Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-07-03
FROM ARKANSAS.

As you are aware, I left Clarks-
Vile about the 1st of May, ran down
to Memphis, crossed the Father Of
Waters, ran through the long dis
mai swamp on the other side, and
then through the prairie to Little
Rock, Arkansas. Here met tie
surveying party, and also met sew
eral GAINESVILLE men, among them
Theo. Hartman and Henry Atkins.
From here we ran down the st.
Louis and Iron Mountain road to
Gurdou, where We started "a survey /
for the purpose of locating a rail-
road line. The country here is lev /
ell, aud the forest, growth consists
Largely of tall, well-shaped pines. /
The water is bad; the people get it |
from bored wells, and it comes up
warm, with a very unpleasant taste
TO a newcomer. When you drink
from one Of these wells, you wish
YOU had gone to. thexotller. The
woods are wild and fun of game
we frequently see herds OF deer, and
a short while back / saw the claw
marks of bear on the smooth bark
ofa beech; and afterwarri the large
footprints in the soft. mgd, with
the Unmistakable claws, and still
later one of the men saw one. /
have not met Bruin so far, myself,
buff I do / intend to impress. up
on him the fact that ] am anxious
to lead a quiet, peaceful life.
.arAnd besides the game we have
musquitos and ticks. Sometimes
you have six musquitOs on one
hand, eight on the other, and some
ten or more on your neck and ears,
together with a party of ticks rum
ming preliminary lines over your
person, and others locating. You
have this insect business to attend
to as well as take your level notes,
and when 1t all comes at once, as it
-sometimes dnesy itNtahes.-R lively
business man TO transact It. After
leaving level distrietaround Cur
don we asceEd the country along
the valley of creek, which we
cross by telling a sapling across for
a foOt-log, and "cOon it" over. We
have become quite adopts at this,
but occasionally one wff1 go over
board, greatly to the merriment of
every one bpt hiqseaf.s In duras-
cent we came to a beaver pond.
These animals with the sagaeity of
man had selected a suitable place,
had cut down the trees with their
sharp incisors so that they would
fall the night way and had damned
the crock from hin to hill. We in
dignantly deny that we damned it
too, being recently from Sunday
school. There was no. help for it
we had to wade it. The water
was three feet deep, with an UNI
DERIVING stratum of mud six in
ches Thick } 1here is nothing bad
in wading a beaver-pond It after
you have become accustomed to it.
At the source of the creek is a>high,
level and sandy country. All the
farmers raise cotton, and the farm
ers' daughters help to hoe it. AS
we passed through the fields l would
turn my telescope on the young la
dies, and could gaze at them with
out being thought ill-mannered.
After passing over the divide, we
take down another creek, whose
course suits our direction, and on
the down "trip we strike another
Deaver-pond, and to make the wad-
ing more delightful, the men killed
a large mOccasin snake just as we
were starting In. Afterwards we
came to morass, where the black
mud was many feet deep. We
crossed it by springing from one
tuft of underbrush to another. If
you missed your foot-hOld it was
bad for BACKED shoes aud clean
socks. These mornsses seem to be
the natural home of the cypress.
They grow here in large clusters,
and rear their notwithstanding
heads high above the dismal swamp
beneath. ss.. SCI. FL
We have passed through most of
the bad work, and are now slzirting
the foothills of the Ouchita river.
We expect i'm two weeks to reach
Camden, our objective point.
G. w. r.
In Camps, June 70, 1850. .rsrf !