Lackland Springs

     This community was located in the south part of Redland Township and has an interesting
history.  It was so named for the springs located there and was popular as far back as 1860.  P. K.
Kellam, a prominent Camden businessman, kept a diary which was passed on to his relatives and
has been preserved.  This diary is one of the oldest records in existence which describe events in
south Arkansas.  He describes the events around Camden and also includes the news of the battles
of the Civil War.  The following entries were recorded in August of 1861, just as the Civil War
was beginning:   

     Aug. 6, 1861
     This a.m. at 31/2, we start to Lackland Springs.  Awful hot and dry and heavy sandy road. 
     Take us all day to get there safe.  Several families there from our city.

     Aug. 7, 1861
     In company today with several of the Lackland visitors.  We cut a bee tree.

     Aug. 8, 1861
     Visit about today.  Go a fishing in Little Caney.  Fine fun catching jack fish.

     Aug. 9, 1861
     Go fishing again today.  Good string of big jacks.  Talk of a big battle to be fought 
     in Mo.  20-30 thousand on each side. 

     Aug. 10, 1861
     Having quite a pleasant visit at the Springs. Have an abundance of watermelons 
     and peaches.

     Aug. 11, 1861
     Go home today. Leave family at the springs. 

     Aug. 18, 1861
     Go to Lackland Springs after my family.  News of big battle in Mo. near 
     Springfield, in which our loss was heavy, killing many Arkansas men. 

     Aug. 20, 1861
     Go fishing. Catch none. Lackland Springs is owned by Mr. Martin.  Too poor to 
     put them in good fix.  With proper management, this watering place will some day
     be of considerable note.

     Most people I talked to remember seven springs, each with a different mineral water,
although some records say there were five or six springs.  These were all located in a relatively
small area and were known for their healing properties.  The following article was printed in
Scenes In Nevada County, a turn of the century guide book and was reprinted in the Jan. 1993
issue of the Old Time Chronicle.  It also shows an old picture of the grounds around the springs.  

     "Nevada County possesses many points of interest.  As a health resort, Lackland Springs
probably leads.  Here in a beautiful hollow is situated five or six large springs, the waters of which
have  a far-famed reputation for curing many disesases.  The springs are in Redland Township
about twelve miles east of Prescott.  They are a quite popular pleasure resort during the summer
months, the waters of Caney Creek abounding in fish and game.  Boating, bathing, hunting, and
fishing form the principal amusements of the crowds that visit each summer.  They are on the
property of J. L. Eagle.   W. H. Parker is the postmaster, the office being served twice a week
from Sayre.   Jno. G. Benton operates a store that is liberally patronized and also runs a sawmill
which give employment to a number of hands and does a considerable business.  Agricultural
pursuits are followed by  the people to a successful extent, and the lands around Lackland are
considered very productive.  The range is fine and stock raising is a profitable pursuit."

     Another article appeared in the July 7, 1906 issue of The Nevada News:

     "Nevada County has some of the largest farms, the finest orchards, best stock, and the
biggest mills in South Arkansas.  Sawmills are numerous.  Many summer schools opened last
Monday and most are in flourishing financial condition.  Many schools are paying teachers $60
per month.  People are for the most part in very good humor.  

     Lackland Springs is Nevada County's  health and pleasure resort.  A half dozen springs 
bubble out from a series of hills in Redland Township and form a cluster that is not only of rare
natural beauty, but also contains properties proven beneficial in more than one disease.

     For years, each summer has found scores of people camping on the hills above the springs
and  receiving wonderful benefit from the water and climate.  

     The springs have lost some of their attraction in the last few years.  One scarcely mentions
going there now.  Yet the same water still flows from the same hillsides in the same way it did
fifteen years ago.  One even imagines the same spotted cow with the same bell, grazing in the
same meadow, in the same lazy way as of yore.  And there is the same barefoot boy, swinging the
same tin bucket, whistling the same tune, but there is not the same jolly crowd every July and
August that made matters merry in the late 1890's.

     There is but one reason--accomodations lacking.  Let someone build a few small cottages,
rid the grounds of underbrush, burn up the ticks and redbugs, keep out the hogs, and clean up
around the springs, and there will be a maddening rush for Nevada County's most beautiful resort. 


     There is an abundance of fish in Caney Creek and plenty of game in the bottoms.  Boating,
bathing, and other pleasures might be provided and Lackland made of more than local importance. 
Distance might be an objection of some, but for people who really want a change, who want to
get away from cafes and  the worry of business and enjoy a few weeks of quiet rest, twelve miles
is all too short.  

     Prescott and Nevada County need such a resort.  Nature has amply done her part.  Will
our citizens do theirs?"  ( a picture of the grounds in 1906 was included in this article)
      
     Still another article appeared in the July 16, 1908 issue of The Nevada News describing a
Sunday spent at Lackland. It is reprinted below:

     "Did you ever spend a Sunday at Lackland? 

     Of course you have been there, but it has been on special occasions when you could hitch
up "Old Baldy" and with the necessary tackle and bait, hie yourself off to the waters of Caney
Creek, and while away the time pulling from the stream a good string of wary trout (?) or
sneaking from the side of an old cypress tree a fine string of goggle-eyed perch.  Or perhaps with
a trusty rifle bring down from the heights of some fine old oak or hickory, a tempting mess of
squirrels.  Or perhaps you spent the time in an enchanting game of dominoes, or tripped the light
fantastic on an improvised platform while an erratic orchestra attempted a mazy waltz.  

     But did you spend a day there?  A day devoted to quiet rest?

     Yesterday was the ideal occasion for such an experience.  A day when bright sunshine cast
sufficient pools of light on seared leaves as to despell the gloom, and southern breezes brought a
happy relief from summer heat.  

     There was a most congenial crowd of Prescott people there and they enjoyed the day.

     The portly Dr. Guthrie, comfortably garbed, stretched himself on an easy cot, and for once
forsook the temptation of any heated conversation, but he talked some and was always awake
when the lemonade was passed.

     Sam White busied himself with anything necessary for comfort or pleasure of the crowd,
and never hesitated, when called upon by his good wife, to go to the spring for water.

     Dan Pittman was moving around in a general way, always ready to listen to an interesting
anecdote or raise his head at the slightest neigh from "Old Prince".

     Sam Logan seemed to be the special guardian of the commissary department and held
more than one battle with the insistent hogs.  In the absence of other weapons, he did some telling
work on the enemy with a good-sized hatchet.

     Dr. Hesterly didn't make much of a record in anything particular until he reached the
dinner table, and then for thirty minutes he was the busiest man there.  

     Meanwhile, Adam Guthrie, Jr. slowly moved about the grounds in a manner calculated to
keep down perspiration.  

     The good ladies, Mesdames Logan Pittman, Guthrie, and White, with an ease and grace
that was surely admired, moved about the culinary department in a way that resulted in a most
excellent dinner.  

     Nor were the little folks idle.  Little Lula White seated on a camp stool made love to her
Teddy bear, while her younger sister threatened to baptize her doll baby in the sparkling waters of
the center spring. 

     Fred Guthrie lay stretched out before a late magazine and occasionally queried the crowd
with such questions as "What is the longest word in the English language"?, while Master Green
wanted to know if a man had twenty sick sheep and one should die, how many were left?

     And that's how you spend a "Sunday at Lackland."