Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-27

building the road made their headquarters
there The track has now reached a point
about nine miles south OF Mena and conee-
quently the workmen and their camp fol-
lowers are rather too far away from the lit
tie town to help It to any considerable eN-
tent What Mena has lost by the extension
of the railroad beyond Ia expected to be
more than made good by the opening of the
division shops there. The foundations for a
large brick building and a round-house with
stalls for six locomotives are already put in.
and the shops should be finished soon after
the completion of the entire road,
Mena expects to do considerable business
on its own accord The town has an eleva-
tion Of | $50 feet. and is surrounded by a
hily country that is well covered with tim
her oak and yellow pine being most plenti-
u The railroad company has been oper-
ating one saw mill there for several months,
and has turned out some good lumber Lum-
hermen thereabouts say there is no reason
why the products of such mills as may be
established at Mena should not be put into
Omaha cheaper than the same woods can now
be obtained Plenty of baled cotton was
seen at the depot awaiting shipment to Fort
Smith, where the nearest cotton compressor
Is located. The cotton appeared to be OF fair
quality, and was all grown within a radius
OF half dozen miles of the town. Enthusi-
astic land agents add nearly all kinds of
fruit, vegetables and other farm products
and many mineral products to the probabili-
ties of this regor, but it is altogether likely
chief If not the only important industry Of
Mena for some time to come.
From the manner in which they are
fiocklng thither the other inhabitants
of Polk county evidently think well
of Mena's future The town of
Dallas has been the county seat ever since
the organization of Polk county. about fifty
years ago, but it is now proposed to move
the title to Mena and erect county building
there. The proposition meets with but little
or no opposition in Dallas because there are
not many people now left there, and a
good part of these few have greater inter-
csts in Mena. The New Era is the name of
a newspaper published semi-weekly. 1t
caught the boom fever, too, and loading its
entire plant into a cart moved over to Mena.
SOME GOOD BUILDINGS.
Persons who have failed to be present at
the booming OF but few towns in the south
west territory say there is better class of
buildings being erected at Mena than at
most boom towns. While there are three
streets pretty well lined with frame shacks
there are a number of buildings that would
do credit to a town that was older than six
months. a commodious hotel and group
of attractive little cottages around plot
of ground reserved for the city park are
the best structures in the place.
Though but a few months old Mena has
been able to record several sensational in
cdents in its local history. A dynamite
explosion, in which seven men were killed,
was closely followed by a successful at
tempt on the part OF two prisoners to burn
the city Jail; they also were burned.
In the rear of the tough saloon OF the
town is the Alhambra theater. 1t is prob.
ably the CTudest institution of it's kind in
the southwest and parts of the performance
discount anything ever presented on the
Midway. Two tiers of circus seats in a
small room constitute the theater proper,
m n far hpd cd m "a oil
line separates 1t from the stage For OBJ
vious reasons the stars dressing rooms are
between the entrance and the auditorium.
A hodup of a tender!oot is not of rare oc-
currence, The little town has been set all
agog by a recent incident of this character.
The son of one of the oldest and most es-
teemed citizens of that part of Arkansas,
and, incidentally, the heir apparent to a
fortune of nearly seven figures, was drugged
and feeced out of few hundred dollars
by one of the actresses a short while ago.
He had the woman arrested and tried, but
failed to make good his case. Now she
has sued him for $1,000 damages. Mean
while the gided youth is recuperating at
Iiot Springs.
In the beginning Mena was subject to a
government of and by the railroad COM
pany for the people. About a month ago
the people concluded their town had ma
tured sufficiently to enjoy municipal gov
ernment of its own. A native capitalist and
proprietor of the principal saloon was
chosen mayor He draws no salary yet
awhile, but IL is understood he will in the
near future. He has improved upon the
former government in but few particulars.
One of his first edicts was to the effect
that the lights should be turned out, The
company had maintained a set of good street
lamps; these have now been dispensed with.
Mena for its future success is banking
heavily on the construction of a railroad
from the main line OF the Pittsburg a. Gulf
road to Fort Smith. a distance of twenty
eight miles. Fort Smith is the most i'm
portant commercial center for western Ar
kansas and Indian Territory, and through
rail connection with 1t is highly desirable
for any place in that country. 1t is ninety
miles north of Mena as the crow flies; by
rail 1t would be about LOG miles. At pres
ent all freight and passenger traffic between
Fort Smith and Mena or the other way must
go via the St. Louis & San Francisco, the
line from Fort Smith to Poteau, /. T., or
vice versa. The Frisco road is well aware
of the importance of Fort Smith to Mena,
and sees TO it that freight rates between
Poteau and Fort Smith are kept at the high
water mark. This is only natural, perhaps,
because there Is no love lost between the
Frisco and the new north and south line,
and Mena Is creature of the latter. So.
when through route to Fort Smith is Of
fered for Mena's cotton and lumber and
when Fort Smith can send goods from its
jobbing houses through to Mena both places
will be materially benefited.
SIDE ISSUES LATER.
This work, however, will not be taken up
until after the completion of the PittsbuTg
& Gulf from Omaha to Port Arthur. To
rush through the great north and south
line is the object OF the company side issues
will be taken up later. The city of Fort
Smith made earnest efforts to secure the
new road. 1t felt that it's Importance as a
distributing center would be greatly in
creased If the north and south line were
TO offer an additional outlet to its jobbers.
a handsome cash bonus was offered PrCsi-
dent Stilwell's company If the road should
be run through Fort Smith, but the offer
was not accepted Instead the Pttsburg
G. Gulf was swung out into Indian Territory
a distance of about twenty-five miles, and
so completely missed Fort Smith. This
was done in order to save the enormous eX-
pense ca tunneling through the Boston
mountains the end Of the Ozark range.
Two long tunnels would have had to be
built at a great cost in order to have taken
the road through Fort Smith. The railway
company has, however, with an eye TO the
future, obtained the right OF way along
the south bank of the Arkansas river from
its main line to Fort Smith. As most Of
this land is in Indian Territory the right Of
way had to be obtained from the government.
Here will be constructed at no distant day
what will probably be a valuable branch of
the PittsbuTg & Gulf.
There are boom towns all along the route
tho new railroad is ALWAYS the case