The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1878-05-14
CRAWFORD COUNTY.
A Brief Description Of Its Soil, Timber
Minerals, etc., etc.
AND THE
Attractions offered to Immigrants.


acres, a good portion of which is rive
! and creek bottom lands. There is in thu
County nearly 10000 acres subject t.
homestea3Spr other entry, and about TO
900 acres of Railroad Lands, which ar,
now in the market, and offered at from
81 to 800 per acre, according to quail
ty. Other unimproved lands can bt
bought at from $3.50 to $1,000 per acre
and lands partly improved at from 81 te
to 800, per acre.
The Lands of Crawford County are
the larger part of them, exceedingly fer
tile, and the greater part Of them suscept
ible of cultivation. There are, within its
limits, more alluvial lands than most, il
not all the other western counties. We'll
watered, good timber, and capable oil
supporting dense population. The
present population is estimated at Is, 000
Schools and Churches abound in all parts
Of the county, there being forty ight
School Districts in the county, in which
free schools tire taught from three to ten
months in the year.
There are in the county eight Steam
FIGURING Mills, two Wool.carding ma.
chimes, and large number of Steam
Cotton Gins, &c, &c, as well as other
machinery.
Cotton, Corn, Wheat, Oats, Tobacco,
Grasses, Grapes, etc all do WELL turning
off large crops.
Fruits of all kinds: Apples, Pears,
Peaches, Grapes, etc, are not excelled
anywhere, and in this connection We may
/ utn hat at tho A via Fair
held at Little Rock last Fall, the first and
second premiums were awarded Crawford
County for the best and largest display
of Apples exhibited the contesting ex-
hibits being large and numerous. In
short, the agricultural products Of our
fertile lands will vie in richness and quail.
ty with those of the most favored locali-
| W in the Union.
The Little Rock and Fort Smith Rail
way, runs through the entire breadth of
the county from east to west And the
Arkansas River. which is navigable the
greater part Of the year. runs along the
entire length of its southern boundary,
thus giving to the citizens of the county
ample shipping facilities, and such as are
not enjoyed by many Of her sister coun.
ties.
The description of Crawford County,
which we publish below, is taken from
report made from an actual reconnois-
sance by Messrs. j. NJ. Washbourne and
j. H. Haney, to the l.. r. Il f. S. Rail
way, in 1857. Since that time there has
been of course, vast improvements made
in the condition Of the county, in most
all respects:
"Very little pine Is found in this County
but in the adjoining Cherokee Country, COM
mencing nine miles north Of westward from
Van Buren,, Is one Of the greatest pineries
north of the Arkansas River. 1t will hereaf
ter be very valuable to your Road. The up
lands In the eastern section this county,
generally, are level and fertile, rich in grass
es, vines. Crap, and underground Sprin Is
are common in parts and water obtained with
readiness by digging. These lands are I'M
derlaid by ierruginous shales and clays. and
where unpfoductive, can be made so by ma
terial existing there or In the hills. One of
the finest tracts of bottom land begins in the
city of Van Buren,, and runs down the river.
past the mouth of Frog Bayou or Clear Creek
to the mouth of Mulberry. The greater part
is high, dry, richly timbered, with luxurlant
growth of vine, shrub and grass; well-wa-
tered, and rs productive as any land on the
Arkansas.
Shales are everywhere exposed, even in the
city In several places Coal, or coal induces
are found all over the county, but the coal, rs
a rule, is not as thick as 1t Is in Franklin On
Frog Bayou. a considerable tributary to the
Arkansas. at Phillips bank. 5. lS L 8, II. 80,
coal has been dug for thirty-iive years, said.
by smiths, who have worked it, to be the best
coal in the region; it is three feet thick. and
easy to quarry; 1t extends quite distance
along this Bayou. and is a part of the Arkan-
sas coal field. This stream has long been Ia
med for its fine. wide, high and rich lands. a
few small prairics skirt it with excellent
grasses and herbs.
On Flat Rock, a stream eastward from Var
Buren, two miles, shale is exposed, and Goa
has been found. The uplands, along TIL,
stream. are fine for fruits, grapes and berries
This shale runs into Van Buren,; and in thu
well sunk tor the steam mill there. coal wa
struck, as, also, a very hard, blue almost i'm
| penetrable rock. Along this stream small
+ fragments of crystal-as, also. on low ridg,
on the land of f. Scott, 5. 0, I. 8, r. 81, ant
along the hillside, near the Van Buren, steam
mill-are gathered. Limestone occurs at tn,
base of the bluff of ferruginous sandstone
above Van Buren,; this bluff of sandston,
abuts on the river and yields fine building
stone; and on its height, which is broat
table land, are some OF the finest building
sites to be found in Its picturesque valley
is tempting to the wealthy immigrant. Thi
bluff fronts, also, ON Lees Creek, at its con
uence with the Arkansas, and runs along tina
stream into the adjoining hills; the mouth o
this stream is in ). Is, I. 8, II. 30; oppoSit
the bluff, across the creek, is high hill, il
which lead was found many years ago--it wa
probably drift. Fine springs gush out alon
tire valley of this stream and its many AHA
ents; iron oXydes and carbonate are con
, mon every where, and the carbonate is exec
, dinghy heavy; indeed the absence of iron
the exception in this valley. The water i
this region Is Very good, and the spring
, about and near Van Buren,. are acc0unte
| the best in the country. The water is col
and sweet. These streams will all suppl
mills; and the county grows exceilen
wheat. The corn, cotton, cereals, grasses, es
peeiallv blue--whieh takes hold OF the sol
and spreads rapidly and close Gas il does in
. deed In other parts OF the valley Glover an
fruits are all grown here in great perteetio
, and quantity Go the acre. Fruits, especial,
: : have been So thoroughly tested and cultiyal
i ed by DIR. X. Thurston, near Van Buren,, TIN
+ 1t Is now demonstrated that the Arkansas wi
produce fruit equal to any other valley in til
world.
9 The Valley of Lees Creek contains exec
|. lent land, both bottom and high lands; thes
q last are, for the most part, broken, rough an
3 rocky. The Valley of Lees Creek with il
. tributaries, is probably wider than that
W any other tributary running into the Arkar
. sas, on the north, within the State. but grei
> hills and high bluffs of the milstone-g r
sandstones everywhere intersect it; and v,
there are great bodies of fertile bottom an
npIan1s aud thousands Of homes awaifi In