The Cherokee Drowning Place

From the "Hill & Holler Column" by Susan Bates
Submitted to Janice Maxwell by Robert & Janet Francis

There were two main "Trail Of Tears" routes which passed through Arkansas. The southern route ran from Memphis to near Little Rock where it joined with the Arkansas River and ended at Fort Gibson, while the northern route of the Arkansas portion of the Trail of Tears, commonly known as the "Old Military Road," passed through Baxter and Marion Counties in northern Arkansas.

Three thousand Cherokee and Creek men, women and children, victims of the Federal Indian Removal Policy, walked the
northern path. Each one had a story to tell if anyone had cared to listen. Most of the stories that were passed down have long been forgotten. I'm going to tell you about an almost forgotten incident so that you will remember and honor the spirits of the people who died at the Cherokee Drowning Place.

Somewhere below the Jacob Wolff House just south of the town of Norfork, Arkansas, a group of Cherokee People gathered near the White Raven Stomp Grounds where the Sacred Fire of the Cherokees burned until 1902. There they waited for the flooded Norfork River to recede so they could cross on the ferry and continue their journey to Indian Territory.

The river was a main thoroughfare for the logging industry and the heavy rains had caused a log jam. For some reason, maybe due to alcohol or just plain meanness, a group of white settlers decided they didn't want the Indians camped there. Threats and taunting soon turned into violence as the rowdies fired their guns over the heads of the weary travelers. Afraid for their lives, Cherokee men, women and children tried to run across the log jam to safety. That proved to be a tragic mistake. As the logs began to roll and move down stream, one by one, the people fell into the Norfork River. Many of them drowned.

If their names had ever been recorded, they are long forgotten. No one knows how many perished or where their bodies lie. The Norfork River has since been dammed and a beautiful lake draws tourists and retirees - all looking for the "Good Life." But I want them to know, and I want you to know that some of us will remember. And justice will ultimately prevail.

(Source: Richard Craker, The Mountain Echo article, January 24, 1963)