Newton County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Newton County

Signed by Richard Nixon on 1 March 1972 (Public Law 92-237), Buffalo National River was the second federally-designated national river in the United States — protecting 135 miles of free-flowing river from any future dam construction, with the explicit Congressional finding that the Buffalo's combination of bluff-line scenery and unimpaired flow had no near equal east of the Mississippi. The designation killed the Corps of Engineers' proposed Gilbert and Lone Rock dams, which would have flooded most of what is now Newton County's river corridor. Newton wraps the upper Buffalo, the Boxley Valley elk-reintroduction zone (Arkansas's only free-roaming elk population, reseeded from Colorado stock in 1981 by Arkansas Game and Fish and now numbering 500+ animals managed through a limited fall hunt drawn by state lottery), and the Ozark Mountains' highest peaks — Mount Magazine and Mount Nebo are technically in adjacent counties but Newton's Buffalo Lookout Tower at 2,385 ft is the county high point.

Lost Valley, Hemmed-In Hollow Falls (209 ft, the tallest waterfall between the Appalachians and the Rockies per Arkansas Geological Survey), and the Whitaker Point ('Hawksbill Crag') overlook all draw the heaviest day-use traffic. Buffalo Point Campground accepts rigs to 40 ft with electric hookups; Steel Creek and Erbie campgrounds along the upper river accept rigs to 35 ft on first-come basis with no hookups per the Buffalo NR Foundation Document. Jasper (county seat, population 466) is the only full-service town; AR-7 from Jasper to Russellville is one of the original Federal Scenic Byways and enforces a 35-ft length cap on the most technical switchback section.