Arkansas

ar-kan-saw, one of the south central states. "The Bear State." Land area, 53,045 square miles. Arkansas lies on the west bank of the Mississippi between Missouri and Louisiana. Roughly speaking, the state may be divided into three regions. These are the lowlands along the Mississippi and other rivers; the Ozark mountain region of the northwest, the higher peaks of which rise to an altitude of 2,800 feet; and the hill country between the two. The waters of the state either flow into the Mississippi directly through the White, the St. Francis, and the Arkansas; or indirectly through the Ouachita (wash-i-ta) and other tributaries of the Red River which winds through the southwestern corner. The Mississippi and Arkansas are navigable for deep water steamers throughout the state. The other rivers named are not so deep.

PRODUCTS. The Ozark region and the southern part of the state possess mineral wealth. Soft coal, salt, ochre, phosphates, zinc, marble, lime, sandstone, granite, sand for glass, petroleum, gas, aluminum, clay, grindstones, millstones, asphalt, gold, copper, nickel, and the chalk used for Portland cement are found, many of them in exhaustless quantities. The oil-stones and whetstones of the Ouachita Valley are considered the finest in the world, and are used extensively by the mechanics of Europe. Forty thousand square miles, three-fourths of the entire area of the state, are still covered with dense native forests of southern pine, tall, straight-grained white oak, hickory, pecan, ash, elm, black walnut, locust, pawpaw, hornbeam, gum, sycamore, red oak, maple, cottonwood, red cedar, and cypress.

Wild game is still abundant. Deer, wild turkeys, partridges, quails, squirrels, opossums, and raccoons, are still hunted. In the wilder portions of the state a panther or a lynx may be found. The forests also shelter a genuine wild hog related to the tapir of South America and the wild boar of Europe.

The entire area of the state is 53,850 square miles. About one-fifth of this is in field, meadow, and orchard. The Ozark region has a thin, light, sandy soil, but it is an excellent corn and fruit country. Over 3,000,000 barrels of apples and 6,000,000 quarts of strawberries are produced in the Ozark corner of the state annually. The southwest part of the state is famous for Elberta peaches, the finest in the market, plums, prunes, and grapes. Though not a dairy state, hay and forage are raised in considerable quantities. Corn stalks are the important fodder for work animals. Potatoes and sweet potatoes, especially the latter, are raised very generally. Four soils are recognized: the sandy soil of the Ozarks, the sandy and clay loams of the hill country, the red gumbo of the Red River Valley, and the black soil of the eastern lowlands. Arkansas ranks fifth in the Union as a cotton state, producing not far from a million bales a year, chiefly in the southern counties. It now claims fourth place in the production of rice.

HISTORY. De Soto and his companions were perhaps the first whites to enter the state. Some authorities hold that De Soto's followers buried him in the Arkansas River. The first settlers were French. Arkansas was a part of the Louisiana Purchase. It formed a part of the territories of Louisiana, 1803, and Missiouri, 1812, respectively. It was erected into a separate territory in 1819, with a population, including Indians, of about 10,000. The first newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette, was established the same year at Little Rock. June 15, 1836, Arkansas was admitted as a slave state. In 1860 the hill country was Union in sentiment, the lowlands were in favor of secession and carried their point, May, 1861. The state was readmitted in 1868. Under a constitutional amendment of 1893, voters must have lived in the state a year and pay a poll tax. The latter requirement is designed to shut out negro voters.

POPULATION. In 1860 the entire population was 435,450; in 1900 it had increased to 1,311,564, of which 366,984 was colored. During the same period, the railroad mileage of the state increased from thirty-eight miles to 3,240.

MANUFACTURES. Among the manufacturing interests of the state, wood products naturally take the lead. The virgin forests supply an unlimited quantity of material for the best quality of wheel parts, flooring, window sash, doors, barrel staves, posts, shingles, dimension stuff, and lumber. Car shops and furniture factories find material close at hand. Flour, meal, brick and tile, cotton seed oil, and coke bring the total product of Arkansas factories up to about $40,000,000 a year.

EDUCATION. In matters of education, the state has a problem on its hands. There are between 5,000 and 6,000 public rural schools and over fifty public high schools. The academies, normal schools, and colleges are in private hands. The average term of the rural school is between three and four months. Of a third of a million white children between the ages of five and seventeen, the state superintendent of public instruction reported in 1900 that over 130,000 attend no school at all, and the condition of the colored children is even worse.

CITIES. Six cities have a population of 5,000 or over. Little Rock, the capital and largest city, population (1900) 38,307, is situated near the center of the state on the first high bluffs of the Arkansas River. Pine Bluff, 11,496, down the river, and Fort Smith, 11,587, situated above at the western border of the state, are important towns. Helena, 5,556, is situated on the Mississippi. Texarkana, 4,900, beyond the Red River on the Texan border, is a railroad gateway. Hot Springs, population 9,973, situated fifty miles southwest of Little Rock, is a celebrated health resort. The hot baths are famed for cures of rheumatism and similar complaints.

The chief exports are fruits to Chicago and the northwest, lumber and building material in all directions, especially to Texas, and cotton to New Orleans.

In the Union, Arkansas ranks as number 25 in order of admission; 23 in area; 18 in population; 29 in density, and 11 in illiteracy.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources:

See United States