The railroads were built to most of the towns in Gibson County around 1860. They were used by both sides during the Civil War. Lots of the tracks and bridges were destroyed during the war, but were soon rebuilt after it was over. Some of my kin from Alabama came to Arkansas by train around 1870. I don't know if there was a bridge across the Mississippi River at this time, maybe they had to ferry across. In the 1830 to 1850 period people from the Gibson Co. area would take a flat boat north on the Tennessee River to Paducah, Kentucky, then on the Ohio River to Cairo. If they were going to North Arkansas, they would go overland from there. They would go down the Mississippi to Memphis for the central part of Arkansas. Some would go on down the Mississippi to Helena and then up the Arkansas River to the Little Rock and Fort Smith areas. It was a round-about-way to get there, but the river travel was a lot better that trying to cross all the swamps and rivers where there were no b! ridges. Red Anthony no bridges. Red Anthony