Little Rock, Arkansas

“ The hill country of the northern part of the State has little land of agricultural value, the soil being sandy and thin; but the bottom lands, having a heavy black soil, are very productive. In the limestone regions are found much red clay and loam, the residual materials from the decomposition of the limestone. The higher lands of the Arkansas Valley, from Indian Territory to Little Rock, are composed of a dark, sandy loam. ”

“ Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Perry Madden, Thirteenth Street, south side,
one block east of Boyle Park Road, Route 6,
Care L.G. Cotton, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: About 79
Birth and Age
"I have been here quite a few years. This life is short. A man ought to prepare for eternity. I had an uncle who used to say that a person who went to torment stayed as long as there was a grain of sand on the sea. ”

“ Receiver of United States Lands at Little Rock, Arkansas.
[Pg 263]
Former Principal of Public Schools of Little Rock—Clerk in Railway Mail Service—Grand Scribe of "Mosaic Templars of America"—An Able and Leading Republican of Arkansas.
Every man had something that was regarded as "fanompoana." The people of one district might be required to make mats for the government, in another pots, the article required. From one district certain men were required to bring crayfish to the capital, charcoal from another, iron from another, and so on through all the series of wants. ”

“ Arkansas was not represented in the United States Senate from
its secession in 1861 until the state was readmitted to the
Union in 1868.
5. Benjamin F. Rice, 1868-1873
Lawyer, Republican. Born in New York, 1828. Member, Kentucky House of
Representatives, 1855-1856. Moved to Minnesota, 1860. Captain, Union
Army.
Settled in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1864. Active in organizing Republican party in Arkansas. United States senator, 1868-1873. Moved to Colorado 1875, and to Washington, D.C. 1882. Died 1905.
6. Stephen W. Dorsey, 1873-1879
Businessman, Republican. Born in Vermont, 1842. ”

“ That said road tax is levied without authority of law, and in violation of the 39th section of the charter of the city of Little Rock, which declares that "the inhabitants of Little Rock are hereby exempted from working upon any road beyond the limits of the city, and from paying any tax to procure laborers to work upon the same." ”

“ As far as I can now recall, white and colored children never did attend the same school in Little Rock. There have always been separate schools for the races. I am able to remember the names of the first teachers in the Quaker school; J.H. Binford was the principal and his sister taught the primary department. Other teachers were Miss Anna Wiles (or Ware) , Miss Louise Coffin, Miss Lizzie Garrison, and Sarah Henley.
I was about 11 years old when peace came and was living with my mother and the other children on the Badgett plantation about 7 miles east of Little Rock. ”

“ From the standpoint of understanding between the white and colored races, Little Rock has always been a good place to live. The better class families did not speak of their retainers as slaves; they were called servants. Both my parents were educated by their masters. Besides being a teacher and minister my father was a carpenter and expert cabinet worker.
The first school for Negroes in Little Rock was opened in 1863 and was taught by my father. ”

“ The left bank of the river still is in the limits of the state of Mississippi, the right thus far is in Arkansas Territory; of which Little Rock on the Arkansas river is the principal place, at which many emigrants from the eastern states have settled themselves. ”

“ Below Little Rock a sandy, sometimes clayey, soil borders the river, and this grades toward the south into black, sandy, and 'buckshot' soils, which are the richest in the State, and which yield from 2000 to 3000 pounds of seed cotton to the acre. The bottom lands of the Red River Valley contain a black, sandy loam or a red, sticky clay called "gumbo." ”

“ There is more land open to settlement in Arkansas than there was in the Cherokee Strip. The Little Rock Democrat wisely says: “Counting all kinds of our public lands in Arkansas, government, State and railroad, we have nearly 7,000,000 acres. If we could divide these lands into homestead tracts, advertise them extensively and donate them at stated periods to actual settlers, what an impetus would be given to the State. What the State needs is not money for her lands, but active and enterprising home builders, who would become wealth producers and tax builders. ”

“ There are few libraries in Arkansas. In this matter her showing has long been among the very poorest in the Union relatively to her population. Daily papers are few in number. The state charitable institutions—insane asylum, deaf-mute and blind institutes—and the penitentiary, are at Little Rock.
Local government is of the ordinary southern county type, without noteworthy variations. Municipal corporations rest upon a general state law, not upon individual charters. ”

“ Five days after the departure of Gabriel and Roche, we crossed the Red River, and soon arrived at Washington, the only place of any importance in the west of Arkansas.
From Washington to Little Rock, the capital of the state, there is a mail-road, with farms at every fifteen or twenty miles; but the captain informed me they were inhabited by the refuse from other states, and that west of the Mississippi (except in Louisiana and Missouri) it was always safer to travel through the wilderness, and camp out. ”

“ In a few moments we slowly retraced our way to the Rock, where, taking our mules, we pushed on in the direction of the Missouri. We camped on the bank of the Arkansas that night, only a few miles from the terrible Rock; and while we were resting around our little fire of buffalo-chips, and our animals were quietly nibbling the dried grass at our feet, we could still hear the Kiowas chanting the death-song as they buried their lost warriors under the blackened sod of the prairie. ”

“ In the spring of 1866 the loyal men had mostly returned to their homes; among them, Benjamin Alsup, who had been taken prisoner by the rebels in 1861 and confined in the penitentiary at Little Rock, Ark. He was released in 1865, when peace was made. There was but one house left in West Plains, an old school house about one-quarter of a mile east of the town spring, which was used for a court house. ”

“ Little Rock, the seat of government of Arkansas territory, is situated on a high bluff on the south bank of the river Arkansas, and derives its name from the high masses of rock above it. It was laid out in 1820.
Lockport, a town of Niagara county, New York, on the Erie canal. Here are the most remarkable works on the canal, consisting of ten locks, overcoming an ascent of sixty feet. Besides these, there is an excavation through the mountain ridge, for three miles, cut in the rock. The town is a place of considerable trade. Population, five thousand eight hundred and seventy-three. ”

“ It wasn't nothing but farms in Little Rock then. The river road was the only one there at that time. It would take a day to cone down from Clear Lake with the cotton. You would start 'round about midnight and you would get to Argenta at nine o'clock the next morning. The roads was always bad.
"After freedom, we worked on shares a while. Then we rented. When we worked on shares, we couldn't make nothing—Just overalls and something to eat. Half went to the other man and you would destroy your half if you weren't careful. A man that didn't know how to count would always lose. ”

“ That was a long trip, anyway, 640 miles by steamboat up to Fort Gibson amidst the Cherokees in the Indian Country. The Arkansas River had proved to be a lonely stream, winding amidst cane brakes and bayous and timber and wide flowery prairies, peopled chiefly by bear and deer and horses and wild fowl. At Little Rock, the first town of any consequence, and the capital of Arkansas Territory, about half the passengers left, and a dozen others came aboard. ”

“ I rode without stopping the forty-five miles of dreary road which leads from the hot springs to Little Rock, and I arrived in that capital early at noon.
Foreigners are constantly visiting every part of the United States, and yet very few, if any, have ever visited the Arkansas. They seem all to be frightened away by the numerous stories of Arkansas murders, with which a tourist is always certain to be entertained on board one of the Mississippi steam-boats. ”

“ The transient population numbers more than 100,000 annually. Hot Springs is served by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Little Rock & Hot Springs Western, and the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railways. The city lies partly in several mountain ravines and partly on a plateau. A creek, flowing through the valley but walled over, empties into the Ouachita river several miles from Hot Springs. ”

“ First work I got in Arkansas was working on a farm; me and her both; we always tried to stay together. We could not make anything on the Garner farm, and it was mighty unhealthy down in Fourche bottoms. I carried her back to Little Rock and I got work as house man in the Bunch home. From there I went to the home of Dudley E. Jones and stayed there 28 years. That was the beginning of my catering. I just naturally took to cooking and serving. White folks was still used to having colored wait on them and they liked my style. ”

“ The Arkansas School for the Blind, Deaf-Mute Institute, Lunatic Asylum and Penitentiary are also located in Little Rock. The city maintains one of the best public-school systems in the southwest, has excellent school-buildings and a school-board building, in which the superintendent and school-board conduct their meetings. There are a number of private educational institutions, two business colleges, Arkansas Military Academy, Arkansas Baptist College, a convent and Philander Smith College. ”

“ Its chief tributaries are the Little Missouri, Saline, Bayou Boeuf, &c.—The mineral wealth of Arkansas is as yet comparatively undeveloped. It is known that the state abounds in cannel, anthracite, and bituminous coal, which is found in greatest profusion along the banks of the Arkansas river on either side, from a point a short distance above Little Rock to the western boundary of the state. Iron ore of a good quality has been found in the Ozark mountains. Zinc ore exists more extensively in Arkansas than in any other state of the Union except New Jersey. ”

“ There is no evidence that the pastors, Blount, Thomas, Young or The Greater Little Rock Evangelical Fellowship were motivated by anything other than their religious convictions when proposing its adoption or during their lobbying efforts in its behalf. Senator Holsted's sponsorship and lobbying efforts in behalf of the Act were motivated solely by his religious beliefs and desire to see the Biblical version of creation taught in the public schools. ”

“ Ordered to break Federal communication between Springfield and Rolla, Missouri, he inflicted great loss upon his enemies, but after a most valiant attack, through the failure of some of his troops to come on time, he was compelled to withdraw and retreat. He held a conspicuous place in the attack upon Helena, Arkansas, in July, 1863, and was successful in capturing the Federal camps at Pine Bluff. In the defense of Little Rock he played a notable part and covered General Price’s retreat after the evacuation of the capital of Arkansas. ”

“ A thriving domestic commerce is carried on along the Mississippi, Arkansas, and other navigable streams of the state; and the traffic with the Indians on the western border is of considerable importance. Among the most striking natural curiosities in the state are the famous hot springs, beneficial to those suffering from the effects of mercury in the system, rheumatism, stiffness of the joints, &c. These springs are situated on a small tributary of the Washita, about 6 m. from that river, and 60 m. S. W. of Little Rock, in Hot Springs county. ”

“ One serious problem is that a number of inmates are mentally ill or emotionally disturbed and probably should not be in a penal institution at all. Unfortunately, a viable alternative to their confinement in the Department does not exist in Arkansas today since the Arkansas State Hospital for Nervous Diseases in Little Rock will not care for them except when they are violent. Some of these people are extremely dangerous to themselves and to their keepers and other inmates and tend to keep other inmates in states of unrest and excitement. ”

“ Arkansas ranks between forty-eighth and fiftieth among the states in teacher pay. Results of the State's own Benchmark testing for eighthgrade students in April 2000 showed that only sixteen percent were proficient or above in math statewide, and in the Little Rock School District only nine percent were proficient or above. Arkansas has no funding for the remediation of individual students and no funding to train teachers for remediation after ACTAPP evaluations. ”

“ NAME AND ADDRESS OF INFORMANT—Annie Hill, 3010 Izard Street, Little Rock.
Ancestry—father, Richard Hill; mother Hulda Bruce. Place and date of birth—Nashville, Arkansas in 1877. Family— Places lived in, with dates—Nashville, Benton and Little Rock. No dates. Education, with dates— Occupations and accomplishments, with dates—Laundry work. ”