Monday, January 10, 2011

White River Development Association - Part 5

This is our last installment of the White River Development Association. As a personal note, I remember Letters to the Editor in The Baxter Bulletin in the 70's from our nice Yankee neighbors from Chicago claiming... if it wasn't for them, we (the Ozark Hicks) would still be using corn cobs & catalog pages to wipe our backsides.  To dispel the stink of these bygone claims, we will discover the Bankers, Businessmen, Farmers, Judges, Lawyers & Miners from 1915 that developed industry in the heart of the Ozarks. It's a beautiful & colorful design that makes our Ozarks' History.


Samuel E. "Happy Bill" Arp

Own among the trade and other knights of the grip, as Happy Bill Arp, is an Ozark mountain product, having been born in Ozark county, Missouri. Right now he domiciled in Mountain Home. He sells prunes, beans, kerosene, and other grocery sundries for the Calico Rock Grocery Company, of Calico Rock, Ark., and he gets the business. Samuel E. is not fat, just generally stout. He has originated the Happy Bill Arp smile that lights up his countenance like a 60 kilowatt Mazda, and it can’t be turned down or rubbed out, for it’s a part of his face, and he will never lose it unless he loses his head. The smile of Samuel is backed up by a well assorted stock of arguments for his line, is what bring home the bacon, and holds his job for him. He is a well known figure in the White river country and everyone is glad to see him blow in.
End.


Frank Carson, cashier of the Miners and Citizens Bank of Yellville, 
as he appears opening up in the morning.

Frank Carson is a well known citizen of Marion county and Yellville, the county seat. For years he has been connected with the Miners and Citizens bank in the capacity of cashier, and his face at the paying window is a part of the mosaic interior of that institution. Frank has a peculiar face, round, and as broad as it is long ever marked by that optimistic smile. He has carried this smile so long that its geniality has been stamped indelibly upon his features. Back of this smile, somewhere in the interior of his rotund antimony is the latent force that keeps it always in action. That characteristic in his personality that has bred optimism, geniality and good will toward men that the smile expresses. Incidentally, he is a self made Marion county man, successful in business and a progressive and broad minded citizen.
End.

 

Henry Aylor, county clerk of Baxter county 
recording a 50 page mortgage.

Henry Aylor, county clerk of Baxter county is probably one of the best known men in the county. He is a native son of the county and has been identified with its development ever since he was large enough to walk. For the past four years he has served the county as clerk. Before that he was deputy clerk, and before that a teacher. Both by education and characteristics he is well suited for a public servant. He is even tempered. Henry never, never gets excited. Never gets mad. Never allows himself to get hurried, is the very acme of thoroughness and is long on detail. Combined with these qualifications he has a fine sense of duty, and a genial pleasing personality. He also has a progressive spirit and is always found behind every move that tends to make Baxter county a better county, and a better place to live.
End.
 
Judge J. B. Baker, of Melbourne, Ark., 
circuit judge of the 16th judicial district, 
writing up his Baxter county docket.

Judge J. B. Baker is one of the best known citizens and lawyers in the North Central part of the state in the Upper White river country. He is product of old Izard county and thinks it is the greatest county in the greatest state of the Union. The judge is a self-made man from the tips of his toe nails to the roots of this hair. The silver spoon was lacking when he was born and he had all the climbing up the ladder of success to do with his own efforts. He got his education in a log school house and studied his lessons by the flickering light of pine splinters. During his life he has specialized in law, banking and girls. He has practiced law all his life; for years been the guiding force in the Bank of Melbourne and other like institutions in this section of the state, and has raised a family of girls. Last election he was elected judge of the 16th judicial district. His tenure in office has been marked by judicial firmness, fairness and strict attention to judicial duties. Business be fore the court is dispatched with alacrity. Off the bench, he is the court and knows nothing but the law. Besides this other qualifications of high citizenship, he is progressive. An eternal, everlasting, booster of Izard county and White river country. 
End.

Z. M. Horton of Mtn. Home,
Attorney at Law and Farmer.

Z. M. Horton is a well known attorney of Baxter county and this section of the state. He has practiced law for years in the courts of this district and has also served the county as a representative. As a lawyer he is a success having a large practice. Besides law he is a student of agriculture and farms for past time.  He is enthusiastic in the pursuit of both forms. Personally he is a hale fellow well met, and numbers his friends by the score over the White river country. He is a droll story teller and has a thousand anecdotes at his tongue’s end.  He is also a poet and really writes some very fetching stuff when the spirit moves him. Besides these man’s pleasing attributes of his personality, he is broad a minded progressive citizen, and a strong and vigorous booster for Baxter county.
End. 
 
Lee Paul, an estimable citizen of Mountain Home.

This is not an exact likeness of Mr. Paul, rather how he would look if so costumed. Our artist offers apologies to his wife for the reproduction. Lee can stand it without apologies. Mr. Paul is a well known and prominent citizen of Mtn. Home and Baxter county. He is a conspicuous by his ready wit, progressive and genial personality, and inconspicuous by his size. He is the smallest man in Mtn. Home. Besides exhibiting fondness for his wife and family, friends and acquaintances, good grub, etc., etc., he has a fondness for good mules, and has done much to raise the standard of that animal in Baxter county by the importation of good breeding stock. His other hobby is education, and he has done much to forward the educational interests of the county both by his influence and cash.
End. 

L. E. McCoy, Farm Demonstrator of Baxter county,
lost in a corn field on a Baxter county demonstration farm.

Mr. McCoy, is Baxter County’s first Farm Demonstrator. He is probably the longest farm demonstrator in the state, being built strictly along perpendicular lines. His long head is full of the better farming idea, and his long body is active in demonstrating it. He follows farm demonstrating not only as a business but because he loves to see things grow, with the crowning ambition of his life, to make them grow better. He has an active body of co-workers in Baxter county as there is in the state. Besides being a practical farmer, he is a graduate of the agricultural college of Mississippi.
End.
 
Robt. Russell, cashier of the People’s Bank
of Mountain Home striking balance.
 Bob Russell is a well known figure in the banking circles in North Arkansas, and handles the cash for one of the best paying little banking institutions in this section. He is a native of Baxter county having been born and raised here. In turn he has been farmer, stock-man and merchant, but he has made his greatest success in the banking profession. He has a conservative disposition, is a close student of human nature, and has a knack of making friends and holding them. He is also a humorist and is full of keen witticisms.
End.
Joseph Ward the Land Man, of Mtn. Home enjoying 
his favorite past time on the North Fork.
Joe Ward is classed as one of the most successful real estate men in the White river country. He has built his business on the solid foundation of the “Square Deal,” and has prospered. His clients always find things just a wee bit better than they expected. Mr. Ward has put more people into Baxter county than anyone and they are satisfied people too. He has been by far one of the most potent factors to date, that the country has had for development. He lived in the Ozarks for 30 years, and knows Ozark mountain soil like a book.
End. 

John Conness Shepherd, of Rush, 
largest zinc ore producer in North Arkansas field, 
noting the high price of smelter in theJoplin Globe, 
with a smile of satisfaction.

John Conness Shepherd, is originally from Washington D. C., and is the son of Boss Shepherd, once well known statesman of that city. Mr. Shepherd is both a practical and theoretical mining man, having had both the education and experience of the profession. He spent a good many years of his life in mining in old Mexico, coming to Arkansas three years ago, when the revolution broke out in that country. During the past three years he has produced more ore than any other operator ever produced in this field, and has been a very potent factor in its development. At the present time he is operating four properties. The Mackintosh, Leader, Philadelphia and Sure Pop. His operations at present are confined to the Buffalo river district. He lives at Rush, he and his charming wife having refitted the old mackintosh residence which makes them a lovely home.
End. 


W. M. Bill Hogan, merchant and tie contractor of Norfork, Ark.,
in an attitude that is not characteristic.

W. M. Bill Hogan might be termed the father of Norfork. Before he went there is wasn’t much of a town. He injected life into it by giving it a cash market for ties and timber, and it has grown and thrives ever since. Later he was one of the prime movers in the establishment of a banking institution for the town. Bill Hogan is big. He has big feet, big legs, a big brain, a big heart and a big voice. He is also big in a progressive way. His bigness and kind and pleasing personality has won for him an enviable reputation, both business and social in the White river country and if he should ever be so unfortunate as to die or if he ever moved away he would be missed from that section in proportion to his size.
End. 
 

Henry Aylor, county clerk of Baxter county
recording a 50 page mortgage.

Henry Aylor, county clerk of Baxter county is probably one of the best known men in the county. He is a native son of the county and has been identified with its development ever since he was large enough to walk. For the past four years he has served the county as clerk. Before that he was deputy clerk, and before that a teacher. Both by education and characteristics he is well suited for a public servant. He is even tempered. Henry never, never gets excited. Never gets mad. Never allows himself to get hurried, is the very acme of thoroughness and is long on detail. Combined with these qualifications he has a fine sense of duty, and a genial pleasing personality. He also has a progressive spirit and is always found behind every move that tends to make Baxter county a better county, and a better place to live.
End.
 
S. J. Hutcheson, a well known farmer
and stock-man of Norfork, roping a calf.

S. J. Hutcheson, Sid as he is commonly called, is a Baxter county product, and as a Baxter county product, has fruited well on its soil and in its sunshine. Sid has made good. He is self made. None helped him to get what he has. He started to hit the grit when he was a boy, behind old Beck and a pair of plough handles, and has been hitting it ever since in different ways. Sid has scaled the ladder himself. There was no one shoving, nor no one pulling. He is a conservative progressive citizen of the county.  A part of the county’s real backbone. He’s got a bunch of boys following in their Daddy’s footsteps too. 
End.

Works Cited:
The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – Bill Arp.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.20 (May 21, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
“The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – Henry Aylor.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.47 (Nov. 26, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
“The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – Frank Carson.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.50 (Dec. 17, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
“The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – W. B. Bill Hogan.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.48 (Dec. 3, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
“The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – Z. M. Horton.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.52 (Dec 31, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – S. J. Hutcheson.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.40 (Oct. 8, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
“The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – L. E. McCoy.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.24 (June 18, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
 “The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – Lee Paul.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.38 (Sept. 24, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
“The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – Robert Russell.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.28 (July 16, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – John Conness Shepherd.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.27 (July 9, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.
“The Great and the Near Great in the White River Country – Joseph Ward.” The Baxter Bulletin 14.21 (May 28, 1915) 1. Baxter County Microfilm Archive. Donald W. Reynolds Library, Mountain Home, AR. 15 Nov., 2008.

1 comment:

Judi Sharp said...

I really enjoyed the whole series about the WRDA. Thanks for doing all this work. Judi