Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-10-17

The increase in railroad mileage
by the construction of many import
ant trunk lines and the extension of
many branch lines and shorter routes,
has made a vast difference in condi-
tons in Arkansas in the last five
years.
The reports indicate that there
have been more miles of track built
III the last ten years in the state than
ir the preceding twenty years, which
means that the railway mileage has
more than doubled.
Counties which have heretofore
been completely out of touch with the
world have been opened up for COM
merce and development and the op-
portunity has been seized with avid
ity.
Important railway centers now dot
the map in localities where not many
years ago the most available means of
! communication was a raft, which
would float down one of the many nav
! igable streams
The beginning seems to have just
/ come in railway construction One
I new and important system is about
ready for opening traversing valley
E, which in some portions has been al
=, most wholly uneXplored.
Every one of the important trunk
lines which enter the state have plans
made for the construction of addition
q! lines, Or are completing long
stretches of track which have been
planned in recent months.
Through the efforts of the railways
largely and in great measure as a re-
suit of the state exhibits at st. Louis,
immigration to Arkansas is increasing
from an intermittent and sluggish
stream into strong current, and the
effect in the state at large is becom-
ing felt
The state was originally settled by
pioneers from the Atlantic coast, prin-
c;pally from Virginia and thereabouts.
They were not the experimentalists,
which as a class We're necessary to try
cut the soil in proving its possibilities.
The newer generations had hardly
reached this stage in the development
of the state when the war came, and
Arkansas suffered in common with the
rest of the southland.
During the days of the reconstruct
| ton the westward tide of emigration
began its rush from the north and
east, and the would-be settlers had
neither the time nor inclination to
take up the experimental work which
ried on to the plains of the west.
They are beginning to return now.
j Those who tarried in Arkansas made
fair test of it's lands. its forest and
it's mineral resources The results are
becoming known and the natural sit
uatiOn is that the state is coming into
her own.
Modern methods of farming, scien-
fic schemes to care for the land and
introduced. Where it has been neces-
sary immense drainage systems are
carrying off surplus water, and with
/ government assistance the levee sys-
I tenn protects the river counties from
the assaults of the streams.
steady growth in population of those
, counties which were the first opened
un to agricultural development.
The immediate effect in connection
with the inducements offered by the
prices for land and the magic touch of
the railroad builders is the opening up
and the settlement of the districts
which have been neglected in the
past.
Men who are seeking new feds are
taking advantage of the advice offer
ed in a recent issue of a well-known
periodical of high standing:
THAT region (referring to Arkan.
sas) is more than a source of wealth:
it is also the seat of superb popula.
tion Of intensely American, independ-
ent, intelligent, progressive citizens.
And not ore-hird of the potential
al'ea IS yet redeemed from the forests
''Is it strange tbas Americans of the
hind that read and think and are no