Mile 806.0 - Tomato Arkansas

rbd 806 Tomato Arkansas

Flood Prone landscape, as evidenced by several giant blue holes vestiges of the 1937 flood, all three right bank descending, one near 808 (35.860638,-89.772718), one near the light at 807.7 (35.854587,-89.760039), and the last a mile further near 807 (35.852744,-89.759674).

“Tomato, Arkansas, is one of the few communities on the Lower Mississippi that lies outside the protection of the mainline levee system. It was established as a shipping point for produce from truck farms in the area, and was said at one time to have the smallest post office in the world. A man named Jones was postmaster at the time, and when his house burned down, he moved into Tomato's post office - whereupon the post office moved into a tiny smokehouse that Jones owned.” (From Marion Bragg’s Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi)