Industries

"Antimony in Arkansas" newspaper clipping
Antimony Mining
Antimony (Sb) is a hard, brittle, silver-white metal with a relatively high specific gravity (6.69) and a rela...
People picking "Ozark apples" on "W. E. Brown's Farm" in Rogers
Apple Industry
Seventy-five years after their introduction in Arkansas, apples became a dominant agricultural crop and an eco...
Aerial view of building campus and various sized ponds
Aquaculture
Aquaculture—the farming of aquatic plants and animals—includes private sector, commercial fish farms, stat...
Group of white men using a large seine in a pond
Baitfish Industry
Arkansas leads the nation in the farming of bait and feeder fish, providing sixty-one percent of the value of ...
Ornate three-story "First National Bank" building on street corner with covered sidewalk
Banking
When Arkansas was admitted to statehood in June 1836, the first and second acts of the legislature that year a...
Eight rocks with various sized discolored dot impressions  photographed on dark fabric
Bauxite Mining
Bauxite is the principal ore of aluminum and is a mixture of aluminum oxides and hydroxides that formed from i...
Large group of people milling about on the downtown square with storefronts
Beef Industry
aka: Cattle Industry
The raising of beef cattle has been carried out in Arkansas since b...
Metal "Beer of Arkansas" building with three garage bays and blue awning with parking lot
Breweries
Beer brewing in Arkansas dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. Documentation on early beer brewing in Arka...
Men, woman and children in brickyard with horse drawn carts and buildings in the background
Brick Industry
Brickmaking in Arkansas began in the early nineteenth century as a much localized industry in which a builder ...
informational graphic depicting atomic structure of bromine
Bromine
Bromine (chemical symbol Br) is a highly corrosive, reddish-brown, volatile element found in liquid form. Brom...
large pile of material in field outside wood-frame building with smoke stack
Button Blank Industry
America’s mother-of-pearl button industry boomed in the late 1800s due to a seemingly inexhaustible supply o...
Catfish types with corresponding letters
Catfish Industry
aka: Ictalurus punctatus
The catfish industry is the largest component of aquaculture in the...
Chicken War of 1962–1963
The Chicken War of 1962–1963 was a trade dispute between poultry producers in Arkansas and other states and ...
Mine buildings and train cars on tracks
Coal Mining
Coal fields in Arkansas are located in the Arkansas River Valley between the western border of the state and R...
Small log structure with door and hatch
Corn Industry
As an important subsistence crop in Arkansas for centuries, corn was cultivated by both Native Americans and s...
Farmer and boy using a horse drawn plow in a field with hills in the background
Cotton Industry
Cotton is a shrub known technically as gossypium. Although modest looking and usually no higher than a medium-...
Tree covered countryside with river and rock quarry in the distance
Crushed Stone Mining
Crushed stone is an angular form of construction aggregate, made by breaking quarried rock into fragments that...
Cultured Pearl Industry
Arkansas freshwater mussel shell provided the raw material for cultured pearl farming in the latter half of th...
White drivers in uniform pose with their delivery trucks outside Yarnell's Angel-Food building
Dairy Industry
Traditionally, milk has been a staple in the diet of Arkansans, especially the young. Throughout history, dair...
Two white men in large field with railroad tracks
Diamond Mining
Almost 100 million years ago, in what is now Pike County, nature created one of the world’s most unusual dia...
Dimension Stone Mining
Dimension stone is defined as rock that is removed from its original site to be used with minor alteration (ro...
wooden building with water tower amid field with trees
Experimental Forests
Experimental forests are timbered lands that have been established primarily for scientific research and demon...
Natural gas derrick with flags and blue skies
Fayetteville Shale
The natural gas field known as the Fayetteville Shale, development of which began in 2004, became recognized a...
Large sediment pile by conveyor belt ramps tracks overgrown field metal building and tree line
Gypsum Mining
Gypsum is a mineral (CaSO4·2H2O) that occurs in nature as both a mineral and, when in massive form, a rock. M...
Concrete dam with water rushing over it and lake
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectric power is the electricity generated by the gravitational force of falling or flowing water throug...
Group of men with horses, track-based carts, in open-pit mine
Industrial Sand Mining
Industrial sand is a term normally applied to high-purity silica sand products with closely controlled sizing....
Chimney foundation with hearth on rocky hillside along fence
Lead and Zinc Mining
The history of lead and zinc mining in Arkansas is linked because ores of these two metals often occur togethe...
White woman in dress looking at a large tree trunk in a forest
Levi Wilcoxon Demonstration Forest
The Levi Wilcoxon Demonstration Forest (LWDF) is located about three miles south of Hamburg (Ashley County) al...
"Acid Plant Means Development in New Section of City" newspaper clipping
Little Rock Picric Acid Plant
Arkansans supported the American effort in World War I in many ways. Some served in the armed forces, while ot...
Digging machine at work in strip mine
Manganese Mining
The mining of manganese ore was a very important economic activity in Arkansas between 1849 and 1959. The regi...
Two white men emerging from a tunnel with a cart
Mercury Mining
aka: Cinnabar Mining
Mercury, which was first mined in Arkansas in 1931, is in most rock...
Flooded rock quarry surrounded by trees
Mining
Mining is defined as the extraction of valuable minerals or stone (mineral resources) from the earth, usually ...