Early History of Phillips County

The Land, the Legends and the Lore

by Patty Smith

Published 2020

The History of Storm Creek Lake

The history of Storm Creek Lake begins centuries before Europeans stepped foot on Phillips County land. Wildlife was prolific in and around the Mouth of the St. Francis River and the creek known as Stomp Creek, ran from west to east, and drained close to what was later called Hornor Neck. The wildlife preferred this area due the high salt content in the ground surrounding the creek.

When Native Americans arrived in this area, it became a favorite locale for hunting deer, as deer often congregated around the creek, stomping the ground to get to the salt located just slightly below the surface. When the first Europeans trappers arrived, it was known that the Native Americans were a friendly sort, and probably they who told the Europeans about the ‘salt lick’ area. These trappers and hunters would kill the deer and other wildlife, and take the pelts to New Orleans for profit. It is unknown who named the creek Stomp Creek, but by the time the villages and settlements were being established, that was the name used to identify the creek.

In 1930, after the war, the United States Government, in an effort to provide work for returning troops, and seeing the need for recreational parks and activities, purchased the land surrounding the creek and planned the development Storm Creek Lake. At the time it was still referred to as Stomp Creek. As it happened, when one of the engineers wrote a description of the plan and presented it to a secretary to type, the secretary typed the name as Storm Creek rather than Stomp Creek, and that name has been with us since.

The lake covers 425 acres and is filled with largemouth and hybrid bass, bream, crappie, catfish, and numerous snakes, both venomous and non-venomous. Once in a while, an alligator may also be spotted.

At one time, back in the 1800’s, there were homesteads in around the creek, and hunters and fishermen have reported seeing gravestones around the lake. In fact, Tri-County Genealogy, from Keeshan Lambert records, lists a Storm Creek Cemetery with an Ella Rankin Harris buried there, having died in 1918. It has also been said there are two McKeil markers close to the backside of the lake, and as the family of Josiah McKeil lived near the west end, or backside, of the lake in the early 1800’s, the markers may well belong to this family. Other gravestones have been sighted, but little family history is known of them. It is known that John Sidney Hornor’s plantation covered the land at the far eastern side of the lake. Newspapers.com also tells us of a Mrs. Josephine Dooley and daughter Ella Dunn living at Stomp Creek. There were others, but the once populous little valley, with the creek meandering through it that was home to many, is no more.

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Primary sources for these articles include the Phillips County Historical Quarterlies, Shinn's Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas; Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas; Down the Great River by Glazier; Arkansas Historical Documents and Land Grants; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; Courts and Lawyers on the Arkansas Frontier; Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi; USGenWeb; Ancestry.com; FamilySearch.org; Phillips DNA Project.