May 1, 2010

Ralph Harold Snyder, shown on the cover of this 1960 trade journal, is credited with bringing the poultry industry to the Arkansas Valley. After serving in World War II, Snyder moved to Dardanelle (Yell County) to manage the Arkansas River Valley Feed Mill. In 1948, he worked out an agreement with a local farmer to help raise 6,000 broilers. Over the next ten years, he worked to merge the companies involved in all phases of the broiler business, and his company, Arkansas Valley Industries, Inc., became the first wholly integrated poultry business to make stocks available to the public. After mergers over the years, the company became part of Tyson Foods, Inc.