[ArkansasSlim]

Merry Christmas from the ghost town of Graysonia, Clark County. My friend Randall Houp and his navy son camped out here last week to explore the town and surrounding area and brought the material to decorate this living Christmas Tree.

It's hard to realize that ninety Christmases ago this mountain had streets and dozens of homes with kids enjoying their Christmases.

[Luvvarkansas]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

I have been doing archeology work for about 20 years and this is my crowning achievement, so, I would have left with a smile on my face!

Congratulations, Slim, it's a beaut!

I found a small perfect arrowhead once around a lake where Indians were known to have lived. We were just walking along and it was sitting on top of the ground up next to a tree, like someone had set it there and left it. It was very small....my husband called it a "bird point", but I'm not sure if that's accurate. But it was perfect, like yours. I still have it! That was about 25 years ago.

[ArkansasSlim]

Originally Posted by Luvvarkansas

Congratulations, Slim, it's a beaut!

I found a small perfect arrowhead once around a lake where Indians were known to have lived. We were just walking along and it was sitting on top of the ground up next to a tree, like someone had set it there and left it. It was very small....my husband called it a "bird point", but I'm not sure if that's accurate. But it was perfect, like yours. I still have it! That was about 25 years ago.

"Bird point" as many call them, is the true arrow point; i.e. bow and arrow. This one is a "dart point" which they used on an atlatl which was a javelin type spear they threw with a "throwing stick". Hey, more than you really wanted to know .

[Luvvarkansas]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

Hey, more than you really wanted to know .

No it's not, it's interesting to me!

[ArkansasSlim]

Over the past few years I have posted many photos of this railroad; Gurdon & Fort Smith, AKA Missouri Pacific, AKA Arkansas Midland, AKA Caddo Valley, AKA abandoned, AKA dismantled, and associated communities (ghost towns). It was abandoned a few years ago and they started taking up the rails a few weeks ago starting at the north end north of Glenwood and moving south. By now they should be near Graysonia. In these photos you can see what an area looked like a couple years ago and what it looked like a couple weeks ago. The rails are piled on the side to be picked up later. The close-up of one rail shows it was made in 1934 and info I have received states it was laid here about 1950 during an up-grade. They recycled rails and bridge steel and moved it all over the country.

This railroad was laid in the early 1900s and now only memories remain. I have contacted a person trying to get the right-of-way added to the "Rails-to-Trails" Program. It is about 50 miles long and goes through some beautiful remote country. It also has several county road access points which would make it more accessible to hikers who chose a shorter hike. Oh, I didn't note that they are leaving the bridges and trestles which will make it more feasible.

[Randall Houp]

Arkansas Slim: Really enjoy the photos of the old railroad and of the Graysonia Christmas Tree. Hopefully on my next trip down the tree will still be intact. All the ornaments were wired on and the railroad at the bottom was all glued together. The beautiful train was donated by the great grand-daughter of the founder of the town of Graysonia, William Grayson. Working on another 3 day, 2 night camp at Graysonia. Got a lot of exploring to do which includes searching for 2 Antoine Valley RR crossings that went across the Antoine River over into Pike County. Also heading south to Clyburn's Bluff to search for various sidings near that location. I enjoy the cooler days with no snakes, no bugs, no sweat, no foliage!!!
"GHOSTBRIDGEHUNTER."

[ArkansasSlim]

Originally Posted by Randall Houp

Arkansas Slim: Really enjoy the photos of the old railroad and of the Graysonia Christmas Tree. Hopefully on my next trip down the tree will still be intact. All the ornaments were wired on and the railroad at the bottom was all glued together. The beautiful train was donated by the great grand-daughter of the founder of the town of Graysonia, William Grayson. Working on another 3 day, 2 night camp at Graysonia. Got a lot of exploring to do which includes searching for 2 Antoine Valley RR crossings that went across the Antoine River over into Pike County. Also heading south to Clyburn's Bluff to search for various sidings near that location. I enjoy the cooler days with no snakes, no bugs, no sweat, no foliage!!!
"GHOSTBRIDGEHUNTER."

Thanks for the post. Those details are good to know

[ArkansasSlim]

I have been 'locked down' for a couple months now and not out and about as usual. Monday an archeologist friend asked me to help her locate unmarked graves in a cemetery that had been long abandoned and has now been cleaned up. I wish there were photos to post, but there aren't. The cemetery is about one acre in size and has been totally vandalized with only a small, fenced, family plot within it, but it too had been damaged. There were pieces of marble tombstones all over the acre. When you look out across it, it looks like quartz rocks scattered about, but when you inspect them you see they are pieces of marble tombstones. Now that it has been cleaned up there is an effort to ID and mark grave sites and secure and maintain the cemetery in the future.

We have IDd about 75 'probable' grave sites but there is lots of blank ground out there that I feel confident contains graves.

[ArkansasSlim]

Don't pay the ransom Momma, I escaped This morning I broke the lock that had me chained to this computer and headed to the west Clark County boonies This is the same railroad I have posted many times, but this is a portion I had not seen before. After they took up the rails and ties they came back and smoothed the road bed. We drove down it for about four miles when we came to this bridge that we couldn't cross so my archeologist buddy (we were in his truck) had to back up about 100 meters to a 'wide' place to turn around. The wide place was only a little wider than the length of his truck with a vertical (up) bank on one side and a vertical (down) bank on the other that dropped about 30 feet to the Antoine River. Obviously we made it, and had lunch at Mom's Diner in Delight Pike County abut 4:00 PM.

[Sam I Am]

Was the bridge just not stable? Or were you afraid you were going into the forest, never to be found again? For future reference, I've found a bread crumb trail didn't really work out so well for Hansel and Gretel.

Glad you are out and about with the camera again!