Pine Bluff, Arkansas

“ The mountains do not fill the N.W. quarter of the state, and are separated from a lower, greatly eroded highland region on their N. by a bold escarpment 500 to 1000 ft. in height. Along the upper course of the White river in the Bostons and in the country about Hot Springs in the Ouachitas is found the most beautiful scenery of the highlands; few regions are more beautiful. The valley region embraces the bottom-lands along the Mississippi, and up the Arkansas as far as Pine Bluff, and the cypress swamp country of the St Francis. ”

“ In Pike county, on the Little Missouri river, is a natural bridge, and near by is a mountain of very fine alabaster.—Up to Jan. 1, 1870, only 128 miles of railroad had been completed in Arkansas; but many important lines are now in process of construction. The Cairo and Fulton road extends from Cairo, Ill., S. W. across Arkansas past Little Rock to Fulton in Hempstead county, and thence to the Texas line; 301 m. of this road will lie in Arkansas. The Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and New Orleans road extends from the former city to Napoleon on the Mississippi, a distance of 125 m. ”

“ I used to sew a lot for people in Pine Bluff but I am too old now. I own my home and I have some rooms rented to three young men students and I get a little help from the Welfare so I manage to get along. ”

“ Moreover, the court is not willing to permit the Department entirely to sever its connection with perhaps more advanced facilities and services that may be available at Little Rock. The court thinks it probable that the Department in fact has a contingency arrangement with the State Hospital or the Medical Center whereby inmates can have the benefit of facilities and services that may be available at those institutions and which may not be available at Pine Bluff. If no such contingency arrangement exists, the Department will be expected to undertake to negotiate one as soon as possible. ”

“ They sho is fine people to live by—so accommodatin'.
"Then I came here to Pine Bluff in 1921. I hauled wood for two years. Then I put in my application at the Cotton Belt Shops. That was in 1923 and I worked there fifteen years. I retired from the shops this year and took a half pension. I think I'll get about fifteen dollars a month. That's my thoughts.
"I have two daughters in Camden. One teaches school and one operates a beauty parlor.
"All six of my children finished high school and three graduated from college.
"I think the younger generation is livin' too fast. ”

“ The error has been, in some degree, corrected in Robinson's new map of Louisiana, lately published at Natchez, which may be esteemed the best map extant respecting that section of country. He calls it Pine river.
Black river is a large, deep, and gentle stream, composed of numerous auxiliaries, which draw their waters from the counties of Wayne, New Madrid, and Lawrence; the two former lying in Missouri Territory, and the latter in Arkansas. It is navigable with boats of the largest burden, at all seasons of the year, for more than one hundred miles. ”

“ A ridge of yellow pine extends west of the mines, between the St. Francis and Maramec, and is more decidedly barren than the grounds covered with oak. All the open, elevated tracts, are clothed with herbage, which hides their flinty aspect, and gives the country a picturesque appearance. The minor slopes and ravines are often rendered almost impassable by hazel, vines, and other bramble, which appear to be indicative of a better, or rather a deeper soil. ”

“ White river runs through a section of country which, according to a recent political division, belongs chiefly to the Territory of Arkansas; but several of its tributaries originate in Missouri, the chief of which are James river, Great North Fork, or Pine river, and Black river, with its auxiliaries—Currents, Fourche à Thomas, Spring, Eleven-points, and Strawberry rivers.
About a hundred and fifty miles below the Pawnee mountains, the main south fork of White river is joined by the War Eagle and Osage forks; a region remarkable for the abundance of beaver found in its streams. ”

“ Surrounding the lakes are large forests of pine, that add their characteristic odor to the air. The nearest mountains, whose forms are reflected in the placid waters, are Mount Elbert, 14,351 feet in height, La Plata, 14,311,—each higher than Pike’s Peak,—Lake Mountain, and the Twin Peaks. Right royal neighbors are these. And across the narrow Arkansas valley rises Mount Sheridan, far above timber-line, flanked by the hoary summits of the Park range. The hotel and boarding-house accommodations are good, and will be rapidly extended. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Some zinc, in the state of a sulphuret, is found accompanying it. There is not one inhabitant on all this stream; my own cabin, erected for a temporary purpose at the mines in January last, being the only human habitation within two hundred miles of that place.
Buffalo Fork originates near the north banks of the Arkansas, and, after traversing a rocky country for about one hundred and eighty miles in a north-east course, joins White river at the Buffalo Shoals, about seven hundred miles above the Mississippi. It is a fine region for game, and affords some good lands. ”

“ In approaching the Arkansas, a landscape of the most imposing and picturesque nature makes its appearance. While the green, glossy undulations of the prairie to the right seem to spread out in infinite succession, like waves subsiding after a storm, and covered with herds of gambolling buffalo, on the left, towering to the height of seventy-five to a hundred feet, rise the sun-gilt summits of the sand hills, along the base of which winds the broad, majestic river, bespeckled with verdant islets, thickly beset with cottonwood timber, the sand hills resembling heaps of driven snow. ”

“ While the caravan shuffled itself, chased buffalo out of the way, turned aside thundering ranks of the formidable-looking beasts, and had a time hectic enough to suit the most irrational, Pawnee Rock loomed steadily higher, steadily nearer, and the great sand-hills of the Arkansas stretched interminably into the West, each fantastic top a glare of dazzling light. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The next day we left the river, which continued its course towards Pike's Peak; and taking a south-easterly direction, in about ten miles we crossed a gentle ridge, and, issuing from the South Park, found ourselves involved among the broken spurs of the mountains which border the great prairie plains. Although broken and extremely rugged, the country was very interesting, being well watered by numerous affluents to the Arkansas River, and covered with grass and a variety of trees. ”

“ High above Lost Creek Valley towers a wilderness of pine. So dense is this growth that it masks the mountain whence it springs. Even when the Cumberland spurs, to the east, are gaunt and bare in the wintry wind, their deciduous forests denuded, their crags unveiled and grimly beetling, Pine Mountain remains a sombre, changeless mystery; its clifty heights are hidden, its chasms and abysses lurk unseen. Whether the skies are blue, or gray, the dark, austere line of its summit limits the horizon. It stands against the west like a barrier. ”

“ The lumber and trees talked of, are all in the narrow valley of the creek, and almost completely hid by its depth, so that looking around on the table-land, not a tree is to be seen. All that can be seen at a distance is the tops of the tallest trees, which look like bushes. Long Pine and Valentine are just the opposite in scenery.
The sand-hills seen about Long Pine, and all through this country, are of a clear, white sand. ”

“ Allow me to begin with the great range of bluffs that closely follow the north side of the river. We can only see their broken, irregular, steep, and sloping sides, now green with grass, on which cattle are grazing—that swim the river to pasture off the "Soo" (as Sioux is pronounced) lands. The reservation is very large, and as the agency is far west of this, they do not occupy this part much, only to now and then take a stroll over it.
The difference between a hill and a bluff is, that a bluff is only half a hill, or hill only on one side. ”

“ If one were drunk no doubt, the road would be straight. But thirty-five or forty miles from Denver the cañon grows familiar. Buffalo Creek comes tumbling out from the south, and presently the brakeman puts his head in at the door and shouts: “Pine Grove!” This is the Pine Grove known to travelers who go by rail, but the Pine Grove of twenty odd years ago was six 100 miles away from the river, and the railroad Pine Grove was Brown and Stuart’s ranche, the owners of which drove a thrifty traffic in hay. ”

“ On the summit is a beautiful park, a vineyard, a summer hotel, and pleasure-grounds—a delightful resort in the hot weather. From the top one gains a fair idea of Arkansas—the rich delta of the river, the mighty stream itself, the fertile rolling land and forests, the mountains on the border of the Indian Territory, the fair city, the sightly prominences about it dotted with buildings—altogether a magnificent and most charming view. ”

“ The lofty banks through which the Arkansas occasionally passes are of shale and sandstone, rising precipitously from the water. Ascending the river the country is wild and broken, until it enters the mountain region, where the scenery is incomparably grand and imposing. The surrounding prairies are naturally arid and sterile, producing but little vegetation, and the primitive grass, though of good quality, is thin and scarce. ”

“ It is nearly square in form, each side measuring about 250 miles, and covers an area of 53,850 square miles, of which 805 square miles are water. It ranks twenty-third in size among the States of the Union.
Topography. With the exception of a few high bluffs, the eastern margin of the State is subject to inundation from the Mississippi River, causing an overflowing of the numerous lakes, bayous, and swamps. But the region to the westward attains a higher elevation, and the surface is broken by numerous ranges of hills and low mountains, which have a general trend from east to west. ”

“ It rises in Central Colorado, flows east into Kansas, and out again east of the middle of the south boundary of the same State, southeast across Oklahoma and Indian Territories, and diagonally across Arkansas, bisecting it into nearly equal parts, and emptying into the Mississippi. The river is about 2000 miles long, navigable for 650 miles, and drains an area of 188,000 square miles. Much of the water in its upper course is used for irrigation purposes. In Fremont County, in Central Colorado, it flows through the Royal Gorge, one of the deepest cañons in the United States. ”

“ Fording the shallow Arkansas, trailing their way through prairie and timber,—reaching and skirting the scorching stretch,—riding all day, consumed with thirst, from green-mantling pool to pool, till the last lay sixty miles behind them, and men and horses made desperately for the stream, dashing in together to drink their fill, when they found it again foaming down the centre of its vast level plain, that receded twenty miles on either side without shrub or hillock,—finally their path wound in among the hills, and a day dawned that Ray will never forget. ”

“ A cowboy coming like the wind up the river, waving his hat over his head! Say! d'ye suppose anything's gone wrong at the ranch, and we'll have to cut our hunt short?" exclaimed Bluff anxiously.
"Oh, I guess not. You see, those fellows are built that way. They never can do anything without excitement. See! He's holding up something that looks like a mail pouch," said Frank composedly.
"Why, of course that's it! I heard Mr. Mabie say he expected mail to-day, and, for one, I'll be mighty glad to hear from the folks," sighed Bluff. ”

“ The hills and mountains between the Arkansa and Missouri are equally prolific in watercourses. The most considerable of these are the Verdigrise, Neosho or Grand river, Illinois; together with the Frogs, Mulberry, White Oak, Spadra, Pine, Illinois, Point Remove and Cadron creeks, tributary to the Arkansa; the Little Red and White rivers, confluent streams; the Strawberry, Spring, Eleven Point, Currant, Little and Big Black, all confluent, and tributary to White river, which enters the Mississippi about thirty miles above the mouth of the Arkansa. ”