The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1911-08-16
TRIP TO LITTLE ROCK.
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The very interesting account below
of the trip which Mr.. w. B. Compton,
one of the old veterans of this coun-
ty, took to Little Rock during the
old soldiers reunion, was taken from
the Greenwood Journal some time
ago, but having In some manner got
misplaced on the reserve hook was
lost sight of. Mr.. Compton Is such
a we'll known citizen of this county
that 1t is only right that the people of
Laurens as we'll as Greenwood Coun-
ty should read the account of his trip.
The following is the article as it
appeared:
On May 14th. 1920 p. m., board
ed the train at Greenwood and ar
rived at Little Rock on the 18th, $50
p. m., thence to the State House
around which throngs of onlookers
witnessed the registering of the Vets.
The city was crowded from center
to circumference with soldiers and
visitors. There were a great many
confederate State, who made it very
inconvenient for the old soldiers get
ting around the city by crowding
them out of the street cars and other
public conveyances. L am obliged to
acknowledge that it does >not meet
my approval for ladies who are not
deeply interested in the movement of
the old soldiers reunion to be pres
ent. l was told that in four days the
cars handled seven hundred and lfty
thousand people.
Little Rock did everyt ing she
could to entertain and make us COM
Portable, and while there | saw on
~ two who We're intoxicated and
they were not from South Carolina.
After staying two days and nights
| boarded the Iron Mountain r. r.
train for Hope and Ashville, Ark
two hundred and fifty miles further
west to visit relatives. | saw many
| things there to interest me in regard
to varied industries and agriculture
| visited portions of Hemstead, Pike
and Howard Cornties and found
many thousand acres Of wheat the
people call "cut-over-land" that is
land with all the large timber taken
or leaving only young growth of
oak, hickory, pine, etc. One of the
chief industries in this part of Ar
kansas is numbering. The lumber
mills handle timber so easily, fast
and variedly that | shall not attempt
description. | consider the land
mentiined above to be very produc-
tive and that eighty five per cent of
all the land l saw in the three coun-
ties to be in forest.
The good and reliable citizens saw
that th"'a lands have enhanced in
value one hundred per cent in ten
years. You can find the red, sandy.
gravel or black waxy soil, and kind
that might appeal to the agriculturist
for different products.
L visited also Laoline mines, and
as far as l know, the only diamond
mine in the Unied States. This is
called Kimberly" having gotten this
name from the great Kimberly dia-
mona mine in Africa Kimberly is
situated in the hills of Pike county.
! The soil and different formations of
Peridolite rock were interesting to
study. L was allowed to enter with
pass and my escort who was one
OF the guards permitted me to pick up
few different colored stones as SOU
Yenirs.
The town of Kimberly has but a
few hotels and stores and only one
bank, yet it is interesting to- an old
soldier like myself who had never
seen anything so new, to visit this
| place.
The next place of interest was the
Brinkley peach orchard of three
thousand acres also in Pike county.
They have tower in the center of
the orchard for observation which
overlooks the largest peach orchard
Except one) in the State The largest
being near Dequeen in Sewer coun-
ty, which has four thousand acres.
all we'll loaded with fine peaches.
Railroads extend in different direc-
tions to accommodate the peach pick
ers. They had advertised for two
thousand pickers before | left. They
are still clearing land for planting
peach trees, "Elberta" being the fa-
i