StateoftheOzarks: Railroads of the Ozarks

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	History Index STORIES • Homesteading on the James (from John Tilden) ARTICLES • Arkansas Battlefields (A Timeline) SECTIONS • Appalachia • Baldknobbers • Railroads of the Ozarks • Slavery • The Upper South • War Between The States • Weapons of the Ozarks Culture Index • Agriculture • Book Learning • Cooking • Craftsmanship • Faith in the Hills • History • Music • People of the Hills • Storytelling • Tourism

The coming of the rails was instrumental in developing the Ozark region just as it was across the great American West.

What is notable is this development occured much later in our nation's history than elsewhere.

Harold Bell Wright lamented the recent coming of the rail in the comparatively late date of 1907.

As interstate travel was to do much later in the 20th century, the railroads proved a double-edged sword to the Ozark region.

The coming of "careless idlers" may well have threatened traditional Ozarkian culture and certainly changed it.

However, the introduction of the rail was instrumental in developing a tourist culture so obsessed with the Ozark heritage that it has been popularized and maintained to this day.

Despite the decline of the railroads, this is indeed a story "still in the telling."

— Joshua Heston, the editor

Artwork detail, Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway Company. Artist: Joe Benjamin.


	The above pen & ink art was created by Joe Benjamin, an extremely talented craftsman. More can be read about Joe (here) — the editor

"The old shepherd answered softly, 'One did.' Then rising to his feet and pointing to Roark valley, he said, 'Before many years, a railroad will find its way yonder. Then many will come, and the beautiful hills that have been my strength and peace will beceom the haunt of careless idlers, and a place of revelry.

'I am glad I shall not be here.'"

— page 260, Wright, Harold Bell, The Shepherd of the Hills, The Shepherd of the Hills Historical Society, Inc., 1907.

"The railroads, particularly the Frisco, played a role in opening this land [the US 60 area east of Springfield] to settlement. The railroad owners had acquired large federal land grants and were anxious to attract settlers. They sent executives directly to Germany as recruiters in an effort to dispose of the land to promote growth..."

— page 120, Rossiter, Phyllis, A Living History of the Ozarks, Pelican Publishing Company Inc., 1992, 2001, 2006.