cJniv. of ill. Library v i Woodward Tiernan & Hale Si. Louis, ' '-An •••« ONE MILLION, ACRES CHOICE EIYER BOTTOM AND UPLANDS for sale, 1 J J ' ON CREDIT OR FOR CASH, AT LOW RATES, LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITE RAILROAD CO. In the year eighteen hundred and fifty-three, the General Govern- ment donated lands to aid in the construction of a Railroad from Aittle Rock to F ort Smith, in the State of Arkansas. A company was formed for the purpose of building this road; but lacking capital and - the vigorous support of the citizens along its route, who found the ^ facilities of river transportation equal to their wants, the enterprise languished until .the civil war put an end to all such works. After the war, when capitalists were made acquainted with the great resources ~ of the Avkansa s Valley ; its astonishing recuperation after years of desolation, and the great volume of its commerce in proportion to its population, and our agents reported that, standing upon the banks of the Arkansas River, at Little Rock, they had seen steamboat after steamboat arrive and pass by, with cargoes of one and two thousand — 2 — bales of cotton, each worth from one hundred thousand to two hun- dred thousand dollars, and this weekly, for five or six successive months; that, at the same time, boats from Cincinnati, St Louis, Louisville, Memphis and New Orleans were carrying heavy freights up the river, all of which must necessarily be paid for by the export- able crops of the country; and that multitudes, weary of coaxing the impoverished soil of old States, skilful artisans and other ' “J^Uh citizens were ready to transplant their enterprise, industry and wealth to a new land, and, while securing for themselves desirable homes an ample pecuniary reward, to take part in the development of the magnificent resources of this State, and to aid in its elevation totta position among sister States it deserved-these were facts wli Ca \Ve^ determined 6 to S build a Railroad through the country, and to share in the great commerce such facilities and the increased popula- tion that would thereby fie induced to settle in the country would create. We obtained a renewal of the land grants and secured State aid. We have completed this road, and are now running daily trains large grant, of over a million acres, upon the mar- kef we Tale no pretence of giving gratuitous or » disinterested ” information; but to put ourselves face to face with the public, and invite our fellow-men, and especially that portion of them who desire new homes, to give us a patient hearing. If we ° g H information needed, we trust we say nothing to mislead. ^ contrary the facts may be to former prejudices, or judgment fon without sufficient data, the intelligent reader will not fail to appreciate them for they are founded on reliable authorities, and we mute the closest scrutiny into every question involved in our assertions. The State of Arkansas (larger than the great State of New l oik), considered in respect to Climate, Soil, Seasons and Productions, natural and cultivated, actual and possible, stands unrivaled among her sister States; and as a field for the investment of capital, the founding of new enterprises and the securing of permanent homes presents' attractions to be sought in vain elsewhere. Lying between ^ i f q«v> find 36° 30 ' N. latitude, it stretches fiom the I longitude WW,* «. M- *** Mississippi innoitude 94” 40 '. Its latitude is, therefore, 2 of the 6 States of Tennessee, North Carolina, almost the entire JEe of South Carolina, and the northern half of Mississippi, Ala- bama and Georgia. Its longitude is that of Louisiana, Missouri, — 3 — Iowa th e eastern half of Minnesota, and the western half of Wisconsin and Illinois. .. ° f ^ rkansas . Htfcle has been written, and little is known, outside its borders. It has never been the interest of any to proclaim its excellencies. Its population doubled every decade for four succes- sive decades, and during the years 1859 and 1860, the increase of its taxable property amounted to a sum equal to the total value of all the taxable property in 1852. The Northwest has tilled up at a more rapid rate, but all acquainted with the facts know that the compara- tive merits of a country have been a small element in the influences which have led to its abnormally rapid development. The progress of Arkansas has been perfectly normal; and since the war, without efforts to attract to it public attention, or to induce immigration, and unaided by other considerations than its merits as a home, its growth has been satisfactory; it is now increasing as rapidly, probably, as any State in the Union. Its present population is about 600,000. Its area is 52,198 square miles, or 33,406,723 acres. The heart of this great State is the Valley of the Arkansas River running entirely across the State, and dividing it into two nearly equal parts, each nearly equidistant from the two watersheds or mountain ranges, north and south of it; and while the easterly end has great fertility of soil, it is the western half that presents the highest attractions to persons seeking new homes. That portion of is great valley west of Little Rock may be estimated at about seventy miles from north to south, and one hundred and fifty miles from east to west. Its area is about 10,500 square miles, or 6,720,- aeies; or one-fifth part of the whole State; and includes all of ten counties, and portions of several others, and about one hundred thousand people. Of this territory , the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad own more than one million acres. It is not a wilderness, where everythin* is new and to be tested; but is a country already full of established institutions, with its country roads, school-houses, churches, farms neighbors^ 3 1<>dgeS ’ ° 0Untry stores ’ count y towns and good These lands have been owned by the company, but reserved from sale to speculators for about twenty years, and all this time have been growmg more valuable by the improvement of the country and the civilization which has been flowing into it. They have now all the desirability resulting from this important fact. Never before have the lands of any railroad been brought into market under circum- — 4 — stances so favorable for actual settlers, and to intelligent readers and purchasers this fact presents a feature worthy of special consideration. CLIMATE The agricultural advantages of Arkansas are greatly enhanced by the leading characteristics of the country. The southern uarts of the State are the lowest. Thence the country uses to the northwest, attaining an average altitude in the Ozark' Mountains of about two thousand feet above the sea. The rain-fall, ^ich is about sixty inches in the country bordering on the Mississippi, falls off to- ward the west, to about forty-five inches, on the border of the Ind Territory. The altitude and rain-fall have thus sue a m y g influence on the climate and seasons, as to give in three and one-ha degrees of latitude all the valuable productions of tully ten degrees. There is not, therefore, a single one of the great cultural pro- ducts of our whole country-if we except sugar-cane alone-which mav not be produced in perfection in this State. The climate of the Arkansas Valley is far better than elsewhei in the United States, in the same latitude. Latitude is not the on y element in climate. Great differences exist m the climate of coi tries in the same latitude. This may be seen at a glance in Arkansas. The Ozark Mountains shelter the valley from the cold winds of the Irth The Arkansas River, rising in the Rocky Mountains, passes across the broad western plains, swept by the dry trade-winds of the “ ° ftf Me „ ico before it enters the State; and thus modifies the ^ifS^same manner that the Rio La Plata affects “Jte of Buenos Ayres. It is the same climate the mountains „ O the Italians. And thus it results, that the temperature of the glV | Vnllev in winter is from ten to fifteen degrees higher than inanyTortion of the United States, between the Alleghanies and the 9r*t :■ . 1 :: »“ t temperature is five 01 ten d does not show here as north, on the same P-alleL ^ as , Q more northerli Ses,lTinthe winter months it rarely drops to within ten degrees — 5 — of zero. Sudden atmospheric changes are also less frequent here than in the Eastern States, in the same latitude. This unrivalled climate is, consequently, a most material element in the agricultural success and wealth of the State. Here, men grow rich at farming alone ; and we modestly put the inquiry : Where, in all the North, or Northwest, does general wealth result from this oc- cupation ? We do not refer to the large farmers, where capital and' improved machinery are used, or to combined effort. We speak of that great class of poor men, who, with brave hearts and willing hands, try to hew out fortunes in a new home. To them, favorin* climates and seasons, and the husbandry that gives returns for the work of a whole year, are essential ingredients in the chances of suc- cess. We do not mean that the land of the North or Northwest is poor ; but we do mean that when a man can only work at his business half the year, it is bad business ; especially when more than half that half-year’s work is to provide against the war of the elements, that debar him from work. In plain words, the winters of the North eat up the fruits of the summer’s labor. Every Northern farmer knows this ; and that it is winter that places the cold and icy bar between him and the genial warmth of prosperity. In this country, there is no such inexorable master as old winter. He wields a light hand in this valley. He cannot here drive a whole people into hibernation, or to seek subsistence in the workshops of the city, or to toils and exposures to ice and snow and howling blasts, that soon bring down the strong man in his course, and send the feeble and sickly to “the better land. ’ ’ We ask the man about to break up and go to a new country, to sit down with h,s wife, pen and paper in hand, and make a calculation of the amount of tax he pays to winter, for extra expensive buildings for his family and stock, for blankets and heavy woolens, for medi- cines and doctor’s bills, to cure colds and fevers, and his many other winter expenses, and then foot it all up, and see how much of the year s toil is thus consumed. It will astonish most men. Suppose now, you can save one-half your expenses, and can add one-third to the days of productive labor in the year, how different the account will stand! Here, every month in the year invites agricultural labor and industry, receiving their adequate compensation, and at a very much less expenditure of labor for farm culture than upon farms at the East Even the winter months may be fully employed. At the orth, they are months of comparative idleness, or, at best, bring no equivalent returns. ° — 6 — In the temperate zone, a difference of five or ten degrees in winter is a difference of far more than twice as many millions of dollars, annually, to the citizens of a State. It is many thousands of dollars in a life-time to every farmer. SOIL. The unsurpassed fertility of the Arkansas bottom-lands will make them forever desirable. Dr. David Dale Owen, whose authority is second to none other, says: u These lands are not excelled for fertility by any in the world. ” It is hard to predict their value when a dense population shall fill the valley. Fifty years of cotton and corn cul- ture does not seem to diminish their fertility. They have been over- flowed at intervals, averaging, perhaps, once in twenty years ; but these overflows contribute greatly to the richness of the land, by fresh deposits of the most fertile soils. Even this does not seem suf- ficient to account for their inexhaustibility. Dr. Owen suggests they are annually restored by the percolation of the waters of the river, richly freighted with all the required fertilizing elements. The soil is porous and permeable, and the waters are proved, by analysis, to contain all such elements. And it is found that well-water in the bottoms, which rises and falls with the river, does not contain, to any great extent, the organic and mineral matter found in the river water ; showing that in percolating the soils, its rich fertilizing ingre- dients are filtered out, and retained, to become food for crops, whose roots penetrate to a great depth. The great river thus manures the land with all that the crops require, and then furnishes a medium to bear them away to the distant markets of the world ! The u creek bottoms,” on the banks of the many tributaries of the great river, also possess surprising fertility. By the decomposition of the various rocks and shales of the great mill-stone grit formation, these lands are constantly supplied with new deposits of fertility. One not acquainted with facts can have but little idea of the vast extent of these disintegrations. All the valleys and foot-hills of the mountains are favorably affected by their influence. Millions of tons of rich soils are annually washed down from the mountains and depos- ited on the low lands, and as the country is cleared up, the distance to which this detritus is carried will be greatly increased. It would be easy to point out localities where, thirty years ago, there was scarcely any soil, now covered with a deep rich loam, and bearing fine crops. There is little rocky land in Arkansas, not rich enough to grow grasses andjDther herbage fit for grazing ; and some of the hill-sides are among the richest soils in the State, and admirably fitted for the growth of orchards and vineyards. There are tracts marked on the Plats of Public Surveys “Rocky, not fit for cultivation,” that are quite valuable. “Poor lands are good neighbors” is a common saying. They add to the value of good lands, by their perpetual use, without cost, not even taxes, and the worth of many farms is thus increased. Dr. Owen says: “A comparison of Arkansas soils, so far as “made, with a few soils collected in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, “ show that her soils generally are equally rich, in fertilizing ingredi- “ ents, with those of the said States, and that her bottom-lands are, “in truth, richer .” SEASONS. By “ seasons” we mean just what the farmer means by the term — that due mixture of rain and sun, which best promotes the vegetable growth. Climate and soil have usually been considered the chief necessities in production. Undoubtedly each may be regarded a sine qua non , but “season” is equally so. What we desire is, an open spring, early vegetation, southern winds warming the soil, then gentle rains — frequent rather than copious falls — with bright sun- shine between ; the greatest fall of rain in the spring, and then dry, clear weather. The corn crop is the index of the season. When the farmer can produce this successfully, he can raise everything else that grows at the same time. We never fail here to have spring rains. These generally continue until some time in Juiie, after which there are thirty or forty days of comparatively rainless weather. Between July 20th and August 10th there are usually hard rains, always regarded as very “ seasonable ,” and then comparatively dry weather again ; and when particularly so, the cotton crop is superior. The first frost is about October 20th, but only sufficient to check vegetation. Sometimes cotton blooms in the field till December. With an annual rain-fall of about fifty inches thus distributed, our “seasons” are very good. There are excep- tional years, as everywhere, but never here disastrously so. PRODUCTIONS. From such favorable climate, soil and seasons, general productive- ness is inevitable. The Commissioner of the United States Land Office says: “The Valley of the Arkansas is covered with a dense “forest for forty miles west of the Mississippi. Further westward 4 4 lies an extremely fertile , well- watered country, occasionally moun- tainous and at other times level, being one of the most productive 44 regions on the continent for the culture of cotton, corn and tobacco. “The products of Arkansas are classed with those of agriculture, 44 manufactures, the forest and the mines. Of the first the variety is 44 great, embracing the hardy growth of the Northern in the western, 44 and the tropical plants and fruits of the South in the eastern and 44 southern sections. The principal of these are wheat, rye, oats, 44 sweet and Irish potatoes, maize, peas, beans, butter, cheese, wool, 44 slaughtered animals, honey, beeswax, tobacco, cotton, hay and 44 garden products of great number and value.” Arkansas exports from her borders cotton alone of the value of nearly one-tenth the entire foreign exports of the whole country of every kind, natural or manufactured ; and she contributes more to sustain the balance of trade and the revenues of the country, in pro- portion to her population, than any other State. COTTON. This is a. “cotton country,” not because it alone will grow, but because it will grow, and on the Upper Arkansas to perfection ; and wherever it will grow men will cultivate it, because they expect to make it profitable. Sometimes they fail, but generally succeed. Of course a man may plant on speculation ; he may invest in hope of great profit and speedy fortune, and fail, as most do who strike for a fortune. When we speak of success, we suppose farmers to be act- ing as sensible men, and under those conditions when they produce at home what they can produce cheaper than they can buy abroad, and an exportable crop on which they can realize mone}'. Cotton has always been the great staple export of Arkansas, and is the great agricultural staple of the world. It bears the farthest transportation, and commands cash in any market, and is raised here as profitably as in any other section of the country, and has no superior in quality. — 9 — Governor Conway did not exaggerate in his annual message to the Legislature of 1858, when he said: “ If we had labor enough to cul- “ tivate all the cotton lands in the State, Arkansas alone could suppfy “ annually the market of the world with as much cotton as has ever “ been raised any year in all of the cotton-growing States of the “Union.” This is equally true to-day. , An ordinary family, say one man and two boys or girls, may pro- duce easily, in addition to other crops, ten or fifteen bales of cotton. One-half the work is picking ; at this women and children are more profitable than men. The work is light, requiring only nimble fingers. What we say of this crop will be well understood by residents in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. We ask them to consider the advantages here presented for its culture, where, instead of a bale from four or five acres, and sometimes from seven or eight, our best lands produce sometimes two bales, and always one, per acre, and the uplands one-half to one bale. Is it not wise to dispose of worn-out soils at any price and remove to new lands and fresh and inexhaustible fields? TOBACCO. The culture of tobacco is extending to all portions of the Union, and ranks next to cotton as an article of Southern export. It has not been a leading crop here, simply because cotton claimed that rank, but it has been most successfully grown on almost every kind of soil in the valley. Soils affect the quality of tobacco more than any other product. It is quality, not quantity, which gives value to the production, and the large amounts of potash and nitrogen in our soils favorably affect its growth. The culture of wheat and tobacco are always profitably combined, in rotation, and with the increase of wheat-growing and flouring-mills, tobacco will become a staple crop here. The tobacco already grown here compares most favorably with the best specimens raised in Virginia and Kentucky. HEMP Does as well here as in Kentucky and Missouri, according to the tests made of it. WHEAT. Wheat produces largely on the bottoms — sometimes as high as sixty bushels per acre. An average yield throughout the State may be set down at from thirty-five to forty-five bushels, and on uplands at from 'twenty five to thirty-five bushels, and when well handled, more. It weighs about five pounds more to the bushel than Northern wheat, and the quality is superior. The best flour made at St. Louis is from Southern wheat, and the best bread made in New York is from Southern flour. CORN. “ The bottoms are also peculiarly adapted to the growth of corn. “ From sixty to eighty bushels per acre is not an unusual crop ; and “it is the opinion of good farmers that, let the same system of cul- “ture prevail here that has been adopted in Jowa and Wisconsin, “and the crop of maize can be safely calculated to average sixty “bushels per acre. The corn is not as flinty here as in the more “ Northern States, and is considered better for feeding purposes.” — Leiois. There are thousands of men in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and through- out the Northwest, who can never forget the magnificent crops of corn they saw in the Valley of the Arkansas in the fall of 1863. RYE, OATS AND BARLEY Have been cultivated to a greater or less extent since the settlement of the State, and do well everywhere. PEAS, BEANS, POTATOES (of both kinds) AND TURNIPS Are sure and profitable crops. FIELD-PEAS, PUMPKINS^ PINDERS, CLOVER, TIMOTHY, HERDS, And all the different grasses are cultivated to some, and may be to any extent ; so also of millet, Hungarian grass and sorghum. These all yield freely, and have only failed to receive much , attention because the natural pasturage has not suffered them to be necessities. Much has sometimes been said of the hay crop of the North and its value. If we have not an abundant hay crop it is because we have an ample equivalent. We keep more cattle than are kept in the places which yield the largest amount of hay at the North, only we do not give it a money value because it costs us little. Indeed, this is one of the great agricultural features of this country. In some States men feed their cattle a large portion of the year on land that cost them $50.00 or more per acre, and for the remaining part out of hand, with food gathered under a broiling sun. If this is profit- \ — li- able, then surely land at $5.00 per acre, and pasturage free for nine months in the year, and but little aid the other three, must give a more satisfactory return. If a man can live feeding stock north of 40 deg., then he should make his fortune at the business in the Valley of the Arkansas. Wherever any attention has been paid to cultivation, the crops have always been most abundant. GARDEN VEGETABLES Of all the varieties known to the best seedsmen of the country suc- ceed well. The immigrant from the North may bring all his favorite seeds with him. They all grow well here, with many that do not there. FRUITS Of all kinds (with the exception of the cranberry, which it is not known has been tried here) grow in profusion. Apples, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines and grapes reach great perfection, and excel those of the most favored portions of the Union. Whortle- berries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries grow wild through- out the State. Indeed, without going into particulars, it is enough to assert that all of these crops, fruits and vegetables are more successfully culti- vated here, with equal treatment, than in any other State, and many of them much more so ; and intelligence will point out to every farmer the general and special branches of agricultural industry to which his land and his taste may be best adapted, assured that suc- cess and remuneration will follow all well-directed efforts. NAVIGABLE STREAMS AND FACILITIES OF TRANSPORTATION. There are not wanting those, doubtless, who think that because the State has heretofore had no railroads she had nothing to trans- port. Railroads have not been such necessities here as in other States, great portions of which were almost worthless without some artificial means of cheapening transportation. With the Mississippi river on the east, and the St. Francis, the White, the Black, the Arkansas, the Ouachita, the Saline, the Red, the Bayou Bartholomew and others (never obstructed by ice), forty-three of the counties of u. of ill ub. — 12 the State are watered by* streams, each navigable for steamboats from seventy-five to four hundred miles, making a great highway within the State of more than thirty-five hundred miles, and several hundred more miles which may be made available with but little labor. We think it may safely be asserted that no other State has a water communication at all comparable with this ; and when the lines of railroad now under construction shall be completed, its facilities of transportation will be adequate to the wants of a very largely increased population, and equal if not superior to those of any other State. The Commissioner of the General Land Office (1868) says: 44 Arkansas has advantages of inland navigation not inferior to those u of any other State , its many navigable waters being the best possi- ble lines of transit for the produce of the interior to the great 44 natural highway on its eastern boundary, whereby excellent mar- 4 4 kets can be easily reached. The Arkansas river — next to the Mis- 44 souri, the largest tributary of the Mississippi — extends diagonally 44 through the central portion of the State, from the northwest to the 44 southeast, its whole length being about two thousand miles, and is 44 navigable its entire course through the State and for several hundred 44 miles beyond. * In addition to the numerous navigable streams of 44 Arkansas, it is proposed to still further increase the availability of 44 its resources by a complete system of railroads, connecting the 44 principal towns with the commercial centre of the country. Parts 4 4 of these roads are already completed. The principal ones are the 44 Cairo and Fulton, the Memphis and Little Rock, and the Little 44 Hock and Fort Smith , the two last-named forming the route through 4 4 the State of the projected Atlantic and Pacific Railway, for which “route great advantages are claimed on account of the fertility of 44 the soil and favorable climatic location.” In addition to the roads above-named may be mentioned as now under construction, the Little Rock, Pine Bluff and New Orleans; the Mississippi, Ouachita and Red River ; the Arkansas Central ; the Helena and Iron Mountain ; the Memphis and St. Louis ; and the Arkansas Western. MINERALS. Dr. Owen, in his 44 Geological Reconnoissance” of Arkansas, says : 4 4 The knowledge of the general boundaries of the geological forma- 44 tions now established enables the geologist to predict what valuable ft .13 — 4 4 minerals may be found within their limits. Some of these basins “have been proved to be the repositories of salt. The extent and 44 area of the coal-bearing strata have been generally ascertained. “Those districts have been pointed out which are most likely to “afford lead ore. Numerous iron regions have been discovered. “Wide belts of country have been indicated where marble prevails. “Sources have been pointed out where the best limestone can be “procured for lime, for hydraulic cement, for mineral fertilizers. “Though I have not myself seen one particle of gold, I have no “ reason to disbelieve the statement of others. Yet if no gold should “be found profitable to work, there are resources of the State in “acres of zinc, manganese, iron, lead and copper, whet and hone- stones, rock-crystals, paint and nitre earths, kaolin, granite, free- 44 stone, limestone-marls, grindstones and slate, which may well “justify the assertion that Arkansas is destined to rank as one of the * “ richest mineral States in the Union. Her zinc ores compare favor- “ ably with those of Silesia, and her argentiferous galena far exceeds » “in percentage of silver the average of such ores of other countries. “Her novaculate rock cannot be excelled in fineness of texture, “beauty of color and sharpness of grit. Her crystal mountains “stand unrivalled for extent, and their products are equal in bril- ‘ 4 liancy and transparency to any in the world. If thus early in this 44 work we are enabled to report such flattering prospects, what may 44 not be anticipated by a thorough and minute detailed survey?” The Commissioner of the United States Land Office says: 44 It 44 possesses also great mineral wealth in the bituminous coal, and “ores of zinc, iron and silver-bearing galena. The mineral wealth “lies in vast beds of anthracite, cannel and bituminous coal, iron, 4 4 lead, manganese, gypsum, zinc, salt and building-stone, the lead 44 ore containing silver in quantities sufficient to defray the expenses 44 of working — the zinc product ranking next to that of New Jersey, 44 and the gypsum greater in quantity than in all the other States of 44 the Union.” These dicta of the Land Office result from the records of that office, and we may therefore regard its statements as of the nature of official facts. It is believed that in no State are stronger inducements offered for the development of mineral wealth, or with so large a probability i of remunerative success, as in Arkansas. — 14 — COAL. The coal of Arkansas — or at least of the western portion of the State, which is comprised in the Land Grant of this Railway — is un- excelled by any coal in the world. Conway, Perry, Logan, Pope, Yell, Johnson, Franklin, Crawford and Sebastian Counties have a semi-anthracite, as well as a bituminous coal, which is unsurpassed. The celebrated Spadra mines send a coal to St. Louis which is preferred to the Pittsburg coke, both in a matter of economy and freedom from smoke and sulphur, by the Union Railway & Transit Company, and is used by this Company in their locomotives through the celebrated St. Louis Tunnel to and from the St. Louis Union Depot. It is also extensively used on the Pullman Sleepers running from St. Louis. Private families in St. Louis prefer it by far to Illinois coal, which at present can be furnished at less price per ton. The whole western portion of the Land Grant of this Railway is underlaid with this coal. The Horsehead and Spadra coal, by six different analyses, show eighty-six (86) per cent, pure carbon. Coals which will furnish coke and gas are abundant everywhere. Carbonates of iron, hematites, spathic, and other iron ores abound throughout the State. The Centennial Exposition of Arkansas min- eral products cannot be equalled by the same display of any State in the Union. TIMBER. In her forests, Arkansas has a wealth unknown elsewhere. There are no less than eighteen species of oak, and ten of walnut and hickory. Ash, of various kinds, locust, of both kinds, pecan, sycamore, cypress, wild cherry, of immense size, mulberry, black and sweet gums, basswood, beech, holly, sassafras, persimmon, maples, pine, cedar and elms are not only found, but abound , in quantity and quality equal to any desire, and are admirably adapted to all kinds of manufacturing purposes. For all such products there is constant demand. Dr. Owen says: “So peculiarly indigenous does the yellow “ pine appear to be to the Arkansas soils, that you will find it grow- “ ing in river and creek bottoms, side by side with the gum, and on 4 4 the argillaceous slopes, associated with beech. The osage orange, 44 or bois d’arc, is also indigenous.” To this country the East must in time come for its timber and woods ; and one of the great freights in the future will be these forest products. BUILDING MATERIAL. Another matter of interest to the man seeking a new home, is the great and generally distributed quantity of building material. Be- sides the vast forest products, there is no part of the valley where the finest building stone and brick-earths may not be had. The ability thus to utilize forest and earth, and convert their productions into houses and homes at trifling expense and little labor, will be readily appreciated. CLEARING A FARM. Men who have only cultivated lands opened by their fathers, or who have been unduly impressed by the advantages of a prairie country, may have some dread of a forest country ; but the extra labor of clearing a forest farm is but a tithe of the cost of fence and fuel on the prairies. Good water, fuel, building material, and timber for all kinds of implements and tools, always at hand, are not small items in the cost and comfort of life. EDUCATION. The State has amply provided for the educational interest of its children. The Constitution provides that the General Assembly shall require, by law, every child of sufficient mental and physical ability, between the ages of five and eighteen years, to attend the public school, for a period equivalent to three 3^ears, unless otherwise educated ; and shall also establish and maintain a State University, ♦ with departments in agriculture and the natural sciences. The six- teenth section of land in every township, besides various State funds, is set apart for school purposes. No southern or southwestern State expends so much per capita for the education of its school popula- tion as Arkansas. HEALTH. No State west of the Mississippi has a more healthful climate. Equally protected by her intermediate position from the diseases peculiar to the extreme North or South, she has been singularly free from all those epidemics which have scourged so many States ; while the less dreaded diseases incident to the rich alluvial soil of our broad river-bottoms, are less prevalent and serious than in any of those Western States bordering on the great lakes ; and even these are fast disappearing before increased cultivation. These remarks apply with peculiar force to the immediate vicinity of Little Rock, the initial point of this road, and to the whole western section of the State, which it traverses ; a city and country where the rate of mor- tality is probably less than in any other city and country in the West or South, of the same population. We make these statements on the testimony of thousands of intelligent citizens, including many medi- cal gentlemen of great experience and critical observation, and we believe them reliable. But if they need any verification, the study of “ Nature’s own handwriting,” the legibility of which no amount of prejudice can mar, must bring the most casual observer to the same conclusions ; for the soil, with the exception of the immediate river-bottoms, is light and sandy, with a sub-soil of clay and gravel ; the large pine forest; the undulating face of the country, making a natural drainage of the first order ; qnd the exemption of the lands west of the city from those overflows so destructive to the health of some States, are corroborative and satisfactory proofs that this val- ley of the Arkansas must be a healthful climate. LABOR. Labor is the great want of Arkansas. The foregoing pages have been chiefly addressed to men supposed to have means of establishing themselves in the place of their choice. But there are great num- bers not so situated, and to those who seek to meet present wants — 17 — by daily labor, the farmer will furnish employment all the year. There is not a point on the river or on the road, where a steady man may not find occupation three days after arrival, at any time of the year. Mechanics of every kind are greatly needed. Brick, wagon, plow, boot, shoe, harness, furniture and chair-makers, gin-wrights, engine-drivers, millers, tinners, tanners, tailors, potters, saddlers, hatters, ^coopers, and all other branches of mechanical industry can at once find locations suitable for their avocations. The progress of the country is greatly retarded by this want of skilled labor, and the raw material for almost every trade may be found here in profusion. WATER-POWER For all manufacturing and mechanical purposes, is abundant in every part of the State. One of the most remarkable of these is known as the “Mammoth Spring,” in Fulton County, welling up on the side of a low, rocky ridge, from a submerged abyss beneath of sixty-four feet. The main body of water issues from a large cavernous opening forty yards in circumference, and boils up with a constant flow at the rate of 8,000 barrels per minute. Dr. Owen says its original source is supposed to be Howel’s Valley, Oregon county, Missouri, since the waters of this valley, which is thirty miles long and eight miles wide, are not known to have any internal outlet, losing themselves in sink- holes and subterranean caverns and passages, to again burst forth on the northern confines of Arkansas, and constitute the principal branch of Spring river. If properly improved, it affords water- power with sufficient fall for valuable mill-sites and water-privileges for general manufacturing purposes. MANUFACTURES. With abundant and cheap water-power and fuel, and a steady demand for all kinds of manufactured goods, Arkansas, with but limited and insufficient manufactures of her own, offers to capitalists special inducements for the establishment of cotton and flour-mills and manufactures of all kinds. As agriculture has hitherto been the great business of the people, these have been neglected, and reliance has been almost exclusively upon importations from other States, — 18 — for furniture, agricultural tools and most kinds of manufactured articles. With the increasing growth of the State and additional demands of the people, a large and profitable field for all such enter- prise is now here opened. By an act of the General Assembly of 1875, taxation upon capital employed in manufactures or mining, and upon the products thereof, while in the possession or ownership of the original manufacturer or miner, is suspended for the term of seven years from October 30th, 1874. With this exemption large sales and fair profits must attend every well-directed branch of industry, and investments cannot fail to meet satisfactory returns. GRAPE CULTURE. In some localities the soil may have all the requisite qualities for successful grape culture, but the climate is unfavorable ; in others the climate may be the most desirable, but the soil unfitted. In either case the culture of the vine is imperfect. Its complete suc- cess depends upon their mutual adaptation. This obtains in Arkan- sas to a most remarkable degree, and all evidence demonstrates that no locality on the continent is superior to this State for the profitable growth of the grape in all its varieties. Dr. Thruston asserts that there is no portion of the country where the grape can be grown so successfully. Leonard Wilhaff, Esq. , a native of a vine-growing country near Wertenberg, and engaged in its culture in this State for many years, says the Catawba and White Hamburg have neither of them ever failed. Dr. Dibrell, a well-known gentleman, says he raised the Catawba, Diana and Delaware, and has never known either to fail or be troubled with mildew. Mr. John R. Eakin, in his valuable treatise on grape culture, says an experience of eight years (his own and others) has proven the crop is never an entire failure from rot or mildew. The vines grow with remarkable vigor on soil considered poor. The fruit has never once suffered from frost , and has rotted less than in any other portion of the country. The Isabella ripens thoroughly here and has a delicious flavor. There is also a manifest improvement in the size and taste of the Catawba. 4 4 This “is the best region of wild grapes in America. What we mean to 44 assert is that the region between the Mississippi river and the 4 4 staked plains and between the Missouri river and the swamp lands 44 of the Gulf, produces more and larger and better wild grapes than V 19 “ any other portion of the known world. This is said deliberately, after much reading, inquiry, travel and extensive observation.” Elias Huh, of Little Rock, states that he has raised one hundred and eighty (180) gallons of wine to the acre on lands purchased of the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railway, has never known a failure of crop, and readily sells his wine at $2.50 per gallon when less than a year old. He will gladly give further information. STOCK-RAISING. Arkansas is especially well adapted to stock-raising. In the cen- tral and southern portion of the State horses and cattle require but little care during the winter, thriving and growing fat on the natural grasses and small cane which grow luxuriantly during the year. A ready market for these animals is found in St. Louis, Memphis and even further North. Hogs are fattened without cost, and roam in large numbers through the extensive oak forests. The acorns of the over-cup oak in particular, being nearly two inches in length, afford them remarkably nutritious food. As there is no better corn country than this, Arkansas, with its facilities for transportation, must soon stand among the leading stock-growing States. GAME. The game of a country is an indication of the value and fertility of the land, and the pioneers judge a country favorably or otherwise by its abundance. This is a fine game country. Deer and turkey are plentiful. Quail, grouse, squirrels, ducks, snipes, plovers, woodcock, wild geese, etc., furnish constant shooting, and there is scarcely a farmer who cannot make a good hag within a few miles of home. Fur animals abound. There has been no trapping for several years, and these animals have greatly increased, especially the beaver, otter, mink and raccoon. There are foxes and wildcats for the sportsmen. A great variety of fish may be found in our waters ; among them are the pickerel, black bass, buffalo and catfish, the latter sometimes weighing 150 pounds. — 20 GOVERNMENT LANDS. The only lands of the General Government in Arkansas now sub- ject to entry are those under the homestead acts of Congress. Any person may obtain eighty acres of these lands within railroad grants and one hundred and sixty acres elsewhere, and soldiers one hundred and sixty acres anywhere, upon the conditions of improvement and settlement thereon for five years. After such residence a title is made to him upon the payment of a small fee. ROUTES OF TRAVEL. The Arkansas Valley may be reached from any point on the Mis- sissippi or Ohio rivers by steamboat. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern* Railway furnishes a rapid route from St. Louis and the Northwest, and the Memphis and Little Rock the same for those coming from the East. Hundreds of persons annually come in their own wagons from Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee and elsewhere. If a good season of the year be chosen it is a cheap mode of travel, and very often the settler is thus enabled to retain his stock and wagon, which, if sold at his old home, would not yield him enough to replace them in his new home. Emigrants from Europe will find it con- venient to take passage to New Orleans, and thence by the Missis- sippi and Arkansas rivers. IMPROVED LANDS. The lands of the railroad are not the only ones available for pur- chase. Tracts of improved land may be bought of planters now will- ing, by the changed system of labor, to part with a portion of their estates, in a high state of cultivation, at reasonable rates. This com- pany is liberal in its views, and desires the country settled, whether it now sells its lands at present low rates or hereafter, when an increased population shall create larger demand and higher rates. It wishes to co-operate with planters and all branches of industry in — 21 — inducing a healthy immigration to this fair land and in the develop- ment of its wonderful resources. If the reader has had interest enough in the subject to appreciate the importance of the facts above stated, he is prepared to accept the statement that Arkansas, . in her natural products, fertility of soil, variety of minerals, unsurpassed climate, actual and possible produc- tions, facilities of transportation and general desirability for settle- ment by men seeking permanent homes, has no superior, but is, in fact, “ unrivalled.” And when he further considers that these natural products are not confined to narrow bounds, but are spread profusely in all the ten counties of the valley, interspersed with the most varied soils, capable of producing a greater range of cultivated crops than elsewhere in the whole country, and in the most positively remunerative quantities, he may declare it to be, in the language of the General Land Office, “ One of the most productive regions on the “ continent .” And surely such a great, broad valley, sheltered by noble mountains, traversed by a large, navigable river and a first- class railroad, watered by hundreds of mountain streams, and pro- ducing all that necessity or luxury requires, with all the conditions under which men may find or make for themselves happy homes, is not a country to be neglected by persons wishing to secure them for themselves and children. LINE OF THE LITTLE HOCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD. Little Rock, the eastern terminus of the road, is the capital, and near the centre of the State on the south bank of the Arkansas. It is a thriving city of 20,000 inhabitants, and the chief commercial and business point of Arkansas, noted for its enterprise, intelligence, schools, churches, residences and public institutions. It is rapidly increasing in population. Leaving Little Rock, we pass through the western part of Pulaski county, composed of rugged hills and fertile valleys, and supposed to be the richest mineral district in the State. There are here found granite, slate, novaculite, sandstone (fit for building), iron, lead, copper, zinc, silver and lignite. The well- known ‘‘Kellogg Mines’ ’ are in this county, as also sulphur and chalybeate springs. - 22 - LANDS FOR SALE. The company offers in Pulaski county about 78,500 acres. u u £ £ £ £ Faulkner ) Conway J ££ £ £ 188,200 ££ (t “l Perry £ £ ££ 113,400 £ £ ££ ££ Pope £ £ £ £ 106,700 ££ £ £ £ £ 1 Yell £ £ £ £ 51,600 £ £ £ £ £ £ Johnson £ £ £ £ 131,800 £ £ £ £ £ £ Madison £ £ ££ 11,500 £ £ ££ £ £ Franklin £ £ £ £ 135,100 £ £ £ £ £ £ Logan £ £ £ £ 118,700 £ £ .££ £ £ Crawford £ £ ££ 132,500 £ £ £ £ £ £ Washington £ £ £ £ 5,000 £ £ £ £ ££ Sebastian £ £ ££ 35,300 £ £ £ £ £ £ Saline £ £ £ £ 4,500 £ £ £ £ ££ Van Buren £ £ ££ ££ These lands are in alternate sections (shaded on the accompanying maps) on either side, and within twenty miles of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad. They consist of uplands and river and creek bottoms. Uplands vary in price from $2.50 to $8.00 per acre ; river bottoms, from $9.00 to $25.00; and creek bottoms, from $4.00 to $10.00, depending upon soil, timber, locality and the other consider- ations which affect value. They are all now offered for sale in government subdivisions, in quantities and terms to suit purchasers, with 6 per cent, interest on deferred payments. A perfect title will be made to all purchasers. P. S. — To “ colonies” and persons buying large tracts of land additional time of payment will be allowed if desired, and a very liberal discount from schedule prices. For cash payments a still more liberal discount will be offered. THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. The recent reports and letters of Gen. Hazen, of the United States army, contribute much valuable and authentic information touching — 23 — the general character of the Territories of the United States, and go to show that the idea which has been heretofore prevalent, that there are still vast areas of land west of the Mississippi waiting for settlers to occupy them and develop their fertility, is erroneous. They show very conclusively that the good lands of this country are already occupied, and that what remains must be classed under the head of bad lands, or more specifically as the Great American Desert. The eastern boundary of this desert may be fixed by commencing a line in the western part of Minnesota and running it north and south through Kansas, Nebraska, the Indian Territory and Texas, ending at about the 100th degree of longitude, and the Sierra Nevadas from the western line. It includes a distance of about 1,000 miles north and south, and 1,200 miles east and west, and all this vast territory between these two boundary lines does not contain so much- good land as there is in the State of Indiana, although there is territory enough to make forty States of the size of Indiana. This great desert includes one-third of Texas, one-third of Kansas, one-half of Nebraska, seven- eighths of Dakota, one-fifth of Minnesota, all of New Mexico, Colo- rado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and about two-thirds of California, Oregon and Washington, embracing an area of about 1,200,000 square miles, or about half the area of the United States. This vast area averages an altitude of about a mile above the sea, and is cut off from rains by the Sierra Nevadas. Very little of this area is adapted for cultivation, although by irrigation it might be forced to yield sustenance enough for those who may live upon it, but for general agricultural purposes it is worthless. It is estimated by Gen. Hazen that 2 per cent, of it may be redeemed by irrigation, and that an agricultural oasis might be obtained in this manner of the size of the State of Ohio. There are some parts of the remainder which afford pasturage for flocks and herds, but even in these por- tions the grass is so poor and scant that it requires 100 acres in the best locality to equal one acre in Illinois or Iowa. In this great region there is 1 per cent, of forest, producing wood valuable for building purposes. In minerals it is rich, especially in gold, silver, copper, lead, salt and coal, which are scattered all over this area in more or less profusion. The facts brought out in these reports of Gen. Hazen lead to some important conclusions : 1. The good lands of this country are already occupied. 2. The farming lands are already exhausted, having passed into the hands of private owners and railroad corporations, and what is left is practically useless for agricultural purposes. 3. They have an important bearing upon the future price of land in this country, since it is now known that the supply of land for agricul- tural purposes is limited. -The inevitable tendency must be a gradual increase in prices of the available lands. 4. They show that future legislation, development and emigration must be shaped with the view of developing the mineral resources rather than the agricultural of this great desert of 1,200,000 square miles, which for all time to come must bear the same relation to the rest of the country that the Steppes of Russia do to the rest of that empire. With the exception of its mineral productions and the comparatively small portion of it that may be used for grazing, this vast area must for all time remain a desert . — ( From Chicago Tribune on Gen. Hazen’s Report.) *