The story of B.B. Bartel that Jack tells to MacGyver was based upon the real life incident of D.B. Cooper. The only real difference is that Cooper's story took place in Oregon, whereas this one occurred in Arkansas.
The story of this episode takes place in Smiley, Arkansas. While there no such town in reality, there is a Smiley Bayou located approximately 81 miles northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The old mine location is actually the Britannia Mine Museum, about 30 miles north of Vancouver. In the 1920s and '30s this copper mine was the largest employer in British Columbia. This location has been used for several movies and TV shows.
Luke Askew plays a prison heavy in this episode in a similar vein (albeit more devious and malevolent here) just as he had done many years earlier in the iconic film Cool Hand Luke (1967), which was only his third film role.