, 1872-10-24
ARKANSAS.
o. IusI Commonwealth
and Next Acquaint.
1nCe.
No History for Ishmael---Mis-
slonary Effort to Re-
store It.
Where, and When, and How Settled---
Annals Of the State, from
Original Documents.

VElEluA1
From Our O,en Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Oct. Is, 1877.
A railroad chartered by the name OF the Cairo
l. Fulton Railroad will be open about Christmas.
Cairo is the aouthernmost town OF Illinois; Full
ton is a hamlet OF Arkansas, on the Red River
Of Louisiana. This road will be the shortest
route from Chicago to Texas; but, until the
Mississippi be bridged at Commerce, st. Louis
will have the advantage, as the controller OF the
new line is St. Louis capitalist. Whether the
great bridge at St. Louis is to be its advantage,
is question which time must answer; but it is
undoubted that st. Louis has now captured very
much Of the former trade of New Orleans,-
notably the Red River trade,-and, BY its rail-
way system southwestward, Is aiming to carry
from Memphis the entire trade Of Arkansas at the
same time, it possesses the new 1iues to the In
dian Territory, wlose common extension ia has
tening to reach Texas.
Arkansas comes up to within 10 miles Of ILL
nois, and yet how little is known Of it! There
is no place really to find anything about the
6tate no ok,-hardly cyclopndis article.
The Annual Cyclopmdia for 1869 says: .' A his
tory Of Arkansas since its first settlement by
white men, and Of it's political existence up to
the present time, has not been published, per-
haps not written" To eke ont this Ignorance,
the editor resorts to san official journal kept
by Departmental regulations, probably at the
Arsenal, at Little Rock !" and this journal
begins by saying: sNo history Of Arkansas has
ever been published"
Chicago, as the Metropolis Of the mississippi
Valley, should disseminate this information in
advance Of the new revelation in railways in this
"BeaT State"
TIE RAILROAD SYSTEM OF ARKANSAS,
at the present time, comprehends, in q COM
plete and incomplete condition, the following
roads:
The Memphis t. Little Rock Railroads.&c.
miles long, running only one train q day each
way, in twelve hours, or about II miles an hour.
The road is said to be doing paying business.
It has received s., 400, 600 from the State.
The Cairo l. Fulton Railroad, with q land
grant 800 by 10 'miles,-open from Argenta to
Kensett, ~ miles, and expected to be opened be-
fore frost from near Little Rock to st. Lcuis.
When completed, it will be $50 miles long, and
describe the longest diagonal possible in the
State. It should have been fnished BY contract,
July l, 1872, to Little Rock.
The Arkansas Central Rai1road,- miles
completed, and $500, 900 received from the State.
A8Seo As@@A ~@AS
Bluff.
The Little Rock & Fort Smith Rai1roAd,-
opened only 49 miles above Little Rock, and ut
Lewisburg connecting with steamers and stages
for the Indian Territory. About as much more
Of this railroad is said to be graded. It has re-
peived 100000 from the State.
The Helena 4 Iron Mountain Railroad, An
arm Of Allen d Maynard's st. Louis Railroad l.;
has grant Of 30o, 900 acres, and county bonds to
the amount Of e500,0o0.
The above are the only railroads to which any
reference is made in the official timetables Of
the country. 4 rather gushing advertising
pamphlet upon Arkansaa-the only book extant
pretending to give any account Of the State
enurnerates, however. seventeen railways, Wild
cat or otherwise, and says that the Little Rock 4
Pine Bluff Road has laid so miles Of track; the
mississippi, Ouachita & Red River, "a uiles; the
Memphis d Kansas City has 40 miles graded, ETC.,
etc. In short, says this advertiser, Arkansas
will have four thousand miles Of rail when al
these seventeen roads are done.
THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.
I don't know that can render better service,
sketching the history Of this Wild State Tor TIE
CH1cAao TRIBuHE,-the result Of more labor
and perseverance than the work will be credited
with. In the first place, let me direct the reader
10 whatever literature exists upon Arkansas:
The list Of books in this direction is small in
deed, and append some memoranda upon all
thst could ind:
"Resources OF Arkansas: By James P. Henry,
Little Rock, 1872" This is pamphlet OF 152
pages, written by Well-meanlng friend Of the
present State Government. It is cheerful and
ardent, and cheap besides. Address the author
geological Reconnaissance Of Arkansas !:
Made during the year 1857-'6o, By David Dale
Owen, and E. T. COX Assistant This is the
best monument extant to the old State Govern
rnent prior to the Rebellion. It contains nearly
200 pages OF feld-notes, chemical analyses Of
eoils illustrations etc., and takes rank as 3 con-
bcientious performance with any similar book in
the country. E.. y: Conway was Governor when
this work vas nnneEthkeg ana ne selectea M5: 5.
zninistration which left one such work has not
been the best in performance which the state
ever had
Regions Of the Ozark Mountains OF Missouri
and Arkansas, which Was first traversed by
DeSoto in 1541. By Henry R.. sehoolcEaft
This is delightful book Of simple-hearted ad"
ventures across the Arkansas line, made IN tbs
boyhood of q noble career. It was preceded BY
. London publication Of the same adventures,
entitled s4Journal OF a Tour into the Interior OF
Missouri and Arkansas, 1921" Schoolcraft also
wrote poem, probably the first ever composed
in the State Ci818), sin cave in the Wilderness
of Arkansas" which Was published in the Bellies
Lettres Repository in 1921. In this there seems
to be an intimation of the homicidA habits OF
the pioneers he had seen there:
Genius Of cayerns, dtear and wild.
Herr snppliant wandering child,
One who spills not on the plain
Blood for sport or worldly gain.
Like his red barbarian kin.
"An Account OF Voyage up the Arkansas il
1873, BY Thomas Nuttal, g Naturalist" This
book is long out Of print, and very scarce It i
written in patient, philosophic spirit, worthy o1
Philadelphian Of the former time, and con.
taius social notes n4:re valuable now than its
scientific suggestions.
In De Bows Commercial Reuiew for 1848 are
two articles,-one called Northern Loulsians
and Arkansas by R. NJ. Bry; another cellee
HNorthern Arkansas and Its Natural AdTan'