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From: "Fran Warren" <>
Subject: [AR-OLD-NEWS] The Railroad Comes to Crawford County 1876
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 11:02:31 -0800


Van Buren Press
Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas

June 20, 1876
THE RAILROAD AT LAST

Our people have been in a fur of delight, during the past week, occasioned
by the appearance on our streets, of the long hoped for, desired and
expected cars. At last, cars that have long and patiently waited, have been
greeted by the musical vibrations of the ringing bell, the piercing screams
of the whistle, and the roaring, rumbling noise of the nearing train. Hairs
that have grown gray and eyes that have dimmed, since the incipient stages
of the road, can now shake in glee, and sparkle, as of old at this welcome
visit. So long had the road been contemplated, and so repeatedly had
promises been made and broken, that even now, with the cars in the street
before us, we almost feel "'tis but an idle dream, from which to awake,
would be to lose the charm."

...... but everyone did not hold the same sentiments for the "new comer" as
can be seen in the following extraction taken from the Van Buren Press

July 18, 1876

He looked very sad, as he walked up the railroad with a broken hoe handle
for a cane and a small bundle under his arm. His majestic person was encased
in a faded red flannel shirt and a pair of ragged trowsers; his hat had seen
better days and his shoes were not mates. As he hobbled by we heard him
murmur: "Twelve year since I sot foot in Van Buren, and what better off is
I? Got a railroad here too; don't like dat, don't look like old times; what'
s gwine become of all de stears and de mules? Wall, wall, wall, I never
thought dis town would ever come to sich a pass as dat". And solemnly
expectorating from a piece of hickory bark, he turned towards the river, and
the last we saw of him he was standing upon the bank with the last beams of
the setting sun playing around his old white head, which he wagged from side
to side with a melancholy gesture as he pondered upon the faded glory of Van
Buren.
Fran Alverson Warren
e-mail:
501-369-2703
http://www.crawfordcountyarkansas.net/

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