City of Bonanza

Bonanza was born from coal. It began in eighteen ninety-six as a mining camp of the Central Coal and Coke Company, which laid out railroad tracks tied to the Frisco line and built the place as a company town. It was chartered in eighteen ninety-eight, and for a while it was the largest city in its township, packed with a company store, saloons, restaurants, and shops serving the miners.

But its history carries a dark chapter. In nineteen oh four, the so-called Bonanza Race War erupted, several days of violence that drove nearly all of the town's African American residents out. As the mines played out, the company shut its operations and tore down the workers' houses, and Bonanza faded. What remains is a small Arkansas town that once burned bright on coal and company power.