08/02/2025
Steamboats, Timber, and the End of a River Era
By K. Brad Barfield
For nearly half a century, the Saline River pulsed with the steady rhythm of steamboats and commerce. From the 1840s through the 1880s, these winding waters were a main artery for life and livelihood in Ashley County. During high-water seasons, steamboats ventured as far north as Bridges Bluff, carrying bales of cotton, staves, and timber from the hills and bottoms to distant markets in Monroe and New Orleans. It was a time when the names of riverboat captains—Withers, Moore, Smith—were as well known as any county official, and fortunes were built on the smooth flow of goods downstream.
The river towns thrived, and so did the people who depended on them. Every community along the Saline was touched by river commerce: crops found buyers, lumber found new homes, and news from the outside world traveled by deckhand and whistle. For a generation, it seemed as if the Saline would forever be the heart of Ashley County’s economy.
But as always, the world was changing. The coming of the Little Rock, Mississippi River, and Texas Railroad in the 1880s transformed everything. The new iron rails offered cheaper, faster, and more reliable routes for goods and people alike. River traffic dwindled, and with it, the old ways faded into memory. Some towns vanished, their land reclaimed by woods or plowed under for new crops; others, like Crossett, were reborn in a different light.
The real engine of the county’s next era was timber. The vast pine and hardwood forests that once seemed endless were suddenly accessible, fueling an economic boom that built sawmills, towns, and fortunes. Companies like Crossett Lumber rose to dominate not just the landscape, but the daily life and future of the county itself. Railroads didn’t just move wood; they moved people—workers and families—changing the face and fabric of the region.
By 1920, the age of the steamboat was a memory, its whistle lost to the sound of steam engines and sawmill whistles. Yet its legacy lingers. The riverbanks, still marked by old landings and washed timbers, whisper stories of cotton, timber, and the men and women who built their lives along the Saline. The river itself, though quieter now, remains a witness—a silent thread running through every chapter of Ashley County’s story.
Sources:
This essay is based on Information About Ashley County by K. Brad Barfield (2025, original manuscript), supported by economic and historical data from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas (Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1890). Unless otherwise indicated, essay researched and written by K. Brad Barfield.
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