This research paper was written by Noel Tyler for the Junior English Composition class at the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences during a research essay unit.
Rush: Short Lived, Never Forgotten
As one drives down the old winding Ozark dirt road to the ghost town of Rush, the path narrows and a small stream is heard trickling to the right. A cool breeze blows over one’s face. The growth of trees and weeds thickens. The road tapers yet more as an old building that resembles a general store comes into sight in the distance. The brush and trees alongside the road closes in proving it difficult for cars to pass. Upon driving farther, one notices that there are not one, but three gray deteriorating buildings which are only supported by their weak wooden posts. Across from the buildings on a small hill is an old rock smelter with large weeds growing around its base. One can almost hear the sound of people chatting downtown and sound of dynamite blasts in the distance. If one travels past the ruins and further down the old gravel road, one will eventually meet up with the calmly flowing Buffalo River (Ernst 125).
Rush was a true influence to North Arkansas and the buffalo River Valley. It was originally founded just before the Civil War for its lush valley and relatively fertile farming land (Rush n.p.). Legend has it that a couple of girls were out searching for a lost cow and stumbled upon some “glitter stones” (Rossiter 260). Several miners fluctuated into the area to check out the discovery of “silver” in the Ozark Mountains. The miners actually thought that they were mining silver, and had constructed a smelter to reduce the ore. They soon discovered that the “silver” that they were mining was not actually silver; it was zinc. The residents of Rush were disappointed at first because they had been expecting great riches from the discovery of silver in the Ozarks. Luckily, the demand for zinc began to increase as the Civil War ensued. This find at Rush turned out to be not as bad as the miners and citizens alike had expected. The zinc that they found proved to be very valuable.
Several years after the discovery of zinc, many people began to immigrate to Rush to seek jobs in the mining industry. Before its citizens knew it, several shops, a hotel, livery stable, moving picture show, post office, a doctor’s office, a smithy and a telephone system that served 165 phones across the Arkansas Zinc mining field soon appeared. “More business is done at Rush than in any other settlement of its size in the north part of the state” (Rush Creek 1). There was even a gravity tram system that hauled ore out of the mountainside, very ultramodern for that time period. The town grew to be so large that it was strung out for “…several miles up and down the Rush creek and Buffalo river, with the main part of the town occupying about one-half mile on the lower end of the creek” (Rush Creek 1). Although the population was never formally taken, it is estimated that 2,000 to 5,000 people were spread out all over the Rush Creek valley (Rossiter 263). The city soon became the center of zinc mining for the state of Arkansas.
Throughout the next two decades, “…mines flourished; seventeen of them in the Rush Creek District” (Rossiter 263). There were three major mines at the site of Rush: the Morning Star Mine, White Eagle Mine, and the Edith Mine.
One day a miner at the Morning Star Mine extracted a “…single mass of pure zinc carbonate weighing 12,750 pounds” (Rossiter 263). Given the name “Jumbo”, it was moved by a logging wagon pulled by sixteen oxen to a flatboat on the Buffalo River. From the Buffalo River, it was transported on the White River until it reached Batesville, where it was then sent by railroad for its trip to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Jumbo went on exhibit and won a gold medal. Also, zinc ore from the Rush mines won the first award at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 and more miners poured into the valley (Rossiter 263).
Transportation of goods and supplies, as well as people to Rush was not easy. One would believe that the Buffalo River would serve all of Rush’s transportation needs. That was not the case. The Buffalo River, one of the largest rivers in the Ozarks, was really never used much in the zinc mining industry because of its shallow, rocky bottom and unpredictable waters.
More often, the nearby White River was used to transport supplies to Rush. Another alternative was Buffalo City, which was right on the White River, perhaps the most important river used for transportation in the Ozarks. Aside from water transport, twenty miles north of Rush was the Summit Railroad System located in Summit, AR. The Summit Railroad System served many areas of north Arkansas and was the closest rail system to Rush.
Although the Buffalo was not used much for transportation, Captain William T. Warner of the steamboat Dauntless once attempted to deliver much needed mining equipment to the growing community of Rush via the Buffalo River. The crew of the boat struggled for two days on the trip. The water was turbulent and the crew was forced to winch the boat laboriously over the rocks. When the Dauntless finally reached Rush Landing, she unloaded her cargo and then headed back downstream, only to be stranded by falling water levels. The Dauntless never made it back to her homeport.
Aside form zinc mining, the lumber business thrived along the Rush Creek Valley. A virtually endless supply of lumber was needed to fuel the steam boilers of the smelters and to heat houses and businesses. An average mill needed about “…eight cords of lumber per day during the winter” (Rossiter 264) to keep it running efficiently. The lumber business did provide an economical boost for Rush, but many of the nearby mountains suffered because of the loss of trees. (Rossiter 264) Some small lumber businesses in the vicinity of Rush still survive today.
Citizens of Rush were lively, active, productive, and genuinely friendly. A newspaper dated September 10, 1916 wrote, “…[Rush] is a poor location for a pessimist… [Rush] does not tolerate the bootlegger, the gambler or the bad man”. Although Rush was rough like other mining-based communities, it was one of the cleaner towns in the state. The newspaper also said, “If you are bad and are contemplating moving to Rush, go to Little Rock, or Fort Smith, or Cotter, or Yellville, or somewhere else. A bad man will not get a warm reception here.” It is this kind of positive attitude that attracted many people to the area (Rush Creek 1).
With the ever-increasing population, there soon became a housing shortage. Many of the people who migrated into the area brought tents and other forms of housing. These portable residences spread throughout the area at a very rapid pace. The increased housing and insufficient hygienic facilities led to epidemics of typhoid and other linked diseases.
The September 10, 1916 newspaper describes various happenings around the Rush area. People who lived at Rush at the time put messages into the paper to communicate information and to give important events in the community. From the newspaper, one picks up the sense of social bonds between the citizens of Rush. They were hard workers and friendly people. There are countless advertisements that are a reflection of the life in the mid 1910s.
It [Rush] offers greater rewards for less effort and expenditure to the prospector than any other mining camp in the west or south. Numerous men have mapped up here during the last year. They are sill here, and will stay. If you want to mine zinc and become one of a community that mines zinc, thinks zinc, and dreams zinc, come to Rush. That is, if you are optimistic, are not lazy and are not bad. The town was orderly, unlike many booming towns at that time. (Rush Creek 2)
There were “…only two or three killings reported… a few near misses… [and] three serious accidents” (Rossiter 264). The accidents all occurred in the mines.
When World War I began, the price and demand for zinc rose incredibly. Rush was in its heyday. The processing mills were outfitted with new mining components via railroad at Summit. Old mining gear from the 1800s was replaced with more modern equipment. At this time, all of the mines were in full operation to produce zinc for the war effort.
This boom in the demand for zinc was short lived, however. As World War I wound down, the bottom fell out of the zinc market and it became extremely difficult to sell zinc at any price. In 1915, “3,209 tons of zinc [were] worth $795,832,” (Pitcaithley 302) After the war, and by 1924 only four tons of zinc was produced (Pitcaithley 303). Before Gradually, the town’s activity slowed down. Dynamite blasts were heard less and less frequently. Many people moved away in search of a better way of making a living. Before anyone in the Rush Creek valley knew it, their town had dwindled to about 500 people.
In the 1940s, several of the processing mils were torn down for salvage. In the 1950s when the Rush Post Office closed, most of the residents had left the area. Rush held on until the 2960s when the owners of the Morning Star Mine finally gave up their land. Rush became a ghost town as quickly as it had come into existence.
The origin of the name, Rush, can be traced back to several local legends. One legend says that there was once a great flood which “rushed” through the Buffalo River Valley. Another says that the name came from the zinc miners who began to “rush” in to the area.
If one visits Rush today, they will find a row of tattered buildings which used to compose downtown Rush. Across from the houses is a tall stone smelter. Nearby are some stone buildings that may have been a school or a business. At one time there were four buildings in this strip of the deserted city; the fourth is now a pile of ashes; it was mot likely destroyed by vandals. Further down the road one will meet up with Rush Landing on the Buffalo River. If one looks around the landing, they will be able to see the remains of a chimney hiding in the underbrush.
Rush truly influenced the area of north Arkansas. Many people moved to Rush and started families, earned money, and then went off to other areas of the state to seek a better way of making a living. The area of Rush drastically increased the population in Marion County and generally promoted growth in the Ozarks. It is quite peculiar that a population of several thousand people can come into power over an area and disappear in a matter of 40 years, just as fast as the population appeared. However, Rush has forever left its imprint on the society and culture of North Arkansas.
Works Cited
Ernst, Tim. Buffalo River Hiking Trails. Dexter: Thompson-Shore Inc., 1994. 124-27.
Pitcaithley, Dwight. “Zinc and Lead Mining Along the Buffalo River.” Arkansas Historic Quarterly 37 (1978): 293-305.
Rossiter, Phyllis. A Living History of the Ozarks. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company Inc., 1992. 255-67.
Rush. 16 Oct. 2000. <http://www.ozarkmountains.org/rush.htm>. Ozark Mountains. 14 Jan 2002.
Rush Creek Bugle. 10 Sept. 1916. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~armarion/transcribedrecords/rushcreekbugle01.htm>. 14 Jan. 2002. 1-6.
"All History is local"
Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences
200 Whittington Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901
