Yell County, Arkansas

Native Americans first inhabited present-day Yell County and the Arkansas River Valley for centuries prior to European colonization, using the open, fertile floodplain of the Arkansas River for hunting grounds and farming settlements. During the Thomas Jefferson and Indian Removal era, many Cherokee were voluntarily relocating from Georgia along the Arkansas River, including in Yell County, between 1775 and 1786. A large Cherokee reservation across the Arkansas River from Yell County was established in 1815 to encourage further voluntary relocation from Georgia.

The area presently encompassed as Yell County was first settled by European settlers when James Carden built a house among Cherokee farms in the Dardanelle Bottoms at the confluence of the Arkansas and Petit Jean Rivers in 1819.[3] Lands south of the Arkansas River had been deeded to the Choctaw in 1820s, but white settlement and Cherokee relocation continued apace into the 1820s, spurring conflicts over the prime river-bottom lands. In 1822, the Council Oaks Treaty meeting was held under two large oak trees, reestablishing Cherokee title of 3.2 million acres (1.3 million hectares) north of the Arkansas River previously granted in 1817 in exchange for removing north of the river. The Cherokee that remained south of the river became known as the "Black Dutch", and largely assimilated.[4]

In 1830, the United States Congress enacted the Indian Removal Act, leading to further, now involuntary, Cherokee settlement in the Arkansas River Valley. Cherokee, Muskogee (Creek), and Seminole were forcibly removed along the Trail of Tears through Yell County to present-day Oklahoma.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 949 square miles (2,460 km²), of which 930 square miles (2,400 km²) is land and 19 square miles (49 km²) (2.0%) is water.[5]

Age pyramid Yell County[11]

As of the 2000 census,[12] there were 21,139 people, 7,922 households, and 5,814 families residing in the county. The population density was 23 people per square mile (9/km²). There were 9,157 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 86.63% White, 1.47% Black or African American, 0.58% Native American, 0.69% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 8.99% from other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. 12.73% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 12.00% reported speaking Spanish at home.[13]

There were 7,922 households, out of which 33.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.50% were married couples living together, 10.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.60% were non-families. 23.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.80% under the age of 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 28.30% from 25 to 44, 22.00% from 45 to 64, and 15.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $28,916, and the median income for a family was $33,409. Males had a median income of $23,172 versus $18,148 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,383. About 11.70% of families and 15.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.20% of those under age 18 and 12.80% of those age 65 or over.

Two homes listed on the NRHP in Yell County: the Thomas James Cotton House in Dardanelle (left) and the Mitchell House in rural Waltreak

Yell County has several historical homes, structures, and monuments dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the area. The Dardanelle Commercial Historic District preserves the historic commercial hub of Yell County along the Arkansas River. The Mt. Nebo State Park Cabins Historic District preserves ten cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The county also has seven homes, three churches, and two bridges listed on the NRHP.

Upon settlement, Yell County's varied topography created a stratified society, splitting settlers between the more fertile and productive farms of the "lowlands" and the subsistence farming of the steep and less-productive mountain soil of the "uplands".[18] A planter class emerged in the lowlands, and as Dardanelle evolved into a cohesive community, the large landowners moved to town and managed their landholdings from stately homes, similar to the model seen in the Arkansas Delta and the Mississippi Delta.[19] This left the lowlands inhabited largely by poor sharecroppers and tenant farmers, who largely shared economic fortunes with the small farms in the uplands, shifting the "upland/lowland" split to a "town-country" divide based largely on economics.

As mechanization and society evolved and Arkansas became less of a frontier, a wealthy upper class emerged in Dardanelle that came to wield societal, political, and economic power in the county. This society remained relatively closed, with separate social events and often summering on Mount Nebo with other wealthy Arkansans visiting to enjoy the cool mountain breezes.[20] With little of the industrialization that defined the Gilded Age in the Northeast and Midwest, Yell County instead retained an adjusted Old South economic model based on agriculture but adapted to a post-Reconstruction reality.[21]

Yell County Eastern District Courthouse in Dardanelle

The county government is a constitutional body granted specific powers by the Constitution of Arkansas and the Arkansas Code. The quorum court is the legislative branch of the county government and controls all spending and revenue collection. Representatives are called justices of the peace and are elected from county districts every even-numbered year. The number of districts in a county vary from nine to fifteen, and district boundaries are drawn by the county election commission. The Yell County Quorum Court has eleven members.[22] Presiding over quorum court meetings is the county judge, who serves as the chief operating officer of the county. The county judge is elected at-large and does not vote in quorum court business, although capable of vetoing quorum court decisions.[23][24] Though Yell County has two county seats, the constitutional officers are not duplicated, with duties split between the two courthouses.

• Ray R. Allen (1920–2010), public official in Alexandria, Louisiana, was born in Yell County.
• John Daly, professional golfer
• Arthur Hunnicutt, Academy Award-nominated Western Actor
• Kelly Ring, WTVT news anchor
• Johnny Sain, Major League Baseball player
• William L. Spicer, Republican state chairman, 1962–1964, was born in Yell County, but owned a chain of drive-in theaters in Fort Smith.
• Cousins Jim Walkup (left-handed pitcher), and Jim Walkup (right-handed pitcher), MLB pitchers
• James Lee Witt, former FEMA Director
• Henry C. Bruton, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, born in Belleville, Arkansas in 1905
• Jacob Lofland, American actor
• Timothy Balarabe, jazz musician.

• In the novel True Grit, the heroine Mattie Ross is from near Dardanelle in Yell County.
• First Sergeant William Ellis of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor and bravery above and beyond the call of duty at Dardanelle. At 10 a.m. on January 14, 1865, approximately 1,500 Confederates attacked the Union forces entrenched on the outskirts of the town and a fierce four-hour battle was waged. In the end Confederate Colonel William H. Brooks was unable to overcome the Union defenders of the town and was forced to retreat. It was during this battle that Ellis held his position even after receiving three wounds and would not withdraw for medical attention until he received a fourth wound and was ordered to retire by his commanding officer.
• Yell County was the birthplace of Gretchen McNairy, a moe character from the animated TV series Lukas. The county is referenced several times, and is often portrayed as a land of milk and honey, despite its depressing poverty, since it is the only place where Gretchen's parents actually loved her.

• List of lakes in Yell County, Arkansas
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Yell County, Arkansas

• Yell County official website
• Yell County, Arkansas entry on the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture