Arkansas
Arkansas names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Arkansas ar-kan-saw, one of the south central states
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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: Land area, square miles 53,045 Population (est. 1906) 1,421,574 Little Rock 39,959 Fort Smith 23,505 Pine Bluff 13,038 Hot Springs 11,157 No. counties 75 Members of state senate 36 Representatives 100 Salary of governor $3,000 U. S. representatives 7 Presidential electors 9 Assessed valuation of property (1907) $302,181,563 Bonded indebtedness $1,250,500 State revenue $2,600,000 Acres under plow 6,953,735 Agricultural Products-- Corn, bushels (1908) 54,035,000 Wheat, bushels 1,620,000 Rice, bushels 2,000,000 Tobacco, pounds 543,510 Cotton, pounds 370,871,000 Domestic Animals-- Horses 279,000 Mules 209,000 Milk cows 384,000 Other cattle 695,000 Sheep 266,000 Goats 120,000 Swine 1,127,000 Cotton, acres 1,950,000 Cotton crop, value $42,501,929 Cotton seed, value $5,386,119 Miles of railway 4,530 Manufacturing establishments (1905) 1,907 Capital invested $46,306,116 Operatives 33,089 Cost of material $21,799,346 Output of manufactured goods $53,864,394 Lumber products $32,000,000 Tons of coal mined 2,670,438 Teachers in public schools (1908) 8,297 Pupils enrolled (1908) 366,000 Average no. of days attended by each pupil 60 Percentage of male teachers 49 Average monthly salary of men teachers $53 Average monthly salary of women teachers $41 Average annual expenditures per pupil $10.94 See United States
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a State in the South Central Division of the North American Union; bounded by Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma; gross area, 53,850 square miles; admitted into the Union, June 15, 1836; seceded, March 4, 1861; readmitted, June 22, 1868; number of counties, 75; pop. (1890) 1,128,179; (1900) 1,311,564; (1910) 1,574,449; (1920) 1,752,204. Capital, Little Rock. Topography. - The surface presents the features of mountains, prairies, hills, valleys and swamps. The Ozark, Boston, Ouachita and other ranges, from 1,500 to 2,000 feet high, occupy the W. and N. W. parts, with numerous spurs and outlying hills of considerable altitude; the central part is rolling ground; and the E. part is low, with many lakes and swamps and is liable to overflows of the Mississippi. Drainage is by the Mississippi, Arkansas, St. Franc Francis, Black, White, Ouachita, Saline and Red rivers. Compensation for the absence of a sea-coast is had in the navigability of long stretches of the principal rivers, thus permitting a valuable water traffic with adjoining States. Geology. The upper mountainous, forest and mineral lands may be separated from the lowlands and alluvial plains by a line drawn across the State from N. E. to S. W. The principal formations are the lower silurian in the N.; the sub-carboniferous on the S.; the cretaceous in the S. W., and the tertiary, overlaid by quarternary sands and clays. Hot and mineral springs are numerous and some of them are widely known. The valley of the St. Francis in the N. E. is a continuous swamp covered with a heavy growth of cypress, gum, oak, hickory and sycamore, while in the higher land there is an abundance of white oak and hickory. In the Arkansas valley are red cedar, cottonwood, maple and several varieties of oak. Other forest growths of value are ash, walnut, elm, willow, and papaw. Mineralogy. The State contains semianthracite, cannel, and bituminous coal; iron and zinc ores; galena, frequently bearing silver; manganese; gypsum, oilstone of superior quality; marble; alabaster; rock crystal; copper; granite; kaolin; marl; mineral ochers, and salt. The State is an important producer of coal and of bauxite, the mineral from which aluminum is extracted. Other minerals produced in considerable quantities are lime, manganese, natural gas, lead, and zinc. The coal production in 1917 was 2,228,000 long tons. The production of zinc is valued at $1,500,000 annually. The total value of the mineral products in 1917 was $12,061,702. Soil. The soil varies with the geological characteristics and surface conditions already described. Agriculturally, the most valuable soil is found in the river bottom-lands, and as the surface rises from these bottoms the soil becomes less productive. There are large submerged tracts that only require proper drainage to make them valuable to the farmer. The uplands generally are well timbered and well watered. Copyright, L. L. Poates Eng. Co., 194 Agriculture. The production and the value of the principal crops in 1919 were as follows: Corn, 48,726,000 bushels, valued at $79,911,000; oats, 9,240,000 bushels, valued at $8,131,000; wheat, 3,230,000 bushels, valued at $6,525,000; rice, 6,162,000 bushels, valued at $14,- 789,000; hay, 770,000 tons, valued at $15,785,000; cotton, 830,000 bales, valued at $151,060,000; potatoes, 3,321,000 bushels, valued at $6,808,000; sweet potatoes, 4,600,000 bushels, valued at $5,- 201,000. Of Of farm and ranch animals the most numerous are swine and cattle. Manufactures. There were in 1914 2,604 manufacturing establishments, with 41,979 wage earners. The capital invested was $77,162,000; the amount paid in wages, $20,752,000; the value of materials used, $44,907,000; and the value of finished product, $83,940,000. Banking. In 1919 there were 78 National banks in operation, having $5,557,- 000 in capital and $3,437,220 in outstanding circulation. There were also 386 State banks, with $14,062,000 in capital, $101,896,000 in deposits, and $145,181,000 in resources. Education. Conditions have never been favorable in Arkansas for educational development owing to the large percentage of negro population. There is a compulsory education law, but several counties are exempted from its provisions. Enrollment in the public schools is about 450,000 and the average daily attendance about 300,000. There are about 11,000 teachers. The expenditure for public schools is between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 annually. In 1917 the Legislature passed measures providing for aid for the establishment of rural high schools. The principal universities and colleges are Arkansas College, Hendrix College, Ouachita College, Arkansas Cumberland College, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS (q. v.). Churches. The strongest denominations numerically in the State are the Methodist Episcopal, South; Regular Baptist, Colored; Regular Baptist, Ba South African Methodist Episcopal; Disciples of Christ; and the Methodist Episcopal. Railroads. The total railway mileage of the State is 5,400. There has been little new construction in recent years. Finances. The assessed realty valuation in 1919 was $359,436,376. The State debt was $2,008,166. The internal revenue receipts amounted to $7,515,009. State Government. - The Governor is elected for a term of two years. Legislative sessions are held biennially, and are limited to 60 days each. The Legisla-
Arkansas UNIVERSITY OF ture has 35 members in the Senate and 100 in the House
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
UNIVERSITY OF ture has 35 members in the Senate and 100 in the House. There are 7 representatives in Congress. In politics the State is strongly Democratic. History. This portion of the original Territory of Louisiana, named after a tribe of Indians found there by the earliest explorers of record, was first settled by the French in 1670. It became a part of Louisiana Territory in 1803, of Missouri Territory in 1812; was organized as Arkansas Territory, with the present Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory in 1819; and was detached from Indian Territory and created a State in 1836. It was settled almost exclusively by people from the Southern States, and early became a battle ground in the Civil War. Following the seizure of Federal arsenals by the State authorities after the State had seceded, came the defeat of the Confederates in the battle at Pea Ridge, May 6-7, 1862, and in that of Prairie Grove, or Fayetteville, Dec. 7 following; the occupation by the Union forces of Helena; and the capture of Arkansas Post by a combined Union military and naval force, Jan. 11, 1863, and of Little Rock, Sept. 10, following. The State was under military control in 1864-1868 and adopted its present Constitution in 1874.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's noted in 1910 that Arkansas "now claims fourth place in the production of rice"; today the state grows roughly half of all rice raised in the United States, and it remains a leading cotton producer. The same account explained without embarrassment that the poll tax written into the 1893 constitutional amendment "is designed to shut out negro voters" — a system dismantled by the 24th Amendment in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, after Little Rock's Central High School became the focus of the nation's desegregation fight in 1957. Aiton's three-to-four-month rural school terms and 130,000 white children attending no school at all are long gone. The state's population has grown from the 1,311,564 recorded in 1900 to just over three million, and its best-known enterprise is now Walmart, founded at Rogers in 1962 and headquartered at Bentonville in the Ozark corner the encyclopedia praised for apples and strawberries.
Written for this edition, 2026.