This is a new release of the original 1941 edition.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

FROM RAZORBACKS TO DIAMONDS MARGUERITE LYON ILLUSTRATED THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY Publishers INDIANAPOLIS NEW YORK Dedicated to MY FRIENDS, RUTH WEBB AND VERA BECKER, WHO KEPT MY HOUSE CLEAN AND FED MY HUSBAND, CATS AND DOG, WHILE I WENT MERRILY ABOUT ARKANSAS DIGGING UP THE FACTS I HAVE PUT INTO THIS BOOK. I AM INDEBTED to the Arkansas State Publicity Depart ment for all except one of the photographs in this book and especially to Glenn A. Bud Green and Dwight Nichols, who took the pictures. I also wish to thank the Cassville Exeter Railway for their permission to reproduce the picture o quot Old 345. quot MARGUERITE LYON CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I ARKANSAS TRAVELERS 13 II OUR TOWN, A BUT OF SWITZERLAND 19 III OZARK RAILWAY, WITH 2 - MAN CREW 25 IV OZARK PLATEAU SWEET BROILERLAND 30 V OZARK PLAYGROUND WOODS, WATER, FISH, FOOD .... 46 VI PEACHES WITH AND WITHOUT LEGS 56 VII RICELAND FIELDS OF GOLDEN GRAIN 77 VIII A SLICK CHICK AND DIAMONDS 92 IX CROSSETT CHILD OF THE FORESTS 108 X THE OUACHITAS, WITH A SUITE FOR A QUEEN ...... 121 XI TEXARKANA WHERE ARKANSAS MEETS TEXAS 131 XII THE De Queen Bee TELLS ALL 143 XIII WHERE WILDCATS MEAN WEALTH 152 XIV HELENA ARKANSAS SOUTHERN BELLE 172 XV LAND OF COTTON, CONTESTS AND CONTENTMENT . . . . 187 XVI OUR PAST Is A PRESENT DELIGHT 211 XVII NEWTON COUNTY LAND OF UNSPOILED BEAUTY .... 220 XVIII HOT WATER AND WATERMELONS 241 XIX WHAT No PINK COATS 257 XX SMART PEOPLE, THESE ARKANSANS 268 XXI HURRAH FOR ARKANSAS 276 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS In northern Arkansas, many a cascade waits for a person who would like to boast of a waterfall in his own back yard Frontispiece FACING PAGE Eureka Springs 267 streets wind about the mountains .... 30 A steeply roofedshelter protects Crescent Spring 31 Old 345, of the Cassville Exeter Railway, creeps upgrade ... 64 quot Coin quot Harvey s amphitheater may be visited at Monte Ne . . 65 Arkansas hills are still dotted with quiet little towns 96 The biggest peaches are always on top. Scene during Peach Harvest 97 When the fields in Riceland turn to gold, the grain is cut . . . 128 Rice is the white gold of Arkansas Grand Prairie 129 Bauxite mining leaves unsightly craters on Arkansas fields ... 160 Sunbonnets are still the favorite headgear of women in the fields 161 Sinking an oil or gas well in southern Arkansas may bring wealth 192 At the Camark Pottery plant, an expert craftsman fashions grace ful vases 193 The Territorial Restoration at Little Rock has preserved the beauty of 1820 224 Hot Springs is a beautiful fun-spot, with lakes and mountain drives, 225 HURRAH FOR ARKANSAS rave lers quot WHOOOOP I m the old original iron-jawed, brass mounted, copper-bellied corpse-maker from the wilds of Arkansaw Look at me I m the man they call Sudden Death and General Desola tion Sired by a hurricane, dam d by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the mother s side. Look at me I take nineteen alligators and a bar l of whiskey for breakfast when I m in robust health, and a bushel of rattle-snakes and a dead body when I m ailing. I split the everlasting rocks with my glance, and I squench the thunder when I speak Whoo-oop Stand back and give me room according to my strength Blood s my natural drink, and the wails of the dying are music to my ear Cast your eye on me, gentle men and lay low and hold your breath, for I m bout to turn myself loose quot These words ranthrough my mind all one bright warm September morning. I had heard Bud Green say them, with gestures, in a speech not long before, and to the last syllable they had stayed with me. Bud had put a lot of vim and vigor into his speech. He hadn t made up the words. They were lines he had found in one of Mark Twain s popular books, Life on the Mississippi, published in Boston in 1883. In the book the spouter of the words was a drunken bully whom the author called quot Arkansaw quot Bud had felt sad that Mr...

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!