Continuing to explore opportunities to promote travel and tourism along “Scenic 70” (old U.S. Route 70), we arrive in Glenwood, Ark., the midway point of the 100-year-old highway that connects the village of Atlantic in the Down East section of Carteret County to Globe, Ariz.
Glenwood,
with a population of about 2,015, is in Pike County, about 30 miles west of Hot
Springs in the southwestern quadrant of Arkansas.
The community is “nestled in a bend of the Caddo River with spectacular views of Arkansas’ Ouachita Mountains,” which rise to a maximum elevation of 2,753 feet. (Ouachita is pronounced as WAH-she-taw.)
This
area developed a reputation for having one of the “best stands of timber in all
of Arkansas,” and several lumber companies were formed to harvest the trees.
Local businessmen Curt Hays and Will Fagan platted the town site on both sides of the train depot. They chose the name “Glenwood” to honor the lush valley (combining “glen” and “wood”). The community was chartered in 1909.
Today,
the Caddo River is a popular destination for recreational canoeing, kayaking,
tubing, fishing and camping.
Pike County is the home of the world-famous Crater of Diamonds, a popular state park. It’s only a hop, skip and a jump off Route 70, heading west beyond Glenwood.
Grant
Mobley, who is affiliated with the Natural Diamond Council in New York City,
said: “The Crater of
Diamonds was created by a 95-million-year-old volcanic crater. Unlike most
diamond deposits, which form in kimberlite rock, the crater’s diamonds occur in
lamproite, an equally ancient volcanic rock type. These diamonds formed more
than a billion years ago deep within the Earth’s mantle.”
“Over millions of years, volcanic eruptions and erosion have brought many diamonds up to the surface, making them findable without industrial-scale mining,” Mobley said. “Visitors can simply walk in with a shovel, sifting screen or even just their hands, and if they find a diamond, it’s theirs to keep.”
“Decades of attempts to mine the site profitably failed,” he said, “and in 1972, the land was sold to the state and transformed into a public park.”
The old mine shaft remains as an artifact.
Last
summer, Micherre Fox, 31, of New York City came to the Crater of Diamonds to do
some prospecting, in hopes of finding a diamond to seal her engagement to
Trevor Ballou.
Mobley
reported that Fox “struck pay dirt on her final day” of a three-week excursion,
“uncovering a beautiful 2.30-carat colorless diamond that she has since turned
into the ultimate personal treasure – her engagement ring.”
“On that last day, while scanning the dusty, sunlit field, something caught her eye. At first, she thought it was a dew-covered spider web,” Mobley said. “Upon closer inspection, it revealed itself as a gem glinting in the Arkansas sun.”
“The
park’s gemologists confirmed her instincts: this Arkansas diamond was one of
the largest diamonds recovered there in 2025.”
Moving
on, Route 70 crosses from Arkansas into southern Oklahoma, and the highway
passes through Broken Bow, Idabel and Fort Towson, Okla., before arriving in
Hugo – a good place for a ceremonial pit stop.
Hugo was once the headquarters of the U.S. Route 70 Highway Association (in the 1950s)...and here's the outside cover of the map to prove it.
The city was formed in 1901 and designated as the county seat for Choctaw County, Okla., when the railroad came through.
Hugo takes its name from French author
Victor Hugo, whose famous works include “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” (1831)
and “Les Misérables” (1862).
(Hugo
was the favorite writer of Lina Burford Darrough, wife of Arkansas and Choctaw
Railroad surveyor William Harrison Darrough.)
Hugo is known as “Circus City USA” – another story for the “Scenic 70” journal.
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