Franklin County

Created from a portion of Crawford County in 1837, Franklin County is divided by the Arkansas River into two sections, each with its own county seat: Ozark in the North and Charleston in the South. Northern Franklin County is remote, mysterious, and beautiful, while the southern area enjoys graceful and vastly productive prairie lands. The combination of fertile soil and mild climate in the Ozark Mountains produces fruit, vineyards, precious stones, granite, and forests. Evocative images such as the young girls posing in the Altus schoolyard paint a poignant and revealing picture of everyday life in Franklin County. Coal mining played a large part in the lives of residents, and photographs of soot-covered miners display the hardships of this difficult work. With over two hundred photographs gathered from local collections, this book illustrates the history and culture of Franklin County in vivid detail, with captions that are both entertaining and informative.