The Monticellonian., 1895-02-22
TRUTH ABOUT ARKANSAS.


 more, Md, writes as follows in South. ern States Magazine:
 l have studied Arkansas pretty care- fully during the last few years (my latest trip through the state having been concluded only few days ago), and as an outsider l can amply confirm all that Gov. FishbaclI says as to it's educational and religious status, its observance of law, it's attractions in climate and healthfulness, and it's man. ufaeturing and agricultural capabili- ties.
 Arkansas has an area of g, $50 square miles, It is larger than New York. much larger than Pennsylvania, and only one-fifth smaller than all the New England states combined. Leav- ing off all it's swamp and river bottom lands, there is left of mountain, plain and prairie lands, and forest an area of about 40,000 square miles, more than the whole state of Indiana, greater than Kentucky, equal to Ohio, nearly as great as Pennsylvania
 No state in the Union has greater or more varied resources, industrial and agricultural, in climate and health than Arkansas, and nowhere else is there higher degree of refinement. The social life of Little Rock, the capi- tai of the state. is not exceled any where, and this may be said relatively of the state at large, leaving out the swamp sections. -.zs
 The northwestern part of the state has become famous for the production of fruit. No finer fruit IS produced in America than that grown on the south ern slope of the Ozark mountains. This region has come to be known as "The Land of the Big Red Apple" It's apples have taken premiums wherever exhibited. At one of the meetings of the American Pomological society, held In Boston, Arkansas apples were awarded the ''Wilder Medal" the highest honor in the gift of the society. At the Cotton Centennial exposition, held in New Orleans in 1884; at the American Institute in New York in l690; at an exposition at Riverside, Cal, and at the Columbian exposition, Arkansas apples received awards and premiums over competitors from all other sections.
 The mineral resources of the state are great in both diversity and extent Iron ores exist in great quantities and under conditions that enable them to be easily and cheaply mined The state has extensive coal fields, and much of its coal Is of q high grade, suitable to all steam and heating pur- poses and some of it admirably adapted to cooking. According to the latest volume dS93) of Days "Mineral Re sources of the United States" issued by the United States geological sur vey, the coal fields of Arkansas cover an area of 9,100 square miles. Com pared with the best-known coal-pro- ducing States; the total coal-producing area of Pennsylvania, both bituminous and anthracite, is only $500 square miles, that of West Virginia, It, ,O00 of Kentucky, II. GOO, of Ala bama, s,6GO, of Tennessee, 5,100. In some localities coal, iron ore and limestone are found in close proximity. According to the census of 1890 Arkansas stands third among the states in the production of manganese, Virginia being the first and Georgia the second. Arkansas produced in the census year more than one-tenth of the entire product of the | United States. The zinc deposits of the state are important and promise to become source of development and wealth. The zinc ores compare favor ably with those of Silesia. Marble, granite, soapstone, whetstone and other minerals exist, and though com paratively little exploitation has been made, enough has been brought to light to justify the belief that Arkan- sas is destined to rank as one of the richest mineral states in the Union:
 No part of the Union has more de- lightful and healthful climate than that of most of this state I say this of the greater part and representative part of Arkansas, not of the swamp and river bottom areas such as were traversed by the Arkansas Traveller.
 In spite of all that the state has suf- fered at the hands of traducers and thoughtless writers, it is undergoing a wonderful development. It is getting probably q larger share of the present flow of agricultural immigration to the south than any other state, except pos sibly Texas, and larger in proportion to area than any other locality, unless it be the rice country of southwest Louisiana. During recent trip through the state l encountered number of so-called "trains" of emi- grant wagons that had been driven all the way from Nebraska, the Dakotas and elsewhere in the northwest. some of them having been ten and twelve weeks making the journey. Hardly train on any of the roads en- tering the state (except those from the southl passes through the state with out leaving at one or more points a number of settlers" Two weeks ago single colony of sixty-eight persons from Iowa (the forerunners, it is said, of many ouhers) settled on lands that had beenbought near Stuttgart.
 lndustrially, too, the state is making great advances. Sawmill and lumber plants, furniture factories, wagon fac tories and other wood d-working estab- lishments, cotton-mills and miscellane- ous industries are multiplying. Rail- roads are extending their mileage and new roads are being built And there is general progress and expansion in nearly all lines of industry
 The state is no less famous for the peaches it produces. According to the last census Arkansas produced in 1890 3,001, 125 bushels of peaches. This was nearly twice as great as the pro- duet of California (which was 1 Gal a1n