F 417 .J4 J4 Copy 1 PINE BLUFF AND JFFF^ERSON COUNTV, ARKANSAS. Dcscriptipc vi-' oou6Bo PUBLISHED BY Jefferson Qouuty Exposition AND BUREAU OF Immif^ratiop. Feb. 22, 1895. GRAPHIC PRINXrNG COMPANY, PINE BLUFF, ARK. JEFFERSOxN COUNTY EXPO- SITION AND BUREAU OF AGRICULTURE, MANUFAC- TURES AND lABIIGRATION. FEBRUARY 22, I895. W. I). JONKS, County and Probate Judge. J. M. LUCEY, Co. Com. of Exposition and Bureau. J. W. HOC.VGE, Manager and Secretary. Addres.s All Communications to JEFFERSON CO. t:XPOSITION, PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS. H. P. HUGHES, COM. OF IMMIGRATION, '■C«TTON EELT ROUTE," ATLANTA) Ga. Jefferson County, ARKANSAS. l^UREAU OF ACiRICULTURE. MANUFACTURES AND BLMIGRATION. A SUPEM.EMENT TO THE WORLD'S FAIR EDI- TION OF OUR COUNTY PAMPHLET OF MAY. 1893. WHICH WILL RE SENT ON APPLICATION. This work treats of Jefferson County, her lands, soil, water ways, railroads; her various crops, her timber and re- sources in general, and is intended to be a brief reply to the many questions put by the farmer, mechanic, manuiacturer, capitalist and laborer. That the immigrant ma\- know that in casting his lot in the .South in the midst of Southern people, to the manner born, he will be among friends, we quote from the Boston Journal of Commerce: "The great prosperity of the South during the few past years, and especially the past eighteen months, when business in every other section of the country was almost at a stand still, seemed wonderful to contemplate. To those who are not acquainted in that section it is a great mystery how they have gone on building mills and establish- ing other new enterprises during this period. One ot the grand characteristics of the Southern people is their lo\'alty to their friends. If a gentleman is a friend to \'ou, it means that he will leave notliuig undone in your behalf, so long as you do not abuse that friendship. Any person who has ever accepted of a Southerner's hospitality never forgets it. It is not equaled anywhere. Neither is the loyalty of the Southern-born man to his section. He believes in the South, and no where else seems so pure and so sweet to him." Besides this Pamphlet and other smaller circulars we have an illustrated World's Fair County Pamphlet, any of which will be mailed upon application. We will take great pleasure in procuring printed matter about the State at large for those who so desire. Being a strictly public institution, under the supervision of the County Judge, and having no connection vvith any real estate agency, cur services and statements may be relied upon. Address all communications to jp:fferson county exposition. Pine Bluff, .\rk. Jefferson County is situated in Central Eastern iXrkan- sas; is twenty-nine miles square, lying between 34-and 34.40 degrees North latitude and 91 and 91.40 degrees West longitude and is divided almost equally by the Arkansas nver, which tlows from the Northwest to the Southeast; has 841 square miles of territory, or 538,240 acres, of which 363,000 is alluvial bottoms and 175,000 is upland, inter- spersed with creek bottoms; 90,000 acres are in cultivation. The United States hold 15,000 acres, the Iron Mountain br :^^^.Sf '^ -^. -rn •$li western boundary of fefferson Counly, flowing diagonally thr(uigh the county; is navigable^ at all seasons to Pine JilulT, the Ca[)ital. exhibiting to the beholder a delta of alluvial lands without a parallel, extending east 175 miles b_\' river to the Mississippi through Jeffrrson, Lincoln, .Xrkansas and Desha counties. The delta extends south 100 miles to the Louisiana line, and from the north bank ot the .Arkansas river twenty miles to the Grand Prairie and 200 miles by the course of the river, offering to the immigrant lands as rich as the delta of the Nile, and equal in fertility to that of the Danube, with soil from ten to thirty feet deep, richly studded with a large variet\' of hard wood timber, every acre of which, properly m irketed, will pay for the land. Ba\'ou Bartholomew, flowing through the Southeastern section of the county, empties into the (Juachita river, flowing through lands equal in productiveness with those of the Arkansas valley. Plum Bayou, Bayou Metre and Bayou Wabbaseka flow diagonally through the Northern section of the county between the Arkansas river and Grand Prairie and nearly parallel with the river through as rich lands as the sun shine? on, susceptible of accommodating a large population. Noble, Horse Shoe, Swan, Dudley and Clear Lakes are bordered by the richest alluvial lands. Soil. — The alluvial or bottom lands por.sess a soil of one unbroken strata from ten to thirty feet deep, made up during the lapse of ages of the silt deposit of the river, a large acreage of which is a dark brown, resemb- ling clay and commonly known as buckshot land. These lands turned with the plow in winter are easily worked throughout the season and produce cotton of longest, finest and strongest fibre; wich good culture 50 to 60 bushels of corn to the acre. The half buckshot, made up of buckshot and a brown sandy loam, are the very best of alluvial lands, producing cotton, corn, rye, oats, barley and grasses. Sown in wheat will give a return of from 40 to 50 bushels; if sown in clover will }Meld two tons to the acre. The sweet gum lands are composed of a gray, sandy loam intermixed with vegetable mould, underla\'ed with a brown clay. On this hind is tlie home of the red gum tree, now soutjlit tor to supply the ploce of the now scarce Honduras mahogan) . This soil is very fertile;. .■\ll crops, fruits and vegetables be- longing to this latitute are prolitab'.e here. Th.e uplands are a surface ot loam with clay base, well calculated to hold fertilizers. Some of these uplands are of redish cast and second only in fertility to the best alluvial lands. The tim- ber for the m 3st part are pine, oak, hickory and dogwood. Here is the home of the Ouachita grape. The Scuppernong, Concord, Ives Seedling and Norton Virginia are grown profitably. Soil climate and I ly of the land are well cal- culated for extensive vineyards. The fruit grower will find these uplands adapted to the growth of a goodly variety of apples, pears, peaches and plums, as well as a large variety of berries, such as Raspberries, Strawberries, IViackberries, Gooseberries, etc. Here he can create for himself and family a beautiful home. THE V.\RIOUS CROPS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. The cotton crop has heretofore held the first claim of the tiller of the soil to prominence. Jefterson county cot- ton stands superior to all other cottons of the world, having won the prize against the world's exhibit for both long and short staple at the Wold's Fair; growing luxuriantly and producing abundantly, is a beautiful crop from start to finish. No plant in any clime or country is so completely absorbed and in all its parts made so useful. The many uses of its lint or fiber is well known. Its seed is converted into oil, its oil cake into stock food, and is the best fertilizer known; its seed hulls into stock food and fuel and is also largely used for fertilization; its leaves and root into medicine; its bark into cord and rope, and its stalk into pulp for making paper. Jefferson county lands are well adapted for the culture of corn of every variety, the alluvial lands producing from 40 to 50 bushels; with- close attention and thorough tillage, from 60 to 80 bushels. The uplands produce with good culture from 20 to 30 bushels. No effort at fertilizing has been made. With proper fertilizers, and thorough cultivation the yield can be doubled. It is a mista,ke to assume that — 8 — ) wliciit and cotton arc incompatible. There are no liner lands t\)r wheat than the half buckshot of Jefferson County. A yield of 46 bushels to the acre has been the result of fair wheat culture. With best culture the wheat crop. will rival that of California. R\'e and oats are native to the soil, irrowinef wild in some sections cf alluvial lands. Under cul- ture no section produces more abundantly. Barley and rice are a sure crop. The millets on alluvial soil yield abund- antly and is the cheapest stock food Clover yields two tons. The grasses, Timothy, Orchard, Redtop, do finely. Sorgum yields 1 00 gallons; field peas, 50 bushels; Irish potatoes, 200 bushels; sweet potatoes, 400 bushels; onions, 500 bushels; turnips, 800 bushels per acre. Vegetable gaidens are maintained the year round. Floweis bloom in November. Timber— Every variety of timber native to the temper- ate zone is found in Jefferson County. Of building timber, largely occupying the service of saw mills, are forests of pine and cypress, inviting the attention of the lumbermen; of hard-wood timber, white, red, black, cane and Spanish oak, occupy a large acreage it^teresting to the wagon, barrel, tub, and wine-pipe manufacturers; red, white, and blue gum for furniture; hickory and ash for pick and axe-handles, tele- graph-pins and cross-arms; lin and cotton-wood for wood pulp. It is no longer necessary to go to the Orient for box- wood for weaver's shuttles; persimmon, dogwood and bois d'arc make better shuttles, supplying 80 per cent, of the shuttles of 1893. Large quantities of these woods are found in Jefferson county, not yet encroached upon. Traxsport.\tiox. — Facilities for transporting the various productions of Jefferson county to the markets and the necessary passenger travel are the Arkansas river and three lines of railway. The Arkansas Valley branch of the Missouri Pacific, traversing the county from Northwest to Southeast on the south side of the Arkansas river, connect- ing the lines centering in St. Louis with those of New Or- leans and the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Louis Southwestern, or Cotton Belt railway, enters the county on its Northeastern — lo boundary, traversing to the Southwest, connecting the lines centering at Cairo with those of Texas and Mexico. These railroads pass through the city of Pine Bluff, the Capital of Jefferson County. The Pine Bluff and Eastern, extending from the Cotton Belt at Rob Roy bndge thirty-five miles through the Kings Bayou settlement, traversing the finest farming lands of which the country can boast. Other lines are projected and will no doubt be built in the near future. Thus it is seen that the markets are accessible from any part of Jefferson county. Manufactures — The City of Pine Bluff and other points situated on the Arkansas Valley branch of the M. & P., and of the Cotton Belt Railroads, offer facilities for a variety of manufactures. With an abundance of pure water, and fore^ material for a paper pulp manufactory for making paper, cotton factories planted in the midst of cotton fields, produc- ing cotton fibre fine as silk and strong as wire, winning the prize for long and short staple cotton at the World's Fair over all other cotton — these and similar ones will pay hand- some dividends. Wagon and agricultural implement facto- ries, with the raw material at the door, costing less than half of that in the Northern and Easteri? States, invite investment of capital. No part of the Union offers a more inviting field tor the manufacture of telegraph and telephone pins and cross-arms than Pine Bluff. Many tons of hides are shipped to Northern States to be manufactured into leather, when the torests of Jefferson County sustain agrovvth of oak bark sufficient for the supply of a dozen tanneries for man}^ years. The forest abounds in red gum, oak, ash and other woods suitable for the finest furniture. A furniture factory at Pine Bluff would be a paying institution. Other manufactories could be conducted with profit, such as wooden-ware of every description, brick for building, for which the clay of Jefferson county is known to be of superior quality. Pot- ter's clay of fine quality is also found in several spots, and a pottery on an extensive scale would pay well. The citizens of Pine Bluff and of Jefferson County are specially anxious t(^ induce the establishment of factories and stand ready to aid such enterprises in every possible manner. A Manu- — 1 1 — ufactur?.s League, eoinposed of the most prominent men of the city anci county, has been organized for that very purpose. The immigrant to Jefferson County, from wiiatever State, Territory or foreign land he may come, will nieet a hearty welcome. He will find large tracts of the richest alluvial deposit in the world, upon which he can make sure of an abundant crop. He will also find beautiful rolling up- lands, on which he can reap a prolific harvest of the cereals, vegetables, fruit.s, berries and grapes, from which is ex- pressed the finest wines. He will find as pure freestone water as was ever quaffed by man. He will find health, as the mortuary report is only 14^ to the 1,000. With energy, industry and reasonable financial ability he can build for himself a beautiful and delightful home. He will be out of reach of excessive drouth and intense frost and snow. He can become possessed of every home luxury known to a farmer's life. He will also find several towns of considerable size in the county and one city of 15,000 inhabitants — Pine Bluff — at the head of low water navigation on the Arkansas river, the center of distribution of merchandise and trade for ten counties, with its system of water works, sewerage, electric lights, street railways, paved streets and handsome public and private buildings. He will find a system of public and private schools equal to the best. The free schools have ample means for their support four months in the country and nine months in the city. There are a large number of -private schools in the county. The most prominent are Annunciation Academy of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and Prof, Jordan's Academy for boys. Each are in Pine Bluff. By a provision of law white and colored pupils are taught in separate schools. He will have the privilege of worshiping according to his creed, as churches of all denominations are found in the country, as well as town and city, ample to accommodate all. Four newspapers are published in Pine Bluff, two daily and weekly and two weekly. In the city of Pine Bluff he will find ice, cotton seed oil, sash, door and blind, stave, carriage, broom and foundry and other factories. Throuijh fort)^ post-offices established in the county he can communicate with the world. He will find taxes limited to ^1.50 on the $100 outside the corporate limits and $2.10 in the city. He will find good and whole- some laws rigidly enforced. We invite you to come and see for yourselves. LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 014 610 501 4 I