Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
The Eureka Springs Story
BY
Otto Ernest Rayburn
DIAMOND JUBILEE EDITION
1954
Drawings by Gloria Morgan Bailey
Original Printing by
THE TIMES-ECHO PRESS
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Second Printing, 1982, by
Wheeler Printing, Inc.
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
To my friend
SAM A. LEATH
who has served Eureka Springs
as guide and historian
for more than a
half century.
I
LEGENDS OF THE MAGIC HEALING SPRINGS
Legendary lore concerning the visitation of northern Indian tribes to
what is now Eureka Springs, Arkansas is badly mixed and it is difficult
to separate truth from fiction. It is difficult to prove the
authenticity of a legend. The stories we hear may have original pedigree
or they may be mere fabrications by imaginative writers. In history, we
have something to tie to, but this is not always the case with
traditional lore that is handed down by word of mouth from generation to
generation. It may be true or it may be a hoax. Tribal lore from the
Indians themselves is usually accepted as authentic for the redman was
noted for his veracity and had the habit of repeating the tale without
variation, but in recent years numerous legends have been "cooked up" by
white men and passed off as legitimate tradition. Stories are told that
the Indians never heard of. The reliable legends are those that come
from the Indians themselves, properly documented.
There are at least three legends of visits of redmen to the "Magic
Healing Springs," as they called them, before white men settled the
region. They go back about four hundred years and each of the stories
has similar motif. The beautiful daughter of a famous chief, living in
the cold north, is stricken with some dreadful disease or has lost her
eyesight. The chief tries all the medicine men available but without
success. He hears of the healing springs far to the south and treks
thousands of miles through the wilderness to get his daughter to the
coveted spot. The girl bathes in the water and is healed. Sometimes she
falls in love with a handsome brave of the local tribe and marries him.
In one case the girl is Mor-i-na-ki, daughter of a Siouian chief.
Another story features her as the daughter of Red Cloud, a Delaware.
Still another gives Noawada of the Dakotas as the chief and his daughter
is Minnehaha (Laughing Water). Each of these legends runs about the same
gamut of hardship and privation and ends with the same climax of
healing. It is easy to assume that they all originated from the same
source, but this may not be true. The historian finds in them sufficient
evidence to conclude that the northern Indians did make long trips to
the springs, and that the water was widely known for its curative
properties and healing powers. But there is no way of separating the
chaff from the whole grain except from documented material.
W. W. Johnson, M. D., who began his practice of medicine at Eureka
Springs in 1879, the year the town was named, says, "The traditional
history of the springs dates back to the days of Ponce de Leon, who had
sought for a fountain of youth where he and his followers might bathe
and quaff the waters and their age disappear, and they be clothed with
the habiliments of youth." He goes on further to say: "The Cherokee
Indians, when in their southern home--previous to their removal to the
Indian Territory--had a tradition that in the mountains far to the west
of their country, and to the west of the Father of Waters, there were
springs that their fathers visited and drank of their waters, and were
healed of their maladies. This tradition was handed down from one
generation to another. After the removal of the Cherokees to their
present home in the Territory, many visited these springs, camped here,
and drank these waters. Since the discovery by the white men the writer
has conversed with members of the Cherokee tribe, and learned that these
were the springs referred to in the tradition."[1]
One basic legend that appears to be a part of most of the traditional
accounts is that of the carving of the basin at the Indian Healing
Spring, now called Basin Spring. J. M. Richardson in a letter to Powell
Clayton of Eureka Springs, dated May 18, 1884 at Carthage, Missouri,
says:
"It was in the summer of 1847 when a conversation took place between
White Hair, principal chief of the Great and Little Osage Indians, and
myself at the office of the agency on Rock Creek (now Kansas) relative
to lead in Missouri and a celebrated spring in the mountains. The chief
said when he was a boy the Osages took lead out of the bottom of the
creek and smelted it with dry bark, and then run it into bullets. He
stated that where the lead was found was in the prairie and in Missouri
and two days' travel from that place in the mountains was a spring the
Indians visited for the purpose of using the waters and getting cured.
He said he never knew an Indian 'go there with sore eyes and drink the
water and wash in it for a whole moon but what was cured.'"
"The chief said Black Dog's father, when a boy, scoured out a smooth
hole in the rock out of which they would dip the water with cups; that
the hole was about the size of the tin basins the white people washed
in. The Indians, supposing the spirit of the great Medicine Man hovered
round the spring, never camped near it, and never had any fighting near
it. In considering Black Dog's age, I conclude the basin was scoured out
seventy years previous to the conversation. The chief said the water
spread out over the rock and the hole was scoured in the rock to
concentrate the water, and at times it was used to pound corn in to make
meal, and that I would know the spring by the hole in the rock. The
circumstance had entirely faded from my memory, but in visiting Eureka
Springs in 1880, the conversation with the chief recurred to my mind. I
felt sure that was the great Indian spring."[2]
The vast amount of legendary lore about Eureka Springs proves at least
one thing. The spring water was highly rated by the Indians for its
curative properties. Their numerous trips from various parts of the
country to visit this mecca is sufficient evidence that they found what
they were looking for.
II
THE STORY OF MOR-I-NA-KI
The tradition, that great healing springs existed far to the south of
the land in which they lived, appears to have been wide spread among the
Indians of the North in early times. Travelers, who visited these redmen
in the early part of the nineteenth century, discovered legends that
told of these springs and their miraculous cures. One of these
travelers, Colonel Gilbert Knapp of Little Rock, Arkansas, while on an
exploring expedition in the copper-mining region of Lake Superior, met a
French half-breed who told him an interesting story. The exploring party
was camped on an island near Cape Kenewaw, collecting agates and other
beautiful gems which were found in abundance. One night, as they sat
around the camp fire telling tales, the French half-breed, Jean Baptiste
by name, told a story which Colonel Knapp thought referred to Eureka
Springs. Here is the story:
"My mother, whose name was Mor-i-na-ki, or the beautiful flower, was the
daughter of the greatest of the Sioux chiefs. My father, Louis Baptiste,
was an agent of the Hudson Bay Company, whose duties required him to
travel with the sledge trains to the encampments of the Indians to
purchase furs and peltries. On one of these excursions he met my mother,
with whom he became enamoured. He induced her, with the consent of her
father, to accompany him to a trading post of the company, where they
were married by a Catholic priest. My mother has told me of many of the
traditions of my people. One of these relates to the journey of a large
number of the tribe to the far-distant south-land. It was many years
ago, when one of the winters was so prolonged and severe that many of
the tribe died of cold and starvation. One of the chiefs induced the
remainder of the people to go with him to the south in search of food.
After traveling at great distance they reached the forks of a
rapid-flowing river, where the climate was mild and the game abundant.
The country was in possession of a tribe who cultivated corn and many
kinds of vegetables. These Indians had large quantities of food and
grain stored and were friendly to the visitors of the north-land, and
supplied them abundantly from their stores. With all the advantages of
this beautiful region, the Sioux were not happy, because the daughter of
their chief, who had brought them to this country, was stricken with
blindness and lameness and could not walk. When the medicine-men of the
tribe who possessed this country heard of the sickness of the
stranger-chief's daughter, they came to his lodge and told him of a
spring of water flowing from the side of a mountain, only two days'
travel distant, whose water being drank would remove the sickness and
restore sight to the blind. They said the water passed through great
beds of flint, and in its passage it drew the fire from the rocks, and
it was this fire in the water which killed the pain and disease. On
receiving this information he had his afflicted daughter, with all his
people, moved to the vicinity of the wonderful spring. They camped near
where the spring was situated, and at this spring was a basin in the
rock where they got the water that cured the chief's daughter. The chief
and his people stayed at the spring six moons, when the sick maiden was
restored to sight and health. After her recovery the chief returned to
his northern home, and ever afterwards the tradition of the south-land
spring was carefully preserved in the tribe."[3]
L. J. Kalklosch, reporting on this legend, gives this interesting
addition:
"When the chief of the tribe who possessed the country learned that the
Sioux had camped at the healing spring, he sent a number of his braves
with stone hatchets to cut out basins in the rock at the spring for the
convenience of the Sioux and his people. These men with their flint
hatchets cut one basin below the spring to hold the water for drinking,
and another just below for the purpose of bathing. The basins they
covered with bark tents. After bathing in the waters and drinking great
quantities of it, the chief's daughter's limbs were restored to their
natural condition, and her blindness was entirely removed, her eyesight
being as bright and strong as ever."[4]
A booklet on "The Eureka Springs", published by the Matthews, Northup
and Company of Buffalo, New York in 1886 says that the Basin Spring was
so called because of a peculiar bowl-shaped cavity in the rock. Twelve
feet farther down the hillside was originally another basin about five
feet in diameter, which was used for bathing purposes. According to this
account, this basin was destroyed by overhanging rocks falling upon it.
The two basins in the rock, which were present when the town was first
settled, are without doubt the ones referred to in the extract of the
legend given above.
A slightly different version of the legend of Mor-i-na-ki is given in
Allsopp's "Folklore of Romantic Arkansas." This version goes into detail
regarding the habits and customs of the Osage Indians who inhabited the
area at that time. In this version, the Sioux knew of the tradition of
the healing spring before they left their northern homeland and made the
trip specifically to bring the princess to it.[5]
III
"THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH"
Legend says that healing springs in a far-away land were known in Asia
2,000 years ago and that the tradition was later carried to Europe where
it captured the imagination of certain gentlemen in Spain. L. J.
Kalklosch gives a report from contemporary writers as follows:
"Before the Christian era, one Ferdinand Levendez, who was in the
Roman service for a time, made the acquaintance with a barbarian
prisoner by the name of Malikoroff, from whom, in the course of their
chats, he learned the story of a fountain, the virtue of whose waters
would restore old age to the vigor of youth and of which, if anyone
drank continually, he would never die. He (Malikoroff) had it from a
Tartar Chieftain under whom he once served.
"The chief told him the fountain was far off in the interior of a
great island almost inaccessible on account of the snow and ice to be
encountered in reaching its shore, but which, on being reached, it
spread out into a vast world, most of which had a pleasant climate.
"Levendez told many of his friends this wonderful story upon his
return to Spain and the tradition lived in the fancy of many an
aspiring and ambitious Castillian, even to the time of Christoval
Colon when it received a new impetus in the mind of Ponce de Leon when
he heard the same story told to him by the Mobilian Indians, on his
first visit of exploration in Florida. This Indian chief said that he
had the story from a Shawnee prisoner taken in battle, and that the
fountain was far to the northwest, and after crossing a great river.
Says the credulous Mobilian:
"'I have not seen the fountain myself; I only know that the Shawnee
told me so, and he said that his father had drunk of the water, and
that he was restored to perfect health and activity after being almost
double with pains in his bones for six moons, and he proposed to guide
me to the spot for his liberty, but the voice of the other chiefs was
against me, and he was put to death. The story may have been true: I
found all else true that he told me.'
"Ponce de Leon set out in search of this fountain but he did not even
reach as far as the Great River the Shawnee said must first be crossed
(its width four times as far as he could shoot with an arrow); being
wounded by the natives, he died in the summer of 1512, the remnant of
his forces returning to Cuba.
"Now, is there not corroborating evidence of these stories, though
reaching back 2,000 years, to convince us that the same spot and the
famous fountain lately discovered in Carroll County, Arkansas is the
identical fountain of the ancient tradition? Though it may not do all
the Tartan chief claimed for it, it does seem to do what the Shawnee
asserted it would do, and even more, restoring hair to bald heads, and
the gray hairs of age to the color they bore in youth."[6].
IV
THE DISCOVERY OF THE INDIAN HEALING SPRING
The man largely responsible for the starting of a town at "the springs"
in Carroll County, Arkansas was a pioneer doctor named Alvah Jackson. He
was a man of many talents. He not only practiced medicine but was also a
great hunter and trader. In 1834 he was shipping bear oil down the White
River from Oil Trough in Independence County, Arkansas. The town of
Jacksonville was named in his honor.
During his hunting trips and trading expeditions into the hills, the
doctor contacted many Indians. They told him of a healing spring hidden
deep in the mountains that was a sacred spot to the redmen. Jackson
began searching for that spring. From the information secured the spring
flowed through a basin carved in a table of rock and was located near
the head of a small creek with two prongs which flowed into White River
eight miles away.
Dr. Jackson spent twenty years looking for this spring. In 1854 he
decided that he had found it in what is now known as Rock Spring in
north central Carroll County near Kings River. He immediately moved his
family there. But he was not satisfied that he had found the coveted
spot.
One day in 1854 while hunting in the mountains with his twelve-year-old
son, his dogs "treed" a panther in a rock cliff near the head of Little
Leatherwood Creek. The boy was afflicted with sore eyelids and while
helping dig for the panther, got dirt in his eyes. The doctor told him
to go down the hillside to a spring, to rake the leaves away, and wash
his eyes. The boy did as he was told and returned to tell his father
that the spring flowed through a basin apparently carved by hand. The
doctor hurried down to take a look. He recognized it as the Indian
Healing Spring he had been searching for these twenty years. (This is
the Basin Spring with its carved basin in the Basin Circle at Eureka
Springs.)
Each day following the discovery Dr. Jackson rode horseback from his
home at Rock Spring and filled his saddlebags with bottles of water from
the healing spring. His son bathed his eyes in this water and they
healed rapidly. Then the doctor began peddling the water to neighboring
towns in Arkansas and Missouri, selling it under the label, "Dr.
Jackson's Eye Water."
When the Civil War broke out Dr. Jackson refused to take sides. He
established a hospital in the Old Rock House that had been a hunter's
rendezvous for many years, and built a crude cabin on the bluff above
it. It was open to all who needed treatment, but patronized largely by
disabled Confederate soldiers. When the battle of Pea Ridge was fought
twenty miles away in March 1862, this rustic hospital was overcrowded.
(The Old Rock House may be seen today at the rear of Ray Harris' Feed
Store at the junction of Spring and Main Streets, Eureka Springs. The
Everett Wheeler home is at the site of Jackson's cabin.)
The old Rock House was both hospital and bath house. The doctor took
hogsheads and split them into halves for bath tubs. He ordered his
patients to drink the spring water until it ran out of their mouths.
Cora Pinkley Call, in her book "Stair-Step Town,"[7] tells how the
curative waters of the old Indian Healing Spring were heralded to the
world and how it brought thousands of people from all parts of the
United States to use the water for drinking and bathing. Judge L. B.
Saunders, of the Indian Territory, had moved his family to Berryville in
the seventies in order that his son, Burton, might attend Clark Academy.
The judge had a leg sore that doctors had pronounced incurable. He was a
friend of Dr. Alvah Jackson and frequently hunted with him. The doctor
invited the judge to try the water at the Indian Spring for his leg. A
cabin was erected at the site and the Saunders family spent several
weeks there. The judge's leg was healed and he was so enthusiastic about
it that he spread the news to other parts of the country. Health seekers
began to arrive at the wilderness mecca, living in their covered wagons
or putting up tents. By July 1, 1879 there were about twenty families
camping near the healing spring.
[Illustration: Health Seekers Camped at the Basin Spring in July,
1879]
V
THE STORY OF MAJOR COOPER[8]
Major J. W. Cooper was a plantation pioneer in Texas. He had taken part
in the Revolution of the forties and then settled down to grow cotton
and raise cattle on his vast acreage. Sometime before the mid-century he
made a trip to northwest Arkansas and spent some time exploring a
section of what is now Benton and Carroll counties. He liked the
country, observed the vast stand of virgin timber, and decided to locate
there. In 1852 he sold his Texas holdings and started the long trek
north.
The trip from south Texas to northwest Arkansas occupied ten years. He
had a large strongly built wagon with heavy wheels made of bois d'arc
wood which was pulled by giant oxen. He owned sixteen head, eight being
used to pull the wagon and eight in reserve. The yokes used on these
steers were of immense size. About a dozen Negro slaves accompanied the
bachelor Major on this trip.
The reason for the long time occupied in travel was due to sickness of
the slaves. They were plagued with malaria; several of them died.
Because of this condition the major traveled slowly and camped for long
periods along the way.
On March 8, 1862, the Cooper caravan reached Elkhorn Tavern, Benton
County, Arkansas. The Battle of Pea Ridge opened that day and the
Major's party was caught in the midst of it. The Major joined the
Cherokee Brigade of the Confederate Army and ordered the slaves to
butcher the steers for meat. Early in the battle this veteran officer
received a wound and was carried from the field. Dr. Alvah Jackson had
set up a crude hospital near the Indian Healing spring twenty miles to
the east and the Major reported there for treatment. After a few weeks
he was dismissed and returned to his command.
Major Cooper returned to Dr. Jackson for treatment in 1863, but was soon
released. His last visit, near the end of the war, is reported by L. J.
Kalklosch as follows:
"It was in February, 1865, and the 'Yankees' were numerous in the
country, so that the 'Johnnies' were compelled to make themselves scarce
or fall into the hands and care of the enemy. Major Cooper did not care
to have 'Uncle Sam' issue rations to him, so he, with four of his men,
were piloted to a secret cave, (the Old Rock House shelter) by his
medical advisor (Dr. Alvah Jackson), near the now famous Basin Spring,
and visitors find it one of the objects of interest during their rambles
over the city. Here he remained for about two months and used freely of
the healing waters. But eventually their secret hiding place was
discovered by the 'Boys in Blue' and they thought it best to find
different quarters. The conclusion was not reached, nor steps taken too
soon as they narrowly escaped being captured by the Federals. One
beautiful feature in the Major's escape was that he was fully able to
meet the emergency as the water had fully relieved him of all his
troubles."[9]
As the war neared its close, the Major bought a tract of land bordering
the present City of Eureka Springs on the west. He secured fresh oxen
and drove to St. Louis to get saw mill equipment. He built his mill in
"Cooper Hollow" and constructed a log house for his home. At the end of
the war his slaves were freed, but he succeeded in getting white labor
that had been "fired" from Mrs. Massman's saw mill on Leatherwood Creek.
For several years he operated this mill, hauling the lumber to market at
Pierce City, Missouri.
"Cooper Hollow," half a mile northwest of the city limits of Eureka
Springs is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Woolery. Their modern home is
on the same site as Major Cooper's log cabin. The barn stands on the old
mill site. The beautiful spring continues its abundant flow as it did in
the sixties and seventies when it supplied water for Cooper's pioneer
milling enterprise.
[Illustration: The Old Rock House was a haven for hunters in the
early days. It was the site of Dr. Alvah Jackson's hospital during
the Civil War.]
VI
THE COW TRIAL ON LEATHERWOOD CREEK
During the half century before Eureka Springs was settled and named in
1879, settlers trekked in and built homes in the valleys and along the
streams of the western district of Carroll County. The region was
popular with hunters because of the abundance of game. The virgin timber
attracted men who set up peckerwood sawmills to supply the pioneers with
building material. It was a rugged environment of hills and hollows and
the settlers matched the mountains in which they lived. Many stories are
told of bizarre happenings during this early period and one of them is
about the cow trial in a paw paw thicket on Leatherwood Creek four miles
north of the present location of Eureka Springs.
It was in the lusty Carpetbagger Days of the late seventies or early
eighties. The Leatherwood and White River country was sparsely settled
with hunters and timber workers who did a little farming to supply the
table. The Arkansas-Missouri state line divided the settlement and
everything went well until two men got into a dispute over the ownership
of a cow. One of them was a farmer living in Missouri, the other was a
doctor living across the line in Arkansas. The bovine brute in question
had no respect for fences or the state line. If the grass was greener in
Missouri, she pastured there, but occasionally she wandered into
Arkansas to feed on the luscious provender of the hillsides and creek
valleys. When in the "Show Me State" the Missouri farmer claimed
ownership, but when she came to Arkansas the doctor "replevined" her and
put her in his cowpen. She was a good cow and her milk flowed as freely
in one state as it did in the other.
There was no Interstate Commerce Commission in those days to regulate
such matters so the right of ownership in this particular case became
the talk of the neighborhood. No blood was shed over the controversy,
but there were fist fights from time to time when the argument went too
far. At last the people of the community got tired of the uncertainty of
the situation and petitioned the local justice of the peace to handle it
according to law as it was written down in the book.
The Squire agreed to consider the matter and rode over to Boat Mountain
to consult a constable who frequently worked with him. They talked the
matter over and decided to hold a trial "according to law" although they
felt that the cow belonged to the Missourian. They figured the trial
would draw a big crowd, if 'norated around considerable, and it would
provide a good opportunity to sell a barrel of liquor. This would
compensate judge and constable for their efforts in upholding law and
order in the community.
Cabins were few and far between in the hills in those days and none were
large enough to serve as a courthouse. The Squire had his own seat of
justice under a cliff at the edge of a paw paw thicket on Leatherwood
Creek. Numerous trials were held here during the reconstruction period
following the Civil War and justice was dispensed to the satisfaction of
the people of the hills.
A day was set for the trial and the constable began making the rounds,
giving summons to witnesses and jurors. He hinted that the cow should go
to the Missourian. The late Louis Haneke, who was sixteen years of age
at that time, was one of the jurors. Mr. Haneke was a highly esteemed
citizen of Eureka Springs in later years and operated a hotel at the
spa. The cow trial was one of his best stories. The summons read by the
constable to Louie was as follows:
"Louie Haneke, you are hereby summoned as a juror in the case of the cow
trial to be held in the Bluff Dweller Courthouse on Leatherwood Creek.
You are selected and appointed because of your good citizenship and your
great knowledge of the law." Louie felt greatly complimented.
On the morning of the day set for the trial, men began arriving early on
foot, horseback and in wagons. Some of them brought their dogs and guns,
hunting along the way. They hung their game in trees at the edge of the
paw paw patch and stacked their guns, as the Squire ordered, in a corner
of the rock shelter. A hillbilly minstrel was in the crowd with his
guitar and he sang old ballads to entertain the men before court "took
up." Even during the trial the judge would frequently declare a recess
and call on the ballad singer to give his version of "Barbara Allen" or
"The Butcher Boy."
The rock shelter that served as a courthouse was under an overhanging
ledge of rock that provided floor space about ten by thirty feet. The
front was covered with rough boards with a wide opening for a door at
one end. Near the door sat the barrel of moonshine whiskey which the
judge used as a seat while conducting the trial. In front of him were a
couple of two by four scantlings, resting on wooden boxes, which served
as both a bar of justice and a bar for serving liquid refreshments.
Several tin cups were on the improvised bar for the convenience of
customers.
The Squire arrived early at the "courthouse," put a spigot in the
barrel, set out his tin cups, and opened for business. As the men
arrived, he wrote their names on the barrel with a piece of chalk. When
the men ordered drinks, he marked a tally opposite the name for each
drink served. Payment was to be made when the trial was over. Then each
man paid according to the chalk marks opposite his name.
Promptly at nine o'clock the judge rapped for order and the trial began.
The men who claimed the cow were present with their attorneys. The
farmer's attorney had brought a statute from Missouri while the doctor's
lawyer produced one from Illinois, none from Arkansas being available.
The judge decided to use the Illinois statute, to favor the doctor and
avoid suspicion. He appointed a foreman of the jury and the trial got
under way. At intervals during the course of proceedings he would
declare a recess for music and refreshments.
The whiskey diminished rapidly as cup after cup was passed over the bar
and by mid-afternoon the barrel was empty. The judge immediately called
a halt to the proceedings and instructed the jury to go to the paw paw
patch and find a verdict.
After an hour in the thicket, the members of the jury discovered that
they could not agree. Both the plaintiff and defendant were called in
and questioned, but that didn't help matters. Either the jury was
putting on a show or some of its members were not following the court's
instructions.
The Arkansas doctor was a sly man and had provided additional
refreshments, hidden in a brush pile in the center of the thicket. At
the opportune moment, he produced a couple of jugs and the contents were
served complimentary to the jury. No one remembered what happened in
that paw paw patch after the jugs were emptied.
Most of the jurors were sawmill workers employed at Mrs. Massman's saw
mill. When news of the party in the paw paw thicket reached the mill,
Mrs. Massman sent a man with a wagon to pick up the men that belonged to
her outfit. Some of them had crawled to the stream for water and they
were piled like cordwood in the wagon, hauled to the mill and lodged in
a corncrib to sober up. A few of the men remained in the paw paw
thicket.
When these jurors woke up the next morning they found themselves marked
with scratches, black eyes and bumps on the head. One of them had a
couple of broken ribs. But none could recall what had happened the night
before or how the trial ended.
The men "washed up" at the creek and proceeded to the courthouse to pay
for the liquor they had purchased during the trial. There sat the Squire
on top of the empty barrel, sound asleep. They awoke him and paid their
bills according to the tallies chalked up on the barrel against them.
"How did the trial come out, Squire?" asked one of the men. "Did the
Missourian get the cow?" "Gosh no," answered the judge. "You drunken
idiots gave her to the doctor." "Well," said the juror, "he had the most
whiskey."[10]
VII
THE NAMING OF THE TOWN
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," wrote Shakespeare, but
we doubt if any other name for Eureka Springs would fill the bill. It
was old Archimedes of ancient Greece who first used the word EUREKA as
an exultant expression and started it on the road to fame. The story
goes that King Hiero assigned Archimedes the job of finding out the
amount of alloy in his golden crown. The old mathematician was puzzled
about how to do it for his laboratory was rather inadequate for
scientific research. But he was a good observer and one day as he was
stepping out of his bathtub he noticed the water running over the sides.
This gave him the clue he was looking for and he rushed unclothed
through the streets of Syracuse, shouting in his enthusiasm, "Eureka,"
which means, "I have found it." The result is known as the principle of
Archimedes which states that a body surrounded by a fluid is buoyed up
by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces. Since that
time the word has been used in many parts of the world as an exulting
exclamation. California adopted it as a motto in reference to the
discovery of gold there. Nineteen states have towns or post offices
named Eureka, but there is only one Eureka Springs, named on July 4,
1879.
The basin of the old Indian Healing Spring, now called Basin Spring, is
located at the bottom of the Wishing Well in the Basin Circle Park.
Mounted on the railing above the basin is this plaque:
"Directly beneath this sign is the original rock basin after which the
spring was named. It was here on July 4, 1879 that Dr. Alvah Jackson and
about twenty-five families met and adopted the name suggested by C.
Burton Saunders, Eureka Springs."
C. Burton Saunders was the son of Judge J. B. Saunders, and was about
fifteen years of age at that time. He was a student at Clark's Academy
in Berryville and it is possible that he had read of the discovery of
Archimedes in his science books. But it is still a matter of dispute as
to who suggested the name for the town. L. J. Kalklosch says:
"When the discovery of the Healing Spring was a certainty, the virtue of
the water beyond dispute, and a village was springing up, the necessity
of a name suggested itself to the citizens and visitors as they were.
Some suggested that it be named Jackson Springs; others that it be
called Saunder's Springs; but a Mr. McCoy, who had no doubt read of the
discovery of Archimedes, said to name it Eureka, 'I have found it!' This
was agreed upon and the young mountain queen was christened 'Eureka
Springs.'"[11]
I know not what the truth may be regarding the naming. I tell these
tales as told to me.
VIII
THE CITY IN EMBRYO
Eureka Springs was named on July 4, 1879 and it was a boom town from the
start. Within a year there were an estimated 5,000 people living near
the springs. L. J. Kalklosch tells about this phenomenal growth in the
book he published in 1881.
"Little did Judge Saunders think in May, 1879, when he went with his
wife and son to camp in the wilderness, miles from anything in the form
of a permanent dwelling place, where the wild animals dwelt unmolested
except when disturbed by an occasional pioneer hunter, and among hills
seemingly intended for light footed animals, instead of man and domestic
animals accompanying him, that ever a city, possibly the first in the
state, should spring up in so short a time.
"After his cure was an established fact, the news soon spread, passing
from tongue to tongue, and other afflicted mortals, hearing the good
news in the wilderness, at once turned their eyes and footsteps in the
direction of the star of gladness; and soon other cases of almost
miraculous cures were creditably established.
"The news spread like wildfire. Poor afflicted mortals were soon seen
drifting in from all directions. Rejoicing, over the cures effected, was
constantly rising in the wilderness. Many heard of the wonder, went to
see, as did the Queen of Sheba, whether what they heard was true, and
they could exclaim with her that the half had not been told. Others with
an eye to speculation, soon found their way 'through the woods' to the
modern Siloam so that by July 4th there were about 400 people assembled
in the gulch at the spring to celebrate the National holiday. As yet the
great discovery had not been noticed by any of our Journals, but had
been conveyed from lip to lip, and the visitors were principally from
the surrounding country and villages of northern Arkansas and southern
Missouri. By the incredulous it was denounced as a 'humbug' and the more
credulous with having foolish delusions, the effect of the water being
attributed to the power of the imagination only. But as the doubting
Thomases went one by one to see if what they heard be true, on their
return they reported about as follows:
"'I don't know; there seems to be something to it. I never had water act
so on me. People may get well, but I don't know whether it is the water
or not; they are swarming like bees and it is hard to tell what it will
do.'
"The writer resided at Harrison, Arkansas, forty-five miles east and
heard all the reports that went abroad, but believed it all to be a kind
of excitement that would abate with the coming of winter frost. He had
not thought enough of it to 'go and see' as did many of his fellow
townsmen.
"About the first of July, 1879, Judge Saunders erected the first
'shanty' for the better protection of his family. Some people now
ventured the opinion that a village would grow up here, but no one was
'silly' enough to predict a city of tens of thousands. Even a year later
the absurdity of building a city in such a place, with no inducement but
the water, was talked of by many. The water has, however, proved to be
quite sufficient to induce the building of a city.
"In August (1879) it presented the appearance of a camp meeting ground
and everybody was at the height of enjoyment. People were camping in
sheds, tents, wagons and all manner of temporary shelters; some were
living in the open air with nothing but the canopy of heaven to shelter
them. There was nothing to do but to eat, drink and pass the time away
in social chat, telling, perchance of the ancient legends of the
'Fountain of Youth,' the late discovery, their afflictions and, the most
important, their delivery from disease.
"To give it still more the appearance of an old time camp meeting,
ministers of the gospel were here, and preaching was not uncommon. The
preacher's stand was frequently a large rock, and the gravelly hillsides
answered for seats to accommodate the audience. The hillsides were
spotted with camp fires to warm the usual 'snack' or to bake the 'Johnny
cake,' as up to that time there were no boarding accommodations and each
visitor brought his provisions with him. One of these fires had burned a
tree partly off at its base, and while nearly all were engaged in the
noon-day repast, a tree fell and struck the wife of Professor Clark of
Berryville, causing her death in a short time. This was the first death
at the famous springs, and a very sad one. The remains were taken to
Berryville and interred there, to rest until it shall so please the
Almighty Being to give all mortals power to put on immortality.
"Judge Saunders' shanty was soon followed by another, and another, until
the idea of a grocery suggested itself to Mr. O. D. Thornton. People
were coming in daily and when their provisions failed they were
compelled to go out for a new supply. This Mr. Thornton decided to
remedy, at least in the line of groceries. Soon a rough plank house was
erected near the spring and the first stock of groceries brought to
Eureka Springs, amounting possibly to $200. People began to rush in and
plank or box houses were soon scattered over the hillsides and across
the gulches, all trying to get as near the spring as possible without
thought or regard of system or anything."[12]
Mr. Kalklosch continues about the growth of the town and mentions the
importance of the saw mills operated by Mrs. Massman and Mr. Van Winkle.
The first boarding house was set up by a Mrs. King from Washburn,
Missouri. She could accommodate only five or six boarders and was always
full to capacity. Then the Montgomery Brothers put in a stock of
merchandise and did a thriving business.
IX
JOHN GASKINS--BEAR HUNTER
Among the pioneers who settled in the vicinity of the Indian Healing
Spring before the town of Eureka Springs was founded was the Gaskin
family who located on Leatherwood Creek in 1856. "Uncle Johnny" as he
was affectionately called by his friends, was one of the famous bear
hunters of the Ozarks and he left a record of his hunting adventures in
a booklet entitled, "Life and Adventures of John Gaskins in the Early
History of Northwest Arkansas." This little book, published at Eureka
Springs in 1893, tells the Gaskin story from the time the family moved
from Washington County, Indiana to Carroll County, Arkansas in 1839, up
to and beyond the founding of Eureka Springs half a century later. Most
of it consists of his hunting escapades (he killed 200 bears in thirty
years), but there are some references to his neighbors and the economic
set-up of that day. In the introduction he tells about the discovery of
the springs and the community's early development.
"As I was one of the first settlers in the country, living along the
creek three miles below Eureka Springs for thirty-eight years, I will
tell something about the discovery of that place.
"I had hunted all over these mountains--killed bears and panthers and
many other wild animals in nearly every gulch and cave in that vicinity.
I have killed nine bears in the hollow near the Dairy Spring and many
deer, for that was a good place for them. My regular stopping place was
the Rock House, or cave, above the Basin Spring in which Alvah Jackson
camped on his hunting trips. We often camped there, using the Basin
water for our coffee and never imagining it was more than pure water,
until Uncle Alvah camped there with them. They simply dipped the water
up from the little basin.
"Then Uncle Alvah began to use the water for other diseases, finding
that it was beneficial. He induced Judge Saunders and Mr. Whitson to go
there in the summer of '79. Then others began to come and were cured and
benefitted; the whole sides of the mountains were covered with tents.
"I was there every day, watching and wondering. The people crowded
around the Basin Spring (that was the only spring at first, though in a
short time others were discovered) dipping up the water that poured down
over the rock into the little basin, one waiting on the other.
"I would watch for hours, wondering how it could be that I had used the
water so long and now to see the crowds gathering there for the cure of
all kinds of diseases. Many who were not able to walk would use the
water and be able in two or three weeks to climb the mountains, at that
time steep and rugged and without roads. Wagons would turn over in
trying to drive too near the springs. Once on the bench of the mountains
they would take off the wheels, and let the axles rest on the ground.
Then tents and afterwards houses were erected.
"One incident that happened that summer impressed me with solemn
thoughts. For lack of a house a great many people gathered under the
trees one Sunday to hear the preacher. A rain came up and we all retired
to the rock house. As I listened to a good sermon and saw the preacher
laying his book on the rock where I had so often set my coffee pot, my
mind ran back to the many times I had camped here, to times when the
scream of the panther or the growl of the bear mingled with that of my
dogs in the fight. Little did I think that afterwards I would sit here
and hear the voice of the man of God echoing among those rocks. I was
convinced that the all-wise Creator had not made these mountains and
valleys merely for the wild beasts.
"People kept pouring in, and in the fall and winter of 1879 my house was
always full of sick and helpless people who had no shelter. We could
never turn them away, and many times my wife and I had to give up our
own bed.
"One miraculous cure I remember was that of a young man who was brought
helpless to my house by his father. He had rheumatism and had to be
carried in from the wagon. He drank freely from the keg of Basin water
we had at the house, and then his father took him to town the next day
and bathed him in the water two or three times a day. In one week they
came driving back and the boy was sitting up in the seat and could get
around very well. The old gentleman started on to his Missouri home with
his son and a barrel of Basin water....
"The town built up rapidly without much form or improvement of streets
until after Governor Clayton located here, and through his influence and
energy the town soon had a railroad and passable streets, and then the
springs were improved and the streets fixed, adding much to the looks
and comfort of the place. Now it is one of the most picturesque towns to
be found in the state, and is visited both for health and pleasure. The
town has many magnificent buildings and substantial enterprises,
including the Sanitarium Company, which has grounds near Eureka Springs
and is doing much in the way of improvements. The beautiful scenery in
every direction fills the visitor with astonishment not to be described
with the pen."[13]
One story is told about John Gaskins and his encounter with a bear near
Oil Spring on the outskirts of Eureka Springs. Some say it was another
hunter who killed the bear, but the incident is usually credited to
Uncle Johnny.
The White Elephant rooming house was located near where Mount Air Court
now stands. It was in the early eighties and Eureka Springs had no water
system such as we have today. Water was carried from the springs for
drinking water and household use. "Aunt Min" who operated the White
Elephant was worried. It was customary to send a couple of girls to Oil
Spring down under the hill for water, but a bear had been seen in the
vicinity of the spring and the girls were afraid to make the trip. Water
was needed at the White Elephant so "Aunt Min" sent for Uncle Johnny
Gaskins, a famous bear hunter, who lived on Leatherwood Creek north of
town.
Uncle Johnny arrived at the White Elephant early one November morning,
his trusty double-barrel muzzle loader in the crook of his arm. He would
get the bear if it had not already taken to its den for the winter.
"Take a bucket and bring back some water," said "Aunt Min."
The hunter took the wooden pail in one hand and his gun in the other and
started down the hill, his eyes alert for bear tracks. It was a cold
morning and he put his hands into his pants pockets, carrying the bucket
in the crook of his left arm, the gun in the crook of his right. Two
hundred yards down the hill the trail makes an abrupt turn to the cliff
from which flows the Oil Spring. At this point Gaskins came face to face
with a large black bear followed by a half-grown cub.
He had killed many bears in close quarters and seldom got excited about
it. But this occasion called for quicker action than he had ever
experienced. Before the hunter could get his hands out of his pockets
the bear had the end of the barrels of the gun in her mouth, chewing
like mad. There was no time to get the gun to his shoulder so he fired
from the hip, pulling the triggers of both barrels with his left hand,
the bucket still on his left arm. It stopped the bear all right, almost
blowing the animal's head from its shoulders, but it did more than that.
The end of the barrels in the bear's mouth caused the gun to explode.
Gaskins got a severe wound on his right forearm from the "kick" of the
gun. The end of the barrels were twisted out of shape by the explosion.
You may see the twisted barrels of this old gun at the Ozark Museum,
Highway 62 West, Eureka Springs. Go and see for yourself.... Oh, yes,
they had bear steak and spring water for dinner at the White Elephant
that day.[14]
Vance Randolph gives this tale under the title "Uncle Johnny's Bear" in
Who Blowed Up the Churchhouse? (New York, 1952), pp. 72-73. In his notes
(p. 200) he says:
"Told by a resident of Carroll County, Arkansas, March, 1934. This
individual credited it to Louis Haneke, who used to run the Allred Hotel
in Eureka Springs. Sam Leath, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce at
Eureka Springs, told an almost identical story in 1948, and showed me
the remains of a shotgun which he said was used in killing the bear.
Otto Ernest Rayburn wrote a story based on Leath's account. It was
published in the Eureka Springs Times-Echo (April 20, 1950) and
reprinted in Ozark Guide (Spring, 1951, p. 53). Rayburn says 'the
twisted barrels of the old gun may be seen at the Ozark Museum,' which
is on Highway 62, west of Eureka Springs. Both Leath and Rayburn give
the name of the hunter as Johnny Gaskins, who killed more than two
hundred bears and wrote a book (Life and Adventures of John Gaskins,
Eureka Springs, Ark., 1893, pp. 113) describing his hunts in great
detail. But Gaskins does not mention this adventure. Some old residents
think it was Johnny Sexton who killed the bear at the 'White Elephant.'
Cora Pinkley Call (in Pioneer Tales of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 1930,
p. 24) prints a photograph of Sexton with a shotgun in one hand and a
wildcat in the other without any reference to the White Elephant.
Constance Wagner tells the story in her novel Sycamore (1950, pp.
151-52), but doesn't mention the bear-slayer's name."
[Illustration: The Basin Spring as it appeared in the early days.]
X
"WATER PACKIN' DAYS"
The first settlers at Eureka Springs considered the water from the Basin
Spring to be a potent agency for healing and rejuvenation. Judge J. B.
Saunders, one of the first to try the water, gave this report:
"In five weeks I lost thirty-three pounds in weight and forty odd pounds
during my stay, and felt that I had been fully renovated, or made new,
and was as active then and now as I ever was in my life. I will also add
that from the frequent bathing of my head in its waters, and the
improved condition of my health, portions of my hair changed from a
yellowish white to black, its original color. The color of the hair then
grown was not changed, but a new crop grew out from the scalp, the color
of my hair in my younger days."[15]