June 2018 Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine

The Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine

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June 2018

Men of Vision Boom Town!

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Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

P ro m i s e C o nte m p l at io n P ra y e r Ded ication Peace Renewa l

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Of Early Politics... and Mountain People

Adapted from “Just a Book”

by Hal L. Norwood, 1938

Former Attorney General of Arkansas and resident of Polk County.

When I was 20 years of age I married Mary Kate Anderson and ran for representative. I thought a boy who could win her could win anything. My opponent was one of the best man in the county who was serving his first term and at the previous election had received the majority over several opponents.

To his surprise, and most everyone else’s, I defeated him in the primary.

My Populist opponent in a joint discussion told the audience that the constitution provides a member of legislature must be 21 years of age on the day of his election and because I would not be 21 until after the election; I could not be seated.

I replied, all my lazy opponent thought about was some place to sit; that I wanted to go up there and work for the interest of the people; that I will probably not sit down the whole time the legislature was in session and was not bothered about not getting a seat. **** Good climate and abundant resources do not alone introduce people to move to a state.

People like to live where there are churches, convenient schools, good roads and refined and cultivated neighbors. Some books and other publicity, which if taken seriously reflect (poorly) on the people of certain sec-

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

tions, generally referring to the people living in the mountains.

It is true that for many years on account of topography many people were isolated from the balance of the world. They did not have the advantages of good schools and other cultural influences, and naturally some of them were, and are primitive in their conversation and manner of living. But there is something about the grandeur, quietude and stability of mountains that appears to have its influence upon people; making them sincere, truthful and honest and giving them individuality.

Here in Mena we are proud of not only our present citizenship, but on are the memories of many who are no longer with us.

No country ever has gotten better men than the first settlers of Mena. J. I. Ally, George L Lockridge, Eugene Cox, J. G. Jackson, W.E. Watkins, V.W. St. John, and others. *** It takes all kinds of people to make interesting country. Here in my own County of Polk you may find a man who still wears a coon skin cap, but a short distance down the road you will meet Eleanor Risley, author of the “Road to Wildcat” and “An Abandoned Orchard”. Further down the road maybe some person who has never been out of the state but you may also meet Laura Cole of Grannis who was a guest of Henry Ford a few days ago as she was on her way to deliver a lecture at Harvard University. On her way home, she was asked by a reporter if she thought that life really bePage 3

gins at 40. She replied that she has had more fun than a box of monkeys since she was 60.

You might find a person who is illiterate, but just over the mountain lives Grace Ethison, who described her surroundings as follows:

In the Ouachitas Song of bird at early morn, Light of dawn on purple hill; Glistening dew on a sunkissed rose – Are simple joys the heart will thrill, In the Ouachitas.

Silver stream in a shadowwood, Music tone of waterfall; Shade of trees at hush of noon, Our restful joys where songbirds call, In the Ouachitas.

Red-gold trees on wind-blown hills, Veiled by mist from the meadow side, Rainbow tints among the leaves make pictures real on heights untried, In the Ouachitas.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine

Goodwill ambassador of the Ouachita Mountains Published Monthly by Avalon Keep Botanical Gardens PO Box 481 Mena, AR 71953 Michael Cate Editor & Publisher 479.437.4902

Available by digital subscription issuu.com/mcate/docs Rates: 7.95 single by download $30 annual (12 issue) by download email inquiry to mcate@me.com

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

M a n o f V i s i o n : A r t h u r S t i lw e l l

Compiled by Michael Cate, Editor

Arthur Edward Stilwell was the dreamer who envisioned a railroad from Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico. He was also the imaginative force that established the town of Mena.

Stilwell was born at Rochester, NY on October 21, 1859. His inspiration for railroading came from his grandfather, Hamblin Stilwell who was one of the founders of the New York Central Railroad and also helped establish the Erie Canal.

A close friend asked young Arthur what he intended to do with his life. His reply, “I’m going West to build a railroad.”

As a young man, Stilwell ran away from home to discover his fortunes. He landed in St. Louis where he worked as a cashier, then as head of a mailing department. His wages were $9 per week.

He returned to New York and worked at a floor walker, (manager) in a department store for a while.

He then made his way home to Rochester where he poured his savings into a printing business and was soon hired by a stationery firm as a traveling salesman. In his travel, he noticed rail schedules were not printed or distributed except in the immediate New York City area where they also contained advertising.

Stilwell arranged contracts with the major railroads in the

Arthur E. and Jennie Wood Stilwell Eastern U.S. to print and distribute their schedules free of charge. He retained exclusive rights to sell advertising on them and he negotiated a personal pass to travel on any of their passenger cars. This became his first real success. He was all of 19 years old with a monthly income exceeding $2,000.

When he was 15, he had announced to his parents that he intended to marry Miss Jennie A. Wood some day. Four years later, he put a ring on her finger.

As he rode from city to city, he made numerous contacts and enjoyed many freedoms other passengers were not allowed. For example, he could walk atop freight cars, visit in the cab with engineers and even loiter on the caboose as he chatted with brakemen.

From these conversations he learned the mechanics of railPage 4

roading, the cost of rail ties and the service life of steel rails.

Soon, he had friends from Kansas City to Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and north to Rhode Island.

Stilwell joined Travelers Insurance Company for two years.

He invented and copyrighted new insurance products including the coupon annuity, the endowment accident and the annuity draft. Here too, he first met in casual conversation, a man named John Gates.

Next, Stilwell moved to Hartford, Connecticut where he became an agent serving Rhode Island and Connecticut.

After accumulating $25,000 in savings, he resigned and announced he was going to build railroads.

His first goal was to build a rail from Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico. This rail would save

600 miles of shipping expense and delay for midwest agricultural and industrial interests.

Until then, the only option to reach deep water ports was by wagon or roundabout the untamed Arkansas and Mississippi rivers.

Stilwell and his wife, Jennie, traveled to Europe in 1886 to seek funds for his vision. At that time in history, industrial expansion in America was a trendy investment strategy sought by well-heeled Europeans with a penchant for adventure.

On his return trip, Arthur and Jennie met a Dutch coffee merchant named Jan deGoeijen and his wife, “Mena” Janssen deGoeijen aboard the S.S. Amsterdam. Stilwell would later refer to Jan as simply, “Mr. DeQueen” because virtually no American could utter the Dutchman’s tongue-twisting name correctly.

Meanwhile, Stilwell became acquainted with E.L. Martin, a former mayor of Kansas City who dreamed of constructing a belt rail around the town. Stilwell traveled to Philadelphia where he secured a loan for $50,000 from banker A.J. Drexel. The Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway Company was incorporated January 8, 1887.

As construction progressed, Drexel and Stilwell were imagining a line that would connect the coal fields of Nevada to states like Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

By 1890, operations had expanded to serve packing houses, grain elevators, sawmills, and stock yards.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

The Kansas City, Nevada, and Fort Smith Railroad reached Drexel, Missouri that fall.

The following year brought financial challenges to Mr. Drexel so Stilwell became president of the railroad.

In 1893, at age 34, Stilwell travelled to Holland with hope of selling $3 Million in stock for an extension of the line that would speed the transportation of midwestern beef and grain all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

After two weeks of frustration, Stilwell recalled he, “grabbed at a memory which came stalking out of the past.” After about a week of discussion with his happenstance acquaintance, Jan deGoeijen, Stilwell convinced the man, “This railroad is going to bring the West the greatest properity it has ever known, and those who build it will go down in history.”

Stilwell was right on both counts. DeGoeijen was appointed agent for the Holland office of Guardian Trust Company.

Another financial panic slowed Stilwell’s success but by the first of January 1894, the Kansas City Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad had a survey team working in Heavener, Indian Territory.

The first passenger train arrived in Heavener in May 1896.

After completing the rail through Fort Smith and Heavener, Stilwell carefully planned his next push through the Ouachita Mountains. He arranged a big townsite promotion in honor of the Dutch who had provided financing when no US banks Page 5

could help. This would be a crowning jewel laid at the very center and near the highest point on the entire road to the gulf.

The Mena promotion began with a royal flair.

The name was selected to honor the wife of Jan deGoeijen’s wife, Folmena. In fact, many of the towns along the route carry the names or Americanized pronunciations for his investors.

Names like Stotesbury, Mena, DeQueen, DeRidder, Amsterdam, Pickering, Martin, Gillham, Meyer, Swope, Campbell, Fleming, Vivian, Pollack, Hermann, Janssen. and Hornbeck are found not only as towns but streets and subdivisions along southern half of the route.

The original townsite for Mena was laid out with streets named for Stilwell’s friends and respected employees.

The Mena townsite was designed with 13 streets running northeast and southwest.

Many of Stilwell’s towns were designed with a central grid of avenues running at a 45 degree angle to true north.

Stilwell’s lead surveyor, Mr. Gillham followed Thomas Jefferson’s guidelines for defining a town’s central district with a grid laid at a 45 degree angle.

The simplist benefit of such a design was climate. Homes built on streets at an angle to the poles, tend to enjoy the benefits of more interior lighting as the sun can enter windows more softly on two exterior walls morning and evening rather

than flatly on a south face in winter and harshly on east and west in summer.

Prior to the era of air conditioning and central heating systems, structures in the central district would share a more pleasant existence compared to those laid square to north.

The remaining purpose is more of artistic value to map makers as streets laid at an angle are clearly distinguished

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

from the untamed hills, streams and cattle trails that often meandered in random proximity to compass points.

In advertising his new town of Mena with its organized lots and streets, potential residents could take pride in being part of something civilized and well thought. Plotted lots brought premium prices compared to the vast countryside. These purchases were vital to help the

townsite company pay for the massive undertaking.

Mr. Gillham laid Mena’s grid around a spring and a historic cabin. He reserved four square blocks around this site as the city center and named it Janssen Park. This park remains the centerpiece of the town today. It was bordered by four major streets: Port Arthur, Fleming (now 7th Street),

1896, A view from Stilwell Heights of Sherwood Avenue and the Mena Depot.

Highway 71 now runs along the route seen here strewn with burning stumps.

Coogan Collection, UARM

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Janssen Avenue, and Amsterdam (now known as 9th Street).

A second public area was reserved as Stilwell Park, located on the south side of the tracks across Pickering Avenue (Now Highway 71). This elevated park later became the site for Stilwell School. A retirement complex is located there today with lofty views of the town.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

In 1896, all the townsite lacked was a population of hardy, pioneering people.

Stilwell sent an aide to stir up interest throughout the upper midwest. He advertised what a great place Mena was going to be. Lots went on sale June 30, 1896 with very generous financing.

A work gang of Greek immigrants were chipping their way

through a mountain pass south of Heavener that came to be known as “Petross” (Greek for Rock). This created a delay Stilwell desperately needed to avoid. He had set and advertised a goal of reaching Mena in forty days. It would require the rail to be laid at an incredible rate of a mile per day. Although it had been done across prairie, this route was snaking between Story continues on page 10

1896, A rail crew poses with a finished section of track after cutting through layers of stone north of Mena.

Photo - Coogan Collection, UARM

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The Ouachitas are calling, The breeze is whispering, “come,�

The open road is beckoning, The woods are all a-hum.

The songbirds are a-warbling Their sweetest overture, While blossoms of a thousand hues Spill forth their sweet perfume.

On every view is beauty, All nature bids you pause, And feel again the soul of youth, Up in the Ouachitas!

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Poem adapted from a promotional brochure published in 1961 prior to completion of the second Wilhelmina Inn.

the rocky ridges of the Ouachita Mountains. There were also flood-prone creeks and the headwaters of the Ouachita River. The effort made for great headlines so the race against time was heralded by the Associated Press.

Indeed, the publicity attracted scores of people by wagon, horseback and on foot. Some rode the train as far as it was completed, just to see the progress. They would then hire a wagon or hurry by foot to seek

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

the best parcels of land ahead of the predicted land rush.

Stilwell hired lunch wagons and set up tent cities where people could sleep for two bits (25 cents) a night.

As groups of families arrived in Mena, the townsite company donated land for churches, schools and government buildings.

Advertising was a vital part of Stilwell’s success as a rail builder. Along the route, he would purchase land at strategic points where trails or settle-

ments intersected his rail. He know these points would become towns in years to come.

Meanwhile, a team of men and steam shovels had begun to excavate the canal from Taylor’s Bayou at Port Arthur toward the gulf. Stilwell purchased the land from James G Taylor, an early settler who homesteaded land along the waterway in 1841.

Stilwell’s men solicited people with specific skills, education or professional backgrounds to

The inn was named in honor of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

She never ventured to visit Arkansas.

A postcard of the early lodge atop Mount Mena. Stilwell spared no expense in its construction which intended to impress wealthy travelers with modern carbide lighting, native stone and timbers. The inn featured 35 guest rooms on the second floor and a 90 ft banquet hall that could seat 300 on the ground floor. The structure cost $100,000 and included at least four water closets for guests. The third floor was reserved for staff. A stone tower provided an elevated observation deck on the north side. Subsequent designs have somewhat mimicked the tower as a central design facade but none actually allowed roof access out of a concern for falls during icy conditions. The grand opening was held June 22, 1898 and guests were invited to a grand ball at the “Castle in the Sky”.

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be among the first to populate each new town.

An estimated 1000 people were camped around the Mena townsite as the last mile of track reached the city on August 3, 1896.

The first passenger train arrived August 19.

By March, 1897, tracks reached Shreveport, Louisiana.

Stilwell invited his Dutch investors to inspect the railroad.

Mr. DeGoeijen brought a photographer with him to document the line he and his friends had helped finance. The last rail spike was driven at the southern terminus along the shore of Lake Sabine at 3pm on September 11, 1897. Port Arthur, Texas was established and named in honor of the visionary.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

There, a principal thoroughfare was named Stilwell Boulevard.

At the completion of the line, Stilwell was only age 37.

Stilwell invested money in coal mines, timberland, sawmills, and planted orchards to help develop and sell his vision to prospects from Northern cities.

Near Fort Smith, he promoted strawberries for markets in Chicago. Further South, he encouraged people to plant melons and peaches to generate crops his rail could carry north.

Express cars were added to passenger trains to rush fragile produce to canneries.

By 1898, 1.4 million tonnes of freight boosted revenue in addition to a rapidly growing passenger business.

Mount Mena, circa 1898.

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The rail company owned 36,000 acres of barren land north of Port Arthur, Texas. It was suggested the land would be good for growing rice so he ordered construction of ditches to divert water from the Neches River, seven miles away. His aides were sent to Holland to entice young Dutch families to settle and farm the newly organized community of Nederland, Texas. Soon, rice began to flourish and another market was created that his railroad could transport into the nation’s heartland.

On October 15, 1897, the DeQueen Bee newspaper announced “Mr. DeQueen a guest of the city.” Other guests included Mrs. Mena deGoeijen, Mr. E. deQuincy of London, and Arthur E. Stilwell.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

Interior of Stilwell’s Dining Car

Courtesy of Port Arthur Centennial History, Photo by Trost

Page 12

Stilwell was honored to name deQuincy, Louisiana after his English friend and investor. Numerous schools and streets honor “Mr. DeQueen” and in return, deGoeijen named his own son John Arthur after Arthur Edward Stilwell. A silver plate Stilwell gave his godson is on display in the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, Texas.

On December 31, 1899, the New York Times referred to the 19th Century as “an age of marvels: steam engines, railroads, telegraph lines, ocean liners, telephones, electric lights, medicine and sanitation. We step upon the threshold of 1900, which leads to the new century, still facing a bright dawn of civilization.”

When Stilwell and his associates lost control of the railroad in 1900 to a hostal takeover by John “Bet a Million” Gates, deGoeijen returned to Holland heartbroken, although he still had personal interest in the line.

He made only one final visit to the U.S. with his son, John Arthur in 1927.

While researching for the book, Mena Centennial History, author Michael Cate discovered a badly aged set of scrapbook pages in the archives of Kansas City Southern Railroad corporate headquarters. The images had been captured by deGoeijen’s photographer.

Cate recognized photos from his hometown of Mena as well as comparison views of Gillham, DeQueen, Heavener, Shreveport, Port Arthur and many stops along the route. The companion photos were dated 1897 and 1927.

Photos made three decades apart, illustrated progress of communities along the railroad.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

Months later, in 1997 Cate discovered an unidentified album in the care of the Port Arthur Historical Society which he recognized immediately. It was a near duplicate of the Kansas City pages. Photos were carefully hand scribed with locations and dates. Surprisingly, although the book in Port Arthur had survived major hurricanes in 1900, 1915, 1918, 1957, and 1986, it was virtually in perfect condition.

I should stop here to commend the Port Arthur Historical Society and suggest anyone with a love for the Ouachitas will enjoy a trip to the Museum of the Gulf Coast. You will dis-

cover so many connections in history tie the gulf with the mountains.

These photos would become an invaluable resource for several books including this compilation and provided a grand view of Stilwell’s push to the gulf.

They were collected by the man who had helped finance the effort and was a friend of history.

Stilwell had originally wanted his rail to meet the gulf at Galveston but after a premonition that it would be destroyed by a massive storm, he convinced his company to set the port inland

by Lake Sabine. They “sent competent real estate men to purchase the land on which Port

1896, Teams ready to plow Sherwood Avenue in Mena.

Coogan Collection, UARM

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Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

Above: January 1896, a light snow covers North DeQueen Street as settlers scurry to take care of business on a brisk winter day. (Coogan Collection, UARM) Below: 1896, Workers pose for a photo as the iron bridge crossing the Ouachita River at Acorn nears completion. (Image from The Hildebrand Collection)

Page 14

Arthur is now located.” They paid $12 per acre and set aside 4,000 acres for the city. An additional 36,000 acres of swampland previously mentioned was purchased for $7 per acre.

Stilwell was also a pioneer in tourism. He identified the two stops on his road with the greatest potential for tour interest.

These were Mena and Port Arthur where he built large resorts. Atop Mount Mena, his inn featured a 90 foot long ballroom that could seat 300.

The decision to build an inland port was met with great resistance by the owners of Sabine Pass who had great aspirations of their own but lacked the vision to make it happen.

The Kountze family filed injunction suits to stop Stilwell from dredging his canal through the swamp from Taylor’s Bayou to the Gulf 14 miles south.

The Kountz’s lawyer solicited General Palmer of Colorado to publish a scathing report claiming the canal would slide into the gulf which they hoped would ruin Stilwell’s banking relationships.

Stilwell wrote about the day Luther Kountz gave instruction for him to arrive at 11 o’clock in his bank where Kountz said he would force Stilwell to buy Sabine Pass for $1 Million. Stilwell knew Kountz had purchased the coastal land for just fifty cents per acre.

After a heated discussion, Stilwell explained he had no interest in building his port or docks at Sabine Pass because the area had flooded three times in thirty years.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

Page 15

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

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Stilwell recalled the discussion as follows: I said: "Not so quick, Mr. Kountz. If we buy this land, we will have to fill it up at least eight feet, which was the height of the last tidal wave. This will cost one million more. It is fourteen miles to our line. This will cost three hundred thousand more to reach your property. Why don't you build up from your property and connect with our road and build as big a city as you wish? You have the money. We will give you connection anywhere you wish and do all we can to help you.

"You have owned the property for years," I continued, "and you own great fields of timber.

Why have you not long ago developed the timber lands you own and erected a great mill and sawed lumber for export? It is a good enterprise. Undertake it now and connect with us.

Then you have your own road. You can build your mill there and bring the logs to the mill, and also have the connection with our road.

Any freight that originates on our road can be transferred to any steamers you charter or that come to your port.

You have the money and credit. Go in and develop and we will co-operate with you. This as a free land; there is enough for us all -- and then some."

His face grew dark. He said: "No, I will not build a road in Texas. My terms are one million dollars. I will at once give you credit for one hundred thousand dollars. No one shall know it. If you do not accept, I will ruin you and your road and prevent you from finishing the canal."

"Mr. Kountz," I said, "I am not for sale. Do you think I would work night and day to build this great road; would work in an unselfish attempt to make a land-locked harbor; Photo from watch every dollar that goes Port Arthur Centennial H

by Michael Cate and into the road, and then, just as Port Arthur Historical So

my honest endeavors are about to be crowned with success, sell my manhood to you for a hundred thousand dollars? Do you think I am going to put my hand into the treasury of our company and give you one million dollars for something I consider worthless? There could be only two reasons for my doing this: one, that I am for sale at one hundred thou sand dollars, which I am not; the other, that I fear you, which I do not."

I left the bank, and then was started the great fight at Washington, a record of which has been published by the Government.

Now remember, my reader, that Mr. Kountz sent for me; I did not ask for the interview. And

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

notice from here on that in no case have I sought any of these people who have year by year followed me. You ask why they followed me? I will tell you.

Each enterprise that I have started has had such great merit that it excited avarice in some rich man's heart. He wanted what I had created, as his own.

He thought I was for sale -- that I had a price. When he found I was not, he adopted the wellknown method of ruin through his bank connections.

The fight at Washington was fierce. The matter was brought to the Ways and Means Committee, and we were enjoined from cutting the forty feet that remained to connect with deep water. We were to be given a

hearing before the Committee at a distant day. It finally arrived. I came to Washington with representative men from various Western cities. Among them was Mr. Hook, now United States Judge.

Mr. Kountz was there with his attorney. Mr. Dingley was chairman.

I could not see it was a fixedup job. I arose, told of the fight for this great land-locked harbor; told of the storms that had resulted in great loss of life at Sabine, and the destruction of the Southern Pacific track that lay along the canal. Mr. Dingley interrupted me with: "Mr. Stilwell, twenty minutes is all you have, and your time is up." I sat down. Mr. Hook and others then

Old Glory waves over the Port Arthur Ship Channel after the night time completion of the last 40 ft of canal from Taylor’s Bayou to the Gulf of Mexico at Sabine Pass.

This hard faught accomplishment allowed international exports and imports to travel through Mena and DeQueen connecting the Ouachitas to the world via rail.

History

ociety

Page 17

told of the great benefit to the West that had come with the Southern, and how still greater benefits would come in the future.

Then Mr. Kountz's attorney made a long speech, telling the Committee that God made the harbors and He had not made one in my cow pasture; that I had located mine to give it my name. "This great financier of the West," he continued, "has told you in eloquent words of the awful storms that have in times past wiped out the Southern Pacific that runs along his great canal. But, gentlemen, he has not told you what would happen to his canal if such a storm came again."

I arose and said: "Mr. Dingley, I was just going to tell you of

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

the fourth storm last year, when you said my time was up. The same kind of a storm visited this section last year and again removed ten miles of Southern Pacific track."

"Mr. Stilwell," asked Mr. Kountz’s attorney, "what did the storm do to your canal?"

"It only wet the water," I answered. There was great laughter.

We left the committee room and in one hour the Ways and Means Committee, with a vote of one in our favor, gave us permission to proceed. I was waiting around, and as they came out, Congressman McMullin, I think it was, of Tennessee, came up and said: "Stilwell, they had me lined up against you before

your talk, but that 'wetting the water' got my vote."

That evening President McKinley sent for me. He told me Mr. Kountz had about perfected papers for a new injunction, and asked, "How long will it take you to make that connection?" "It will be done by daylight," I replied; and it was, and when the Government officers went to serve the papers, the canal was connected. It is a great waterway, as you can see by the map. It is seven miles long, and the same width and depth as the Suez Canal. The grain elevator I built, started in one week to load steamers for Europe. During the two years' fight to build a waterway on our own land, every effort had been made to prevent us. A paper

The Sabine Hotel at Port Arthur, was built contemporarily with the original hotel on Mount Mena. Stilwell wanted his railway to provide transportation for northern tourists to visit Port Arthur and Southern tourists to visit Queen Wilhelmina Inn atop Mount Mena. Unfortunately, the Sabine burned in 1903. One significant difference between the mountaintop and coastal hotels was extensive screening over all the windows and porches of the Sabine due to the constant barrage of mosquitos common along the gulf coast.

Photos from Port Arthur Centennial History

by Michael Cate and Port Arthur Historical Society Page 18

had been published each week at Sabine Pass, making fun of our canal, and these papers were given out at Port Arthur to all who arrived by train.

Bankers wrote my friends in Kansas City, advising them to call my loans. And yet all I was doing was developing the West, opening an empire to the tidewater at the South.

Thinking there was no doubt that we could finish our canal, I had chartered a line of steamers to run to Liverpool, from Port Arthur, and also a line of steamers to Mexico, when these injunctions held us up and as a consequence forced us to expend one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in temporary piers so that lighters could load there and reload onto the steamers.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

"Mr. Stilwell..." asked Mr. Kountz’s attorney, "What did the storm do to your canal?"

"It only wet the water," I answered.

There was great laughter.

The expense of this fight made a deficit of five hundred thousand dollars, which burdened the road. For two years I had fought the power of money in an unjust fight -- an unheardof fight -- a fight to force us to

1898, Stilwell’s dream becomes a reality as his railroad reaches the Port of Port Athur on the Gulf of Mexico.

Stilwell’s towering grain elevator is shown in the distance.

Page 19

buy land fourteen miles away, that we did not want, and to add fourteen miles to our mileage merely to increase the riches of a rich man. It had taken much time, and attempts had everywhere been made to prevent me from getting money.

Then notice the sequel. A few years later the same Government that Mr. Kountz had used as his tool took over this canal, agreed to maintain it free for ninety-nine years, and extended it, at the Government's expense, about ten miles to the Natchez River. This wild dream of Stilwell's, that he fought the Money Trust and the Government for, was not such a wild dream, after all. Port Arthur had grown rapidly; its increase of tonnage for the year ending

1910 was thirty-five per cent.

Some months its foreign trade is greater than that of Galveston, but the finishing of the Panama Canal will make it one of the greatest ports of the United States.

What a different life mine would have been had it not been for this unequal fight! No receivership would have been needed, and I, no doubt, would today be the president of the road, and Mr. E. L. Martin of Kansas City and Mr. deGeoijen of Amsterdam, as vice-presidents, in the positions they deserve for their great and loyal work.

The Promise of a Friend During the court battle to secure government approval for his canal, shipments continued to increase and business was booming but the long legal struggle and delays required Stilwell’s company to transfer cargo to deepwater ships via smaller vessels called “lighters”.

This redundant handling of goods was time consuming and required great numbers of extra employees and equipment. It also compromised delivery schedules and degraded the quality of produce, and other perishables at a time before modern refrigeration.

Stilwell had not suspected the Kountz family was cooperating with Gates as part of a money trust against him.

However, the struggle had crippled the railroad and left Stilwell’s company with a half a million in debt. Train loads of grain was moving South under con-

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

tract with a large firm in Chicago. The rail was suddenly facing lawsuits because they could not get enough rail cars to move the tonnage quickly enough.

With urgency, Stilwell discussed the situation with his dearest friend, George Pullman who immediately dispatched his auditor to look over the numbers. Pullman quickly agreed it was a fine business and offered

George Pullman to furnish $2 Million out of friendship with no cash payment. All he would require was interest for the first five years.

It was a great relief and a kindness Stilwell said he had forgotten possible in the fight with the Kountz empire.

He ordered the needed cars and locomotives. On the day he and Mr. Pullman were to finalize the contracts he was the first to Page 20

step out of the passenger car in Chicago. Warmed by anticipation of greeting and promise from his old friend, Stilwell had gotten up early to arrive at Pullman headquarters.

“Then, I heard the newsboys calling, EXTRA! EXTRA!”, Stilwell recalled.

George Pullman was dead!

“Words here are useless. I cannot picture my feelings. I loved him as if he had been my father. My contracts slipped to the ground. I reeled, but in some way managed to reach Mr. Weeks' office, and that is all I remember of that awful day.

My great benefactor was gone; America had lost one of its greatest men. In my hands were contracts for millions, and I had not the scratch of a pen.

In a few days I reached Philadelphia and called around me our directors and leading stockholders. We agreed that the only way to get the two million dollars needed was to get the bondholders to turn back twenty-five percent of their bonds and take fifty per cent of preferred stock. This would give us the needed money from the bond sales, and put the company in good financial shape.

All at the meeting agreed to this, and Mr. Welch, Mr. Stotesbury and one or two other stockholders with Mr. deGeoijen and myself were appointed to act as a reorganization committee with no fees. As Mr. deGeoijen had placed all the bonds that were held in Europe, we were positive this could soon be done without a receiver. All the stockholders present were more than pleased

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

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with the plan for the refinancing of the road, and we felt sure that when Mr. deGeoijen arrived, the new securities could be issued within a few weeks, and everything brought to a successful conclusion.”

The Gambler John Gates began his career as a firewood salesman before taking a job selling a newly invented barbed wire.

He arranged a dramatic exhibition in San Antonio to prove the product could keep cattle contained. Gates strung wire along two sides of a plaza and a herd of cattle was unleashed to hurdle between the barriers.

Skeptical landowners and ranchers expressed their doubts about the new-fangled method

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

of controlling beasts with pointy wire attachments. None of the wary animals escaped.

The exhibition was such a success Gates left San Antonio with pockets bulging with orders. A Texas Historical Marker now marks the site.

Emboldened with this early success, Gates demanded his boss, Isaac Elwood give him half interest in his wire factory.

Elwood laughed the young man out of his office. Not to be spurned, Gates persuaded seven other men to help him build a wire plant with intent of either driving Elwood out of business or causing him to take the young entrepreneur seriously. Gates would reward his new partners by buying them

out at prices far below what any had envisioned.

Gates was merciless when it came to getting the best of every deal. Eventually Elwood and Gates settled their differences and merged their companies.

On one journey by rail in 1897, Gates is said to have bet Elwood a million dollars “his” raindrop would be the first one to the bottom of a window pane.

The two men finally settled on $1,000 as the wager amount.

By the time they reached their distinction, Gates was reportedly $11,000 richer.

The ploys used to wrest railroads and other businesses from their owners, would eventually be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. They found in favor of Stilwell’s argument.

This scene from the Frank Trost Collection in Port Arthur illustrates the rapid growth the oil industry following the Lucas Gusher at Spindletop. Stilwell had intended his Mena location to be the main section and repair yard between Kansas City and Port Arthur. Mena is the halfway point on the line which passes within a couple of miles from the historic oil field. Interference by Gates forever altered the destiny of Mena as a key railroad town. By 1910, Mena had even lost its service facility which moved to Heavener. Wars and depression left Mena’s mountaintop inn abandoned to the elements.

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Unfortunately, most of those who manipulated finances unfairly, had already died.

Nothing could be done to reverse the course of history for Stilwell, or restore his original intent for a little town called Mena and the grand vision he had for the inn atop the mountain.

Although Gates had made a reputation for himself that resulted in his being rejected in many social circles in the north, he became a hero of sorts to Port Arthur where he poured significant amounts of his money in community improvements. In

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

part, because he knew there were still hard feelings among many of the key citizens who had located in the city specifically upon the solicitations by Stilwell and his Dutch partners.

After her husband’s death, Mary Gates donated funds for a new public library in his honor.

It is now on the National Register of Historic Places and serves Lamar University Port Arthur.

Proposal and Rejection Reflecting on his relationship with Gates, Stilwell wrote the follow memoir:

“Mr. Gates one day suggested that I take my car and he and some friends would go to Port Arthur with me. This we did.

They were more than pleased at the great business the road was doing, and their amazement at the magnitude and perfection of the land-locked harbor they could hardly express in words.

Messrs. Gates and Elwood bought lots on the lake front and afterwards built very expensive homes there.

That night, at the hotel, Mr. Gates made a speech recounting my wonderful work, stating

Daily runs of petroleum and imports pass through the Ouachitas via the Kansas City Southern Railway.

More than a thousand railcars of freight, coal and other resources travel through Mena each day. Arthur Stilwell first saw the service potential of the route even before oil was discovered. Due to the extensive infrastructure and strategic location in Port Arthur, the city is part of a region known as The Golden Triangle. Refineries, major pipelines such as the controversial Keystone Pipeline, and more recently, LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) lines all travel to or from several of the worlds largest and most modern refineries and export facilities.

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that he was glad to be associated with me, and that the people of Port Arthur could be assured I would be president of the road when reorganized. On the trip back I became better acquainted with Mr. Gates. He was on this trip taking steps to depress the stock of Steel and Wire Company by stopping the mills when the company had great orders, and thereby make an additional fortune again at the stockholders' expense. I only go fragmentary remarks as Messrs. Gates and Elwood talked this over, but my impression was that Mr. Elwood was doing all in his power to persuade Mr. Gates not to send out

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

this order. This destructive work of stockholders' equities and the newspaper comments afterwards filled me with fear regarding Mr. Gates' business principles, and I did not from that time enjoy his companionship as I had in the past. My fears were more than justified. One day when I was in Chicago at three o'clock I received a telephone call from Mr. Gates' secretary. He said Mr. Gates wished me to see him at five o'clock at his office. Somehow I had the presentiment of a coming battle.

I called. I did not see him at once, but a little after five o'clock I was asked into his room. There was only one electric light burn-

ing, and that was turned full on my face, while Mr. Gates sat in the shadow.

He said: "Stilwell, do you want to make some big money?

I want to make you rich."

"Gates," I replied, "any honest way that I can make money, I shall be very glad to accept."

He said: "Stilwell, your principles make me sick. I am after the stuff, and everybody knows it. Now, I am going tonight by the Alton special train to St. Louis.

At two o'clock a receiver will be appointed for all four of our Northern roads. I want you to go with me. You shall be the receiver. Then you go to these bondholders of the Omaha and

M Cate Photo

Abandoned pilings from Stilwell’s original pier near Taylors Bayou at Port Athur stand silhouetted against the glow of a modern LNG export terminal. The LNG tanks shown here store natural gas at -260 degrees with capacity to heat 10 million homes for a year. These piers were the end of the line for trains carrying grain and other goods from the midwest and forest products from the Ouachitas to the ocean. Although blocked and rediculed at first, Stilwell’s canal now plays a role in our national infrastructure and is protected by the department of homeland security.

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St. Louis road and the Quincy road, and tell them there is no future for the road. You know them all, as you got them to accept your plan of reorganization.

They will do what you say and will accept any old price. I will supply the money, and we will divide the profits."

"Mr. Gates," I exclaimed, "how dare you suggest such a thing! We have over three hundred thousand dollars in the treasury now, and this, Mr. Brimson says is all we need to bring the roads up to fair condition.

Why a receiver at two o'clock in the morning if it is an honest need?"

"Stilwell," he said, "you are a fool. Who said it was an honest need? A receivership is to scare people out--that is what it is for.

You are a fool if you do not accept. I can keep you from being re-elected president of the Southern. Do you wish to give up presidency of this road, to also give up a big fee as receiver of the Northern roads, as well as the profit on the deal?

Now, will you go or not? The time is up. Don't be a fool.

"Mr. Gates," I said, :"you say the Judge will appoint a receiver at two o'clock. You must have it fixed."

He flew into rage, pounded his desk, and said: "It is all fixed, and I did not let you know until too late to kick."

I said: "Gates, I can not and will not do it. I started life at twelve hundred a year, and would rather end it that way than make money as you suggest."

At two o'clock the next morning the receivership was

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

John “Bet a million” Gates 1855-1911 granted. Gates joined forces with Thallmann and Harriman to keep me out of the Southern road as president. I did all in my power to keep these bond and share holders from loss, and did prevent his making as much as he expected.

Kountz, Thalmann, Gates and Harriman I now had on the warpath after me, but I did not regret any of my refusals to don their several yokes, and I would today rather be the business exile I am than to own Archbold's millions, and here or hereafter reap his harvest.”

Stilwell Undaunted To Gates, everything was a gamble and he considered himself to be a king in the game of life.

Although Stilwell abhorred Gates for his ethics, others remember the brash tycoon as a generous soul.

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Stilwell would pick himself up and move forward to build the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad. Soon after, oil was discovered under it’s tracks too.

Unfortunately, Stilwell would lose this road as well. This time, an extensive fire wiped out the main shops of the line and the Mexican Revolution hampered business and scared away investors. In addition to the standard business opposition he faced on the gulf route, this trifecta of bad luck forced his new line into receivership.

One can only imagine a different world if Stilwell had remained in control a few decades longer. The towns he boomed from Mena to Port Arthur and out west were his children. His penchant for creating markets along his railroad would have served not only KCS but the communities his aspirations had birthed.

Almost immediately following the Southern line was assigned a receiver, Gates and the new masters of the road eliminated plans for the central yard at Mena.

Stilwell had intended Mena to be the central division yard which would have created hundreds of permanent jobs and supported local businesses.

In anticipation of future growth for the switching yard, there were no road crossings plotted between Mena’s 10th Street and Reine Street’s exit to Hwy 71.

One hundred twenty two years later, there are still no crossings between these points.

Instead, the town has stretched in other directions.

Because of this, several neighborhoods have a circuitous route to connect with any exit to the South. There were suggestions for an overpass to Highway 71, in the 1970s but those dreams have long faded.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

Remembering a Visionary Stilwell was a Christian Scientist and wrote of his belief in spirits known as Brownies.

In his book, “Live and Grow Young”, Stilwell wrote, “I was warned by my nightly advisors not to make Galveston the terminal of the (railroad) because that city was destined to be destroyed by a tidal wave.”

A short time after he established Port Arthur, around 8,000

lives were lost to a catastrophic hurricane that struck Galveston.

Although he would do many great things in his life, Stilwell died Sept. 26, 1928 with less than $1,000 to his name.

Distraught and childless, Jennie walked out of their New York 12th floor apartment window, just 13 days after her husband’s passing. She had carefully put on her very best attire.

Visitors pause for a photo on the steps of the original Queen Wilhelmina Inn.

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*** Arthur Stilwell organized 41 companies, built 2,300 miles of railroad and established more than 40 towns. In his last years, he wrote plays, songs, books and business manuals.

Although he did not manage to accumulate wealth personally, he lived to see his investments pay out more than $160 Million in dividend and profits to

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

shareholders. In today’s economy, that is about $3.5 billion.

Both his railroads had been laid with unknown oil reserves under them.

His writings attacked Gates and friends as “Cannibals of Finance” but history seems to have softened the predatory nature Stilwell described.

References to guiding voices from the spirit world, brought

questions from his detractors about his own stability.

Although Gates died of a horrendous throat tumor, it remains a mystery if Stilwell ever asked the Brownies to somehow help him keep his railroad fortunes.

Through it all, Stilwell seemed most concerned with preserving his good name.

1898, Dutch financier Jan deGoeijen (#4) and three unknown dignitaries stop in Mena while touring the newly completed Southern Line of the Kansas City Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad.

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Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

The original inn opened in 1898

Mount Mena A historical profile of

Special feature sponsored by the fine folks at Mena Ford, Inc.

hotel owners to achieve a Manhattan style efficiency of social convenience.

Mount Mena Plans were laid as early as would fulfill a similar purpose in 1895 to build a lodge atop Rich the middle of a wild and rugged Mountain, also known as Mount landscape making it all the more Mena. It was to be an added atinteresting as a marketing tool. traction to generate cash flow To make a more attractive for the new passenger rail and selling point to Dutch investors convenience for customers, rail for his Southern route, Stilwell dignitaries and their guests. incorporated a plan to honor The ridge of their newly crowned Mount Mena was Queen Wilhelmina. homesteaded in the Any loyal subject 1880s and soon was with a few extra hunbeing promoted as a dred thousand Dutch health resort. WaGuilder would be ters of its springs proud to support were said to be rich their queen in this with healing minerway. als. A store, church, Several springs on Rich Mountain provided water via windmills It was an effective to the original lodge. Cottages sprang up along the ridge as problacksmith shop, motors sold lots and began to create a mountain top community. closer because the school and even a visionary indeed

by Michael Cate Looking Glass Editor

moonshine still joined cabins and tent dwellings.

The rail company arranged to buy the scenic real estate with the intent of creating a tourist stop fit for royalty.

Stilwell realized early success in passenger trains with his belt line in Kansas City. He had invested in a country club at the edge of the city and worked with

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achieved his goal of raising $3 Million with the help of his friend Jan deGoeijen of Amsterdam.

The Castle in the Clouds would be built from native stone and timbers with Dutch inspired decor and architecture.

The Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad would deliver vacationing guests to the North foot of Rich Mountain from Kansas City to Port Arthur and all points between. Primarily, the inn served as an overnight stop for wealthy travelers.

The luxury inn opened with great fanfare on June 22, 1898 at a cost of $100,000. In today’s economy, that would be near $2.5 Million. (Interestingly, that’s

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

about what was recently invested in refurbishing the new lodge.)

The original inn offered 35 guest rooms and a 90 foot long dining hall that could seat 300 for banquets. It could easily be transformed into a ballroom for dances and special receptions.

The structure is said to have contained four water closets (rest rooms) which was a novelty of that age.

One special guest room was decorated especially for Queen Wilhelmina in case she visited; which she never did.

From the beginning, the inn became popular with visitors

and railroad dignitaries from Kansas City and Port Arthur.

Clerks and service personnel bunked on the third floor. Guest rooms were on the second floor above the ballroom.

An attached building contained the kitchen.

While some hiked the three miles to the top of the “hill” from Rich Mountain Station, mule trains were available for hire.

Wide porches wrapped one end of the building on the lower level and a balcony sat above the porch overlooking the south valley.

Several large fireplaces were required to scare away the chill.

However, within such a large

The original lodge fell into disrepair after being abandoned when John Gates forced Stilwell’s railroad into a prearranged receivership over a $40 printing bill. Gates convinced a judge to convene a special court session one morning at 2am. Stilwell rejected Gates invitation to be part of the plan. Soon abandoned to the harsh elements, the mountain top inn changed hands several times between 1900 and 1910. It was even offered as the prize in a 1905 raffle drawing. Tickets were $30 each.

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Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

The abandoned inn at Rich Mountain

Below: A lonely scene from the abandoned ballroom of the original inn.

structure, they were barely effective in the winter months.

Because of this, the inn was more appropriately a seasonal retreat for summer vacations and overnight stays for rail passengers and line employees.

When Stilwell was forced into a receivership, his company gave up the lodge. The year was 1900, not even three full summers after opening.

All who danced in the ballroom have since passed on but various owners tried to make a second go of it. The road from the Rich Mountain Depot was steep. With neglect, it too deteriorated so only the most intrepid ventured to the top in those years.

Still, the scenic inn had it’s fans who longed to rekindle its heyday.

However, by 1905, it became the grand prize offered in a raffle. Tickets were $30. (An equivalent of about $500 today.)

The world was sliding toward war and attention shifted further away from the carefree vistas of Rich Mountain.

In 1910, the original Castle in the Clouds closed forever and fell further into disrepair. Bats and other wildlife along with the harsh mountain environment soon took a toll.

From time to time, livestock took shelter under its porches and cavernous ballroom.

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The first world war came and passed, erasing the lives of an estimated 16 million.

By the 1930s, much of the structure was unsalvageable.

Remnants of the rock fences and fireplaces stood like tombstones to a forgotten era atop the scenic ridge.

An old rock wall that once was part of the reservoir for the original inn is all that can today be found. You can discover it on the reservoir trail.

Amid the great depression, in 1940, a professor from Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, established a summer music school using part of the inn that was still viable. He hoped to eventually restore the inn as many before him.

Suddenly, the onset of World War II dashed any remaining hope of completing it before the majestic old inn was completely beyond repair.

After the war, Americans again took interest in travel and a great pride swept the country.

More families were driving cars and roads were improving.

A renewed interest in the mountaintop emerged.

Returning military veterans had gotten a taste of travel and wanted more. The tourism industry was thriving and the idea of reestablishing a lodge atop Rich Mountain became a priority for State Representative Landers Morrow of Mena. He discussed the concept with State Senator Roy Riales and the two drafted Resolution 17 which called for a state park on the site where Queen Wilhelmina Inn once stood.

The two promoted the idea to their fellow lawmakers and Act 76 was easily approved by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1957.

Designating a piece of land as a state park was the easy

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

part. Representative Morrow knew funding for a new lodge would require public support and good publicity.

Another Railroad Visionary While on vacation in Louisiana that year, the Morrow family rode a miniature train along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain outside New Orleans. The kids had a blast and the legislator envisioned how much more fun it would be for families to ride such a train at the top of Rich Mountain. He could see the train being a popular attraction to draw visitors to Mena. Some, he thought, would enjoy spending the night atop the mountain as well.

Aside from that, Landers considered himself just a grown up kid who had always been fascinated with trains and railroads.

Furthermore, he wanted to preserve the direct link of history between the mountain and rails.

After months of searching, Landers and his wife Pauline traveled to Chicago to inspect a train that was listed for sale.

The Morrow family personally borrowed the money to buy the train, track and related equipment. It was a 1952 model engine with three cars.

His first idea was to start the train at the end of Mena Street but the economics of that venture was too rich for a local businessman.

He obtained permission from the state to lease the track site and arranged to pay the state a commission of 5% of all sales includ-

1960s, Landers Morrow at the helm with his family riding behind him.

The newly rebuilt inn can now be seen in the background.

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State Representative (and train conductor) Landers Morrow

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

“tunnel” which ing tickets and conceshoused the train sions. when not in operaLanders personally tion. laid out the route around Riding through the top of the mountain the long, dark tunnel to include the ruins of structure near the the old inn. end of the 1.25 mile His employees cut circuit added a bit of and loaded the special unexpected susties, hauled rocks and pense for first time readied the roadbed for it’s narrow guage rails. The C.E. Foster House was built on Mount Mena in the visitors. Returning Landers ordered the 1930s. This structure would later become part of what is now customers enjoyed bringing friends and package loaded on KCS known as the wonder house at Queen Wilhelmina Park. relatives just to see flatcars and had it delivered to his lumber mill in Mena. loved the area and loved enter- their reactions. taining people.”

Like today, the train only ran Employees transferred it to The train quickly grew in pop- in good weather because the trucks and took it up the mounularity.

Morrow built a covered engine is so powerful. It tends tain.

Daughters Marsha and Del- station with a concession just to spin out if the track is wet no bra recalled, “Daddy did it to get south of the old inn on the ex- matter how careful the engineer posed ridge overlooking the starts. That can cause an accisomething going for Mena. He southern valley. On the east dent or damage the equipment. never did it for the money. He end of the ridge, he build the The rebuilt lodge that opened in 1963 burned just a decade later.

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As word spread in the late 1950s, about the little train on the mountain, throngs of visitors were anxious to experience the ride and take in the views.

The Morrow family had post cards and brochures printed. They even had a little post office slot so customers could buy a card and a stamp, sign their name and write, “Wish you were here!”

For the first ten summers, the Morrow family personally ran the train every weekend and hired an employee as engineer at other times.

They ran until the leaves turned each fall or until people stopped coming to ride.

Soon, funds were made available to build a new lodge

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

Pauline and Landers Morrow

on the site of the original. Before the lodge could be finished however, Otis Harvey and his wife opened the kitchen where they served sandwiches and hot meals.

Until the Harvey’s opened, the Morrow family had to pack both lunch and dinner because they often kept the training running until 9pm in mid

1960s, A view of the popular wrap-around porches of the second lodge. Much of the stone was recovered from the original “Castle in the Sky”.

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summer. The July 4th Holiday was always packed.

Pauline remembers with a big grin, “We’d run as long as there were people wanting to ride.... or until it became too dark, whichever came first!”

Pauline and her sister, Louise drove up after Sunday School every Sunday and took turns driving the train while the other served guests in the concession stand and sold tickets.

Rides were twenty five cents a piece. If riders wanted to get off at the halfway point to visit the Fun House or enjoy a picnic, they’d tear their ticket in half and accept it on a subsequent run.

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

This tourism brochure was Mena’s first promotion printed in full color. Notice how open the view was for visitors on the lower left scene when the highway was new.

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Landers made arrangements with Kansas City Southern Railroad for permission to paint the little train in the KCS color scheme. The company also gave them official hats emblazoned with the KCS logo and “Conductor” embroidered on the front.

The Morrows called the train “The Belle” in honor of the KCS passenger line “Southern Belle

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

that operated from Kansas City to Texarkana, then South to New Orleans from Sept 1940 until November 1969.

Daughters Marsha and Delbra Morrow became teenagers, their parents would teach them to run the concession and even operate the mini “Belle” at times. When they were still too young to drive with passengers aboard, it was a thrill when their

dad let them back up the empty train into the tunnel for the night.

Pauline recalled each of the cars had names proudly painted on the sides just like real passenger cars did in those days.

The cars were named MENA, DeQUEEN, and HEAVENER. The second lodge opened for business June 22, 1963 with 17 guest rooms and a small restaurant. It was smaller than the

The little “Belle” at Queen Wilhelmina State Park.

The ruins of the old inn can be seen in the background.

Representative Morrow installed the train with his own money to generate enough public interest with hope the state would invest in a lodge to attract and serve tourists.

An aerial view of the state park looking East.

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original but featured some of the same stone used in the first.

The rebuilt lodge became a sensation and the park stayed busy with lodging guests as well as day visitors who came just for the train, the cool breezes, or the view.

Unfortunately, the second lodge only lasted for about 10 years. A kitchen fire spread to engulf the entire structure be-

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

cause there was inadequate water to fight the blaze. There was no loss of life but the gutted structure had to be razed.

Arkansas State Parks designated $3 Million to rebuild. The third inn opened in 1975. It featured an upstairs meeting room, a gift shop, a restaurant, and fire fighting equipment.

By 2012 however, the lodge was 37 years old and needed major renovation. Unfortunately the project encountered a substantial delay due to weather and contractor issues.

Above: 1996, Queen Wilhelmina Lodge as it appeared during the Centennial of Mena

Below: The CE Foster “Wonder House� is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

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Today’s New Lodge A completely remodeled lodge finally opened July 1, 2015 at a cost of approximately $9.6 Million. It features 40 guest rooms, some with spa tubs and gas fireplace. All guest rooms now have large windows with scenic views.

An expanded meeting room includes modern A/V equipment, light blocking automatic shades and a viewing balcony.

The large sitting room downstairs has a wood burning fireplace and three walls of windows to enjoy the scenic views.

Expanded dining facilities include a choice of menu or week-

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

end buffet. The staff is professional and friendly. The lodge also recently added a bar with big screen TV. Adjacent to the lodge is a 41 site campground, a modern bathhouse, a playground, amphitheatre and three hiking trails.

Lover’s Leap Trail The most popular hike on Rich Mountain is “Lovers Leap” Trail that features a wooden observation deck over a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into a valley more than thousand feet deep. The trail is lined with innumerable native trees, flowers and ferns that share the environment in rare ecological diversity.

The newly remodeled inn reopened in 2015

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Wildlife of all sorts are regularly seen along the trail.

At 2,681 feet above sea level, Rich Mountain is Arkansas’s second highest peak.

The all-season lodge sits amid a frosty wonderland each winter even when the valley below is devoid of ice or snow.

Rarely, however, are the roads impassible for more than a few days in January.

Summers are substantially cooler than the valleys below and have an almost constant breeze.

Guest rooms in the renovated lodge are greatly improved with modern amenities

and wide beautiful views of the ridges below.

The lodge restaurant and bar serves menu orders weekdays as well as a full buffet most weekends.

An expanded meeting room provides an eagle view of the park grounds and valley views.

The C.E. Foster House aka The Wonder House Two natural stone structures built in the depression years of the 1930s greet visitors across the highway from the park main entrance.

They were the inspiration of Carlos Hill who rode his Harley to the mountain while studying at Commonwealth College in the south valley below. Carlos took a local girl named Mary Lance for his bride and lived on the mountain while he built the wonder house which he intended to sell.

Oilman C.E. Foster of Muskogee purchased the creation from Hill. Foster paid Carlos and his brother in law Phil Lance to build a second struc-

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

ture with different levels for bedrooms, a kitchen and bath. The park gained control of the property in the 1960s and named it The Wonder House. A souvenir and gift shop were located in the lower level. There are a total of 8 levels which include a 21 foot long bed where it was said 3 people could sleep head to toe.

Glory Train In 2012, local businessman Ronnie Waggoner of Norman bought the scenic train from Fred Everich who operated the rail and miniature golf concession for about a decade. Several other owners have held concession contracts with the state since the Morrow family retired in the 70s.

Waggoner recalled riding the train with his wife as newlyweds and they fell in love with the experience.

“I’ve always been interested in trains so when Fred told me it was for sale, I wanted it!” Waggoner said.

He first began a series of improvements to the concession buildings, refurbished the track

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and gave the train a new coat of paint. He also gave it a new name: “The Glory Train”.

He said the state added a list of requirements they wanted to incorporate so he made about $145,000 in improvements to bring the operation to full compliance.

About that time the lodge closed for renovations and visitor numbers plummeted. As the months turned into years, the expected revenue was far below what he had expected.

In May, 2018, Arkansas Parks and Tourism announced the scenic train would be replaced by a fourth nature path.

The parks director cited a “rails to trails” program would be open year round and free to the public whereas the train is only operational Memorial Day to Labor Day. With an estimated total investment of $400,000, Waggoner was speechless at the announcement after half of his original 5 year contract was crippled by the extended construction on the lodge.

Mena, AR 71953

Shop online at www.menaford.com or call

479.394.2214

Page 38

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

2016, Conductor Dan Weaver with a trainload of visitors enjoying the scenery.

This view shows the beautiful Kiamichi Range to the SW of Rich Mountain.

Meanwhile, thousands of people responded to the state’s announcement with letters, social media comments and emails supporting the little train.

By the first week of June, Arkansas State Parks Director Grady Spann revealed the commission had decided to reconsider due to the public outcry.

However, the state offered to renew the contract for only one year, while adding more requirements and restrictions.

A counter offer has been submitted, but the July 4 holiday is fast approaching. That’s a critical date to be in operation.

“We want to be open and running and unless the track is wet, we want to be giving rides. That’s what we are there for. We enjoy meeting everyone and seeing the smiles of our customers,” explained Waggoner.

He also expressed appreciation for all the calls and letters sent to Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

The Little Train That Still Could...

Editor’s note: Pauline Morrow, one of the founders of the train, is heartbroken that the state park her husband worked so hard to establish, may remove the train from the mountain after almost 60 years of service.

The public, by vast majority, wish the train remain in operation on the mountain.

To make the train more “useful” to the tourism department goals, we suggest docents be

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trained to complement efforts of the professional park interpreter.

These community servants would welcome guests at designated stops and give short, insights of historical and natural history of the mountain.

This could transform the train experience into a fun way to introduce the park’s other programs.

We remain hopeful the state will seek ways of working collaboratively with the public.

This, instead of ripping out a living piece of local history; only to replace it with signage, describing the little train that once was.

Dreamer on a Stick Horse

My stick horse was a broom turned upside down with a sea grass rope tied right below the straw. I was a daydreamer from about age five when I could play cowboys and Indians with myself and just dream about all the big things I’d do someday. Of course all the famous cowboys had a stage name back then so instead of Buddy Bean I was known far and wide across that pasture as “Bloody Bean” and you had better watch out for him. At least until Momma Bean called him in for supper! I loved to gallop astraddle my stick horse up the grade to the top of the knoll in the pasture. We’d pull ‘er back to a quick stop so I could look to the south and see

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

my uncle’s smoke stacks. He had two smokestacks at his sawmill Milas Bean Lumber Company.

I would admire these smokestacks and lumber sheds while imagining having my own some day. Although I never thought much about the sawmill in those days, the lumber sheds with all the neatly stacked lumber and the fork lifts just intrigued me something awful.

I did a lot of boyhood daydreaming about lumber sheds and forklifts. A half century later when you look at Hatfield Lumber Company, it’s basically lumber sheds and forklifts. Aside from an incredibly dedicated team, it’s almost as simple as that. If you put all our rooflines together you’d cover almost twelve acres and if you lined up our forklifts you’d count about sixteen.

So, with a little determination, I guess my boyhood dreams came true.

1951, Nina Bean Johns holding her niece Penny Wilson ONeal with Buddy Bean in their front yard at Amity.

The perfect gift for Dad any day! Order now!

At age 5, Buddy Bean rode his stickhorse to the top of Red Bean hill and dreamt of having lots of lumber sheds and fork lifts. Betrayal, disasters and heartbreak could not dissuade Buddy from his dream but they did lead him back to an abiding faith. Dreamer on a Stickhorse contains dozens of stories from his life experience and great Ouachita History.

Illustrated throughout with dozens of photos.

Order a copy for yourself and as a great gift for dad!

Hardcover $24.99

Soft Cover $11.99

Add $4 shipping Mail check to:

Page 40

Buddy Bean 503 Lakewood Drive Mena, AR 71953

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

The Egger family at Rich Mountain Lookout Tower. Photo circa, 1924.

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Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

A colorful meadow at the edge of the Ouachita National Forest. The old Rich Mountain Fire Observation Tower can be seen on the ridge below.

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Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

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Those Two Boys from Mena Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

Remembering Chester Lauck and Norris Goff

By Donnie Pitchford

About 45 years ago, the Arkansas Educational Television Network produced a documentary entitled Two Boys From Mena, chronicling the story of boyhood friends who achieved national fame through a network radio program as well as a series of Hollywood films. Chester "Lum" Lauck (1902-1980) and Norris "Abner" Goff (1906-1978) met as children in Mena. It was in high school that Norris acquired the nickname of "Tuffy" from his performance on the football field, earning a 90-yard winning touchdown during one

memorable contest. The fathers of Lauck and Goff were prominent Mena businessmen, and their connections led their sons to an acquaintance with Dick Huddleston of Waters, a small community about 18 miles away.

Huddleston operated a general store, and Tuffy's dad operated a wholesale grocery supply company, so young Chet and Tuffy found their way to Dick's store often. While there, they began to soak up the local culture and manner of speaking, and met the down-to-earth folks who would inspire the warm and wonderful characters they would create for radio audiences in the 1930s.

In the 1980s, Dick Huddleston's daughter Ethel recalled how Chet

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and Tuffy (as everyone called them) loved to entertain their friends with impromptu comedy routines, imitating various accents. These talents led them to local stages, paving the way to a performance on radio station KTHS in Hot Springs. (The call letters actually stood for "Kome To Hot Springs"!) As related decades later, the young men originally intended to perform one style of dialect comedy, but seeing the station crowded with other amateurs rehearsing the same style, Chet and Tuffy instantly chose to pattern characters on their friends from Waters.

On the spot, they chose the names "Lum" and "Abner," and their first radio performance oc-

curred on April 26, 1931. They were invited back, and weekly visits with Lum and Abner became increasingly popular, leading to an audition in Chicago a short time later.

Soon, the entire nation heard Lum and Abner over the NBC radio network. Between 1931 and 1954, those "boys from Mena" would be heard over every national network, changing from one to another according to sponsorship and related contracts. They advertised for Quaker Oats, the Ford Dealers of America, Horlick's Malted Milk, Postum, Alka-Seltzer, One-a-Day Vitamins, Frigidaire, and others. The handsome faces of Chet and Tuffy appeared in numerous magazines, as both a youthful pair, and in makeup as the senior citizens they portrayed on radio.

In 1936, on the fifth anniversary of their first broadcast, Chet and Tuffy along with Dick Huddleston and others from Waters, met on the steps of the Arkansas capitol building for a network broadcast to commemorate the changing of the name of Waters to Pine Ridge, the name they used on the air for the location of their beloved Jot 'Em Down Store.

Hollywood beckoned, and seven feature films were produced beginning with the 1940 RKO-Radio Pictures release, Dreaming Out Loud, and concluding with the mid-1950s Howco release of Lum and Abner Abroad (edited from three unsold television pilots).

Attempts were made to enter television, with a 15-minute pilot in 1948 and a half-hour effort in 1949, both for CBS, but neither

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

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production sold. Tuffy Goff had been suffering serious health issues during the late 1940s, and while he continued performing on radio, television and film production were far more difficult. It was during production of their final film project that the partners decided to end Lum and Abner.

The fans never forgot "those two old fellows from the hill country," and in the 1960s, radio stations began replaying Lum and Abner thanks to open-reel tapes copied from the 16-inch transcription discs preserved by the Arkansasborn comedy team. All over the country, new fans began following their exploits. KENA in Mena has aired the programs for decades, and continues to do so to this day. The old Dick Huddleston Store became host to the Lum and Abner Museum, where a steady stream of visitors can view artifacts and learn the local and national history of the series from curators Lon and Kathryn Stucker.

Mena created the Lum and Abner Festival in 1978, with Chet Lauck himself making personal appearances, speaking with his old friend Tuffy in California by telephone, amplified for the ben-

Looking Glass Ouachita Magazine - June 2018

efit of an appreciative audience.

In 1979, Chet was present for the unveiling of the Lum and Abner Monument in Janssen Park. The Pine Ridge Volunteer Fire Department held their Lum and Abner Weekend for many years in Pine Ridge.

In the early 1980s, a group of fans, who met through the Lum and Abner Museum, decided to form the National Lum and Abner Society. The group published the bimonthly newsletter The Jot 'Em Down Journal from 1984 to 2007.

From 1985 to 2005, the NLAS conducted annual conventions, bringing to Mena and Pine Ridge numerous actors, writers, announcers, and others who worked closedly with Lauck and Goff during the Golden Age of Radio. The NLAS is responsible for a considerable amount of research and preservation.

I'm Donnie Pitchford, one of those founding "ossifers" of the NLAS. In 2011, I secured permission to begin a Lum and Abner comic strip, which is published each week in The Mena Star among other periodicals. In addition to illustrated adventures of Lum, Abner, and friends, I also offer occasional history of the se-

ries. My associates and I produce audio adaptations of each comic strip, initially presented for our many blind friends, but offered for anyone who wishes to listen. We don't try to "be Lum and Abner" - nobody could be we offer these comics and audio productions as tributes. I've been pleased to learn of many new fans who have discovered the characters through the comic strip.

Those "two boys from Mena" would hopefully be pleased to learn that the lovable characters they created and portrayed have continued to delight audiences 87 years after their first broadcast!

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Lum and Abner is published each week by The Mena Star.

To hear the Lum and Abner audio comics, to purchase original art, color prints, and book collections, please visit www.lumandabnersociety.org Donnie Pitchford is a member of the National Cartoonists Society.

This Ouachita tribute is brought to you by the caring folks at:

Office

(479) 394-4477 2608 Hwy 71 South Mena, Arkansas 71953 Page 46

www.bowserffh.com

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