Date Original
1901-1902
Description
This ledger from the Arkansas Livestock Insurance Company covers the period from November 14, 1901 to August 30, 1902.
Biographical/Historical Note
The Arkansas Livestock Insurance Company was incorporated in the early 1900s to provide Arkansas farmers with insurance against the loss, minus feed costs, of the market value of dairy and beef cattle, swine, and lamb. In 1902-1903, the company's officers were: J.W. Hagg, president; Lewis Rhoton, vice-president; D.A. Walker, secretary; and M. Brennen, treasurer. The offices were in the Whipple Building, Little Rock, Arkansas. The need for livestock insurance among Arkansas farmers stemmed from a late-nineteenth century onslaught of "Texas Fever," a tick infestation from Texas that led to a huge mortality rate among Arkansas dairy and beef cattle. These death rates were twice as high as those in northern and midwestern states, and the value of beef cattle per head in Arkansas was placed at three times below that of cattle in Iowa. A tick eradication quarantine line was created in 1891 to prevent contact between southern and northern cattle, and in 1906 the United States Department of Agriculture began a campaign to chemically eradicate the cattle tick. Despite these precautions, however, Arkansans who owned small, rural farms faced potential economic devastation until the cattle tick was completely eradicated from the United States in the early 1940s.
Physical Description
Document, 8.5" x 11"
Geographical Area
Arkansas
Language
English
Identifier
MS.000010
Resource Type
Text
Collection
Arkansas Livestock Insurance Company account book, MS.000010
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Arkansas Livestock Insurance Company account book, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rights
Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.
Disciplines
United States History
