[Fayetteville, Ark.] The Arkansian, January 27, 1860
Note:
This “conversation” is an early form of an infomercial, but it provides an interesting perspective of the Arkansas of 160 years ago, including the sectional politics and slavery.
Something like the following conversation occurred in _______, in Missouri, between a citizen of Fayetteville and a gathering of men in the village tavern, who had learned from the tavern register that our friend was an Arkansian.
“Stranger, are you from Arkansas?”
“I have the pleasure to be one of her citizens; I’m an “Arkansaw Traveller.”
“What part of the State do you hail from?”
“The Northwest part, from the town of Fayetteville, county of Washington.”
“Stranger, how do you like your country?”
“First rate; there’s no better anywhere. Come and see for yourselves.”
“How long have you lived there?”
“All my life.”
“Do you know much of the State?”
“Well, I know a great part of it; most of it from actual observation; and all the remainder from the best and safest testimony. I know that Arkansas is a great country.”
“What part do you prefer?”
“Of course, living in the North-west part, I prefer it. But other sections of the State possess equal, and to some superior, attractions. It is according to the tastes and means a man has as to what part he likes best. He can chose from variety and find suits. If a man is wealthy, owns many negroes, he had better raise cotton, and should choose lands either in the Arkansas, Red or White river vallies or those of some of their affluents. If I desired to cultivate cotton, to produce it, I should select land in the Arkansas valley, as good cotton district as there is in the world. I live just beyond the cotton land line proper, it being only a day’s ride from Fayetteville. But Arkansas is a large State, the southern boundary being distant 250 miles from the northern; so that we have more than one climate and unite within our country the grain and grazing lands to the cotton. The eastern half, bounded by the Mississippi, is sheltered by a broad belt of timber and differs from the west part bordering on the Great Prairies.”
“Is there much cotton land yet unoccupied and what is it worth?—are your negroes healthy?”
“Thousands and thousands of acres are yet virgin, worth from $1.25 to $10 per acre. Improved cotton lands can be bought for $10 to $75 per acre. Our negroes are as healthy as they can be—they don’t die as often as your mules. If you Missourians dislike and dread the pressure of free-soilism, which we from Arkansas can see is pressing you, I know of no country that would please you better than Arkansas.—Such of you as own slaves could not make a better investment than in buying cotton lands there. There are planters in our State who make from $2,500 to $80,000 per annum; and the cotton bears a premium in market.”
“How are you off as to transportation of cotton?”
“The Arkansas, Red and White rivers, with some of their tributaries, besides the Mississippi, wash our State. The first two afford navigation from five to seven months annually; while White river, so far as the cotton lands extend, is equal to the Mississippi for boating. Above the cotton lands the river, with a comparatively small outlay, could be made perpetually navigable into the heart of the grain country, even unto the limits of Washington county.”
“Is there any free-soil feeling in your midst?”
“None whatever; unless it is locked in the breasts of some who dare not even mention the word. We are as free from all Abolition effects as yet as if their vile sentiments had never been bruited all over the North; that is, we are utterly free from any practical effect. Like all the South, however, we perceive the threatening approaches of Black Republicanism, and that at any time we may be exposed. We do not ignore the fact that Arkansas also, as well as Missouri, has Kansas on her frontier. But our people are organizing military companies for self-protection in case we should be aggrieved by Abolition; and also, when needs be, to drive from the Indian lands west of us all Abolitionists who may invade or settle upon these lands.”
“What is the health of your State, both in the cotton and grain regions? What kind and how much water have you?”
“The climate of Arkansas is a delicious medium between the severe winter and the hot, short summer of northern latitudes. Our winters are generally mild, varied, in order to contrast its blessings, some years with “cold snaps.” Our proximity to the Great Prairies gives us something like the coolings of the sea, the breezes from the [tear in paper] Plains blowing over us much abating [tear in paper] of summer. The cotton [corner torn out] their waters running between or over beds of limestone, flint, chert or sandstone. The advantages for mills, especially in Benton the county north of Washington, are numberless and unequalled; and there are very many mills of the first class. The climate and health of my country are not surpassed by any portion of the Great Mississippi Valley. The diseases, peculiar to a new country, are easily subdued, while throughout almost the entire State we are fortunately exempt from epidemics and contagions prevalent in portions of this Valley. Some summers, latterly, we have been vexed with droughts which injured our grains, grasses and cotton; while in few instances the frost has injured cotton.”
“What is the quality of lands in your and contiguous counties?—and at what rate are they held?”
“There are to be found in Washington, Benton, Madison, Carroll, Crawford and other adjacent counties, as fertile land as ever ‘crow flew over;’ the rich black loam, the rich ‘mulatto’ land, the strong yielding ‘hickory upland’ and the equally productive prairie land are all excellent and tempting. West of us, however, is a country the finest, in my opinion, in the Mississippi Valley.—Washington and other counties are only the “breaks” of this good land. It now belongs to the civilized Indian tribes; but it is to be hoped that they will open their surplus territory to the settlement of honest, Southern white men. Then that country will be the garden of the West, or rather the centre. Lands may be bought in the counties named above at 75 cents to $1.25 an acre. Improved lands sell at $5.00 to $20.00.”
“What are the staple products of your own section, and your conveniences for market?”
“Grain is our staple at present. The finest of wheat is raised by our farmers, the yield being from 12 to 30 bushels to the acre. The best of flour is manufactured therefrom. Corn, oats, rye, barley, and all the grasses grow hugely with us. Bluegrass, timothy and clover will do and does do as well as in Kentucky or Tennessee. Tobacco, so far as it has been cultivated, proves an excellent crop. It is beginning to attract attention. Horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs need no better country. They thrive well, require no great feeding extra in winter; and as my county gets older, they will be first of their kind. No better apples can be raised on earth than in my region. We have all the varieties. It is a natural apple country. Pears, plums, peaches, grapes and all the berries flourish exceedingly. Garden “truck” is plenteous and second only to California.—Fine openings for sheep raising, especially in Washington and the hillier counties, offer. Men can purchase even in the near vicinity of Fayetteville, where they may enjoy all the advantages a man may wish for, the best of land for sheep. There are great inducements for sheep raisers, as it is in our county as yet almost an untried field, sufficiently tested, however, to prove its great capability. Wool sheared from blooded sheep in my region may be found as fine as any, equal, indeed, to the best Spanish Merino or Saxony. Our climate is so perfectly adapted to sheep, that those who should raise sheep and shear wool could excel the sheep raisers of colder and severer latitudes. Not near so much food would be required, and the staple would be improved by the geniality of our climate. As to our facilities for market, have already mentioned them. Time will so perfect them that in the whole United States they will not be excelled. In the morning, as it is now getting late, I will take great pleasure in detailing to you more of the advantages of the fine and great State of Arkansas.”
[To be continued.]