USA > Arkansas > Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 1 > Part 7
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Couriers sped over the city, and the flying news gave the people a genuine sensation. Indeed, not only Baxter but the State and the nation received a great surprise.
As soon as Baxter was released, though only under arrest a few minutes, he fled to St. John's College, in the city, and from this headquarters called for soldiers, as did Brooks from the State house, and alas, poor Arkansas! there were now again two doughty governors beating the long roll and swiftly forming in the ranks of war. Brooks converted the State house and grounds into a garrison, while Baxter made headquarters at the old Anthony Hotel, and the dead-line be- tween the armed foes was Main Street. Just in time to prevent mutual annihilation, though not in time to prevent bloodshed, some United States soldiers arrived and took up a position of armed neutrality between the foes.
If there can be anything comical in a tragedy it is furnished just here in the fact that, in the twinkling of an eye, the adherents and voters of the two governors bad changed places, and each was now fighting for the man whom he had opposed so vehemently. And in all these swift changes the supreme court had shown the greatest agility. By some remarkable legerdemain, Brooks, who was intrenching himself, had had his case again placed before the supreme court, and it promptly reversed itself and decided that the circuit court had juris- diction. The wires to Washington were kept hot with messages to President Grant and Congress. The whole State was in dire commotion with " mus- tering squadrons and clattering cars." The fre- quent popping of picket guns was in the land; a steamboat, laden with arms for Baxter, was at- tacked and several killed and many wounded. Business was again utterly prostrated and horrors brooded over the unfortunate State; and probably the most appalling feature of it all was that in the division in the ranks of the people the blacks. led by whites, were mostly on one side, while the whites were arrayed on the other. Congress sent the historical Poland Committee to investigate Arkansas affairs. President Grant submitted all legal questions to his attorney-general.
The President, at the end of thirty days after the forcible possession of the office, sustained Bax- ter-exit Brooks. The end of the war, the cli- max of reconstruction in Arkansas, had come. Peace entered as swiftly as had war a few days be- fore. The sincerity and intensity of the people's happiness in this final ending are found in the fact that when law and order were restored no one was impeached, no one was imprisoned for treason.
The report of the Poland Committee, 1874, the written opinion of Attorney-General Williams, the decision of the Arkansas supreme court by Judge Samuel W. Williams, found in Vol. XXIX of Arkansas Reports. page 173, and the retiring mes- sage of Governor Baxter, are the principal records of the literature and history of the reign of the dual governors. The students of law and history in coming time will turn inquiring eyes with curious interest upon these official pages. The memory of "the thirty days" in Arkansas will live forever, propagating its lessons and bearing its warnings; the wise moderation and the spirit of forbearance of the people, in even their exult- ing hour of triumph, will be as beacon lights shining out upon the troubled waters, transmit- ting for all time the transcendent fact that in the hour of supreme trial the best intelligence of the people is wiser than their rulers, better law- givers than their statesmen, and incomparably superior to their courts.
The moment that President Grant officially spoke, the reconstruction constitution of 1868 was doomed. True, the people had moved almost in mass and without leadership in 1873, and had repealed Article VIII of the constitution, disfran- chising a large part of the intelligent tax payers of the State.
The constitutional convention of 1874, with the above facts fresh before it. met and promul- gated the present State constitution. G. D. Roy- ston was president, and T. W. Newton, secretary. The session lasted from July 14 to October 31. 1874. From the hour of its adoption the clouds rolled away, and at once commenced the present unexampled prosperity of the State. Ouly here and there in Little Rock and other points in the State
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
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may one see the mute but eloquent mementos of the past, in the dilapidated buildings, confiscated during the lifetime of some former owner, may- hap, some once eminent citizen, now in his grave or self-expatriated from a State which his life and genius had adorned and helped make great. Municipalities and even small remote districts are paying off the last of heavy debts of the "flush times." Long suffering and much chastened State and people, forgetting the past, and full of hope for the future, are fitly bedecking (though among the youngest) the queenliest in the sisterhood of States.
In this connection it will be of much interest to notice the names of those individuals, who, by reason of their association with various public affairs, have become well and favorably known throughout the State. The term of service of each incumbent of the respective offices has been pre- served and is here given. The following table includes the acting Territorial and State governors of Arkansas, with date of inauguration, party pol- itics, etc:
Territory
Date of
Inauguration.
Length of Term.
By What Political
His Majority or
Total Vote Cast
James Miller ... App't'd
March 3, 1819
George Izard ... jApp't'd
March 4, 1825
John Pope ......
App t'd
March 9, 1829
Wm. Fulton ....
App't'd
March 9, 1835
J. S. Couway.
1836
September 13, 1836 4 yrs. Dem. 1,102M
7,716
Archibald Tell.
1840
November 4, 1840 4 yrs. Dem.
Samuel Adams.
T. S. Drew.
1844
November 5, 1844 5 yrs. Dem. 1,731 P
17,387
J. Williamson ..
Acting
Apr. 9 to May 7, 1846'
R. C. Byrd.
Acting Jan. 11 to Apr. 19. 1849
J. S. Roane
1849
April 19, 1849*
Dem.' 163
6,809
R. C. Byrd
Acting
1849
J. R. Hampton|
Acting
1851
E. N. Conway ..
1852
November 15, 1852 4 yrs. Dem. 3,027 27,857
E. N. Conway ..
1854
November 17, 1856 4 yrs. Dem. 12,363|
42,861
H. M. Rector ....
1860
November 15, 1860 2 yrs.
I. D .: 2,461| 61,198
T. Fletcher.
Acting
Nov. 4 to Nov. 15, 1862
November 15, 1862 3 yrs.
Fed.| (no record )
P. Clayton.
1868
July 2, 1868 4 yrs.
Rep. ( no record )
O. A. Hadley
Acting
Rep. ( no record)
E. Baxter
1872
A. H. Garland.
1874
November 12, 1874 2 yrs.
W. R. Miller ....
1876
January 11, 1877 2 yrs. Dem. 32.215 108,633
W. R. Miller ....
1878
January 17, 1879 2 yrs. Dem. 88,720
T. J. Churchill
1880
January 13, 1851 2 yrs. Dem. 52,761 115,619
J. H. Berry ......
1882 January 13, 18832 yrs. Dem. 28,481 147, 169 Actingi Sep. 25 to Sep, 30, 1883
S. P. Hughes
1×84
January 17, 1885 2 yrs.
45,236 156,310)
J. W. Stayton ..
Acting!
S. P. Hughes ..
1886
2 yrs. Dem. 17,411 163,889
D. E. Barker
Acting
J. P. Eagle.
1888
2 yrs. Dem. 15,006 187,397
The secretaries of Arkansas Territory have been : Robert Crittenden, appointed March 3, 1S19; William Fulton, appointed April 8, 1829; Lewis Randolph, appointed February 23, 1835.
Secretaries of State: Robert A. Watkins, September 10, 1836, to November 12, 1840; D. B. Greer, November 12, 1840, to May 9, 1842; John Winfrey, acting, May 9, to August 9, 1842: D. B. Greer, August 19, 1840, to September 3. 1859 (died); Alexander Boileau, September 3, 1829, to January 21, 1860; S. M. Weaver, January 21, 1860, to March 20, 1860; John I. Stirman, March 24, 1860, to November 13, 1862; O. H. Oates. November 13, 1862, to April 18, 1864; Robert J. T. White, Provisional, from January 24, to January 6, 1873; J. M. Johnson, January 6, 1873, to No- vember 12, 1874; B. B. Beavers, November 12, 1874, to January 17, 1879; Jacob Frolich, January 17, 1879, to January, 1885; E. B. Moore, January. 1885, to January, 1889; B. B. Chism (present in- cumbent).
Territorial auditors of Arkansas: George W. Scott, August 5, 1819, to November 20, 1829; Richard C. Byrd, November 20, 1829, to Novem- ber 5, 1831; Emzy Wilson, November 5, 1831. to November 12, 1833; William Pelham, November 12, 1833, to July 25, 1835; Elias N. Conway, July 25, 1835, to October 1, 1836.
Auditors of State: Elias N. Conway, October 1, 1836, to May 17, 1841; A. Boileau, May 17. 1841, to July 5, 1841 (acting); Elias N. Conway, July 5, 1841, to January 3, 1849; C. C. Danley. January 3, 1849, to September 16, 1854 (resigned): W. R. Miller, September 16, 1854, to January 23. 1855; A. S. Huey, January 23, 1855, to January 23, 1857; W. R. Miller, January 23, 1857, to March 5, 1860; H. C. Lowe, March 5, 1860, to January 24. 1861 (acting); W. R. Miller, January 24, 1881. to April 18, 1864; J. R. Berry, April 18, 1864. to Oc- tober 15, 1866: Stephen Wheeler, January 6. 1>73. to November 12, 1874; W. R. Miller, October 15. 1866, to July 2, 1868: John Crawford. January 11, 1877, to January 17. 1883; A. W. Files, Jan- uary, 1883, to January, 1887; William R. Miller (died in office). January, 1887, to November, 1857: W. S. Dunlop. appointed November 30, ISST. to
* Special election.
V
and State.
Year of Election.
Party Elected.
Plurality.
at Election.
I. Murphy.
1864
April 18, 1864
Con. (no record ) Con .: 10,012 26,266
H. Flannagin ..
1802
January 17, 1871 2 yrs. January 6, 1873 2 yr -.
Rep.| 2,94> 80,721 Dem. 76.453
B. T. Embry
Acting Apr. 29 to Nov. 9, 1844
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
January, 1889; W. S. Dunlop, January, 1889 (present incumbent).
Territorial treasurers: James Scull, August 15. 1819, to November 12, 1833; S. M. Rutherford, November 12, 1833, to October 1, 1836.
State treasurers: W. E. Woodruff, October 1, 1836, to November 20, 1838; John Hutt, November 20, 1838, to February 2, 1843; John C. Martin, February 2, 1843, to January 4, 1845; Samuel Adams, January 4, 1845, to January 2, 1849; Will- iam Adams, January 2, 1849, to January 10, 1849: John H. Crease, January 10, 1849, to January 26, 1855; A. H. Rutherford, January 27, 1855, to Feb- ruary 2, 1857; J. H. Crease, February 2, 1857, to February 2, 1859; John Quindley, February 2, 1859, to December 13, 1860 (died); Jared C. Martin, December 13, 1860, to February 2, 1861; Oliver Basham, February 2, 1861, to April 18, 1864; E. D. Ayers, April 18, 1864, to October 15, 1866; L. B. Cunningham. October 15, 1866, to August 19, 1867 (removed by military); Henry Page, August 19, 1867 (military appointment), elected 1868 to 1874 (resigned); R. C. Newton, May 23, 1874, to November 12, 1874; T. J. Churchill, November 12, 1874, to January 12, 1881; W. E. Woodruff, Jr., January 12, 1881, to January, 1891.
Attorneys-general: Robert W. Johnson, 1843; George C. Watkins, October 1, 1848; J. J. Critten- den, February 7, 1851; Thomas Johnson, Septem- ber 8, 1856; J. L. Hollowell, September 8. 1858; P. Jordon, September 7, 1861; Sam W. Williams, 1862; C. T. Jordan, 1864; R. S. Gantt, January 31, 1865; R. H. Deadman, October 15, 1866; J. R. Montgomery, July 21, 1868; T. D. W. Yonley, Jan- uary 8, 1873; J. L. Witherspoon, May 22, 1874; Simon P. Hughes, November 12, 1873, to 1876; W. F. Henderson, January 11, 1877, to 1881; C. B. Moore, January 12, 1881, to 1885; D. W. Jones, January, ISS5, to 1889; W. E. Atkinson, January. 1889 (present incumbent).
Commissioners of immigration and of State lands: J. M. Lewis, July 2, 1868; W. H. Grey, October 15, 1872; J. N. Smithee, June 5, 1874.
November 18, 1878; D. W. Lear, October 21, 1878, to November, 1882; W. P. Campbell, October 30. 1882, to March. 1884; P. M. Cobbs, March 31, 1884, to October 30, 1890.
Superintendents of public instruction: Thomas Smith, 1868 to 1873; J. C. Corbin, July 6, 1873; G. W. Hill, December 18, 1875, to October, 1878; J. L. Denton, October 13, 1875, to October 11, 1882; Dunbar H. Pope, October 11 to 30, 1882; W. E. Thompson, October 20, 1882, to 1890.
Of the present State officers and members of boards, the executive department is first worthy of attention. This is as follows:
Governor, J. P. Eagle; secretary of State, B. B. Chism; treasurer, William E. Woodruff, Jr. ; attorney-general, W. E. Atkinson; commissioner of State lands, Paul M. Cobbs; superintendent public instruction, W. E. Thompson; State geolo- gist, John C. Brauner.
Board of election canvassers: Gov, J. P. Eagle, Sec. B. B. Chism.
Board of commissioners of the common school fund: Gov. J. P. Eagle, Sec. B. B. Chism, Supt. W. E. Thompson.
State debt board: Gov. J. P. Eagle; Aud. W. S. Dunlop, and Sec. B. B. Chism.
Penitentiary board-commissioners: The Gov- ernor; the attorney-general, W. E. Atkinson, and the secretary of State.
Lessee of penitentiary: The Arkansas Indus- trial Company.
Printing board: The Governor, president; W. S. Dunlop, auditor, and W. E. Woodruff, Jr., treasurer.
Board of railroad commissioners (to assess and equalize the railroad property and valuation within the State): The Governor, secretary of State and State auditor.
Board of Trustees of Arkansas Medical College: J. A. Dibrell, M. D., William Thompson, M. D., William Lawrence, M. D.
The Arkansas State University, at Fayetteville, has as its board of trustees: W. M. Fishback. Fort Smith; James Mitchell. Little Rock: W. B. Welch. Fayetteville; C. M. Taylor. South Bend;
These officers were succeeded by the commis- sioner of State lands, the first to occupy this position being J. N. Smithee, from November 12, 1874, to . B. F. Avery. Camden: J. W. Kessee, Latour: Gov.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Eagle, ex-officio; E. H. Murfree, president, A. I. U .; J. L. Cravens, secretary.
Of the Pine Bluff Normal, the president is J. Corbin, Pine Bluff; the board is the same as that of the State University.
Board of dental surgery: Dr. L. Augspath. Dr. H. C. Howard, Dr. M. C. Marshall. Dr. L. G. Roberts, and Dr. N. N. Hayes.
State board of health: Drs. A. L. Brey- sacher, J. A. Dibrell, P. Van Patten, Lorenzo R. Gibson, W. A. Cantrell, V. Brunson.
Board of municipal corporations: Ex officio - The Governor, secretary of State and State auditor. Board of education: The Governor, secretary of State and auditor.
Board of review for donation contests: The Governor, auditor of State and attorney-general.
Board of examiners of State script: The Gov- ernor, secretary of State and auditor.
Reference to the presidential vote of Arkansas. from the year 1836 up to and including the elec- tion of 1888, will serve to show in a general way the political complexion of the State during that period. The elections have resulted as follows :*
1836-Van Buren (D), 2,400; Harrison (W), 1,162; total 3,638.
1840 -- Harrison (W), 5,160; Van Buren (D), 6,019; Birney (A), 889; total 11,209.
1844 . Polk (D), 8,546; Clay (W), 5,504; total 15,050.
1848-Taylor (W), 7,588; Cass (D), 9,300; total 16.888.
1852- Pierce (D), 12.170; Scott, 7,404; total 19,577.
1856-Buchanan (D), 21,910; Fillmore, 10,787; total 32.697.
1860- Douglas (D), 5.227; Breckenridge, 28,532; Bell, 20,297.
1864 -- No vote.
1868-Grant (R), 22,112; Seymour, 19,078; total 41, 190.
1872-Grant (R), 41.377; Greeley, 37,927; total 79,300.
1876 -- Tilden (D); 58,360; Hayes (R). 38.669: total 97,029.
1880-Garfield (R), 42,435; Hancock (D). 60,475; total, 107,290.
1884-Cleveland (D), 72,927; Blaine, 50,895; total, 125,669.
1888-Harrison (R), 58,752; Cleveland (D), 88,962; Fisk, 593; total, 155.96S.
In accepting the vote of Arkansas, 1876, objec- tion was made to counting it. as follows: "First. because the official returns of the election in said State, made according to the laws of said State. show that the persons certified to the secretary of said State as elected, were not elected as electors for President of the United States at the election held November 5. 1876; and, sec- ond, because the returns as read by the tellers are not certified according to law. The objec- tion was sustained by the Senate but not sus- tained by the House of Representatives."
* Scattering votes not given.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
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CHAPTER V.
ADVANCEMENT OF THE STATE-MISCONCEPTIONS REMOVED-EFFECTS OF SLAVERY UPON AGRICULTURE -- EXTRAORDINARY IMPROVEMENT SINCE THE WAR-IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS-COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF PRODUCTS-GROWTH OF THE MANUFACTURING INTERESTS- WONDERFUL SHOWING OF ARKANSAS-ITS DESIRABILITY AS A PLACE OF RESIDENCE-STATE ELEVATIONS.
Look forward what's to come, and back what's past; Thy life will be with praise and prudence graced; What loss or gain may follow thou may'st guess, Then wilt thou be secure of the success. - Denham.
EFORE entering directly up- on the subject of the mate- rial life and growth of Arkan- sas, it is necessary to clear away at the threshold some of the obstructions that have lain in its pathway. From the earliest settlement slav- ery existed, and the nergo slave was brought with the first agricultural communities. Slave labor was profitable in but two things -cotton and sugar. Arkansas was north of the sugar cane belt, but was a splendid field for cotton growing. Slave labor and white labor upon the farms were never congenial associates. These things fixed rigidly the one road in the agricultural progress of the State.
What was therefore the very richness of heaven's bounties, became an incubus upon the general welfare. The fertile soil returned a rich reward even with the slovenly applied energies of the slaves. A man could pay perhaps $1,000 for a slave, and in the cotton field, but really nowhere else, the investment would yield an enormous profit.
The loss in waste, or ill directed labor, in work carelessly done, or the want of preparation, tools or machinery, or any manner of real thrift, gave little or no concern to the average agriculturist. For personal comfort and large returns upon invest- ments that required little or no personal attention, no section of the world ever surpassed the United States south of the 36° of north latitude. Wealth of individuals was rated therefore by the number of slaves one possessed. Twenty hands in the cot- ton field, under even an indifferent overseer, with no watchful care of the master, none of that saving frugality in the farming so imperative elsewhere upon farms, returned every year an income which would enable the family to spend their lives trav- eling and sight-seeing over the world. The rich soil required no care in its tilling from the owner. It is the first and strongest principle in human na- ture to seek its desires through the least exertion. To raise cotton, ship to market and dispose of it. purchasing whatever was wanted, was the inevi- table result of such conditions. This was by far the easiest mode. and hence manufactures, diversity of farming or farming pursuits, were not an impera- tive necessity-indeed, they were not felt to be ne- cessities at all. The evil, the blight of slavery
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
upon the whites, was well understood by the intel- ligence of the South, by even those who had learned to believe that white labor could not and never would be profitable in this latitude; that-most strange! the white man who labored at manual labor, must be in the severe climate and upon the stubborn New England soil. It was simply effect following cause which made these people send off their children to school, and to buy their every want, both necessaries and luxuries-importing hay, corn, oats, bacon, mules, horses and cattle even from Northern States, when every possible natural ad- vantage might be had in producing the same things at home. It was the easiest and cheapest way to do. In the matter of dollars and cents, the destroying of slavery was, to the farmers of the Upper Missis- sippi Valley, a permanent loss. Now the New South is beginning to send the products of its farms and gardens even to Illinois. The war, the abolition of slavery, the return of the Confederates to their desolated homes, and their invincible courage in rolling up their sleeves and going to work, and the results of their labors seen all over the South, form one of the grandest displays of the development of the latent forces of the great American people that can be found in history.
There is not a thing, not even ice, but that, in the new social order of Arkansas, it can produce for its own use quite as well as the most favored of Northern States. The one obstruction in the way of the completed triumph of the State is the lingering idea among farmers that for the work of raising cotton, black labor is better than white. This fallacy is a companion of the old notion that slavery was necessary to the South. Under proper auspices these two articles of Arkansas-cotton and lumber-alone may make of it the most pros- perous State in the Union ; and the magician's wand to transform all this to gold is in securing the intelligent laborer of the North, far more than the Northern capital prayed for by so many. The North has its homeless millions, and the recent lessons in the opening of Oklahoma should be promptly appreciated by the people of this State. For the next decade to manufacture every pound of cotton raised in the State, as well as husbanding and man-
ufacturing all the lumber from these grand old for- ests, is to solve the questions in the race of State prosperity and general wealth among the people. When free labor supplanted slave labor what a won- derful advance it gave the whole section; when in- telligent skilled labor supplants ignorance and un- skilled labor, what a transcendent golden epoch will dawn. There is plenty of capital to-day in the State, if it was only put in proper co-operative form, to promote the establishment of manu- factories that would liberally reward the stock- holders, and make them and Arkansas the richest people in the world. Such will attract hundreds of thousands of intelligent and capable wage workers from the North, from all over the world, as well as the nimble-witted farm labor in the gardens, the orchards, the fields and the cotton plantations. This will bring and add to the present profits on a bale of cotton, the far richer dividend on stocks in fac- tories, banks, railroads and all that golden stream which is so much of modern increase in wealth. The people of Arkansas may just as well have this incalculable abundance as to not have it, and at the same time pay enormous premiums to others to come and reap the golden harvests. Competent labor- ers-skilled wage workers, the brawn and brain of the land-are telling of their unrest in strikes, lockouts, combinations and counter combinations; in short, in the conflict of labor and capital, they are appealing strongly to be allowed to come to Arkansas-not to enter the race against ignorant, incapable labor, but simply to find employment and homes, where in comfort and plenty they can rear their families, and while enriching themselves to return profits a thousand fold. Don't fret and mope away your lives looking and longing for capi- tal to enter and develop your boundless resources. Capital is a royal good thing, but remember it is even a better thing in your own pockets than in some other person's. Open the way for proper, useful labor to come and find employment ; each department, no matter how small or humble the beginning, onco started will grow rapidly, and the problem will have been solved. Only by the North taking the raw product of the South and putting it in the hands of skilled labor has their enormous
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
capital been secured. The profits on high priced labor will always far excel that on ignorant or cheap workmen. The time is now when this kind of labor and the small farmers and gardeners are awaiting a bidding to enter Arkansas. When the forlorn hope returned from the late war, they met the stern necessity, and demonstrated the fact that here, at least, the people can create their own capi- tal. Let them now anticipate the future by this heroic triumph of the past. The Gods help those only who help themselves.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
To the Northern home-seeker the thing of first importance is to tell of the temperate climate at all seasons, and its extraordinary healthfulness, cur- ing him of the false idea spread so wide that the topography of the State is seen from the decks of steamers, or on the lines of railroad which are built along the swamps and slashes, mostly on ac- count of the easy grades on these lines. Then show from the records the low rate of taxation and the provisions of the law by which high taxation is for- ever prevented. From this preliminary may be unfolded to him some of the wonderful natural re- sources which are awaiting development. Here both tongue and pen will fall far short of telling all or nearly all. In climate, health, soil, timber, minerals, coal, rocks, clays, marls, sand, navigable streams, mineral and fresh waters, Arkansas may challenge any similar sized spot on the globe. It has more miles of navigable streams than any other State in the Union, and these are so placed as to give the whole territory the advantages thereof, as though the engineers had located them. It has unequaled water power-the Mammoth Spring alone furnishing enough water power to propel all the machinery west of the Mississippi River. The topography of the State is one of its most inviting features. Its variety in this respect is only equaled by the diversity of its soils. The traveler who in approaching this section concludes that it consists chiefly of swamp bottoms, and water-covered slashes, may readily learn from the records that three-quarters of the State's surface is uplands, ranging from the gentle swells of prairie and
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