Goodspeeds, 1889.
The main line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, completed about 1872, runs in a south westerly direction across the north western portion of the county, a distance of nine and three-fourth miles.

The Helena branch of the same road, finished in 1882, runs through in a southeasterly and southerly course across the entire county, by way of Gainesville, Paragould and minor points, a distance of twenty-three miles.

The St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas Railroad, completed in 1882, passes through the entire county in a southwesterly direction along the eastern side of Crowley's Ridge, by way of Paragould and other points, a distance of twenty-four miles and 2.904 feet.

The Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad, constructed in 1883, runs in a southeasterly direction across the extreme southwestern corner of the county, a distance of only 2,400 feet.

The Paragould & Buffalo Island Narrow Gauge Railroad runs eastward from Paragould to the St. Francis River, a distance of ten miles. It was built in 1888, by a local company, for the purpose of shipping out timber and lumber. The combined length of the through lines of railroad is fifty-seven miles and 3,984 feet, which added to the ten miles of narrow gauge road, makes over seventy-seven miles of railway in the county.