Graysonia was once a boomtown in Clark County, Arkansas, United States, but has since become a ghost town. It is located on a dirt road in what is now known locally as "the middle of nowhere", halfway between Arkadelphia and Alpine. There are no populated communities in its vicinity and only a few scattered residences within a few miles of the former town's location. In the early 20th century, Graysonia was a main hub for the local timber industry. It had a population of actual residents estimated at better than 1,000.
In 1902 businessmen William Grayson and Nelson McCleod became principal shareholders in the "Arkadelphia Lumber Company". They made the decision to move their operations along the Antoine River due to their previous location no longer having the resources they needed to be productive. The community was named "Graysonia" after William Grayson. At its founding, the community had a population of 350 people, which would more than double shortly thereafter. The high lumber demands brought on by World War I made the mill in Graysonia one of the most productive in the south. The more than 500 employees were soon producing over 150,000 board feet (350 m3) per day, substantially more than any other mill in the south. Most mills at that time were averaging 25,000 board feet (59 m3) per day. The "Memphis Dallas and Gulf" railroad ran its route between 1909 and the mid-1930s. Around 1907, several kilns, a fire house, a water reservoir, the main mill house and some shotgun houses were built. Within a decade there were several hundred houses, a hillside restaurant and some small cafés, three hotels and a number of large mill buildings.
Although it was a "company owned town", Graysonia elected its town officials, and it became incorporated. Soon the town had its own movie theater, three hotels, a school and a church, along with a running water system and electricity. In 1924, the Bemis family bought into the corporation, and it became the "Ozan-Graysonia Lumber Company". The Bemis family were major mill owners, owning the Ozan Lumber Company, and for the next five years the company saw its greatest success. The decline of the town was due mainly to the company operating on a "cut and move" mentality, meaning they used the resources readily available, then moved on to another location.
However, the Great Depression also contributed to its demise. Beginning in 1929, the depression swept across the country. For a time, the mill at Graysonia held on, and the planer mill lasted for a while cutting stored lumber. The company considered opening several small mills in Graysonia to continue production, but the depression worsened and the mill was closed. For a time starting in 1930, residents were encouraged to stay in Graysonia due to there being employment in the cinnabar mines south of Amity during the Quicksilver Rush. However, the mining operations were short-lived, and the residents began moving to other communities. Within a very short time, the town was deserted.
In 1937 much of the equipment used at Graysonia was moved to be used in a mill in Delight, Arkansas. In 1950 the Graysonia Post Office closed, routing its mail through Alpine. That same year the US Census listed Graysonia's population as "zero". The last known inhabitant was Brown Hickman, a retired logger who left the town in 1951. All that remains today are the foundations of a few buildings.
The train used in Steven Spielberg's mini series Into the West was originally built for use in Graysonia. Logging towns like Graysonia were common in Arkansas in this period, due to an abundance of virgin timber and the desire by companies to cut it. Few of the towns, although all thrived for a time, survive today. Two such towns, Mauldin, Arkansas and Rosboro, Arkansas, were extremely successful during the same period that Graysonia existed. Today, the company that formed both of those towns, Caddo River Timber Company (Now Rosboro Timber Company), is one of the largest private timber holders of the Pacific Northwest, and is based in Springfield, Oregon.
Municipalities and communities of Clark County, Arkansas, United States | ||
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Pike County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,171. The county seat is Murfreesboro. Pike County is Arkansas's 25th county, formed on November 1, 1833, and named for Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, the explorer for whom Pikes Peak is named. It is an alcohol prohibition or dry county. The current judge is Eddie Howard.
Clark County is a county located in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,446. The county seat is Arkadelphia. The Arkadelphia, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Clark County.
Crossett is the largest city in Ashley County, Arkansas, United States, with a population of 5,507, according to 2010 Census Bureau estimates. Combined with North Crossett and West Crossett, the population is 10,752. Crossett was incorporated in 1903.
Amity is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 723 at the 2010 census. The city began on the Caddo River in the mid-19th century when William F. Browning and others, including A.B. Clingman, at various times moved to the area.
Rison is a city in and the county seat of Cleveland County, Arkansas, United States. Its population was 1,344 at the 2010 U.S. census. It is included in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. Rison is a bedroom community for people who work in Pine Bluff. The largest employers are the city and county governments, the Cleveland County School District, the Cleveland County Nursing Home. There are two banks, eight churches, and about forty-five businesses within the city limits. Among the local properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are the Rison Cities Service Station and the Rison Texaco Service Station.
Delight is a town in Pike County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 279 at the 2010 census.
Glenwood is a city in Pike and Montgomery counties in Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,068. The community is located along the Caddo River in the Ouachita Mountains.
PotlatchDeltic Corporation is an American diversified forest products company based in Spokane, Washington.
The Prescott and Northwestern Railroad is a short-line railroad headquartered in Prescott, Arkansas. It is operated by Arkansas Midland Railroad, which is owned by Genesee & Wyoming.
Holopaw is an unincorporated community in Osceola County, Florida, United States. It is located at the eastern end of the multiplex of highways US 192 and US 441. It has a population of fewer than 5,000 people and is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Old Washoe City is a ghost town in Washoe County, Nevada, in the United States. Nearby there is a new community called New Washoe City.
Woodlake is an unincorporated community in Trinity County, Texas, United States. In 2000, the estimated population was 98 residents. It is located within the Huntsville, Texas micropolitan area.
Marysville is an unincorporated community in northwestern Cooke County, Texas, United States. It lies approximately three miles from the Texas-Oklahoma border.
Bridal Veil is a virtual ghost town located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. It was established in the 1880s during a logging boom by a logging company as it harvested timber on nearby Larch Mountain to be a company mill town around a sawmill. It had a close relationship with the logging town of Palmer for the first 50 years of its history. As of November 2011, all that remains of the town is a post office and a cemetery. The site is located near the west end of the Columbia River Gorge.
The Quicksilver Rush was a mining rush for cinnabar in southwest Arkansas and the Ozarks, mostly in Pike and Clark counties, beginning around 1931, in the early days of the Great Depression when people were desperate for jobs.
Mauldin or Mauldin Logging Camp is a ghost town in Montgomery County, Arkansas, United States. Established in 1918 by Billy Mauldin in cooperation with Thomas Rosborough, it became heavily populated by 1922 by workers drawn to industries cutting and processing virgin timber in the area. It was located between Mount Ida and Pencil Bluff.
The Ozan Lumber Company was a major timber company based in Nevada and Clark County, Arkansas, eventually operating several mills and owning extensive timberlands. It was founded and owned by the Bemis family of Arkansas during the early 20th century, and was prominent during the 1930s and the Great Depression. The family company established a practice of replanting to create sustainable forests.
Horace Erastus Bemis was a college football player and lumber dealer. Bemis was a prominent halfback for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team. On the inaugural 1890 team, he provided most of the offense.
The Madera Sugar Pine Company was a lumber company that operated in the Sierra Nevada region of California during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was known for its use of innovative technologies, such as the first log flume and logging railroad in the southern Sierra, and the adoption of the Steam Donkey engine in commercial logging. The company had a significant impact on the region, leading to the founding of several towns, including Madera, Fish Camp, and Sugar Pine, as well as the growth of Fresno Flats and the formation of Madera County. In addition, the company contributed to the agriculture in California in California through its production of wooden shipping boxes and was involved in a U.S. Supreme Court case related to employer obligations.
The Yosemite Lumber Company was an early 20th century Sugar Pine and White Pine logging operation in the Sierra Nevada. The company built the steepest logging incline ever, a 3,100 feet (940 m) route that tied the high-country timber tracts in Yosemite National Park to the low-lying Yosemite Valley Railroad running alongside the Merced River. From there, the logs went by rail to the company’s sawmill at Merced Falls, about fifty-four miles west of El Portal.