Fisher Ford has seen a lot of history.
Confederate soldiers camped at Fisher Ford after a failed campaign to capture St. Louis, Mo. A trading post did business at the ford. And before the bridge was built in 1903, a ferry had operated there.
With a whitewater park opening and a bridge under construction there, Gary Barnes hopes that the history of the ford will not be forgotten.
Barnes of Gentry said he would like to see a Civil War or a historical trail marker placed there.
Glenn Jones, commissioner for Benton County Historical Preservation Commission, said he would recommend to the commission to place a historical marker there. Before Fisher Ford Bridge was demolished earlier this year, Jones had fought to save it.
He fought for it because "it's so historical," Jones said. It saw a cattle drive. It saw the first vehicles in Benton County. It was a safe way to cross the Illinois River.
In a Jan. 22 letter to the editor, Barnes wrote, "During the 1800s, this ford was the only crossing of the Illinois River in the area with a solid rock bottom, insuring safe crossing for wagons and other wheeled vehicles."
In his home, Barnes has old maps and history books of northern Washington County. The 1894 and 1908 maps show the Old Line Road or military road in the area that troops took during the Civil War.
Barnes said his great-grandfather and two of his great-great-uncles were Confederate soldiers in the 1st Arkansas Cavalry. "My great-grandfather was from Batesville," he said.
They were part of Gen. Sterling Price's raid into Missouri. The plan was to capture St. Louis, but Confederate soldiers met overwhelming resistance before reaching the city.
Barnes said they turned west and "got whipped" all the way back to Arkansas.
Before returning home, his great-grandfather, great-great-uncles and other soldiers camped at Fisher Ford.
Also during the war, his great-grandfather and great-great-uncles would take up supplies on the White River to keep them from reaching Union troops.
Before the Battle of Pea Ridge, Indian troops, which had fought for the Confederacy, took the Line Road and crossed Fisher Ford.
According to "Hico a Heritage, Siloam Springs History" by Maggie Aldridge Smith, the Old Line Road was a military connection between Fort Scott, Kan., and Fort Smith. "At that time Pratt's store operated there, as did other trading posts up and down the Old Line Road," Smith wrote. "Travel and trade in Indian Territory was by permit only, so Benton County's west side was a teeming trade line in the 1840s and earlier."
Barnes said the stores and mills here would give Indians a place to purchase goods, such as flour, corn meal, salt and sugar. Also, whiskey was available in Cincinnati. Distilleries operated in the area.
After the war, Barnes' great-grandfather became a doctor. He moved several times and went to Indian Territory before settling in Cincinnati in 1889. Barnes' grandfather and his son had a store in Cincinnati.
He said his great-grandfather Smith and great-great-uncles hauled freight on the Line Road and would cross the river at the ford. They would haul it south by the wagon load from Sedalia, Mo. They would take it all the way to Texas.
In the 1920s, Barnes' father and uncles helped drive cattle across the ford.
"My father, born in January 1906 in Summers, Ark., told of many trips over the 'line road' to Siloam Springs," Barnes wrote in his letter to the editor.
One story was about his father, who was 8 years old at the time, spending the night in the snow. His father, his father's father and three other men camped on The Line Road on their way home from a freighting venture into Oklahoma. They set up camp near where the hatchery and telephone yard are now on Waukesha Road.
Barnes explained that a lot of trees were down in the area, and the men built a fire.
He said his father slept that night "snug as a bug."
In 1903, Fisher Ford Bridge was built. It cost $5,250. The bridge was the first Illinois River bridge to be built "with money appropriated by the Benton County levying court," Smith wrote. According to information from Benton County Archives, the county paid $5,438, and Siloam Springs paid $500 on the bridge project.
The only replacement parts of the bridge were the floor boards. At the east side of the bridge, were post remnants that held ferry cables. Gordan Davis said he thought there was a charge to use the ferry, according to Smith's book.
The bridge was closed to vehicles in 2005.
Earlier this year, work to rebuild the bridge started. Benton County hired A.M. Cohron of Iowa as the contractor for the $1.04 million bridge project. County officials also have plans to pave Fisher Ford Road north and south of the bridge.
Before the old bridge was demolished, Jones said he spent about a year working to save it. He said he was given the bridge but only had 30 days to move the 30-ton structure.
His plan was to move it with two helicopters, but organizing the move would take longer than the deadline.
"If they gave me six months, I could've saved it," Jones said.
He also asked if the new bridge could be built next to the existing one. But this would require it to be built with a curve.
Then, he requested to use parts of the old bridge for a sculpture. He had marked beams that he wanted. But when he returned to claim the pieces, the bridge was gone.
It was sold for scrap and "probably made $3,000," Jones said.
Barnes, who grew up in Cincinnati, graduated from Siloam Springs High School in 1957. He moved to a farm in the Gentry area in 1982 and moved again in 1998. He worked at Webb Wheel for 26 years and for Gentry schools for 12 years.
He and his wife, Donna, together had seven children. They were married for 33 years. Barnes has 15 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
Most live in the area. And nearly all his grandchildren, except for those of his daughter who lives in southeast Missouri, have graduated from either Siloam Springs or Gentry schools.
General News on 06/25/2014