The Black Diamond Story By; Beulah McKelvy Black Diamond is located in Miller County, Arkansas - Sulphur River Township, about five miles Northeast of Olive Branch Church and three miles north of Doddridge, Arkansas. The first settlers came as early as 1850. A railroad was built in 1894 - called the T. S. N. (Texarkana, Shreveport, and Natchez). Two freight trains ran daily. Each train had a caboose, in which passengers rode. There was a small depot for passengers and freight. This small town became known as Black Diamond because of coal having been discovered there. A Mr. John Kennedy discovered the vein of coal and dug for it. We do not know whether it existed in paying qualities or brought in any wealth for it to really be “black diamonds” or merely the fact a coal vein was found. But like all the names of places, “how it came to be” always makes an interesting story. The writer of the Black Diamond Story is Mrs. Beulah McKelvy, a long time citizen of Bloomburg. At this writing she is 91 years young. She is a charter member of the First Methodist Church of Bloomburg, a devoted Christian, faithful and loyal to her church and community. It is with love and respect that we relate the history just as she has written it. She was born and reared at Black Diamond; married to C. A. McKelvey and had four sons - Alton, (deceased), Ruel, K. P. and John. “Once I was going to Fouke, Arkansas, not very far away. I was a bit late getting my baby dressed. I heard the train blow - I knew I could not get to the depot on time, so I took a winding path, the fishermen had made down to the “cut”. Just as I got to the railroad track, the caboose passed me. I yelled, “Mr. Hill”, real loud. He was engineer. He stopped the train, backed up, sent a brakeman to take my baby and loaded me on his train. Mr. and Mrs. Hill (engineer and his wife) were such fine people. When he retired, they moved back to Marshall, Texas, their home town. My brother, Jewell Evers, who held an office at the Miller County Courthouse, attended Mr. Hill’s funeral. Jewell had spent so much time at the Hill’s home when he was young, and loved them so much.” She continues her history saying “The T. S. N. built a spur from Black Diamond through the country side to bring logs from the huge Waldrop farm and others to the big saw mill. A very sad accident happened on this “spur”. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Bigby lived near the spur. Their little two and one-half year old son was playing on the railroad track and several loaded cars ran over him, before the train could stop. The only hurt he got was his little left hand was cut off. He is still living today. He is Mr. Audry Bigby. The little train dumped the logs on a skidway at Black Diamond. A train picked up the logs, carried them to Ft. Lynn, Arkansas to be cut unto lumber. It was a huge saw mill at Ft. Lynn and employed many workmen. The company operated a commissary, which paid the men in chips. They were made of material like our present day plastic. They were different colors and sizes, each denoting its value. They could only be spent at the Commissary. It took a long time to build the T. S. N. They had to build a turntable. J. E. Evers furnished the rocks and was glad to get them off his 160 acre farm. Nrs. McKelvey’s mother, Mrs. J. E. Evers, boarded the employees of the sawmill. She gave the men a large eighteen foot room wit three beds in it. Later two more men, Taylor Sikes and Charley long came and they had to sleep on mattresses on the floor. To have a bit of fun out of Mr. Long, the men tell him that Taylor Sikes had fits and not to be scared if he had one. So Taylor had a fit the first night. The next night Charley Long picked up a sad iron (old fashioned iron) from the hearth and placed it on the floor at the head of his bed. He was asked why the iron? He replied, “If Sikes has a fit tonight, I plan to have one , too.” Mr. Long had sensed the joke and turned the tables on the jokesters, and Mr. Sikes had no more fits. Mrs. McKelvy gave us this story, clearing up what the “cut” was, mentioned earlier in the story. When her son, Ruel, was six or seven years old, he walked the rail of the bridge across this deep cut through a high hill. This bridge was sixty feet or more long over this deep cut and she continues, Boys will be boys. This old T. S. N/ railroad was sold to T. P. R. R. and still operates from Hosston, Louisiana, south. The track has been removed from Hosston to Texarkana - about six years ago. Black Diamond exists only in name today. It is a rural area with may nice farm homes, with cattle grazing, feed crops, and truck patches, taking the place of huge cotton crops and saw mills. Many have moved away - others commute to jobs, thanks to automobiles and good roads. They travel as far as Texarkana, Shreveport, and other places where they may earn a living. We relate an interesting story of an old family - Mr. Simon Waldrop. Mrs. Waldrop’s sister, Mrs. Brown, lived with them. They were old people when I. D. Davis lost his wife by death and started out to find himself a cook. He went to Widow Templeton, trying to court her, but was turned down - then to see Mrs. Orlena Brown, who also tuned him away. Sometime later, Mrs. Orlena came to Mrs. J. E. Evers crying. She said “ Alice, I want you to write a letter for me to Mr. I. E. Davis. Tell him to turn his horses head right down this way and not stop till he gets here, and if he’ll marry me, I ‘ll marry him. If he treats me good, I will treat him good. Mr. Davis did that very thing. They set a day on a Monday morning, 9 A. M. The young girl’s thought it so funny. Sarah Waldrop, Woodie Manley, Ada Sims, Belle Evers, and others dressed Mrs. Brown, who was tall with big hands and feet, small head and little hair, which they twisted into a little knot, the size of a hickory nut and tied a large blue ribbon on it, accenting her long neck. The girl’s were out on the grass to see the bride and groom come out of a small room on the end of the front porch. Mrs. Brown was pigeon toed and had a long southern drawl. When they came out, she looked down, noticing they were standing crosswise of the plank, took Mr. Davis by the arm, pulled him straight with the plank, saying, “It’s bad luck to marry standing crosswise of the plank”. The girls had quite a laugh. Mr. Davis lived a few years. After his death, his heirs shooed Mrs. Davis out. Mr. and Mrs. John Waldrop took the poor woman in and kept her until her death. Beatrice Waldrop, one of their daughters and her husband, Sawyer, Jr. of Belcher, Louisiana are among my closest friends and often visit with me. When Beatrice started to our little school )Waldrop School House), she looked like a little doll with a sweet smile for everyone. She’s still pretty and has a good husband. Our school houses were small: built in the pines. The terms were short, beginning with the laying by of crops, to gathering of crops. In those days, one could teach school on a third grade certificate. That is when they finished the tenth grade, which was high as our school taught. Should one want to get what was called “Higher Learning”. They’d have tp go to some larger town, for the eleventh and twelfth grades; then they’d get a second and first grade certificate. The same way with doctors. They’d take their higher learning in medicine; come home, buy saddle bags, throw them across theirsaddle and start out as a doctor. At one time, we had several doctors from Olive Branch Church to red river. Dr. Dodd, Dr. Adcock, Dr. Kellet, Dr. Cabiness, Dr. Bryant, Dr. Westerbrook, and two Dr. McCaslands, Dr. Jeff and either his brother or father who went by the name of “Old Doc”. They were all good doctors for the time and age. In those days they used powdered drugs which they measured on the point of their pocketknives, put it on a small square of paper, then folded it. Before I was grown, capsules came on the market and we were glad, for mother put our quinine in coffee and the bitter taste lingered a long time! Money was scarce and the doctors received very small pay for services. Mother and Dad owned a grocery store and ran the Post Office (Bigby Post Office, Black Diamond) until mother retired due to age. The Post office was moved to Doddridge, Arkansas. Prior to this, around 1900, Mr. Carl Bigby had the Post Office. When Mr. Bigby moved to Doddridge, my father bought him out, and my mother ran the Post Office. Her salary was the amount of stamps sold. Submitted by: GVRichards@aol.com ***************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *****************************************************************