Marble Falls is a 25-foot spring-fed waterfall on Mill Creek in Newton County, Arkansas, beside Highway 7 between Harrison and Jasper. It sits on the grounds of the former Dogpatch USA theme park, now private land being developed by Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris.
The falls
Mill Creek drops about 25 feet in a single fall, a figure based on lidar data. A small dam crosses the creek just upstream; it is unclear whether building it removed any of the natural falls, though it does not appear so. The falls are spring-fed with flow all year. The creek runs on to the Buffalo National River.
Getting there
The falls are closed to the public. Morris bought the 400-acre Dogpatch property in early 2020 for $1.2 million, and chained gates keep visitors out while work continues on a planned Marble Falls Nature Park with trails, a restaurant and a restored trout hatchery. The park has not opened, and staff called completion "not imminent." No opening date or visitor website has been announced.
When to go
A pull-off overlook on Scenic Byway 7 provides a view of the falls, which is clearest when leaves are off the trees.
On site
High E. coli levels in Mill Creek limit safe water contact.
History and name
The community around the falls was called Marble City from 1840, Willcockson from 1883, Dogpatch from 1966 and Marble Falls again from 1997. The falls once powered a flour mill, cotton gin and sawmill, and the Shiloh Museum holds photographs of Marble Falls Mill from 1909 and 1910. In 1836 marble quarried here was sent to Washington, D.C., where a block inscribed "Arkansas" went into the Washington Monument. Dogpatch USA opened in 1968 around a 1930s trout hatchery built by Albert Raney Sr. and closed in 1993.
Nearby
Liles Falls is about 4.9 miles away, Thunder Canyon Falls about 7.1 miles and Broadwater Hollow Falls about 7.7 miles. Harrison is about 8.8 miles to the north.
Distances are straight-line.