The Van Buren press., 1876-04-11
Ozark and its surroundings.


hour after hour In front OF case picking up
little pieces Of metal. and compelled to read
articles which are wholly unlntsrcstiDg to
you, Is wearing upon the human system, and
must. sooner or later. exhaust the man. il he
did not occasionally take L respite. Believing
such course necessary, we took the Maui
melle, aud OH the bosom Of the muddy Ak
ansas, we glidcd, amid the shadows that the
mellow moonlight showered about us, swiftly
to our destination. 1t was a beautiful night,
and as we looked out upon the mighty waste
of waters, chat mirror-like reflected back the
tWinkling merriment of the stars in the fir
mament above, the hill-tops on each side of
the phosporescent stream. seemed to kiss
with their rugged peaks the brilliant gleam-
ings Of the queen Of night " Puff. puff"
and the steam glistened like sheet of silver,
as 1t seemed to shroud the boat with Its misty
spray. and the giant wheel with Its heavy
splash.has enraged the waters in which it cir
cles, and down the river we move, exhilarated
by the panoramic beauty by which we are
surrounded.
1t was the "witchlng hour Of night" in
which Shakespeare SAYS graveyard yawn."
when we arrived at Ozark. How changed
the levec since our last visit. On its brow
were lot of freight ears. and everything in
dicated that the " railroad had got to Ozark"
We hunted place to sleep, and somnambuli-
zed in that placid manner which is only con-
ferred upon the Innocent.
The next morning we took a walk up the
line of the railroad These who can call to
mind the huge cliff just above the levee, can
form some idea Of the great amount of labor
necessary to the accomplishment of the task.
A gap has been cut through this cliff and
graded, that is IA feet wide and 1900 feetleng
To stand in the gap and look up the sides of
the hill leads person to believe that moth
ing short of 4 miracle could have achieved SO
c.upe,. aous a feat 1t is l4O feet high, 1t has
taken .a3o h,"gs OF powder to blast it. The
entire cut is throush sandstone almost like
fntin Its character, and :" urn thas many
kegs Of powder were used with ht.ie eiieet'
The contractor has lad two hundred "en a'
work uninterruptedly ever since the ear.
part of December, drilling and blasting, to-
tally regardless of wind and weather. We
we're informed by gentleman that over 35.-
600 yards Of stone were taken out ofthe main
cut. which is 300 feet long and l0s feet high.
1t has cost to prepare the l2Oth mile of the
road over $4,000. aud this cut constitutes
nearly one-quarter of that distance. At this
point the road commences running parallel
with the river, continuing to do so for seven
miles when it crosses White Oak and takes to
the woods. We do not knew what progress
is being made at the last mentioned point, as
we had no opportunity to visit it. strong
force is employed in laying rails, aud every
thing looks Tavorabls to an early completion
of the road.
Ozark is considerable duller than it was
four months ago. although considerable bust
ness is being done by some of the merchants,
DIR Ed. Blackburn has a fine drugstore, in
connection with the practice of his profess
ion. Wallace d Alston-the senior member
of the firm is our old friend, Riley Wallace,
scholar Of Peter and Bob. Moses-are get
ting rich. We had the pleasure of seeing
Mrs. Brown, the plucky edltress Of the Ozark
Banner. She is one of the most popular per-
sons in Ozark. and seems to have won the ad-
miration Of every one. Every merchant sue.
cumbs to her cunning pleadings, and she asks
~, no assistance t'iat she docs not receive
She manages the paper, financially as well as
edtorially, and is as successful in the former
as the latter To Ike dunned by her Is always
sure sitelling out of the amount due. we
were assured by several parties that her col
Iectatorial qualifications are immense. Mrs.
d Is also watching the construction of bull
Ing which is to answer the double purpose OF
printing Office and residence.
We had the pleasure Of grasping the hand
of our good friend Fleming. He is one of the
cnterprising men Of Ozark, and is the pro-
prietor of one of the best ferries on the Ar
kansas river. We believe that he and DR..
Carter should be yoked together as the most
clever men in Arkansas.
The country north and south of Ozark en-
braces large area Of excellent farming land,
and with its super excellent surroundings
the town has fine prospect in the future. We
tarried few days in the country, enjoying
ourself among bevy OF rosy-taced country
girls, fishing. riding, and straying among the
hills and valleys of that most crookedest'
of all streams White Oak" The farmers
on this stream are somewhat dseonsolate, be-
cause of the extreme lateness of the season;
very few of them had even broken their land.
The leading farmers i'll the neghborhood of
White Oak expressed determination to plant
large quantities of the grains, and but little.
cotton,
a word or two about ho,c we got home and
we are through. The "splendfd line of
coaches" running between Ozark and Van
Buren,, is composed of a two-horse- wagon
with one seat, which will accommodate two
men There were four of us. and, as a cohse
quence. two of us had to sit on the mall
sacks. 1t was pretty night, but that hardly
compensated us for being compelled to sub
iect our fragile anatomy to the ruthless en-
braces of the nocturnal air We had no place
whereon to lay our head. while our only COW
ering was the -besprinkled armament A
tedious tripit was, and our perturbed feelings
caused us to call down heavenly benedlctions
on the heads Of the proprletors of the stage
line, when some terrible jolt sent thrill Of
agony through our frame. We are mass
of bruises and pcstiferous sores. which con
tinually remind us Of our "wagoning" it
from Ozark Local.
doing Nothing"