Have you ever thought about visiting a ghost town in Arkansas? There are several, including Rush, a once-thriving mining community now located within the Buffalo National River boundaries.
In 1880, John Wolfer, Bob Setzer and J.H. McCabe moved to Buffalo River country in the Arkansas Ozarks. Drawn by tales of lost silver mines, the prospectors spent months tunneling for ore, hoping to strike it rich.
Their dreams seemed to come true when an 1886 assay report mistakenly showed $8-a-ton worth of silver in their ore from the Rush area. They built a smelter to extract the precious metal, but when they fired it up, greenish smoke from the stack revealed that they had discovered zinc instead of silver.
At the time, zinc was used in making brass, which found its way into products as diverse as door knobs, bullet casings, musical instruments and zippers. Zinc was also rolled into sheets for roofing, pulverized for paints and melted to make galvanizing. Though its value was far less than silver or gold, the large deposits of high-grade ore in Marion County quickly became a boon for the backwoods area.
Major mining operations began with the opening of the Morning Star Mine in 1884. Other mines soon followed, including the Red Cloud, Monte Cristo, Lonnie Boy, Yellow Rose, White Eagle, Lucky Dutchman, Dixie Girl, Bonanza and Philadelphia. A community of homes and businesses grew in the mining district, and by 1890, the town was officially named Rush, complete with its own post office.
Rush’s heyday arrived with the start of World War I in 1914. The escalating demand for high-quality zinc caused prices to skyrocket, drawing workers to Rush. At its peak, several thousand people lived there, making it the largest city in north Arkansas.
As the war wound down, so did mining operations. However, Rush maintained a sense of community until the post office closed in the 1950s. Gradually, the remaining inhabitants left, and Rush became a ghost town. In 1972, it was included in the lands acquired to create the Buffalo National River.
Today, visitors can explore several historic sites in Rush, including the 1886 smelter, the Taylor-Medley store, a blacksmith shop, the livery barn site, the Morning Star processing mill and homes dating back to 1899. A hiking trail passes the entrances of several now-closed mines.
Access to Rush is from Highway 14, 10 miles south of Yellville. Watch for the signs. A visitor’s guide is available here on the national park website.
For information on another Ozark Mountains community where things were once greatly different, click here to read the story of Everton in Boone County.
