The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1899-12-23
copyrighted by NJ. l.. DeMalher.)
EUREKA SPRINGS, ARK,
Dec. 16, 1899.

| EUREKA SPRINGS, ARK,
Dec. 16, 1899.
| Whether the country at large has
kept close enough track OF the move
ment to understand the reason of it,
or whether all investors have gotten
in on the ground floor who wished
to do so, one thing is certain, viz: A
larger amount of mining and rail-
road capital will be devoted to the
immediate development of the Ar
kansas zinc field than has been ex-
pended upon any mineral country,
the world over, the outside history
of which haaonly dated back twelve
months, or which hasL~only been in
the eye of the public tor that length
of time.
The movement is at this time as
sured, with nearly all contingencies
provided for, because it is not "all
on paper" the mineral resources of
the Arkansas zinc country. Nor is it
seen to be "all in the air. the large
margin of business and of profit
which iuheres to the situation, after
all inquiries have been satisfied upon
which, for security sake, mining and
railroad capitalists generally depend
their investments. But while these
things are true, so much is there to
the country, las proposition tor
miners and railroad builders) as at
once removes all doubt of there being
still wider margin of merit to it's
resources than is comprehended by
outsiders, no matter what their in
terest in it's affairs may be at the
present time
In the first place; Although it is
by long odds the largest zinc bear
ing territory in the world, not all of
its extent has been determined at the
present time. Witness, for instance,
the addition to the zinc territory of
the state which has accrued through
discoveries made in Baxter, Fulton,
Sharp, lizard, Madison and Carroll
counties, the total mineral territory
of which more than equals the COM
hined area of Boone, Marion, Searcy
and Newton counties which, until of
late, were supposed to comprise the
zinc belt of the state. And in the
second place; 1t is no imposition up
on the good will of the public to-
ward the state, when it is stated,
authoritatively, that no outsider has
yet comprehended to the fullest, the
elements of quality and OF ore in
quantity by which the Arkansas zinc
field is backed.
1t is true that many kind things
are said of the state upon the score
of its zinc resources; and of the thou
sands who have gotten in on the
ground floor, since the first Of the
year, there is not a case known to
the public in which the investor did
not see what he was buying, or
whose property is not worth at this
time FIVE to ten times the price paid
for it when the purchase was made.
But as stands to reason in the histo-
ry of such mineral developments,
where nine out of ten investors are
of the merchant class, and not min
eral Spectators, not the half was
seen by them collectively. This has
occurred Notwithstanding their bus
mess Judgment and their personal
testimony in general have been sufh-
cient to push Investigations in the
interest Of mine operators and rail-
road builders, with the result that
such boom has already begun for
the Arkansas zinc country as could
not have been hoped for in the South
west outside Of the long-time-un-
known and undeveloped region of
North Arkansas. And hence, while
on the surface the gathering bust
ness movement may not be under
stood by everyone, it is not merely
proposition behind which the known
clements Of a country Justify large
investments, but it is also a case in
to which is carried the greater ele