Grannis, Arkansas -- Surviving well

Terrain around Grannis, Ark., is wrinkled. That part of Arkansas and west into Oklahoma, the ridgelines run close together and seem to have been pushed up, maybe from southern pressure against the Ozarks to the north.

Here is a link to a satellite image of the Grannis area:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Grannis,+AR/@34.2349626,-94.3846282,20041m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8634d9e925badde3:0x3c6ddf31348ce581!8m2!3d34.2406665!4d-94.3349306

Those long rectangles are chicken houses. Tyson Foods is the big business in northern Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.

Gillham Lake is east of town, with Big Coon Creek Park at the western part of the lake. Something designated “Big Coon” in Arkansas, there most likely was a big raccoon there somewhere. Give a listen to some Jerry Clower, and you’ll hear about big coons. North of Big Coon Creek Park is Little Coon Creek Park. There is no designation for the area in between, but you have to wonder why local residents didn’t mention a Mid-Size Coon Creek.

A look at the satellite picture gives a good idea of the ridgelines and valleys. Somebody said Arkansas valleys are not so wide, but they’re just so darned steep. Angled hills tend to keep foot travelers to stream or river areas.

The 2010 census in the Polk County town counted 554 residents, a decrease of 23 from the 2000 census. The 2000 census number was Grannis’ biggest population.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture says Grannis began as a train stop “and grew with the development of the timber industry, turning later to the fruit and poultry industries.”

Logging meant the clearing of much land, “the rocky soil was unfit for cotton, so landowners began to plant orchards of apple and peach trees. They also planted berry bushes, grapevines, and melon patches.” In the South, farming of crops other than cotton meant the local economy was not dependent upon a single market price, and declines in cotton prices did not have the same effect.

By 1912, “Grannis had six stores, two hotels, a livery stable, two planing mills, two custom mills, and three churches.”

In the mid-1970s, Grannis “embraced 238 Vietnamese refugees who had previously been housed at Fort Chaffee following their escape from Vietnam.”

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=6121

Grannis is one of those places people live because it isn’t anywhere else. Independent people. Red State people through and through.