Gurdon, AR

Gurdon grew at the railroad in southern Clark County, first as a construction camp and then as a junction town serving the timber country of south Arkansas. The main line arrived in 1873, the city incorporated in 1880, and several branches later tied Gurdon to Camden, the Ouachita Forest, and other lumber districts. The Missouri Pacific Depot, built in 1917, remains the clearest physical reminder of that transportation history. Timber also left a cultural mark: the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a lumbermen’s organization, was founded in Gurdon in 1892, and the town still has an International Hoo-Hoo Headquarters and Museum.

ATTRCivil Air Patrol / Public domain

Then there is the Gurdon Light, a floating light reported near the railroad tracks since the 1930s. The story has been linked to a 1931 killing of railroad foreman William McClain and later reached a national audience through Unsolved Mysteries; theories range from reflections to ghost stories, and none has settled the matter. Gurdon School District carries the timber connection into the present with the Go-Devils mascot, named for logging equipment, while US 67 points northeast to Arkadelphia and southwest to Prescott. The local read is railroad bones, timber history, and one enduring mystery in the woods.