The Ghost Town At Rush
Hidden In The Woods The Store Still Stands
The day promised to be a combination of clouds and sunshine, with above normal temperatures. It had been many a year since I have been to the old mining town of Rush and the Rush campground on the Buffalo River. We decided to take the drive east on Highway 62 and visit the ghost town.
Arkansas has quite a collection of public paddling trails throughout the state, creating well-mapped accessible day trips in a variety of settings and for all levels of paddling experience. Crooked Creek is one of those and on the way we pulled into the Lower Pyatt access of the Crooked Creek Waterway. Crooked Creek, a Blue Ribbon Smallmouth Bass Stream, is well known for its feisty smallmouth bass.We explored this area quickly, and decided to make this waterway a separate trip of its own. The map showed 4 different access points, each worth a visit.
We then drove on to the old zinc mining town of Rush, now a ghost town located within the boundaries of the Buffalo National River Park. The Rush Historic District sits in the same environment and setting as it did during its boom times. Isolated today as it was in the past, it has been little touched by time. We parked on the road across from the main collection of buildings and toured the now deserted area. Rush is the only area left to retain not only the mines, but also buildings, structures, and ruins pertaining to mining and community life in rural northwest Arkansas in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The NPS has done a good job of keeping the structures upright and somewhat intact. They have also constructed an interpretive trail that takes you around the site and back into history.
Its history began when John Wolfer, Bob Setzer and J.H. McDabe, early prospectors, thought that they had discovered silver-bearing ore on the creek in southern Marion County. They built a huge smelter in 1886 to extract the precious metal, but on the first firing their hopes of riches were crushed. No silver came out of the bottom, but beautiful rainbows could be seen above. The sign on the interpretive trail says "Legend has it, broke, discourages, and out of grub, they offered to sell their claim to another prospector for a can of oysters. The man turned the offer down. The smelter was only used again in 1898 to burn lime to make mortar."
George Chase purchased Wolfer's claim and established the Morning Star Mining Company, which eventually became one of the largest producers of zinc in Arkansas. During World War I the Rush Creek mines were the center of the zinc industry in Arkansas. Ten mining companies operated 13 developed mines within the district. Two to five thousand people lived in Rush Creek during the boom period.. Once the war ended the bottom fell out of zinc prices and the town of Rush emptied as fast as it had grown.
Attempts to revive the area were made in the 1920s, but failed due to the low cost of imported zinc. Hopes for another boom rose in 1958, when the Rush Creek Mining Company was organized and built a new mill not far from the banks of the Buffalo. It was hoped that zinc would become a big factor in rocket building, but the mill did not rejuvenate the old mining camp and the closing of the post office in the mid-1950s hastened it's demise. Gradually, the remaining inhabitants drifted away, and Rush was recognized officially as a ghost town in 1972 when it was included in lands acquired in the creation of the Buffalo River National Park System. Today the Rush Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Once we finished exploring Rush we continued down the road to the Rush campground and the last access point on the Buffalo River before it reaches the White River. This is a well developed area and handles a large volume of campers every year. The river here is flatter and wider than the upper parts but has its own unique beauty and charm.
Arkansas is a wonderful place to bring your family for a vacation. From a publicly accessible diamond mine to a ghost town, fishing to canoeing and kayaking, hiking and rock climbing, or just putting your feet up for a week without hearing a single automobile. My state has it all. Come for a visit and see for yourself.
Arkansas is a wonderful place to bring your family for a vacation. From a publicly accessible diamond mine to a ghost town, fishing to canoeing and kayaking, hiking and rock climbing, or just putting your feet up for a week without hearing a single automobile. My state has it all. Come for a visit and see for yourself.