The Green Forest tribune., 1903-11-14
HAS MUCH TO MAKE A TOWN.
A Visit to Leslie, the Eastern
 Terminus St. L. & N. A.
With the Advent of the Railroad the Remote Village Becomes BustIing Town
 with Possibilities of a City.

with Possibilities of City.
 THE TRIBUNE editor took a couple of days off first of the week to visit Leslie, the eastern terminus of the St. Louis & North Arkansas railroad.
 This flourishing new town is sit uated near the eastern border of Sc arcy county, in what is known as Wileys Cove. In point of distance, the place is 120 miles from Seligman, Mo-. the connect ing point of the St. l.. & N. A. road with the Frisco, and frac- tion over 80 miles from Green Forest.
 The fact that Leslie is the terminus of a road covering as much mileage as does the St. l.. & N. A. makes it one of the most important towns from a railroad standpoint on the line, and the further fact that it is to be made division point after the road is extended to an east ern outlet gives positive assur- ance that the town will never lose any of it's prestige in this respect.
 But the railroad shops are not the only things that will contrib ute to the growth and prosperity of Leslie. The town is adjacent to one of the richest agricultural sections to be found in any country. Wileys Cove covers a large area of strong bottom land, while the general lay of the country possesses every necessary element for the production of apples and other fruits for which Northern Arkansas is now fa- nous.
 Previous to the coming of the railroad, a few months ago, Leslie was the remotest sort of a rural village, having three or four stores, mill, gin, black smith shop and a tavern, with population of two or three dozen people. It was doing well to be that, being situated as it was no miles from Little Rock, the closest railroad point, and market of any consequence. It was then neces- sary to drive over an exceeding ly rough country all this distance every hoof of cattle and hogs that were marketed, and it is no wonder that that section is so far behind in point of development.
 Today, Leslie has an estimated population of 400. The scarcity of houses and inability to secure labor and material to build more as fast as needed has necessitated the use of canvas, and some- thing like half of the people there are now living in tents. The businesses now represented may be summed up as follows: Six general stores. four groceries, d drug store, a hardware, butch CT shop, barber shop, a roller mill-capacity seventy five bar rels a day, two hotels, two doctors, saw mill, cotton gin, carding machine, blaming mill and livery stable. There are now in process of erection five large brick business houses, a corro- gated iron store house, 25- room frame hotel, about thirty residences and telephone ex- change. Many other improve ments are in contemplation among which is the building oi fine brick school house and 8 house of worship for each tine Baptist and Methodist Espiscopal churches.
 Leslie may now be classed as ripe for the establishment of $ bank and a newspaper. There , is also a good opening for a stave mill and, in fact, everything else that goes to make ID d live town not mentioned in tke above list. The best thing that tends to in . sure the making of an important town of Leslie, however, has not