The Mena weekly star., 1921-07-28
FLOW TO NORTH ARKANSAS.
S16pension of M. & N. A. Win Put
 Communities Back 20 Years.


 Speaking of the expected shut dQWn of the Missouri & North Arkan- m railroad on July 3l, the Arkansas &axette says:
 Suspension of the Missouri and North Arkansas railroad on July 3I, announced yesterday by Receiver J !. G Murray at Harrison. will amount Fl little less than a calamity to the <H00sands of residents of northwest Afkansas, stagnate business as a whole and make the operation of that 8ee1ion's industries at a profit almost I3noossible.
 Ihe railroad passes thru seven coun- HIT between Searcy and the Missouri f1fe line, in five of which there is no &<{6r railroad. These counties will be I6EE with no means of ingress or {&ss except over winding, rocky lf5untain roads and will force a re- Sun6ption of the laborious freighting 461ndoned two decades ago when, at nj Enormous expense, the railroad X44 built thru the Southern Ozarks. H1th few exceptions the use of u6tor trucks will be impracticable.
 The Missouri and North Arkansas 31IIxead extends fom Joplin, Mo, to SI<na, distance of slightly more tEEn 300 miles. The road was built h 6ections, first operating only be- k46en Seligman, Mo, and Eureka
 ngs. Later it was extended to H11ison and Leslie and then to 1{cy and Helena on the southeast e<9 end, and to Joplin to the north-
 Between Searcy and Helena
 <ient railroads cross or parallel t6e line to relieve the transportation $it1&tion of towns along the Missouri and North Arkansas. The same situ- 4tion pertains in Missouri. Between &ee1ey and Eureka Spings, however, the Situation will be serious.
 IT <*Te Counties Without Railroad.
 &rroll, Searcy, Stone, Van Buren
 Cleburne counties will be left aDut a railroad The situation in 00lae county will not be so grave < to the fact that the White river 6L1uch of the Missouri Pacific almost 1x11Iels the Missouri and North Ar
 Ies at distance ranging from 10 ,, W miles White county, in which 6<Exry is located, is crossed by the main line of the Missouri Pacific, MAzIa Searcy is the terminus for a hf8nch of the Rock Island railroad. 4f the towns along the line Eureka 5bx&ngs and Harrison probably will sulfer less than any others. Eureka AnNings is less than 20 miles from the xaano railroad at Seligman, hard E3zffaeed highway connecting the two towns, Harrison, about 10 miles from 6f{<1nan on the White river road, e41 easily obtain it's supplies by this zNIEE- in the case of Berryville, Green 9E&st, St. Joe, Leslie, Marshall and tz@tef Springs, all thriving towns MIE6 some kind of industry dependent 8H {he railroad for shipment of it's 7z736cts, and a hundred or more 60&iIer towns, there is no railroad ~ztHin many miles. Tn addition the e68Hfry surrounding these communi- !les which have been supply centers 1Q< farms and inland towns, also must ss' S E <<IFsancial difficulties of the Mis- and North Arkansas, ante-date
 Erike by many years. A heavy
 1older in St. Louis recently said
 St. Louis people alone had sunk
 than $10,000,000 in the road
 nt a cent of return. In 1912 the
 lion became such that a receiver
 Appointed in an effort to rehabi-
 the finances of the line. These
 A have been uniformally unsuc-
 Hl and now more than S2,0O0,- n 7Eeceiver's certificates of indebted Y Ire said to be outstanding.
 bsorption Is Hoped For.
 I< general assumption among familiar with the situation is H will be turned over to the hold @l < the receivers certificates to 1eld. It is the hope of residents HIT the line that some trunk road which the Missouri and North < <sas connects, will buy in the M Tor use as a feeder and under Circumstances be able to operate
 itably, or at least without loss.
 IL&ss some such arrangement IS
 development of large section
 & state rich in timber and min
 x6sources will be halted; haif-
 counties now dotted with lunl-
 td woodworking plants must
 own it's industries, and part
 state which produces and ships 4I=Y, eggs. fruits, dairy and farm
 It's by the hundreds of carloads,
 feturn to the almost primitive m IT 20 years or more ago, depend 11 |nost entirely on it's own re- IEES1 for sustenance and bring it's U 1T Necessities over the hills in the 9<<d freight wagons familiar in LII IT days, but now practically for