HAPPY TRAILS: THOUSANDS DRAWN FOR EMINENCE RIDE

"If you stay in Shannon County long enough to wear out a pair of shoes, you'll never want to leave. But if you do, you'll always come back."

Seaman Rayfield

Former Eminence Mayor

EMINENCE On the Cross Country Trail Ride, a lot of shoes get worn out.

Each June, August and October the number of horses and riders outnumber the local residents nearly eight to one in this Shannon County town, population 625.

For a week at a time, the county's largest community isn't Eminence, Winona or Birch Tree. It's the 65-acre campground in the front yard of Jim and Jane Smith, owners and operators of the Cross Country Trail Ride.

Billed as the "world's largest trail ride," horse lovers from 44 states and even a family from Germany have ridden the trails since the Smiths first opened the gates at its current location in 1981.

The Smiths purchased the trail ride in 1979 from Ralph Branson. After bouncing from Sam A. Baker State Park to Montauk State Park and back to Alley Spring, trail riding found a home in Shannon County. Roots have produced steady growth.

"Our first October ride we had 256 people, last year in October there was 2,386," said Smith, who was born in "the next hollow over" from the campground.

There's nearly 3,000 stalls for the horses. People have to provide their own shelter, ranging from pup tents to $100,000 motor homes. Showers (for both man and beast), toilets and electricity are provided.

This year, the June trail ride attracted more than 1,800 riders and nearly 2,000 horses and mules from about 25 states. That's little more than half the number expected here in August for the largest of five annual rides.

Three hundred miles of trails wind through the steep, rocky countryside between the Jacks Fork and Current rivers in the Ozarks. Organized rides with up to 200 horsemen led by trail bosses leave at 9 a.m. sharp. Riders not fond of schedules can depart at their leisure. Activity doesn't stop at sunset.

"We'll have two horse shows, dances, a concert, steer roping, team pinning, a horse sale and tack sale by then you've pretty well used up all the nights," said Jim Smith.

On concert night, Nashville star Steve Wariner lit up the outdoor stage with an hour-long show while couples wearing boots and cowboy hats filled the 4,800-square-foot dance floor. George Jones played here last August.

Ricky Van Shelton is scheduled to headline the first-ever Christmas ride set for the first week in December. By then, a 350-foot-long multi-purpose building should provide protection from the elements.

"People come here because they like this type of entertainment," said Smith. "They'll bring a horse, ride some and they want to be entertained at night."

Repeat business is the key to success, said Smith.

"We see the same families year after year," he said. "It's family oriented and we work mighty hard to keep it that way."

Seaman Rayfield, 74, has worked as a trail boss for about 30 years. The former Eminence mayor and city councilman still sees some of the same people who rode with him at the beginning.

"Back then everybody put up a tent. Now they come in $60,000 trailers but I doubt if they have any more fun," said Rayfield.

"You can ride all day and never hit the same trail twice," said Hubert Wheeler of Doniphan, who was riding for the ninth year. "It's a great place to get away from all the monotony."

The degree of difficulty on the steeper trails attracts the more daring riders.

"We've ridden up bluffs that I couldn't walk up," said Derek Boyers, one of nearly 100 Poplar Bluff residents at the June ride. "But there's places along the river that you just can't believe until you see them and the only way to get there is on horseback."

"We found one spot where there's bluffs made of solid rock on both sides of the river," said Steve Hager of Poplar Bluff. "It looked like a scene you'd expect to see out west but not in Missouri."

Quarterhorses and Missouri fox trotters are the choice of most trail riders. An occasional mule, about 150 in all, occupied stables during June.

Inside the 185-foot-long dining hall, Helen Frazier directs 20 cooks. They break 260 dozen eggs for breakfast to go with 480 pounds of bacon. At dinner, it's 2,000 barbecued pork steaks, 66 gallons of green beans and 120 dozen rolls. Two hundred pounds of dried beans and 18 whole hams disappear in one meal.

"The key to serving this many people is being organized," said Frazier, who also cooks at Eminence Elementary School. "In August, we'll be even busier."

The trail ride is a boost the local economy couldn't do without, said Rayfield, who worked with local leaders to bring the ride to Shannon County permanently. More than 100 people are employed during trail ride week, including security guards, cooks, trail bosses and a camp veterinarian.

"You can ask any of the business people, they would have problems if this trail ride wasn't here," said Rayfield. "The Wal-Mart manager in Mountain View (35 miles away) said they could tell a big difference in the money flow when the trail ride is here."

A week's stay costs $140 for adults, including dining hall privileges. Children's rates start at $105.

"Multiply that times 2,000 and you see how much money it brings into the area," said Rayfield. "It's all coming from outside the area because very few local people come here."

"I've ridden in Oklahoma and other places where it cost a lot more and wasn't nearly as nice," said Jerry Skaggs of Poplar Bluff, resting in a lawn chair next to his wife Dee before Steve Wariner took the stage."It's just a great atmosphere and a place where my family has made a lot of friends from places like Illinois and Kansas City," he said. "I've been coming here about 10 years and I plan to always keep coming back."