F417 09K16 ^* ,/ % •-!!^^* "^ ^ >- . . ^O-V '^J t^y %'^f^>^ ^<^^-:o^x^^^ V^^^>^ %^ V ,^^°^ ^\ o ,/,v;^-. V -V' -^^"^^ ^ ^^\^ 'mm o .0 O o " » , "^O :0^\ -^ The Ozark Mountain Region OF Missouri and Arkansas AS IT APPEARS ALONG THE LINE OF THE Kansas City Southern Railway Published By INDUSTRIAL AND IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI. ^ ®^rV\C ,i7> THE OZARK REGION The Ozark Mountain Region of Missouri and Arkansas The Ozark Mountain Region is a vast plateau, covering a large part of Missouri, south of the Missouri River, extending south within one hundred miles of Red River, be- ing divided into two parts by the Arkansas River. This plateau is traversed by many fairly large rivers and several hundred beau- tiful mountain streams, tributaries of the Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas and Red rivers. In some localities are evidences of distinct volcanic disturbances, but in gen- eral the Ozark Uplift or Plateau is a great table land cut into smaller comparatively level areas, into hills in places and magnifi- cent fertile valleys in others. Its altitude insures its healthfulness and its natural water supply is the finest on the American continent. Its general trend is from north- east to southwest, having its greatest width near the Missouri and Arkansas state line, tapering off southwesterly into Oklahoma and northerly to the Missouri River several spurs running earsterly to the Mississippi River. The altitudes range from 1,000 to 1,500 feet except in southwestern Arkansas where altitudes of 2,000 to 2,500 feet are reached. Along its western slope in southern Missouri and western Arkansas it is tra- versed by the Kansas City Southern Railway ^^ and is crossed in all directions by other railways. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway runs along the eastern edge of this plateau. Almost the entire area, except where cleared for cultivation, is wooded and there is considerable diversity in the soils. It is well adapted to general farming operations and the profitable raising of live stock, but much of the more elevated land is admirably suited to the commercial production of fine fruits, berries, truck and cannery stock. The appl3, in southwestern Missouri and north- western Arkansas, has reached the perfec- tion demanded in the fruit markets of the world. It has here reached the standard of quality demanded and is produced in com- mercial quantity, yielding annually a reve- nue of four to five million dollars. Enor- mous quantities of strawberries are pro- duced in the same locality and also yield a large revenue. The peach is abundantly pro- duced in this northern section of the Ozark Region, but is not as reliable in the yield as the apple, though some peaches in com- mercial quantity are produced every year. In the southern section of this Ozark Plateau is another fruit belt, in which the peach is the predominating tree fruit, though excellent apples are produced in Scott, Polk and the northern part of Sevier counties, which have the greatest altitudes, 1,200 to 2,200 feet. The winter apples do the best in the highest elevations, but sev- eral varieties of the summer and early fall apples yield good fruit and form a source of considerable revenue. The peach acreage is between ten and fifteen thousand acres and the yield more reliable than in any other part of Arkansas. Strawberries, blackberries and other small fruits are abundantly produced and reach the north- ern markets very early in the season. Most of the country roads in the Ozark region are naturally good, and it is prac- ticable to go almost anywhere, even in bad weather. While good in most places for ordinary traffic, in places they lack the per- fection required for automobile travel. It was readily recognized that a country so rich in health and pleasure resorts, in scen- ic attractions and local traffic is at a disad- vantage if it has not the best roads that human ingenuity could construct. It was plain enough that the various health and pleasure resorts should be connected by good roads; that the fruit, berry and poul- try raiser should be enabled to market his products more easily, and, if the roads were good throughout, long automobile tours could be made from the great cities with comfort. A movement was begun last j'ear in Benton and Washington counties in north- western Arkansas to begin construction of a great smooth turnpike ninety miles in length, to connect the towns of Monte Ne, Rogers, Bentonville, Centerton, Hiwasse, Southwest City, Grove, Gravette and Sulphur Springs, by straightening, widening and shortening the existing roads, building bridges and culverts, etc., and doing what- ever is necessary to secure a first-class road. The general interest awakened has gone far THE OZARK REGION SCENE IN Mcdonald county. beyond the original conception. Since then Joplin, Neosho and Kansas City have be- come interested, and Crawford and Sebas- tian counties, Arkansas, are moving for a turnpike to connect with the northwestern Arkansas road. The Oklahoma counties along the Kansas City Southern Railway have likewise joined the movement, which will eventually result in the construction of a broad, smooth turnpike extending from Kansas City to Fort Smith and Van Buren, with numerous equally good branch roads leading to all points worth visiting. Most of the county road funds are available for this work, and large sums are being raised by private subscription. The Kansas City- Joplin part of the road is practically as- sured, and from the Missouri line to Monte Ne the revenue for construction has been provided, and parts of the road have already been built. The Oklahoma system will con- nect with the Arkansas roads. All towns along the proposed highway are raising money for construction, improvement and bridge building. In two or three years an elaborate road system will have been com- pleted. The entire Ozark region is particularly well favored in the matter of marketing its products. The industrial population within easy reach, all consumers and not producers of farm products, is very large, and a splen- did home market is assured. On its north- western edge is an enormous coal field, vith Pittsburg, Kan., as the commercial center, from which about 75,000 people are supplied. Joplin, Mc, is a great manufacturing center, and is the banking point for a lead and zinc mining industry, the output of which is valued annually at from fourteen to sixteen million dollars, and in which over 100,000 people are interested. Fort Smith is also an important manufacturing point, and is the commercial ceniter for another great coal field. Texarkana and Shreveport have great woodworking plants^ numerous factories of all kinds, and handle great quantities of cot- ton. Woodworking plants are found at most stations on the line, and for its length there is greater industrial activity along the Kan- sas City Southern Railway than on any other railway in the United States. Beyond the home demands for farm pro- duce is that of the larger cities like Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo.; Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; Memphis, Tenn., and New Orleans, La., any of which caa be reached within twenty-four to thirty hours, and all of which afford a splendid market tor fruits, vegetables, poultry, eggs, etc. The counties of Newton and McDonald, in Missouri, and Benton and Washington coim- ties, in Arkansas, lie on the northwestern slope of the Ozark Plateau; south of the Arkansas River, on the southwestern slope are the counties of Scott, Polk and Sevier and along the western slope, the counties of Adair, Sequoyah, Le Flore and McCurtain, in Oklahoma, all except the last named be- ing traversed by the Kansas City Southern Railway. THE OZARK REGION Home Life in the Ozark Region "Half of the world does not know how the other half lives," and perhaps it would not make much difference if it did, because, in the main, the home life of the people is governed by its environments. Owing to fixed habits of thought, or inability to think, the environment appears to be the essential feature in the development of the individual. Mental inertia makes it diflBcult to adapt one's self to new conditions, and it requires a strong will to make a radical change, to remove one's self from one environment into another. The average resident of the city fits into his environment as does the peg to the hole bored for it. He cannot easily realize that he could fit in anywhere else. To the ordinary wage-earner, the ringing of the alarm clock before daylight, the break- fast bolted in haste, the long ride on a din- gy street car, the eight, ten or twelve hours' work in an ofiBce, factory or store, the rush for a midday lunch, the evening ride with the mob for home, the dodging of street cars, automobiles and vehicles, are a matter of course. Between his sleeping place and his working place are miles of streets, lined with tall buildings, which cut off the breeze and retain the heat; . thousands of pedes- trians of whom he may not know one in a thousand. Though he has lived in the city nearly all his life, he is virtually a stranger among strangers and could not name the people living in the same block. Of course, he has some diversions; he can read of a murder or two in his paper, see someone run over by an automobile, see a house afire, read the baseball bulletins, or about a millionaire's donation to a new college; or if he is not working overtime, occasion- ally go to the theater; or if he wants 1o commune with nature, go with the family to the city park, where several thousand others are likewise communing, and then fight for room on the street car on his re- turn home. Another pleasant diversion is to figure up the grocery bill, the meat bill, the gas bill, the rent bill, laundry bill, and guess for how much he has been done by the enterprising merchant on the next street corner, and wonder if anything will be left at the end of the month, and dreading also the possibilities should he fail to get on the pay roll for a few months. Eggs with a dis- tinct graveyard flavor, meat too tough to eat, stale vegetables, overripe fruit, butter strong enough to walk by itself, milk guar- anteed to murder an infant in forty-eight hours, lard and syrups of doubtful parentage, SPRINGS IN EDSON PARK, SULPHUR SPRINGS, ARK. THE OZARK REGION ELK RIVER, McDonald county, mo. and coffee and sugar which are always shy- several ounces to the pound, are no novel- ties to the resident in the city. He takes all this as a matter of course, and anything different would not look natural to him. The man in the Ozark region lives some- what differently and seems to get consid- erable solid comfort from his way of living. Mentally he is alert and physically he is more sound than the city man. His environ- ment is different from that of the city. Let us take a drive with him. We can leave the train almost anywhere, but say we drop off at any one of the fruit-shdpping stations. The country is hilly and even mountainous in places, but the elevations are not so stu- pendous as to exclude from view compara- tively large scopes of country. The land- scape is not hemmed in by continuous ranges of high mountains, but rather pre- sents a panorama of exquisite scenery as the journey proceeds. There is always something beyond the immediate range of vision that is more beautiful than the piece of road already traversed. In summer there is always visible in the distance the deep green of a timbered hillcrest, suggesting many scenic possibilities beyond. In spring the landscape is bedecked with wild flowers, the hillsides and valleys are resplendent with the dogwood, wild plum and crab blos- soms, and the blossoms of the hundreds of apple and peach orchards and strawberry patches, and in the damp and shady places are a profusion of ferns, violets, spring beauties, flowing wild onions, Virginia creeper, trumpet vines, etc., to say nothing of the watercress, mosses, lichens and ferns growing at the springs and water courses, and this profusion of flowers is not laid out in geometrical figures or surmounted with a sign board "keep off the grass," but is as good as Mother Nature made it. The gojod, hiard gravel road leads us through an enchanting country. Every few hundred yards we cross a spring branch or a brook rushing over a clean gravelly bed. Springs gush out of the hillsides everywhere and large streams with great deep pools full of bass, crappie and other game fish are not far away. Coveys of quail are started up a dozen times along the road, which generally is well shaded. Within three or four miles of town the farms are from ten to forty acres in extent and lie close together, the neighbors being within call of each other. Apple and peach orchards, berry patches, potato fields and vegetable gardens are much in evidence, and the washday linen can be readily seen by looking from one farm to another. The farms seem well populated, and besides the humans there are plenty of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and young pigs. The White Leghorns and Guinea hens seem to prefer the country road to green pastures, and make much ado when forced to get out of the way of the vehicle, and the ducks at the crossing of the next brook also have a lot of uncompli- mentary remarks to make. A few miles farther out the farms become larger. Fine cattle, horses and mules are feeding on the pastures, and near the bams are droves of Poland China, Duroc and Jer- sey Red hogs. Alfalfa patches are seen here and there, and great fields of corn, wheat, oats, millet, sorghum, together with small orchards for home use, are now the pre- vailing feature of the landscape. A turn into a cross-road brings us back among the THE OZARK REGION / fruit growers, and a flock of youngsters just coming out of a neat schoolhouse re- minds us that it is getting near dinner time. We had traveled leisurely, and had been cordially greeted by every man we met on the road and on the farms. Several invita- tions to dinner were declined, but on the re- turn we accepted one from the owner of a twenty-acre farm. Both appetite and dinner were good, and the after-dinner conversa- tion naturally turned to the farm and its prospects, and said the owner thereof, who had not always been a farmer: "Here on my little farm I am it; no man tells me to come or to go, or has the right to find fault with my coming and going, and if one should have the temerity so to do, I can look him in the eye and tell him to go to. I can hold my job indefinitely. There will always be enough to eat and a place to sleep for me and my family. Some years I may not seriously increase my bank ac- count, but as we pay out no cash for chick- ens, eggs, milk, butter, fruits, vegetables or fuel, there will always be enough to sell of one kind of produce or another to pay the taxes, buy clothes and other things and take a trip somewhere when the year's work is ri"actically over. We buy but little of food in town, except flour, coffee, sugar, etc., and of non-perishable goods we buy enough at a time for cash to make the price a consideration. In our cellar and pantry we have four or five barrels of apples, half a dozen big crocks of apple butter, a keg of cider vinegar, several hundred jars of pre- served fruits, jellies and marmalades, cab- bages, carrots, potatoes, turnips, onions, pumpkins, squashes and bacon, pickled pork and hams enough to last us far into spring, and we always have available young chick- ens, eggs, milk, cream and butter. Fresh beef or mutton we can nearly always get by exchange. Ready money is good to have in the bank, but little of it is needed for e very-day expenses on the farm. Some- ihing can be produced and sold every month in the year. The specialist or exclusive grower of truck or fruit, or the exclusive poultry man, cannot do- it, but a first-class, all around farmer, who will grow grain and forage crops, raise hogs, sheep, cattle, horses and mules, grow vegetables and truck for the canneries, operate a dairy with good dairy stock, operate a poultry yard in an up-to-date way, have a good-sized straw- berry patch, and an apple and peach orchard in good condition, can do it. There are very few who possess all the virtues above allud- ed to, but this country is full of successful farmers and fruit growers, nevertheless. This country has something to sell every month in the year, but the commodities are not all furnished by one class of producers, though each does well in his specialty. "Building up a farm is not an easy job, nor for that matter, is any other undertaking which is successful. Land is cheap, yet it requires some money to buy it. The farm should have a good team, one or two milk cows, two or three sows, and must also be stocked with poultry, for all of which money is necessary. Lumber costs from $10.00 to $12.50 per thousand feet, and some money is needed for supplies until the farm pro- duces them. The rest is good hard work, with the satisfaction of knowing that you are working for yourself and family, and if there are any profits beyond living expenses, they are yours. There is usually timber enough to build the fences, stables, poultry houses, barns, corncribs, feed bins, etc., and the rest is elbow grease. On the farm work is money, is a good appetite and good diges- tion, good health, long life and a soul con- tent. The planning out of a campaign for the season on the farm becomes more inter- RUTI.Er>GES C-WK. KEK SPRINGS, MO. THE OZARK REGION COSSATOT RIVER, DE QUEEN, ARK. esting than the campaign for a presidential election, and there is more pleasure in watching the development of a setting of young chicks than there is in watching the hatching of the Chinese republic. The man on the farm finds after a time that he has an object in life, provided he is not afflicted with the 'get-rich-quick' spirit. His farm, stock, horses, cattle, poultry, are not longer objects, but become personal acquaintances, about whose individual welfare he is more or less concerned, not because they are worth so many dollars, but because he likes them, and the same is true of his trees, his growing cornstalks, berry or truck patches. His neighbors and he know every man, woman and child within a radius of ten miles, are similarly interested, but this need not lead to the conclusion that all conversa- tion between rural neighbors is 'shop talk.' Few of the average city dwellers' houses are so well supplied with the literature of the day as are the farm houses in a fruit and truck growing neighborhood, and it is easier to sell a gold brick any day in the city than it is in the country. The farmer has time to read and to think, and many of the city dwellers have neither. Sociailly, life is pleasant and in the country every- body knows everybody else, and lifelong friendships are soon made among congenial spirits, and intellectually the country stands as high as the city. The 'social doings' are not so conventional, and there is a cor- diality about a 'kaffee klatch,' church so- cial, 'hen convention' or neighbor's visit that is entirely lacking in the city, where you change neighbors every few months and never really become acquainted with them, "You can't help noticing the number of chickens you passed on the road. If you didn't, you will notice them about daylight, when every rooster within sixty miles, and each within hearing distance of the other, will let you know that he is among the liv- ing. The wirelesg telegraph is not in it with the rooster when it comes to announc- ing the arrival of a new day. Poultry and eggs form a very important item all the year around and contribute a goodly share of the year's income. On a small farm like mine the land must never be idle. The chickens, a few turkeys, the two cows and the pigs furnish much of the living, and our fruit trees, berry and truck patches do the rest. Every year there are some pigs to sell, eggs every month in the year, like- wise butter, and occasionally a calf. Our team, cows and two or three sows must have some pasturage, and some land must be allotted to produce their feed. Ten acres, expertly cultivated, will produce all the feed necessary to carry all the stock and poultry a full year, making it unnecessary to buy feed stuffs of any kind. Some crops can be followed with a second crop, and this is done whenever practicable, so as to keep the soil as much employed as possible, and iDcidentially to enrich it by rotation, so as to bring cow peas, peanuts, or some other legume on each acre. In our section an ap- ple orchard is a good thing, and farther south peaches do well. Between the apple rows, while the trees are too young to bear. THE OZARK REGION there is room for several acres of strawber- ries, and one or two or three acres should be grown, by all means. To extend the strawberry season, several varieties should be planted. The earliest profitable variety in this locality is the Mitchell. This should be followed up by the Klondyke and then the 'Aroma.' This is by far the best .all around berry in this country. It comprises about 95 per cent of all the plantations. For a small general farm the three named varie- ties would make the berry season last from April 25th to June 10th. Farther south this crop would come in earlier. The money yield in the last three or four years has averaged about $100 per acre, though hundreds of in- dividuals obtained $200 to $450 per acre for their berries. The dewberry, raspberry and blackberry can be planted to great advan- tage, and one grower at Siloam Springs has netted $300 per acre for five consecutive years. "The June apples, which follow the straw- berry crop, really ripen here in June. The choice varieties are the 'Red June,' 'Red Astrachan' and 'Early Harvest.' These al- ways bring the best prices and, coupled with early maturing peaches, like the 'Early Crawford' and 'Oliver,' will keep the farmer busy during June. If you have some sheep you can shear them about this time. The Elberta peach matures in July, running over into August. It does splendidly farther south and yields often enough here to be profitable. When we get a crop it is worth $100 to $200 an acre. The 'Maiden Blush,' 'Bell Flower' and 'Oliver' come in about the same time and are good for $100 to $150 per acre. During August green corn can be marketed, and young poultry, hatched in March and April, can go to market as 'fry- ers' or 'broilers.' There are also some peaches to ship. After this come the 'Ben Davis,' 'Gano' and 'Jonathan' apples, which need some attention. The 'Mammoth Black Twig' and 'Arkansas Black' apples are har- vested in October. The average value of an apple crop is about $100 per acre, depending on variety, age of orchard, cultivation and market conditions. Money yields of $200 and $300 per acre are not uncommon. "The wheat crop matures in September, and if you have any wheat the local mills will buy it, or wiW sell the flour for you. The evaporators and canneries will handle fruit in the same way. The canneries will con- tract in advance for sweet potatoes, toma- toes and buy much of your fruit. There is always an opportunity for a catch crop of one kind or another, say peanuts, cowpeas, etc., and here, where we have a fruit-grow- ers' association, we can easily produce e- nough of any commodity for entire carloads of fruit or berries, or mixed carloads of truck, potatoes, cantaloupes, etc., and buy FARM VIEW AT SULPHUR SPRINGS, ARK. 10 THE OZARK REGION SAGER CREEK, SIL.OAM SPRINGS, MO. our boxes, crates, baskets, cases, etc., in car loads at the lowest figures. "The great stand-by on the Ozark farm is the chicken, of whatever breed. It works all the year around. The hens lay well all winter where properly cared for, but begin in earnest about the middle of January and continue until they reach their best all through February, March and the spring months, and they lay well when egg prices are highest. A good bunch of pullets of the March and April hatch make splendid egg- laying machines in December, and from this district we ship eggs in carload lots. "It is well to have one or two specialties for money-makers on the farm, and berry- growing and poultry-raising, if the transpor- tation facilities are right, are the most prom- ising on a small acreage. As to poultry, any standard breed is good enough. White Lejg- horns, Plymouth Rocks, Langshans, Rhode Island Reds, Orpingtons and Wyandottes are all of good reputation in chickendom and all are heavy chickens, with good laying pro- pensities, which can be increased by proper handling. The White Leghorn, probably, lays the largest number of eggs when al- lowed to run at large, but in confinement other varieties will do equally well. The Rhode Island Red, a big breasted, heavy, haDdsome fowl, quick) in maturing and hardy, will outlay the White Leghorn and in the winter months when eggs bring the high- est prices. "There are several systems and methods for raising poultry, and the man interested should study them carefully as to net I'e- sults. Good common sense should indicate that poultry should be well housed in dry, clean quarters, that the henhouse should be regularly sprayed for mites and lice; that ample provision is made for air and sun- light and for dust baths; and that the feed- ing is done right, and fresh water is abun- dant. Counting one's chickens before they are hatched and figuring on poultry profits, to the uninitiated, belong to the same order of mathematics; yet there is an element of certainty that an intelligent poultry raiser can figure on and get pretty close to his prospective year's income from that source. Prices of poultry and eggs fluctuate, as do the prices of other foodstuffs, and the value estimate of today may not be good next week. Now as to profits: "Let us take for illustration a flock of 120 hens as a beginning, 100 in the laying pens and 20 for breeding purposes. Your 100 in the laying pens should average 12 dozen eggs a year, or a total of 1,200 dozens. At 30 cents per dozen the income is $360. The 20 in the breeding pens are your 'crack* layers, and should give you 175 eggs each, or 3,500. Of these you sell 125 dozen for $37.50. At least 2,000 of these eggs should be laid during the months of January, Feb- ruary, March, April and May, the incubat- ing season. They should be incubated. Say you hatch out 70 per cent, or 1,400 chicks, and succeed In maturing 75 per cent of these, then you would have 1,150 additions to your flock. One-half, or say 575, will be THE OZARK REGION 11 cockerels, which you sell as broilers or fry- ers at 40 cents each, increasing the income by $230. Your 575 pullets go into the laying pens. "Of your original 120 hens you select 20 of the best for breeding, and sell the 100 as butcher meat for $50 and you have this table of income from your small flock the first year: 1,200 dozen eggs from laying pens. . .$360.00 125 dozen eggs from breeding pens. 37.50 575 broilers and fryers 230.00 100 hens, butcher's meat 50.00 Total cash $677.50 "You have in your laying pens 575 fine pullets worth $1 each and 20 select hens worth .$1.50 each; in your breeding pens, as a start for the second year, easily $475 more stock than you started with, and which sum, added to the table above, gives a gross profit of $1,152.50. You could caponlze your cockerels and get more than 40 cents apiece for them, and you can frequently sell egg settings or extra fine cockerels at advanced prices. "Not everyone who goes into poultry-rais- ing gets these results, but there is enough good money in it to make it worth a man's time and attention. Poultry-raising is no ■get-rich-quick' scheme, but a legitimate busi- ness, one of small beginnings but of large possibilities. If you start, stay with it. Your income is derived not only from poul- try, but from your strawberry patch, your truck patch, your cows and sows, and most of your living comes from the farm and only requires work instead of cash. Store in your cellar and pantry the raw and pre- served products of your garden and orchard. I do, and I have an appetite like a farm hand. And with the butter, the milk, eggs and poultry, our own cured bacon and hams and fresh fruit in season, which I have and you can have, you will live better than most rich folks in the city. The man of small means in the city doesn't know what good living is. Just think of having every good thing on the table that you want, without having to figure on the cost of it, and to know that you can have it that way every day in the year." The Counties and Towns of the Ozark Mountain Region Newton County, Missouri This county is one of the most westerly counties of the Ozark Plateau, and lies im- mediately north of McDonald County, which forms the southwest corner of the State of Missouri. It is rectangular in shape, is twenty miles wide north and south, and thirty-one miles long. Its area is G29 square miles or 403,000 acres. About one-third of the county is hilly, the remainder being com- paratively smooth, level lands, lying be- tween more undulating areas. The general slope of the surface is to the west and in the southern portion to the south. The county is splendidly watered, having numer- ous fine streams of clear water, and abound- ing in sparkling springs, some of them of remarkable size. All the brooks and creeks are typical mountain streams, flowing rapid- ly over clean sand and gravel. The yearly rainfall is between forty and fifty inches, and is usually well distributed; the average annual temperature is about 56 degrees. The snowfall is light and the winter is short and not excessively cold. The sum- mers are long compared with northern lati- tudes, but owing to the altitude, 1,000 to 1,500 feet are, as a rule, pleasant. About two-thirds of the county was originally tim- bered. There is considerable diversity in the soils, the same varying from black to dark red and light gray, but in general they are limestone soils. Along the water courses they are black alluvials; on the uplands, deep red clays, very fertile, while in the tim- bered hills they are best suited for profit- able fruit growing. Wheat and corn are the principal grain crops, although other grains are grown in great quantity. Wheat runs from fifteen to thirty bushels per acre; corn, thirty to sixty and oats thirty to forty bushels per acre. Flax, buckwheat, sorghum, hay, clover and timothy are staple crops, blue grass pas- tures prevailing. Nearly all farmers engage more or less in raising livestock and cattle; hogs, sheep, horses and mules form no small part of the county's shipments of surplus products. In the northern part of the county is a great zinc field, forming part of the Joplin district. Mining is carried on extensively at 12 THE OZARK REGION A STREET IN NEOSHO, MO. Spurgeon, Granby and other points. Tripoli beds are worked at Seneca and Racine and soft coal has also been found. There are fine quarries of limestone and sandstone and large deposits of brick clays. The census of 1910 gives Newton County 27,136 inhabitants of whom 3,G61 are resi- lent in Neosho and 6,421 in Neosho town- ship, which includes the city; Granby City has 2,442; Newtonia, 293; Seneca, 981, and Wentworth, 154 inhabitants. The City of Neosho. Neosho is the county seat of Newton County and is located about two and one-half miles from the geographical center of the county, at the crossing point of the Kan- sas City Southern and the St. Louis & San Francisco Railways, being also the terminal of the Missouri & North Arkansas Railway. It is 174 miles south of Kansas City and 310 miles from St. Louis. The altitude is 1,050 feet above sea level and it is built in a broad valley, surrounded by magnificent wooded hills. It is today one of the most substantial places of its size in Missouri. It is a solid, wealthy and steadily growing city, surrounded by a country that is full of natural resources. iThe business portion of the city is on level bottom land and lies between forest clad heights, upon which a portion of the resi- dence section is built. The well graded and drained streets, shaded on either hand with forest and ornamental trees, make beauti- ful park-like drives^ extending long distances and few smaller towns are so pleasing to the eye as is Neosho. Among Neosho's industrial enterprises are the elevator and mill of the Missouri and Kansas Grain Co., elevator and mills of the Neosho Milling Co., the Rush Milling Co.'s mill, the Valley Milling Co.'s mill, Neosho Creamery Co., Neosho Ice and Cold Storage Co., C. H. Smith's Cigar Factory, Neosho Electric Light Co., Municipal Water Works Plant, Neosho Ice Co., American Home Tele- phone Co., Neosho Bottling Works, Neosho Water Co., shippers of artesian water, Neosho Foundry and Machine Works, three newspapers, Neosho Canning Co., and the G. Hatzfeld Cider Mill and Vinegar Factory. The mercantile interests are represented in three banks with a combined capital of $140,000; resources, $1,112,246; deposits amounting to $887,066 and surplus and un- divided profits of $87,954, and also a building and loan association of over 270 members; two wholesale firms with a joint capital of $250,000; sixty-one retail firms with stocks valued at $500,000, six hotels, two fruit growers' associations, ten individual ship- pers of fruit and poultry, and five shippers of livestock. The shipments from Neosho comprise nearly every commodity used for human con- sumption, including livestock of all descrip- tion, grain, hay, mill products, lumber, lead and zinc ores, manufactured tripoli, poultry and eggs and great quantities of fruits and THE OZARK REGION 13 berries. Neosho is surrounded by apple and peach orchards, poultry farms; a large acre- age is devoted to commercial truck and more than 1,200 acres in the immediate vicinity are planted in strawberries. The shipments of berries average a hundred cars per season with 500 to 600 crates to the car, and the average price realized during the past sea- son was a little over two dollars per crate. The money yield per acre on strawberries, after deduction of expenses, runs from $100 to $350 and as much as $521.50 has been ob- tained by some individual grower. Apples, properly handled, yield a revenue of $75.00 to $250 per acre and similar returns are ob- tained from peaches. Sweet potatoes, grown as cannery stock, yield about 260 bushels to the acre and bring from 75c to 80c per bushel; tomatoes, as cannery stock, yield over 300 bushels per acre, bringing 25c per bushel or about $75 per acre. Grapes yield a revenue of $100 to $180 per acre. Large quantities of berries and cannery stock are also produced at Tipton Ford an d McEl- haney, stations of the K. C. S. Ry., in New- ton County. McDonald County, Missouri McDonald County forms the southwest corner of the state and is one hundred and sixty-five miles south of Kansas City. The area is 858 square miles, or 371,200 acres. It is more hilly than the adjoining county of Newton and about one-half of the area is suitable for general farming opera- tions. One-fourth of the area, largely in the north half of the county is high, flat land, originally covered with a heavy forest growth, consisting of several varieties of oak, hickory, walnut, wild cherry, sycamore, maple, ash and locust. A limited growth of pine originally grew in the county, but was removed by the earlier settlers. Four tracts of prairie land aggregating about 38,000 acres, are located near the four corners of the county. The southern part of the coun- ty has more rough, broken land, being more precipitous along the Elk and Indian rivers and Buffalo and Sugar creeks, the most rugged country being in the southeast part of the county. The soil of the prairie lands is a clay loam, varying in color from choco- late to black. The flatwoods soils are gen- erally chocolate colored, some more fertile than others. The hill lands are generally gravelly, but fertile and are splendidly adapted to fruit growing and stock raising. McDonald is probably the best watered county in the state of Missouri. Great springs burst out from the hills everywhere, forming creeks and rivers, which course through the county in all directions, lif- fording a magnificent pure water supply for human consumption and for livestock. All the streams are full of game fishes and dur- ing the summer months this county is the CO'R'NFIF^'LD. ANDERSON, MO. 14 THE OZARK REGION A BUSY NEOSHO GIIIL. favorite resort for hundreds of visitors who come from the great cities to spend their vacations there. The scenery along the var- ious streams, and particularly along the Elk and Indian rivers, in natural beauty is not equalled anywhere. The natural pasturage in this county is exceptionally good and forage is grown cheaply. The contour of the country is such that good natural shelter is found every- where, and of pure water, there is the greatest abundance in the numerous swiftly flowing mountain streams found in all parts of the county. Under the circumstances stock raising is a profitable occupation. General farming is the engrossing pursuit of the greater part of the population, but within a few miles of the railway stations a magnificent fruit, truck, berry and poultry raising industry has been developed; as a matter of fact, nearly the whole 22 miles traversed by the Kansas City Southern Rail- way form a beautiful succession of apple and peach orchards, strawberry beds and truck gardens, interspersed with small towns and glimpses of river and mountain scenery. The population of McDonald County ac- cording to the census of 1910 is 13,539, and the altitude above sea level varies from 1,000 to 1,.500 feet. Pineville, about seven miles east of the railway, is the county seat and has 600 inhabitants. The railway stations en the K. C. S. Ry. are Goodman, Anderson, Lanagan, Elk Springs and Noel. Goodman, Missouri This village is south of Kansas City, Mo., IS-j miles, has an altitude of 1,257 feet and a population of 350. The country adjacent to Goodman is well suited to agricultural and horticultural pursuits and in 1910 there were in cultivation in the immediate vicinity 200 farms, on which were planted 1,500 acres in corn, 400 in wheat, 600 in oats, 2,500 in ap- ple orchards, 500 in peach orchards, 200 in strawberries, 100 in commercial truck and 1,500 acres in forage, pasturage and meadows. The shipments of surplus prod- ucts amounted to 33 carloads of apples, 600 crates of cantaloupes, 700 crates of peaches, 9 carloads of strawberries, 8 carloads of hogs and cattle, 37 carloads of hard wood lumber and railroad ties and 30,000 pounds of dairy products. During 1909-10 four hun- dred new people settled on farms and made improvements valued at $10,000. There are at Goodman two general mer- chandise stores, a hotel, lumber yard, church, school, and two fruit growers' as- sociations. The gross annual mercantile business of Goodman amounts to $50,000 to $75,000. Wanted: A large general merchandise store, bank, furniture store, implement store, harness shop, newspaper and printing office, notion and racket store, shoe shop, brick yard, physician, dentist, teacher. Good openings for cannery, creamery, cold stor- age, fruit evaporator, chair factory, cooper- age. Plenty of oak and hickory. Town growing rapidly. Anderson, Missouri An incorporated town with a population of 950 in the town limits, and 1,772 in An- derson township; south of Kansas City, Mo., 192 miles and from Joplin, Mo., 37 miles; altitude above sea level 904 feet. A thrifty rapidly growing town, situated in an ideal THE OZARK REGION 15 HARVESTING WHEAT, SILOAM SPRINGS, ARK. farming, live stoclv and fruit growing coun- try. Grain and forage are produced in large quantity and the raising of high grade live stock of various Ivinds is a profitable busi- ness, aggregating about $500,000 annually. On lands convenient to the railway large quantities of fruit, berries and commercial truck are grown, yielding, with poultry and eggs, a revenue of $150,000 to $200,000. There are in the immediate vicinity of An- derson 150 farms, comprising 5,000 acres, of which 1,000 acres are planted in corn, 300 in wheat, .100 in oats, 250 in apples, 300 in peaches, 1,000 in strawberries, 50 in com- mercial truck and 50 in forage. During 1910 and 1911 five hundred and forty new people settled on farms, who purchased 11,- 000 acres and planted 400 acres in berries, 125 acres in truck and 100 acres in orchard, expending about $20,000 for improvements. The shipments of surplus products from Anderson for the years 1910-11 consisted of 4 carloads of poultry, 10 carloads of eggs, 44 carloads of cattle, 65 of hogs, 4 of horses and mules, 10 of sheep; 4 carloads of grain, 15 of hay, 3 of flour, 1 of bran and feed, 32 carloads of apples, value $13,200; 7 cars of cantaloupes; 1910 crop of strawberries, 75 cars, value $93,- 500; 1911 crop, 60 cars, value $66,700; 90 carloads of lumber, 4 of logs, 20 of rail- road ties, 120 of fence posts and mine props and 12 carloads of cord wood, making a total of 580 carloads in full car shipments. In addition to these there were shipped 7,500 pounds of hides and pelts, 1,200 pounds of tallow, 15,600 gallons of cream, 16,000 pounds of wool, 1,000 pounds of mohair, 10,000 pounds of furs and 100 pounds of beeswax. The commercial and industrial commun- ity consists of twelve merchants in ra- rious lines, the State Bank of Anderson, capital $25,000; a weekly newspaper, two hotels, the Anderson Berry Growers' As- sociation, in addition to which the town has an opera house, a waterworks system, public park, electric light plant, telephone system, three churches and two public schools. The improvements in town dur- ing 1910 and 1911 consisted of 24 new dwellings, costing $29,000; tliree stone bridges, $3,000; park improvements, $2,000, and a waterworks and electric light plant costing $18,000. Business Opportunities: Wanted, a hard- wood lumber mill, a good hotel, furniture dealer and undertaker, clothing and shoe store, printing office. Abundant raw mate- rial for a cannery, cheese factory and a creamery. Good opening for an ice fac- tory, cold storage plant, fruit box factory and a building contractor. Elk Springs, Missouri Is 197 miles south of Kansas City, Mo., and 42 miles from Joplin, Mo. The altitude Is 1,000 feet and the population about 75. It has a general merchandise and grocery store school, hotel and several fruit, berry and poultry shippers. It is on the site of the 16 THE OZARK REGION old town of Rutledge, built before the Civil War, and, in 1861, was for one day the capital of the great State of Missouri. An- other legislature was doing business at Jef- ferson City at about the same time. The village is surrounded by a prosperous farm- ing and stock raising country, noted also for the fine crops of apples, peaches, berries and shipments of poultry and eggs. The principal attraction of Elk Springs is the beauty of its location and that of the adjacent country. It is situated in a short bend of Elk River, the ends of which are within a quarter of a mile of each other, while the bend itself is a curve about five miles long, forming about three-fourths of a circle, any part of which is within a mile of the railway station. Within a distance of three miles, there are twelve miles of good fishing water and this feature has made it a most popular resort for those who en- joy fishing for sport. Wanted: Grocery store. Opening for hardwood sawmill, fruit box factory. Lanagan, Missouri The village of Lanagan has 500 inhabi- tants, is south of Kansas City, Mo., 195 miles and has an altitude of 854 feet. The general business of the village depends on the agri- cultural and forest resources of the adjacent country. The Dolson Bros.' apple orchard, one of the tracts of the Ozark Orchard Com- pany, and several large private orchards are located in the immediate vicinity. Near the railway fruit growing is the predominating pursuit; farther out, general farming and the production of poultry and livestock con- stitute the principal business of the people. The shipments of products, in an ordinary year, amount to about 500 to 1,000 crates of strawberries, 10 to 20 carloads of apples, 10,000 to $20,000 pounds of poultry, 2,000 to S,000 cases of eggs, 15 carloads of cattle, 10 to 20 of hogs, 20 to 30 carloads of mine timbers and props and 25 to 50 carloads of railroad ties. There are in Lanagan two general mer- chandise stores with stocks valued at $12,000 one hotel, one church, one assembly hall, one public school and livery barn. Town and country have made a rapid growth in the past two years. There are good openings in Lanagan for an implement store, dry goods store, furni- ture store, drug store, physician, teacher, lime works and a fruit evaporator. Noel, Missouri This Is one of the most picturesque little villages in the Ozark region. It is situated in the extreme southwest corner of the state, about two miles north of the Arkansas line and three miles from the Oklahoma line. Its scenic surroundings are beautiful, being located at the junction cf the Elk River and Butler Creek, where the two streams have cut through tremendous ledges of solid rocks, affording scenic effect, which cannot PACKING APPLES, SILOAM SPRINGS, ARK. THE OZARK REGION 17 MULE RAISED BY L. H. CRUMBAUGH, NEOSHO, MO. be duplicated anywhere. Noel is south of Kansas City 201 miles and its altitude at the railway track is 826 feet. The pei'manent population is 500, most of whom are en- gaged in agricultural and horticultural pur- suits; the shipments from Noel consisting of wheat, strawberries, cattle, poultry ar.d eggs, horses and mules, sheep, hogs, rail- road ties and hardwood timbers. There are in Noel lour general stores, a drug store, two hardware stores, a hotel, a club house, a bank, two churches, hour mill and elevator, a fruit growers' asoocia- tion, commercial club, a good public school, grist mill and several smaller business es- tablishments, all of which appear to be pros- perous. Elk River, on the bank of which Noel is situated, is one streams in the fish, such as croppie, perch, summer season to Noel to fish few places can adapted to this of the most famous lishing state, abounding v/ith game black bass, jack salmon, blue cat, etc. During the hundreds of fishermen come and have their outings and be found which are better purpose. Wanted: A hotel, restaurant, nev/spaper, confectionery, dry goods store, clothing store, produce shipper, feed store, lawyer, dentist. Available for manufacturing ])lant, a splendid water power about 500-h. p Im- mense quantities of clean gravel, limestone for lime and for building. Fine opening for a creamery. 18 THE OZARK REGION Benton County, Arkansas Benton County forms the northwest cor- ner of the State of Arkansas, has an area of 892 square miles or 570,880 acres, an aver- age altitude of 1,200 feet and population of 33,389. It lies on the western slope of the Ozark Uplift and has more or less hilly land, though there are also fine larsre level areas, all in a high state of cultivation. It is, in every sense, a first-class genei'al farm- ing country. The valley lands readily pro- duce from twenty to thirty bushels of vheat, or from forty to seventy bushels of corn per acre. Forage crops of all kinds yield boun- tifully and horses, mules, cattle and hogs are raised in great numbers and are profitably marketed. The uplands also produce well, but are particularly well suited for the com- mercial production of fruits, berries, truck, poultry and eggs, and, as a matter of fact, Benton County is more famous for its fruit, berry and poultry shipments than for its general farm products. It is estimated that there are about six million apple trees, two and one-half million peach trees and several thousand acres of strawberries and black- berries in the county. The fruit shipments in an ordinary year run in value from three to three and one-half million dollars and a quarter million might be added for poultry and eggs. Benton County was originally heavily wooded and still has an abundance of tim- ber suitable for most purposes. Excellent limestone for building or for the manufac- ture of lime and good clays for 'orick tvre found in all parts of the county and indica- tions of oil, lead and zinc have been found in several places. The manufacture of fruit products and dairying are important indus- tries. In this county, as in other fruit grow- ing counties of Arkansas, the fruit shipping towns are surrounded by a dense rural popu- lation within two or three miles of the rail- way station, who are practically town peo- ple, but live just outside of the town limits. The natural conditions in Benton County do not require that the farmer shall limit him- self to one line of production, that is to say, put all his eggs in one basket. He can grow wheat, oats, corn, clover, timothy, any of the domestic grasses, blue grass, flax, al- falfa and potatoes here as abundanrly as elsewhere and indulge in stock raising, poul- try raising and in fruit and berry culture be- sides. He can so arrange it as to have a cash income almost every month in the year, if he properly diversifies his farming opera- tions. Bentonville is the county seat and has 1,956 residents within the town limits and 3,755 in Osage township; Rogers, the largest town, has 2,820 inhabitants, the township 4,476; Siloam Springs, 2,405, the township 3,885; Gentry, 668, the township 1,383; De- PEACH ORCHARD, GRAVKTTE, ARK. THE OZARK REGION 19 MULES RAISED AT ANDERSON, MO. catur, 246, Decatur township 1,156; Gra- vette, 569, the township 1,254; Sulphur Springs, 500, the township 1,050. All of these are important fruit, berry and poultry ship- ping points. A visitor to any of them would find it difficult to determine visually whc^re the town ends and the country begins. Sulphur Springs, Arkansas Sulphur Springs, the most northwesterly town in Arkansas, is a noted health aud pleasure resort, situated 205 miles south of Kansas City, Mo. Its aRitude is about 1,000 feet near the railroad track and several hun- dred feet higher in other parts of the town. It has several medicinal springs of great hygienic value and these are visited by sev- eral thousand people annually, who seek re- lief from chronic ailments of various kinds. The town, containing a number of attractive stone and brick buildings, surrounds a beau- tiful park of about thirty acres, in which are situated the several springs, each properly housed and protected. Running through the park is Butler Creek, a clear, sparkling mountain stream, carrying a considerable flow of water. A rock dam thrown aci'oss the stream forms a charming lake half a mile long, affording fine boating, fishing and bathing. High wooded hills entirely sur- round the town, and from the tops of these most magnificent views extending over many miles of country may be had. The most noted of the springs are the Chalybeate or Iron Springs, the waters of which are cred- ited with highly beneficial effects in com- plaints peculiar to women and iii oases of general debility. The Siloam Sprin;^, cred- ited with favorable action in cases of stom- ach disorders, catarrh, sluggish liver, dys- pepsia, gout, constipation, rheumatism, etc.; the White and Black Sulphur Springs, used for the relief of liver disorders, malaria, gout, kidney disorders, etc., and thi Lithia Spring, good for stomach disorders, rheu- matism, torpid liver, etc. The accommodations for the care and en- tertainment of health and pleasure .-seekers are modern in every way and are capable of accommodating a large number of people at one time. The Sulphur Sprin.gs Sanitarium and Bath House can accommodate 200 guests, and the five other modern hotels can take care of an equal number at any time 'There are in Sulphur Springs a bank, ten large mercantile establishments with suxks valued at about $50,000, three churches, op- era house, a public school, newspaiie'', elec- tric light plant, bottling works, hardwood mill, railway eating house, lumber yards, commercial club and a fruit growers' asso- ciation. The adjacent country will abundantly ))ro- duce all the ordinary field crops — corn, wheat, rye, oats, flax, hay, etc. — and affords fine pasturage for all kinds of stock. It is splendidly adapted to poultry raising and is most excellent for the cultivation of apple and peach orchards and strawberries on a 20 THE OZARK REGION POULTRY COLLECTED FOR SHIPMENT, GRAVETTE, ARK. commercial scale. There are within a ra- dius of four miles of Sulphur Springs be- tween three and four hundred acres in tree fruits and a similar acreage in strawberries. Wanted: Large dry goods and genes' fur- nishings store, restaurant. Good opening for an ice plant. Gravette, Arkansas Gravette is 210 miles south of Kansas City, Mo., and has an altitude of 1,218 feet. The population within the town limits is 569, and in Wallace township 1,254. It is a crossing point of the Kansas City Southern and ihe St. Louis & San Francisco railways and is a prosperous, rapidly growing town in the midst of a fertile farming region, being sur- rounded by several hundred fine farms, or- chards, poultry yards, truck and stock farms. About 15,000 acres are in cultivation within a radius of five miles, of which 7,000 acres are in apple orchards, 700 in peach orchards, 1,350 in strawberries, tomatoes, cantaloupes and commercial truck, 4,000 in corn, and about 3,000 acres in small grain, forage and pasturage. The shipments of surplus prod- ucts during 1910 amounted to 25 carloads of corn, wheat and oats, 50 carloads of apples (150 in 1909), 3,000 crates of peaches, 6,000 crates of strawberries, 20,000 pounds of poultry (75,000 in 1909), 5.000 cases of eggs. 30 carloads of cattle, 10 carloads of horses and mules, 5 carloads of sheep, 25 of hogs and 10 carloads of railroad ties. The business interests in Gravette are represented by one National and one State bank, with $50,000 aggregate capital and $140,000 deposits; some thirty or more sub- stantial mercantile firms, handling goods in all lines, with stocks valued at about $100,- 000; a grain elevator, three flour and grist mills, white lime works, a fruit evaporating plant, vinegar factory, broom factory, can- nery, a newspaper, two publishing concerns, two hotels, packing sheds of the Farmers' Union. The town has also an electric light plant, three churches and a fine public school building. The value of the live stock shipped annually is from $50,000 to $75,000, of lime $40,000, of poultry and eggs $30,000. The total shipments of poultry from Benton County amounted to 35 carloads of 15,000 pounds each, and 75 carloads of eggs. Corn, wheat, forage and other field crops are extensively grown and are largely con- sumed in the raising of live stock. Dairying- is developing into an important industry and will form an important source of income. New people are settling on the lands adja- cent to Gravette and many engage in the intense cultivation of small tracts of land, as more money can be realized from fruits, berries and truck on small tracts than from large farms which are cultivated by the or- dinary methods. THE OZARK REGION 21 Wanted: Harness shop, meat market, bakery. Good opening for electric light and waterworks plant, cannery, cold storage. Decatur, Arkansas Decatur is one of the several prosperous towns in Benton county, and according to the U. S. Census has 246 inhabitants in the town limits and 1,156 in Decatur township. According to the local count, the population is 450. Decatur is 217 miles south of Kan- sas City, Mo., and 62 miles from Joplin, Mo., and in point of altitude, 1,231 feet, is one of the more elevated towns on the Kansas City Southern Railway. The business part of the town has been almost entirely rebuilt within the last four years, nearly all the frame buildings having been replaced by attractive brick and concrete structures. It is a compact little town, surrounded by some 300 farms and orchards within a radius of five miles. About 2,000 acres are de- voted to apple orchards and other fruits, ber- ries and cannery stock, and 5,000 to 6,000 acres to corn and general field crops. The principal business of the town is handling and shipping fruits and the manufacture of fruit products. The Holland-American Fruit Products Co. has one of the best equipped and most complete canning, evaporating and preserving plants in the state, and provides a good market for all products not shipped. The year 1909 was not a good fruit year, but the shipments from Decatur amounted to 18 carloads of apples, 1,800 crates of canta- loupes, 22,000 crates of strawberries, 4,000 crates of blackberries, 3,500 pounds of mis- cellaneous truck, 26,000 pounds of poultry, 850 cases of eggs of 30 dozen each, 10 car- loads of cattle and 15 carloads of hogs. Within three and one half miles of Decatur are 300,000 apple trees, 180,000 peach trees and more than 600 acres of strawberries and blackberries. The countrj' adjacent to De- catur is one of small farms intensely culti- vated and the money returns obtained per acre are large, in some cases astonishing. Decatur has made a steady growth from year to year and now has a first class can- nery, costing about $30,000; a bank with $35,000 to $50,000 deposits; an excellent graded school in a modern brick school building, costing $10,000; some fifteen or twenty mercantile establishments, housed in modern brick or concrete buildings; a large concrete shippers' warehouse, fruit packing houses, concrete block factory, water works, electric lights, etc. During the year ending June 30, 1910, there were built twelve dwell- ings, costing $12,000; fourteen mercantile buildings, costing $50,000; two factory build- ings, $3,000; a new hotel, $1,500; park im- provements, $800; street improvements, $600; new telephone improvements, $600. Two mercantile concerns with stocks aggre- gating $7,000 opened up for business. Wanted: Harness shop, large dry goods store, meat market. Good openings for creamery station, ice factory, electric light plant, cold storage. PACKING PEACHES FOR SHIPMENT, DECATUR, ARK. 22 THE OZARK REGION A STOCK FARM, GENTRY. ARK. Gentry, Arkansas Gentry is situated about midway north and south near the west line of Benton Coun- ty. It is 222 miles south of Kansas City, Mo., and the altitude is 1,252 feet. Accord- ing to the U. S. Census, the population with- in the town limits is 668, and that of Gen- try township 1,383. The local count, based on the school district census, claims a pop- ulation of 1,200. The town lies on a high, level plateau, a beautiful nearly level coun- try, interspersed with groves of young tim- ber on the west; rolling timber land with an occasional rich valley on the east; a fine, fertile valley on the north, and Flint Creek valley on the south; and still further south by a very level country — mostly prairie. The principal sources of income at Gentry are general farming, the raising of live- stock, fruit and berry growing and poultry raising. The annual fruit shipments in an ordinary season are valued at from $200,000 to $250,000, consisting in the main of apples, peaches and berries. Gentry, on account of its altitude, was selected as one of the or- chard sites of the Ozark Orchard Company, and for five miles north on both sides of the railway track they have a continuous or- chard. There are in cultivation in the im- mediate vicinity of Gentry twenty-five sec- tions of land, of which about one-half is planted in fruit, one-fourth in corn and small grain and one-fourth is devoted to for- age and pasturage. Of the land devoted to fruits between 6,000 and 7,000 acres are planted in apples, about 5,000 in peaches and about 1,500 acres in strawberries, raspber- ries, blackberries, tomatoes and cannery stock. The annual egg shipments run from 4,000 to 6,000 cases of 30 dozen each and those of poultry from 69,000 to 95,000 pounds. The berry shipments vary from 5,000 to 15,- 000 crates. During 1910 there were shipped from Gentry, 8 carloads of wheat, 49 of apples, 14 of peaches, 7 of strawberries, 22 of cattle, 2 of horses and mules, 17 of hogs and sheep, 22,000 pounds of hides and furs and 14,000 pounds of dairy products. The small grain production is consumed almost entirely at home; the annual production is from 20,000 to 30,000 bushels of wheat and about 30,000 bushels of oats. Large quanti- ties of vegetables are produced for cannery stock, and consist of sweet potatoes, pump- kins, tomatoes, etc., and are used from .July to October. The butter shipments amount annually to about 12,000 opunds. Gentry has a six-room public school and a high school costing $5,000; the Hendrix Academy, costing $10,000; water works, elec- tric lighting, an auditorium, large commo- dious hotel, the Citizens' Bank, a good roller flour mill, box and barrel factory, five fruit corporations, several fine churches and two fruit growers' associations. There are some T HE OZARK R E (i I O N 23 twenty-five or more mercantile firms repre- senting various lines, a newspaper, and pro- fessional men engaged in variovis lines. The country immediately surrounding Gentry, say within a radius of two and one-half miles, is densely settled, having about one family to every forty acres, and the major- ity of tracts in cultivation range from five to twenty acres. Town and country are in- creasing in population steadily and exten- sive improvements are made each year. Wanted: First-class dry goods store, drug store, notion or racket store, shoemaker. Good opening for an ice and cold storage plant, vinegar factory, spoke and handle factory. Siloam Springs, Arkansas Siloam Springs is south of Kansas City, Mo., 229 miles, at an altitude of 1,200 feel. It lies on a rolling plateau in the southern part of Benton county, one and one-haif miles from the Oklahoma state line. The U. S. Census for 1910 gives it a population of 2,405, and for Hico township including the town, 3,885. The local estimate for several years has been 4,000. Siloam Springs is, strictly speaking, a town of homes scattered over much territory, giving each dwelling plenty of ground. The business part is sub- stantially built of brick and stone and the stocks carried in the stores in magnitude are equal to those found in much larger places. There are seven or eight attractive church buildings and high and public school buildings equal to the best in the state. The Arkansas Conference College, recently great- ly enlarged, has a high standing among ed- ucational institutions. The industrial en- terprises consist of the electric light plant and water works system, municipal under- takings, a meal and grist mill, a large cold storage and ice plant, a water shipping plant and bottling works, two steam laun- dries, foundry and machine shop, broom factory, the largest vinegar factory in the U. S., a cannery, creamery, and several fruit evaporating establishments. The mer- cantile enterprises are represented in two National banks and a state bank, with an aggregate capital of about $150,000 and de- posits exceeding half a million dollars; some thirty or more mercantile houses, cov- ering' all lines, four hotels, opera house, tel- ephone company, two newspapers — one daily — etc. The annual improvements and better- ments in the town and immediate vicinity average in value about $100,000. During the •year 1910 twenty-five new dwellings were built and three new mercantile stocks in- stalled, and much improvement was made on the adjacent farms. Nearly all the streets of Siloam Springs have been graded and im- provement is carried on continuously. Some STREET IN GENTRY, ARK. ' e 1 P- J^-^ s S^'^^ ^-^^ \ i( 'i 2 **<« ^1 \ -^r^^ ^K ' ■ ;'>%i,. A GOOD LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY COUNTRY. THE OZARK REGION 29 Washington County, Arkansas This county is not traversed by the Kan- sas City Southern Railway, but is easily reached by way of Westville, Okla., where there is a crossing of the K. C. S. Ry. and the St. L. & S. F. Ry. Washington is a typi- cal Ozark Mountain county, lying immedi- ately south of Benton County. It has an area of 975 square miles and a population of 33,- 889. The general altitude is about 1,500 feet above set level, and the surface is di- versified, having hills, valleys, level plains and rugged places, but nearly all the land is tillable and capable of prolific production. It has numerous small streams and thous- ands of springs and is splendidly watered and drained. The valley or bottom lands are rich alluvial soil and profitably produce every crop known in this latitude. The hill lands, while fertile, are well adapted to the cultivation of apples, peaches and berries, and the acreage devoted to these crops is nearly as large as in the adjoining county of Benton. The fruit, truck and poultry output of the county in an ordinary year is valued at about $2,000,000. The county has an abundance of good timber for building and for fuel, etc., as well as limestone and good clays. There are in all twenty-five towns and one hundred and sixty-five schools in the county. Payette- ville is the county seat and has 4,471 inhab- itants and 8,563 in Prairie township. The other larger towns in the county are Spring- dale, population 1,755; Prairie Grove, 774; Lincoln, 292, and Winslow, 289, all of them important fruit shipping points. Sebastian County, Arkansas The area of this county, which lies on the south bank of the Arkansas River and ad- joins the east line of Oklahoma, is 542 square miles. The population is 52,278 of whom 28,000 reside with the city limits of Fort Smith. The surface of the county is hilly and undulating and slopes to the north from an altitude of 2,500 feet to 400 feet at the Arkansas River. Along the western bor- der there is some prairie land, but most of the county was originally heavily timbered. There is yet available in large quantity al- m.ost even,' kind of merchantable timber used in the United States. The principal field crops are cotton, corn, wheat, potatoes and forage of various kinds. About 100,000 bales of cotton and sometimes 1,000 carloads of potatoes are shipped through Port Smith and other stations. Fruit and berry gross- ing is carried on e:xtensively and in some years 100,000 to 150,000 crates of strawber- ries and a hundred or more carloads of peaches have been shipped to the great northern cities from this and the adjacent (Crawford) county. The industrial development of the county has been great and new manufacturing en- terprises are started every month. The most important of these are the furniture and woodworking plants of Fort Smith, includ- ing great wagon works, the brick manufac- turing plants, clothing factories and cotton product mills. Nearly all of Sebastian Coun- ty is underlaid with semi-anthracite smoke- less coal, of which 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 tons are annually mined, representing a value of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. Close to Port Smith is a great oil and gas field, providing natur- al gas for light and fuel for Fort Smith and nearby towns, and oil has been obtained iu sufficient quantity to warrant the building of a large oil refinery, which is in operation. The City of Fort Smith, Arkansas is south of Kansas City, Mo., 328 miles and situated at the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers. According to the U. S. Census of 1910, the population within the city limits is 23,975; in Upper township, 25,283. According to local directory count and school census, 28,000. Among the eighty manufacturing plants in the city is a wagon factory turning out 15,000 vehicles annually, a refrigerator manufacturing plant, two cot- ton seed mills and one cotton compress. 30 THE OZARK REGION vinegar and pickle factory, two broom fac- tories, cracker factories, ten furniture fac- tories, ten wood-working plants, three of the largest brick plants west of the Missis- sippi River, three foundries and iron works, three crushed stone plants, two wagon fac- tories, two garment factories, a tobacco fac- tory, rim and bow factory, two ice and cold storage plants, shovel handle plant, two candy factories, box factories, cement block plant, concrete sewer tile plant, two veneer factories, two flour mills, two casket fac- tories, tent and awning factory, powder mill, trunk factory, three bottling works, cotton gins and other plants. The manufactured output is valued approximately at $30,000,- 000; the values involved in the fifty-three wholesale and jobbing houses is in excess of $15,000,000; the value of fruit and truck handled, $3,400,000, and of cotton handled, $9,000,000. There are in Fort Smith 225 retail estab- lishments, and among the wholesale houses are one wholesale hardware house, one mil- linery house, one hat house, four produce houses, three branch packing houses, one seed house, one paper house, four dry goods houses, three oil companies, one refinery, two queensware houses, two commission houses, five printing concerns, one coffee roasting plant with 15,000 pounds daily ca- pacity, etc. The six banks have total re- sources of about $10,000,000 and deposits of ?;7,269,704. The public utilities consist of a complete waterworks plant with 44 miles of water mains, a complete sewer system 42 miles in length, 27 miles of brick paved streets and 30 miles of oil macadamized streets, school buildings valued at $550,000; good fire pro- tection, electric light wires and natural gas mains in all parts of the city; 20 miles of electric street railways, a steel wagon bridge across the Arkansas River costing $563,000; new union depot, $150,000. The transporta- tion facilities consist of the Kansas City Southern Railway, the St. Louis & San Fran- cisco, the Missouri Pacific, the Fort Smith & Western Railroad, Midland Valley Rail- road and Arkansas Central Railroad. The improvements made in Fort Smith in 1910- 1911 consisted of 346 new dwellings, 27 busi- ness buildings, 14 M'arehouses, 2 hospitals, 4 school buildings, 2 churches, 1 theater, 1 railway depot, a union depot, a jail, 1 bank building, waterworks improvements, electric light improvements, and 4 factory buildings valued at $1,636,550. In the county there were 144 land transfers involving an expend- iture of $302,547. Wanted: Large seed house, nursery man, first-class dry goods, department store, sub- urban drug store, fancy grocery and deli- catessen istore, wholesale boot and shoe house, wholesale clothing house, wall paper house. Good opening for an advertising spe- cialist. Good location for farm implement plant, school desk, office and church supply factory, sewer pipe, tile and conduit plant, gasoline engine plant, canning factory, creamery, wagon factory, cotton mill, fruit preserving plant, candy factory, foundry and iron working plant, wholesale hardwood lumber concern, with mill and dry kilns. Crawford County, Arkansas Crawford County lies north of Sebastian County and borders on the Arkansas River, and its north line adjoins Washington Coun- ty. The area is 60 square miles, or 384,000 acres, and the population 23,942; that of "Van Buren, the county seat, 3,878. The sur- face of the county slopes from north to south, the altitude varying from 400 feet on the Arkansas River to 1,600 feet near the north line. The surface is more or less rough and broken, being traversed by nu- merous streams, which have small, but very fertile valleys. The production of corn, grain, cotton, forage and livestock is large and in point of acre yield is as large as in any other county in the state. Van Buren is known in the fruit trade as one of the most important shipping points on account of its great shipments of peaches, strawberries, commercial truck, potatoes, cantaloupes and melons. Apples are grown extensively on the table lands and higher elevations; peaches produce immense crops and the strawberry production is enormous. The total value of the fruit, berry, potato, can- taloupe and truck crops of Crawford County exceeds $3,000,000 per year. The southern half of the county is under- laid with an excellent quality of coal, which is mined in large quantities, and superior THE OZARK REGION 31 brick clays and shales are found in close proximity. Good hardwood timber, suitable for many industrial purposes, is abundant. Points in Crawford County are easily reached by way of the Kansas City Southern Railway, through Fort Smith. Eastern Oklahoma As stated elsewhere in this publication, ■part of the Ozark Plateau extends into east- ern Oklahoma. Most of the counties tra- versed by the Kansas City Southern Rail- way are in this region and are fully de- scribed in a pamphlet issued under the title "Eastern Oklahoma," and will be furnished free on appliaction to the Immigration Ag- ent, K. C. S. Ry., Kansas City, Mo. Scott County, Arkansas Scott, Sebastian, Polk and Sevier counties, Arkansas, belong to the southern section of the Ozark Plateau. In their general charac- teristics they resemble the counties of the northern section, the soils and climatic con- ditions being similar. The contour of the country is, however, more abrupt, the ele- vations greater, the hilly areas larger and in some localities there are evidences of for- mer volcanic disturbances which do not ap- pear in the northern section. Scott County is located about the center and on the western border of the state, with an area of about 1,000 square miles. It is made up of several wide valleys, running east and west, with an intervening broken, hilly country, ranging in altitude from fiOO to 2,700 feet. The greater part of the soil is sandy loam, with red clay subsoil. The lands in the well known Fourche Lafave, Poteau, Petitjean and Dutch Creek valleys are very fertile, and equally productive SHEEP RAISING IS PROFITABLE IN THE OZARK REGION. 32 THE OZARK R E G I O x\T n^i^ii3ffiQg STREET IN WALDRON, ARK. lands, but not in so large bodies, are found on the creeks and smaller streams of the county. The bottom lands produce with fair cultivation from three-fourths to one and one-fourth bales of cotton, from 40 to SO bushels of corn, and from 10 to 25 bushels of wheat per acre, without the aid of fertil- izers. Scott county will compare favorably with any county in the production of grapes, apples, peaches, plums, pears, berries, pota- toes and almost any variety of vegetables. Apples grown on the highlands are equal in size, quality and flavor with the best grown in the famous apple districts of Arkansas and yield as abundantly. The hilly lands are being largely used for this purpose. Scott County took the highest award at the World's Fair on apples. The mountain lands also afford excellent _stock range, as stock-raising is an easy and "profitable vocation for farmers in this coun- ty. The county is well watered. The lux- uriant growth of native grasses on the hill lands is greatly improved by removing the timber and allowing the sunshine to fairly strike the earth. Owing to the short and mild winters, cattle, hogs and other stock are frequently carried through the winter season with very little feed and often no shelter. This class of land is very cheap and much of it is subject to homestead en- try. The county clerk or county surveyor at Waldrcn, Ark., can advise intending set- tlers on homestead lands. There are in the county seventy-six school districts with school terms of six to nine months, accord- ing to population and wealth in the re- spective districts. Five Protestant denomi- nations are represented in the various con- gregations. The mineral resources of the county are as yet undeveloped, but coal of the best quality for commercial purposes and in great quantities has long been known to exist in the northern and western portions of the county, but no mining was done except fcr local needs until the building of the Arkan- sas Western Railway. Since then extensive mines have been opened at Coaldale and Bates, in the western part of the county. Iron and zinc exist in several places, but are undeveloped. Strong indications of oil are found in several localities. Brick and fire clays are abundant. The average rainfall In Scott County is about 50 inches per annum and the average temperature G8 degrees. A complete failure cf crops has never been known in the coun- ty. Prices of farm lands range from the cost of a U. S. homestead patent to about $30 per acre. Waldron, Arkansas Waldron is the county seat of Scott Coun- ty. Its altitude is 700 feet above sea level, and its population, according to the U. S. Census of 1910, is 900 within the town limits and 2,479 in Hickman township, includin'g the town. The local count gives the town a THE OZARK REGION 33 GOAT RAISING IN ARKANSAS. population of 2,000. Waldron is the present terminus of the Arkansas Western branch of the Kansas City Southern Railway and is raeched by way of Heavener, Okla., the junction point of the branch and the main line. Waldron is 370 miles south of Kansas City, Mo. It is substantially built and has twenty-two brick and stone business build- ings, most of them two-story structures; five attractive church buildings; the Waldron high school, a commodious eight-room, two- story building, and numerous attractive dwellings. The commercial interests are represented by two banks, with an ag.i^re- gate capital and surplus of $94,828 and de- posits of $388,071, and thirty or more mer- cantile establishments dealing in all lines. Among the other institutions are five hotels, two lodge and assembly halls, a public li- brary, two telephone companies, a gas com- pany, bottling works, flour mill, ice factory, two cotton gins, three grist mills, a brick yard, two sawmills, planing mills, shingle mill and four coal mining companies. The surplus products shipped annually amount to about 5,000 bales of cotton, from 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of poultry, 700 to 800 carloads of lumber and from 5 to 20 carloads of cattle. Waldron contains all the essentials neces- sarj^ for an important trading point. It draws its trade from a thinly settled but rich territory within a radius of forty to lifty miles, and as the country is being rap- idly settled a steady growth of Waldron can be confidently expected. BRINGING IN THE COTTON, MENA, ARK. 31 THE OZARK REGION PEACH ORCHARD, POTEAU, OKLA. Wanted: Gents' furnishings store, shoe store, general merchandise store, printing oflBce, steam laundry, hardware store, tin shop, notion store, dentist. Good opening for cannery, ice plant, electric light plant. The other towns in Scott County, on the Arkansas Western branch of the K. C. S. Ry., are the following: Bates, Arkansas From Kansas City, Mo., 351 miles; popula- tion, U. S. Census 272. A lumber manu- facturing and coal mining town. There are in operation here the yellow pine sawmill of the Ingham Lumber Co., capacity 50,000 feet per day; the I. R. Packard coal mine and the Bates Coal & Coke Company's mine. The town has five mercantile stocks, valued at $140,000; a hotel, church, public school and several minor commercial and industrial concerns. The surplus products shipped an- nually from Bates, exclusive of coal, amount to 800 bales of cotton, 50 carloads of rail- road ties and 200 carloads of pine lumber. Wanted: Meat market, bakery. Opening for coal mines. Gauthron, Arkansas Cauthron is 357 miles from Kansas City, Mo., and has 50 inhabitants. The surround- ing country has an abundance of coal and timber and the latter is being manufactured by the B. R. Thaup sawmill, the product be- ing yellow pine lumber. Cauthron ships an- nually from 375 to 450 bales of cotton, 3 to 10 carloads of live stock, 7 to 15 carloads of railroad ties and 40 to 50 carloads of pine lumber. During 1910 there were in cultiva- tion in the immediate vicinity 600 acres in corn, 50 in oats, 1,450 in cotton and about 100 acres in fruit and truck. There are in Cauthron three general merchandise stores, two drug stores and a public school. Coal deposits that should be mined. Goaldale, Arkansas Population, 150; from Kansas City, Mo., 348 miles. A coal mining and lumber manu- facturing point. The Hiawatha Smokeless Coal Co. has a coal mine and the Fogel Lumber Co. a sawmill in operation. The surplus products shipped from this station in 1910 amounted to 1,000 bales of cotton, 500 head of cattle, 50 head of horses and mules, 100 head of hogs and 5,000 railroad ties. There are in the town two general merchandise stores, a drug store, cotton gin and a public school. Coal deposits could be mined here and timber for sawmills available. Hon, Arkansas Population, 150; from Kansas City, Mo., 364 miles. The village has two sawmills, manufacturing pine lumber, a cotton gin, grist mill, hotel, lodge hall, two churches and six general merchandise stores. The annual shipments of surplus products amount to 600 bales of cotton, about 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of poultry, 15 to 20 carloads of hardwood lumber, 5 to 10 carloads of rail- road ties and 40 to 60 carloads of pine lumber. THE OZARK REGION 35 Polk County, Arkansas Polk County is the third county south of the Arkansas River on the western border adjoining Oklahoma, has a population of 17,- 216 and an area of 868 square miles. Its altitude varies from 1,000 to 3,000 feet, the surface being rolling, traversed by pic- turesque ranges of mountains and several large streams. The climate is delightful all the year around and public health is excel- lent. Nearly all of Polk County was original- ly covered with forest, though a very large acreage is now in cultivated farms. Yellow pine and all kinds of hardwoods are still abundant and a large sawmill and wood working industry is carried on in several parts of the county. The annual output of pine lumber will probably amount to three- quarters of a million dollars and the output of hardwood timber in the form of lumber, railroad ties and staves will amount to near- ly as much. The timber consists of white oak, post oak, red oak, ash, wild cherry, walnut and hickory and is suitable for fur- niture, berry crates, boxes, handles, hubs, and all kinds of buggy and wagon timbers, cooperage stock, etc., and is present in suffi- cient quantity to supply the needs of manu- facturing concerns for years to come. The mineral resources of Polk County have attracted the attention of prospectors and investors for a good many years. Good indications of lead, silver, copper, gold and antimony have been found in many places and have been mined in a desultory manner at several points. Antimony and zinc ores have been shipped to the smelters occasion- ally, but no permanent mining industry has as yet been established. Iron ores and manganese ores are found in many places in the county. Their commercial value has not yet been determined. The greatest slate deposits in the United States are present in this county. It has been definitely deter- mined that there is more red slate in Polk County than there is black slate in- Penn- sylvania and Vermont. There are great de- posits of red, green and black slate in the county, beginning eight miles east of Mena and extending eastward thirty-five miles. Three slate companies have extensive quar- ries opened and are quarrying and ship- ping slate through Mena, Ark., in the form of roofing slate, switch boards, wainscotings, etc., etc., Novaculites, suitable for abrasives and for sharpening fine tools are abundant in many places and indications of asphalt, coal and oil deposits are present in several localities. All the streams of Polk County originate in the county, which is entirely free from stagnant water or mosquitoes. Small ranges of mountains cross the county in places. STREET SCENE, MBNA, ARK. 36 THE OZARK REGION SORTING AND PACKING PEACHES. but probablj^ three-fourths or more of the area is tillable and perhaps half of it is in cultivation. The surface soil is composed of about equal parts of clay and sand ard the subsoil is in general a deep red clay. All the new land is not only very fertile, but the old land, even after years of cultiva- tion is capable of producing great results if properly handled. All the field crops of Arkansas are successfully grown and very few sections of country are so well adapted to the profitable raising of horses, mulea, cattle, hogs and sheep as is this county. The native pasturage is excellent, the water of the purest and the best in the United States, and forage can be cheaply grown in any desired quantity. By reason of its alti- tude, Polk County, produces most excellent v/inter apples in large quantity and with greater certainty than do the sections gener- ally credited with superiority in apple pro- duction. Being protected by the mountain ranges, fruit is seldom injured during the winter and peaches will ordinarily yield a fine crop when they fail elsewhere. The shipments from Polk County will run, in an ordinary year, from 5,000 to 15,000 bales of cotton, 10 to 30 carloads of apples, 6,000 to ] 0,000 cases of eggs, 'JO to 150 carloads of cattle, 15 to 30 carloads of hogs and con- siderable shipments of peaches, cantaloupes, strawberries, poultry, etc. As the home consumption is large, only a small part of the total production is shipped away. The City of Mena, Arkansas Mena, as a town, owes its origin to the construction of the K. C. S. Railway. At the time the plat was surveyed the site of the town was a wooded plateau, surrounded on all sides by a range of high wooded hills. On the present townsite were one or two small farms occupied by old settlers, but the nearest trading village was Dallas, three miles east, then the county seat. •Since the platting of the town, 1896, the following things have been accomplished: The U. S. Census of 1910 gives Mena a pop- ulation of 3,953; Center township, in which THE OZARK REGION 37 the town is located, 4,9 G8, and according to local count the population in December, 1911, was 4,500. The town, or rather city, now has a group of fine county buildings, court house, etc.; one or more churches of each denomination, several of stone or brick, worthy of being in much larger cities. A complete system of public school buildings, among them a high school costing $12,000; St. Joseph's Academy, a Catholic school, es- tablished by the Sisters of Mercy, having an enrollment of one hundred and fifty chil- dren; a German colony with German Lutheran church and school; electric light plant, water works, sewers, telephone ex- change; thirty miles or more of cement and granitoid sidewalks; graded streets, of which several miles are macadamized; a complete system of low terraces for the res- idence streets; a free public library, fire de- partment, three banks, business college, one of the most beautiful city parks in the state and nearly one hundred business houses of various kinds. .411 the secret societies are represented, and the Order of Elks, and the Odd Fellows have halls which would be an ornament in a city of 50,000 people. There are in operation at Mena two sawmills and planing mills, a box and veneering factory, a cement, brick and block factory, an ice cream factory, an ice plant, brick yard, co- operative cannery, two broom factories, etc. Mena was for some years a division ter- minus of the Kansas City Southern Rail- way, but this was not the only reason for its rapid growth. Mena has real and substan- tial resources within easy reach, and to the country around it, the fruit and farm lands, the superior climate, the pure, soft cold water, the timber and mineral resources and transportation facilities, much of its pros- perity must be attributed. The division ter- minus has moved elsewhere, but population and business activity have increased never- theless. Mena has peculiar climatic conditions. It is located in the highest section of the Oz- ark Plateau. Its elevation is between 1,.300 and 1,600 feet within the corporation, the variation in altitude giving perfect drain- age. Ten miles to the northwest, Mount Mena, the highest point not only in Arkan- sas, but between the Alleghenies and the Rocky Miountains, rears its mighty bulk 2,- '946 feet. On three sides of the city are mountain ranges, forest clad, rising from 400 to 1,000 feet high, forming an eternal barrier against the blizzards from the north IX THE CITY PARK, MENA, ARK. 38 THE OZARK REGION SOME PUMPKINS, WALDRON, ARK. and tempering the climate to almost per- fection. Farm work can be carried on for twelve months in the year and the growing season is from February, when gardening usually commences, until the end of No- vember. The elevation gives the pre-eminence in apple culture, not possessed by the country further south. Apples in large quantity are grown in more northerly latitudes, yet Mena and vicinity have hundredsi of profitable ap- ple orchards. Mena is practically the south- ern limit of commercial apple growing. The altitude of Polk County compensates for the difference in latitude. Polk County re- ceived the first prize for apples, peaches and pears at the World's fair in St. Louis, Mo. Peaches are rapidly coming to the front as a money crop and peach orchards are numerous. They bear the second j'ear from planting, and owing to the clay subsoil, wind protection from the mountains and good air drainage bear for a generation. They are on market from June to Novem- ber, with a succession of varieties. Hun- dreds of acres of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are now bearing and large acreages of small fruits and truck are planted annually. Poultry raising adds much to the income of the small farmers. It should not be forgotten that the country round about Mena is the ideal location for the general farmer and that corn, wheat, oats and other small grain, forage of all kinds, cotton and live stock of all kinds are produced in large quantity and that general farms and live stock, as fine as any in the state, can be found here in large numbers. In the immediate vicinity are two hundred farms on which were cultivated in 1910, corn, 1,500 acres; wheat, 100; oats, 200; cotton, 500; apples, 200; peaches, 100; straw- berries and truck, 100 acres. The surplus pro- ducts shipped in an ordinary year run from 2,- 000 to 6,000 bales of cotton, 3 carloads of can- taloupes, 1,000 crates of peaches, 300 to 500 crates of strawberries, 4,000 to 6,000 pounds of poultrj-, 2 to 5 carloads of Irish potatoes, 1,000 to 2,000 cases of eggs, 10 carloads of cattle, 3 of hogs, 5 of hardwood lumber, 200 of railroad ties, 250 of pine lumber, 20,000 to 50,000 pounds of hides and furs. Owing to the large industrial population in the county, the shipments of food products and forage are small. Nearly all the railroad towns in Polk County were surveyed and platted during the summer of 1896, sometime before the railroad reached them, and actual town building did not begin until the spring cf 1898. Since then the lusty youngsters have grown up and kept apace with the settle- ment of the surrounding country. The doz- en or more small towns away from the rail- way have practically held their own, and some of them have grown also, but the ereater part of the population of the towns a^ong the railway is entirely new. Wanted: A good family hotel for sum- I'ler and winter visitors. Good opening for brick and tile manufacturer, furniture fac- tory, cheese factory, dairy and creamery, wagon works, chair factory. Vast quantities of slate to be quarried. Address W. C. B. .^llen. General Agent, Mena, Ark. THE OZARK REGION 39 Gove, Arkansas A growing town, 17 miles south of Mena and 397 miles south of Kansas City, Mo., and only three miles from the Oklahoma line. It has a population of 400, one of the best public schools of any small town in the state, one bank, two hotels, cotton gin, gristmill, shingle mill, a planing mill and smaller industrial enterprises, meat market, livery barns blacksmith and repair shops, a newspaper, town hall and a commodious lodge building used by several benevolent organizations. The gross annual business of the town amounts to about $500,000 an- nually. It is headquarters for an extensive trade in the products of hardwood timber and is it estimated that the sum of $150,000 is paid out annually at this point for rail- road ties and staves. The town is surrounded by a well settled country which produces good crops of grain, domestic grasses, clover, and a great variety of fruits and vegetables, the acreage in the last named products being quite large. The marketing of the crops is looked after by the Cove Fruit and Truck Growers' Asso- ciation. The surplus products shipped from Cove annually amount to several hundred bales of cotton, 1,000 to 2,000 crates of peaches, 1,000 to 1,500 crates of strawber- ries, considerable quantities of mixed truck, 10 to 50 cars of hardwood lumber and rail- road ties, 125 to 150 carloads of pine lum- ber, etc. Wanted: Harness shop, hardware and implement store, notion or racket store, bank, drug store, flour and feed store, pro- duce store, physician, dentist. Good open- ings for a cannery, tannery, creamery, fruit evaporator, custom sawmill, fruit box fac- tory, axe handle factory, cooperage, -luarry. Hatfield, Arkansas Population, 950; from Kansas City, Mo., 393 miles; situated in a fine agricultural region producing corn, cotton, grain, forage, fine fruits and commercial truck. The lat- ter are extensively grown and poultry and eggs yield a considerable income, but cotton, corn, grain and forage are the principal crops. The apples grown at Hatfield are of exceptional quality and are usually prize winners when displayed at the state fairs. There are in cultivation in the vicinity of Hatfield, 9,000 acres in corn 1,000 in oats, 5,000 in cotton, 100 in apples, 1,000 in peaches, 50 in sorghum, 350 in strawberries, 200 in commercial truck, 50 in alfalfa, 250 in broom corn. Hatfield has a good school system, several churches, about twenty-five mercantile es- tablishments, a brick yard, three sawmills, planing mill, cotton gin, a bank, a roller flour mill and a combination cotton gin and grist mill. Indications of lead and zinc have been found in the vicinity and coal outcroppings likewise occur. None of these have, however, been developed. The manu- facture of lumber and of hardwood railroad ties and staves is the principal industrial pursuit. PACKING APPLE'S, WALDRON, ARK. 40 THE OZARK REGION HARVESTING TOMATOES, DB QUEEN, ARK. Wanted: Grocery store, hardware store, meat market, printing office, barber shop. Vandervoort, Arkansas This is a growing village of 600 inhabi- tants, situated in the southern half of the county, and is distant from Kansas City, Mo., 402 miles. It has two large planing mills, a large three-room school house, three churches, two hotels, nine general merchan- dise stores, drug store and several minor es- tablishments. The country round about Vandervoort has been settled for more than sixty years, but only during the past twelve years has there been any rapid growth in population. General farming is the engross- ing pursuit of the people and for this the country is splendidly adapted. Lying on the southern slope of the Ozark Plateau, it is protected against the late frosts which se- riously injure fruit where this protection cannot be had. When the region becomes more densely settled, Vandervoort will be- come an important shipping point for fine fruits, berries, poultry and eggs and live stock. Wickes, Arkansas Wickes is a village of about 300 inhabi- tants, in the southern part of the county, 409 miles south of Kansas City, Mo. It has four general merchandise stores, two hotels, two drug stores, one exclusive hardware store, one confectionery, one lumber yard, planing mill, sawmill, cotton gin, grist mill and livery barn. It has also a good public school and several church organizations. The land adjoining the village is gently rolling, well watered and not only adapted to general fanning purposes, but especially adapted to horticulture. The acreage in cul- tivation in the immediate vicinity of Wickes, consists of 4,000 acres in corn, 150 in oats, 175 in cotton, 10 in apples, 250 in peaches, 150 in strawberries, 10 in truck, 10 in al- falfa and 150 in forage. The surplus pro- ducts shipped from Wickes in an ordinary year consist of two to three carloads of cantaloupes, 5 to 10 carloads of peaches, 2 to 3 carloads of strawberries, 7 to 10 car- THE OZARK REGION 41 loads of cattle, 2 to 5 carloads of sheep and hogs, 40 to 50 carloads of railroad ties and 120 to 150 carloads of pine lumber. The famous health resorts, Baker Springs and Bogg Springs are reached by way of Wickes, Ark. Wanted: Meat market, dry goods store, bank, tin shop, physician, dentist. Good opening for fruit box factory, creamery. Granniss, Arkansas This town has a population of about 600, has an altitude of 922 feet and is south of Kansas City, Mo., 413 miles. The industrial enterprises of the town consist of two yel- low pine sawmills, two gristmills, steam laundry, a planing mill, two cotton gins, and a fruit cannery and the mercantile lines are represented by seven general merchandise stores, drug store, two newspapers, and two hotels, besides which there are two tel- ephone companies, three churches, three lodge halls and one public school, a fruit growing company and a horticultural asso- ciation. The soil conditions are very similar to the other places in the county, mentioned. The land in cultivation in the immediate vicin- ity in 1910, amounted to 2,000 acres in corn, 100 in oats, 2,500 in cotton, 1,000 in peaches, 150 in strawberries and 350 in forage, etc. The annual shipments of surplus products, run from 5 to 30 carloads of peaches, 2 to 6 carloads of strawberries, 5 to 15 carloads of cattle. 5 to 10 carloads of hogs, 100 car- loads of hardwood lumber, 500 to 900 car- loads of railroad ties and 800 carloads of pine lumber. Indications of minerals, lead and zinc ores, etc., are found in close prox- imity to Granniss. Hatton, Arkansas Population, 184; from Kansas City, Mo., 404 miles; altitude, 1,186 feet. The village has one general merchandise store, a hotel and a public school. Hatton is a most beau- tiful location for a modern health and pleas- ure resort, affording magnificent scenery and a great variety of mineral waters, local- ly greatly esteemed for their medicinal values. The different groups of springs con- sist of strong chalybeate waters lithia springs, saline springs, alum springs, mag- nesia, black and white sulphur springs, all within easy reach of the railway station. In addition to these there is an abundance of the purest, softest freestone water to be found anywhere. The famous Bogg Springs are five miles west and are reached from this point. Fine hardwood and pine timber suitable for furniture, wagon timbers, pine lumber, hardwood flooring or cooperage stock is very abundant. The soils in the vicinity are splendidly adapted to peach, berry and com- mercial truck culture. A SPLENDID COUNTRY FOR SHEEP. 42 THE OZARK REGION Sevier County, Arkansas Sevier is the most southerly of the Ozark counties along the Kansas City Southern Railway. It borders on Oklahoma for 17 miles and its south boundary is about 20 miles north of Red River and the Texas State line. It lies in the southern foothills of the Ozark Plateau and its general slope is south and southeast. The north one-third is part of the plateau, but from Gillham station southward the altitude decreases rapidly and from the southern boundary of the county an unbroken plain slopes gently to the Gulf of Mexico. Protected by wooded hills for many miles in every direction, ex- cept southward, the county has little to fear from either drouth, late frosts or storms. The county is well watered and well drained. On its east boundary is Saline River and on the south boundary Little River. The Cos- satott and Rolling Pork Rivers cross the PRACHES, DE QUBBN, ARK. county from north to south, emptying into Little River. Numerous tributaries, fed principally by perennial springs, flow into all four of these rivers. The area of the county is about 600 square miles or 384,000 acres and about 80 per cent of it will be tillable when the standing timber has been removed. About one-half of the soil in the county is red, the color being due to the presence of iron, which gives a rich color and flavor to peaches and other fruits. Some of the red land is gravelly and some is sandy. Both kinds have a subsoil of red clay. There are two kinds of black land in the county. One is a black sandy loam, found principally in the river and creek bottoms and which is very productive. The other is known as black limeland, found mostly in the lower Cossatott Valley, in the southeastern part of the county. It is especially adapted to the cultivation of alfalfa. The climate is one of the best found anywhere, is remarkably healthful and free from extreme and sud- den changes. The Gulf breezes reach this country and temper the summer heat, which even in the hottest weather, does not reach that of some of the northern states. The nights are always cool and refreshing sleep is assured. Agriculture has succeeded lumbering as the leading industry. Cotton is grown ex- tensively and yields from one-half to one bale to the acre, with a total production of 10,000 to 15,000 bales, valued at $500,000 to $750,000. The uplands produce about 25 bushels of corn per acre and the bottom lands about 40 bushels. Oats and millet do well and are grown extensively; wheat, rye and Kaffir corn are grown in smaller quan- tities. Sugar cane yields as high as 700 gallons of syrup per acre; sorghum is grown extensively for molasses and also for hay. Cowpeas and peanuts produce abundantly and timothy, clover and red top do well in most parts of the county, though not ex- tensively grown. Bermuda grass is excellent for lawns, pasturage and hay and Japan clover is a volunteer crop. Among the other field crops are broom corn and tobacco. Two crops of potatoes are grown, the first crop maturing about the end of May. They are shipped northward in car lots. Tomatoes, cantaloupes and commercial truck are grown and shipped in large quantity. THE OZARK REGION 43 CX>RN FIE'L-D, LOCKESBURG, ARK. All varieties of peaches do well and some of the largest peach orchards in the United States are located in this and the adjoining counties. The Southern Orchard Planting Company's peach orchard between DeQueen and Horatio, this county, has over 3,000 acres in peach trees, all bearing, and there are 5,000 to 6,000 acres more at other rail- road stations. Early apples do well, plums, apricots, cherries, figs, grapes, pears, black- berries, strawberries, dewberries, etc., yield satisfactory results. Stock raising is profitable. Horses and mules, cattle and hogs are being raised in increasing numbers and the grade is being continuously improved. Sheep and goats thrive on the uplands. Poultry of all kinds do well and increasing attention is being given to standard breeds of poultry. Most of the large game has been killed or driven away, but small game is yet abun- dant and the streams are full of fish. The great mineral wealth of Sevier Coun- ty is as yet undeveloped. In the north third of the county near Gillham station are great veins of antimony, and in the same vicinity also veins of lead and zinc ores. Well de- fined quartz veins containing silver and cop- per ores in merchantable quantity have been found near DeQueen. Iron ore and manganese, ores are abundant in the same locality. Good artesian wells are flowing in several places. Oil and gas are indicated in several localities and borings for oil have been made in the southeastern part of the county, where there is also a deposit of asphaltum. Shales and brick clays are abundant and in several places there are outcroppings of lignites, etc. Most of the timber of commercial value is pine, but there are also available con- siderable quantities of red oak, white oak, hickory, cypress, sweet gum, red cedar, syca- more, ash and elm. Numerous sawmills and planing mills are operating in several parts of the county and the output of pine lum- ber, hardwood lumber, railroad ties, tele- graph poles, cooperage stock, wagon tim- bers, shingles, etc., is very large. The railway facilities consist of the Kan- sas City Southern Railway, which crosses the county from north to south with a mile- age of 29.88 miles, and the DeQueen and Eastern Railway .has a mileage of 21.63 miles in the county and extends on east- ward into Howard County. The county reads are good and well bridged. The num- ber of school districts is 68 and the school population 6,222; the population of the county 22,000. De Queen, Arkansas De Queen was laid out as a town in 1897 and was made a city of the second class and county seat of Sevier County in 1904. It is now a modem little up-to-date city of attractive homes, substantial brick business structures, granitoid walks and graded streets, with, the advantages and conven- iences found in much larger places. It is 44 THE OZARK REGION on the main line of the Kansas City South- ern Railway, 433 miles south of Kansas City, Mo., and 55 miles north of Texarkana, Tex. The U. S. Census gives the city a population of 2,018 and Bear Creek township, including the city, 3,827. The local count based on the school census is 3,500. The retail trad- ing territory extends about 20 miles north and south, 30 miles east and 40 miles west. Cotton is hauled here on wagons from points 25 to 30 miles away. The Kansas City Southern Railway has a division ter- minus at this point together with round houses, repair shops, etc., and a number of employes have their homes here. The De Queen & Eastern Railway, in operation for a distance of 35 miles eastward, has its be- ginning point here and according to reports is to be extended eastward and westward. The Prairie Oil & Gas Company of Okla- homa has an oil pipe line running through JDe Queen from the Oklahoma fields to the »Gulf and maintains an immense pumping fetation at this point. The local manufac- Ituring plants consist of three yellow pine jsawmills, a large hardwood sawmill, De 'Queen bakery, steam laundry, ice and elec- tric light plant, cold storage, municipal waterworks system, cotton gin and a fruit cannery. The mercantile lines are repre- sented in three solid banks and some twen- ty or thirty mercantile establishments. The industrial establishments, when in full op- eration, employ 1,200 men and have a monthly pay roll of over $50,000. Nearly all the public buildings and busi- ness structures are subsantial brick build- ings. Among these are the county court house, the shops of the K. C. S. and the De Q. & E. Railways, the K. C. S. passenger station, the electric light plant, high school, Bee opera house, Prairie Oil & Gas Co. IN THE ORCHARD OF THE SOUTHERN ORCHARD PLANTING CO., HORATIO, ARK. THE OZARK REGION YOUNG COTTON FIELD, HORATIO, ARK. pumping station, the county jail, ice plant, bottling works and nearly all mercantile houses. The dwellings are substantial frame buildings of modern design. Nearly all the streets are graded and the sidewalks paved with cement or concrete. Free mail delivery, rural telephones, elec- tric light service, etc., are not novelties in De Queen. The city has six religious con- gregations with adequate buildings, an ex- cellent school system and a school attend- ance of about 1,000. De Queen is surrounded and supported by an area of splendid valley, fruit, truck and general farming lands of unusual produc- tiveness. The area in cultivation in the im- mediate vicinity in 1910, consisted of 8,000 acres in corn, 500 in wheat and oats, 4,000 in cotton, 5,000 in peaches, 500 in truck and strawberries, 1,000 in sorghum, 50 in al- falfa, 25 in broom corn. Among the surplus products shipped from De Queen were 1,073 bales of cotton, a carload of peaches, 5,000 pounds of poultry, 12 carloads of cattle, and one of hogs, 1,190 carloads of hardwood and pine lumber and seven carloads of railroad ties. The improvements made in the city during 1910-11 are valued at $250,000 to $300,000. Wanted: First-class hotel building. Good openings and plenty of raw material for a brick and tile plant, flour and gristmill, can- nery, furniture factory, wagon works, chair factory, fruit box factory, handle factory, any manufacture in wood. Gillham, Arkansas South of Kansas City, Mo., 421 miles; altitude 784 feet, population, U. S. Census 1910, 291; local count, 400; Mineral town- ship, including Gillham, 1,267. Lumbering is the principal industrial pursuit of the town's population and three sawmills with a joint capacity of 37,000 feet are in operation. The town is situated in a mineral belt which is about seven miles wide and about forty miles long, extending from the Saline River in the eastern part of Sevier County far into Oklahoma, the general direction being from northeast to southwest. The minerals found in this region are lead, zinc, copper, antimony, iron ore and some manganese. The ore is found in five or six parallel min- eral veins from three to twenty feet wide, extending across the northern part of Se- vier County. Lead, zinc and antimony ores have been mined more or less, but there has been no continuous, systematic mining as mining is conducted in other mineral re- gions. Two partially developed lead and zinc properties, the Bellah Mine and the Da- vis Mine, have been recently purchased by mining experts who have operated in the western states and Mexico. They have equipped the mines with new machinery and have employed a considerable force to op- erate them. 46 THE OZARK REGION PEACH ORCHARD. LOCKESBURG, ARK. THE OZARK REGION 47 The country in the immediate vicinity of Gillham is more or less hilly, but there is a large acreage of good tillable land, much of it now in cultivation. The annual cotton shipments run from 900 to 1,500 bales, in addition to which there are shipments of peaches, strawberries, poultry and eggs, cat- tle and hogs, 200 carloads of pine lumber, 75 carloads of railroad ties and hardwood lumber. In Gillham are three general merchandise stores with stocks aggregating in value |65,- 000, two hotels, two churches, a public school, a state bank and the Gillham Real Estate Co. Wanted: Newspaper and printing office. Good opening for brick and tile factory, fruit and vegetable cannery, fruit evap- orator, cooperage plant, box factory, tan- nery. Abundant raw material for railroad ties, staves, etc. Antimony, lead, zinc and iron ores to be mined. Horatio, Arkansas Horatio is 441 miles south of Kansas City, Mo., and 47 miles north of Texarkana, Tex. According to the U. S. Census of 1910 there were 605 inhabitants in the town and 2,872 in Clear Creek township. The local esti- mate is 1,275. Horatio is^the first town in Sevier County to be supplied with rail- road facilities. It has been a trading point for a large scope of country for many years. It has a bank with $50,000 deposits, ten or twelve large mercantile establishments and handles from 1,500 to 2,000 bales of cotton per year. Among its shipments of sur- plus products, for 1910 were 500 carloads of peaches, 800 crates of cantaloupes, one car of strawberries, 2,000 pounds of poul- try, 20 carloads of cattle, 2,000 cases of eggs, 10 carloads of hogs, 200 carloads of hardwood lumber, 325 carloads of railroad ties and 500 carloads of pine lumber, car- load shipments of Irish potatoes are fre- quently made. In town and within a dis- tance of two miles are three large saw- mills, a shingle mill, gravel washing plant and minor industries. The largest enterprise at Horatio and the largest of its kind in the United States, is the great peach orchard of the Southern Orchard Planting Company, which contains over three thousand acres, all planted to Elberta peaches, nearly all of which have recently come into bearing. Horatio has been growing steadily, in- creasing in population, opening up new lines of business and gradually replacing its old- er buildings with modern brick and stone structures. The soil and other conditions are similar to those at De Queen and Lockesburg, with the difference, perhaps, that more land is available for new farms right here than at other points. The total acreage in culti- vation within five miles of Horatio is 20,- 000 acres, of which 4,100 acres are planted to fruits, 3,000 to corn, 1,500 to oats, and small grain, 3,000 to cotton, 250 to com- mercial truck and 350 acres to hay and for- age. Wanted: Hardware store, furniture store. Good opening for brick yard, cement block factory, box factory, furniture factory, wag- on shop, cannery. Lockesburg, Arkansas Situated on the De Queen & Eastern Rail- way, 12 miles east of De Queen. Popula- tion, U. S. Census 1910, 748; Red Colony township, including Lockesburg, 2,276; local estimate, 1,100. It is one of the oldest towns in Arkansas and until a few years ago was the county seat of Sevier County. It is a good little business town, depend- ing upon the agricultural resources of the surrounding country for its prosperity. It has a state bank, an excellent high school, a graded school, several handsome churches, three hotels, three sawmills, three cotton gins, three gristmills, some twenty-five or more large mercantile stocks, valued at about $100,000, and ships from 5,000 to 6,000 bales of cotton annually. A large business is done in the shipping of live stock and hard wood timbers in the form of railroad ties, barrel staves, fence posts and mine timbers. A fine fruit and truck growing industry has been developed in the last four or five years. Cotton, in the ear- lier history of the town, was the only ex- port crop, but at the present time peaches, potatoes, truck, live stock, etc., are moved from Lockesburg in carload lots. There is much diversity in the lands sur- rounding the town, some being timber lands, some uplands, some rich river bottoms suited for various purposes. A large acre- age is highly improved, while on other lands improvements have yet to be made. The bottom lands are exceptionally rich corn and cotton lands, producing from a bale to a bale and a half of cotton or from 40 to 75 bushels of corn to the acre. Alfalfa and other forage crops yield splendidly on these lands. The uplands produce from 25 to 40 bushels of corn and from two-fifths to three- fourths of a bale of cotton to the acre. The ratio of production of forage, owing to the long growing season, is probably a crop and a half as compared with a full crop grown in the northern states. 48 THEOZARKREGION Homeseeker's Round Trip Tickets To points on the K. C. S. Ry., and return, limited to twenty-five days, are on sale at very low rates, on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, from points in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, while from points east of Illinois, the rates are slightly higher. Stop-overs on round trip homeseeker's tickets to points south of Grandview, Mo., will be allowed on both going and return trip. For rates, address S. G. Warner, G. P A., Kansas City, Mo. Household Goods and Emigrant Movables The term "Household Goods and Emigra it Movables" will apply to property of an intending settler only, and will include tools and implements of calling (including hand and foot power machines, but not including machinery driven by steam, electricity, gas, gasoline, compressed air or water, other than agricultural implements); second- hand store fixtures of merchants; second-hand vehicles (not including self-propelled vehicles, hearses, and similar vehicles); live stock, not to exceed ten (10) head (sub- ject to declared valuations and premium charges); trees and shrubbery; lumber and shingles; fence posts; one portable house; seeds for planting purposes; feed for live stock while in transit, and household goods, but does not include general merchandise, nor any articles which are intended for sale or speculation. Shipments of emigrant movables must contain a suflacient quantity of furniture to make the intention of a permanent residence at destination evident. Information about freight rates can be obtained by addressing R. R. Mitchell, General Freight Agent, Kansas City, Mo. Printed Information concerning the country along its line is published by the Kansas City Southern Rail- way Company for the use of people in search of new locations for health, pleasure or business and seekers after information are cordially invited to apply for such publica- tions as the K. C. S. Quarterly Magazine, "Current Events," "Gulf Coast Book," "North- west Louisiana" and "Eastern Oklahoma," which will be sent free on application to WILLIAM NICHOLSON Immigration Agent Kansas City, Mo. ,*^ WS /'\''-^0/ y% Va^-v' /\ %^^'° *^'% WC^ xO-^. iis.. ^ I ~lA I ^^.■r .•^^^;^" -a, o > • * .0 .^ [15' "^ *-i"^^iir^^ . "^ V ^•\,^^'' -#&'• \-/' n ^^ -^^ -.;^^V ^^' ^<^ -.-.T*' ^0 ^ -^^ <. v^^ ^0^ .0 -^ ^"^."^^^r^ .^^ o V ^^-^^^ V %/' -'"''^'^ \^/ ^^fe* "^^^ ^^ ' ^^^ ^ to ■^ ^. '-^* A^ .„_ V '••' A^^ .... ^<. " " » ""O "-^^^ ^^ N I >^ * ytr-l^- cy .'-.^^:' "-b :^.^/m^