Doddridge of the 1920s Part 2

Magazines of the 1920s and 30s were those such as Liberty, Colliers, Argosy, Harpers, Saturday Evening Post, etc. Most of these still exist. Some which no longer exist were of the pulp variety. These had titles such as True Confessions, Love Story, Silver Screen, Flying Ace, Wild West Weekly, Western Story, etc.

Magazine swapping among youngsters was a common practice in Doddridge because it saved money. Magazines such as the ever sought-after Wild West Weekly would eventually end up in unreadable shreds because of passing through so many hands.

In 1920, the radio had not yet appeared in Doddridge. However, according to Kelley McCarty, there was a world championship fight between Jesse Willard and John Sullivan in Cuba, and this fight was to be transmitted by telephone lines as well as by radio.

There being no radio in Doddridge, Col Bigby climbed up the Southwestern Bell Telephone pole at the corner of the depot and connected a wire to one of the lines. He then connected the other end of the wire to a telephone he had brought to the depot. People who had gathered for the event were then able to hear the fight by passing around the telephone receiver.

A similar set-up was made nine years later (1929) by a Bell Telephone lineman who was in town at the time. This was during the presidential race between Al Smith and Herbert Hoover. This time, the wire from the telephone line was attached to a radio; thus, everybody at the same time could hear the campaign speeches.

Although fun and frolic appeared to be outstanding elements of the time, there were certainly intermittent events of tragedy. Deaths from accident and disease were not abated. In fact, the greatest tragedy of Doddridge-Spring Bank history occurred on September 18, 1925, on Red River just below Spring Bank. Four young girls, three of them sisters, were picking cotton on a farm alongside the river. They were the children of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Evans, and Maude and Daisy Blanton Russell. The Evans sisters were Cleo, age 11, Beatrice and Ina Mae (twins), age 14. The Russell girl was Mary, age 17. At about one P. M. these girls decided to go wading on a sand bar jutting out from the bank of the river. A sand bar is a ridge or shelf-like structure of sand which is formed temporarily along the shore of a river by currents. These structures jut out into the river at varying distances and give the appearance of being solid land; however, the river flows underneath, and the bar can easily break off and disappear into the river.

The girls were probably wading and splashing about in the shallow water on the sand bar when it suddenly broke off into the depths of the river carrying the girls with it. The girls could not swim, and as a result all four of them were drowned.

Word of the tragic happening reached Spring Bank and Doddridge quickly, and many people rushed to the scene to set forth in boats in search for the girls. Three of the bodies were recovered in about one and a half days. The fourth body was recovered on the third day at Shreveport, about forty-five miles away. The incident was no doubt the greatest tragedy ever experienced by the Doddridge-Spring Bank communities.

The Coming of the Highway Up until 1928, Doddridge was relatively isolated in terms of roads to any city. Not even gravel roads existed. Dirt roads had their extremes of mud during bad weather, and intolerable dust in dry seasons. Add to this the roughness, the slow speed required, and the punishment endured by both car and passengers, and it became a very bad transportation situation. A trip to Texarkana, only twenty-eight miles away, could take up to two and three hours, depending on the weather and the road conditions. If there were a weather threat at all, people would go by way of Queen City, Texas, because of the risk in Sulphur River bottom. Getting caught in a downpour in Sulphur River bottom was the ultimate curse, and was to be avoided at all costs. Of course there was the train, but it was actually a freight train with a passenger coach attached on the rear. It was incredibly slow, and only one went south and one went north each day. Going to either city would require an overnight stay before being able to return home.

By 1927, the building of Highway 71 between Texarkana and the Louisiana state line was in full operation. It was coming through Doddridge on the eastern edge. A new bridge was built over Sulphur River, and a high “dump” or roadbed was built across the bottom so that the road would be safe from high water. For years this stretch of road was called “the dump” because of the thousands of truckloads of dirt that were dumped there to build it.

By 1928, Highway 71 was fully operational from Texarkana to Shreveport. It was only a gravel road from Texarkana to the Louisiana state line at that time, but it was a great improvement over what had existed before.

The effect of this new highway on Doddridge was profound, both economically and socially. Texarkana was now only twenty-five or thirty minutes away; even better was the certainty that one could get there and back, regardless of the weather. Shreveport was only forty-five minutes away. People began going to the cities more and more to do more and more of their shopping. Naturally, they were drawn to greater values and greater variety.

Although the highway was greatly desired and needed, it is ironical that it also served as the prime element in bringing Doddridge into decline. The shopping in the cities took great amounts of trade from Doddridge merchants. As a result, stores had to close or, at best, continue at a survival level. Downtown socializing on Saturdays became less and less. In fact, “going to town” eventually came to mean going to Texarkana, not Doddridge. Sadly, except for churchgoing, socializing in Doddridge came almost to an end.

But Doddridge was not alone in going through economic and social change such as this. It was happening to practically all of small-town America. New Highways were being built and the automobile was undergoing dramatic improvement with every passing year. Overnight, we, as a nation, became the most fluid or mobile population on earth.

The railroad was also a victim of the highway. Immediately after completion of the road, the Tri-State Bus Company initiated bus service between Shreveport, Louisiana and Ft. Smith, Arkansas through Doddridge, and Texarkana. The buses were frequent, fast, and cheap. There were no more passengers on the railroad. Simultaneously, the trucking business took a giant leap forward in the hauling of freight. Not only were the national truck lines coining through, but local truck service grew. Local truck service was quick, flexible, and probably cheaper than the railroad. Truck service locally was provided mostly by Charley Cauthorn. Others who provided intermittent service apart from their logging operations were Jesse Bryant and Andrew Dunlap.

Also, out of Texarkana and Atlanta came the bread vans, soda trucks, ice trucks (delivering from door to door), gasoline trucks, and even the United States mail was now being carried by private van on contract.