The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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By S. C. Turnbo
Just below the mouth of Elbow Creek is a bluff which overlooks the John
Yandell farm and Elbow Shoals. An observer here commands an excellent view
of the neighborhood, and the usual variety of the scenery as found on White
River is seen. One day recently the writer visited the summit of this bluff
and viewed the old settled farm referred to above. On this farm I passed
4 years of my childhood. The memory of those happy days from August 1849
to October 1853 is still fresh in my mind. Looking over the swift flowing
waters of White River and the little brooklet of Elbow Creek, then at the
bluffs, gulches, hills and the big shelving rock on the west side of the
creek calls to mind incidents which occurred here in the long ago. Just
below the shoals is Longs Ferry; part of the shoals are in Boone County,
Ark. and part in Taney County, Mo. The old channel is in Arkansas but the
new cut ways is in Missouri. Between the two channels is an island, where
I am told a man was assassinated in 1839. A man by the name of Stephens
was the first to settle in this bottom locating here in 1837. One morning
in 1839 Mr. Stephens accompanied by his daughter, started for Carrollton
Arkansas, for the purpose of prosecuting a maker of counterfeit money, who
was there awaiting trial and while they were riding over this iseland Stephens
was ambushed and shot. The horror of the murder and the death scene in the
presence of his young daughter was sad and distressing. The screams of his
helpless child as he fell from his horse into the cold embrace of death
ought to have softened the heart of the cruel assassin, but with a boastful
and exultant laugh he was seen to leave his concealment immediately after
he had slain his victim. Stephens cabin stood in a small clearing near the
mouth of the creek and after he was murdered his wife and children sold
the claim to John Haddon and Mr. Haddon sold the improvements to my father
and he entered 40 acres of land in this bottom which was the first entry
of land made on this farm.
The channel and shoals here were once a dreaded place for the passages of
flat boats, two of which collided against the right bank and sank. The first
of these occurred in 1835. This boat was loaded with iron vessels, such
as wash kettles, pots, frying pans and other vessels of a like nature which
the owner was selling or trading to the few settlers who lived along the
river. After the boat sank and before the proprietor could recover any of
his wares, a big freshet come down the river and when the water subsided
the boat and contents were entirely covered with sand and gravel. The boat
had been built at the mouth of James River, and the iron vessels had been
brought from Saint Louis there in freight wagons. The other boat that sank
belonged to Ben Majors. His boat was loaded with corn and fat cattle that
he was taking to New Orleans to market. As the boat was passing the curve
which the shoals and the creek takes its name from, the swift current forced
the bow of the boat against the bank and tore away one bottom plank out
at the corner of the boat, and the water come into the boat in a sluice.
Unfortunately the cattle which were 5 and 6 years old and large and fat
had been tied with ropes to the boat and there were no hopes for their escape.
The men realized their danger and as the stern end of the boat was swinging
around Majors and his crew rushed to the bow of the boat and leaped for
the shore all landed safely except Bob Rains and he fell backwards into
the water but was rescued by his companions. The sinking boat and drowning
cattle were swept along rapidly until it reached deep water, below the shoals
where it sank from sight. This was in the early spring of 1848, and during
the succeeding summer and fall, a large number of fish collected at the
sunken boat, and settlers visited the spot in "dug out" canoes
and killed hundreds of them with harpoons and during low stages of water,
great flocks of buzzards gathered in the vicinity, but they were unable
to get the carrion as a little water covered it. Mr. Majors was one of the
first settlers of Taney County and was a prosperous man but he never fully
recovered from the loss suffered from the sinking of his flat boat.
In those early days farmers did not plant their corn until after winter
was broke or when the leaves on the trees were the size of squirrels ears,
which calls to memory another incident, in the month of June 1851 when the
earliest corn was nearly knee high people along the river were surprised
as well as delighted at seeing a steam boat shoving its way up the river.
As the boat came in sight of each cabin it gave a loud whistle, and the
people ran to the bank to see what made such a strange and fearful noise.
The sight was wonderful to them, cattle were terrified and stampeded and
horses snorted and ran away. The name of the boat was "Eureka"
and it was the largest and finest boat ever came this far up White River.’
The day was sultry, the air calm suffocating, small cumulus clouds floated
slowly along in the aerial regions. It was just such a day that knowing
ones who tell you what the weather is "going to do", view the
watery clouds and predict a thunderstorm. As the boat approached the shoals
the firemen were ordered to heave wood into the furnace that there might
be plenty of steam to force the boat over the shoals. Great volumes of smoke
ascended high in the air and slowly drifted away. Great jets of steam belched
from the escape pipes and formed miniature white clouds that rested over
the water until dissipated. The propelling wheel of the boat churned the
water so rapid and strong as to dash water high up on the bank; grown people
as well as we children looked on with wonder and amazement. The steamer
as she plowed her ways through the swift current of water had attained good
speed when she arrived at the foot of the shoals and entered the old channel,
her intended destination was Forsyth. The captain and passengers were anxious
to pass the shoals and as she was forced along against the strong current
the water heaped and foamed against the bow. The beautiful steamer succeeded
in reaching the curve, where her speed was checked and she soon came to
a standstill and the bow in spite of the efforts of the pilot to prevent
it turned toward the south bank. For a moment the pilot had lost control
of the boat and there was imminent danger of a collision against the shore
and the chimneys being swept off by the timber. The engines were instantly
reversed and the boat was righted again by its being backed down stream
a short distance, then another trial was made to stem the rolling tide of
the swift flowing water with no better success than the first attempt. It
was now evident that she could proceed no further up the river, the efforts
of the captain and crew were unavailing and they had to drop back to the
landing at DuBugne two miles below the shoals. The captain and the passengers
were sadly disappointed at not reaching Forsyth The village below the shoals
was not yet named, and the few settlers asked the captain to name it. His
home being DuBugne, Iowa, he named this village in honor of that city. The
boat remained there that night and early the following morning a crowd of
men, women and children had collected at the landing to see the boat, and
just before her departure from here back down the river she gave a loud
whistle which startled the entire assembly of people. Among the crowd was
a young man with red hair and red complexion who when the steamer whistled
thought the boat was rent asunder and started away on a fast run and was
soon lost from view. Those of the crowd that quickly recovered from the
fright created by the blast from the whistle, yelled and laughed at the
panic stricken fellow. The Eureka was the first steam boat ever reaching
this far up White River. During the early summer of this same year work
was began on the shoals to improve the navigation of them by cutting a channel
just over the state line in Taney County, Mo. "Hack" Snapp who
lived on the opposite side of the river from Forsyth, was foreman of a large
number of men who were employed to cut the new channel. The water was at
a low stage and the men kept busy at work for several weeks. The labor was
tedious and disagreeable on account of working in the gravel and water but
the new channel gradually widened and deepened and great banks of sand and
gravel were heaped upon either side until a part of the river sought this
route, the men then devoted their labor to build a dam of stone part of
the way across the head of the old channel, thus throwing volumes of water
through the new made chute. The work to some extent was a success, the hands
(men) were a merry and fun loving crowd, they camped on the south bank of
the river just above the shoals and passed the time of evenings by debating
having literary work or other passtime amusement. When the work was completed
Mr. Snapp paid the men their wages in gold and silver coin and they all
left camp for their respective homes rejoicing and jingling their money
in their pockets. The following spring or in 1852, the Yaw Haw Ganey a much
smaller and older boat than the Eureka came up the river and steamed into
the mouth of the chute. She was heavily loaded with freight for the merchants
of Forsyth. The crew of the boat worked hard all day trying to pass through
the chute. A large number of the passengers disembarked and waited on the
bank of the river at the mouth of Elbow Creek for the boat to pass over
but she failed to pass over the shoals and late in the night the captain
was compelled to back his boat out of the chute and landed at the lower
part of the bottom on the north side of the river and put off 300 sacks
of salt, which belonged to the merchants of Forsyth. The following day was
Sunday and just before noon she succeeded in passing through the chute and
went on to Forsyth. The Yaw Haw Gaeney was the first steam boat reaching
that town. The salt was left in the care of the writers father, Jim and
Tom Clarkstone sons of Lewis Clarkstone who lived then on the old Buck Coker
Place at the lower end of the Jake Nave bend of White River were employed
to haul it on ox wagons to our house on Elbow Creek one half a mile above
the mouth where the salt was stored in a new log house. We have already
told in another chapter of the sad fate of Jim Clarkstone in war time and
we will now give a brief account of the death of Tom Clarkstone. He lived
to be old and feeble and his mind at times was deranged. He lived on the
north side of the river just over the line in Boone County, Ark. and below
the Jake Nave Bend. On the morning of the 14th of November 1906 his body
was found hanging in a cedar tree near his residence. The poor old man had
committed suicide by hanging himself witha plow line, his body received
interment in the graveyard at Pro-tem. Bob Williams hauled most of the salt
to Forsyth during the summer following the spring that the Yaw Haw Gaeney
came up. Williams used a big stout wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen. Ben
Lea, another fine boat less in size than the Eureka, but larger than the
Yaw Haw Gaeney came up in the spring of 1853. She was just 5 hours in passing
the shoals, but on her second trip that same spring she lay in the, chute
two days before she succeeded in passing. In the evening of the first day
after her cable had been made fast to a willow tree she pulled it up, and
during the night following she jerked up another willow tree. Other steam
boats that visited Forsyth from 1854 to the beginning of the Civil War were
the Mary L. Darity, Mississippi Belle, Jesse Lazza R., Mary M. Patterson,
and Thomas P. Ray, the two last named made several trips. Jesse Mooney and
George Pearson had charge of the Rays, and in the spring of 1858 she steamed
as far up as the mouth of James River which was the fartherest point reached
by a steam boat at that time, Mooney and Pearson had her upper deck elaborately
decorated with flags to celebrate the occasion on their return trip, this
was her last trip, her owners sold the machinery to a Mr. Long, who converted
it to the running power of a saw mill at what is now known as the Boiler
Spring just below where Dodd City Ark. now stands, this mill was burned
down during the war. The Mary M. Patterson was owned by Morgan Bateman,
this was a trading boat and made many trips to Forsyth. One night in the
early part of 1859 after landing at the spring where George Frittz lived
in now what is Keesee Township Marion County, Ark., the boat caught fire
and barely escaped destruction and was saved by the heroic efforts of the
crew and passengers. During another trip which was in April 1860 while she
was anchored at Forsyth the water fell so rapidly and the weather remained
dry so long that she was compelled to stay there until the following February
when there was sufficient rain fall to raise the water in the river to allow
her departure; but she traveled only as far as the Ned Coker farm, just
below the mouth of East Sugar Loaf Creek where she had to remain until a
higher stage of water which was just enough to float her down to Bull Bottom
where she was compelled to stay until the latter part of March when the
river rose several feet. Bateman went on his way rejoicing and swearing
alternately glad that he was able to get away and sorry he had to stay so
long.
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