The Mena weekly star., 1921-10-13
WILL RUSH WORK ON POWER PROJECT
Arkansas First Attempt to Produce Electricity From Water to De Rushed to Completion Directors
 Assert--Ready Next July 12.

ASStft--htduJ 1NtAI Juiy l2.
 Little Rock, Oct. 6.-Adoption of an aggressive policy backed by an in- creased directorate representing the state at large and pledged to produc- tion of electricity from Arkansas first big water power project by July l, marked special meeting of the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Hydro-Electric Company, held in the general office in the Boyle building
 Under the leadership of Dr. R. R. James of Cotton Plant, Chairman of the Board, Virgil c. Petite, of Little Rock, president of the Arkansas Ad- vancement Association, and vice pres ident of the Arkansas Hydro Flee tricity Company, the board adopted a policy of the widest publicity regard ing the expenditures made in the past, and those contemplated with the new financing.
 The directors were unanimous in pushing the construction work which will bring a new era of industrial and manufacturing progress to this state. In addition the full board was repre- sented by F. T. Stanfeld, vice presi- dent; c. A. Watkins, secretary; W. D. Dickinson, treasurer, all of Little Rock; and w. N. Gregory, Augusta; !; E. P. Hill. Heber Springs; k. l.. Block, Wynne and John k. Miller, of Searcy. T.. T. Stanfeld remains as vice president, but relinguishes the general managership, and sales pro- motion, which departments will be handled under immediate direction of the board of directors.
 Completion of dam No. by July lst, is entirely possible, according to reports of both the resident and con- sulting engineers and the contractors in charge of the work. The success of this project is so important to the industrial development of Arkansas that all sections of the state will be kept fully advised according to the decision of the Board of Directors at the special meeting just held here. The compan's project is the largest construction job now under way in the entire state of Arkansas. It will involve the expenditure of almost $2,- 00c,000 and is providing employment for small army of workmen.
 The salient features of what is called dam No, I, involve the con- struction of a reinforced concrete dam across the Little Red river, nine miles above Judsonia, creating a lake IS miles long. As part of the dam will be the powerhouse with capac- ity of 22,000 H. P. The dam will 80 feet high and approximately $50 feet long. It will store three billion eight million cubic feet of usable water, ample to insure continuous produc- tion of electric current. The lake will cover 10,300 acres of land. The work has now passed the preliminary stages. A miniature city called Camp Livingston has been built on the east bank of the Little Red river, to house the workmen and machinery used in construction of the dam. Rock crushers, cableways, derricks and other machinery are now in op- eration. The ground is being stripped down to bed rock and material being hauled in for actual construction. l.. I. Fletcher, head of the hydro-elec- tric department of J. Livingston & Company, the big New York con- tractors is personally on the ground experimenting the work of his com pany.
 Directors present at the special meeting just held reported wide spread interest in the great project, progressive communities bidding for the transmission lines which will carry the electrical energy for the operation of many new cotton manu- featuring mills and othe industrial enterprises. Banks, business men and chambers of commerce in the terri tory to be served by the Arkansas Hydro Electric Company are eager to bring to this state the same sort of prosperity that has followed hydro electric development in the Carolinas. Gaston county in North Carolina was cited as an example. In few years 1t developed from a poverty stricken county with small assets to the fourth county in the world, outside of Great Britain in the cotton spinning indus try. Hydro-electric development was the very foundation of this wonder ful growth. New cotton mills are being built as fast as the material can be secured. Over twelve millions of dollars were spent upon building work in Gastonia alone in 1920. With the southern states enjoying 20 cent cotton, the south has S540, ,000, ,000 more today that it had a month ago and Arkansas is the state leading them all, it was pointed out. Now is the time, the directors concurred, in pushing Arkansas to the front as the state to manufacture it's own bales of cotton, bringing employment to a greater population, increasing land values and insuring permanent profits, which it was asserted, should be as perpetual as the water rushing thru the company's dam and power house.
 Lost 4-Year-Old Daughter.