Peter Campbell who came to the Big Creek Community when he was a young man, in the early 1850s, not satisfied just hearing wild cats fighting, panthers screaming and wolves howling, had the urge to go to more exciting fields than the Ozark hills had to offer.

Around 1857 he joined the 'Baker Wagon Train' that pulled out from Wilson Springs near Harrison, then in Carroll County, left to brave the wilds of the unsettled west and to the gold fields in California.

They drove 700 head of cattle with them on the way to California. They traded with the Indians, to get along with them. At night they would drive the cattle in a circle until they laid down. Then they placed four guards around them for the night. One night the Indians broke in camp and stole 50 head of cattle and killed one of the boys. Next day a few of the men followed them and on the way they captured an Indian and took him as guide to where the stolen cattle were. When they found them they had killed all the cattle and hung them up. They took an Indian back with them (a three days journey) then turned him loose.

They reached California after a long tiresome journey. Peter stayed in California two years and worked as a fruit peddler but didn't work in gold fields. He decided to come home to Newton County and he and nine others left California. Got on a ship and came up the Mississippi River, Arkansas River and on to Dardenelle, then back up the mountain to Big Creek. The rest of their party started back home and were massacred on the way (in Utah).

A short time after Peter returned home, he married Nancy Smith and started a new life. The folks around Judea elected him Justice of the Peace so folks could get married without going a long way. He lived at Mt. Judea the rest of his life, died at the age of 77.

They were the parents of eleven children. One son, now living, Peter Campbell #2 is 93 years old and lived in the same locality. They have many descendants living in Newton County.

Lloyd Sutton sent me the above letter October 1995, written by Elmer Campbell about his Grandfather, Peter Campbell the first.