Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-03-30
Democratic Northwest.
Arkansas as l found 1t.
TExARKANA. March 81, 1913

Mr.. EDIroR:-I am not in the habit
of writing letters for the press, but II
you will allow me space, l will try TO
give the readers of the NORTHWEST
true description of South Missouri, and
Arkansaw as 1 find them along the line
of the st. Louis g. Iron Mountain X. II.
as far south as Hoxie, Ark. Then west
over the Ft. Scott &Memphis r. H., to
the st. Louis, Ark. & Southern II. II.
Then along said road, which is known
here as the Cotton Belt, as far south as
Texarkana. Leaving st. Louis.
we go south along the Mississippi R.'
for some miles, sometimes just at the
waters edge with high bluffs at the
right, then crossing sloughs and
through deep cuts for some miles, when
we turn from the river. We started for
the foot hills of the Ozark Mt. Range.
The land is covered with small oak
trees and very short and bushy; the
towns in this vicinity are very few and
far between, and when you do find
one you would be surprised that people
would call such place a town. Iron
Mountain is the first one ofany inter-
est. This is a small mining hamlet, the
only thing there of Interest is the
Mountain which is large, red, barren,
hill, and has rich deposits of iron
ore in, and in which great shafts are
sunk to the depth of 800 feet. The
next place l will note is the county
seat of Iron Co. They call the town
Ironton. There are about 600 people
there ofwhich 800 are Negroes and
no bank ia the town, and but a
few things here to interest q man from
Henry Co. 0. First is the park and
spring with the oak standing hard by
where Col. U. S. Graut received his
first commission as General in the time
of the Rebellion. The III. V. /. Regi-
ment of which he was member has
placed fine statue where he stood to
receive mis- commission. The next
place is Pilot Knob Mt, which is the
only coned shaped one of the range in
this vicinity; it is quite high and has a
ragged and rocky crest. l climbed to
the summit from which could see
three small villages in Southern Mt.
also the top of Shepherds Hill where
Gen. Price had his 20, 1000 men when
he tried to capture the little fort in
the valley just below. The fort is still
in good order and person on Pilot
Knob can see even the inside walls;
then looking off to the right you can
Bald Knob Mt; this is fine scenery, but
very poor country;starting from Iron
ton south you will find after you leave
the hills, the swamps ofArkansaw. The
first county is Clay Coming is
the county seat 400 population, but no
colored man dare locate there. Here
the train takes on colored coach, and
the white do not even go in the same
depots with the negroes. When you
find town of 1000 they call 1t large
city. In 400miles of travel have found
two such towns; and Pine Bluff on
White River has 5000 people 1000 of
which are colored. The timber is thick,
SO are sawmills; the timber is not very
large. / believe the largest oak tree I
have seen or even pine tree will not
exceed 80 inches at the stump. The
Inhabitants back from the railroads are
called swampers and are tough set.
The Arkansaw hog is quite show,
about four of them could drink out of
q jug at the same time. There are no
good horses or cattle in this part of the
state, mules and oxen do the work here,
and as feed is scarce they look as
though they would have to lean against
a stump to be able to make shadow.
Land here is cheap bringing from
SIPS to $1,000 per acre. Most of the
people are ready to sell out and are
only waiting for a chance. / for my
part do not wish to own property here,
neither do / see why any Ohio man
would want TO come here to live wages
are low and board is high and hotels
as class are rocky,yet, they want first
class prices for fourth class accomo-
dation.
The next place of which / will speak
is Texarkana, which is situated on
the state line between Texas and Ar
kansas, it has about 25O0 people on the
Texas side, and 1000 on the Arkansas
side. This is tough city. If a man
has fight in Texas he steps across the
street and is safe and the same from
the Arkansas side, knives and pistols
are the way people fight in this part OF
the state. There are only few crimes
which are looked after much in this
part of the country. go north from
here on the 21st for Little Rock
then northwest to Fort Scott then
northeast to St. Louis then Via Wa
bash home, and will not be sorry when