Chickasaw Crossing

Before the railroads, the White River was Augusta's road, and it could be deadly. On December 4, 1851, the steamboat Clermont No. 2 sank in the river north of town, and 22 passengers died, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. The wreck shows how much traffic the old crossing carried in the steamboat years. When the railroads later proposed crossing the county, Augusta declined, believing river trade was enough, and the tracks bypassed it. It was 1930 before a bridge carried U.S. Highway 64 across the White River at Augusta.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Jacksonport State Park — 25 mi
  A steamboat port at the confluence of the White and Black rivers whose 1872 Second Empire courthouse, raised two feet to clear the floods, stands as the park museum.

More markers nearby

• City of Augusta — steps away
• Woodruff County Courthouse — 0.3 mi
• Action at Fitzhugh's Woods — 5.1 mi
• Confederate Salt Works Destroyed — 11 mi