The log cabin Democrat., 1910-04-12

lItSH u clIlocAN lcS tIlt III ce INI III VI the court, but at the second term, held in May, the court subdivided the | county into thirteen road districts and appointed overseers for each one. The commissioners appointed by the governor when the county was created to select site for the seat of justice, selected Conway, the tempo rary seat, for the permanent county seat. As a town had already been laid out at this place, no tract of land was purchased by the commis- sioners on which to lay out a town but on September 19, 1873, Col. A. P. Robinson, the original proprietor of the site of Conway, and the man who laid out the town donated to the county and conveyed by proper deeds the large and beautiful square now occupied by the county courthouse and jail. This square is $50 feet east and west by 460 feet north and south, and is a part of block 26, according to the plat of the town. There is not a town in the state that can boast of a larger or more handsome court yard so far as nature has provided for it's beauty. But as the county was in its infancy, and having no lots to sell, no means were accumulated by the county for the erection of pub lie buildings, and the Methodist church for time was used as a court room. In 1877, modern styled and picturesque two-story wooden build ing with office rooms on the first floor and court room on the second, terman. A substantial jail was also erected about the same time in the southwest corner of the courtyard and was used until about 1893. The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1890 and the present building was erected two years later.
 The county had no poor farm at that time and paupers were let out for their keeping to responsible indi- viduals who bid the lowest for them.
 The first county officers who serv- ed in Faulkner county were as fol- lows: Clerk, c. H. Lander; sheriff, Benton Turner; treasurer, M. E.. Moore; coroner, R. T. Harrison; sur veyor, G. w. Johnson; assessor, A. B. Henry. John Dunaway, a present cit izen of Conway, represented the coun- ty at the constitutional convention of 1874 and J. w. House was state sena- tor from 1874 to 1877. S. B. Burns represented the county in the lower house in 1875. The first census of the county, taken in 1880, showed Ill., 368 white and AIS colored people.
 Faulkner county is situated near the geographical center of the state and according to United States sur vey it embraces portions of town ships and 8, inclusive, north of the base line ranges II to 15, inclusive, west of the fifth principal meridian, and has an area of nearly 700 square miles, and an acreage of over 400, ,000, more than 150, ,000 acres of which is improved. About nine-tenths of the county is tillable land. The lumber industry in the county m the 70's was of considerable income. The best quality of lumber sold at $8 per thou sand at the mills, and cost from $10 to $11 delivered in Conway during that time.
 The first settlers in what is now known as Faulkner county were John | Standlee and others, who made ex- 1 ploration of the country along the Ar kansas river in 177S, at which time
 MT. Standlee selected the spot for his 1 future home MT. Standlee, with his son-in-law, John C. Benedict, con- i tinued their explorations, and for
 awhile settled in New Madrid (Mis- ] souri territory. But in the fall of /, the year 1911, Mr. Standlee, John c. Benedict and David Standlee left their home to explore new country,
 and were absent for about two years. 1 In 1874 John Standlee with his fam
 fly returned to Arkansas and settled
 upon identically the same spot which
 he had selected 36 years before. He lived there until his death, in August,
 1920 The tract of land selected by
 this old settler lies in what is known
 as the Benedict settlement on the 1 Arkansas river, in the southwestern
 part of the county. John c. Benedict
 and family who settled with MT. Standlee in New Madrid, set out in
 the spring of ISIS to find home in