All Around Arkansas: Arkansas' Spooklights

     

    

            Across the southern part of the United States there is a phenomenon known as “spooklights.” Spooklights are defined as unexplained lights that tend to appear around old railroad tracks, battlefields and other areas where tragedies and deaths have occurred. And of course, our very own state of Arkansas has its fair share of spooklights.

            One famous Arkansas spooklight is the Gurdon Light, which is known for appearing above the railroad tracks near Gurdon (Clark County.) Longtime local folklore says that around 1931, a railroad worker named William McClain was killed along the train tracks. After McClain’s death, a strange orb began to appear. 

            McClain, a foreman with the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, supposedly had an argument with co-worker, Louis McBride. McBride became angry and struck McClain upside the head with a shovel before beating him to death with a railroad spike. Many local residents have claimed that the mysterious light appears from the lantern belonging to McClain's ghost. The story caught the nation’s attention when NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" traveled to Gurdon to investigate and film a re-creation of the 1931 murder. The program aired in December 1994.

            Twelve miles south of Little Rock, on Woodson Lateral Road near Hensley (Pulaski County) there’s another strange light that makes frequent appearances. The light is described by those who have seen it as a motorcycle headlight. 

            For years it has been said that the light belongs to the motorcycle of a young man who had a fatal accident on the blacktop road. Another tale claims that a young couple riding a motorcycle on their way home from their senior prom died in a wreck, and the couple continues to search for one other along the road. But many residents believe the light is simply the result of the chemical reaction of natural swamp gas reflecting off vehicle and motorcycle headlights. Woodson Lateral is a popular place to visit for people to visit, especially on the scariest night of all, Halloween.

            Finally, the Crossett Light appears in an area where railroad tracks once laid outside Crossett (Ashley County). Local legend claims that the light is caused by the lamp of a railroad worker who was beheaded in an accident in the early 1900s, and now he walks along the tracks to find his lost head. 

           According to witnesses, the light is most often seen floating about three feet above the ground and moves into treetops and sometimes side to side. The light reportedly disappears if one walks toward it but later reappears far away, making it impossible to get an up-close look. 

            The Crossett Light’s color has been reported to change from yellow to orange and blue or green. Similar to the Woodson-Lateral Road light, one explanation for the cause of the light is the reflection of car headlights off the swamp gas, a natural phenomenon in the area. But there is one major flaw in that explanation, which is that the light was first reported in the early 1900s before vehicles were common in the area. 

            If you would like to see the Crossett Light for yourself, it’s often at the intersection of Ashley roads 425 and 16. Walk along the old railroad bed and face south.

            Several years ago, my wife and I traveled to Crossett to attend a wedding. I wanted to go out that night to see the Crossett Light for myself. I swear I saw the light, but my wife claims it was just a car headlight. Thankfully, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Fouke Monster agree with me and not her.

    A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He served several years with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, and worked in all three divisions. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: The Kellogg Silver Mines

 

One of three known pictures of the Kellogg Mines. Courtesy of the Arkansas Geological Comm.

Growing up in northern Pulaski County near Kellogg Road, I had always heard stories of silver mines that once existed along Kellogg Creek. Was there silver below the hallowed grounds of my youth? After doing some digging (not for silver), I learned that in fact, there was, at least at one time.

 The story of the Kellogg Mines begins in 1819, when a blacksmith from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Kellogg, moved to Little Rock. Kellogg and his wife lived in Little Rock for 10 years, then moved several miles north of the Arkansas River. There, they started a farm on 1,000 acres that Kellogg purchased near Batesville Pike, one of Arkansas’ oldest roads, which stretched from present-day North Little Rock to Batesville.

 According to a written report made in 1919 by Kellogg’s son, Jonathan, in 1840, his father discovered lead ore in a ravine near a creek on his land. Crawfish had been working in the mud and exposed the shiny metal after the water in the ravine had washed off the dirt. With a miner’s pick, Kellogg dug up some of the ore. After having it tested as positive by the Arkansas Geological Commission, Kellogg saw the potential to make a fortune.

 The first mine on Kellogg’s land was opened in late-1840 by Thomas C. Newton, who leased land from Kellogg. Newton’s heirs would be instrumental in founding the city of Argenta, “Argentum” being the Latin word for silver. Argenta is now North Little Rock.

 Operations at the Kellogg Mines from 1840 to 1861 yielded up to 500 tons of lead and silver concentrate, valued at $90 to $100 per ton. The miners crushed the ore by hand and, since there were no railroads in the area, were forced to build a smelter to melt the ore.

 Kellogg died in July 1848. In 1849, gold was discovered in California, which attracted most of the miners and speculators using Kellogg’s land. As a result, most of the work at the Kellogg Mines was abandoned.

 In 1861, the Confederate government of Arkansas took control of the Kellogg Mines. In September 1863, Union forces seized the area after the fall of Little Rock and the surrounding area and destroyed the mine installations.  

 After the war ended in 1865, the Pulaski Mining and Smelting Co., owned by Dudley Jones, leased the property from Kellogg’s heirs and resumed mining. But their operations proved unsuccessful, and they shut down after a couple of years. 

 In June 1893, James P. Clarke, a lawyer from Little Rock, purchased the majority of the property containing the mines from Kellogg’s son, Jonathan.  Clarke then formed the Little Rock Mining Co. and operations resumed once again. Clarke’s attention to his new mining company was soon diverted; he was elected Arkansas governor in 1894 and, in 1902, U.S. senator.

 The final operation at the Kellogg Mines began in 1923 under a lease from Clarke’s estate. Extensive underground workings reached a depth of about 1,100 feet until the mine finally closed in 1926. That same year, the heirs of Clarke’s estate sold the former Kellogg property to real estate developer Justin Matthews. Matthews built several homes and a country club in the area in the late 1920s as part of his development of the Sylvan Hills community. Unfortunately, the Great Depression hit, and Matthews was forced to halt his plans.

 Today, several subdivisions are built on top of the old mines and no trace remains of them except for Mine Road, which crosses Kellogg Road. Is there still silver underneath those fancy new houses on Benjamin Kellogg’s old land? I doubt we’ll never know.

 A sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: Lake Norrell

 

                Having grown up in Arkansas, I thought I knew of every lake, river and stream in the Natural State. But in 2017, I found out I was mistaken.

                My wife and I had grown up going to various lakes during the summer and considered ourselves “lake people.” Several years into our marriage we began to look for a place on a lake. One day while I was at work at Pinnacle Mountain State Park, my wife called and said our real estate agent had found a home on Lake Norrell. My response was: “Where in the world is Lake Norrell?” She explained that it was in Saline County, about 40 minutes west of Little Rock and 30 minutes north of Benton. Neither I nor any of my coworkers had ever heard of such a place.

                  Long story short, we made the drive from our home in Sherwood to Lake Norrell and immediately fell in love with the beautiful lake and bought the home. After a couple of years of using the home as a weekend and holiday place, we sold our house and moved to Lake Norrell full-time.

                For those who don’t know, Lake Norrell is a 280-acre lake located near the community of Avilla. The lake holds 2.5 billion gallons of water and has about 12 miles of shoreline. It’s owned by Benton Utilities. 

                Lake Norrell was created by the city of Benton as a backup water source by impounding Brushy Creek. Construction on the earthen dam began in 1953 by Jeffery Lawrence & Tilley of Fort Smith and completed in April 1954. 

                The dam cost $300,000 to build and was funded in part by a tax approved by Benton residents, in conjunction with a federal appropriation obtained by an Arkansas congressman — William Frank Norrell — for whom the lake is named. 

                In April 1990, the Department of Health discovered that in 1954, the C.W. Lewis Lumber Co. (co-owned by the chairman of the Benton Utilities Board of Commissioners) had unlawfully sold the original 68 lots around Lake Norrell with septic tanks despite being told this was illegal. The Department of Health decided the resulting pollution left the lake unsuitable as a water source. Therefore, the decision was made to use the water of Lake Norrell solely to keep the Saline River flowing. Around 2005, a local timber company sold much of its property bordering Lake Norrell for residential use. 

            Today, Lake Norrell is stocked with fish by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, which also maintains a free public boat launch ramp. All boats are allowed, except for ballast boats, which were recently banned by the city of Benton at the urging of lake residents. Many residents complained the lake’s shoreline was being eroded by the large waves created by the boats. And while there is no official park, swimming and picnicking is allowed near the spillway and launch ramp. 

            One famous former part-time resident of Lake Norrell was country music legend Charlie Rich. In the 1960s and '70s, Rich had a home near the launch ramp that still stands today. A long-standing rumor is that Rich wrote his hit song, “Behind Closed Doors,” at the cabin. But Rich — a vocalist and piano player — was not a songwriter and never penned an original piece.

            But that doesn’t stop me from playing Rich’s songs on my boat radio every time we pass by the old cabin. My personal favorite is “Rollin’ With the Flow,” because that’s what we do at beautiful Lake Norrell.

           A sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on the subject of today’s column with his wife, Amy, and two beloved Boston Terriers. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.