The Van Buren press., 1878-05-21
CRAWFORD COUNTY.
4 Brief Description OF its Soil, Timber
Minerals, ETC., etc.
Attractions Offered to Immigrants.

ed on the extreme Western boundary OF
the State, adjoining the Cherokee Nation
and contains an area Of about 362, OON
acres, good portion of which is river
and creek bottom lands. There is in the
County nearly 10000 acres subject to
homestead or Other entry, and about 10.
600 acres Of Railroad Lands, which arc
now in the market, and offered at from
81 to 800 per acre, according to quail.
ty. Other unimproyed lands can be
bought at from $3.50 to $1,000 per acre
and lands partly improved at from 81 to
to $1,000, 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. Well
watered, good timber, and capable OF
supporting dense population. The
present population is estimated at $4,000.
| Schools and Churches abound in all parts
of the county, there being forty-eight
School Districts in the county, in which
free schools are taught from three to ten
montHs III 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
state, that at the Arkansas State 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 local.
ty 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 a
report made from an actual reeonnois-
sance by Messrs. J. NJ. Washbourne and
j. Ii, Hanoy, to the l.. r. q +. 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
nine miles north of westward from
Van Bnren, 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 If this county,
generally, are level and fertile. rich in grass
es, vines. grapr, and underground. SPRING
are common in parts and water obtained with
readiness by digging. These lands are un-
derlaid by terruginous shales and elays, and
where unproductlve, can be made so by ma
teral 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 luXuriant
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 indices
are found all over the couaty, but the coal, as
a rule is not as thick as it is in Franklin On
Frog Bayou, a considerable tributary to the
Arkansas, at Phillips bank, $. Is, I 8, K. 80,
I,r ly,n,, "A irt, five,
by smiths, who have worked it, to be the best
coal in the region; it is three feet thick, and
easy to quarry IL extends quite distance
along this Bayou, and is a part of the Arkan-
sas coal field. This stream has long been ia
med for It's fine, wide, high and rich lands A
few small prairies skirt it with excellent
grasses and herbs.
on Flat Rock, n stream eastward from Van
Buren, two miles, shale is exposed and coal
has been found. The uplands, along this
stream, are fine for fruits, grapes and berries
This shale runs into Van Buren, and in the
well sunk for the steam mill there. coal was
struck, as, also, a very hard, blue, almost inn
penetrable rock. Along this stream small
| fragments of crystal-as, also, on a low ridge
on the land of +. Scott, s. o, I, 8, r. 81 and
along the hillside, near the Van Buren, steam
mill-are gathered. Limestone occurs at The
base of the bluff of ferruginous st ndstone
| above Van Buren,; this bluff OF sandstone
| abuts on the river and yields a fine building
stone; and on its height, which is a broat
| table land, are some of the finest building
sites to be found in its picturesque valley--i
| is tempting to the wealthy Immigrant. Thi!
| bluff fronts, also, on Lees Creek, at its con
uence with the Arkansas, and runs along tia
stream into the adjoining hills; the mouth o
! this stream is in ). Is, I. 8, r. 80; 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!
the valley of this stream and its many aiiu
| eHtts iron eSy DIES and carbonate are CON
mon everywhere, and the carbonate is eXcee
diugly heavy; indeed the absence of iron i
the exception in this valley. The water |,
| this region is very good, and the SPRING.
| about and near Van Buren,, are accounted
the best in the country. The water is colo
and sweet. These streams will all supply
mitls; and the county grows excellent
wheat. The corn, cotton, cereals, grasses, es
peeiallv blue--which takes hold OF the soil
and spreads rapidly and close las it does, in
deed in other parts of the valley )--cloveran
fruits are all grown here in great perfection
and quantity to the acre, Fruits, especially
have been SO thoroughly tested and cutivat
ed by DR.. X. Thurston, near Van Buren,, tina
it is now demonstrated that the Arkansas vii
produce fruit equal to any other valley in til,
world.
The Valley of Lees Creek contains excel
lent land, both bottom and high lands; thes
last are, fcr the most part, broken, rough AM
rocky, The Valley of Lees Creek, with ii
tributaries. is probably wider than that o
. any other tributary running into the Arkan
sas on the north, within the State, but grea
hills and high bluffs of the millstone-gr
sandstones everywhere intersect it; and ye