Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-08-15
oone in the way of constructing other lines under the provisions of
 Tho Hush Rill

measure which provides for railroad building by convict labor. The provis- Ions of this law are so inviting to con seruction companies that capitalists are crowdlng around the state board to be hrst to avail themselves of the oppor- tunlty to take advantage of it. And while the measure is tempting to con structlon companies, the states inter- ests are amply guarded. It is, there lore, understood that the state board, In whom is vested the power to locate and establish roads and let contracts TOT the1r building, have the pick of the neIo, as 1t were, in the selection of con struction companies to build roads. In recent interview Gov Jones, who is a member of the state board, gave the pubic an idea of the manner in which capitalists view the scheme. He said:
 TWO bankers, one Of Little Rock and the other of another city, have already called on me and assured me that they can finance the seneme. One of them said he would rather nave the bonds of such a road than United states bonds, and offered to advance s20 900 to arrange the preliminaries. am positively ad- vised that gentlemen are now ready to raise the money on the bonds of any line the boarc determines to build"
 Fms means that one line of road at least will be built under the Bush act and the building of it is question of time onl y. At meeting of the citizens or Marion county, held recently, the committee which was appointed to draft proposal to the projectors of the Mis- sourl, Arkansas and Southern Railroad company, who propose building a line of road from point on the Kansas City, P1ttsburg and Gulf eastward through Benton, Carroll, Boone and Marion counties to Melville, the county seat or Marion county, recommended the donation of 10, GOO acres of deeded land, together with right of way through the county to Yellville, with depot grounds and terminal facilities. A committee was appointed by the meeting to confer with members of the state board for the purpose of obtaining their legal sanc- tion to the scheme. Sufficient prospect ing has been done along this route to warrant the statement that it is rich in minerals, and as fruit and grain pro- ducing country it stands unrivaled Meantime, the construction of rail- roads, not incladed in the list of lines to be built under the provisions of the Bush law, is progressing in many parts of the state.
 Dirt Was Broken a Month Ago
 on the Jonesboro, Lake City and East ern road, new line pointing from Net tleton, in Craighead county, to Lake City on the St. Francis river, 8 line which will place one of the best tim bered regions and farming sections of the state in connection with all the roads converging at the growing city of Jonesboro. It is expected this road will be completed in time to move the devel- oping cotton crop. Work has been re- sumed on the Arkansas Midland, an unfinished road extending from Helena on the Mississippi river, toward Little Rock, and known as the short line route from Little Rock to the Mississippi. 1t lies through the famous cotton region and timber belt, and will be, when fin ished, a valuable acquisition to the state capital. Then there is the Lott road, with Hot Springs and Little Rock for terminals, with a possibility of reach ing westward through Montgomery and Pike counties to Mena, about 50 miles distant, on the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf. The Lott road, which is graded from Benton to Hot Springs, with rails laid 12 miles, has been in the hands of receiver the past two years, waiting the fostering care of capital to complete and put it in operation. It now shows visible symptoms of reviv- ing and receiving the finishing touches. Another incomplete line in southern Arkansas, known as the Southwest Ar kansas and Indian Territory railroad, running from
 Smithton to Pike City.
 has been surveyed to Sunnyside, on the Mississippi, via Fordyee and Warren, which, when finished, will form a con tinuous line from Pike City, in Pike county, running in southeasterly di- rection almost across the south side of the state, traversing portion of the yellow pine timber region and cotton producing districts Fifty miles of new roadbed will close the gap between Warren and Smithton. Work is pro- pressing on other roads in the southern and southeastern parts of the state, be- sides extension of lumber mill roads into logging camps is being pushed in the lumber regions. One of these short lines, extending from Noble Lake, lief ferson county, is being constructed by convicts. It is four-mile line running to shingle mill owned by E. P. Ladd. The grading is being done by 100 con- yicts under a contract with the peniten- tiary board. Many of these lumber roads connect with trunk lines and large number of them will eventually reach across the country to other roads or to points on the Mississippi river to facilitate the transportation of mill products and other freight to the mar lxets of the world. Never in the history of Arkansas was the sentiment favora- ble to railroad building so general or so intense as now. It has, in fact, at tained the point of unanimous enthus- iasm, but