XVIII
THE STREET CAR SYSTEM
Eureka Springs at one time had the most unique street car system in the nation. It began as a mule car line in 1891, but was electrified seven years later. It remained in operation until 1923 when it was crowded out by jalopies which invaded the town. The streets were not wide enough to accommodate both the street car and the Model T. The total length of the line was about three miles, but the two terminals of the main line were only half a mile apart. The entire system was a single track with three passing switches. The track was standard gauge and placed near the curb at one side of the street, as the streets were too narrow for center tracks.
John T. Brown, writing in “Trolley Sparks,” says that the Citizens Railway Company of Eureka Springs had a total of twelve cars, five of which were closed cars operated by one man, six two-man open cars, and one work-car which was also used as a party car. Except for two of the cars, all were originally mule-drawn cars purchased second hand from Houston, Texas. These cars were motorized with second hand electrical equipment purchased from the Detroit Street Railways. In 1904, two new summer cars were obtained from the St. Louis Car Company.
The Daily Times-Echo in the twenty-fifth anniversary issue of April 24, 1905, says:
“In no other city on the continent can there be found a street railway that leads such a winding course around and up and down the mountain-sides as does the Citizens Electric Railway of Eureka Springs. As you alight at the depot of the St. Louis and North Arkansas Railway you find a well-equipped street car there in waiting, and presently you are swung up and around the mountain side along what appears to be a ledge or precipice, and to the timid, it seems that in each instance there is danger of the car being hurled to the valley below. But really such a possibility is very remote, for during all the years the line has been in operation there has never been a serious accident. To make safety doubly sure, the far-seeing management has had guard rails laid all along this section of the line. From the depot up the mountain side to the intersection with the main line at the Crescent Spring, a little more than half a mile, the ascent amounts to a fraction over 101 feet, or a little more than 200 feet to the mile. The main line, which circles around West Mountain, traversing the most popular thorofare of the city and passing most all the famous springs and principal institutions, is not without its grades and wondrous curves.... At the Auditorium (now the Harmon Playgrounds), the track commences a most charming and tortuous ascent, and a feat of engineering that has challenged the admiration of many scientific men who have visited the resort. A roadbed had to be graded around the mountain side at angles that would seem ridiculous were it anywhere else than in this unusual mountain range. One car will be only a few yards from and above the other, and apparently going in the same direction when actually, they are headed toward opposite ends of the line. These ends, however, are only 300 yards apart, one end resting in the valley while the other is at the mountain’s peak. From the Crescent Hotel to the Auditorium there is a descent of 140 feet.
“The equipment and service on this street railway is better than can be found in many cities of far greater population than Eureka Springs, and the entire system is a source of gratification and pride to our people. Visitors make the valley echo with their merry shouts as they are carried around its course in the beautifully decorated and lighted trolley party cars, and the bands and orchestras of the city are frequent participants in these festivities.”
XIX
CARRY A. NATION
Carry A. Nation was a militant voice in the “wilderness of sin” at the turn of the century. Her three hatchets, which she named “Faith, Hope and Charity,” cut deeply into the liquor industry. Not that the liquor she destroyed in her attacks on bars and saloons amounted to a great deal, but her influence in fostering nation-wide prohibition was far reaching. She spent considerable time in jail and paid numerous fines, but this did not lesson her enthusiasm for the cause to which she devoted her life. Carry hated liquor, tobacco, rouge, lip-stick, and immorality in all its phases. She operated under the unwritten law which, she thought, superseded man-made legislation. Even some of the churches did not condone her radical ways and closed their doors to her. But she organized her own.
Carry married twice; first to a young fellow in Cass County, Missouri, who called himself “doctor.” He was addicted to drink and Carry could not reform him so she left him and returned to the home of her parents. He died shortly after their baby was born. Her second marriage was to David Nation, a lawyer, newspaper man, and later, a Campbellite preacher. This marriage fared better than the first one but it was not a happy affair. Carry cut the swath for the family and David had to string along as best he could.