The Russellville Democrat., 1879-11-06
THE ROAD TO HARRISON.

Little Rock papers--both the Demo crat and the Gazette-are urging up- Oh the merchants of that city, the | importance of opening up good road to Harrison Let those papers ham mer away upon this matter until they force the merchants and business men of Little Rock to come up to their duty. We have at times be- came almost disgusted at the want of good sound business sense-either this, or else it is pure and unsdulter- ated indolence and stinginess com blned--shown by the business men of Little Rock in notreachingoutaftaF the trade which by right belongs to that city and could be attaacted there just as well as not We have seen large and important trade in Boone, Madison, Marion, Newton and Searcy Counties trying to get to Little Rock for years-seen it sick and tired of Springfield and crying nut for a road South 50 that 1t might go to its natural market And all this time we have seen Little Rock with folded hands refusing to do anything at all to invite this i'm mense business. So at times we have felt disgusted, and thought Little Rock ought to be just left alone in her sleepy stuper and let this trade continue to go to other towns which had g1t-up-and-git enough about them to secure it. But the deep interest we feel in the growth and prosperity of four Capital, and the pride we have to see her be- come strong and great, has always caused us to overlook her short com lngs and patiently labor and hope that her business men could yet be aroused up and prevailed upon to reach out after the important busi- ness of the counties north of us.
 This paper has agitated the pro- ject of good turnpike road to liar rison for several years. We have counseled Little Rock to take hold of it and secure tue trade os that section. We have talked and writ ten to Little Rock business men about 1t, but have never yet had many words of encouragement. Our little town has concluded to pitch in on her own hook and with what small means we can raise among our selves here to make a start We now have active work commenced and are gong to do all we can to make the road good. The business men of Little Rock ought to CO oper- ate with us and hasten the work. If they do they will beyond all question reap a sure recompense for all they expend in this way. If they still refuse to do anything we fear they will greatly prejudice the trade of the rich country north of us against that town, for that trade will prefer going on to Memphis rath- CT than force itself on a town which acts as though it did not want the trade of North Arkansas.
 We trust the Gazette and Democrat will succeed in getting Little Rock aroused up to some action in opening and constructing this road.
 To let our people here and the people of the coun.les north of us see that the newspapers of Little Rock are friendly to the project we append couple of extracts--the first from the Gazette and the second from the Democrat:
 The St. Louis Republican of the 18th says that 10000 bales of cotton raised in Northwest Arkansas have come into that city this season by way of the St. Louis and Sanfrancis- co railroad. This cotton was hauled by wagon into Springfield and Marshfield. Mo-, a distance of from 50 to 100 miles from where raised. Here is another new field of valuable trade which the merchants and bus mess men of Little Rock should seek to reach by lateral road running out from some point on the Little Rock and Fort Smith road. Little Rock is the natural market for the trade of the northwest, which could be easily brought here if there were sufficient transportation facil- ties.-Gazette.
 We wish we could impress upon business men the great importance of the projected turnpike from Rus sellville to Harrison in Boone. We are just as certain that 1t would bring an immense trade and business to Little Rock as we are that thous- ands at our late Fair left thousands
 lt lal | H T.