THE PEOPLE OF THE BUFFALO:
A SOCIO-CULTURAL ASSESSMENT OF INHOLDERS
ALONG THE BUFFALO NATIONAL RIVER

by Kent Anderson
page four

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER TWO: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BUFFALO NATIONAL RIVER
CHAPTER THREE: THE PEOPLE OF THE BUFFALO RIVER
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSIONS
ENDNOTES
SOURCES
PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER THREE:
THE PEOPLE OF THE BUFFALO RIVER
(continued)

Bill Brasel

As was the case with Oxford Hamilton, Bill Brasel was met briefly over lunch by this researcher and time did not permit an extensive interview. Brasel is a real estate agent in the region and offered his unique perspective on the land policies of the NPS. He and a business partner owned 40 acres which they had planned to sell as a single farm plot. The Park Service, apparently fearing the threat of development, purchased the only access road to their land and immediately closed it. Then the Park Service arrested Brasel's partner for trespassing when he tried to get to his "landlocked" parcel. This matter is still in litigation. Brasel said the BNR has helped only about 15 people economically in the entire region.18

Sam Hugh Park

Park was a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for Fort Smith until he resigned in 1977. Back in the 1960's Park said that, "I was among those who hollered 'Save the Buffalo'." The political forces supporting the proposed scenic river then had a "lulling effect" on people and disinclined them not to worry about the potential use of eminent domain. Park said that there "tacit understanding" that the Buffalo National River would was a not be handled the same as other national parks. After the BNR was established, though, it soon became apparent to Park that instead of "a creative bureaucracy" for the new and unique scenic river legislation, it was to be the depressingly familiar "bulldozer" of the National Park Service. This was evidenced by the early buying of land and making land management plans in 19731974 before the Park Service had even considered doing an environmental impact statement. Park has several inholders as, clients and accused the Land Acquisition Office of outright non-compliance with some important laws such as the Uniform Relocation Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Park is a member of an urban renewal board in Van Buren and said, "I've seen good relocation." He said the Park Service at the BNR "honored with lip service" the Uniform Relocation Act. Sam Park said that the Park Service at the Buffalo made a deliberate decision not to seriously consider anything less than fee simple in the acquisition of land. "A year ago I would've pulled my punches," said the lawyer, but since the Park Service has been continually "ignoring human courtesy," he feels compelled to speak out against the agency's policies. As for his former employer, the U.S. Justice Department, Park criticized the fact that the agency has failed to bring to trial for just compensation so many of the condemnation suits it has filed against inholders. "If they can't try it, they ought not to file it," said the attorney.

As did many other inholders, Sam Hugh Park related the experience of Doy Edgmon, an elderly inholder in his mid-70's, who had his land taken from him by the Park Service. Edgmon came from one of the oldest families in the area and had lived in the Buffalo River valley all of his life. He did not want to sell and leave his home (Photo 20), but the LAO kept pressuring him. Despite the fact that his approximately 80-100 acres of farmland was not really prime land nor did it touch the River, the Park Service served Roy Edgmon his condemnation notice in late 1979. After that, the elderly Edgmon "worried himself to death," according to Park. The attorney would often stop at Arvel Casey's store to chat as he had always done. There he began to see that Doy was letting his health deteriorate due to his constant worrying. A few months after the condemnation, the kindly Doy Edgmon died of heart failure. Park and many of the people in the area believed his passing was due, in part, if not all, to the strain caused by the loss of his home. "I saw it happen," said Sam Hugh Park.19

Ted and Jimmie Shaddox

The great-grandmother of Ted Shaddox first came to the Buffalo River in the 1830's. The Shaddoxes had a 149 acre farm on the north side of the Buffalo near Pruitt with a one mile river frontage. They raised approximately 80 head of cattle, some hay, and, by all accounts, the finest tasting watermelons in the valley. Ted's wife, Jimmie said, "I never dreamed they'd take us," but that is exactly what occurred. Their land was condemned at about the same time that Roy Keeton, Sr. received his Declaration of Taking. In fact, their 27 year-old son, Philip, received the papers. Ted and Jimmie were never met in person at this time by the agency which wanted their home. At their trial for just compensation for their land, a jury in Fayetteville awarded them slightly more than $212,00. The Park Service had contested that the property was worth only $116,000.

Ted and Jimmie have since relocated in Harrison, but occasionally they have returned to their former land and sadly watched the tall grasses and thorny honey locusts overtake what used to be their pastureland. Ted recalled that, although tourists had on rare occasions trespassed over his farm and trampled his oat fields, he normally had warm and friendly talks with the "floaters" who stopped at the bank. Ted and Jimmie said that their new home is nice, but that they received no relocation assistance from the NPS. In 1980 they planted five hills of watermelons on their new land, but they just did not taste quite as good as had their renowned crops along the Buffalo River. 20

Emmett and Katie Slay

Like Roy Keeton, Sr., Emmett Slay was one of the very few inholders who received the drastic action of a Declaration of Taking which requires near-immediate vacating of the properties and immediate granting of title to the government. Slay had slightly more than 160 acres in Searcy County and his son, Ben, had another adjoining 140 plus acres. The Freshour Construction Company of Sweet Home contracted with Ben Slay to remove limestone aggregate from the Slay property. At that point the controversy began. The Park Service claimed that such a blasting job would entail dynamiting one of the beautiful bluffs along the Buffalo. The Slays said that the blasting would have occurred three-eighths of a mile away from the river bluff on a small ridge, but still within the eventual boundary of the Buffalo National River. The Park Service initially attempted to purchase the land of the Slays, but the agency obviously believed that time was against this method of acquisition as displayed by its subsequent actions. On Monday, March 6, 1978 Emmett Slay was in Park headquarters negotiating for the sale of part of his land across the river. While there, the Park Service never mentioned the fact that they had filed for a DT and would seize his property in a day or two. The following day Emmett Slay received a certified letter from the NPS announcing that the agency would soon condemn his land, but without specifying that a DT would be used. The day after that, Wednesday, March 8, 1978, he left his home to hunt for a sick calf among his cattle herd. He left behind his wife, Katie, who was ill from both a heart condition and diabetes. While driving to where his cattle was, Slay listened to reports on the radio which announced an escape of two inmates from a local jail as well as a bank robbery. The radio report cautioned citizens to be on guard. While walking through his pasture and brush in search of the sick calf, two men approached him with shotguns and told him to halt. Slay said that the guns were pointed directly at him and the strangers' fingers were on the triggers. The armed men did not identify themselves, but shouted, "we took this land over at 10:00 and we're guarding it." After several tense moments during which Emmett Slay nervously was able to identify himself while still being held at gunpoint, the armed men said that they were Park rangers and that Slay should return to his home where a "man" would be waiting. Frightened for his sick wife, Slay sped back to his home where a man could be seen inside the house and a man stood outside with a crackling walkie-talkie. By then, it was after five in the afternoon, and the man inside Emmett Slay's home identified himself as a U.S. Marshal and proceeded to serve Slay with the DT which was dated the previous day.

By now Slay was furious and asked by what right armed men could came onto his property before he was even served the proper papers. The Marshal said such a procedure would be illegal and he then left to investigate Slay's story. After a short delay, the Marshal returned and said to Emmett Slay, "You told me the truth." Slay's son, Ben, was in Wyoming while this was going on. When he returned he was met by additional NPS personnel at the gate to his property. These men were brandishing handguns and would not allow Ben Slay on his land until he identified himself.

After 90 days the Slays had to vacate their land. The Park Service put $135,000 in deposit as the value for Emmett Slay's farm, but the elderly inholder was eventually awarded over $214,000 in his trial. Much later, when Prime Time Sunday came to the BNR, the then Superintendent John Turney denied that Park employees had pointed their guns at Emmett Slay or had their fingers on the triggers. Curiously, John Turney was not even in the state of Arkansas when the incident had originally occurred. The heavy-handed, gun-toting methods which faced Emmett Slay that cold afternoon in 1978 occurred under the direction of Superintendent Lorraine Mintzmeyer whose reign over the BNR included the Declaration of Taking against the Keetons and other incidents very disturbing to the local populace. For her work in the Buffalo National River, Superintendent Mintzmeyer was promoted by the National Park Service. 21

Ray Watkins

Watkins is Newton County Sheriff and offered several comments from his position. He said that crime has gone up in the County 25 percent since the formation of the BNR with most of the crimes occurring during "floating season" which could be as short in duration as six weeks or as long as three months. Watkins said he has good cooperation with the NPS. No permission is needed for his office to go onto NPS land, but Watkins feels that the agency lacks the personnel for adequate law enforcement. The loss of inholders along the River has meant to the Sheriff's office that no longer are there sufficient local people to check and report suspicious behavior. Also, said Watkins, many local people have come to his office and complained of being run off the riverbank or other parkland by the Park Service because they had no tent set up and, therefore, were not "camping." Ray Watkins thought that this action was needless harassment as locals always had small "party" gatherings near the Buffalo. The Sheriff disputed the Park Service claim of a massive increase in arson and vandalism against NPS facilities. First of all, he said, only five percent of all criminal complaints relate to vandalism. Second, there is ten times the amount of vandalism against private property as compared to Park property. 22

Weldon Clagett and Robert Hickman

The Clagetts and the Hickmans are neighbors near what used to be the little town of Erby which no longer exists as all former inholders have either sold their land to the Park Service or have been driven from it. Robert Hickman received his condemnation notice nearly two years ago while Weldon Clagett got his about a year ago. Neither one has received notice as to when their trials for compensation might be scheduled, confirming what Sam Hugh Park said about the needless "urgency" to acquire land, followed by interminable delays toward the trial for compensation. Clagett has three children and had hoped to pass along his 220 acres of farmland to them. Like Herb Van Deven, he views the issue as a constitutional one. 'Is there no limit, he wondered, on the use of eminent domain for recreational purposes? 23

 

Bill Duty

Bill Duty and his wife are among the few who have received a scenic easement from the Park Service, but only after considerable difficulty. In the negotiating process toward the easement; the LAO told the Dutys that an easement which cost more than 70 percent of the appraised value of the land would not be allowed and that fee simple acquisition would be the only route for the agency; this despite the fact that the Dutys were in a specified easement zone of the Buffalo National River master plan for development. After the Dutys called the office of Senator Bumpers, the Park Service returned with a more reasonable easement proposal. It was a long process for the Dutys, beginning in early 1978 and ending in December of 1979 when the scenic easement was finally signed. Along the way, Bill and his wife received two letters from the LAO which threatened condemnation. Bill Duty felt that the Land Acquisition Office had a "take it or leave it," with the implication being that "leaving it" would result in condemnation proceedings being brought against the inholder. 24

Hugh Ashley (Photo 21)

Ashley is a former mayor of Harrison and is retiring from the Arkansas State House of Representatives at the end of the current 1979-1901 term. Currently, he owns and manages a music store in downtown Harrison which has a fine recording studio, affording local musical talent the opportunity to record without having to go all the way to Memphis or Nashville. One of the great prides of Hugh Ashley, though, was his former inholding in Marion County toward the lower end of the Buffalo River. Ashley had an 300 acre tree farm which epitomized the best in tree conservation. In 1976 he was named Southern Tree Farmer of the Year and has won numerous awards from the American Forestry Association. Ashley began his work in 1964 and carefully groomed and produced an excellent example of controlled forest agriculture. He never used a bulldozer in his operations and painstakingly removed brush and thickets to allow for the growth of natural grass. Turkey hunters and campers often used to ask Ashley if they might use his land to which he always agreed with his one request that they not start a fire. He also built 15-20 miles of fire roads. For reasons which are very difficult to comprehend, though, the National Park Service wanted all of Hugh Ashley's efforts. As he said, "they wanted 15 years of my life and work." Only a small portion of his land touched the Buffalo River. Calling himself a "practical man," Ashley said he was told to "negotiate or be condemned." Therefore, since he could not afford the legal fees needed for the battle against condemnation proceedings, Hugh Ashley reluctantly sold his cherished crop. 25

 

Ken Hubbard

Ken Hubbard has 286 acres of good, clear pastureland in Searcy County. He has 135 head of cattle and approximately three years ago the NPS began efforts to buy the land. Hubbard requested to this researcher that precise monetary figures not be used in his case study, but he had no objection to ratios. Hubbard himself had contracted for two independent appraisals of his land prior to his negotiations with the LAO. The first Park Service offer was less than one-half of one of his appraisals. He called the NPS offers "an insult to our intelligence." The Park Service told him that the appraisals he contracted for could not be used in the purchase negotiating, only in a court of law. After nearly two years of purchase negotiating, Hubbard and the Park Service began to explore the possibility of a use and occupancy agreement, or "lease-back." As these negotiations proceeded, the Land Acquisition Office more than doubled their price for the "lease-back." Finally, apparently tired of dealing with a concerned small farmer with shrewd business instincts, the Park Service condemned his farm in the late summer of 1980. Hubbard wonders why the Park Service kept telling him all those years that his land was not worth much when their publicity says just the opposite, saying that the land along the Buffalo is among the prettiest and most priceless in the nation.26

Ed Tudor

Tudor is the editor of the Marshall Mountain Wave. His father was one of the leading proponents of a dam on the Buffalo back in the 1960's. Today, Tudor admits that this was the desire of only a small minority, but he still feels that dams offer excellent economic development for most areas as witnessed by the Bull Shoales region on the Arkansas-Missouri border. Tudor thinks that the National Park Service should be registered as a lobby organization due to the massive quantities of money the agency spends to procure projects. He cited their huge grants to the University of Arkansas for studies which promote the continuation of the Buffalo National River. Tudor said that none of the promises of economic benefit of the NPS made a decade or so ago have come true. The only economic benefit which the Park Service has brought to Searcy County, the editor said, resulted from the two or three very friendly Park rangers who have chosen to live in the county. Tudor disputes the claims of increasing tourism brought forth by the NPS. For instance, during February of 1979 which saw one of the most severe winter storms in most peoples' recollection, with snow on the ground for six weeks, forcing Tudor to take his paper to Harrison for printing in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, the Park Service said that month saw 40,000 visitors to the BNR. Ed Tudor wondered where the, agency got such figures. 27

 

Lucille Hannon

Hannon is the former mayor of Pruitt, a town which she said was "wiped out by the National Park Service." The 71-year old Hannon has traveled extensively in her life, but has lived along the Buffalo for the last 20 years and has come to the region for over 40 consecutive years, including summer vacations. She fought both the building of a dam on the Buffalo and the establishment of a national park in the area since 1962, having helped found the Buffalo River Conservation and Recreation Council and the Buffalo Landowners Association. She particularly resents the exaggerated "editorializing" of several environmentalists. The peppery former mayor called Kenneth Smith's book, Buffalo River Country, "the most misrepresented book that's been published." 28

Harold Hedges

Hedges is a former Second Vice-President of the Ozark Society and co-author of the Buffalo River Canoeing Guide. He explained the controversy surrounding his actions at the Walnut Grove Cemetery by saying that he was merely attempting to assist the Park Service in granting a "use permit" to the church to insure that the cemetery would always have that use. There was a distant threat, according to the NPS, that the church might close its doors some year and sell the land to someone who, in turn, might build a "dairy queen" on the land. The UPS would have paid the church for the use permit based on the valuation of an appraisal; hence his attempt to have an appraisal carried out for Walnut Grove Cemetery. Hedges has signed a use and occupancy permit with which he is very satisfied. He classified himself as a willing seller to the Park Service and felt that there were many willing sellers in the history of the BNR. With regard to land acquisition he said there has been "a limited amount of opposition." 29

 

Harmon Chadbourn

Chadbourn lives in Little Rock and works for the Arkansas Power and Light Company. An experienced and expert "floater," he is also a member of the Arkansas Canoe Club and was, for a brief time, an Ozark Society member. After "floating" on the Buffalo River for many years, Harmon offered some reflections on the changes he has seen over recent years. He said he feels that the River usage has increased greatly in recent years and that many "floaters" such as the large number of college students and others who insist on drinking beer as they float the River often litter the banks. Chadbourn also said that Park ranger regulations have increased in recent years, somewhat to his annoyance as rangers have forbidden he and his club members to "float" at river levels considered too high by the agency. The National Park officials at the BNR do not attempt to make any distinction between the expert "floater" and the beginner, according to Chadbourn. He further said that, in one incident, a ranger threatened to ticket and have the car towed away of some of the "floaters'' of the Arkansas Canoe Club; this despite the fact that the ranger was aware of their membership in the expert sports group.

Regarding inholders, Harmon Chadbourn said that he rarely has had contact with them, but he did say that "the National Park Service seems to be eradicating the presence of man." He thought the agency was making no effort to preserve the cultural heritage of the River. Additionally, and of great concern to him, Chadbourn said that the actions of the Park Service along the Buffalo in land acquisition has produced such a "negative backlash'' against the government that, unfortunately, other important conservation efforts in the state of Arkansas have been made more difficult due to their example. 30

Hilary Jones (Photo 22)

Except for a brief period after World War II until 1966, when he re-acquired his land, Hilary Jones and his ancestors have owned property along the Buffalo River since before the Civil War. Jones had three parcels of land of a combined acreage of approximately 165, on both sides of the River. Currently, he is in the highway construction business, but for many years he also ran a private campground and the Buffalo Motel on the north shore of the River in Pruitt. Jones' land was among the most beautiful on the entire Buffalo and was the most photographed region of the area (Photos 23-25). Jones knew from the time the BNR was formed that the Park Service wanted his land, but no serious attempts at buying it were made until the mid-1970's. In 1977 the pressure became more intense. In the spring of that year, Hilary Jones' wife died of emphysema, leaving him with eight children. About two weeks later the Park Service brought appraisers to his land in an effort to hasten a sale. Jones was not present when this occurred, but his cousins ushered the government officials from the property. Late that same year, with the NPS offer for Jones' land in the neighborhood of $250,000, Hilary realized he might soon face condemnation proceedings. The NPS had warned of such a possibility due to what they called an "impasse in negotiations and your failure to state an amount." Jones simply did not want to sell his home and property which so many tourists had enjoyed over the years that he regularly received the same returning guests to the Buffalo. As Jones said, though, "government is like the Lord. It giveth and taketh away." Realizing his impending fate, he sold a small parcel of land across the river with a house on it to his friend Herman Haddock for $25,000. The Park Service had appraised the property at the very low price of only $5,000. Haddock spent about $800 to make the house fully usable and four months later, in ill health, he sold it to the NPS for $25,000, five times the amount the agency said it was worth less than one-half of a year prior. That transaction proved, said Jones, that the Park Service either deliberately contracts very low appraisals generally and then may choose to ignore them if it suits their purpose, of that they had deliberately singled out his house and lot for an unrealistically low appraisal.

Though he managed to have a small portion of his acreage escape condemnation, that was not the case with the bulk of his land. In late February of 1978, very soon after Roy Keeton, Sr. received his Declaration of Taking, Hilary Jones also met the same fate. Actually, the U.S. Marshal did not present the DT to Jones personally, but tactlessly left the document behind with two of his children, nine-year old Mark and 15-year old Donna. As he left, the Marshal told the children that he hoped their father would not be "mad."

At his trial for compensation, Hilary was awarded only about $300,000 for his land even though an independent appraiser from Fayetteville had said the land was worth $550,000. The jurors never got to see the attractive little cabins which used to house tourists on the River. The UPS had bulldozed them shortly after Jones vacated his property in mid-1978, according to the deadline on his Declaration of Taking. Ironically, Jones ended up buying back his own home from the Park Service prior to the trial. It is a fine tri-level home with redwood siding which Hilary Jones had moved to the 13 upper acres he was allowed to retain. The Park Service has since cut several trees along the road to Jones' former campground (Photo 26), presumably to eventually widen the road for sane future NPS development. "The thing they said we were going to do, they did," said Jones.

For years most of the tourists who had stayed at Hilary Jones' motel or campground had told their very friendly host that they thought a National Park takeover of the Buffalo River would be the best thing for the whole area. Recently, Jones encountered a Mr. Green, one such longtime former regular guest of his land and, in addition, an expert "floater." Discouraged by recent Park Service treatment of himself and other tourists, Green told Jones that the federal takeover of the Buffalo River was a "mistake" and that the River was much more enjoyable before the National River was created. The tourist also told Hilary Jones as he departed that he would never again return to Arkansas for a vacation. 31

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