To start, I want to talk a little about outdoor photography, a few years back while admiring beautiful
Thunder Canyon Falls, I slipped and fell hard,
landing directly on the Canon EOS hanging around my neck. I thought I had broken ribs, but no, just
bruised I soldiered on and our DSLR
seemed to work just fine even though the circular polarized filter attached to
the lens was bent and would no longer accept
the lens cap.
 |
Trimble House
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That misadventure into Thunder
Canyon (see: 23 Thunder Canyon Falls)
marked the end of carrying a DSLR while hiking, and the beginning of the more
convenient cellphone picture taking.
Since then, we have used a variety of phones, none cost much, but all claimed to have ‘high quality’ cameras. Cheap phones may take acceptable snapshots
and sometimes you get lucky and capture an exceptionally good image, but most
of the time the shots are sub-par at best. |
in old East Calico
|
My picture quality
frustrations came to a head after a recent hike along the Buffalo River (see: 135 Clabber to Cedar Creek) I
didn’t get a single picture that I felt was acceptable. I tried to ‘clean up’ the images using photo
editing software but there’s very little you can do with a lousy picture. Having reached my breaking point, I dug out
my old friend the EOS Rebel, charged the battery and bought some new filters. |
remains of the theater
|
Now I believe the photo quality since then has obviously improved, at
least I’m not as embarrassed to post the pictures I take. Of course there is still a lot of room for
improvement, I can only get better with practice, and I plan to do just
that. Today I had the chance to practice photography on our road trip
down to Calico Rock. |
loading dock at the feed mill
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We’re going to the AGFC office in Calico Rock today to get Kat a ’65
Plus Lifetime Fishing License’ which is a great value that I recommend for
everyone who enjoys fishing (upon eligibility).
The AGFC regional office is on the north side of town across the street
from a big Baptist church on Highway 56.
After getting her license we take our time heading back home, stopping
along the way to take a glimpse into the past at a few of the many historic
landmarks. |
on the deck of the railroad trestle
|
Just a couple blocks back toward town is the Trimble House on the right
across the street from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The Trimble log home circa 1854 was
originally built in Dolph, Arkansas and in 2009 taken apart piece by piece,
then restored and rebuilt at its present site between highway and a little creek. We continue into town, or more specifically ‘East
Calico’. |
wooden railroad trestle
|
East of downtown Calico Rock just across Calico Creek along Walnut
Street this sometimes-raucous boomtown sprung up in the early 20th century containing many establishments of ill-repute, at this
time the area became known as ‘Peppersauce Alley’ named after the local homebrew that originated here. In a few years railroad detectives and local
vigilantes ‘cleaned up’ the area and burned down many of the original
structures. |
remnants of swinging bridge with trestle in background
|
Later in the 30’s and 40’s as Calico Rock grew, in a large part thanks
to the arrival of the railroad, East Calico became a more respectable part of
town with many businesses including the local Ford and Chevy dealerships, feed
mill, electric power plant and icehouse, telephone exchange, a lumber planing mill, barber shop, theater, grocery and hardware stores, and much more. A lot of this is still here, but all is in
ruin with many collapsed structures. A ‘ghost
town’ within Calico Rock city limits and recently opened up to visitors as an
historic walking tour.
 |
upstream on the White from Calico Rock landing
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I thought the best part of East Calico is the old wooden railroad trestle
over Calico Creek, still standing and appears to be structurally sound. This was part of the railroad siding that
brought both commerce and growth to Calico Rock back in the ‘hey day’ from
around 1935-1955. The siding closed in
the 60’s ushering in a slow, steady
decline to the town’s prosperity and population, and resulting in East Calico’s
demise into ruin. |
Riverview Hotel
|
Leaving East Calico, we drive around the corner and up the street to the
White River with a boat launch ramp and fishing outfitters, and down at the end
of the parking lot where Calico Creek dumps into the White are the remnants of
the old swinging bridge crossing high above the creek. Then we cross Main Street and up one block to
the old Riverview Hotel which was opened in 1924. |
The Wolf House
|
This was no luxury hotel most
of the 30 rooms were rented on a weekly basis by railroad men for around 25
cents a night. Rooms included a metal
bed, minimal furniture and the all-important chamber pot, later in 1938 a ‘flush
toilet’ was installed at the Riverview, the first in the county. This improvement
soon became a local novelty attraction where area residents paid a nickel for
use of the facilities. |
county clerk's office downstairs
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Continuing north we come to Norfork at the junction of the North Fork
and White Rivers, which was originally named Liberty back around 1824 and where
Jacob Wolf operated ferries across both rivers.
In 1829 he built the first permanent courthouse in Izard County of the
Arkansas Territory and Liberty became the county seat. This impressive two-story log structure now simply known
as ‘Wolf House’ is the oldest public building in Arkansas. |
upstairs courtroom
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After visiting Wolf House, we drive down the hill to the confluence of
the two big rivers before completing our road trip back to the house. All but one of the pictures shown in this
post were taken with the Canon EOS Rebel, the lone exception is the Riverview
Hotel shot using a cheap Android phone (for quality comparison).  |
confluence of the White and North Fork Rivers
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