Where is Water Street?

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This all started with a discussion of what I always thought of as “Little Lake Eureka,” the small spring-fed lake at the end of Douglas and Steele Streets. I’ve always thought it was one of Eureka Springs’ prettiest spots. I’ve read that it was the city’s first water supply and that it was fixed up nice as Eureka’s main swimming hole at one time.

Here is a Yahoo! aerial photograph showing that area of the city. I circled the lake, but it is so small it is hard to make out.

Using Google Maps’ Street View, this is what you’ll encounter if you drive to the end of Steele Street:

This is what you’ll see if you drive to the end of Douglas (Street or Road, I’ve seen it both ways):

And here is a view looking up the lake from the dam:

If you look toward your right, you’ll see this picnic table under a little bluff with some nice rockwork:

As an aside, I noticed this item in the November 17, 2007 police report in the weekly Lovely County Citizen: 9:53 a.m. — A caller informed police that one of the raccoons which frequent Little Lake Eureka was apparently a little under the weather.

So what does all of this have to do with the aforementioned Water Street?

I did a little reading up on Little Lake Eureka and in one spot it mentioned that Water Street ran up this same hollow and was the original main entrance into the city. I couldn’t recall a Water Street and had a difficult time imagining that hollow as the main entrance into the city.

I perused a modern street map of Eureka Springs and couldn’t find Water Street. But then I read an article referring to the hollow from Little Lake Eureka to the Flint Street Chapel as the Water Street Park. That seemed to be a clue.

Then I recalled that the website www.eurekaspringshistory.com had scans of some old maps from the Carnegie Library. On a 1923 Sanborn map the website displays, there is indeed a Water Street between Douglas on one side and Flint and Steele on the other side. These streets run off the edge of the page shown and the map doesn’t include the lake, so I’m still having a tough time picturing Water Street. If it weren’t snowing so hard right now, besides being dark out, I might run down there and take a look.

Malfunctioning Floor Mats

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Everyday I anxiously await the nice lady that delivers our mail, dreading, but also hoping for the recall notice from Toyota. See, I take safety seriously.

The first I heard of the various Toyota recalls had to do with brakes. I would like to get the brakes fixed on the Land Cruiser. During the “Great Ice Storm of 2009” I drove over fallen trees and branches that blocked our little road and apparently snagged something that tore loose the brake line to the rear, passenger-side brakes. Ever since, we’ve been driving without rear brakes, but the front brakes still grab good so I’ve not worried about it too much. Rarely have occasion to get out of first gear in low-range and with a top speed of five miles-per-hour stopping doesn’t take too long.

Next I heard that something might be wrong with the power steering. I went out and drove the Land Cruiser and it steered okay. I raised the hood to take a gander at the power steering components and realized it didn’t even have power steering.

Reading the news out of the UK, there was talk of electronic throttles. I doubted the throttle was electronic on the Weems Toyota, so I dismissed that with a smirk.

Tuned into the morning news on the Berryville radio station and there was some serious sounding people worrying about Toyotas having malfunctioning floor mats. I immediately dropped the spoon into the bowl of corn flakes and then frowned when the milk splashed on my white t-shirt. I raced outside and pulled open the door on the 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser. With relief I remembered it didn’t have floor mats.

I wish Toyota would do a recall I could use, like fixing the manual choke. And seat belts would be nice.

Great-Aunt Opha Wolfinbarger Price

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Opha Wolfinbarger Price

Opha Price died August 12, 2008 at the age of 86. One of eight children born to Arlie and Mary Lula Cordell Wolfinbarger, she attended school at Concord School and had two sons, David and Russell. Aunt Opha was buried today at the Shady Grove Cemetary. She was one of my wife’s favorite Sunday School teacher’s years ago. She was my grandmother’s older sister and a wonderful, sweet lady. I once gave her a kitten.

Land Cruiser and Jen’s Book Thoughts

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The Weems family Land Cruiser

Toyota Landcruiser

It gets us around on these steep hillsides and crossing the creek – put chains on it in the winter and it feels like it will go anywhere.

Toyota Landcruiser 2
Toyota Landcruiser 3
Toyota Landcruiser 4

Jen Forbus’ Book Thoughts here:

http://www.jensbookthoughts.blogspot.com/

She influences what I read – she introduced me to Robert Crais’ books, among others. And I won Lisa Unger’s book Sliver of Truth in a contest she had. Jen’s book reviews are some of the best I have read.

Passion Flower

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For some reason, there are passion flower vines climbing all over the place this year. The vines have tendrils for gripping and can grow 25 feet long. The fruit (sometimes called wild apricot) will soon be ripe. I have heard that the juice is good squeezed in lemonade. Some people eat the fruit and make jelly from it.

A Walk in the Woods

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One of the simple pleasures of living in the hollow is that one can go out the door and be in the woods almost immediately. Recently, a group of us hiked in the woods at dusk – listening and watching for wildlife. Some of the most intriguing inhabitants of the hollow made their presence known. We were deep in the woods when a single coyote howled a distance away. A girl with us howled and yipped and barked in response. Suddenly, two different groups of coyotes broke out with their high-pitched, eerie chorus – apparently responding to the girl’s attempt at humor. While the coyotes were the most dramatic wildlife we heard, we also saw interesting wildlife. Mushrooms are almost always present during the warm months in the hollow. From morels to fairy circles, we see many shapes and varieties of mushrooms. One could dedicate a lifetime to studying them.

30 Year Old Dunlop Tires

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The 1971 Landcruiser we use in the hollow had four Dunlop tires on it when it was purchased used 30 years ago. Over the years they have worn out one by one. Last night the final Dunlop tire went flat and is not fixable. The next tire will probably not last 30 years.

Snakes

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This is a small snake that was in our yard under some twigs and wet leaves. It was about 18 inches long and I never did determine what it was. We see snakes fairly often in the hollow – mostly copperheads (have seen dozens), but also ringnecks, speckled kingsnakes, and black snakes.

There is a pair of black snakes that live in the attic of our little shop building. Sometimes they can be seen stretching their long bodies from an opening in the roof of the shop, reaching for a tree to use to climb down to the ground. One of the black snakes is about six feet long and the other about four feet long.

Owls

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This photograph by Mary Weems was taken in the hollow. Not sure what kind of owl it is, but there is evidence of at least four types of owls in the hollow. We have heard the distinctive calls of three types of owls – the great horned owl (or hoot owl), the screech owl, and the barred owl. I also once saw a white-faced barn owl, in of all places, the barn. We have seen large owls flying that are either great horned owls or barred owls – the two largest species of owls found in this area. There are other owls around but I’m not able to recognize their calls with any confidence.

Deer vs. Dogs

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Yesterday, I was at our neighbor’s and a deer came down the road and crossed into the yard. The deer stopped when it saw our smaller dog, Lewie, and the two stared at each other for a long moment. Then sensing the deer’s presence, Noodles, the dachshund went on the attack with Lewie close behind. The two canines ran at the deer barking, but the deer didn’t run – it lowered its head and ran at the dogs. Bewildered by this odd turn of events, the two dogs stopped until Chandler the bullmastiff came running from another direction and chased away the deer.

Attached is a photograph of the deer chaser himself, Chandler.