(BPT) - During hot summers, there’s nothing better than a relaxing day on your local lake or river. But after spending the last year at home, you may be itching
(BPT) - During hot summers, thereâs nothing better than a relaxing day on your local lake or river. But after spending the last year at home, you may be itching for a change of scenery. For fun water activities this summer, consider a trip to Arkansas. Thereâs a reason they call Arkansas, The Natural State. With a mix of breathtaking lakes, rivers, parks and small towns, thereâs plenty to see and do.
Arkansas is an affordable and pleasant place to vacation where visitors will receive a healthy dose of southern hospitality. The state has a strong reputation for keeping its lakes, rivers and streams clean. Arkansans are committed stewards of the environment and care deeply about the sprawling natural beauty that surrounds them.
ADVERTISEMENT
$10.4 million contract OK d for Hot Springs waterline project
by
David Showers
|
July 25, 2021 at 4:00 a.m.
HOT SPRINGS The Hot Springs Board of Directors approved a $10,458,975 contract Tuesday night for construction of 5.6 miles of the Lake Ouachita water supply project s 17-mile raw waterline.
The contract awarded to McKee Utility Contractors Inc. of Oklahoma puts more than 12 miles of the line under contract. In August, the board awarded a $4,769,153 contract to Belt Construction of Oklahoma for the 2.5-mile upper segment from the intake the city will build above Blakely Mountain Dam to the Ouachita Treatment Plant on Cozy Acres Road.
OPINION | REX NELSON: A history of hospitality
by
Rex Nelson
|
Today at 1:47 a.m.
By the 1930s, the era known as the Big Cut which had begun in the 1880s as northern-owned companies moved into Arkansas to harvest virgin timber was ending. In the pine-covered hills of southwest Arkansas, that meant a loss of jobs.
Montgomery County had a population of 12,455 in the 1910 census. By the 1960 census, that number had dropped to 5,370. The closure of sawmills and the onset of the Great Depression led to thousands of people moving out of the area. It took the construction of Lake Ouachita to finally turn things around.
ADVERTISEMENT
OPINION | REX NELSON: Destination, Lake Ouachita
Tourists from Arkansas as well as surrounding states are driving in droves to vacation at the hospitable Hot Springs getaway.
by
Rex Nelson
|
Today at 1:57 a.m.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette illustration by John Deering.
Bill Barnes is sitting in his office on a cloudy Monday, accompanied by dogs who go by the names of Port and Starboard. On the walls of the office at Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa on Lake Ouachita are reminders of the legendary status Barnes has achieved in the state s tourism industry: induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame, induction into the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame, and photos of him with a who s who of the state s business and civic leaders.