Numerous sawmills and logging camps were set up to harvest and process logs into railroad ties, mine props, barrel staves, pencils, dimensional lumber, equipment handles, furniture, and the like. Large lumber companies and many local individuals bought thousands of acres of timber land. Timber harvesting joined mining as a major economic force. Shiloh Museum Collection (S-)īy 1900 the population had swelled to 12,538, due in part to land speculators and new, out-of-state homesteaders. Logging truck, Newton County, 1970s-1980s. The rough terrain and remote location caused early railway planners to bypass the county entirely, making it the only county in Arkansas never to have a railroad. Mines with colorful names like “Belle of Wichita” popped up everywhere, leading to boomtowns that flourished for a time. After the war, the economy grew due to increased zinc and lead mining in the northern half of the county. Its valuable chemical and mineral resources were used for making gunpowder and bullets. The county suffered its share of privation from bushwhackers, guerrilla bands, and skirmishes. Like much of Northwest Arkansas, loyalties were divided within communities and families-some sympathized with the Union while others were for the Confederacy. At the beginning of the Civil War there were about 25 African-Americans in the county, just a fraction of the overall population. Most were small-time farmers, without economic reason for holding enslaved workers. By 1850 there were 288 families in the county, numbering 1,711 people. Settlers used the forest to build their homes and selected rich bottomland to grow their crops. They stayed in the area when the tribe was forced further west. Some had Cherokee spouses and came with the first migration of Cherokee. The first whites entering the area prior to statehood were hunters, trappers, and a few eager homesteaders. One year later Jasper became the county seat. When Newton County was carved out of Carroll County in 1842, it was named for Thomas Willoughby Newton, then U.S. Most of them moved to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in 1828, the result of another treaty with the government. government brought Cherokee settlers to Northwest Arkansas and present-day Newton County. In Boxley Valley, archeologists have found prehistoric home and work sites dating back almost 7,000 years. Native Americans once lived in, farmed, and hunted throughout what’s now Newton County. See Hunting Handbook for more information.Modified portion of the 1901 “Map of Arkansas,” published by George F. Uncased bows and firearms are not allowed within the campground and picnic areas. Hunters will not be using the high traffic areas located near the hiking trails. White-tailed deer, wild turkeys, marmots, rabbits, red and gray fox and squirrels are also found within the park. Between October 1 and April 30 each year, bow hunting is allowed in the park. Over 200 species of birds visit the area each year. The area's unique dark forest, amidst a vast open prairie, has prompted many recent legends, including buried gold, robbers' hideouts and horse thieves. Artifacts and burial mounds found near the park indicate that a Woodland Indian Culture inhabited this region between 300 B.C. At its highest point, the Coteau rises to more than 2,000 feet above sea level. Glaciers created this narrow strip of rolling hills and forest that is part of the geological formation called the Coteau des Prairie, which extends along the eastern boundary of South Dakota. Newton's wife was a mid-wife until the 1870s, she was the only European American north of Vermillion who could deliver babies and cure the sick. Newton Hills State Park was named after William Newton who settled in the area in the 1850s.
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