The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1909-09-16
FAR~

- SNANA VIVA
keep In the same general course. Con-
fined within certain limits with moods
that vary, they wander on, obedient
to the laws that hold them to their
course. They are sometimes tempes-
tuous and careless as men, wiping out
at one sweep the farms that have
claimed their ancient channels and as
sorting once again the full sweep of
their individuality. Sometimes they
sleep the peaceful repose of a babe.
At other times they burn away and
leave but the bed, from which the fe-
yered waters rise again to commence
the elemental cycle Of vapor, cloud,
rain. rivulet and river. And each of
these rivers has its own individuality.
Some are long; some large; some
deep; some shallow; some quiet;
some turbulent.
The Arkansas is not long enough to
be classed among the longest rivers
OF the world, though among the tribu-
taries to the Father of Waters it is
second only to the Missouri. 1t is not
large and does not spread out the &C.
cumulated waters in wide sheets; yet
at times. when the Aztec rain gods
pour out a deluge and the lower
courses are fed by the inflowfng
creeks and rivers, its magnitude is
majestic, inspiring, destructive. Nor
is the channel deep. For the noun.
tain pebbles and the rich, red sand
and the plain white sand and all other
varieties of sand from tho mountains
to the gulf are constantly filling in,
scooping out, rolling and gliding
down the swift current. piling in bars.
building up islands OF leveling the in
equalities of the bed. And the flow is
strong; the sweep Of the waters is q
mighty power, Embarrassed, to go on,
ever. to the sea.
Whether at the snow peaked springs
where it rises In the Rockies and goes
dashing down the mountain defles,
whether fretting it's way between the
man-built walls through the city of
Pueblo or gliding through the pebbly
foothills, whether winding its silvery
way across the Colorado and the Kan
sas plains or gliding on between the
Oklahoma bluffs and hills, whether
watering the mistletoe bedecked elms
or the canebrakes in the state whose
name 1t bears, the Arkansas has q
beauty, a charm, that makes one love
to dwell thereon. Anywhere along its
course it's acquaintance may be made
"a sort of chance acquaintance-and
one feels a nobler, wider sentiment,
like that which comes from the con-
tact with a broad. free-minded man.
However, since it cannot be consid-
cred as a whole. let the acquaintance
be narrowed to that beautiful sweep
Of the stream flowing between the
Usage reservation and Pawnee coun-
ty, Okla, where on one side or the
other, and sometimes both, farms
have been hewn from the wooded
valleys; where the sandstone bluffs
rise. sometimes so, sometimes 100
feet, with inches where the great
horned owl, the peregrine falcon and
the huge turkey vulture find a nesting
site. and where, in olden days, the
eagles reared their young. Here the
red waters hurry down, down, down.
with a swish that mingles with the
rustic of the leaves, the shrill Of in
sects and the cries of birds, in one
sweet symphony that browns the
troubles, the stress Of life, and gives
new vigor to the one who can sepa-
rate himself from his business or his
strife. as he learns new things first
hand from Gods great book.
Here along the bottom roads the
great cottonwoods rise. with massive
pillars that reach up and up, over a
hundred feet, just right for a giants
walking stick. Great pecan trees,
huge burr oaks, walnuts. hickories
and three or four smaller varieties
of oak. black. white, red and chin.
quapin, are here. Then there are
great hackberries with the corrugated
and winged bark. and here is that
beautiful black coated member of the
rose family which has been designat-
ed by the natives as the shittim wood
Of the Sacred Book. The wood is
hard. the hardest of the forest. trees.
with the possible exception Of the
persimmon; but the persimmon sell.
dom gets beyond the bush slzs.