His Middlesboro project in shambles, Arthur nevertheless sought to begin anew, and established his small namesake crossroads community along the railroad south of Cumberland Gap, but the lack of financing in the mid-1890s doomed any real chance of obtaining the success Arthur desired. In 1897, Arthur travelled to Alaska to join the Klondike Gold Rush, and eventually settled in New York. After suffering a stroke, however, he moved back to Middlesboro, where he decided to live out his remaining years. He died March 4, 1912, and is buried in a family plot in the Middlesboro Cemetery.