.
By the 1800s the Osage Indians inhabited northwest Arkansas. In 1817 the Cherokee Indians were relocated here, a move which brought them into conflict with the Osage. In 1828 the Cherokee Indians were relocated to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma).
Arkansas became a state in 1836 and about that same time Lee Creek Valley became home to settlers who migrated from Kentucky, Tennessee and northern Alabama. During the years between 1860 and 1920 Lee Creek Valley was inhabited more than in any period before or since. The creation of the Ozark National Forest in 1908, the Great Depression, and World War II probably aided in the decline of the valleys population more than anything else.
Devils Den was designated as a state park in 1916 and was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and early -40s.
Today there are many historic sites marked throughout the park. The most interesting to me are the old homesites where people once lived, worked, laughed and cried, loved and played, died and were buried.
An early settler named Blackburn lived along a creek just southeast of the park. The creek eventually became known as Blackburns Creek and the valley around his home place became heavily settled. There were many businesses and a post office in the heyday of the town. After the Civil War the post office was moved to the top of the mountain where the community continued to grow. Today there are a few homes, a community building and cemetery located along what is now Highway 74.
Many hand-dug wells throughout the park and along its trails mark early homes. The Bridges homesite and house foundation are visible. On an 1898 map there was a house located there. A family by the name of Chandler homesteaded 80 acres and their well and house site are still visible, though the site is located on private property.
Two brothers by the name of Ray and Guy Donald settled along the creek and their log cabin was marked on the 1898 map. The Dotson homesite belonged to Wayne Dotson (or Dodson), and is one of the larger ones within the park. It consists of a house and barn foundation, a hand-dug well and remnants of a milk barn. Across the road from the site is an overgrown field where it is said the Dotsons grew just about everything including wheat and oats.
Ellis Creek is named after one of the very first settlers in this part of the valley. No one is sure where the Ellis homesite was, but it is listed on a General Land Office Map of 1844. It is said that the Butterfield Stage trail ran along Ellis Creek for a while before following the west bank of Lee Creek south to Fort Smith. Two grave sites at the park are likely those of a family that lived in a nearby homestead, but there are no markings on the sandstone slabs that serve as headstones. Some other grave markings were destroyed during the CCC construction.
Near the Dotson site is the homestead of J.M. Hale, who owned 80 acres. Two hand-dug wells and a stone foundation utilizing concrete are located there. Benjamin Holt homesteaded land as well, probably more recently, as his site contains two ponds, two fields and a house that has fallen in only recently. Then theres the Johnson homesite and a root cellar which was later utilized by moonshiners.
In 1828 Moses Mannon paid land taxes; in 1837 he was granted a patent on 80 acres and in 1839 got a second land patent for 80 more acres along the creek. He died within the next ten years on the land he had homesteaded. Moses son, Francis Marion Moses joined the Union Army during the Civil war and served under Captain James Allison. He homesteaded land on Blackburn Creek near the community of Anna.
A man by the name of McDonald, who was said to be a moonshiner during the 1920s and -30s, also had a homestead there. And another homesite was settled by G.M. Wright in 1908. In 1990 four walls of the Wright cabin as well as a rock wall surrounding the house still stood.
The community of Mt. Olive, often referred to as Possum Knob, is located on one of the highest elevations near the park. By 1880 a log church and school building stood there. In 1937 the school was shut down and merged with Blackburn.
In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps provided more than jobs for young men during the hardships of the Great Depression.
Recently when I was at Devils Den in the Visitors Center, a young man was asking questions about who built the dam at the park. When told the CCC built it, he asked, Whats that? When told it was the Civilian Conservation Corps, he still had no idea what we were talking about. Most of us who know about the CCC take it for granted that everyone is aware of the organization founded in 1933 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to provide jobs for the economically depressed areas (that included almost everywhere in those Great Depression Years) and to build the great state parks we have in this country today.
And build them they did, using picks, shovels, elbow grease and little else. Very little heavy machinery was available. The program began in 1933 with a CCC camp in Luray, Virginia, where 200 young men between the ages of 18 and 25 began work on a state park there. In all there were 1,468 forest and park camps including some on Indian lands. The corps was in existence close to nine years, disbanded shortly after Pearl Harbor. Men planted 291 million trees, built 67,000 miles of service roads and trails, 33,000 miles of telephone lines for park fire detection systems. Crews also opened 38,000 miles of fire breaks and constructed 2,200 lookout houses and towers. And the list goes on. There were programs to control beetles, moths, rodents and tree and plant diseases and reduction of fire hazards by various methods and flood control work that included over a million check dams. It has been called the first and greatest conservation effort in this country.
In Arkansas, Company 3795 of the CCCs worked from a campsite six miles north of Devils Den State Park. Something most dont know is that prior to the Arkansas boys who worked in that company, boys from Nebraska and North Dakota companies were stationed at the den. It wasnt until the spring of 1935, after the last North Dakota company evacuated the campsite, that boys from Washington and Benton Counties were brought in to carry out the work on park improvements.
It was 67 years ago that those young men first began to build cabins, bridges, roads, culverts, footpaths, camping areas and complete other projects concerning park improvements. Only one man, Eddie Cornelius, died while the park was being built. Many wonderful stories have come out of the years spent there. Many of these men had never earned a cash paycheck and most of what they were paid was sent back to their families. Being stationed in their own state meant that many of them could visit loved ones on weekends. For many, the CCC formed a work ethic that remained with them all of their lives. Many left the CCC in 1942 and went into the Armed Forces to fight for their country.
Today, rangers maintain over 40 miles of trails at Devils Den. Many Sundays the staff plays softball on the same field where the Devils Den Angels, a CCC softball team, once played. Every two years the 3795 CCC group holds a reunion at Devils Den, and each year many get together for a potluck. Every passing year takes its toll and another face or two is missing from the gathering. But their spirits will never leave that special place. As long as we remember their contributions and repeat their stories, they will remain forever a part of our rich history.
Originally published in The White River Valley News, Elkins, Arkansas
Velda Brotherton is currently working on a history of Springdale, Arkansas, which will be published by Arcadia Publishers in their Making of America Series.
Copyright © 2002 Velda Brotherton
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