Newspapers are a valuable resource when seeking information about the past. Small-town papers often included tidbits about people in surrounding communities–including communities which may be difficult to find on modern-day maps. Residents usually submitted the information, which could be newsy, gossipy, and sometimes humorous. One such example comes from a newspaper reporting on a couple of Hot Spring County towns. Specifically, a writer from the Donaldson area told of happenings there and in Elmore in January of 1896 in Arkadelphia’s Southern Standard under the title of “Letter From Hot Spring County.”  

“Little Quail and Madge Clear, only six and eight years old, walk two miles to school. Henry Clear gets $65.90 per month for watchman at the Donaldson & Arthur mills. Mr. Clear is an old mill man.     “John Easley has gone to Erath County, Texas, on business. His brother Roland has charge of his store and the post office at Donaldson. Roland and John Easley are the most accommodating postmasters that Donaldson has had in many a year.

“Mrs. Katy Denty talks of closing out her business and moving to Little Rock. Miss Maggie Denty of Donaldson is visiting friends in Hope.

“Capt. Lit. caters to the wants of the people of Donaldson and the public generally in the way of something good to eat; he keeps a first-class hotel. He says he was in Arkadelphia when houses were built with poles.

“William Henson is the most successful farmer near Donaldson. Mrs. William Henson says it is a mistake about her teeth being artificial teeth, but that they are the very same teeth she had when a little girl.

“I visited Mr. O.H.P. Spencer of Elmore—he is one of the most intelligent farmers in Hot Spring County. Mr. Spencer says our only hope is to build up good common schools in the country—that a good common school is much better than a one-room college. Mr. Lero Spencer thinks Eugene Debs is a great and good man. Mrs. O.H.P. Spencer sells 200 pounds of butter a year. Miss Dolly Spencer makes cloth on a loom and sells woolen cloth at 65 cents per yard.

“The C.C. Lumber Company has shut down until the 27^th inst., when they are to have their annual election.

“William Neely, Esq., of Elmore says time are not as bad as some people think they are, but they like to grunt. And Jim Strong of Dalark says there would be no need of a man getting sick if he could not grunt. Mr. Neely is a northern man, but he thinks Arkansas is the garden of the world and that he lives in the best part of it, as to neighbors and health. William Neely says Governor Clark is a first-class governor.

“J.L. Hall of Elmore is the best mill man in the country. He attends to his mill and store business besides, keeps his own books, and puts twenty thousand feet of lumber on the market per day.

“A.G. Hamilton of Elmore is running a shingle and heading factory.

“Hogs have nearly all died with cholera in Hot Spring County.”