Technology and Life in Arkansas – Object #3

Three truck railway lines, the Missouri Pacific, the Rock Island and the Cotton Belt — radiate north, south, east and west and tap the great commercial centers of the land. These with the Little Rock, Maumelle and Western furnish seventy-five passenger trains in and out of the city daily. The Arkansas river furnishes water transportation to all points in the great Mississippi Valley. With the completion of the Panama Canal Little Rock has direct connection with all of the world’s seaports and it much nearer the markets of the Orient than the great cities of the Eastern part of the United States.

The claim is made, and it is perhaps true, that Little Rock has the best local telephone exchange in the United States. Operating over 2,000 telephones, in the city and suburbs with long distance connections to the uttermost parts of the earth….

…Among the many improvements that have been made…must be mentioned the reconstruction of the fire department. Motor driven apparatus has replaced horse drawn….During Mayor Taylor’s administration the health department of the city has been established, milk and dairy inspection, and daily examination of fresh meats.