Lonoke County
by Lin Stone

In this part of Arkansas it is only the strong personalities that get their own farms named after them in public memory. "Joe Bob's Place" may have changed hands a dozen times, but it is still Joe Bob's. 

Directions are peculiar:  "You remember where Herschel lived on Snake Island in 1952? Well, that field just north of there has a pond on it now and I'll meet you there for fishing this coming Saturday."

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Lonoke Arkansas is the first town to call me home. For that matter it is just about the first town I ever lived in, and that when I was 42 years old. It's been 13 years since I lived there, yet any time I go passing through town at least one old friend still calls me out by name. Highways 31 and 70 junction in the center of Lonoke. A story about the War Memorial beside the courthouse is the first story I ever got paid for.  The world's largest minnow farm is just outside town.  Minnows supply a whole lot of income around here, along with goldfish, and turtles now too.  (One Mississippi Snapper caught in a field outside town weighs 94 pounds.)  Some of the goldfish are shipped by air as far off as Australia, Israel, and Japan.  Koi are coming on strong now too.  I hate to keep adding things but catfish are being raised heavily here as well.

Unfortunately, the roads never have all been in a goodly state of repair at one time.  A lot of your gravel county roads are taken care of by the farmers for lack of adequate attention.  Dewberries (blackberries most people think they are) grow wild anywhere they can get a toehold.  Strawberries do well here too.  Persimmon trees are plentiful.  Possum are so plentiful they are a nuisance; if there is any way to get into your house, they will.

Hiway 13 and Hiway 70 junction here at Carlisle. The hunting is fantastic, my grandson just bagged a 12 point buck there.  From base to tip the rack was 19 points, and the brute had a 20 point spread, just 6 points off from a National Boone and Crockett.

The fishing is even better, and best of all is the special enthusiasm this town has for welcoming visitors. Pecan trees decorate many yards, every oak tree there is big enough to be a hundred years old. The school system is well organized and has top notch management. Riviana Foods is the big industry, but several other manufacturers in this area have national reputations for quality. Farmers raise soybeans, rice, and wheat, primarily.  In most places you can push a hunting knife down to the hilt anywhere you want to stick it.  Cotton is virtually nonexistent; it's wheat and rice for the cash crops.

The land is flat, the woods are thick, the deer are sleek, the squirrels are fat, and the water rises almost every winter for the ducks and geese to come home on.  I've seen 80 acre fields literally covered with ducks frozen in.  Do they get plucked when found like that?  No, if it's going to be a long freeze duck hunters and farm hands get out there and chop them loose.  Ducks are serious business here.  In fact, when I went to work for Toad Henderson I was told to work from daylight to dark and not stop for anything unless it was very important, like some ducks might get scared if I came any closer.  I thought he was joking.  The others assured me he was not; ducks came first, the harvest second.

England Arkansas hasn't changed much over the past 30 years, at least not on one side of the tracks. I met Connie there in 1952 and I can still take you right to her house. Grandma's house was at 318 S.W. 3rd Street, and Uncle Ray lived right beside her. Now Uncle Ray and Aunt Mildred live where Grandma did. Eddie and Jay have moved away a few miles. Margie is a lawyer in England while her husband owns Kesl TV. ** 

Recently I saw one of the truck beds built by Uncle Ray in 1955, and it was still looking brand new.  People build to last here. From that heritage, the best construction company there builds homes and stores all over the state.

There's a lot of cotton grown in the England area from Coy to Ferda.  The cotton crop comes in so thick and fast that the gins can't handle the volume and stack it up by the acre to work later.  The ground here is black, thick and rich.  About the only time I ever saw dust boil up was when there was a drought.  Pecan trees produce enough to get anyone burned out on them.  Just about everybody has a garden of some kind.    I've found many an arrowhead between England and Ferda and a few up towards Scott.  The Plantation Museum  at Scott has a great steam engine collection.  The inside displays were distressing to me though, telling the truth about the conditions on local cotton plantations.  

Not far from Scott there was a very wealthy farmer.  One morning all of his mules got out and the hands began chasing them.  Over 100 mules got out on the swamp and began slipping and sliding on the ice.  When the hands got them huddled together in the middle of the swamp the ice caved in and every one of the mules drowned.

On up the road near Keo is the world's largest triploid carp hatchery.  Triploid means sterile.  That means the carp can clean up the lakes and streams but not create a population explosion.