LITTLE ROCK, Ark., capital of the State, the seat of Pulaski County and the largest city in the State, on the Missouri Pacific, the Rock Island and the Saint Louis Southwestern rail way systems, 133 miles west of Memphis, 346 miles southwest of Saint Louis, 165 miles cast of Fort Smith and 145 miles northeast of Texarkana. Little Rock and North Little Rock is situated on both banks of the Arkansas River and takes its name from the rocky promontory which rises on the south bank some 50 feet above the river, now used as one of the abut ments of one of the four bridges which span the river. This rock is the first seen ascending the river and was called Little Rock in con tradistinction to the bold precipice, about 10 times higher, which rises some three miles above upon the opposite bank and called the Big Rock. This commanding eminence is now the site of an army post. The eastern border of the city touches rich alluvial cotton lands, without rocks and subject to a high state of cultivation; its western border reaches to the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is situ ated near lat. 35° and long. 92° almost at the center of the State. The Arkansas River is navigable up to this point during the major portion of • the year for the large steamboats, while smaller vessels ply as far up as Fort Smith. Pop. (est. 1919) about 90,000.
Trade and Commerce.— The growth of the commerce of Little Rock has been gradual but steady. The total annual business is estimated at $300,000,000, of which the retail business exceeds $100,000,000; a large portion of the other consists of cotton and its by-products. For example, in an average year Little Rock handles approximately 250,000 bales of cotton, representing financial transactions of over $35, 000,000. The total freight traffic for the year 1918 employed. 105,332 cars. The real estate transactions during the same year aggregated 3,555 sales, amounting to $5,237,194. The pos tal receipts for the fiscal year total about $890,763. The local Board of Commerce, a consolidation of all commercial organizations, is the organ for concert of action among busi ness men. Little Rock is also the supply head
quarters of the United States Bureau of Mili tary Aeronautics for Arkansas, Oklahoma and northern Texas, and a million dollar warehouse plant is located at this point. During the late war the government constructed a munition plant at a cost of $7,000,000, which it is pro posed to convert into a chemical or fertilizer plant, while Eherts Field, located 20 miles cast, is a flying field, costing nearly $2,000,000. Camp Pike, an arthy cantonment built during the war, through which between 200,000 and 300,000 men passed, located eight miles north of Little Rock, has been designated by the government as a permanent army division post and has a capacity for 70,000 soldiers. This camp was named in honor of Gen. Zebulin Montgomery Pike, the explorer of the great West and South west, who discovered Pikes Peak. The citizens of Little Rock, through its Board of Commerce, donated in fee simple for $1 to the govern ment the site for Camp Pike, 3,000 acres, and the munition plant, 400 acres, at a total cost of over $400,000.
Manufactures.— The largest single industry is the manufacture of cottonseed oil. There are six mills which have shipped, during a single season, 877 cars, or about 4,000,000 gal lons of oil, 2,200 cars of meal and 584 cars of hulls. The latest available figures show 273 factories, employing about 15,000 persons, with an approximate annual pay-roll of $20,000,000. The manufacture of lumber and lumber prod ucts, such as staves, sash and doors, etc., prin cipally hard woods, takes prominence, followed by furniture, tractors, automobiles, fertilizers; the largest brick factory and stone quarries and crushers in the State are located here; 80 per cent of the Bauxite ore of the United States from which aluminum is made is mined within a radius of 20 miles. Ice factories, print ing and lithographing, overalls and garments, tents and awnings, harness, candies, packing house products, foundries and railroad shops and four cotton compresses operate here.