The Van Buren press., 1896-10-03
RAILWAY BUILDING.
Arkansas Has More Miles Under Cen.
ssruction Than Any othe. State.
Educational system-ry Laws
sale of Liquors, How Regulated-Exem-
ptions-Tax Assess ment-Grewth in
Weaith-state's Indebtedness-
All Worthy of Consideration.


With many frst-class lines of railroad
.rsversihg the state, it is yet claimed
That railway capital has Stunned this,
the most remunerative field in the
union; but of late there has been nota-
bic activity in railroad building, Many
important lines are now in process of
construction, while surveying parties
are running lines for number of pro-
Jected roads, many of which will doubt
less soon be built. No state in the
union has as many miles of road under
construction at the present time as Ar
kansas, and every new line penetrates
timber belts, mineral beds, quarries of
granite, marble and manganese, fruit
regions and agricultural districts, cap
able of sustaining a dense population.
The mineral belts have thus far been
only prospected and the forest belts
have been barely touched. 1t is evident
to every rejecting reader that with in
creased railroad facilities the opportu-
mites for manufacturing industries Will
be almost unbounded, besides great i'm
pulse given TO agricultural traffic in To-
eelities how isolated and dependent
upon wagon transportation. Many well
populated counties lying north of the
Arkansas river, with farms well stocked
with cattle and yielding annual crops
OF grain and fruit, are waiting the adj
vent of railroads over which 10 dis.
charge trains of produca Into markets
OF the world. Instead of paving the
way for civilization, the lines of road
which will soon enter these counties
will find civilization already estab-
lished and fruits of the soil ready for
shipment abroad. They will find mines
open with ore in sight; granite quarries
open with sufficiency of material near
and far to build dozen cities such as
ST. Louis, besides coal and limestone,
and the most promising mine of nickle
in the United States.
AT present the state has less than
5000 miles of railroad, but every line
does paying business In t8d0 the TO-
tai railway mileage Of the state was 9s;
In 1870 1t increased to ESQ miles; 1880,
$50; 1890, 2,107 miles. Railway develop
ment has stimulated every INDUSTRY
notably berry growing, fruit and vefe4
table production, In all counties pene-
trated by railroads fruit and berry cul-
ture have attained great prominence.
Much of the acreage which in time past
yielded its annual crop of cotton now
teens with fruit berries and vegeta-
bles. Shipments Of berries are made
every spring by special trains to the
northern markets-and later still there
is an immense outflow of potatoes and
vegetables, causing an inflow of money.
But neither berries nor fruit is the only
crop this soil produces. 1t is adapted
to wheat, corn, oats, grasses, cotton and
live stock. The farmer who has an APP
titude for horticulture can exercise his
taste in this line of industry with salts
factory and profitable results But
should his fancy incline to cotton cul-
ture, grain growing or live stock pro
duction, he can pursie any of these with
success, or he can diversity his opera
Hehs without possibility of failure.
1.-THE way to make sure thing OF
cotton growing, said an old-time farmer
to the writer, lis to first raise your own
living off the farm and then put the
balance in cotton / don't care if cot.
ton is only Worth 6 cents pound; you
can make money out oft, provided you
raise enough corn, grass and potatoes
to do you" But more railroads and
more factories and mills will solve the
problem of how to make farming pay.
Every new railroad opens new avenue
TO market; every mandatory makes
a market for surplus products. An era
of railroad building in Arkansas may
safely be regarded a precursor of an
awakening of business and long fare
well to the almost lethargic condition
which has prevailed in districts remote
from railroads. Mines and quarries
will pour fourth their hidden treasures,
lands will appreciate and activity will
mark all departments of industry. Sub
merged bottom lands will be brought
under cultivation by IL judicious system
of drainage. immigration and capital
will pour into the state, and Arkansas
will take its place as the leading man
ufacturing as well as the leading agri-
cultural state,