The 𝙊𝙯𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣

One of my favorite old steamboats, the 𝙊𝙯𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣. In my perfect world, I would rebuild this Ozark classic as a hands-on, educational museum on the White River. It only takes about 8.3 million and a contractor willing to build it historically correct with the specs.

 𝙊𝙯𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣 in Calico Rock, Arkansas, prior to 1896. 

Sternwheel, wooden hull, packet, built in Batesville, Arkansas, in 1896.

Dimensions: 133’ x 25.6’

Engines, 9½'s- 3 ft.

One boiler, 44" by 20 ft.

1896: Owner/Master, Capt. C.B. Woodbury for White River service.

1903 (May): Master, Capt. William Shipp & Pilot, John Shipp (Shipps Ferry). The 𝙊𝙯𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣 was in the Batesville-McBees (1 mile N. Of Cotter) trade.

1904 (December): Condemned at Memphis and sold to Capt. M.F. Bradford.

1906: Rebuilt and renamed the 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙢𝙖 in Madisonville, La. Owned by Bradford Transportation Co. Ran New Orleans, Lower Terrebonne, Sugar Refinery and Houma, and on Bayou Lafourche to Lafourche Crossing.

1909: Capt. T.W. Cook, with A. Rodriquez, clerk.

She escaped a bad windstorm at New Orleans only to be destroyed by fire soon after in September, 1926.

Photo from Dr. Abraham Photo Gallery at the Baxter County Library

Colorization by Vincent S. Anderson

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𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧

Steamboats 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡 & the 𝙅.𝘼.𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙣 at 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧 below Buffalo City, Arkansas.

The steamboat 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡 was Built in 1889 at Sioux City, Iowa, she was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and could carry 44 tons and 32 passengers. The 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡 bought by Winner and Hadley in 1892 to haul supplies for the Springfield, Yellville, and White River Railroad being built from the mouth of the Buffalo River to Yellville, then planned to go on to Forsyth and Springfield, Missouri. The 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡 ran between Batesville and Buffalo City, with many trips to McBee's Landing, near the present town of Cotter. Mr. C. P. Pond was in charge of the Randall. Captain Will Warner of Batesville was the master of the vessel for much of the time.

Captain Charles Woodbury was master of the 𝙅.𝘼.𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙣.

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𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧

The legends of 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧 assembled by Clifton E. Hull for the 𝘼𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙖𝙨 𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 in August of 1985.

The place was given the unusual name of 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧. How it got its name has become a legend, and what is truth and what isn't is impossible to determine. During the bustling days before the railroad was built, a large boarding house was erected to accommodate the growing crews of tie cutters and timber workers. The landlady had more work than she could handle, so she hired a young girl who lived back in the hills near Norfork. The girl's name, of course, was Nellie.

It was inevitable that she would attract the attention of some of the younger boarders, and she finally devoted most of her affections to one particular Cassanova who had a reputation of wooing every girl he met. Their friendship soon developed into a serious courtship and Nellie was in figurative heaven. Then one day her young man was notified that he was being transferred to a similar wood yard at Calico Rock.

The lovers were separated by 25 miles of the twisting White River and the intervening ridges of the wild Ozark Mountains, but he promised he would write to his Nellie frequently until they could be together again. After a tearful parting, he boarded a shallow-draft riverboat and disappeared downstream, borne away by the swift-flowing river. Day after interminable day passed and no letter came.

Nellie waited, hoped, and made excuses, and then, one day she received word from an acquaintance that the gay deceiver was courting one of the sweet young things at Calico Rock. The world of fantasy ended for Nellie that day. In the evening after the chores were done, she went for a walk along the banks of the river, seeking solace from the whitewater rapids and the deep blue-green pools of the swift-flowing river.

Nellie had failed to return by the time the long shadows of evening came marching across the mountains and her worried friends organized a search party. They hunted along the riverbank anxiously seeking some sign of Nellie, and loudly calling her name. Finally, one of the parties found the large apron that Nellie had been wearing when she left the boarding house. It was lying on the bank beneath a large elm tree. Here the waters of the White River swirled and swished the pool angrily over a rocky shoal to enter a deep dark pool of water.

The next morning the search party dragged the river well downstream, but Nellie was never found. Whether the heartbroken girl had drowned or had simply left her large apron as a decoy while she made her way across the rolling mountains to the oblivion of a new life is a secret kept by the cold, swift-flowing waters of the White River.

Version #2 

However, another version of the legend has young Nellie living near the little station on the railroad.

One day, Nellie was walking along the track searching for a cow that had broken out of the pasture, and while making her way along the winding track that closely followed the tortuous channel of the White River, young Neile discovered a broken rail. While wondering how she could notify someone about the danger, she heard the long wail of a locomotive whistle.

Within a few seconds, she knew, the speeding train would plunge into the deep waters of the river, so running frantically along the track, Nellie tore her apron from her waist and began waving it wildly back and forth. The engineer saw her desperate signal and brought his train to a shuddering stop only a few feet from the broken rail.

The station at 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧 was removed along with the rails in 1936.

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The closing chapter of the 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧 was written when Norfork Dam was constructed in 1941 on the North Fork River.

Great quantities of river gravel were required as aggregate for the concrete in the structure and one prime source was the heavy deposit known as the Lowe Buffalo Bars, about two miles downstream from the point at which the Buffalo River joined the White River. More than one million cubic yards of gravel were taken from the river, and in the ensuing years, floods on the White River also changed the appearance of the banks in the area.

Today

The only vestige of Nellie's Apron to survive the passing years is the weathered weed-grown embankment where the rails of the siding had lain. Nevertheless, the legend of 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧 still lives in the memory of a few old-time railroaders who rode trains along the twisting White River Division of the old St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad.

Was young Nellie fact or fiction?

Hmmm....

Well the fact is that an Apron on the river bank from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary is: 

The area along the waterfront edge of a pier or wharf.

So, now, we need to find Nellie!

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𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡 & 𝐉𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐨

The Buffalo River made headlines again when a rare chunk of smithsonite (zinc carbonate), weighing 12,750 pounds, was mined at the Morning Star Mine on Rush Creek. Initially, plans were made to transport the massive specimen overland by wagon to Walton’s Ferry at Buffalo City, but the weight proved too much for the steep, rough roads, forcing the plan to be abandoned.

1893 - Jumbo
Colorization by Vincent S. Anderson

A barge was eventually constructed at Rush, and the specimen was floated down to the mouth of the Buffalo River.

The steamer 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡, commanded by Capt. C.E. Pond, met the barge, transferred the heavy cargo onto its deck, and set course downstream for Batesville. With Capt. Pond walking the deck and Capt. Will Warner at the helm, the 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡 safely transported the prized exhibit to Batesville, where it was shipped by railroad to the World's Columbian Exposition—commonly known as the Chicago World's Fair—held from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World.

The Rush, zinc nugget, named "Jumbo," was proudly displayed at the Exposition. However, the fair once again highlighted the significant transportation challenges faced in the remote wilderness of the Buffalo River region.

Steamboat Randall
Colorization by Vincent S. Anderson
Photo from Dr. Abraham Photo Gallery at the Baxter County Library

I am always grateful for historians of the past like Duane Huddleston, who have documented the history of the White River and the Ozarks. Thanks to his diligence, our rivers have been carefully chronicled.

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