The Harrison times., 1917-05-19
STATE PRESS
ASSOCIATION
TIMES EDITOR ENJOYS A BIG
TRIP AS WELL AS THE ANNUAL
MEETING OF THE EDITORS.
Fort Smith. Ark, May 16, 1917.

Fort Smith, Ark, May l6, 1917.
In the course of five hundred miles
/ of travel in Arkansas during the past
| few days the Times man has been
gratified to find everywhere splendid
evidences of the cooperation of Arkan.
sas manhood with her agricultural fer.
tility to secure unprecedented produc-
tiOn during the crop year of 1917. And
nowhere are appearances more prom
Using than in our own thrifty northern
| hills and valleys The farmers along
| the Missouri and North Arkansas are
wise enough and ambitious enough to
! reason returns on the present year $
| crop by the experiences of last year
and the fine markets and high prices
now enjoyed, and if they don't have
something to sell this fall it certainly
| will not be their fault.
In the towns as we'll as throughout
| the rural sections the signs OF good
times are met everywhere. Business
is good money is plenty, improve
ments of all kinds are being pushed
| forward as never before. From the
| car windows we could see many new
buildings going up at Olvey, Everton,
| Marshall. Leslie and other towns
| down the road. At Kensett, that little
! crossroads. which for many years has
! been noted solely for its cheap lunch
stands new brick buildings and new
business enterprises, clearly indicate
that it is to be something very much
| better in the near future.
At Little Rock we ran into a cOterie
of wholesalers and manufacturers who
were unanimous in the assertion that
such an era Of prosperity and business
activity had never before been expert
enced in Arkansas And the best of
it is that there is every evidence of an
indefinite continuation of this cOndi-
| ton.
Sunday we joined an editorial party
which had gathered from eastern and
southern portions Of the state and
made the trip over the Rock Island
| railroad from Little Rock to Fort
Smith, arriving about 10 p. m. This
! route runs south of the Arkansas riy-
er, and for the first fifty miles passes
through some of the best cotton lands
| of the state. Even here, however, the
food supply is being looked after as
never before and fields Of corn, wheat
and oats as we'll as thrifty-looking
gardens take their place alongside of
the carefully tended cotton stretches.
One man in Perry county has hun
dred acres in potatoes, the product Of
which, if it is a good season and
prices remain as they are, would need
to be computed by an artist in higher
mathematics.
After many miles Of Arkansas river
scenery we found ourselves climbing
into the Magazine mountains of Yell
and Logan counties with a rolling yet
fertile country, very much like our
own and some splendid forests of oak,
pine and other valuable timbers, In
! this section the "cut-Over-lands' hun
dreds of acres Of bare looking cOun-
try from which the timber has been
taken by the many sawmills-are be.
ing moulded into fine farm homes by
thrifty farmers, mostly foreigners,
who, after being led into this section
largely as suckers" are demonstrat
ing their wisdom over many of the
natives by raising good crops, build
ing neat homes, and otherwise max
ing good
AS we pass further to the west
ward we see looming sky.ward be.
tween us and the Arkansas river bot
tom the lofty Magazine backbone
which is the highest point in all the
great stretch of count between the
Alleghaney and the Rocky mountains.
This seems almost unreasonable, but
the government experts who made our
geodedic survey say it is a fact never
theless.
we reached the coal fields about
Hartford at dark and could see moth.
ing of the country trayersed by the
two railroads which bore us from this
point into Fort Smith,
1t has been some eight years since
we were in Fort Smith and with this
city as with Harrison the past few
years have been very potent in devel.
opment and improvement It's bust,
ness enterprises are comparable with
the best to be found in any Of the
great cities It's homes are modern
and beautiful, It has seyenty.fiye miles
of paved streets, and a great system
of graded and oiled roads leading into