Goodspeeds, 1890
The Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, operated as a part of the Gould System, crosses this county in a general direction east and west, with stations named Coal Hill, Hartman, Montana, Spadra, Clarksville, Cabin Creek (Lamar Postoffice), Knoxville and Piney Station (Berlin Postoffice). Following the construction of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, navigation of the Arkansas was abandoned, and the abandonment has had the effect of rendering steamboating on the upper Arkansas impracticable at this day, not withstanding that for half a century before there had been no other highway for the commerce of country.

As a consequence, if relief is to follow from a monoply of freight traffic, it must come from one or more lines of railroad, the direction of which would render the resources of the interior of the county available as well as afford access to other markets, and therefore render competition practicable. It is not improbable that at least one such road, from north to south, will soon be built. A road has been chartered under the title of Kansas City, Bentonville and Southeastern Railroad, which, commencing at a point dividing Missouri and Arkansas, is to connect with the New Orleans, Natchez and Fort Scott Railroad at Clarksville, this county, and which will be a link in a chain of roads, the object of which is to connect Kansas City with New Orleans, by way of Bentonville, Springdale, Clarksville, Dardanelle, Hot Springs, and Hamburg, this state, and by way of Natchez, Mississippi.