r-.-n—i—a-*, .■
Colonel V. Y. Cook.
Oil Trough valley proper is composed
partly of vegetable matter and of alluvial
drift formation without any physical de
fects, such as impermeable clay, to ren
der the accumulation of humus impos
sible. Its inundation is now only to a
limited extent and at rare intervals; the
years 1815, 1830, 1844, 1884 and 1898
marked the flood tide periods within the
knowledge of those here now and the
history of those epochs, and each over
flow left the land in better condition by
drift formation.
Oil Trough bottom derived its name
iii an early day from an incident con
nected with a party of hunters from the
surrounding highland, who were wont
to visit this region, then of cane and
jungles, at autumnal seasons, hunting
bear. On this occasion, it was said, the
narty killed so many bears that they
were compelled to raze large trees, of
which this region was then renowned, out
of which troughs were made in which
to deposit the bear oil. These troughs
remained here for many years, serving
as landmarks in directing travelers
through the then uninhabited region.
Finally the entire valley became known
as Oil Trough bottom.
And as the valley of the Nile be
came a world synonym for a rich
rioil, so has -our Oil Trough come to
inherit such distinction among those
who know the scope of her pro
ducts, the exuberance of their
growth.
Mr. Gregg is cotton buyer for the
Lesser-Goldman Cotton Company, the
second largest handlers of spot cotton
in the world. A native of Missouri, he
came to Newport the winter of 1893
and at once engaged in the cotton busi
ness. His present company (with whom
he has been four years) have their main
office at St. Louis. Their Newport of
fice is on Hazel street.
FACTS IN OUR FAVOR
Climate.—Temperature rarely reaches
100 in summer or zero in winter.
Water.—White River, clear as a
mountain stream.
Rainfall.—Average; well distributed.
Soil.—Rich lowlands, productive up
lands.
Timber.—Plentiful and varied.
Cotton.—King.
Grains.—All successfully raised.
Hays.—Alfalfa, timothy, pea, clover.
Fruits.—The kinds that have made
the Ozarks famous.
This company is one of the largest in
stitutions of the kind in the world. In
addition to the large plant at Newport,
it owns and operates no crude oil mills,
12 refineries, three lard and soap factor
ies and a number of fertilizer plants at
different points in the South. It is in
corporated with a capital stock of $10,*
000,000. The officers are: President
Samuel T. Morgan, of New York; vice
president, L. W. Haskett, of New York;
secretary and treasurer, Allen H. Har
ris, of New York; general manager, C.
Fitzsimmons, of Columbia, S. C.; dis
trict manager, H. P. Johnson, of Mem
phis, Tenn.; local manager at Newport,
W. T. Dunn.
The plant at Newport is one of the
largest owned by the company. During
this past year it crushed 9,000 tons of
cotton seed, which produced 7,200 bar
cels of oil, 3,600 tons of meal, 2,700 tons
of hulls and 600 bales of linters. In con
nection with their mill, this company
owns and operates a large cotton gin
that last year turned out 2,500 bales of
2 AMERICAN GROCER COMPANY 2
♦ WHOLESALE GROCERS J
One of the city’s most successful and
creditable corporated enterprises is the
American Grocer Company, established
in 1897. From the start the volume of
business increased rapidly and in 1903 a
reorganization was perfected, raising the
capital stock to $75,000 from $25,000 to
meet the demands of an expanding
trade.
Mr. Arthur Pels, formerly of Kansas
City, Mo., is the president of the com
pany, as well as manager, and his ad
ministration of affairs has been most
creditable and satisfactory to the other
stockholders. The other officers are:
R. R. James, Cotton Plant, vice-presi
dent; R. S. Kirkpatrick, second vice
president; Will McMullen, secretary; A.
C. Huddleston, treasurer. The travel
ing salesmen, who did a $500,000 busi
ness the past year, making points to the
Missouri line on the Iron Mountain,
Frisco and White River road, south to
Brinkley on the Rock Island and within
20 miles of Little Rock on the Iron
Mountain, are R. S. Kirkpatrick, A. C.
_ ______; —
SOUTHERN COTTON OIL COMPANY.
1—Front View of Plant, Office, and Seed House to rear. 2 Office. 3 Mill. ompany s n.
Mr. Stainback is a native of Tennes
see. He came to Arkansas about i£
years ago, first locating at Little Rock.
In 1897 he came to Newport, accepting
the agency of the Anheuser-Busch Brew
ing Company. At that time this com
pany was not doing more than $5,000
annual business at this point. Mr. Stain
back was young, energetic and full of
business, always being careful to take
care of his employer's interests and at
the same time please the public. As a
result, he has built up his company’s
business at this point from a $5,000 an
nual business to a forty thousand dollar
($40,000) annual business. So large has
the business of the company become at
Newport that they have built their pri
vate cold storage plant, one of the larg
est in this section.
Mr. Stainback is recognized as one
of the most energetic, public-spirited
young men of Newport. He stands al
ways ready to speak a good word and do
a good turn in assisting to modernize
and increase the business of his home
town, together with public improve
ments tending to beautify and build up
the entire city.
cotton, averaging about 500 pounds of
cotton to the bale. The business done
by this company from this plant at New
port alone amounts to something near
$400,000 per year, and during the oper
ating season they will employ about no
people.
It can at once be seen that the busi
ness of this large company at Newport
is of magnificent proportions, especially
when it is taken into consideration that
this plant was only built in 1897. In ad
dition to the large oil mill they have
here at this point two large elevators, a
large seed store, one of the largest cot
ton gins in the country, and an office
building. Mr. Dunn has everything run
ning with such splendid order that the
average citizen of Newport hardly
realizes that there is an institution of
such magnificent proportions (requiring
several acres of land to hold their build
ings alone) within the city limits. Every
thing at the oil mill is done according
to the details of a splendidly thought out
system. There is a time and a person
to perform every duty in connection
with this institution, from the most
humble positions to the highest position
in the gift of the company.
This institution is an important con
tributor to the business of Newport,
employing a large force of wage
earners.
Huddleston, J. W. Martin, O. T. Hunt,
H. E. Jeffery and R. M. Ramsey.
The American Grocer Company have
large warehouses for the storing of a
$100,000 stock, and aside from a com
plete grocery stock, deal in grains, pro
visions, flour, produce, fruit, tin, wood
and willow ware, nails, barb wire and
are exclusive sales-agents in this terri
tory for the goods of the Winchester
Repeating Arms Company, U. S. Cart
ridge C ompany, Union Metallic Cart
ridge Company and the American Cart
ridge Company.
One of Nezvport’s Largest and Most
Prosperous Mercantile Companies.
The members of this firm are C. H.,
J. S., E. B. and R. D. Wilmans. Messrs.
C. H. and E. B. Wilmans are natives of
Kentucky, while Messrs. J. S. and R. D.
Wilmans were born and raised in Jack
son County, Arkansas. A few years
ago the Messrs. Wilmans, in connection
with Mr. Geo. R. Hays, organized the
Newport Land Company. This com
pany has under control about 9,000 acres,
all located in Jackson County. This land