The Mena weekly star., 1910-10-06

On Monday morning, the 18th inst.
 Y. D. Bates, D. Davis and myself
 managed to give the rest the dodg'
 and started on trip to Slatington
 the famous slate quarry of Montgom cry county. At noon we reached , Slatington, and let me tell you, there
 has been some money spent at thi:
 place. This quarry is owned by tho
 Southwestern Slate and Manufactur ing Company, but nothing doing now , From Slatington we went south tC the Government house, on top o
 Buzzard Roost mountain, a peak oi the Missouri. Here we found the two clever gentlemen. K. w. Armitage and Charles Fretz serving Uncle Sam, al | an altitude of 2250 feet. They con ducted us up into the lookout, where
 we could see Uncle Sans domain for
 many miles in all directions. No
 where can a finer view of Western Ar
 kansas be had than from the govern
 ment lookout on top of Buzzard Roost
 mountain, Montgomery county.
 wish to state that if external indi-
 cations mean anything, Buzzard Roost
 mountain, alone, contains as many
 tons of 0uachita oil stone as have
 been unearthed, finished and shipped
 from the quarries two miles west of
 Hot Springs, Garland county, in the last fifty years. Stone men, why have you neglected thisY Have you color blindness, or have you not been thereY If not, go and See.
 From the Buzzard Roost we turned southwest and soon came to the won derful falls of the Missouri. Why this water power has not been utilized by the slate men I cant say. Right here at these falls sufficient power could be developed, in the way of an electric plant, to drive all the ma chinery necessary for quarrying, finish ing of the rich and inexhaustible de- posits of slate and oil stone that is now lying unearthed in the heart of these mountains, only awaiting de- velopment.
 From Missouri Falls we turned home through the mountains of Mont gomery and Polk, with scarcely a trail for our guidance. When we reached Young Bates the old homestead, on Butcherknife creek, we found that our army of kinfolks had increased some what during our days absence and had congregated at his home to spend theknieht. Using the preachers par iaIfte, 1 viii say that this was night long to be remembered and never forgotten" Such an army of kin folks l never had the pleasure of meeting-brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, cousins, uncles, aunts and every other degree of relationship that you could substitute a name for. Talk about jubilee. we had it all night.
 Though feeling somewhat stupid from loss of sleep, and the reaction caused by our excitement, next morning, the 20th. Young Bates, D. Davis and mounted our horses and pulled out for the American Slate Company's quarries five miles up Big Fork. Here we found nine men at work and about half of their machin- cry on the ground. They said that they would have the machinery in running order soon.
 From the American slate quarries we returned to headquarters on Butch erknite creek near Big Fork postof- flee. Here we spent the night and on the morning of the Fist, we went to Uncle Georee Bates, a short dis tance from Big Fork and ate dinner. Every Menlo Park has it's Edison, so has Polk county in the person of George Bates. as much so as at any place in Polk county.
 On Thursday morning, September P, Young Bates, Jesse Talley and myself hooked our horses to a carriage and struck the Hot Springs and Mena road for Mena. After ten mile drive we found ourselves at Board Camp postoffice. At Board Camp is thriving village called Silver Center. It has four churches: Primitive Bap- tist, Missionary Baptist, Methodist and Christian. It also has school, two stores, cotton gin, saw mill, eristmill and blacksmith shop.
 Five miles west of Silver Center we came to Nunley, hamlet containing Missionary Baptist church, school, blacksmith shop and store.
 Please excuse me for deviatine from the plot of my story and introducing an extra link. One of the most striking features of my iournev from