front cover of Dardanelle and the Bottoms
Dardanelle and the Bottoms
Environment, Agriculture, and Economy in an Arkansas River Community, 1819-1970
Mildred D. Gleason
University of Arkansas Press, 2017
Between 1819 and 1970, the town of Dardanelle, Arkansas, located on the south side of the Arkansas River in Yell County, Arkansas, experienced sustained prosperity and growth made possible by the nearby farming community known as the Dardanelle Bottoms.

A reciprocal relationship between the town and the Bottoms formed the economic backbone on which the area’s well-being was balanced. The country people came to town on Saturdays to buy their groceries and supplies, to shop and take in a movie or visit the pool halls or barbershops. Merchants relied heavily on this country trade and had a long history of extending credit, keeping prices reasonable, and offering respect and appreciation to their customers.

This interdependence, stable for decades, began to unravel in the late 1940s with changes in farming, particularly the cotton industry. In Dardanelle and the Bottoms, Mildred Diane Gleason explores this complex rural/town dichotomy, revealing and analyzing key components of each area, including aspects of race, education, the cotton economy and its demise, the devastation of floods and droughts, leisure, crime, and the impact of the Great Depression.
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front cover of Dog Ghosts and The Word on the Brazos
Dog Ghosts and The Word on the Brazos
Negro Preacher Tales from the Brazos Bottoms of Texas
By J. Mason Brewer
University of Texas Press, 1976

This book contains two volumes of African American folk tales collected by J. Mason Brewer.

The stories included in Dog Ghosts are as varied as the Texas landscape, as full of contrasts as Texas weather. Among them are tales that have their roots deeply imbedded in African, Irish, and Welsh mythology; others have parallels in pre-Columbian Mexican tradition, and a few have versions that can be traced back to Chaucer's England. All make delightful reading. The title Dog Ghosts is drawn from the unique stories of dog spirits which Dr. Brewer collected in the Red River bottoms and elsewhere in Texas.

The Word on the Brazos is a delightful collection of "preacher tales" from the Brazos River bottom in Texas. J. Mason Brewer worked side by side with field hands in the Brazos bottoms; he lived in their homes, worshipped in their churches, and shared the moments of relaxation in which laughter held full sway.

Many of the tales these people told were related to religion—both "good religion" and "bad religion." Some of them concerned preachers and their families, while others were stories told in pulpits. Mr. Brewer has set all of these stories down in authentic yet easily readable dialect. They will delight all who are interested in the historic culture of rural African-American Texans, as well as those who simply enjoy fine humorous stories skillfully told.

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front cover of The House at the Top of the Bottoms
The House at the Top of the Bottoms
A Depression-Era Story
Michael L. Lockett
Parkhurst Brothers, Inc., 2021
An 11 year-old boy moves with his parents who have been evicted from a family farm in Wisconsin to live near his maternal grandparents in central Illinois. There, he discovers abandoned mine shafts which he explores with his grandfather's dog that suffers from flatulence. A stranger in town, the narrator is keenly aware of his outsider status and takes refuge in family, the dog, and his secret place in one of the abandoned coal mine shafts cut into the bank of the river bottoms under his grandparent's house. His acumen as an explorer comes in handy when another student--son of the local banker--goes missing.
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