The Van Buren press., 1878-07-30
:
CRAWFORD COUNTY.
4 Brief Description of Its Soil, Timber,
Minerals, ETC., etc.
Attractions offered to Immigrants.

Crawford County, Arkansas, is stuat.
ed on the extreme Western boundary OF
the State, adjoining the Cherokee Nation,
and contains an area of about 1862, 900
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 70.
000 acres of Railroad Lands, which are
now in the market, and offered at from
81 to $500 per acre, according to quail
/ ty. Other unimproycd 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, aud tho greater pant of them suscept-
ihle of cultivation. There are, within it's
limits, moro alluviai lands than most, if
not all the other western counties. Well
watcrcd, good timber, and capable of
supporting n dense population. The
present population Is estimated at l5, 900.
Schools and Churches abound in all parts
of the county, there being forty-eight
School Districts in the county in which
free schools ire taught from three to ten
months in the year.
There arc in tho county eight Steam
FIGURING Mills, two Woolcardina ma
chimes, and a 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 exoelled
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 locali-
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 eoan
tics
The description of Crawford County,
which We publish below, is taken from a
report made from an actual rcconnois-
sance by Messrs j NJ. Washbourne and
j. H. lIaney, to the L.. Il. e. +. 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 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 cf this county,
are level and FERTILE rich in grass
es, vines. grapn, and underground. Springs
are common in parts and water obtained with
readiness by digging. These lands are un-
lerlaid by ferrugnous shales and clays, and
where unproductiVe can be made so by ma
erial existing there or IN the hills. One of
he finest tracts of bottom land begins in the
,ity of Van Buren,, and runs down the river
>ast the mouth OF Frog Bayou or Clear Greek
% the mouth of Mulberry. The greater part
$ high, dry. richly timbercd, with luxuriant
srowth of vine, shrub and grass; Weli-wa-
cred, and as productive as any land on the
Arkansas.
Shales are everywhere exposed, even in the
ty in several places Coal, or coal indices
re found all over the county, but the coal. as
rule Is not as thick as it Is in Franklin. On |
frog Bayou, considerable tributary to the
Arkansas at Phillips bank, $. Is, L 8, Il, y,
ioal has been dug for thirty-iive years, said,
" smiths, who have worked 1t, to be the best
'oal In the region; it is three feet thick. ana
,asy to quarry it extends quite distance
Along this Bayou. and Is part OF the Arkah-
ms coal field. This stream has long been Ia
ned for It's fine wide, high and rch lands.
'ew small prairics skirt it with excellent
grasses ana herbs.
On Flat Rock, a stream eastward from Van
Buipn two miles, shale is exposed, anu coal
has been found. The uplands, along TINS
stream are fine for fruits, grapes and berries
This shalc runs into Van Buren; and in the
well sunk for the steam mill there. coal was
struck. as, also, n very hard, blue, almost inn
penetrable rock. Along this stream small
fragments of crystal-as also on low ridge
on the land of e. Scott, $, 9, L. 8, Il, 81, and
along the hillside, near the Van Buren, steam
mill--arc gathered. Limestone occurs at the
base of the bluff of ferruginous So ndstone,
above Van Burpn; this bluff of sandstone
abuts On the river. aud yields q fine building
stone; and ca its height, which Is broad
table land are some of the finest building
sites to be found in its picturesque valley--it
is tempting TO the wealthy immigrant. This
bluff fronts, also, on Lees Creek, at its con-
ucnce with the Arkansas, and runs along that
stream into the adjoining hills; the month OF
this stream is In s. Is, L. 3, X. 30; opposite
the bluff, across the creek, il high hill, in
which lead was found many years ago--it was
probably drift. Fine springs gush out along
the valley of this stream, and its many aiilu-
ents iron oxydes and carbonate are con.
mon everywhere, and the carbonate is excce-
dingly heavy; indeed the absence of iron is
the exception Ia this valley. The water In
this region Is very good, and the springs
about and near Van Barren, are accounted
the best in the country. Tho water is cold
and sweet. These streams will all supply
mills; and the county grows excellent
wheat. The corn cotton, cereals, grasses, es-
peciallv blue--whch takes hold OF the soil,
and spreads rapidly and close (as it does, iu-
deed IN other parts of the valley l-clover and
! fruits are all grown here In great perfection
| and quantity 10 the acre. Fruits, especially,
| have been SO thoroughly tested and cultivat-
ed by Dr. Il. Thurston, near Van Buren,, that
| II is now demonstrated that the Arkansas will
produce fruit equal to any other valley in the
| world.
The Valley Of Lees Creek contains excel
1 lent land, both bottom and high lands these
last are, for the most part, broken, rough and
rocky. Tho Valley of Lees Creek, with Its
tributaries, is probably wider than that OF
any M her tributary running into the Arkan-